Katy, with her tights half-off, was suddenly teleported into the middle of a dense forest.
The pure white fabric left faint red marks against the girl’s thighs.
She hurriedly pulled up her tights, abandoning the thought of using her hands to cast a no-chant water Magic spell.
Without a doubt, it was Her Majesty, the capricious Demon King, who wanted to see her again.
The girl skillfully knelt on one knee and began to report on her work over the past few days.
“Please rest assured, Your Majesty. The undercover work is going smoothly. I have successfully embedded myself by Gray’s side, and that blockhead hasn’t suspected a thing.”
The Demon King nodded, her languid voice carrying a hint of amusement.
“Noctiluca, do you know why I sent you to that man’s side?”
Katy recalled the reason Her Majesty had mentioned last time:
‘Gray will be the key to the future revival of the Demon Race.’
But honestly, after spending the last few days with him, she really couldn’t see how this guy could be the key to the entire future of the Demon Race.
He was just a kind-hearted male college student who happened to have a bit of talent for combat.
Surely they weren’t expecting him to become a live-in son-in-law in the Demon Realm?
Seeing the girl’s bewildered expression, the Demon King chuckled and shook her head.
“Even my Magic cannot easily interfere with the Space you create, yet that man was able to tear it open with nothing but willpower and brute force. That is enough to be called brilliant, not just ‘a bit of talent.'”
Katy retorted somewhat defiantly, “Your Majesty, you’ve misunderstood. I wasn’t the one who deployed that domain. That Decapitating Demon named Slather somehow got a hold of a scroll containing my Authority. A pirated version… I mean, the quality of a counterfeit is bound to be poor.”
“A scroll?”
There was a brief pause in the voice from the throne.
“An interesting detail. I did not see that part.”
These words genuinely startled the girl.
Could the Demon King, who bore the title of All-Knowing, actually have things she didn’t know?
Before she could think further, the figure on the throne changed the subject.
“Forget it. Recently, some annoying birds and blood-sucking insects have crossed the border and ended up near this city. I do not have the leisure to crush those ants one by one. Therefore, Noctiluca, keep a close eye on them.”
“By your command,” Katy replied, bowing her head.
However, the suspicion in her heart grew like weeds.
According to the Peace Treaty from 300 years ago, members of the Demon Race were strictly forbidden from appearing in human territory outside of the Demon Realm and the Labyrinth.
The current Demon King was someone who strictly followed those rules and regulations.
Consequently, even the most powerful Calamity Pillars would not take a single step outside the Labyrinth gates to avoid bringing trouble upon themselves, let alone other demons.
As for the “birds” and “blood-sucking insects” the Demon King mentioned, if Katy guessed correctly, she was referring to Harpies and Low Blood Demons.
The latter might not even have a proper demon identity and were essentially just blood bags.
How did these low-level demons, who would be nothing more than small mobs in a Labyrinth, have the courage to defy the Demon King’s order and wander near a human town?
Even though Knox City was just a small border town in the Duchy of Navel, it was still a human settlement guarded by the Association.
Even if low-level demons only had the instincts to seek profit and follow their desires, they generally weren’t stupid enough to go this far.
It couldn’t be that they wanted to follow the Demon King’s orders to have one person split into five paths to siege the city, right?
“Do not disappoint me, Noctiluca.”
After leaving these words, the Demon King’s figure dissipated like mist.
The girl looked up at the empty meadow under the moonlight, her heart filled with doubt.
Why didn’t Her Majesty find someone to deal with those demons before they left the Demon Realm?
Did the All-Knowing Demon King have blind spots?
Or was this a test to see if she had lost her heart while playing the role of an undercover agent?
What a joke.
As a former Calamity Pillar, how could she really fall for a human Hero?
All the shy and blushing behavior she displayed in front of Gray was nothing but her brilliant acting.
Conquer her?
Gray, that Xiao Chunan, is still twenty years too early for that!
***
Katy walked home carrying the Crystal Ball.
At this hour, Knox City was unexpectedly devoid of pedestrians; only a few dim, yellow streetlights stood lonely watch.
