Ain ate the soup bit by bit.
Even though it had spilled on the floor and gotten dirty, it was, after all, made with Erylin's feelings.
Ain couldn't bring himself to let the girl who adored him so much have her meticulously prepared food go to waste because of him.
“Ahhh! Mordred! This crappy game is so damn annoying!”
With no one else to talk to, Ain could only shake Mordred beside him, venting his inner frustration.
“Why does it have to be filled with nothing but garbage settings!”
Ain let out a long sigh and began to ponder his next plan.
In the original game, the way to clear this act was to play the victim and use public opinion to suppress the auction.
Then, the forces of the academy and the auction would band together to clear out the monsters along the way. By the time they reached the transport ship, a sudden anomaly would occur, bringing a horde of monsters, and Harrison would betray them at that moment...
But now, the situation had changed.
It was still unclear what role the academy would play in this operation.
If it was just reconnaissance, it would be tricky.
Harrison would stay with the academy, but their route would also take them further and further away from the compass.
He couldn't possibly go and snatch the compass from other factions after dealing with Harrison.
“Damn it, I don't have any helpers...”
Ain gently bit his thumb.
But if the academy served as the transport team this time, things would be much easier.
Not only could he easily deal with Harrison, but he could also find the compass using the shortest route.
Should he just kill Harrison before they set off?
No... that would alert the enemy...
And it would introduce too many variables.
Damn it...
Who else could help him now?
Ain suddenly thought of that giant dragon.
“My dear Eliana, can't you get your daughter to help out a bit?”
“Working for you is really hard work, you know!”
Seeing that the status panel didn't pop up, Ain sighed.
He would have to play it by ear... After all, tonight was just the night before their departure...
Wait, the night before?
Ain immediately sat up from the floor, his pupils slowly dilating.
“Isn't tonight the exact moment when Erylin and Grace meet?!”
...
The moonlight, like a sheet of white silk, poured down upon the vast, boundless plains.
In mid-air, an exquisitely beautiful woman floated quietly, letting the cool moonlight outline her graceful figure.
Below her stood a woman with short, gradient-blue hair. Swishing her dragon tail, she looked up at Loretta with a troubled expression.
Angelica, who should have been soaring in the sky, had been forcefully beaten down to the ground by her opponent.
Meanwhile, Loretta, who was supposedly a "human," was currently looking down on this Tier 6 monster from above.
“So Dragonkind is only this much, huh?”
Loretta let out a soft chuckle.
“A monster that has been hiding for so long... yet your power is still the same as it was thousands of years ago. No progress at all.”
Angelica clicked her tongue and retorted, “You're nothing but an old woman...”
“Do you think you're any better!”
Loretta's lips twitched, and veins popped on her forehead.
“Old woman?”
“Really now... Aside from that little guy, I find everyone quite annoying right now...”
Loretta stretched out her hand, and streams of light emerged from her palm.
“My little guy would never call me that...”
In an instant, giant magic circles like starlight appeared around Loretta's hands.
Countless magic circuits intertwined, flowing, shifting colors, and reorganizing...
Soon, countless beams of starlight appeared behind Loretta.
Not to be outdone, Angelica clenched her fists, tensed her right foot, and stared intently at Loretta in the sky.
Just as she was about to rush forward in one breath, she heard a sentence that shocked her to the core.
“Capturing you to be little Ain's servant doesn't sound like a bad idea...”
Angelica stared at Loretta in astonishment, muttering, “Ain...”
“That's the guy Grace mentioned!”
“So you're with him?!”
Loretta was also somewhat surprised as she looked down at Angelica, chuckling again.
“Indeed. You know him?”
“Even if you don't, you'll have plenty of opportunities to get to know him in the future...”
“He's done so much for me, after all. It wouldn't be right if I didn't give him a little gift...”
Angelica replied in shock, “A little gift?”
Loretta spoke nonchalantly, as if she were looking at a low-tier monster.
“Yes... a, lit-tle, gift.”
Angelica knew that the "little gift" her opponent was referring to was herself.
“Make sure to serve that little guy well, okay?”
Angelica's pupils dilated in disbelief. “You plan to make me his servant demon?”
A servant demon was an existence with an even lower status than a Contract Spirit.
Essentially, once this kind of contract was signed, the power of life and death would be entirely in the hands of the master.
Angelica said resentfully, “You might as well just kill me!”
“Except for Mother's people, I, Angelica, will never bow my head to anyone!”
As if listening to a joke, a playful smile appeared on Loretta's face.
“Of course I could kill you...”
“But that would be such a waste.”
“Your mother, on the other hand...”
Loretta pondered for a moment, and then, as if thinking of something amusing, she let out a soft laugh.
“Is her dragon form beautiful? What does she look like in human form?”
Angelica froze instantly. She spoke slowly, as if she had heard something completely unbelievable.
“You... you couldn't possibly want to...”
Loretta replied with a chuckle, “I wonder if my little Ain likes a mother-daughter combo...”
At this point, Angelica could no longer care about anything else.
Even if those words were deliberately meant to provoke her, it didn't matter.
She now only wanted to kill the woman in front of her.
As Angelica leapt into the air, Loretta's magic shot toward her as well.
Accompanied by beams of dazzling starlight, countless magic particles exploded violently right in front of Angelica.
The night plains, which should have been silent, now resembled a grand carnival.
Colorful lights and shadows danced wildly in the night sky, completely submerging the land in a sea of brilliant colors.
The explosions lasted for a full three minutes.
Once the magic particles finally dispersed, Loretta discovered that the crater below was completely empty.
“Oh dear, I forgot to bind her with space magic...”
Loretta, despite being a mature woman, tapped her own head in a cute manner, then sighed and said with some disappointment,
“Little Ain shouldn't blame me, right?”
“Next time I run into this dragon, I'll catch her for him to play with...”
Loretta gently tore open a rift in space and stepped inside.
“I still have some things to take care of...”
...
Inside the room, Grace was packing the food and magic tools for tomorrow's departure.
Just as she was about to close the window, a figure suddenly tumbled in from outside, crashing heavily onto the floor in a miserable state.
Upon recognizing the figure, Grace gasped in surprise.
“Lady Angelica?!”
Seeing that the other was covered in wounds, Grace was about to step forward to support her, but Angelica pushed herself up on her own.
“Grace...”
“Yes?”
At this moment, nothing but rage burned in Angelica's eyes.
“We must capture that guy named Ain and tear him to pieces!”
As if realizing something, Angelica's tone suddenly shifted.
“No, we can't kill him...”
“That's not enough...”
“I want to pin him to the ground and beat him until he can never stand up again!”
“I'll step on his head and rub it against the floor! I want that old woman to see exactly how her precious Ain is humiliated to death by me!”
“No! Not just that guy named Ain, but that old woman too!”
“All of them can go to hell!”
Rate on N.U.
