The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　Tiger suddenly realized that he might have been oversimplifying things!

　……

　Regardless of what the mixed-blood tiger-man thought, the group of thirteen finally entered the city.

　With Tiger leading the way, the journey was smooth and unimpeded, leading directly to the city lord's mansion.

　The professors realized something was wrong and lost all interest in sightseeing.

　However, as they traveled, they naturally didn't miss a single glance, and the scenery of this city of freedom was still fully visible to them.

　Aurora walked beside Dak, and if she noticed that Dak was confused about something, she would quietly explain it to him. Although her cheeks were flushed, she had fulfilled her duty as a "guide".

　But as Dark walked, his doubts gradually grew.

　"The city guards have sealed off the city, prohibiting entry and exit, so why is everything still the same inside the city?"

　His gaze swept over the hurried adventurers, the street vendors shouting their wares, and occasionally lingered on a few priests he happened to encounter.

　For a moment, no one could guess what had happened within the city.

　"Let's ask when we get to the city lord's mansion."

　He calmed down.

　……

　After traveling the initial route, they switched to a horse-drawn carriage, took to the main road, and sped off towards the city lord's mansion.

　The five dragons also took off and followed at low altitude.

　The city lord's mansion was located in the center of the inner city when the city was first built. However, the inner city was not in the center of the entire city, but was located further east.

　In other words, it's closer to the main east gate.

　Therefore, half an hour later, the carriage went straight into the inner city, and another half hour later, it arrived in front of the city lord's mansion.

　The five flying dragons were temporarily placed in a nearby square.

　The group of thirteen then entered the city lord's mansion.

　"Is this your home?"

　Dak carefully noted down the route into the mansion and asked a question casually.

　Aurora nodded vigorously in agreement, appearing extremely serious.

　The group walked quickly, and after walking for three minutes before entering the mansion, Lord Montilfali suddenly appeared and greeted them with a look of surprise and delight.

　As for how much surprise and how much joy she felt, only she herself knows.

　“Suna Montilfali, just call me Suna.”

　Lord Montilfali grasped Professor Sylph's hand.

　“Sarah Sylph, Vice Principal of St. Marian College.”

　Professor Sylph also gave a brief self-introduction.

　"welcome."

　Neither side lingered in the corridor; Lord Montilfali personally led the way into the meeting hall.

　The City Lord's Mansion is the residence of the City Lord, and the administrative affairs are handled in the Government Affairs Hall.

　However, for convenience, Lord Montilfali would sometimes hold meetings and work in the city's mansion, which led to the creation of offices and meeting rooms.

　The meeting hall was the only place in the city lord's mansion with a long table. In contrast, the dining room inside the mansion only had a small table that could seat four people.

　Therefore, Lord Montilfali chose to receive guests in the conference hall and dine there.

　When they entered the conference hall, tableware and tea were already set on the long table used for the meeting.

　There weren't many servants in the mansion. After setting out the tableware, the servant responsible for entertaining guests hurriedly returned to the kitchen to continue helping.

　In the blink of an eye, Aurora transformed into the hostess, serving tea to everyone present.

　Only then did everyone begin to formally introduce themselves.

　After noting down everyone's names, Lord Montilfali cautiously asked, "May I ask what brings you all here?"

　Professor Sylph, however, changed the subject, saying, "I see something unusual in the city. I wonder what exactly has happened in this Free City?"

　After asking their questions, they looked at each other and then fell silent, lost in thought.

　"Alright, I'll say it then."

　Professor Montier turned to look at Aurora, and seeing his daughter nod, and then looked at Dark and Ollie over there, before finally deciding to speak.

　The City of Freedom has always relied solely on itself to maintain its purity.

　Even the Duke's Mansion and St. Marian Academy, which showed goodwill towards it, only provided support from behind the scenes and did not take any real action.

　However, if this matter is not resolved in time, it may have unpredictable and adverse effects on this city that is isolated in the territory of the demons.

　Even for the sake of the mixed-race citizens in the city who believed in them, she could no longer remain stubborn.

　Since a professor from St. Mary's College happened to be there, she had no reason not to ask for help.

　Seeing that the city lord had finally relented, the half-tiger Tyk secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that with the help of the professors from St. Mary's Academy, there was finally hope for that matter.

　But once you've made up your mind, how you say it and from which aspect you begin are all very important considerations.

　Lord Montilfali was originally a straightforward and honest person. But after becoming the lord of a city, she had long since learned to be more cautious and considerate.

　After a long pause, she carefully said, "There are demons."

　"Hmm?" The professors frowned abruptly.

　Lord Montilfali solemnly declared, "Demons have infiltrated our city!"

　……

　After revealing this information, Lord Montilfali observed the expressions of those present with a slight nervousness.

　The fewer the words, the more serious the situation.

　The infiltration of demon remnants into the City of Freedom is no small matter.

　This should be a cause for shared hatred and solidarity in any city within the kingdom.

　But it's different in the City of Freedom.

　If this matter were to leak out and cause a significant negative impact within the city, it would undoubtedly attract the wolves and tigers that were already eyeing this "outpost," making them eager to bare their fangs and claws.

　The presence of demons within the city is a perfectly legitimate reason to send troops!

