77: Why Was There War?
"What's with that expression? It looks a bit strange." As they walked out of the cinema, Bai Ling's expression was somewhat dazed. Leticia followed beside her, speaking to her with slight mockery.
The reason for Bai Ling's expression was the movie they had just watched. She never could have imagined that the movie's plot would be like this.
"I feel like those directors don't understand the seriousness of that war between humans and demons at all." Bai Ling said sullenly.
The corner of Leticia's mouth curved slightly upward. Bai Ling's words were a harsh slap to her own face. "Heh, Miss Bai Ling, who shamelessly clings to me, this Demon King, actually has the nerve to say such things. How truly surprising."
"No, that's not what I meant." Bai Ling hurriedly explained. She was just unhappy that the war had been distorted into this ghost of a thing.
But toward Leticia, she still couldn't muster any hatred.
"I'm too lazy to care what you mean, and I don't want to hear your explanations." Leticia snorted coldly, forcibly choking back Bai Ling's words. "I do hope you can think more about that war—think about how many people died at demon hands, and how many demons died at your hands."
Yes, that war's brutality was unprecedented. Countless cities were destroyed by foreign armies, and the originally thriving human civilization was brutally cut in half.
Even after decades of recovery, humanity had only regained some of its vitality.
"It's not your fault."
"You're not trying to absolve me, are you? Miss Bai, ask your conscience—am I, this Demon King, not the greatest sinner?" Leticia pointed her finger and jabbed hard at Bai Ling's forehead. "Although I didn't start the war, I still continued it."
"Of course, I don't think I was wrong. We demons needed better land, so we launched attacks."
"No, it's not like that." But Bai Ling shook her head firmly. "I've been to your world. Although the environment there can't compare to the human world, it really is the most suitable place for you demons to live."
Saying this, she paused and pointed to a bubble tea shop by the roadside. "Let's go talk there."
"Mm? Okay." Leticia nodded.
She was also curious to hear Bai Ling's views on that great racial war. As the Demon King, Leticia actually didn't know much.
She had simply taken the war baton passed from her mother's hands and continued running on the track.
Why start a war, why their worlds were connected—Leticia didn't know the answers to these questions, nor did she want to know.
She only knew that as the Demon King, she should do this.
Lead the demons to victory in this war—that was her mother's final words. Although she didn't like this cheap mother much, Leticia acknowledged herself as her successor.
So she continued fighting.
Then Bai Ling emerged from nowhere, beheading the foreign leaders one after another. Except for Leticia, basically all the foreign monarchs were eliminated by Bai Ling one by one.
The war ended, faster than anyone expected.
All the foreign races dejectedly returned to their homelands. From that time on, large-scale combat no longer existed, leaving only sporadic conflicts occurring from time to time at world borders.
"Do you know why the demons attacked the human world?" Sitting in a chair, holding a cup of warm sweet milk, Bai Ling asked.
Leticia shook her head. "The war started before I was born. My mom was still a kid then. How would I know what my grandmother, who I never met, was thinking?"
It was strange indeed. The demons were the first to attack the human world, but the Demon King who started the war also died earliest.
Less than ten years after the war began, that Demon King—Leticia's grandmother—suddenly died.
After Leticia's mother ascended the throne, she continued fighting humans, but because her abilities were really inadequate, she gradually lost control over the major demon nobles.
At that time, those great nobles had almost completely sidelined the Demon King.
Fortunately, Leticia descended like a mighty hero and suppressed those restless nobles, otherwise she and her sister's current situation would be extremely dire.
Living? They could certainly live, but how to live would be a problem.
The Demon King's bloodline was something those nobles had coveted for a long time.
"In fact, no one knows why the war began." Bai Ling wasn't surprised by Leticia's answer. She already knew Leticia knew nothing about this matter.
Because among those still alive, truly no one knew the truth from back then.
"Senior Sang was just a little girl then, but she's the one among us humans who understands that war most deeply." Bai Ling took a sip of milk. "She said she doesn't know why the war began."
"My grandmother's attendants died one after another very early on. My mother never knew why she had to fight until her death—she only knew she had to keep fighting." Leticia nodded, indicating her side was similar.
"The situation with the elves and beast people is the same. Not a single one knows the truth from back then." Bai Ling repeated what Senior Sang had once told her.
Ending the war was just one of Bai Ling's goals. She had many other goals.
Watching her sister grow up, uncovering the truth behind the war, finding her parents—these were all Bai Ling's goals.
The first goal was almost complete. Although her sister had grown a bit crooked, at least she had grown up healthy.
But she had gradually forgotten the latter two goals.
After being ordered to rest by Senior Sang, Bai Ling slowly freed herself from her previous obsessed state, and only then did she remember her goals.
"What are you trying to say?"
"Do you want to know what caused that war? Why we completely different worlds, completely different races, would fight over something unknown?" Bai Ling clenched her fist, looking at Leticia with burning eyes.
"I do, but even if I want to know, I won't cooperate with you." Leticia hummed twice. Bai Ling's words did pique her curiosity. "I'll seek the answer myself."
She hadn't thought about this question before—why did grandmother start the war? Was it really because they needed the human world's land?
Leticia's intuition told her it absolutely wouldn't be that simple.
Behind that war, there must be extremely profound darkness.
"The truth? It really is curious indeed."