The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Chapter 184: Alchemist Secured

Alice got an answer to her confusion after listening to Luna's report. Just as she surmised, Etoria did not have any motives to betray his kingdom or the human realm. Even now, he still believed that his succession to the throne was secure, so he naturally wouldn't need others to help him become king.

This must mean that Etoria wasn't the person who contacted the demon spy in the Royal Magic Tower, but someone who was trying to create trouble using Etoria's name instead.

However, another question cropped up after Alice came to this realization. Wasn't it a little too silly to try and create trouble using Etoria's name?

Even if the demons agreed to the request, once they began their partnership with Etoria, they would quickly realize that Etoria's succession wasn't under any threat whatsoever. They would also discover that Etoria was utterly ignorant of "his" partnership with them.

In that case, the demons would quickly realize that Etoria wasn't the person who sought partnership with them and that they had been tricked. Meanwhile, unless the demons got blinded by their rage of being played for fools and took their anger out on Etoria, it was unlikely for Etoria to suffer any damage.

There was also no way the mastermind behind this scheme would dare reveal themselves to smear Etoria's reputation using this scheme as an excuse. So long as this mastermind did such a thing, the demons would immediately know who had tricked them. At that time, the mastermind would definitely suffer the wrath of the demons.

Even if the mastermind was simply doing all of this to mess with the demons, they shouldn't have chosen to use Etoria's name as their cover. Instead, they should've used the eldest prince or the princess. In the former's case, he had long since given up on his succession rights, and even the Rhine King had given up on getting his eldest son to succeed him already. In the latter's case, she hardly had any presence in the Rhine Kingdom's succession rights.

While it was still unlikely for the eldest prince and the princess to collude with the demons, compared to Etoria, they would still have more motive to seek the demons' help than Etoria. This, in turn, would reduce the likelihood of the demons noticing that something was suspicious.

Alice wasn't sure if there was a reason the mastermind had chosen to use Etoria as their cover or if the mastermind had simply failed to account for this point. However, judging by the current situation, the culprit should have an inextricable connection with the Rhine Kingdom's royal family. So, the mastermind was likely one of the Rhine Kingdom's administrative members.

The Rhine Kingdom's eldest prince, princess, ministers, king, and even Etoria himself Every one of these people was a suspect. The only difference was that they carried varying levels of suspicion.

Honestly, Alice didn't wish to involve herself too much with the power struggles happening inside the Rhine Kingdom. However, as this matter involved the demons, and Alice was currently bearing the title of Demon King, she felt a need to help the demons take care of this trouble and avoid being used as cannon fodder.

She could also increase her reputation among the demons if she occasionally helped them take care of such menial matters, further solidifying her position as the Demon King. Then, once the Demon King's Power chose a new host, the demons might very well help her apprehend that "imposter."

"We might startle the mastermind if we rashly investigate this matter, so it's better if we lure the snake away from its hole."

After pondering for a moment, Alice came up with a plan. She would first have the demons agree to the other party's request. However, the demons wouldn't be offering their assistance immediately. Instead, they would wait until the other party grew impatient. That way, it would become a lot easier to expose the other party's identity.

While Alice was thinking about what she should do to get the mastermind to take the initiative to expose themselves, Luna suddenly walked up to her side and whispered, "Someone's approaching, Alice."

Alice wasn't wielding any weapons right now, so her perception naturally wasn't as strong as Luna's. Upon hearing Luna's words, Alice hurriedly shut her mouth and turned to the balcony's entrance.

Sure enough, a moment later, someone had walked onto the balcony.

It was the black-haired girl from the Ymir Kingdom, the one who stood beside King Celtic in the conference room.

Unlike the other heirs brought to the conference, Alice had not found any information relating to this black-haired girl on the internet. To ensure that she didn't slip up during the conference, Alice had even scoured the internet for information on the various kingdoms' royalty on her way to the conference. However, none of her search results included information on this black-haired girl.

"Hello, Lord Hero," the black-haired girl greeted with a smile after seeing Alice. "I also came out to get some fresh air. The topics being discussed inside are a little too much for me to understand."

Alice couldn't help but be stunned again upon hearing the black-haired girl's words. Logically, any royal family member brought to the Conference of Kings would have a high chance of becoming the successor of their respective kingdoms in the future. Meanwhile, these people were typically cultivated to inherit the throne from a young age. So, there was no way they wouldn't understand the kings' discussions.

"Is it alright for you to come out here? Won't Celtic have a problem with this?"

"He won't. My identity isn't worth his concern," the black-haired girl said, shaking her head. "My identity is similar to your cover identity, Lord Hero. I am King Celtic's illegitimate daughter, so he doesn't pay much attention to me."

Alice was at a loss for words. Indeed, Celtic wasn't a bachelor like Hatter. It was publicly known that he had a wife. Although Celtic had never officially stated that he had any children with his wife, he most likely did, judging by the black-haired girl's words. Meanwhile, since he had a successor, he naturally wouldn't need to consider the feelings of a measly illegitimate daughter.

"I was quite happy when I heard another person like myself would attend the conference. I didn't think it would be the Hero," the black-haired girl said, blinking her eyes innocently as she looked at Alice. "Although the situation turned out different from what I expected, meeting the rumored Hero makes up for it. If it weren't for the Conference of Kings this time, I would've never gotten the chance to personally meet the Hero and talk to her."

"Cough, cough. Sorry to disappoint you," Alice awkwardly said. Then, she extended a hand to the black-haired girl and casually said, "Well, let me introduce myself. I'm Alice, and I'm temporarily serving as the Hero."

"Temporarily?" The black-haired girl was a little confused by Alice's choice of words. However, she still reached out to shake Alice's hand and said, "I'm Lacey Malthus, the new Ymir King's illegitimate daughter. I guess you can say that I'm an unremarkable princess."

Lacey, is it? Alice nodded, committing this name to memory. Now that she had gotten the black-haired girl's name without any initiative on her part, she could avoid any awkward situations where she would need to call out the other party's name in the future.

"Actually, I followed you out here because I have something I wish to ask you, Lord Hero," Lacey said as she looked at Alice. "Are you perhaps carrying something that produces mana? I can feel that mana is constantly being produced around you. Although it isn't a lot, the mana fluctuations are quite obvious."

After a short pause, Lacey added, "It feels similar to the Seed of Nature."