　At this point, the City of Freedom didn't even have the right to refuse.

　Once foreign troops are stationed there, the Free City will no longer be able to guarantee its own sovereignty.

　This door must not be opened under any circumstances until all other options are exhausted!

　There are actually two external forces present at the moment.

　One is the St. Marian Academy faction led by Professor Sylph, and the other is the Duke's Mansion faction led by Dark.

　They are all forces that can be trusted to a certain extent.

　They are probably one of only two forces that don't need to worry about being eroded by them.

　However, due to her overprotective mentality towards the Free City, Lord Montilfali was still somewhat nervous.

　However, to her great surprise, after she spoke up, she found that the group of people did not show much surprise on their faces.

　Is it because these people all have very strong emotional control?

　I'm afraid not.

　Lord Montilfali's pupils suddenly contracted. She was not stupid and immediately guessed that this group of people had traveled thousands of miles to come here probably because of the demons!

　This means that the situation she perceives is likely more serious than she originally anticipated!

　……

　“Tell me more about it,” Professor Sylph said slowly, her words carrying a calming power.

　Lord Montilfali, however, hesitated once again.

　Dark suddenly said, "Aunt Montilfali, let's start from when we returned here last June. Besides the appearance of demons, I also want to know more about the situation related to this city."

　Aurora sat down next to her again, holding her teacup and looking at her mother.

　Dak's idea was also her idea.

　Her understanding of the Free City began to be interrupted last June.

　At that time, she had already foreseen the pressure that the Free City would bear in the future. But that pressure should have come from the increasing number of monsters, and building adventurer guilds in the Free City and offering welfare policies to attract a large number of adventurers was one of the strategies devised to deal with the monster tide.

　Judging from the large number of adventurers seen on the streets, this strategy should be working.

　But the final result seemed to deviate from her expectations.

　"The specific events should have started with the Demon King's execution ceremony."

　Lord Montilfali rested her chin on her hand, finally finding an angle to begin her story.

　But she didn't expect that her simple opening would elicit an even bigger reaction than revealing that demons had infiltrated the area.

　……

　"The Demon King's Execution Ritual..."

　Ophelia Brad couldn't help but clench her fingers, her eyes filled with shame.

　She is the cause of everything, the true beginning of all these events.

　Professor Sylph and the others looked even more serious.

　Lord Montilfali quickly withdrew her gaze from Ophelia Brad and continued, "The Demon King's execution ceremony held by the Holy Church in the middle of last year brought out a large number of remnants of the demon race who were hiding in the shadows. The demon race has a vast territory, and although the demon race has been wiped out, most of them are hiding in the vast and boundless demon territory. Although their numbers are small, they pose a great threat."

　"Our city, being located within the territory of the demons and being a free city without any gate restrictions, was originally a melting pot of all sorts of people with no order. It was impossible to prepare for the demons to infiltrate from the very beginning, and naturally became their first foothold after they emerged from their rat holes."

　"In addition, with the increase in the number of monsters in recent years, the number of monster hordes attacking the city has gradually increased. The City of Freedom has actually been operating at overcapacity and is already overwhelmed, which has given them an opportunity to take advantage of the situation."

　"Therefore, since June of last year, there have been occasional signs of demons in the city. We have been secretly searching for demons, but the demons are not dead and do not die, so the search has been of little success."

　"During the Demon King's execution ceremony, the Holy Church used a bait-and-switch tactic, arresting and eliminating a large number of the Demon Clan's remnants. This also alerted the other Demons, affecting the Free City, which was thousands of miles away. The Demons hiding in the city became even more secretive and difficult to find."

　"But if it's just like this, it's actually fine too."

　"The hiding of one or two demons will not have a significant impact on the structure of the Free City."

　"However, starting last August, signs of demonic activity... suddenly increased!"

　Lord Montilfali's voice gradually lowered.

　She slowly recounted the many events that had occurred in the City of Freedom over the past six months, her eyes gradually turning cold.

　Dak and the others listened in silence, without uttering a single word.

　The waiter who came pushing the food cart was stopped outside by Tiger.

　Lord Montilfali continued, "The outbreak caught us completely off guard. By the time we discovered it, many residents had already disappeared. And this phenomenon was even more severe among adventurers."

　"Adventurers are a profession that always puts their heads on the line. It's not surprising that they die on the way to a mission, which naturally makes them targets for demons."

　"Many adventurers disappeared while venturing out of the city to hunt monsters. But they were all simply considered to have died a natural death."

　"It wasn't until someone discovered that the wounds on the adventurers' corpses didn't seem to be caused by magical beasts that a formal investigation was launched."

　"Unexpectedly, this investigation led us to the demon race."

　……

　"After realizing that the demons had begun to act, we took many measures. The demons' actions increased, which also exposed more of their weaknesses."

　"During that time, we finally found and killed quite a few demons, but we couldn't leave any alive."

　"They are terrifying. They will choose to commit suicide after being captured, or choose to perish together with others when there is no way to escape."

　"But fortunately, they were silent for a long time after that, as if they had killed enough people."

　……

　"This situation has continued until now, and the demons have become active again."

　"Moreover, this time the situation was more challenging than ever before."