Zephyr heard that quickly nodded as he left to gather his men, as for Ikem himself, he was going after the demon following the traces that Tula left along the way. On his way to find the demon Ikem thought back to when he and his son Zephyr first found out that the apeling was a demon.
That start of the academy started well but the common apelings even though there were some geniuses among them, they still found it hard to tackle the difficulty that came with mana training, that was when the apelings took stage and he brought with him an ingenious idea.
Everyone was happy that a common apeling was able to find a way out for them for their predicament but Ikem after knowing that a possible demon could be among his people didn’t easily fall with the trend but of course as a king and a leader he has to show that he stands and was happy for the common apeling on there success so he made sure to reward the genius apeling well.
Meanwhile he had his best scout keeping an eye on the demon but unlike before he learnt his lesson as he knew that the demons had acute senses so he only sent out Tula who by the time has been rewarded with the best concealment artifact the apelings kingdom has.
And truly, Ikem didn’t need Tula to report to him that something was wrong with the apeling, he already knew of it himself. The problem with the apeling was that he was too much of a genius which Ikem felt guilty for thinking that way at first as to him it seemed like he was doubting his own people’s intelligence capacity.
But this demon was too precise in every problem he solved that it was made clear that he already had profound knowledge on what he was sharing, for example one of the solution for the apeling mana training was "A potion that heightened the perception on a apeling according to their element" With the potion apeling were able to easily get past the other mana element around and focus solely on the one that they want.
The process for the potion was usage of different herbs and carefully placed steps to follow before the potion is cooked right, yet under a few months of the school opening the apeling came up with the precise right method of making the potion.
It was even more confirmed when Tula was observing the demon cooking up the potion himself, Tula described it as "Simplicity" According to her words she have watched the demon teach others how to cook the potion and even if there was some genius who manages to pick it up quick, they all put their best into the making the potion to make sure that it was done right yet they still make mistake.
But with the demon, he throws herbs in without even looking, he doesn’t stand over the pots looking for any small mistake instead he casually throws in herbs while he focuses on other projects he does like dissecting monkeys. Even with all this divided attention the potion the demon cooks always succeeds and comes out great even better.
Once Ikem heard that he knew he got his target but unlike before he was clueless he already had every information he needed about the demons from Osita so all he did was officially appoint Tula to observe the demon’s every movement but not before he finished training her himself.
At the same time, Ikem saw the demon as an opportunity for his people, he plays stupid and lets the deon do whatever it wants under his watch while they demon in it’s effort to get the common apeling to his side will raise the knowledge and technological level for his people.
With Ikem’s interference, the demons had a very successful academy life almost like he was being watched over by the lady of luck. Everything was working the way it wanted for the demon, but that caused a problem for Ikem as he watched as more common apelings adore and looked up to the demon.
This led to Ikem creating a group with the sole purpose of finding out those apelins that adore the demon and find out reasons on why they adore him, in a way this boosted Ikem’s popularity as a king and leader that his people almost believed that he can read their minds or maybe that his father was finally answering their prayer which it a way created alot of dedicated worshippers for Ikenga.
With the help of the group, Ikem was able to find out the problem of his people that may led to them going down a dark path so with his position and power as a leader he made quick and swift changes to the life of those apelings, almost like magic those apelings find out their problem magically disappearing.
It was short lived but Ikem enjoyed the look of confusion, fear and paranoia of the demon once it took notice of what was happening, as it found out that it was losing a lot of apelings who supported his "Goal" of raising the status of the common apelings, but Ikem played from the shadows so the demon had no proof that its position may have been compromised.
The short incident of Ikem magically solving his people’s problem led to a lot of the common apelings getting into the position of power which at first confused the cursed clans representatives but after a word from their clan leader, they understood their king doesn’t act impulsively.
Zephyr was able to connect the dots with everything going on so the first conversion he had with his father the next time they met was on how he can be of help and who the target was.
This was indeed a short victory for Ikem but he quickly learned of what his father meant on the book he gave him specifically the page that talked about being a leader, In his father’s word in the book it states that "Son, you will find yourself doing everything right but doesn’t work out as you think it would. This is because "People will always be people" Especially beings capable of emotions"
Ikem at the time didn’t know the full meaning of the word until he saw how even with him making the problems of his people disappear, there were still a great deal of apelings who sided with the demon and believed solely in his goal. It was to the level where they even gave up their own body as a research to help further the demon goal.
This lesson came at a bad time as Tula was under tutelage of Ikem at that time so that she can be able to better use her artifact, the helmet had a defect that a spike of negative emotions will exposure it’s user coverage, so Ikem had to teach Tula how to control her emission even when she see something she doesn’t like or something that would rile her up.
During this training time, Ikem would go around with Tula using his own stealth technique to observe the demon, he had a Bara on Tula so that when she disappears he could find her position, that was how Tula and Ikem trained until it got to one day when they both watched with their own eyes as one of the devoted apelings serving under the demon brought with her a child apeling as an offer to the demon.
Ikem didn’t know the emotion he was feeling then at the time when he saw that put he was disappointed, devastated. He couldn’t believe his eyes, he had great memory he knew the woman doing that as she was one of the apeling his group found out for her. She wanted fame, she wanted to adored by her fellow apeling women, it was hard but Ikem and and his group was able to come up with a method and opportunity for her to shine and show her talent, she was a great singer so when a "coincidental" Occasion came up, she was naked to sing there and that was her rise of fame and people got to know her, yet here she is kneeling in front of a demon.
"She doesn’t know he is a demon, we can’t blame her" Was one of the thoughts going on Ikem’s mind at the time, while the other part of himself thought "But we did everything she ever wanted, she is now famous and known among the apelings even the cursed clans loves her songs"
Ikem was truly conflicted, he watched as the demon took the child. He could step in, save the child and stop the demon immediately but Ikem since the training of his father hasn’t been one to act impulsively, He had more to lose than gain exposing the advantage they have over the demon once he steps in to save the child.