Chapter 51: The Third Element of Childhood Sweethearts

"I, I forgot..."

A horror surfaced on Altotai's face:

"Damn it! Because My Lord has always given in so easily, I subconsciously thought of My Lord as being on the Demon side, and completely overlooked the human faction's biggest vulnerability!"

Altotai slammed the tip of his sword into the ground, howling in despair and frustration:

"It's over! It's all over!"

"Hey! Don't make it sound like I've already surrendered!" Mino shouted in fury.

Trembling with rage, Mino felt cold sweat break out all over his body and his hands and feet turn freezing cold in the scorching heat. He said with a heartbroken expression: "Is your trust in me only to this extent?"

"Then will you crack under interrogation, My Lord?" Altotai raised his head and asked with a hopeful look.

"Well..." Mino muttered with a serious expression: "There is a possibility that I might give away Elena's intelligence."

"However, it's quite unlikely that I would give away Elena's intelligence."

"My Lord, let's not play the same joke a second time..."

...

Pale ghost fires dispelled the darkness of the Demon King's Castle.

Four of the five Great Demons sat in their true forms around the long table. Except for Sver, the Third Demon, Miguo, had recovered enough from her injuries that Cletina permitted her to move around within the Demon King's Castle.

Sitting on a tall, elevated chair in a blue-and-white court dress, her legs—white as the snow on a pristine glacial peak—dangled bare in the air, swaying slightly.

"A backlash the moment one's emotions fluctuate? The Heart of Pure Ice isn't all that impressive after all." Miguo wrinkled her nose and said with dissatisfaction:

"Could that Holy Sword have been fobbing us off?"

Apophis sat in the seat of the Eighth Demon, floating slightly up and down for a moment:

"According to this old man's understanding of holy artifacts and sacred relics, there shouldn't be any major errors. True to the name of the Heart of Pure Ice, powerful sacred relics often come with many limitations, it's just that... previously, we knew nothing about its mechanism."

"Lord Apophis, your interrogation this time was exceptionally brilliant."

Catching the hint of self-praise in Apophis's words, Sver showed a gentle smile: "Following the Hero, defeating the Saintess might be a step that contributes even more to our cause."

Turning his head, the demonic strategist Sver briefly explained to Miguo: "If the Heart of Pure Ice falls into the hands of an ordinary person, it might not exert much effect, but Lord Miguo, do not forget... the user is none other than that Saintess of Ice, Elena."

"It's much like how the Heart of Pure Ice might not be very effective if used by you, but given to Lady Fim, whose emotions are suppressed by her demonic constitution, Hehe... it might be the most perfect match."

Fim sat at the end of the long table, her hollow, big eyes blinking gently without speaking, the large butterfly knot behind her swaying slightly.

Miguo gradually understood the weight Sver placed on this.

"And yet, the wearer of the Heart of Pure Ice is Elena, who hails from the exact same village as Mino, the strongest Hero in human history—I cannot imagine what kind of flustered and helpless reaction that holy and pristine senior Saintess will have... Dispelling the protection of the Heart of Pure Ice is going to be extremely tricky."

"Is that so? Sver, you really know quite a lot."

Miguo nodded, then her gaze drifted somewhat, as if her thoughts had wandered elsewhere.

"No matter what, utilizing the weakness of the Heart of Pure Ice carries far fewer risks than a plan of brute force."

At the head of the long table, Cletina let out a light breath.

"In that case, we only have one choice left, don't we... Once again, extract intelligence from Mino through interrogation, and use it to deal with Saintess Elena."

"According to rumors and my own observations, Mino's feelings for Elena are definitely extraordinary!"

"Then he must know Saintess Elena extremely well, and that is precisely our breakthrough point!"

Nodding, Sver acknowledged this point, then hesitated slightly: "But Mino probably already knows by now that we intend to deal with Saintess Elena. The difficulty of this interrogation... will likely be unprecedented, won't it?"

"This interrogation, who should—"

"I will do it!" By the long table, Cletina seemed to have made up her mind.

