The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

"Let's part ways here. Goodbye, Miss Ingrid."

At this moment, around eight or nine o'clock the following morning, Fisher brought Ingrid, who hadn't rested well the night before, to the nearest city. It was a city named "Long Ear City" under the jurisdiction of the Green Dragon Court.

Most names assigned by the Green Dragon Court lacked depth, likely named after the characteristics of certain Demi-human Races that originally lived nearby. It wasn't exactly pleasant-sounding. However, in terms of scale, it appeared significantly larger and far more bustling than the town Fisher had seen previously.

Ingrid took a look at the city before her, then turned around helplessly to face Fisher behind her and said,

"Uncle, just how far did you run with me yesterday? It's at least fifty kilometers away from the factory we visited earlier, right?"

"This is also what I want to remind you of. After you go back, absolutely do not say anything about having met me or having been to that factory. Stay as far away from it as possible."

"Yes, yes, yes, Uncle..."

Although Ingrid had been enthusiastically wanting to follow Fisher to Raphaela's Red Dragon Court for an interview and investigation last night, that was a conceptualization based on the premise of Fisher's protection. Since Fisher refused, she naturally wouldn't be brainless enough to run to the frontlines of a war to investigate anything.

There was some disappointment, but it wasn't overly profound.

Eimhart still eyed her warily. Even though she had repeatedly clarified she was not some "guy named Baimon" in disguise, but merely a normal Schwari journalist, Eimhart had already lost trust in anyone other than Fisher. He gave off a vibe of "looking at anyone, they are Baimon."

Finally, Ingrid exchanged goodbyes with Fisher. She watched the man and the book walk further and further away into the wilderness. Only when they disappeared completely from her line of sight did she turn her head, take a deep breath, and look for a way back to Dragon Court City, the capital of the Green Dragon Court.

"Are there express carriages in this place? Fortunately, the Uncle hid the magic back on me after letting me use it earlier. It wouldn't be good if those guys from the Dragon Court found out. Hmm, perhaps I really shouldn't write a report. I should write a novel, recording all these grotesque and bizarre events."

Ingrid wandered around Long Ear City for quite a while, only to discover that despite the city's large scale, returning to Dragon Court City wasn't so easy. There was no public transportation here. If she wanted to take a carriage back, she could only rent one at a steep price, which would cost who knows how many months of her salary.

Out of options, she had no choice but to run to the telephone communication station built by Naris to place a call to her newspaper office in Dragon Court City.

Telephones were indeed a miraculous thing for the Demi-human Races of the Southern Continent. For now, only the various institutions of the Green Dragon Court and human enterprises needed this sort of thing, so the people coming over to make calls were mostly human gentlemen and ladies. Occasionally, there would be some Demi-human children—either part-time newspaper sellers or errand boys earning money shining shoes—standing at the street corner, peering in this direction and watching the miraculous tools or cigarettes the humans held in their hands.

"Where the hell did you go and die!! Ingrid?!!"

"My... Editor Refusa, I am currently in Long Ear City. I went out to investigate the news earlier!"

"You investigated your... didn't I tell you to go find Mrs. Stowe's beloved cat?!"

"A journalist isn't someone who helps people find cats. I've already put the notice of her lost cat in the newspaper. What more do you want from me?"

"So what? What did you go out and investigate?"

"I investigated a lot. I..."

Ingrid, indignant, was just about to say something when her words caught in her throat. She suddenly recalled what Fisher had told her and choked up, unable to speak further.

"...Fine, I didn't investigate anything."

"Hah! Then you'd best have investigated something before you call me back! Find your own way back from that place. It's perfectly normal for a journalist to walk fifty-six kilometers, right?!"

The phone call abruptly cut off amidst Refusa's roaring, the massive sound prompting Ingrid to involuntarily recall his balding appearance.

Sighing helplessly, she slammed the phone receiver down and muttered,

"If I have to make my own way back, then I'll make my own way back. Let me think..."

But just as she turned around, pondering how to get back, she abruptly noticed that the crowd around her had already retreated far, far away, all of them looking in her direction with a bit of fear.

"Clop, clop, clop!"

"Everyone, out of the way!"

"It's the Human Allied Army!"

Many fully armed soldiers adorned in golden armor and the Godlin Crest rode in from outside the city, quickly forming up and completely blocking the communication station offering telephone rental services.

