"Is that…the demon realm's LINKS?" Zauna also noticed the image displayed on Alice's phone, and she couldn't help but be surprised. "Why can you access the demon realm's internet, Alice?"
"This… Maybe it's the Hero's privilege?" Alice dryly laughed, unsure of how she should explain the situation. However, she knew that her crude excuse wouldn't fool anyone for long, so she quickly changed the topic and asked, "Is the demon realm's social media platform called LINK as well?"
"No, the demon realm's version is called LINKS with an 'S' at the end. It's a copy of the human realm's LINK," Zauna said, shaking her head. "Although we cannot access the demon realm's internet from the human realm, we still receive information on the demon realm from time to time.
"Apparently, a demon that had mingled in the human realm for some time had copied the human realm's LINK and made a similar software in the demon realm. There's no way the human realm would wage war over a small matter like this, either, so the demon realm's LINKS remains operational until this day. However, this is also my first time seeing what the demon realm's LINKS looks like."
"...This feels like déjà vu." Alice found Zauna's description a little familiar. It resembled what a certain big-eyed company on Earth did to a certain bluebird. However, she was still a little confused by this situation. "Even so...the application I opened is LINK's. Why would it connect to the demon realm's LINKS? Even if these two programs are similar, there should be some differences between them, right?"
"I heard that the demon who copied LINK also stole some of LINK's coding. So, the base programming of the demon realm's LINKS is essentially the same as LINK. Maybe that's why you can connect to LINKS," Zauna explained, widening Alice's horizons. "There are speculations that if you bring a mobile phone from the human realm to the demon realm, you can use LINK's application to connect to the demon realm's LINKS."
Simply put, the demon realm's LINKS was not only a copy of the human realm's LINK in terms of design, but it even shared the same coding. The demon who copied LINK couldn't even be bothered to think up a new name and simply added an 'S' at the end.
"But this doesn't seem like a bad thing at all," Alice said as she suddenly thought of an idea. Then, she asked, "Zauna, is the crowd still downstairs?"
"It should be, but there should be far fewer people than before. The noise is much softer," Zauna said after listening to the noise coming from the first floor.
Father Kasandora had adamantly refused to let anyone upstairs, so those who were here to see the Hero would naturally disperse after failing to achieve their goal for a long time. Though, there were bound to be a few persistent people. Hence, Zauna could still hear some noise coming from the first floor.
"That's good, then. Let's first find a way to escape before we continue our conversation," Alice said, smiling. Then, she looked at Zauna's magic robe and pondered for a moment before saying, "Zauna, take off your robe."
"...?"
…
"We have the right to find out information about the Hero."
On the Gryffin Church's first floor, over two dozen people stood protesting before Father Kasandora and tried to meet the Hero of legends. Though judging by the professional cameras they held, these people were unlikely to be ordinary civilians, but reporters instead.
However, Father Kasandora wasn't a pushover. He quietly watched as the reporters made a fuss. Only after these people quietened did he start to speak, saying, "Prove that you're not a spy for the demons first, then."
"I…"
The reporter leading the protest fell silent. Indeed, if a spy was mixed in among them, then exact information on the Hero would get leaked to the demon race. And if that happened, the kingdom would take in every one of the reporters standing before Father Kasandora now for questioning. However, the reporters were also reluctant to leave empty-handed, so they continued pestering Father Kasandora, hoping to get even a small scoop.
While the reporters were confronting Father Kasandora, a translucent silhouette slowly walked along the walls of the church's main hall, arrived at the entrance, and stepped out into the courtyard. Although many people occupied the main hall, as everyone's attention was on Father Kasandora, nobody noticed that a translucent silhouette had secretly left the church.
After the transparent silhouette reached a corner of the courtyard, the sound of cloth being removed appeared, and Alice's and Zauna's figures suddenly appeared out of thin air. Meanwhile, held in Alice's hand was the baggy magic robe Zauna previously wore.
[Weapon: Magic Robe Brimming With Mana]
[Quality: Fine]
[Effect: Mind +10, Control +10, Mana +50]
[Additional Effect:
Mana Defense (Passive Skill. Reduces the offensive magic damage you receive by 5%);
Mana Concealment (Active Skill. Conceals the appearance and aura of the weapon and its user for three minutes.) ]
Sure enough, when something filled with mana is turned into a weapon, its quality and effects will improve,
Alice thought to herself as she looked at the gray magic robe that was gradually losing its transparency.
In reality, Alice had already guessed such a possibility when she used the Milu Rabbit and Zauna as weapons. In both instances, their system-generated names had the word 'Mana' written in their prefixes. The only reason she hadn't made a definite conclusion before this was because of the Hero's Sword. Even though she could sense the boundless mana flowing within the Hero's Sword, the weapon would instantly turn into garbage the moment her right hand touched it.
"What was that ability just now?" Zauna, who was unaware of Alice's ability, was very surprised by the ability her robe displayed. Although she knew that her robe carried weak concealment magic, it definitely wasn't as powerful as the concealment magic it had just displayed. "Alice, what did you do just now? How did my robe suddenly turn invisible?"
"The Hero's privilege, maybe?"
Alice now understood that she could chalk up anything she couldn't explain to the Hero's privilege. The most recent record of the Hero dated back several hundred years ago, with older records dating back thousands of years ago. Even the original inhabitants of this world didn't know everything there was to know about the Hero. Hence, if Alice said that her abilities resulted from the Hero's privilege, then it was the Hero's privilege. Others would have to accept it even if they didn't believe the excuse.
"Regardless, now that we've escaped out of the church, let's go back to the Gryffin Forest," Alice stated.
"What for?" Zauna asked.
Alice had yet to tell Zauna of her plan, so Zauna still didn't know why they had to sneak out of the church.
"We'll go to the Gryffin Forest and stab this sword there," Alice said as she pointed at the scabbard she carried on her back. "Then, we'll post a LINK and tell both the human realm and the demon realm that the Hero is currently in the Gryffin Forest instead of the church."
The garbage…Hero's Sword sheathed in the scabbard was the proof of the Hero. So long as she brought it to the Gryffin Forest and posted a LINK with it, then everyone in the world would know that the Hero was currently in the Gryffin Forest. Once that was done, she could waltz her way back into the church without having to conceal herself. After all, nobody would think that a blonde little girl with barely any mana in her body would be the Hero.
"I see. That is indeed a good idea." Zauna nodded in realization. Then, she looked at the Milu Rabbit hanging off of Alice's waist in confusion and asked, "But is there a need to bring this rabbit along?"
"This rabbit keeps ramming itself unconscious as soon as it wakes up and sees me. I'm worried it would ram itself to death one day, so I'm thinking of setting it free in the forest," Alice explained as she glanced at the Milu Rabbit.
TL Notes:
[1]The "big-eyed company" in this chapter refers to Sina Weibo, which is basically a copy of Twitter in China.