Ch.94I Cried My Heart Out for the First Time in a Long While

It was still during the time when Rokyu was leaping between rooftops.

“Everyone, please stay quiet…”

“Ughhhh…!”

“T-there are monsters outside right now, aren’t there?”

Sophia, who had been helping with the cleanup in the kitchen with the servants when she sensed monsters surrounding the building, immediately turned off all the lights in the room and was trying to calm everyone down.

‘Their presence isn’t very strong… C-rank at best? No… these are probably D-rank threat level monsters.’

The monsters’ howls echoed through the window.

She had drawn the curtains just in case, but that wasn’t enough to make her feel safe.

What she was doing now wasn’t “hunting” but “protecting.”

‘The building’s exterior walls seem very sturdy, but the windows appear to be just regular tempered glass… which means monsters could easily break in through here.’

“Sis, what should we do? Should we just go out?”

“No, we don’t even know exactly how many monsters are out there. If we rush out recklessly, we might end up making this entire building their target.”

If only there were at least four skilled fighters who could cover all four directions—north, south, east, and west.

Then they could have split into hunting and escort teams to fight!

If Riverine and Jaewon had passed the interview and become servants too, they could have handled this situation.

But those two had failed the interview.

“For now, let’s stay alert but keep absolutely quiet.”

“Oh, okay!”

With just the two of them able to fight, protecting nearly 100 civilians in the kitchen meant they could only hide.

‘Shinwoo…’

Even in this situation, she wondered if Shinwoo was okay.

As Sophia sighed at that thought—

“?!”

“S-Sis!”

Lia, who had good instincts like Sophia thanks to being born a monster, though still lacking in experience.

Lia immediately looked up at Sophia as she sensed the monsters’ presences beginning to disappear from around the building.

“Must be reinforcements!”

Sophia, sensing the same presences, briefly smiled.

“…?! Um, Sis…?”

“What is this?”

But her joy was short-lived.

As the smaller presences disappeared, they seemed to gather and consolidate into one large presence, causing Lia to start trembling.

It was an incredibly powerful presence.

Of course, it was nothing compared to her brother or those above him, but even so, to Lia, it was a being with a different level of power.

At the same time, it felt like a worthy opponent to Sophia.

She rushed to the window covered by curtains and peeked outside.

“H-hey! Newbie! What are you doing…!”

“Just because you’ve worked part-time as a Hunter doesn’t mean you should step up!”

“Everyone, please stop bothering my sister!”

While Lia was trying to calm the humans in the kitchen who were telling her to stay put.

“That’s… that young master from before?!”

Sophia could see it.

Rokyu was fighting to protect the kitchen area where they were, but he was now in mortal danger.

She couldn’t hide anymore.

Crash!

Breaking through the glass window.

“Get out of the way!”

“…?! M-miss?”

Sophia was now facing off against the Goblin Hero.

***

In the Kitsune Family episode.

There was a monster that appeared as a sub-boss rather than the main monster in the first chapter of the ballroom attack incident.

Its name was the Goblin Hero.

It appeared in the eastern territory, quite far from the ballroom in the north, but whether it was defeated or not had no impact on the story.

It was merely “additional content” in the game.

However, if it wasn’t defeated, there would be a line in the narration later:

“The casualties among the servants in the Kitsune Family territory exceeded one hundred.”

“…So that’s why I came here.”

Shinwoo, who had rushed to the kitchen immediately after parting with Princess Kurumi at the annex, saying he still had something to do, was here to clear this additional content.

But just as he was about to transform into a monster, his jaw dropped.

Because Sophia, who should have been in Korea, was here.

‘Why is Sophia here…? Wait, is that a maid outfit?’

She looked like she was short on money recently.

Sophia’s outfit was that of a passing extra maid A.

Of course, thanks to her outstanding appearance, she didn’t look like an extra at all.

Anyway.

‘Should I help her?’

If Sophia had looked like she was in danger, he would have helped immediately.

But right now, she was fighting on equal terms with the Goblin Hero, swinging a scythe larger than herself like a ballerina performing acrobatics.

And I could tell with my experienced gamer’s instinct.

That Sophia was growing at a frightening rate.

As if she had someone she wanted to catch up to, her eyes were filled with determination to protect people and a will to become stronger than anyone else.

‘For now… I’ll wait!’

The Goblin Hero’s great sword always missed Sophia by a hair’s breadth.

And during that time, small cuts from her scythe were appearing all over the monster’s body.