They concurrently raised their weapons, aiming them at Ingrid before them and shouting at her,

"Put your hands up!"

Ingrid swallowed hard and honestly complied.

But at the same time, her gaze couldn't help but flick towards her camera, because the photos she took inside the factory hadn't been deleted yet. What if they were discovered...

How did these guys find her? She shouldn't have shown her face back then...

No, I must destroy my camera!

But before she could act, a young man riding a white horse, draped in a grey cape and carrying a bow and arrow slung across his back, emerged expressionlessly from behind the Naris army.

That was the commander-in-chief of the Human Allied Army, Barbatos.

Ingrid looked at the extremely tall man before her, then swallowed unnaturally. But he didn't say anything, merely commanding her,

"Come here. Go into that carriage."

Ingrid carefully peeked behind Barbatos and, sure enough, saw a golden carriage parked behind the army.

Her hairs stood on end. How could she dare to resist? She had no choice but to obediently comply.

"O-okay."

Ingrid, Ingrid, you truly are an idiot!

Now everything was completely ruined!

If she had known, she wouldn't have gone to that whatever factory. She actually thought the place just produced medicine or something. Who would have thought...

Ingrid's legs felt weak, but she still tremblingly reached out her hand, grasped the carriage door handle, and slowly pulled it open.

The instant she opened the door, in a daze, she felt as if a scorching breath rushed at her face, as if a volcanic pillar of magma blossomed right before her eyes.

But the next second, the pillar of fire vanished abruptly, as if it had all been a hallucination.

Ingrid thought she must be overly nervous, leading to hallucinations.

"Um, hello?"

She cautiously poked her head in and saw a petite girl wearing a Naris gentleman's black swallowtail coat, sitting in the seat, crossing her legs and looking at Ingrid.

The girl was young, her long black hair tied into a short ponytail. A pair of glasses rested on her handsome face. Unlike Ingrid's sun-protection shades, this lady's glasses seemed to shimmer with some strange light, and their exact function was unknown.

"Sit."

Despite her youth, for some reason, Ingrid felt an immense pressure radiating from the girl before her.

Ingrid glanced back outside at General Barbatos riding on his horse, then stepped into the carriage and closed the carriage door.

"Do you... have business with me?"

"Let me introduce myself. I am the Commander-in-Chief of the General Staff Department of the Nari Human Coalition Army, Agreas."

"Hello, little girl. I am the Inner Court Official Head of the Golden Palace of Saint-Nazareth, Diane... Please take a seat."

In addition to the lady wearing glasses before her, another female voice, carrying a hint of a smile, sounded within the carriage.

Startled, Ingrid hastily looked around. After searching for quite a while, she finally spotted a black-haired beauty with a smile sizing her up in a mirror on the carriage table.

And the moment they announced their titles, Ingrid truly felt her soul was about to be scared out of her body.

Even if she was an intern journalist who graduated from a top university in Schwari, a General, a Commander-in-Chief, and the Inner Court Official Head of the Golden Palace... this lineup was simply way too...

With a tearful face, Ingrid didn't even dare to sit. Standing at the edge of the carriage like a little chick, she cautiously said,

"I... I wouldn't dare... My name is Ingrid... May I ask you two, is there something the matter?"

The girl named "Agreas" didn't speak. Instead, Diane in the mirror smiled and said,

"No need to be nervous. We know you are the one who intruded into the factory earlier. Although Empress Elizabeth is very furious about this, we also know that you couldn't have broken in entirely on your own, right?"

"Ah... ah?"

Agreas opened her eyes, looked at Ingrid, and said,

"The person who took you into the factory... where did he go? Did he tell you his whereabouts?"

"He... he didn't..."

"You are lying, little girl."

Diane inside the mirror spoke with a smile, yet it suddenly made Ingrid feel a sense of sheer terror creeping up her spine.

"Squawk!"

Just then, a black, large bird—unclear if it was a crow or a hawk—abruptly landed on the windowsill of the carriage next to them, glaring coldly at Ingrid with its eyes. The large bird seemed to be chewing on some part of some animal in its beak, but Ingrid couldn't shake the feeling that the thing was a human finger.

Ingrid was so frightened she nearly lost control of her bladder. Crying, she hastily said,

"The Dragon Court... the Dragon Court in the south. He went to the Red Dragon Court in the south. But as for anything else, I don't know anything at all! I only met him yesterday, I..."

