【Myriad Manifestations: Glazed Skirt】
Defensive upgrade.
Combining the Rock Armor of the Rock Land Wyrm and the refractive traits of the Glazed Beetle.
Usually, it was an elegant, light-green battle skirt, but upon taking a hit, crystalline and hard rock-wood patterns resembling glazed glass would surface!
【Myriad Manifestations: Water Splendor and Flying Flowers】
Life-saving evasion.
Fusing the traits of the Water Core and the Water-Mist Flower Demon.
It allowed her to freely control her body to shatter like an ice mirror, transforming into a sky full of refractive water vapor and flying flowers. This completely negated incoming damage while throwing off the enemy's lock-on!
“Phew... as expected of me!”
With a thought, Qimeng condensed a pitch-black single-edged blade interwoven with green light in her palm, while a battle skirt shimmering with glazed radiance appeared around her.
She wore a proud smile.
“Not bad, not bad! Its looks are maxed out, and its utility is maxed out too! I really am a peerless genius who possesses both strength and aesthetics~”
If Qimeng had a tail, it would be wagging high up in the sky right now.
However, before she could recover from her self-indulgent mode, a flurry of hurried footsteps echoed outside the Tree Court. Eve, the acting chief and leader of the 【Pure Green Leaves: Loli Elysium Song and Dance Troupe】, requested an audience.
After being granted entry, she trotted in with a bizarre expression on her face.
“R-Report, Spirit Lord! Something terrible has happened!”
Panting heavily, Eve presented a sheet of black beast skin parchment with both hands.
“This was intercepted in the forest by our patrol... It's a 【Wanted Poster】 issued by the demon high command to all the subspecies tribes!”
“A wanted poster? Huh? Which magical beast pissed off the demons this time?” Qimeng asked casually, sipping fresh fruit juice through a straw.
Eve swallowed hard, her expression turning even more peculiar. “Well... it's Spirit Maiden Yinzhi.”
“Pfft! Cough! Cough, cough, cough!!”
Qimeng spat her fruit juice three meters away, coughing repeatedly as her eyes widened in shock.
“Huh?! Who did you say?! Yinzhi?!!”
Qimeng never expected the demons to make such an absurd deduction.
Could it be that those guys had pinned the entire blame for the death of the high-ranking demon leading the lizardmen squarely on Spirit Maiden Yinzhi's head?
“Have these demons lost their minds?!”
Qimeng snatched the wanted poster and stared at it, reading it with wide eyes.
When she saw the contents clearly, she was momentarily left speechless.
【Wanted Target: Wood Elf Spirit Maiden】
【Crime: Brutal slaughter of a demon outpost! Cruel methods! No flesh left behind! No survivors!】
【Bounty: 500 Advanced Magic Stones! Title of demon nobility!】
“No, no, no! Wait a minute! This is completely wrong!!”
Clutching the wanted poster, Qimeng launched into a rapid-fire rant.
“What on earth is this?! Slaughtering a demon camp? Cruel methods?”
Wasn't that the handiwork of her emerald avatar, who had egged on that medicine-seeking guy a while ago?!
How did this massive, heavy scapegoat of a blame land so perfectly and precisely on that loli Yinzhi's head?!
That camp was clearly wiped out by dark magic! Anyone with eyes could see it was a case of internal demon infighting and backstabbing!
“I get it. Those guys couldn't find the real culprit, so they got desperate and just grabbed someone to take the fall!”
After all, the Wood Elves had just completely wiped out their lizardman forces a while ago, so the feud was already established—not that the two sides had ever been on good terms anyway!
“W-Wait a minute.”
Ranting aside, Qimeng's clever little mind started working.
Yinzhi taking the blame meant the Wood Elves took the blame, which meant the Tree Court took the blame.
So in the end, she, the lord, was still the one taking the fall.
“Dammit, in a way, the demons actually hit the nail on the head! Whether it was wiping out the lizardmen before or destroying the outpost a few days ago, it really was all my doing!”
