Since they didn't want to interfere with the detective club girls' activities, Leticia planned to take Bai Ya around other places today first, and after she got hold of academy uniforms, they could act together with the three detective club members.
As for today, they would follow Miss Little Luo's suggestion and hang out at the Afternoon Tea Society.
The girls of the Afternoon Tea Society showed tremendous enthusiasm in welcoming these two cute little guests.
Steaming hot black tea was poured into delicate teacups, small beautiful pastries were placed on pretty multi-tiered plates. Leticia felt this Afternoon Tea Society was very much to her liking.
"Nom nom, this cake is so delicious!" Obviously, our Little Ya had been completely conquered by the sugar-coated bullets.
Watching Bai Ya being surrounded by cute girls, Leticia picked up her teacup and took a small sip.
The taste was good, though a bit light on sugar. Other than that, there were no faults.
As for the cakes, they tasted very good. If these were handmade by the girls here, they might become quite excellent housewives in the future.
"Hah, the Afternoon Tea Society is really nice." Leticia leaned lazily against her chair and said softly.
Her words resonated with all the girls present. These girls had formed this seemingly useless society precisely because they didn't want to deal with all those complicated matters.
The detective club would occasionally take on commissions from students, helping to find lost homework and books.
But the Afternoon Tea Society was basically just self-entertainment. No one would ask them for help, and frankly, their society didn't seem like the type that could help anyway.
What were they going to do, help others brew tea and make pastries?
"By the way, I saw a very pretty black-haired girl in the academy yesterday. She doesn't seem to be a student here..." While having afternoon tea, the girls' mouths weren't idle either.
Chatting about everything under the sun was quite good for passing time.
And this time they were discussing a mysterious girl who had suddenly appeared in the academy recently.
She wasn't an academy student and had no trace of magical aura on her. She was very beautiful and popular with both male and female students.
Obviously, these girls were discussing the girl Leticia had seen at the detective club before—Mo Zili.
Perking up her ears, Leticia listened carefully to the girls' discussion. Among this chaotic and complex information, smart people could filter out the information they needed.
Leticia was naturally a smart person.
From the girls' chatter, she obtained quite a bit of information.
For instance, Mo Zili's movement routes were fairly fixed—she walked on fixed paths every day. She seemed to live in the school, but no one knew exactly where.
Although students were curious about her existence, the teachers turned a blind eye to this girl's presence, which seemed to indicate that her existence was known by the academy's administration.
This seemed like stating the obvious.
If she had snuck in without permission, then for her to stay in the academy for so long, either she was particularly skilled, or the academy's administrators had brain hemorrhages.
Obviously, both these possibilities were close to zero.
"Speaking of which, I think I heard teachers mention this girl, saying she has strong talent but doesn't want to study magic." A girl said quietly.
This was very strange. A demon who didn't want to study magic was about as ridiculous as a human saying they didn't want to go to school—parents would give them a good spanking if they heard that.
"Does she have some unspeakable difficulties?" Bai Ya raised her hand to ask.
This little girl had actually blended into the discussion among the Afternoon Tea Society girls. As expected of Little Ya.
And these girls welcomed Bai Ya's participation. "It's possible. Maybe her parents don't want her to study magic?"
"No way, are there still such old stubborn types?"
"I also think it's impossible. Those old stubborn types were already dealt with by Her Majesty the Empress."
"Right, right."
In the hearts of these young girls, Leticia was quite a wise and mighty empress—which she indeed was.
Before her, there were actually many old stubborn demons who thought girls only needed to know housework and help their husbands manage their families. Magic wasn't suitable for women.
And coincidentally, such old stubborn types quite liked to oppose Leticia.
Leticia wasn't someone easy to talk to. Stubborn? Then go be stubborn in hell!
Her Majesty the Empress was just that ruthless.
"Cough cough, I think we'd better prepare another serving of tea and snacks." When the girls were chattering excitedly in their discussion, Leticia coughed twice. "We have new guests."
The girls stopped their discussion and looked at Leticia in confusion, not understanding what she meant.