"No need to be nervous, just speak out and it's fine. But you also know that merely saying these things isn't enough to compensate for your crime. Fortunately, I have prepared another path of compensation for you."

Looking at the smile of the beauty named "Diane" in the mirror, Ingrid swallowed hard and asked,

"W-What?"

"You seem to be a journalist for the Giant Snake Newspaper in Schwari?"

Ingrid shook her head and cried,

"An in... intern."

"That's enough too... Here is the situation, Miss Ingrid. On behalf of the Nari Human Coalition Army, I wish to hire you to delve deep into the frontlines to photograph and report on the brutal situation of that False God Dragon Court in the south. What do you say?"

"T-This is far too dangerous. I... I'm just a normal person, I can't even run fast. Being a war correspondent doesn't suit me..."

Ingrid shook her head and politely declined, but clearly, the polite refusal failed.

"Who said it was a dangerous battlefield?"

Diane shook her head and said with a smile,

"First, we will dispatch people to protect you; second, once you enter the False God Dragon Court, won't you be safe? At that time, simply state that you are the wife of the man you met yesterday, having been married to him for four years. The False God Dragon Court will let you in."

Ingrid thought to herself: You certainly know the meaning of safe. The frontline battlefield isn't safe, so running directly into the enemy's home base is safe, right?

"Bang!"

Right at that moment, the carriage door next to Ingrid suddenly opened, startling her so much she collapsed to her knees on the floor, terrified it was some executioner standing outside.

But looking out, she only saw three women—two tall and one short. Wearing the golden military uniforms of Naris, their faces indifferent as if they were the [Demon Attendants] of the two VIPs inside the carriage, they spoke to Ingrid:

"Miss Ingrid, please come with us. We will tell you exactly what you need to do."

Kneeling on the ground, Ingrid only tightly gripped the camera against her chest. She looked at the expressionless Agreas and the smiling Diane beside her, then at the three female Demon Attendants outside the carriage. She had no choice but to gulp hard and nod her head frantically.

"Mhm..."

Inside the carriage, Agreas watched those three ladies—appearing to protect, supervise, and control all at once—lead away the powerless little chick that was Ingrid. After a brief pause, she couldn't help but look at the beauty in the mirror and stated indifferently,

"Baimon, having three Demon Attendants take that woman to help that human Empress chase her husband, that is your plan?"

Facing Agreas's question, "Diane" smiled and began sorting the documents on her desk, casually remarking,

"Isn't this very interesting?"

"Are you joking?"

"My, my. As expected, using the Base to release you and Barbatos from the Demon Abyss was indeed the correct decision, Agreas. After all, among our brethren, only the two of you care relatively more about our race. If we let the other guys out, they would either go somewhere to suck up Fallen Self-Nature to their heart's content, or go straight back to sleep like Eliog did. They wouldn't be like you two, willing to serve these ants so wholeheartedly... wouldn't you say?"

"Hah. Brethren..."

Agreas looked at the "Demon God" before her, who had escaped the pseudo-god's punishment during the previous Mythic war, holding reservations about the concept she presented. However, they had been interacting for nearly ten thousand years. Even if they weren't born together, they were still existences who had lived under the same roof.

During the thousands of years they were sealed away, Baimon rarely left the Demon Dynasty. It was unknown whether she had other methods up her sleeve.

"But of course, there is a purpose. That red Dragon Queen, her soul is extremely precious. A very, very long time ago, there was a Transferred Person in the Dragon Court who attempted to enter the Spirit World, only to be completely devoured by madness and become part of Chaos, severely injuring the Dragon God and devouring a portion of his soul and flesh. Not even Fafnir knew that after that Transferred Person was killed and reduced to ashes and smoke, the devoured flesh and soul of Fafnir flowed into the Spirit World and underwent Reincarnation anew..."

Agreas narrowed her eyes and said,

"You mean, that Dragon Queen?"

"Indeed. Aside from the Authority of the Chief God Lamastia, each of the three Demigods also has an extra Blessing from a True God. The Chain of Heaven has Ouyun's Blessing, which is why Angels are so fond of forging Holy Artifacts. The World Tree has Annebatos's Blessing, which is why they are so sensitive to destiny. Fafnir has Dagon's Blessing, but regrettably, his offspring are merely incomplete creations of Authority, so they inherited none of this precious ability."

