Chapter 369: The Fifth Son

"Huh, how is that possible? Why didn’t you say so earlier?" he said in a low voice, glancing out of the corner of his eye toward Ryan’s group.

"I just didn’t recognize him... please forgive me," the woman apologized, looking quite nervous about her mistake of not identifying him in time.

Even though they were whispering a few steps away, everyone in the clearing could hear their words perfectly clearly.

"In any case, please don’t say anything to provoke him, Lord Ash. Regardless of his appearance, that person is a monster. Have you already forgotten the rumors?" Leonor added, trying to get the young boy to keep his composure.

Ash swallowed hard upon remembering the rumors about Rigal’s fall, his arrogant expression changing immediately.

’Who are you calling a monster?’ Ryan thought to himself, frowning slightly upon hearing how they referred to him.

To quickly escape the awkward moment, Ash elbowed Katerine, signaling her to speak for him.

"Yes, how rude of us. We will introduce ourselves right now. My name is Katerine, and this woman is Leonor. We are both sentinels of Lord Ash, the fifth son of Demon King Rohan. Welcome to Ignis," Katerine introduced herself, giving a formal bow alongside her companion.

The young demon let out a quick, fake cough to recover his voice and adjusted his elegant clothes.

"It was just a joke. Welcome. You may take as much material as you wish," the young man said, trying to appear calm.

"Yes, that was our intention from the start," Ryan replied in a serious tone. His words made the three demons instantly stand at attention, forgetting any trace of arrogance they might have held as members of royalty.

Ryan pulled the relic from his pocket and activated it in front of everyone. The portal opened in the middle of the clearing, revealing the pathway to the hidden elven village.

"Is that thing a portal?" Ash murmured, staring at the opening with great curiosity.

"I don’t know, my lord," Katerine replied quietly, equally clueless as to how the object worked.

Ryan’s group then ignored their curious companions from Ignis and focused entirely on their mission.

The sixty elves and beastmen marched out of the portal one by one in an orderly fashion. Once they were all outside, they formed up into six columns and bowed respectfully to Ryan.

Upon receiving the order to begin, the elves and beastmen rose and quickly split into six distinct groups.

Four groups pulled out their tools and immediately began working on the nearby trees, while the remaining two groups were tasked with building houses for everyone using elven magic.

In a short time, they shaped the wood and built one house for each group, along with a large shed where they would process and store the materials.

They also built a separate house for Ryan’s group, although he informed them that he didn’t intend to stay at the camp; he had only come to supervise and ensure they started working without any issues.

With that explanation out of the way, he turned around and walked back over to young Ash and his companions.

"As you can see, they will be working here. And don’t worry, once we’re finished, the houses will be removed. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?" Ryan asked, looking at the three demons.

"No, no, not at all, Your Majesty. I just found it rather interesting. I didn’t expect you to be so well prepared," Katerine said, surprised by how quickly they had set up the site.

Ryan nodded, satisfied that everything was in order.

"Actually, there are abandoned houses very close to here. We were planning to tell you to stay there. Father gave the order not to cause you any trouble," Ash said, looking somewhat thoughtful as he stared at the new buildings.

"I understand. I appreciate that. Although it won’t be necessary," Ryan continued, calmly turning down the offer.

"Yes, I can see that. However, my sister Solaris was the one who asked Father to let her personally supervise you, so I will have to inform her," the young demon explained, leaning a bit closer to Ryan as his arrogant tone returned.

Upon hearing how he referred to Solaris, Leonor intervened quietly from behind him.

"Lord Ash, you aren’t supposed to mention Lord Solaris’s gender," Leonor muttered, reminding him that he was supposed to call her his brother in front of others.

Ash nodded, dismissing the warning, and looked back at Ryan.

"You see, we made a bet. If I could deduce where you would start the extraction, then my brother Solaris would teach me a technique. And hahaha, I won after all! It was easy to figure out," Ash said, laughing smugly.

’Calling her "brother" now won’t make a difference. They really are idiots. Besides, I already know that Solaris is actually a woman,’ Ryan thought, remembering his previous encounter with her in the throne room.

The young demon fell silent and stared intently at Ryan, clearly waiting for him to ask how he had figured it out.

Ryan sighed in annoyance at his childish attitude and finally humored him.

"Interesting. And how did you deduce it?" Ryan asked, playing along.

"Very easily. Because it’s said that the King of Kowarre is a human, I assumed you would come here. There’s a human city about six leagues away," he continued, raising his arm and pointing straight ahead, right behind Ryan’s back.

"My Lord Ash is a genius," Katerine added. "Lord Solaris thought you would arrive at another location with more resources than this one, but he was wrong."

’That city must be Erhes Valley. I plan to go there tonight. It will be useful to infiltrate and see what’s going on with the humans. I might get some interesting information,’ Ryan thought, confirming that their chosen location perfectly fulfilled both of his objectives.

"I see. I suppose you are very astute," Ryan replied without changing his expression.

Ash nodded, brimming with pride at the comment, and then looked Ryan up and down intently.

"But I have a question. Are you really the demon king who killed Rigal?" the boy asked, doubt showing in his eyes.

Ryan stared at him in silence. Although the young demon sounded curious, he didn’t seem to have any real respect for him. In fact, Ryan immediately realized that the boy was testing him with his words.

"It’s just that you don’t look all that strong. I think my brother Igniel is stronger," Ash added without the slightest hesitation.

"Young Ash! Forgive him, Your Majesty. I assure you he meant no offense," Katerine panicked, bowing quickly and nervously before Ryan.

Although Ryan and his companions were completely suppressing their energy, the young demon seemed too immature to understand that. So, Ryan simply turned around, ignoring the provocation.

"Yes, you might be right. You’d better go inform your sister that you won the bet. I’m sure she’ll be very disappointed that she lost," Ryan said, dismissing him naturally.

After saying that, Ryan turned his back on them and walked away to rejoin his group.

Once Ash, Katerine, and Leonor climbed onto their mounts and left the clearing, the workers continued harvesting the materials without any distractions.

Ryan then approached the girls in his group and told them he was heading to the human city. He explained that he intended to infiltrate it to test the new relics Runa and Mika had prepared.

Although the girls in his group insisted on going with him as an escort, Ryan refused, making it clear that this time he wanted to go alone.

But just as Ryan was about to close the portal created by the relic, Beatrice’s little brother came sprinting through it and bolted toward the forest.

"What are you doing here?" Beatrice asked, stopping in front of him with a frown.