Chapter 17: Ready to Go

Returning to the warm little inn, she pushed open the thin, simple wooden door. Inside was a set of minimalist furniture.

A table, a chair, a washstand, a bed, and two nightstands—nothing more.

It was hard to imagine such a room costing two silver coins a day.

Compared to her current daily income, this price wasn’t expensive at all; in fact, it was quite cheap, with no financial pressure.

Just by taking down a few goblins, if luck was on her side, the loot they dropped could easily cover several years of rent.

This showed how lucrative this line of work really was, and those nobles dabbling in magic and alchemy at the top truly were wealthy.

Feeling her way to the large wooden table, she sat down and took out a Lightwax from her waist. Gently rubbing the wick, the candle flickered to life with a low-temperature flame.

The soft light radiated from the wick, quickly filling the entire room.

Anything related to magic usually wasn’t cheap, but this Lightwax seemed to be an exception.

Produced by the Church of Light, it was an everyday item usable by commoners without magic, a safe lighting tool fueled by light elemental power. Its flame burned at an extremely low temperature, posing no risk of starting a fire.

It was windproof, waterproof, and had a wide range of applications.

After use, you just pinched the wick with your fingers to extinguish it.

Each stick cost 50 copper coins.

Was that expensive?

It seemed reasonable. One stick lasted three days, was brighter than ordinary candles, and much more durable.

She gathered the leftover scraps from the morning and threw them into the trash bin.

Then she poured the newly purchased magic materials onto the table and began her bedtime work—crafting a usable Third-Tier Magic Wand.

For most mages, this kind of work might be quite energy-consuming, but Krexia had no such worries.

Her skill and talent allowed her to produce a sturdy and handy wand in a relatively short time.

With the morning’s design blueprints, making the wand naturally went smoothly.

Half an hour later, a brand-new, exquisite wand lay on the table before her.

Picking it up, she summoned her spiritual energy and drew upon the ambient magical power to trace the Magic Inscriptions. Several obscure runes quickly appeared near the Magic Crystal at the wand’s tip.

As a low-level Magic Formation unfolded, a First-Tier Magic was successfully cast.

[ Universal Type · First-Tier Support · Flash Spell ]

A white light orb, the size of a dragon’s eye, shot out from the Magic Formation and emitted a dazzling white light.

After about two seconds, the light faded away.

“Hm… Magic Inscriptions functioning normally, mana flowing smoothly. This will be more than enough for temporary use.”

Krexia placed the wand back on the table beside her gun, then collapsed onto the bed.

Getting some rest early; tomorrow she’d head to the Adventurer Association to pick up commissions and work.

She wasn’t too worried about not getting commissions—C-Rank Commissions in a place like this probably weren’t contested much.

Thinking this, she sat up from the bed, about to undress and sleep.

But when her hands reached the collar near her chest, she suddenly froze.

“Kosan.”

“What?”

“How do you take this clothes off?”

“……”

“I thought you’d hesitate because of the gender change.”

“Didn’t I hesitate this morning when I just woke up?”

“I’m not listing your pending tasks, damn it! I mean, how can you be so calm about undressing?”

“Hm…”

Krexia scratched her head, looked at her not-so-prominent chest, and poked it with a finger.

Soft, but it somehow gave off a firm feeling.

“Maybe because I’m not that interested in this kind of body.”

Koutia was momentarily speechless.

How strange. Her answer was perfectly reasonable and unarguable, yet it somehow felt offensively dismissive.

And she wasn’t even a petty god.

“You…”

“Forget it, you’re sure you want to take it off, right?”

“Otherwise? Sleeping in clothes is so uncomfortable.”

“Alright.”

In the next second, Krexia’s little dress emitted a faint purple glow before dissolving into particles and disappearing.

The entire process was incredibly fast, happening in less than a second.

After the outer clothes vanished, she was left wearing only two pieces of black lace-trimmed intimate garments.

“…?”

“Really, with five or six years of experience cross-dressing, you still can’t take off your clothes properly and need a god to help? You’re truly clumsy.”

Krexia silently stared at her clothes, her mind feeling a bit overwhelmed, cheeks flushing slightly.

Her arms instinctively covered her chest, legs rubbing together unconsciously. Only now did she truly feel the emptiness below.

Mainly because the style of underwear was so familiar that even her thick skin found it a bit hard to handle.

“I think, whether or not to take off clothes is no longer the important question.”

“I want to ask, where did you get to know this kind of underwear style?”

She wouldn’t bet that no one in this world had designed such a sexy intimate garment before. At least from her years of sneaking around clothing stores, she’d never seen anything quite like it.

“From your head.”

That answer made sense; as a deity, having the ability to read mortal memories wasn’t surprising.

“I told you, I know everything!”

“…Then who am I? What’s my name? Tell me now.”

“You are…”

Whether deliberate or accidental, Koutia stopped midway, her speech not as fluent as before.

Krexia’s face flushed even deeper, veins almost popping out.

“Wǒ nèn dié!”

And so, this busy yet fulfilling day ended in a burst of laughter and chatter.

***

In Helia Manor on the western side of Vanor City.

A girl’s chestnut hair was tied up with a bath towel. Her graceful body lay naked, soaking alone in the bath. The warm water made her skin blush faintly.

After a while, she rose from the bath, water droplets rolling down her body, her fair skin boldly exposed to the air.

She grabbed the towel beside her and wrapped it around, covering the splendid view.

“Krexia… Elf, huh? She should count as a branch of magical creatures, right?”

Fana used magic to evaporate the water droplets from her body, then untied the towel on her head. Her chestnut hair instantly turned silver-white, and her skin, once rosy, visibly paled.

A scarlet gleam surfaced in her eyes, and her two trademark sharp fangs protruded slightly.

“But are there such people among the Elven Race?”

Fana, freshly bathed, walked through the bathroom partitions toward her room.

Perhaps because of prior instructions, she didn’t see a single servant along the way.

Opening her door and entering her room, she sat down at the desk and took a Magic Book from the shelf, flipping through it while pondering the girl she had met earlier that day.

A smile crept onto her lips.

“Interesting indeed.”

(1/2)