"Diane" smiled down at her own chin and looked at Agreas in front of her, saying,

"Conversely, once that Blessing is passed down in some amount, she will inherit a True God's Blessing comparable to Fafnir's. That blazingly burning soul blessed by Dagon is the thing you need. Only power on par with the gods can shatter the cage the pseudo-gods used to bound you. You should know this."

Agreas remained silent for a moment before saying,

"That Dragonewt is no more than the Fourteenth-Tier. Tonight, Barbatos and I will just go kill her and retrieve her Blessing, won't that suffice?"

"The transfer of Blessing occurred in very limited quantities only when the Demigods created offspring, and it was a minuscule portion operating under the Authority of Life. And until those several Demigods died and the Blessings went up in smoke, it never transferred again. From this, it's evident that only a True God's power can transfer this Blessing. If we could utilize and find a True God's power, why would we need to find that Blessing to liberate our brethren?"

Before her discouraging words finished sinking in, Diane quickly added,

"However, all these aren't without exception. Didn't the Blessing of Fermabaha slide right onto that Dragonewt?"

"...You mean to say, it's because of that Transferred Person who went mad in the Dragon Court in the past?"

"Or rather, the Chaos upon her. And coincidentally, the book written by that Transferred Person, recording forbidden knowledge, is in the possession of the husband being pursued by Empress Elizabeth. He knows of Barbatos's existence. Both you and Barbatos are Eighteenth Tier Demon Gods, yet he is only at the Fifteenth Tier..."

The smile on Diane's face lingered, yet for some unknown reason, it carried a bizarre, eerie shadow.

"In order to protect the ladies he had affairs with, he will definitely continue to climb the Ranks. Even if he uses that chaotic knowledge, even if he sinks into madness, he won't hesitate. You and Barbatos merely need to act as the driving force exerting pressure on the Dragon Queen, and that will be enough."

Agreas remained silent for a moment before she let out a cold laugh, saying,

"No wonder. Earlier, when Barbatos was about to kill that Dragonewt and that Whale-kin with a single palm strike, you had to stop him from continuing. So this is what you were waiting for."

"Not entirely. The mother of that Whale-kin is someone we very much don't wish to provoke. Although she's been recuperating at the bottom of the sea these past few thousand years, you've all heard the name 'God of Destruction' during that war. If you don't want the Abyss to be overturned by her, it's best we don't touch that Whale-kin for now."

Without waiting for Agreas to reply, Diane clapped her hands, intending to end the topic.

"Alright, let's stop here. Just go arrange things next. Keep in contact at all times... Also, calling me by my true name earlier was a flaw. Remember to use my current [Name] next time, oh Lord Agreas~"

Agreas snorted coldly and replied,

"Do you think we are all like you, able to discard our original names at will?"

"Then you should give thanks that human lifespans are too short. From the few thousand years after the Mythical War until now, not many people remember your true names anymore. Oh goodness, otherwise how could Elizabeth promote you two terrifying Demon Gods to General and Chief of Staff? Furthermore, allowing her army to almost become a den of Demon Attendants and Little Demons."

"I still need to thank you, don't I, Great Inner Court Official Head?"

"No thanks needed, Agreas."

Diane smiled and hung up the "call." The mirror rippled like water for a burst, and then mirrored Agreas's appearance wearing glasses, looking no different from a human.

The large bird next to her let out a screech, and Agreas glanced at it before gently breaking off one of her fingers and tossing it to the bird.

"Squawk, squawk!"

"Go, keep an eye on that girl. When necessary, you may summon me."

"Squawk, squawk!"

The massive black bird chewed on Agreas's finger, looking with a sense of lingering desire at her finger that had already grown back, yet finally spread its wings and flew up, disappearing into the horizon.

"Fisher! Up ahead is it! The [Southern Branch Mountain Range] in the south of the Southern Continent! The Red Dragon Court should be in there right now. Do you plan to just go straight in to find her?"

"Rumble!"

Following Eimhart's voice, Fisher, descending straight down from the distant sky, also fixed his gaze upon this place—the end of the wilderness, where verdant mountains overlapped.

From here moving north was Raphaela's original hometown. In the past when he visited the Southern Continent, he had never even been to her hometown, let alone this place further south.

At the foot of those magnificent and grand mountain ranges, countless traces of war screamed that innumerable bloody conflicts had occurred here in the past.

They had finally arrived at the gateway to the Red Dragon Court.