"I'd be able to fight even if I encounter an elf," the stepsister said confidently of her own strength. Generally, humans are no match for elves, who are adept at magic and archery. However, powerful magi can turn the tables on humans, demons, and such. But devils are just too powerful. Only the paladins of the Church can deal with them. And the devil that had attacked the earl's territory was an extremely powerful demon lord. He had even killed five or six local Church paladins. There was no other way. Not wanting any more sacrifices, seeing that the demon lord's minions had abducted many pure young boys and girls on his behalf, the local bishop decided to offer up pure young boys and girls to the demon lord every year in the hope that he would stop attacking their city.
The stepmother and stepsister then bribed the bishop, asking him to claim, in the name of the gods, that only by offering up the earl's son could the demon lord's anger and greed be appeased.
The list of the young boys and girls to be sacrificed to the demon lord would be announced in a week. By then, they could get rid of that bastard...
"But..." The stepsister was a bit afraid that the earl, her father, would fly into a rage. "What if father comes back and loses his temper? After all, he's still father's eldest son!"
The stepmother waved her magnificent fan and comforted her daughter. "Don't worry. With the baby in my belly, the older one will fall out of favor sooner or later. By then, I'll plead with your father while I'm pregnant, and you can join me in begging and acting cute. Even if your father is really angry, he'll forgive us soon enough. By then, that bastard will already be sent to the demon lord. Whether he lives or dies is unknown, and he won't be able to come back."
The stepsister got more and more excited as she listened. "Mom, you're so smart! Then all the wealth of this family will belong to our mother, daughter, and the baby!"
In his own bedroom, Xia Lin felt a kind of energy flowing in his body, different from internal energy. It was said that in this world, only a few people had this kind of magical energy. He somehow thought of magical girls in Japanese anime, like Cardcaptor Sakura.
In this world, there were also other creatures like elves, demons, dwarves, and devils. Among humans, there were slaves, commoners, nobles, magi, and members of the Church such as bishops and paladins. Among them, devils and paladins were the most powerful in terms of individual strength. Elves and some powerful human magi were the most proficient in magic. Demons were numerous but not very powerful individually. Dwarves were not very strong but were smart and had a good head for business. Oh, and there were also orcs, who were extremely strong and good at hunting, living in tribal alliances.
Xia Lin was a noble with magical talent. He had a high status and wealth among humans, and his magical talent was also a major reason why his stepsister was jealous of him!
It didn't matter. Anyway, he didn't have any feelings for the earl's family. After school started in a month, he would just stay at school and not come back.
But Xia Lin's plan was disrupted. A week later, he went with his stepmother and stepsister to the largest church in the city. Thousands of people gathered in an open - air area. The Church was announcing the names of the young boys and girls to be sacrificed to the demon lord.
After four girls' names and three boys' names were read out, the next one was actually Xia Lin's. "The last one is Lin Rofelant!"
The crowd, who had been crying for the other young boys and girls, were in an uproar. They all looked at Xia Lin, who was standing closest to the bishop. They discussed heatedly, wondering why the son of their lord, the earl, had been chosen to be sent to the devil just like the children of commoners!