The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death - Chapter 400: Haydn: Why Do I Feel Like a Country Bumpkin?

Alice was right to assume that Haydn had noticed her disrupting his taboo. After all, the taboo was so powerful its mana fluctuations covered the entire mansion. Now that these mana fluctuations had suddenly disappeared, it’d be strange for Haydn not to notice.

Moreover, Haydn’s reaction to his taboo getting disrupted was much more intense than Alice imagined. Because Haydn just so happened to be in the second-floor study, which was directly above the living room, as soon as he discovered his taboo’s operation stopping, he did something that was completely outside of Alice’s expectations—he crushed the floor under his feet and jumped straight down into the living room from the second-floor study. While it might be a crude action, it was also the quickest way to reach the living room.

The rubble from the shattered ceiling crushed several hypnotized magicians in the living room. However, even while being crushed by large boulders, none of these magicians showed any signs of waking up. This showed just how powerful the hypnosis magic used on them was. It was most likely at the level of taboos.

When Alice saw Haydn, the man wore his usual gloomy expression. He also had the appearance of a malnourished middle-aged man, his body looking quite slender and his complexion looking quite pale. At first glance, one wouldn’t think that Haydn was someone with great combat power. However, the fact that he managed to break through the living room’s ceiling using brute force was enough to prove that he wasn’t as weak as he looked.

In the eyes of most people, the human realm’s kings weren’t powerful warriors. Instead, they were people proficient at governing entire nations. However, no matter how Alice looked at it, Haydn could not be considered incompetent as a warrior. Haydn might not be as strong as Gunst, but he was definitely much stronger than the average civilian.

“Who is it?”

The falling debris sent a lot of smoke and dust into the air when it smashed into the living room. So, Haydn couldn’t tell who had disrupted his taboo right away. Moreover, Alice was still hidden by Mana Concealment, making it even more unlikely for Haydn to see her.

After thinking for a moment, Alice removed her magic robe, canceling Mana Concealment’s effects in doing so. Although she could eliminate Haydn while staying invisible, there wasn’t any real meaning to do so since the person she needed to be aware of wasn’t Haydn but the Demon King backing him instead.

At this point, Alice was already certain Haydn had a Demon King backing him. Moreover, said Demon King could cast taboos through certain means. After all, there was no way Haydn could cast a hypnosis taboo that could affect over a hundred great magicians.

Since that was the case, Alice decided to face Haydn directly and hopefully get some information out of his mouth.

“Hm? So you finally decided to show up?” Haydn quickly noticed a person’s silhouette suddenly appearing amidst the dust and smoke. Needless to say, this person must be the culprit responsible for disrupting his taboo. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at the other party and said, “It seems you still aren’t aware of who you have just provoked. You—”

Haydn froze before he could finish his words. This was because, partway through his sentence, he finally got a clear look at the petite figure standing amidst the dust and smoke…

“Why did you stop speaking? Who did I provoke? Is it a former Demon King’s soul?” Alice asked, smiling as she looked at Haydn.

Dammit?! How did she find out?!

Haydn instantly broke out into cold sweat. He couldn’t understand why Alice would suddenly appear in his mansion. He had clearly sent people to keep an eye on Alice and was certain she hadn’t left her home since returning from the ruined neighborhood.

If Alice had left her rented apartment, his subordinates should have informed him about it right away. Moreover, his subordinates’ mana crystals remained intact, which meant Alice hadn’t silenced them… In that case, how did she evade all those eyes and appear in his mansion?

However, how Alice had evaded his subordinates’ detection and snuck into his mansion was no longer important. What was more important was how he was supposed to deal with Alice.

Fight her? That’d be the biggest joke of the century. He might have learned a thing or two from the Demon King backing him and gained strength outside the average person’s reach, but he was well aware that he stood no chance against the Hero. Two taboos would be enough to reduce him to ashes, and a third one would erase even his ashes from this world.

Moreover, what did Alice just say? A former Demon King’s soul?

“You… How do you know about the Demon King’s soul?” Haydn asked in an uncertain tone, his originally pale complexion turned even paler. “I’ve never told anyone about this matter.”

When Haydn first met a former Demon King’s soul, he was naturally frightened out of his wits. After all, he had never heard of any Demon King’s soul being preserved to modern times. Although he had heard examples of people storing their souls in special containers, the souls of those people would crumble apart after a few years in storage, either because their souls weren’t durable enough or they chose to pass on after being unable to endure the long period of solitude.

As for Demon Kings, their souls might be more durable, but that just meant they had to endure an even longer period of solitude. It should be known that even the most recent Demon King died several centuries ago. This meant that if a former Demon King’s soul were to survive until modern times, they’d have to endure hundreds or thousands of years of solitude. This was simply unimaginable for the average person.

So, Haydn never thought he would come across a Demon King’s soul in modern times. It was also why Haydn was so surprised to hear Alice’s question. After all, it was already incredible that one Demon King’s soul had survived until modern times. He felt that it was highly unlikely there’d be a second one.

“Why are you so surprised? Do you think the souls of Demon Kings are very rare?” Alice rolled her eyes at Haydn. She felt that the man was overreacting. “I’ve seen plenty of these things. I even personally extinguished the soul of the previous generation’s Demon King. He was hiding in the radioactive crystal in Demon King Castle.”

Haydn could also feel his blood pressure rising when he heard Alice’s response. Was this the difference between the Hero and normal people?