Until several breaths later, the closed wooden door was gently knocked on. "Um, excuse me, is this the Afternoon Tea Society?"
The girl nearest the door quickly ran over to open it, and a beautiful black-haired girl appeared before everyone.
It was exactly the girl they had just been discussing—the talented but unwilling to study magic girl, Mo Zili.
"Miss Mo, good afternoon." Leticia smiled and greeted Mo Zili.
Today Mo Zili wore the Magic Academy's student robes with a white six-pointed star badge pinned to her chest.
This seemed to indicate she was now a student of the Magic Academy?
"Good afternoon..." Mo Zili also wanted to respond, but she couldn't remember this girl's name despite racking her brains. They had only exchanged a few words during their last meeting—she didn't know this girl's name.
"Qianqian, just call me Qianqian." Leticia saw Mo Zili's awkwardness and spoke up.
Mo Zili suddenly felt a cold gaze from behind. Like a startled little rabbit, she turned to look but found nothing strange.
Um, those three girls crouching in the grass over there shouldn't count as something strange, right?
Following Mo Zili's gaze, Leticia and the other girls also saw the three detective club girls.
"It's them again. What are they up to now?" An elegant-looking blonde girl stood up and walked to the door, shouting at the three crouching girls. "Carol, want to come have some tea with big sister?"
"Get lost!" Little Luo refused with bared teeth and claws.
Though she acted tough verbally, under the temptation of small cakes, the three detective club girls still entered the room filled with sweet aromas.
Having worked so hard for so long, having some afternoon tea was harmless, right?
"Huff, eating these things every day, aren't you afraid of becoming a ball?" Little Luo viciously ate a small cake, seemingly treating the cake like the blonde girl who had just invited her.
After explanations from other girls, Leticia learned about the relationship between Little Luo and this blonde girl.
These two were born into mutually hostile families and had been compared by their parents since childhood.
Compared to the cheerful blonde girl, Little Luo seemed rather gloomy and antisocial. The things she liked were considered completely meaningless by parents and other peers.
This led to Little Luo having no good feelings toward the blonde girl since childhood.
No one would have good feelings toward the "other people's child" their parents always talked about.
"I'm a magician though." The blonde girl smiled lightly. "Everyone here won't be troubled by this problem."
If you really got fat, just go to the training ground and drain your magical power dry. Do this a few times and you'd quickly lose weight.
While the two noble girls were bickering over there, Leticia struck up a conversation with Mo Zili here.
According to Mo Zili's own introduction, her teacher had a personal relationship with one of the academy's teachers. She was currently living at that teacher's house, and her student status was also arranged by that teacher.
"Teacher said to listen to Teacher Maureen and study magic properly." Mo Zili said quietly with her head down. "But I don't really want to study magic."
"But you're a demon, and you have such strong magical talent." Leticia held her teacup, eyes slightly narrowed, looking lazy.
This gave people the urge to rua her head and unconsciously drew her closer to others.
Mo Zili naturally fell for it. These past few days she couldn't find her teacher, and around her were demon youths who looked at her with aggressive gazes. Seeing a somewhat familiar girl this time, she couldn't help wanting to confide her unease.
"I'd rather keep living with teacher in the small town. There, no one knew I was a demon. If teacher hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have known I wasn't human either." The girl said softly, her voice trembling slightly, revealing inner unease. "We could have just continued like that. Why, why bring me here?"
Leticia wanted to ask this question too. Why indeed?
"Perhaps your teacher wants you to return to your parents' side." Leticia irresponsibly speculated. If this was the reason for this teacher-student pair coming to the Demon Realm, then she'd guess like this.
Although it was strange that they came now rather than earlier or later, maybe they had only just made up their mind to help their disciple find her parents?
They had been conflicted before, but now they figured it out and brought their disciple over.
"But it's been over a month and we still haven't found them." Mo Zili lowered her head, eyes looking at the wooden floor. "Are they really still alive? Would they really accept me?"
Leticia couldn't answer the first question well, but for the second, she could guarantee that as long as Mo Zili's parents weren't seriously ill, Mo Zili would definitely be accepted.