As a member of the Demon Race, Katy had a rather embarrassing little secret — she was a bit afraid of the dark, especially when walking alone at night.
To bolster her courage, the girl hummed a song under her breath.
“In the ancient city so deep, to the center of the street I creep — pear blossoms falling in the rain, upon the water’s —”
Before she could finish, a familiar fluctuation surged into her senses.
Katy’s azure eyes instantly turned into vertical slits, glowing faintly in the night.
She smelled the scent of the Demon Race.
Moreover, it was the kind that didn’t know how to hide at all, filled with a primal stench and a bloody aura.
This level of stealth was so poor that, in her Labyrinth, they would only serve as fodder to distract the attention of a Hero.
The girl glanced around.
There was no one.
She immediately took one leap onto the roof and dashed toward the direction of the unruly aura.
‘Sniff, sniff… this location… is it inside Knox City? Wait!’
Katy’s expression changed.
‘That direction… it’s the orphanage?!’
Although she claimed to be an adult who disliked children, the warm atmosphere during the dinner she had just shared at the orphanage, the Old Matron’s kind smile, and those little ones who swarmed around Gray calling him “brother”…
At the thought that those innocent faces might be involved with blood-sucking leeches and bird-men, a chill ran through Katy’s heart.
“You pieces of trash… if you have a problem, can’t you just go after a big idiot like Gray? What kind of skill is it to target children?”
***
2 minutes ago, on the outskirts of Knox City.
A girl wearing old clothes tightly held a pack of white candles in her arms as she jogged along the dirt road leading to the orphanage.
She was Emma, one of the oldest children in the orphanage.
Since the Church was almost out of candles, she had volunteered to go to the city to buy more for the Matron using the silver coins Gray had brought earlier that day.
The girl remembered how she had confidently told her worried younger siblings before leaving that she was already a 12-year-old big girl and wasn’t afraid of the dark.
But now, with the autumn wind whistling and the streets dim, she felt, for no reason at all, that something was watching her from behind.
Emma swallowed hard, her pace quickening.
Tap, tap, tap.
It felt as if footsteps were echoing behind her.
She suddenly jerked to a stop and turned around.
Behind her was an empty, dim street; only a stray cat jumped over a trash can.
“…It’s okay, Emma. Don’t scare yourself.”
The girl took a deep breath, trying to soothe her racing heart, and then sped up.
However, after only a few steps, that hair-raising feeling of being watched returned.
It was as if some cold, slimy creature was breathing on the back of her neck, or as if someone was lying on her back.
The girl grit her teeth, tears welling in her eyes as she sprinted toward the streetlight ahead.
It was close.
Only 10 meters…
5 meters…
*Bzzzt.*
The already weak light suddenly flickered out.
Darkness swallowed her instantly.
Emma froze in place, her entire body trembling.
She felt as if something was standing right in front of her.
The girl looked up tremulously.
By the light of the moon, she saw a pair of crimson eyes hanging upside down in the air and a bird’s beak filled with sharp teeth.
“AHHHHHHHH —!!”
The scream tore through the dead silence of the night sky, but Katy, flying in from the distant rooftops, was one step too late.
She watched helplessly as the hunched figure with wings snatched up the unconscious Emma and then used two withered claws to tear open a glowing piece of parchment.
With a familiar spatial fluctuation, the Harpy and the girl vanished instantly, leaving only a few pitch-black feathers drifting in the air.
Katy landed on top of the streetlight, staring at the rapidly disappearing dark purple Mana.
A sense of absurdity and rage she had never felt before rushed to her head.
“— Damn it! My Authority again?! Where the hell did these — cursed demon slangs — get so many pirated scrolls containing my Authority?!”
In her fury, she crushed the paving stones beneath her with one stomp.
Then, she viciously pulled up her shirt, her palm brushing against the Charm Crest tattooed on her lower abdomen.
Normally, a young girl proactively pulling up her shirt to reveal her belly would be a very suggestive sight, but Katy’s movement was more like a masked hero activating their belt.
“Transform! You’re dead!!”
A purple light flashed on the ground, and Noctiluca’s giant form rose from the earth, chasing the spatial fluctuation as she flew out of the city.
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