Two days after the demon vanished, Ignisia prepared to depart. Before she left, she came to see Ketal and delivered the news in person, which made him blink in surprise.0

“You are leaving already? I think it would be better if you rested a little longer,” he said.0

“I would like that as well,” she answered with a rueful smile, “but I do not have that kind of luxury.”0

The continent was still trembling in the aftermath of recent catastrophes. No one in a position of power could afford leisure, least of all an Elder Dragon whose very presence could sway the balance of nations. The world remained under assault by evil, and those capable of altering outcomes needed to move quickly.0

Even so, Ignisia’s expression did not look grim.0

“The situation is not bad,” she said, weighing the losses in a calm, calculating tone. “At this level, the cost is acceptable.”0

In truth, acceptable understated it. By any practical measure, they had taken down their target with startling ease. Raphael, a named demon who bore the noble rank of count, was so powerful that even an Elder Dragon might not have been able to defeat him in a fair, open field. Raphael was the sort of overwhelming fiend that even an Elder Dragon might fail to overcome.0

That fact carried an unpleasant implication: there were very few beings in the Mortal Realm who could have faced Raphael and won. If Ketal had not intervened, the mines would still belong to the demon. Ignisia would have been forced to summon the absolute elite, perhaps the Tower Master, the Sun God’s Saintess, or one of the High Dragons, and the cost in lives and resources would have been staggering. It would not have been surprising if the veins in the...0