Chapter 26

Third Person's POV

"We're leaving now, Calix; see you if I see you again," Emilia said as she went to four knights and parted ways with Calix.

"I forgot something," Calix added, and the princess came to a halt, turning around to face Calix.

Calix returns the clothes Emilia was wearing when he kidnapped her. The princess is overjoyed because she can now wear her armor and the clothes she used to wear with brown combat boots.

"So you stole my original armor and clothes?" Calix chuckled at Emilia's question.

"Yes, because a woman does not wear a dress like that below her knees," Calix said. Emilia was embarrassed.

Calix smirked as Luke interjected, "She can wear whatever she wants."

"Let's go, my lady. We need the fifth stone," Luke suggested, and the princess nodded as they exited the demon kingdom.

"Come back here again. I'll be waiting for the five of you again," Calix said before parting ways and waving goodbye.

Zurk landed on Emilia's shoulder, and the princess smiled because he was fine and nothing was wrong with him; she wanted to know if Calix had hurt them when she was kidnapped.

"I'd like to ask the four of you if Calix ever hurt one of you?" Emilia inquired, and Ryan remained silent, as they did not want to reveal what had happened to Zurk.

"He did not harm us! Don't be concerned about us!" Zurk was the one who quickly responded to Emilia's question.

"That's good; perhaps he just wanted a queen in his kingdom. I've already given him some marriage advice," Emilia remarked, and the four remained silent, not interfering or asking additional questions.

"I already informed him that I will be the next ruler, and he will come to the Spence kingdom if I become the ruler of it," Emilia clarified. Luke was taken aback because she had shared personal information with Calix.

"What if a demon king is discovered by the Spence army? He will be tortured, put on trial, and eventually killed," Emilia laughed as Luke boasted.

"If I am already the ruler of Spence Kingdom, he will not be killed. Calix explains to me that the position of kingdom ruler is the highest, and I will know that Calix is one of our allies because he can disguise himself in human form." Emilia clarifies, and the four knights nod in agreement.

"What are our next steps? Luke, have you looked at the Eryen Map yet? We've just kept walking until now," Emilia alerted Luke, and he immediately summoned the Eryen Map in his hand to determine their location.

"According to the map, we are still a long way away; we need to be more cautious because we will be flying directly into the territory of the monsters," Luke advised. They were apprehended when someone landed in front of them.

They were perplexed to see Calix dressed in black, with a half cape on his left shoulder, carrying his sword, and having already decided to assist the princess on her journey.

"Calix?! What exactly are you doing here? Did you just come after us?" Emilia questioned Calix, and the four knights were irritated by his sudden outburst.

"I've already made up my mind! You have a journey, and it was so dull in my kingdom that I wanted to tag along with you all. Plus, I made some mistakes along the way with you guys that I want to correct so that I can gain your trust." Calix wants to prove himself, and the princess looks at Luke slowly.

"What's the point of staring at him?" Emilia questions Luke, who looks at the princess.

"It's your choice whether to accept and let him tag along with us; whatever your decision is, we will respect it," Luke added as Emilia approached Calix.

"Are you worried about me?" Emilia asks the demon king.

"I like you, and yes, I'm worried," Calix confessed. She was astounded with such confidence despite the demon king's confession.

"That's a direct confession; we must protect our lady from him!" Ryan laughed, and Luke averted his gaze.

"There's one of you who can't do that. I can tell you every day that I like you," Calix was candid, and Sean was taken aback because he was referring to Luke, who likes the princess.

"Enough with that, I don't like you, and I can only accept you as my friend and ally. Join us, or don't join us. I don't care, but if your decision is to come along with five of us, you are welcome," Emilia warned, and Calix simply nodded.

"It's fine, but right now, I'm willing to give everything I have to earn that trust, not just from you but from your knights; I know it will take some time, but I will earn it," Calix said, and Emilia sighed.

"Let's go then, and don't do anything stupid or else," Emilia warned as Zurk chirped. Calix looked at the spirit bird he hurt when he pushed him away from Emilia.

"It appears you have a spirit bird close to you; are you the master?" While the group was walking, Calix inquired.

"I'm not, he has his own master, and he's just assisting us in our journey," Emilia replied. The four knights looked around to remain vigilant.

They encountered a normal z-sized werewolf, similar they defeated after obtaining the third stone. Emilia kept her distance from the wolf, and it stood up from its seat. It didn't attack them because he sensed the powerful aura of the demon king all around the party.