This shocking boomerang of a realization left Qimeng feeling a little lightheaded.
“M-My Lord... what should we do now?”
Eve looked anxious and uneasy.
“Five hundred Advanced magic stones plus a title of nobility... This bounty is too tempting! The bounty hunters and bloodthirsty subspecies in the forest will probably all start moving!”
Hearing the number "five hundred Advanced magic stones," Qimeng's beautiful large eyes suddenly dated around strategically.
Her initial shock vanished instantly, replaced by a mischievous smirk.
“My~ this is indeed very dangerous~”
Qimeng rubbed her cheeks, hiding her smirk, and patted Eve on the shoulder as she gave her orders.
“Eve! Listen up, send a transmission to Yinzhi immediately!”
“Eh! Yes! Are we telling Lady Yinzhi to hurry back to the territory to seek refuge??”
“No! Quite the opposite!”
Qimeng waved her hand with a righteous look on her face.
“Tell her that she absolutely... absolutely must not return to the Tree Court territory anytime soon! It's best if she wanders around outside, the more eye-catching the better! She must not bring those dangerous flies back to our warm and peaceful family!”
“Huh?”
Eve stood frozen in place, as if three giant question marks had popped up over her head.
“M-My Lord? Are you selling out your vassal so bluntly?!!”
“Cough, cough! I am doing this for the greater good!”
Qimeng hooked her arm around Eve's neck, whispering mischievously into her ear.
“Silly girl~ Listen, I just so happen to have mastered demon spells.”
“Think about it. When those greedy bounty hunters go to trouble Yinzhi... I'll disguise myself as a demon and descend from the heavens.”
“At that time, not only can I easily slaughter those annoying small fry for Yinzhi, but she and I can also put on a grand show together! Then, I'll drop by the demon camp... and claim that five-hundred-Advanced-magic-stone bounty!”
“This is what we call using the demons' money to fund our own home! And it covers for Yinzhi at the same time! Do you get it now~”
Hearing this miraculous reverse-scamming plan, Eve's initial shock transformed into starry-eyed adoration!
“A-As expected of Lord Qimeng! So strong! That is truly a brilliant scheme!”
Eve nodded her little head excitedly.
“I'll go send the transmission to Lady Yinzhi right away! I'll make sure she has a great time out there!”
As Eve trotted away, Qimeng leaned back onto her throne.
She took a sip of her sweet fruit juice, her legs dangling in midair.
“Oh my... protecting my subordinate, screwing over my enemies, and getting a massive bounty for free... I really am an incomparably wise and wonderful lord~”
Meanwhile, far away in the southern forest, Yinzhi, who had just received the transmission, had a face covered in black lines.
Just as she had found clues regarding the six-layer Sacred Spirit over the past few days, her Wood Elf squad had been targeted by two high-ranking demon subspecies.
Still unaware that a massive bounty had been placed on her head, she was planning to quickly shake off her pursuers and return to the Tree Court for refuge, only to receive the directive from the territory.
【Lady Yinzhi! You have been put on a wanted list by the demons. The Spirit Lord has ordered that you absolutely must not return to the Tree Court anytime soon! Please make sure to wander around outside to draw the enemies away~】
“Huh?! I'm not even allowed to go home?!”
Yinzhi stood dazed on a tree branch, clutching the wooden transmission talisman as tears welled in her eyes.
“Why?! I'm your loyal vassal! Have I been abandoned? Waaaah...”
Before she could start crying, a second supplementary message popped up from the wooden talisman.
【By the way, Lord Qimeng also said to conserve your strength and prepare to cooperate in a grand show to scam the bounty out of the demons~】
Yinzhi: “???”
At this command, which practically reeked of pure mischief, a vein popped on Yinzhi's forehead.
“Lord! Qi! Meng! It's bad enough that you're using me as bait, but you're actually thinking about getting a free bounty out of it?!”
Rate on N.U.
