After Liz received the Knight Sword, she didn’t leave.
She looked at Red, seeing how focused he was, and seemed to realize something.
Red clearly wanted to help the adventurers who were heading into the forest to surround the monsters.
However, she decided to speak up.
“Red, as far as I know, the Nightbright Town Defense Force received orders from above. They don’t intend to get involved in this Magic Beast Siege.”
“I see…”
Red wasn’t particularly surprised by the result.
He simply nodded calmly. “I could have guessed as much.”
“But without the help of the Nightbright Town Defense Force, to be honest, I’m not optimistic that those adventurers can resolve this crisis. Those are monsters from beyond the 30th floor. Even the common grunts are quite difficult for most adventurers to handle.”
“That’s why I’m helping them find the weaknesses of these monsters, isn’t it?”
Red responded while continuing to record useful information.
“I’m just doing the best I can with what I have.”
Liz wanted to say that even if Red revealed all the monsters’ weaknesses, it wouldn’t change the fact that the adventurers were too weak.
Even if they knew the mechanics, the gap in raw stats was an insurmountable hurdle.
‘But if I consider what I can do…’
Liz fell into deep thought.
Red could help the adventurers by gathering intelligence and creating mechanical constructs.
So, in the current situation, what could she do?
Liz’s mind raced, and soon, she thought of her status as a noble.
“I understand.”
Under Red’s confused gaze, Liz seemed to reach a realization.
She raised her head and looked at Red.
“I will also do what is within my power.”
With that, Liz left the weapon shop, leaving Red scratching his head in confusion.
***
Meanwhile, inside the Sacred Heart Monastery.
After processing documents for one entire morning, Letia was completely burnt out, reduced to white ash.
She slumped in her chair, her soul seemingly floating out of her mouth.
Beside her, Ymir was slowly counting the processed documents.
“One, two, eighty-five…”
The documents could no longer be counted by the page; they had to be measured by weight.
It was easy to imagine just how massive Letia’s workload had been this morning.
In fact, these were only the documents she had finished.
Even more had been filtered out and sent to others to handle.
“Holy Maiden,” Ymir said as she organized the papers, reaching out to stuff the soul back into Letia’s mouth.
“There is still much work to be done. You can’t rest yet.”
“Just kill me already!!”
Letia slammed her face onto the cold desk in frustration, letting out a muffled groan.
At this moment, she desperately wanted to dig that bastard Otto out from the depths of the Dungeon!
He should come and taste this mountain of documents himself—this paperwork hell that could drive anyone insane!
Instead, he left her stuck here, working overtime every day! Every! Single! Day!
Even capitalists weren’t this heartless!
“Considering my size, I’m technically child labor! You people are going to end up hanging from lampposts for this!”
Letia snapped her head up, her cheeks puffed out in anger.
She used her short arms to poke the top of her own head, trying to awaken Ymir’s “conscience.”
“Given my height, I definitely fall into the category of child labor, right? Exploiting a child this ruthlessly… you should be put on public display!”
She spoke with righteous indignation, straightening her back.
At this moment, she no longer cared about her height; in fact, she used it to emphasize her point.
“I’m only 1.45 meters tall. A child my age… should be lying at home comfortably… slacking off!”
“Uh…”
Ymir couldn’t help but retort.
“But if you add up the years from your two lifetimes, you’re at least over fifty, aren’t you? Fine, fine, I’ll shut up.”
Under Letia’s fierce glare, Ymir decisively backed down and mimicked zipping her lips shut.
“The remaining work shouldn’t be much. Set it aside for now; I have something more important to do.”
Letia straightened her clothes and moved the rest of the documents to the side.
Seeing her sudden serious expression, Ymir spoke up.
“What is it?”
Facing Ymir’s question, Letia didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, with a crisp whoosh, she nimbly pulled up her large hood, concealing most of her face and leaving only a mysterious chin visible.
Her voice drifted out from the shadows of the hood, carrying a deliberate low tone.
“It isn’t that complicated…”
She paused.
“I’m going to meet someone.”
“Huh? Meet who?”
Ymir was even more confused.
However, Letia gave her no chance to ask further questions.
Before her voice even faded, she pushed open the study door and took off running.
“Whoever likes overtime can do it! I’m not serving anymore! See ya!”
The speed she displayed was comparable to someone running for their life, almost turning her into a white blur.
“Ah? Hey, hey, wait!”
Ymir finally reacted.
She rushed to the door, but she could only watch as the white figure dashed down the stairs with lightning speed and vanished around the corner.
She was left alone, standing stunned in the hallway.
It could be said that Letia escaped the Sacred Heart Monastery at the fastest speed of her entire life.
When she saw the sun outside and breathed in the fresh air, she felt like the protagonist of a certain prison escape movie, wanting to kneel on the ground and lament how hard-earned freedom was.
Of course, she held back.
After all… she had a reputation to maintain.
That being said, despite the joking around, Letia hadn’t run out just to avoid work.
She truly did have someone to meet.
Someone who was very likely the one behind the “Magic Beast Siege” event about to sweep through Nightbright Town.
Otto.
Letia quickly suppressed her joy at regaining her freedom and cautiously scanned the pedestrians around her.
After confirming no one was paying her special attention, she flickered away, nimbly turning into an inconspicuous, narrow, and dark alley.
Step… step…
The sunlight was completely blocked by the tall, old walls, and the light suddenly grew dim.
A damp, pungent smell—a mixture of rotting trash and some unidentifiable mold—filled the area.
Even street thugs and local hooligans wouldn’t enter a place like this.
But there were always exceptions.
As Letia walked deeper into the alley, she pulled out a Communication Crystal.
After a long wait, the connection was finally established.
An indifferent voice, lacking any emotion, drifted out from the other side of the crystal.
“What is it, Holy Maiden?”