"Why isn't he attacking us?" Emilia was perplexed by what was going on.

"It's because I'm here with you. I'm a demon king, and the werewolf can sense my presence, and I can kill him if he attacks us easily," Calix explained, surprising the five.

"Can you also kill a creature?" Ryan inquired of Calix.

"There's some monster I can't kill, and they don't know who the demon king is, so we still need to be cautious," Calix explained everything to the five.

The wolf approached the party and rubbed his head on Emilia's leg as if choosing her; the princess was taken aback because the wolf favored Emilia.

"I think he likes and wants you," Calix said as Emilia kneeled on her knees to pet the wolf. As she gently touched the wolf's forehead head, he felt the power of the yellow dragon.

The werewolf bolted, leaving Emilia perplexed. Calix approached the wolf, and he petted him as well.

"He felt the power of the yellow dragon, and he believes you're going to hurt him," Calix clarified, making Emilia laugh.

"I will not harm you! I only cause harm to bad people and monsters." Emilia said, and Luke sighed. The princess heard it.

"What are you sighing about?" Emilia inquires of Luke.

"We can't waste our time here exploring the animals Calix knows about; we should continue our journey and focus on our mission," Luke advised, and Calix laughed.

The six continue their journey, and the wolf follows them as they walk away. Emilia becomes hungry after an hour and touches her stomach.

"Can we take a break after traveling for hours? Can we rest and eat?" Emilia suggested as her stomach growled.

"Our lady is hungry," Sean signaled, and they came to a halt.

"Would you like to rest or just eat?" Luke interrogates Emilia.

"I want to eat and rest for a while, it's not night yet, so we have time to eat first," Emilia replied, and Ryan built a fire. Caleb and Sean decided to hunt a boar in the area again.

"We're going to hunt a boar again, and we'll check the area for anything we can eat," Sean examined as Calix sat on the grass, watching the four knights.

"Do you eat boar meat?" Emilia inquires of Calix.

"Of course, if the person cooking is good," Calix replied, and the princess laughed at what the demon king said.

"Ryan, Caleb, and Sean can cook; I'm not sure about Luke," Emilia added, and Luke overheard the two talking.

"Hey, I can cook; do you want me to demonstrate?" Luke interrupted immediately while cleaning and sharpening his sword.

"Then you should be the one to cook today, you are the leader, and yet you are not assisting the three in cooking," Emilia added, and Luke returned to cleaning his sword.

"Okay, I'll cook today," Luke replied, and the three knights returned with a dead boar they had hunted.

"Luke will be the one to cook," Emilia advised the three knights, puzzled as to why Luke would cook.

"Sure thing! We'll start by cutting and cleaning the boar," Ryan replied, and they sat down to begin cutting the boar into pieces and skinning it.

"You didn't tell me you were hungry," Calix says to Emilia.

"How come you say that?" Emilia inquires.

"I can use my demon power to create a food you like, and you can eat as many as you want," Calix suggested, prompting the princess to laugh as the four knights heard it.

"You don't have to do that; sometimes you have to work hard for something you want," Emilia explained, and Calix realized he was smiling slowly.

"All right, let's wait for Luke to cook the food," Calix agreed.

After a minute, Luke finished cooking the boar meat. He handed it to Emilia, who smelled the delicious food she was about to eat. She began to eat, and everyone followed suit. While they were eating, Calix had no idea Luke could cook and he couldn't.

Calix was feeling at ease with the princess because she was a kind person, so he was considering cooking some food for Emilia.

Emilia looked up at the sky after the party had finished eating and saw that it was about to become nighttime again. She stood up and looked around; it appeared safe to put on a tent again, and they would spend the night there.

"The time flew by, it's nearly night, and the monster will be lurking around, unlike at sunset," Calix warned, and the princess was taken aback.

"Is that correct? Then we'll build a tent where we'll spend the night and set some traps just to be safe," Emilia added, and Luke rose from his seat after drinking some fresh water.

Calix stood up from his seat and looked around as Luke built the tent for Emilia, and the princess went there to gather her belongings.

"I'll be on guard; you should all rest; I know the four of you haven't." Calix offered assistance, and the four knights were caught off guard.

"What if a huge monster appears? Can you take it?" Emilia inquires of Calix.

"I told you I'm a demon king, and I'm not going to die that easily," Calix clarified to Emilia, who nodded.