Qimeng wiped the smile from her pretty face.
If reasoning didn't work, it was time to use some other means.
“Little girls, watch closely.”
In the next second, Qimeng activated her natural abilities, blending her presence with the entire forest and magnifying it infinitely.
To the senses of the White Feather Clan, the young girl before them had transformed into a terrifying forest will.
The surrounding world seemed to glare down at them with a sinister gaze. It was an unavoidable pressure that began dismantling them from deep within their minds.
“Ugh...!”
The members of the White Feather Clan throughout the village felt their legs go weak. Clutching their throats, they collapsed in heaps, unable to even lift their heads. A few of the more faint-hearted ones even began to vomit.
Feifeier and Ninike held onto each other for support.
Though their Advanced Rank strength made them slightly better off than their clansmen, they were still pinned in place by that immense mental pressure.
It felt like sleep paralysis in the dead of night—even though their brains were functioning, their bodies refused to obey.
A great demon...
This person was a genuine, bona-fide great demon!
“I am not negotiating with you. I am issuing an announcement!”
Qimeng looked down at the helpless winged people.
“From this moment on, all five hundred of you are my personal property!”
“Those who disobey... die! Those who try to resist... die!”
Qimeng pointed at Chief Feifeier, her voice incredibly cold.
“Don't even think about refusing. Rather than waiting for the Thunder Eagle Clan or some other small fry to slaughter you all one day, you might as well die by my hand right now.”
She reined in her mental pressure, allowing the atmosphere to ease slightly.
“Furthermore, I have decided to clean this place up. I will give your entire clan half a day to boil five hundred tubs of bathwater for me!”
With that, Qimeng cast a sidelong glance at the collapsed winged folk and let out a cold snort.
“Do you understand, slaves?!”
Leaving behind these harsh words, she walked straight into the largest treehouse in the village.
However, the moment she stepped inside and was out of everyone's sight, Qimeng slumped onto a chair and cradled her face, her cool facade completely collapsing.
“Uh-oh! I was a bit too impulsive!”
I can't conjure food out of thin air, and the Tree Court doesn't have that many reserves. Trying to feed over five hundred hungry bird girls all at once seems like it's going to be a bit of a headache...
It's all the fault of those three little vassals. They've been working so hard lately that they actually made me want to recruit people to our territory for once.
“Yes, it's definitely their fault!”
Oh well, I'll just kidnap them under the guise of enslavement first and figure out the rest later!
These five hundred bird girls are cute and can fly. If I take them back and give them a bit of training, they'll make a great makeshift air force. When there's no fighting, I can put them to work in the fields, and then we'll have food!
“Exactly! With a long-term plan, I'm guaranteed to come out on top!”
Qimeng did some mental gymnastics to convince herself.
Then, adopting a cold posture once again, she ordered the White Feather girls to carry the hot water they had boiled into the treehouse.
However, the White Feather girls were utterly bewildered.
“Um... why do we have to boil so much bathwater in the square?”
“I don't know. Could that demon... want to wash us clean before cooking and eating us?”
“Eek! No!”
Amidst the panic, Qimeng pointed directly at the little squad captain with the ice-blue hair.
“You there, Ninike, right? Yes, you. You're first. Get in here!”
Ninike's delicate body shuddered.
She bit her lower lip, looked back at her scarred clansmen, and her gaze suddenly turned resolute, as if she were marching to her death.
“I understand! For everyone's sake, even if I have to be... by that bad woman, I'll accept it!”
Ninike stepped into the treehouse with the tragic, heroic resolve of a martyr.
Qimeng rolled her eyes.
Please!
I just wanted to find a guinea pig to test the effectiveness of my newly concocted, diluted life potion!
Who are you putting on that 'about to be devoured' act for?!
A quarter of an hour later.
The treehouse door was pushed open, and Ninike walked out, looking utterly dazed.
Her clothes were completely soaked, clinging to her shapely body. Water dripped from the tips of her hair, and a suspicious blush dusted her cheeks.
The watching White Feather girls erupted into a commotion, their eyes filled with fury!
“Oh my god... Has Captain Ninike really fallen victim to her clutches?!”
“She didn't even spare her feathers?! She must have suffered some horrific, inhuman torture!”
“Waaah, she's soaked from head to toe. What kind of sick game was that pervert playing...”
Faced with her clansmen's wild, imaginative gossip, Ninike had no idea how to explain herself.
Was she supposed to admit that the moment she was pushed inside, Qimeng had splashed scalding hot water all over her, pinching her nose in disgust and scolding her?
“You stink! You smell like a wet bird. How long has it been since you last bathed?!”
But she bathed in the river every single day!
This person was clearly making things up just to pick on her!
Still... Ninike subconsciously touched her arm, her gaze dazed.
That bathwater... felt so good.
The warm water had washed away the dirt, and even her old injuries from past battles and the bruises from the magic rebound earlier had miraculously healed, as if she had been doused in high-grade healing potions.
A cozy warmth enveloped her entire body.
She had thought the great demon was going to do something shameful to her, but in the end, she had just been kicked out after a simple bath?
Just as Ninike was thinking this...
“Ninike! What are you doing daydreaming out there? Change into clean clothes and get back in here immediately!”
Qimeng's bossy, demanding voice rang out from inside the treehouse.
Ninike shuddered.
That demon was calling her again. It was bound to be nothing good!
The surrounding bird girls cast sympathetic glances at her, sighing as they watched Ninike change her clothes and walk back inside.
A moment later, Ninike emerged again.
But this time, she had a very strange expression on her face, and she was carrying a basin of warm water in her hands.
“That lady said... everyone in the clan needs to line up and go inside.”
“Especially... the severely injured. They go first.”
The White Feather Clan was astonished, and then they burst into wails of despair!
“What a beast!! She won't even spare the severely injured?! What kind of twisted freak of a demon is she?!”
Chief Feifeier's vision went dark, and she nearly fainted from pure rage right then and there.
However, in the face of an absolute gap in power, they could only line up with tears in their eyes to go in and be humiliated.
Standing by the tub, Ninike looked at the first severely injured clansman who was carried forward.
This sister had lost her left arm in yesterday's conflict.
The wound was a horrific sight; not only were the bones shattered, but the remaining flesh had been scorched to ash by lightning magic.
At this moment, her breath was faint as she lay there, her face as pale as death, her eyes filled with the numbness of someone awaiting demise.
Ninike fought back her heartache, her hands trembling as she scooped up a ladle of warm water and gently poured it over the wound.
One ladle after another.
The warm water flowed over the wound until she was completely drenched, but the injury showed no reaction at all.
Ninike's heart sank, her eyes welling with tears.
Seated in the host's chair, Qimeng glanced sideways at her.
“Fool. Feed the water to her.”
“Huh?! You... you want a severely injured person to drink bathwater?!”
“Slave Ninike, mind your place. This is the only warning you get. Do it again, and you can look forward to my punishment.”
Biting her lower lip, Ninike had no choice but to obey, scooping up half a ladle of water and slowly feeding it into her severely injured sister's mouth.
Rate on N.U.
