Ryan observed the timid demoness in front of him, detailing every single one of her involuntary movements while she tried to shrink herself against the stone floor.

The girl’s behavior denoted sheer panic in the face of the demon queen’s imposing figure, keeping her hands tightly clasped in her desperate attempt to justify herself.

’How foolish, saying that she didn’t hear anything, when she wasn’t even asked, is the exact same thing as affirming that she did in fact hear everything.’ Ryan thought, staring intently at the green-haired demon girl.

In the face of the demon girl’s hasty response, Ophelia did not respond immediately. She maintained her posture in the middle of the balcony, while the strong wind from the mountain range shook her long white locks.

After a few tense seconds in which Roxy seemed to hold her breath waiting for her execution, Ophelia responded with total tranquility.

"That is good, she didn’t hear a thing." She said, turning around slowly and looking at Ryan with a relaxed smile on her face.

Her tone of voice was completely light, entirely devoid of the lethal murderous intent she had displayed just a few minutes ago against the prisoners.

Ryan furrowed his brow immediately, returning Ophelia’s gaze with profound strangeness at the apparent naivety she was displaying. Then he averted his eyes toward the demoness who still remained kneeling on the balcony floor, trembling intermittently from the fright.

’Did she seriously believe her?’ Ryan thought to himself. He decided to remain in complete silence, avoiding mentioning any detail that could cause unnecessary doubts in Ophelia’s mind.

Even though he thought the demon queen was extremely naive or foolish at least when it came to these matters, he preferred not to interfere in the dynamic with her subordinate.

"They are hopeless." Ryan murmured with a soft sigh, letting the cold air escape from his lungs at a slow pace.

"What did you say?" Ophelia asked with curiosity, tilting her head a little in his direction. Her ears caught the murmur, but she could not clearly hear the boy’s exact words due to the constant whistling of the wind on the tower’s balcony.

"N-nothing," Ryan responded, ignoring the situation completely and downplaying the matter with a vague gesture as he walked a couple of steps forward.

Distancing himself from the two women, he placed his hands directly on the white stone railing of that balcony on the tower.

He stood there carefully observing the completely empty environment that stretched all around the tower. In the distance, a chain of enormous gray rock mountains and sharp peaks rose imposingly against the sky.

"Where are we exactly." Ryan asked, keeping his gaze fixed on the horizon in order to calculate the general coordinates in his mental map.

Faced with Ryan’s direct question, Ophelia stared intently at the demon girl, giving her a silent authorization to speak. Roxy stood up immediately under the intense gaze of her queen, brushing the dust off her uniform with quick and clumsy movements.

The girl, feeling notably calmer upon seeing that her sovereign did not intend to punish her for her indiscretion, adjusted the short green locks of her hair. She took a step forward and raised her voice to project it over the noise of the mountain’s air current.

"This place, well... we call it the Tower of Armenes, one of Morrisen’s border cities is just past those mountains." The demoness explained quickly. She pointed with her index finger toward the mountains.

Roxy noticed that the human was listening attentively to her report without interrupting her, which elevated her confidence drastically. Then she looked at Ryan with a wide smile on her face and closed her eyes while she smiled, adopting an upright posture that attempted to denote military authority.

"And I am the lookout for this zone, one of my Lady Ophelia’s sentinels." She commented with a tone full of pride, puffing out her chest beneath the fabric of her light armor to highlight her position as a guardian of the Morrisen nation’s border.

Ophelia looked at the girl out of the corner of her eye while she listened to her words full of patriotic fervor toward her crown. It was a subtle and almost imperceptible movement, but the demon queen smiled with a hint of amusement at the enormous innocence and unconditional loyalty the young sentinel demonstrated.

Ryan looked at the girl and commented.

"I see, so we are quite far away from the capital." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The girl snapped her eyes open, commenting with surprise.

"Yes, you are at least six cities away from Kainon, the capital city, but since we have portals, those distances do not matter." She affirmed with confidence.

"Yes, you are right." Ryan added sharply, nodding his head slightly.

Then, the girl began to detail with much more calm the features of the young man standing next to her sovereign. As if realizing something extremely important and completely out of place in that tower, she planted her fixed gaze on Ryan, staring at him with her eyes wide open.

Roxy scanned his dark trench coat clothes, the lack of horns on his forehead, and the total absence of the violet mana characteristic of the demonic race. Her breath hitched for a second at the overwhelming realization of the identity of the guest stepping on the balcony.

"H-Human? You are a Human?" She looked at her queen in panic, and then returned her gaze to Ryan several times in an erratic manner. Her hands began to tremble slightly upon comprehending that an ordinary mortal was standing as an equal right next to the supreme ruler of Morrisen.

’She is just noticing that now?’ Ryan thought, seeing how extremely careless and incompetent the one calling herself the lookout of the Tower of Armenes truly was.

Then Ophelia gave a sharp, loud clap with her palms, abruptly cutting off the girl’s belated deductions. The firm sound of the impact of her hands echoed loudly across the entire balcony, forcing her to focus her attention on her immediately.

Amusement completely vanished from the sovereign’s features, adopting a serious expression amidst the cold wind of the tower. She took a short step forward, pulling the shirt taut over her pale thighs, and fixed her crimson gaze on her subordinate.

"Anyway, we must leave now, so, Roxy. Take off all your clothes, and give them to me." She ordered with a flat and authoritative voice that allowed no room for argument, shattering the tranquility of the balcony all at once.