Nyx looked intrigued, while Leona's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Enough jesting." Leona said sharply, her tone colder than the northern winds. "If you expect us to believe such a ridiculous claim, you'd best have proof."
"You are a single human. There are millions of them. How could you possibly push back an entire race?"
Luca, however, didn't flinch. He chuckled softly, his smile calm but confident.
"Totally natural that you don't believe me." He said. "I'd doubt it too if I were in your place. But let me ask just one thing...something simple."
He paused and raised a hand.
"For the past week or so… has any human ship entered your waters? Has any army, scout, or messenger crossed into demi-human territory?"
That question made the laughter die down.
The elves glanced at one another, whispering uncertainly.
"I… don't think so." One said slowly.
"I haven't heard any reports."
"Has anyone seen even one ship?"
All eyes turned toward Nyx, who managed the intelligence networks among the elves. She hesitated, her expression growing serious.
"…No." She said at last. "Not a single one."
The crowd went silent.
"For the past eight or nine days...not even one ship has approached our borders." Nyx continued slowly. "Our scouts reported nothing but calm seas."
"No encampments, no fires along the coast, no banners on the horizon."
Her brows furrowed slightly.
"I thought at first they were regrouping… perhaps preparing a surprise offensive. But…"
She looked down at Luca.
"If what you say is true, and they've been pushed back entirely…"
A stunned murmur rippled across the gathered elves.
"Could it be?"
"Has he really…?"
"The humans haven't retreated in ten years!"
The disbelief turned into awe, faint and uncertain, but growing.
Yet Nyx's sharp intuition wasn't ready to yield so easily. She folded her arms and asked,
"Even if what you say is true, Hero… how did you accomplish such a thing? Even if the entire demi-human alliance combined its forces, it would still struggle to push the humans back."
"What could one man possibly have done?"
Luca's smile faded slightly and he looked up at her with a calm, almost solemn expression.
"Don't think of me as just a man." He said quietly. "Think of me as the one for whom your leaders, all of them gave their lives. The one for whom your goddess demanded the karmic luck of your entire continent."
He took a step forward, his voice growing steadier, stronger.
"Do you really believe that after paying such a price, the Goddess would send you someone ordinary? Someone weak?"
The elves were silent.
"I'm not just human." Luca said firmly. "I'm the hero your Goddess created—the kind of hero you've read about in stories. The kind that exists to save the world."
"...So, think of it that way and see if you can find truth in my words, instead of looking at me like a ordinary human."
A soft murmur spread through the crowd again, but this time it wasn't laughter.
Nyx looked thoughtful. Some of the elves nodded slowly, whispering to each other.
"Maybe he's right…"
"Maybe he's not normal. He could have holy powers."
"Maybe he really is the hero."
But Leona's thoughts were far less trusting. Her sharp gaze lingered on him, her mind racing.
'If he truly has that kind of power.' She thought. 'Then he could wipe us out as easily as he saved us.'
'The idea of a human wielding such might made her chest tighten uneasily.
Nyx, noticing her sister's hesitation, finally spoke.
"We cannot make a decision yet." She said softly. "We'll send scouts to verify his claim. We'll contact the other clans and ask them if the humans truly have retreated from all their territories…"
She paused, glancing at Luca again before warmly smiling.
"Then we will have no choice but to acknowledge his words and celebrate our victory properly and also...welcome our hero as he deserves."
Hearing this, a spark of hope lit in the elves eyes.
The thought of freedom—of safety—after a decade of war filled them with wonder.
Dozens of bright eyes turned toward Luca.
For the first time, admiration gleamed where suspicion once lay.
Luna and Lulu looked overjoyed, and even Leona, though tense, remained silent.
Luca too grinned broadly, almost giddy inside.
'Finally! Finally, things are going smoothly!' He thought. 'No misunderstandings, no near-death moments, no arrows to dodge!'
But, as fate would have it, peace never lasted long around him, as from the crowd of elves, a voice suddenly cried out—sharp, trembling, and horrified.
"H-Hold on…!"
Everyone turned toward a young elf woman standing near one of the trees. Her eyes were wide, her hand shaking as she pointed a trembling finger at Luca.
"I…I know that face." She whispered, paling. "I've seen him before…"
Luca blinked. "Huh?"
The elf's eyes widened even further, and then she screamed.
"It's him! It's the sex demon! The sex demon from our dreams!"
A wave of startled gasps and shouts erupted instantly.
"The what?!"
"Did she just say sex demon?!"
"No way—she's right! I've seen him too!"
"He's the one from those…those dreams we had last full moon!"
Luca froze, his grin dying instantly as he stared up at the growing chaos.
"…Wait—what the hell!?"
But it was too late.
Half the elves were blushing furiously, the other half covering their mouths in horror or whispering heatedly among themselves. And somewhere in the middle, Lulu looked genuinely impressed while Luna buried her face in her hands.