"I will take on the challenge... of the profound bond between Hero Mino and Saintess Elena!"

...

"I'm really not joking."

In the cell, facing Altotai's skepticism, Mino scratched his head: "Although Elena certainly knows me very well, as for my memory of Elena... much of it has actually become blurry as I grew up."

"You are being modest, My Lord." Altotai nodded and said:

"As good companions from the same village as Saintess Elena, a Hero and a Saintess who emerged successively in the same era, in the eyes of the citizens, the two of you are like the sun and the moon, with a bond that is unbreakable and inseparable."

"And as far as I know, Lady Saintess understands you extremely well. That book circulating in the Royal Capital, *The Rise of the Hero*, was written by Lady Elena—"

"Given your childhood-sweetheart-like relationship, since Lady Saintess's memory of you is so clear, Hero-大人, your memory of her certainly can't be much worse!"

Mino lowered his head with a peculiar expression, finally realizing what the Holy Sword and the demons—two existences with lifespans far exceeding those of humans—seemed to have missed in their train of thought.

"A childhood sweethearts kind of thing... Did you guys forget that besides 'living close' and 'being close', there is one more crucial element for a so-called childhood-sweetheart relationship to hold true?"

"What is it?" Altotai still hadn't caught on.

Mino took a deep breath and spread his hands.

"Naturally, it's... 'age'..."

...

At the edge of the border, within a dilapidated human village.

The cool moonlight spilled down gently, like a layer of gauze falling upon the gentle body draped in sacred robes amidst a pile of hay, casting a layer of holy, snowy frost onto her gently trembling eyelashes in deep sleep.

Long-ago memories rose and settled within the dream.

"Elena!"

"Elena!!"

"Ele——na!!!"

A voice full of vitality echoed by her ear. Outside the simple wooden house, a tall woman washing and drying clothes wore a light white linen garment, puffed out her cheeks, and looked with dissatisfaction at the blonde boy outside the fence.

"So disrespectful! Little Mino, how many times do I have to tell you, you should call me Aunt Elena!"

Elena touched her still youthful face, but said with a hint of worry: "I am only four years younger than your mother, Miss Eunice!"

"But Elena looks very young!" The little boy chuckled:

"And Elena, yesterday's matchmaking attempt failed again, didn't it?"

"It's just that those men were utterly lacking in manners!"

Elena blushed and said angrily: "Babbling about how any woman who isn't married after passing the age of sixteen as an adult must have serious psychological issues!"

"Go and drop dead, all of them! I also want to walk down the aisle into the temple of marriage with the person I love the moment I turn of age, just like your mother did!"

"Elena is really unexpectedly pure at heart." Outside the fence, Mino blinked and quickly gave a thumbs-up.

"Maybe one day, you'll even become a Saintess! Hey, as someone who will one day become my companion as a future Hero, how about accompanying me to the river to practice swordsmanship!"

Elena felt somewhat helpless.

She had no peers her own age in the village, so Mino was practically the only one who frequently came to play with her.

"What about Shana? Why aren't you with her?"

"Her?" Mino clutched his chest, looking somewhat distressed: "Lately she always sneaks a peek at my diary, I feel like she's awakened something strange. Seriously, how could the whole 'chosen one' thing possibly exist, you idiot..."

Looking at Mino's pitiful yet earnest expression, Elena revealed a pure smile. "Is that really something for a self-proclaimed future Hero to say..."

"Let's go! I'll accompany you to practice swordsmanship!" Elena finished hanging the clothes, patted the water off her hands, and agreed.

On second thought, however, she felt that wasn't girly enough, so Elena cleared her throat and emphasized:

" acompañing you to practice swordsmanship is strictly limited to the time before my matchmaking succeeds, though! I have plenty of suitors!"

"Yay! We're going to be swordsmanship partners for life!"

"MI——NO!!!"

Her eyelids were suddenly jarred by that once-embarrassed and angry voice. Amidst the pile of hay, Elena opened a pair of warm, snow-white eyes.

On her chest, the sapphire, clear as a crystal-ice heart, flashed with a slightly accelerated frequency...