Although Maya’s situation shocked everyohey quickly regaiheir posure.

  “By the way, let me take you to meet some of the embers of our alliance,” Momo said, finishing the st of her pastry before leading them to a metal door and pressing the buttoo it.

  Suddenly, the metal door opened, revealing a small, metallic space.

  “This was modeled after aor from another world, though it doesn’t use ‘electricity.’ If anything, it’s more like a ‘magic lift,’” she expined.

  Despite being called aor inspired by another world, it didn’t rely oricity. If anything, it might be more accurately described as a ‘magic lift.’

  In fact, simir meisms could be found all over the world. For example, the Elves often hollowed out tree trunks to create spaces that served as lifts. These weren’t ventional elevators enclosed on all sides, but rather ptforms that floated.

  After desding for about half a mihe metal door opened again, revealing a stark trast to the hall’s cssical design: a white, modern research b.

  “The person in charge of this researstitute is a former cssmate of the master. After aplishing his goals, he fell into a period of fusion. After teag in the Demon Realm for a few years, the master invited him here to help out.”

  “Wait, the Demon Realm has schools?”

  Farkonia, having caught the part about the teacher role in the Demon Realm, raised an eyebrow.

  Before the "Demon War" began, the Demon Realm had been firmly rooted in a philosophy of power above all else. The wealth gap was vast, and the on people rarely had access to education—or even basic books. After the war broke out, her nobles nor oners were spared, all were scripted by the Demon King.

  “Actually, the current Demon King has enacted a series of reforms to help the on people. It’s said that more thay years ago, she was a student at the empire’s top academy.”

  “That’s right! The master and the Demon King were also cssmates,” Momo added, smiling.

  “Wait, what?!”

  Upon hearing Momo’s words, the group couldn't help but wonder if that css, more thay years ago, had been araordinary one, with all kinds of remarkable figures involved. If memory served, that rumored witd priestess also seemed to belong to the same year.

  “Let’s leave that for now. He should be on break. Don’t be too surprised when you meet him.”

  Just as Momo finished speaking, the door beside them opened, and a young man stepped out.

  He wore a white b coat, with bck hair and a face that was slightly handsome, though it appeared unusually pale—almost devoid of color. His eyes, however, were a striking crimson.

  At first gnce, he seemed like a member of the vampire race, but upon closer iion, the distin became clear: while vampires typically have pale skin, it was still just a sickly white. This young man’s skin was an unmistakable shade of grey, giving him an almost lifeless appearance.

  “Is this… a member of the Undead ?!” someone gasped.

  The Undead was an umbrel term enpassing various types of undead, such as skeletons, zombies, and spirits. The Demon , too, was diverse, including succubi, ogres, and more.

  “More precisely, he’s a high-level zombie. These undead were invited here by the master. They've saved many kidnapped magical beasts and people,” Momo expined.

  “Yes, my name is Gregory. It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” the young man said.

  His voice was raspy but still clear and fluent, suggesting he had been speaking for many years despite his dition.

  It was well known that most undead cked intelligend were closer to mindless monsters. Only higher-ranking undead had any real ition, and even then, it was rare.

  “By the way, the name ‘Gregory’ doesn’t seem very on. Are you from the Eastern ti?”

  In addition to the tihey were on, there were also other tis in the world. For example, it was through the teiques of the Eastern tihat Aris had onfused monster blood into herself.

  “…No, I’m a reinatregory answered after a brief pause.

  “Ah… I see.”

  Reinators, while rare, were not an unheard-of phenomenon, so this expnation made sense.

  “…Would you like to take a tour of my b?” Gregory offered, ging the subject after everyoroduced themselves.

  “Of course, we’d love to,” Momo responded.

  Following him down the corridor, they entered his boratory, where various advanced maes were scattered about.

  “These must be magical engineering devices, right? They look incredibly high-tech,” Momo remarked.

  “Yes, I majored in magical engineering at the academy. Right now, I’m researg a magical device that transte different nguages,” Gregory expined, pulling out a small box engraved with intricate magic symbols. Even though it was still a work-in-progress, the level of craftsmanship was clearly remarkable.

  “That reminds me, are you the magical engineer who developed the ‘substitute blood’ formu?” Elyssa asked, eg the dots upon hearing Gregory’s rad profession.

  “…Yes, that was me. But it wasn’t just my work—without the help of my friends, I could never have succeeded in developing it so quickly.”

  “You’re too humble. On behalf of the Vampire , I’d like to thank you for your efforts,” Elyssa said early.

  As the Vampire ’s high-ranking noble, Elyssa uood just how transformative Gregory’s ‘substitute blood’ was for their kind. It had saved the lives of many, and perhaps even half of the Vampire itself.

  “…Let me tell you about the funs of this box,” Gregory said, eager to steer the versation in a different dire.

  “It currently transte simple nguages, but when it es to more plex nguages, it often runs into errors. However, that’s not the most important issue.”

  “You’re trying to trahe nguage of magical beasts, aren’t you?” Momo guessed.

  “Exactly,” Gregory nodded.

  Most magical beasts cked rationality, or in some cases, the ability to unicate through nguage. Transting their iions based on their roars and other sounds was extremely challenging.

  Although Gregory, being a high-level zombie, could uand low-level zombies, each species—and even eadividual—had their own unique ways of veying thoughts.

  “There’s still a lot of experimentation and refio be done, and we o verify if the transtions truly capture what the beasts are trying to vey. But sinly magical beasts uand one another, progress has been slow.”

  “Well, as for the uni rabbits, I’ve got that covered. There’s no issue there,” Momo chimed in, waving her hand dismissively.

  “Good thing I’m a zombie, otherwise…” Gregory started, but was interrupted by a sudden buzzing noise from Momo’s clothes.

  Bzzz!

  “Sorry, I o take this call,” Momo said, pulling out a thiallic device from her clothing and tapping on it.

  “Bad news! The monsters we retly transferred have awakened and started a riot!”