Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 397 (Part 1):

“……No wonder I’ve been sensing a faint trace of demonic energy around here.”

Helmut muttered to himself. It wasn’t uncommon to sense demonic energy in the city.

Demonic beasts’ essences were often processed to create artifacts, and since there were many mages here, it was something he hardly paid attention to.

Water doesn’t easily absorb energy, but urine isn’t just water. It was more than capable of carrying Elaga’s demonic aura.

“Even near the entrance…… How disgusting. Is the entire place a toilet now?”

Alea openly grimaced. No wonder she had sensed demonic energy near the front door as well.

Elaga, the culprit who had marked his territory by urinating all over the place, shamelessly raised his head.

[If I mark my territory, those weird creatures will think twice before showing up.]

No matter how evolved a demonic beast is, it’s still an animal at heart. It’s impossible to completely abandon instinctual behavior.

“If any being could sense your markings, it would mostly be a demonic beast. And there aren’t any demonic beasts here.”

At Helmut’s rebuttal, Elaga played dumb.

[Either way, it was to protect you all.]

The fact that ‘you’ had become ‘you all’ suggested that Elaga now saw not just Helmut but his companions as those he should protect.

Helmut pressed his palm against his forehead and swallowed a sigh. A headache began to form.

“Anyway, I’ll handle that guy myself. You promised to stay here and behave, remember?”

[Kid. Do you really think I’m just some housecat? If he’s been hiding his presence this well, he’s clearly strong. This is my territory. It’s an advantage to strike first if he enters my domain.]

‘He’s not wrong.’

Helmut inwardly agreed. In fact, his way of thinking was quite similar to Elaga’s.

Elaga was the epitome of hunting, and Helmut had grown up watching him.

Elaga adhered to the hunting principles that Helmut had learned from him in the Forest of Roots.

But that was the hunting style of the Forest of Roots.

“That’s not your job, Elaga. It’s mine.”

Elaga’s eyes narrowed.

[Hmph, so you’re saying you’re all grown up now?]

“Yes, Helmut’s grown up now, so let him do his part.”

Alea chimed in lightly. Helmut felt an odd twinge at her tone, as if she were talking to an overprotective parent.

Helmut cut in firmly.

“I already told you, didn’t I? If people find out Elaga is a demonic beast, we’ll all be in serious trouble. We’d all be marked for execution.”

[Why do humans tremble at the mere mention of demonic beasts? They’re as sensitive as they are weak.]

Elaga grumbled. Still, having been dragged away and calmed down once already, he was a bit more composed.

[Fine. I’ll hold back this time.]

Now that he was no longer on the prowl, Elaga glanced wistfully in the direction where he’d sensed the holy power.

‘What a wasted opportunity to fight.’

Having lived his entire life in the Forest of Roots, Elaga never had an opportunity to battle someone with holy power.

Priests with holy power were never sent into the Forest of Roots, and Elaga was too powerful to find worthy rivals among ordinary demonic beasts.

Since holy power was the natural enemy of demonic energy, fighting someone wielding it under such a disadvantage could be interesting in its own way.

Elaga fully understood what it meant for a demonic beast to side with Helmut. If word got out, they could just kill everyone involved to erase the witnesses—he was under no moral restriction not to take human lives.

‘I don’t eat humans, but that doesn’t mean I can’t kill them.’

Elaga’s eyes flashed coldly. All his prior restraint was simply the mercy shown by a superior being, not any moral hesitation about taking human lives.

A demonic beast has no notion of morality to begin with.

If humans ever raised a blade against Helmut, Elaga wouldn’t hesitate to pile up their corpses like a mountain.

’Still, he said he’d handle it himself.’

Elaga swished his tail across the floor in feigned indifference as he left the room.

He was itching to do something, yet they kept telling him not to get involved. Perhaps he could entertain himself by hunting some rats around the mansion.

That very day, Helmut found five dead rats on his bed.

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