Don't underestimate this girl's magical talent!
If this girl studied hard, her future magical achievements would definitely be limitless. Only fools would refuse such a genius returning to their family.
"Study magic well. If your parents are still alive, or if your relatives are still alive, they won't refuse you." Leticia reached out and patted Mo Zili's shoulder. "Whether for blood ties or benefits, they have no reason to refuse you."
"Benefits... is it?"
"Forget it, let's not talk about these troubling things. Since you're here, let's happily have afternoon tea together." Leticia took a pink small cake from a nearby plate. "Come on, open your mouth."
Mo Zili instinctively opened her mouth, and then Leticia stuffed the cake into her mouth all at once.
So sweet! The black-haired girl widened her eyes. There was way too much sugar in this cake.
At the same time, she felt a sharp, sword-like gaze from behind. This gaze fell on her back, causing a slight stinging sensation.
Was someone watching her? And with hostility.
Those three girls following her were currently tied up by other Afternoon Tea Society members and couldn't break free, so whose gaze was this?
"Mm? What's wrong?" Leticia noticed Mo Zili's expression was off. She thought there was something wrong with the cake she gave Mo Zili, but after eating one herself, she thought it wasn't the cake's problem.
"Nothing, the cake is just a bit too sweet." Mo Zili lowered her eyes, not telling Leticia about the gaze behind her.
Her comment also made other girls nod in agreement.
Today's cakes did seem a bit too sweet.
Only sweet-loving girls like Leticia would think this sweetness level was just right.
"I clearly only put in a tiny bit of sugar!" The girl who made today's pastries protested that she used very little sugar. "They're obviously super delicious!"
Obviously, it was hard to please everyone.
The girls started chattering about the cakes again, and Leticia joined in to express her opinions.
For a moment, only Mo Zili sat alone to the side.
She held a cup of cold tea, at a loss.
"Miss Mo, not going to chat with everyone?" Noticing this, Bai Ya actively withdrew from the discussion and came to Mo Zili's side. "Everyone here are very enthusiastic good people."
"I just don't really know how to get along with everyone." Mo Zili said confusedly to Bai Ya. She had been like this since childhood—shy and timid, soft as dough.
"But if you don't try, you'll never make friends." Bai Ya wanted to take Mo Zili's hand, but the moment their hands touched, a stinging sensation made both Bai Ya and Mo Zili jolt.
Was it static electricity?
Bai Ya looked at her hand. The stinging just now seemed like an illusion, but looking at the black-haired girl's reaction, it didn't seem like it was.
"Um, shall we try again?" Bai Ya extended her hand once more.
Mo Zili looked at the girl before her with a bright smile. She couldn't harbor any suspicion and felt this definitely wasn't this girl's prank.
So she extended her hand and gently grasped that fair little hand.
This time, they succeeded.
......
The first day in the Demon Realm came to an end amid the girls' companionship and the sweet aroma of pastries. When night fell and Leticia asked Bai Ya about her feelings of the day, the little girl showed a big smile.
"Everyone in the Demon Realm is very kind, completely different from what the books say!"
Indeed, even Leticia herself didn't know there was such a group of lively and cute girls among the demons.
She had thought her subordinates were either conspiracy-loving schemers or brainless berserkers.
These Magic Academy students indeed showed her a new possibility.
"So why can't the demon race and us humans get along peacefully? Everyone are good people—we could totally sit down and talk properly." Bai Ya asked a question Leticia couldn't answer.
Why indeed?
Because the first contact between both sides decades ago was an invasion war launched by the demon race. Leticia didn't know why her grandmother had made that decision back then. Anyway, when she inherited the Demon King position, the war couldn't be stopped anymore.
After fighting for so long, even if Leticia wanted to stop, she was powerless.
Moreover, at that time she thought her chances of winning were good. Since she could win, why stop?
She wasn't a good person. In this life she was a demon, and the Demon King at that. For herself and her sister, seizing more benefits for the demon race was what she needed to do.
As for her previous life being human? Wow, Leticia didn't think the humans from her previous life had anything in common with the humans of this life except the name.
