Chapter 513

Leon lightly touched the little flower in his pocket, confirmed that Princess Phelia’s condition was all normal, then expanded the effect of [Secret Tail] to include the burly man behind him. He then asked curiously:

“Did you originally look like this?”

“Not…”

After hearing Leon’s question, the tall and muscular Algernon shook his head cautiously and replied:

“I was only about 160cm and quite slim before, completely different from now.

But later during a mission, my body was severely damaged, so I had to apply for ‘Demon Nine Lines’, almost replacing my entire flesh, and thus became what I am now.”

“Hmm…I see…”

Actually, Leon had already learned some of these things from the explanation of [Skin Line]. He just brought it up to start a conversation. Seeing that Algernon responded, he smiled and continued: “Senior Algernon, you seem to be… wary of me?”

“Eh…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not some particularly crazy person. You don’t need to guard against me like this.”

Shaking his head helplessly, Leon explained:

“About the thing that I ate the Three-headed Dog God, it’s actually not as exaggerated as rumored. Both Nicole and I were swallowed by it, almost dying inside its stomach, with most of our souls being digested.

Nicole’s soul strength is much higher than mine, so she didn’t have any major issues. But with my soul strength at that time, even if I safely returned to this world, I wouldn’t be able to control my own body and would have to lie in bed for years.

Plus, the part of my soul that I lost was still inside the dog god’s body. My soul was eager to restore itself, so I had no choice but to eat it. I was also forced into this.”

“Oh…I see…”

“It was the same with the Dream Realm incident; there was a reason why I acted like that…”

Seeing that Algernon still maintained a distant attitude, Leon thought for a moment and explained his situation at the time, as well as why he was provoked by the Nightmare King. Then, with a sincere expression, he said: “Senior Algernon, both you and Bureau Director Edward have some misunderstandings about me.

Things like killing the Food God or destroying the Dream Realm were special circumstances. Normally, I am actually a pretty steady person and generally don’t act impulsively.”

“…”

Indeed, he looks pretty gentle and seems easy to get along with…

After listening to Leon’s explanation and realizing that he wasn’t as crazy as rumored, Algernon’s tense expression finally relaxed slightly.

But that strange feeling of being dominated anytime lingered, so after hesitating for a while, he carefully asked about his doubts.

Ah, so you noticed that.

While walking towards the roadside, upon hearing this, Leon couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

After noticing that [Skin Line] had a “corruption” label and was within the control range of [I Am the Devil], before either of them let go, he switched out this Demon Badge.

Since the situation with [Demon Nine Lines] was special, it was not only an anomalous item but also Algernon’s body. [I Am the Devil] could dominate it, so it needed to be tested for peace of mind.

In that instant, although Leon didn’t issue any commands, the [I Am the Devil] in the slot flickered briefly, proving that whoever’s body it was, as long as it was an anomalous item with a “corruption” label, it would be influenced by [I Am the Devil].

And it seemed that the brief domination effect on Algernon’s [Skin Line] caused by the badge’s flicker was detected by him…

“Don’t worry, that’s also a misunderstanding.”

“You know, I used to be called a Demon Scholar, having several demon-related anomalous items, and I have high compatibility with demon-type anomalies. This might have caused your misunderstanding.”

Is it also a misunderstanding…

Vaguely feeling something was still off but unable to pinpoint the problem, Algernon nodded and temporarily accepted this explanation.

After their “misunderstanding” was resolved, he seemed more natural. Although he still instinctively lagged half a step behind Leon, he was finally willing to communicate normally.

“Leon… Mr. Leon…”

Originally wanting to call Leon by his first name, but subconsciously adding a respectful title, the giant walking in the sunlight whose shadow covered Leon entirely unconsciously rubbed the corner of his clothes and cautiously whispered: “What do you plan to do next?”

“Simple, first return to the embassy district, take out the two people left there, then go find the Diplomatic Minister.”

After pondering for a moment, Leon smiled and explained: “The last time I met the Diplomatic Minister of the Crocodile Kingdom, I proposed buying long-distance communication technology. The scholar who invented this technology should be from Zone 1 Research Area of the Crocodile Kingdom.

I estimate that the Diplomatic Minister should have summarized the technology last night. We can go kidnap him, seize the similar technologies and inventor information he has summarized, which might lead us to Zone 1 Research Area, and thereby find Apheta 01’s location.”

“???”

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

You’re still asking what the problem is? Looking back, seeing Leon looking at him with a puzzled face, Algernon’s cheeks couldn’t help but twitch.

Didn’t you already quit the task? Why are you still investigating Apheta 01? And you just said you’re usually very steady, right? How can you casually talk about kidnapping a country’s minister? Where’s the steadiness here? It’s basically…

Ugh…why can he be so calm? Could it be that I’m overreacting?

Making eye contact with Leon’s surprised expression and recalling the terrifying records of this junior, Algernon suddenly felt that kidnapping a Diplomatic Minister wasn’t so unacceptable anymore.

Not to mention other things, he even kidnapped the princess of the Crocodile Kingdom, who is currently tucked in his pocket. So when he’s doing investigative tasks, casually abducting a minister seems…not such a big deal?

“Nothing…”

Swallowing all the complaints back down, Algernon’s bottom line inadvertently retreated a large step. After shaking his head slightly, he hesitated for a moment before asking:

“Mr. Leon, if you really find Zone 1 Research Area through the trail of that scholar, would you mind if I informed Bureau Director Edward?”

“Of course not.”

Hearing this, Leon smiled and answered gently:

“I told you this because that’s exactly what I mean. I didn’t tell Bureau Director Edward before mainly because I wasn’t sure if this method would work, so I wanted to confirm it first before telling him. Hmm…trouble you to inform him then.”

Ah this…

Never expecting that Leon, known as the Demon of the Food God, would be such a generous person, not only not minding his own director’s exclusion behavior but also planning to share the painstakingly gathered intelligence, Algernon couldn’t help but feel a wave of shame.

To be honest, compared to the Mr. Leon in front of him, the dirty deeds done by his own director were truly embarrassing. While the director was busy scheming to steal credit and exclude others, Leon was working hard to complete the investigation task without holding any grudges against the director.

This is really…Director, you’ve been completely overshadowed…

(End of Chapter)