And just like that, the glorious reputation of the newly accepted 'hero' was once again thrown into the mud to Luca's disbelief.
But unlike the first time when Lulu and Luna had called him that and he had been utterly confused—Luca this time knew exactly what was going on—and he almost wished he didn't.
After all, he'd been briefed.
Both sisters had told him everything.
Apparently, for the past two weeks, not only elves but every single female across multiple races—beastkin, fairies, mermaids, dwarves—had been haunted by a strange, unexplainably lewd dream.
A dream that featured him.
And not just any dream either—it was vivid, indecent, and impossible to forget.
In it, a man who looked exactly like him—same face, same eyes, same smile—would appear before them, touch them, whisper things no man should, and…well, do things to them that could only be described as the kind of acts meant for lovers.
It had become so bad, some of them started holding prayer sessions in the middle of the night just to ward off what they called the curse of the sex demon.
But what made it worse—what truly sent the rumor spiraling out of control—was that two other women also appeared in the dream.
One of them always stood far away, wearing a deeply uncomfortable and conflicted expression—as if she wanted nothing to do with what was happening but couldn't interfere either.
The other…
The other had a madness in her smile—seductive, unholy, and wild.
And her voice would echo through the dream, saying the same horrifying words again and again:
"Open yourselves to him… He is the one who will bless you all with life!"
"He will fill your wombs with his children!"
"He is the one who will make the races thrive again!"
"Bear his offspring! Bear them for him!"
She chanted those words like a priestess of depravity, her voice intoxicating and hypnotic, until the women who woke from it were left mortified, their hearts pounding, faces red, and their dignity in tatters.
It had gone on long enough that the elves thought they were cursed.
Some even believed the humans had sent this as a psychological weapon—a spell meant to corrupt their women's minds and weaken their resolve.
And the worst part of all?
The man who appeared in the dream—the sex demon—looked exactly like Luca.
So now, as the realization spread among the elves and dozens of horrified faces turned toward him, he could practically feel the trust he had worked so hard to earn crumble into dust.
Just then, Nyx's calm but sharp voice cut through the noise.
"Hero…" She said slowly, tilting her head. "You've cleared every suspicion we had up until now. You've explained your origin, the letter, even the humans. But…"
Her eyes narrowed playfully, though her voice carried genuine tension.
"…how do you explain this?"
Leona, on the other hand, was anything but calm. She had her bow half-raised, her voice shaking with rage.
"Enough games. These dreams have spread through my people like a plague. If you've cursed them—if you've done anything to my daughters—"
"Hold up! Hold up!"
Luca yelled, throwing up both hand and the crowd went quiet again, though the air was heavy with distrust.
He sighed deeply, rubbing his forehead before speaking.
"Alright, listen. First of all, I'll just say that I have absolutely no idea what's going on with those dreams. None. Zero."
"I didn't even know about them until Luna and Lulu told me earlier and I can promise you that I have no involvement in whatever nightmare party you're all having every night."
Leona frowned sharply.
"Do you take us for fools?" She snapped. "You expect me to believe that, when your face is the one tormenting us in our sleep?"
"Believe me, Lady Ice Queen." He said flatly. "If I had the power to give people dreams like that, I'd be using it to promote peace, not panic!"
The remark earned a few awkward snorts of laughter among the elves, but Leona wasn't amused.
"Enough with your mockery." She hissed. "You're lucky I haven't already shot you where you stand."
But just before she could continue, Luca lifted a finger.
"Wait. I said I don't know what's going on—but I do have a theory about who might be behind it and I'm pretty sure you know that person as well."
That stopped her. The elves glanced at each other, curious despite themselves.
Nyx leaned forward slightly, her expression shifting to intrigue.
"And who, pray tell, would have the power to do something like this?" She asked. "Are you implying someone in our own clan has performed a ritual to implant these dreams?"
He shook his head immediately.
"No, no mortal could pull that off. Trust me, this isn't some backyard curse from your village's weird uncle."
"No. The one responsible isn't mortal at all."
Luca sighed and gestured vaguely toward the temple in the distance.
"She's someone you already know. Someone you've prayed to countless times. Someone whose statue stands right there in that temple of yours."
A hush fell across the crowd. The elves exchanged uneasy glances, murmuring among themselves.
"What does he mean?"
"Someone we know?"
"Could it be…?"
Luca's voice deepened, calm and persuasive.
"Think about it. Think carefully about the dream. The women you saw there. Try to remember their faces."
He raised his head slightly, meeting their wide eyes.
"Don't they look… familiar?"
Several elves closed their eyes, concentrating. Even Luna and Lulu furrowed their brows, trying to recall the dream in detail.
And then—
"I remember!"
One of the elves gasped suddenly.
"That face… It was the Goddess of Space! The same serene face carved into the temple shrine!"
"It was the Goddess of Space who appeared in our dreams!"