Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 237 The Activists

Rhys… do you not care about your own people?"

Rhys and the others were now halfway through their adventure back to the Hole leading to Typhon's, resting inside a thick sea of trees. It had probably already been 2 full days, and yet they were still halfway — cenleons were fast and could run a hundred kilometers in about an hour.

Unfortunately, their stamina was not as good, especially those who live in the cities, and especially someone like Prince Dubhai, who had probably not even run with all of his might his entire life.

And so, this was the 3rd time they stopped to camp. It was the third time, and yet Rhys's words still had not escaped Edissa's mind. It has been taking a toll on her that Rhys would just abandon his own kind like that when he could have just requested Prince Dubhai to free them, and he would probably be happy to do so.

"What makes you think that?" Rhys, who was just quietly practicing his ability to materialize and control water, quickly turned to look at Edissa as soon as he heard her question; the water orb on his hand, dropping to the ground and washing away all the dirt and dried leaves, "I'd like to think I do care about my own people."

"Well, it's just that…" Edissa then glanced at Prince Dubhai, "...Why didn't you ask him to free the humans in the cage?"

"Oh," Rhys blinked a couple of times before just shrugging his shoulders and then gracefully moving his hand; the water that already soaked the ground beneath his feet, separating from the dirt as he once again started to control it, "If we brought them, then it would take us even longer to get back."

"But still, we're not really in a rush, are we?" Edissa questioned.

"We are," Rhys looked at Edissa, "I just knocked out someone from the royal family, they are probably on our tail now."

"That—still, you could have still freed them, they could travel on their own."

"Edissa, they are not my people," Rhys sighed before looking Edissa in the eyes, "You are my people."

"H…huh?" Edissa was quickly caught off guard by Rhys's statement.

"Yeah," Rhys, however, did not even seem to think much of his own words as he just shrugged, "You and the others."

"That… that's not what I meant," Edissa sighed, "I meant they are literally your own kind."

"My own kind…" Rhys once again dropped his water orb and started thinking, "...well, they could save themselves if they want to."

"I… still can't figure you out, Rhys."

"You will," Rhys chuckled, "I'm… not that complicated. And I could actually say the same to you."

"Hm…?"

"You left your father and everyone else in the city without even saying a final farewell to them."

"Because they're still alive, Rhys," Edissa shook her head, "I could still see them whenever I return to the city."

"...What makes you think you'll ever return?"

"...Right."

Edissa then spent a couple more hours talking to Rhys and learning more about him. But alas, the only thing she found herself doing was getting more and more curious about him. She and Rhys just did a sexual act that no one has probably ever done before, and yet other than comforting her and asking if she was alright, Rhys was not really talking about it.

Of course, Edissa appreciated that — but… she actually wanted to talk about it. About… how it made her feel. Because right now, she found herself staring at Rhys's lips more and more.

It was weird. Rhys looks completely different from her, and she does still thinks of humans as food, but when it comes to Rhys, it is completely different. It was almost as if she found herself thinking more and more about him in a way that was… something else.

She still can't quite explain it.

Well, if only she was able to see the Hearts floating above her head, then she would have already figured it out. Right now, her Fourth Heart was starting to flicker.

Rhys was not really trying to actively woo Edissa, since he did not really think that her abilities would actually improve his strength by that much, considering the cenleons he had fought so far were absolutely no match against him.

Their main strengths were their reflexes and speed — but he already has that with Ayesha and Arachnea. And in terms of reflexes, they were not even in the same category as the god of spiders.

He… really used all of his luck in meeting Arachnea, didn't he?

Several more hours passed in the camp and Prince Dubhai seemed to have finally recovered enough to travel again. Rhys could probably just carry him, but he understands that he still has dignity that needs to be kept.

Especially since his group of… cenleon activists are with him.

"Alright, alright!" Prince Dubhai raised his voice as he stood up, "Enough being lazy, it's time to continue our trip to the Surface!"

"Alright! Time to meet some humans!"

"...The others probably don't even know even realize their prince is actually keeping humans as captive down his dungeon," Edissa let out a small hiss as he saw the cenleon human rights activists treating Prince Dubhai like their leader, "But I have to be honest with you, Rhys… this is actually the first time I've ever encountered cenleons who don't like to eat humans. As the prince said…

…your meat is quite… quite taste—"

Edissa was not able to finish her words as she 'accidentally' glanced at the thing hiding between Rhys's legs. Her mind, quickly brought out the memory of her practically swallowing it whole. Her mind, however, also quickly snapped back as she realized that Rhys noticed her looking at his thing.

"Wait, no—not like that!"

"I know what you mean."

"Good, good…" Edissa sighed, "What I'm trying to say is that you seem to want to connect my people and your people… but we still see you as food."

"Well, it doesn't really matter," Rhys shrugged, "I just need the world to talk about something—we have company."

Edissa squinted her eyes for a few seconds at Rhys's words, but her ears also quickly stood up as she started hearing something. She then turned toward the direction of the noise, and even though her vision was blocked with a wall of trees, she was still aware that there were probably more than a few dozen cenleons approaching them.

And soon, Prince Dubhai's guards also heard them. They quickly surrounded the prince, and sadly for the other activists, the guards did not really care for them and even violently pushed them away to protect Dubhai.

"What… what's going on!?" Prince Dubhai could not help but panic as the guards raised their weapons. His question, however, did not even need to be answered as Prince Abu and an entire battalion of cenleons started appearing from the trees and bushes and also quickly surrounded them,

"They… they already caught up to us!? What… what do we do!?"

Some of the guards could not help but glare at Prince Dubhai — was he really asking why they caught up to them when he needed to rest every other hour? But of course, the guards couldn't really say anything.

"Dubhai!" Prince Abu then stepped forward with an entourage of his personal guards, "As the heir to the kingdom of Nahisha, I hereby sentence you to death for treason!"

"T… treason!?" Prince Dubhai screamed.

"Anyone who still wishes to join my brother's campaign would also be treated the same!" Price Abu then glared at Dubhai's guards, as well as the activists, "You—"

Before Prince Abu could finish his words, however, the activists started walking, causing a smile to form on his face. His smile, however, was short-lived as the cenleon activists started holding hands and also protecting Prince Dubhai.

"Save the humans, save the world!" The activists then started chanting.

"What in the—all of you have turned mad!" Prince Abu raised his voice, "What are you thinking of saving next, bread!? They are literally food!"

"Brother, you don't understand!" Prince Dubhai hopped so that he could take a look at his brother, "The humans, they are far more civilized than what we initially thought!"

"Does it matter!?" Prince Abu screamed in frustration, "Cows also make groups, does that mean they are as intelligent as us!? Stop this foolishness!"

"As I said before, I don't really want to be stuck in a family affair."

"What in the—!?" Prince Abu seemed to still have a lot of words to say, but he was completely shocked and more than bewildered as soon as he saw Rhys approaching him, "It… it can talk!?"

"That is what I have been trying to tell you, Brother!" Dubhai also screamed in frustration, "They can talk!"

"This… is sorcery!" Prince Abu hissed at Rhys, "For the sake of the safety of my people, I will have you killed, human!"

"I'm getting tired of this," Rhys let out another sigh as he shook his head, "Prince Dubhai, how do you want to celebrate being an only child?"

"Oh, well… I actually have 5 more siblings."

"Oh…

…right."