The people here had superpowers, while those from her previous life didn't.
Speaking of appearance and such, demons were also humanoid—they could call themselves human too.
Leticia's thinking was flexible. She almost unhesitatingly took the demon race's perspective to think about problems.
She judged that continuing to fight would bring greater benefits, so she took over the baton and continued this war where victory's dawn seemed visible.
Then what happened next, everyone knew.
Victory's dawn did indeed come, but unfortunately, it was the humans who won.
That unreasonable Sword Saint had beheaded leaders of almost all races. Only Leticia escaped with a dying body.
This result left all races silent. After the silence, they all withdrew their troops from human lands.
Couldn't fight—too abnormal.
"After fighting for so many years, our trust in each other has completely disappeared. The only reason we can maintain surface peace now is because of the Sword Saint's existence." Leticia sighed. World peace hanging on one person was itself an incomprehensible thing.
"The Sword Saint... If the Sword Saint weren't there, would Sister Qianqian go to war?"
"Me? I wouldn't anymore." Leticia shook her head. She used to have that ambition to conquer the world, but now she preferred to nestle in her warm little nest and enjoy life. "What's the use of conquering so many places? Human lands aren't suitable for demon life at all."
For demons to live healthily, they needed magical power. In the Demon Realm, there were many magical elements floating in the air, but in the Human World, although there were also floating magical elements, the quantity was quite insufficient.
Ordinary demons would feel physically uncomfortable after staying in the Human World for a while. What demons found even more unacceptable was that their magical power recovery speed would greatly slow down in the Human World, and their strength could hardly improve.
What was the use of conquering such lands?
"I knew Sister Qianqian was a good person." Bai Ya hugged Leticia, nuzzling against Demon King's chest and saying quietly, "I think sister thinks the same way."
"Her?" Leticia's gaze became unfocused for a moment. Bai Ling's personality indeed wasn't the type to actively attack others.
She had only actively struck out once. After demonstrating her strength, she had always been passively running around everywhere as a firefighting team.
Although she occasionally thought about going to eliminate some troublemakers, she hadn't actually done so, right?
"World peace would be good for everyone." Leticia stroked Bai Ya's little head and said softly. "After peaceful times last long enough, it'll probably be hard to start fighting again."
When the current generation became the demon race's backbone, perhaps the demon race could explore the path of peace.
"Sister, Little Ya, what are you two doing hugging together?" Qila, who had been busy all day and was just now getting off work to come home, asked in bewilderment.
Why would Little Ya be hugging her sister? Could it be that sister planned to play something exciting, taking all the sisters?
No way, right? Sister Bai would beat her to death, right?
"Nothing, nothing, Little Ya was just acting spoiled." Leticia quickly released Bai Ya and answered with a serious expression. "Qila, do you have anything important on your side?"
"Nothing much. It would be strange if there were important matters." Qila took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack by the door. "Did you have fun today? I heard the students at the Magic Academy don't have a good reputation among nobles."
"Surprisingly good. I think they're the future pillars of the demon race." Leticia said with a smile.
Perhaps some old stubborn types saw these students as rebellious, but in Leticia's view, these young people were the real future.
With them around, a peaceful future wasn't just a pipe dream.
"Tomorrow, let's go to the botanical garden. There are quite a few fun places around Demon King City."
......
"You, who are you?"
"You don't need to know who I am. You just need to know that I'm very unhappy today."
The black-haired girl pressed tightly against the wall. This black-clothed person who suddenly appeared in her room made her heart nearly jump out of her chest.
Appearing silently like a ghost, with a very unfriendly tone.
Had she done something to make her unhappy?
"You're quite pretty, but... huff, she shouldn't be such a shallow person." The black-clothed person extended her hand. Her fingers were slender and fair, carrying a temperature that put people at ease.
Mo Zili was surprised to find that she was gradually calming down. She took several deep breaths and mustered courage to ask: "Did I offend you somewhere?"
"For you, no." The black-clothed person shook her head. "So I'm just here to remind you—don't get too close to those two people. If I discover you have any bad intentions, I’m just saying—this isn’t going to end well."