Sophia’s strikes couldn’t inflict fatal wounds on the Goblin Hero’s skin.

But they were enough to accumulate damage little by little and isolate the opponent.

And Sophia’s expression suggested that was enough.

“Uooooohhh!”

“That guy?! Did he give up on the great sword?”

A bone great sword designed more for crushing than cutting, made by mixing the corpses of their own kind.

However, if it couldn’t reach the opponent, it was nothing more than a large piece of junk.

The Goblin Hero boldly abandoned his weapon and re-engaged Sophia with his lighter arms.

And that was evidence that the fight had already entered phase 2.

“Ugh…?!”

“UOOOOHHHHH!!”

The monster that had been making only brute force attacks was now pressing her with nimble movements.

Facing this Goblin Hero, rated B+ by American standards, Sophia began to back away to avoid being caught.

Crunch!

Crack!

Spinning her body rapidly like a figure skater, Sophia succeeded in plunging the blade of her scythe into the monster’s abdomen.

But at the same time, she was caught by the creature, which grabbed both her shoulders.

‘…! This isn’t good!’

The Goblin Hero wouldn’t die just from being stabbed in the abdomen.

Rather, as if it were good fortune, the monster was smiling as it looked at the finally captured Sophia like it was going to devour her.

“M-maid!”

As Shinwoo was about to shout and Rokyu was about to rush forward.

But making their concerns look foolish.

Smirk.

“Hmm?”

Despite the desperate situation.

Sophia faced the Goblin Hero and smiled back as if it were also good fortune for her.

“You know what?”

“……?”

“I’m a Beast Hunter, you idiot.”

Thwack!

Lia, who had emerged from the shadows between them, immediately kicked the Goblin Hero’s chin upward.

“Kyokushin Karate – Rising Kick!”

“Huh?!”

Surprised, the Goblin Hero let go of his grip and began to back away in confusion.

“Lia, now!”

“Got it, Sis!”

Not missing even that opening.

“Kyokushin Karate – Straight Punch.”

“Cleaving Strike!”

Sophia aimed for the top.

Lia aimed for the center.

Their slash and punch respectively severed and pierced through the surprised Goblin Hero’s head and wounded abdomen.

“Amaz…”

“Amazing…!”

The two men marveled at the sight.

Among them, Shinwoo hid his body back behind the building, while Rokyu, who had just gotten up, looked at Sophia who was avoiding his gaze in embarrassment.

“Maid… you were a Hunter?”

“What? Oh, yes…”

“And a Beast Hunter at that?”

“Y-yes…”

After asking this and that for a moment.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t really mean to hide my identity… well, actually I did! But I had a good reason why I needed to work part-time here!”

Sophia, who was terrible at lying, answered while still keeping her secret.

Looking at her, Rokyu should have immediately kicked out such a suspicious woman for the sake of his family’s future.

“…Why did you save me?”

“Pardon?”

“If your goal was to hide your identity… couldn’t you have just stayed hidden in the building, regardless of whether I lived or died?”

“Oh, that…”

To Rokyu’s question, asking for a reason as if he didn’t want to dismiss her.

“Well, because I’m a Hunter.”

“…!”

“And you were the same, young master. You came all the way from the ballroom to this distant place to protect us. Doesn’t that make us even?”

She saved him because she was a Hunter.

And she saved him because he tried to save her too.

Sophia had simply given a straightforward and clear answer, but.

“No one in my family has ever said something so obvious…”

“Um, young master…?”

“If you do something, you must always receive something in return. We’ve always been taught that way…”

“Wh-what?! Young master, are you crying?”

“N-no, I’m not!”

From morning till night.

Even while sleeping, in a daily life where a knife was always held to his neck, how long had it been since he felt such a warm light?

Clearly, according to custom, such a suspicious person should be driven away.

“D-don’t cry! Young master. There, there.”

“I’ll comfort you too! Pat, pat.”

Rokyu was surrounded by two women younger than himself, being comforted.

But this wasn’t bad either, so Rokyu was truly able to feel relief and cry to his heart’s content for the first time in a long time.

“C-can you… t-tell me your n-name…?”

“It’s Sophia. I don’t have a family name, just Sophia. Please call me that, young master.”

“I-I see… I will do so.”

Meanwhile.

Even though his wife was currently patting another man’s head!

Observing his husband who was retreating with relief from the roof of a building on the outskirts of the territory was the son of the couple.

“Han Shinwoooooo!! You idiooooooot!!”

Han Jaewon was burning with rage more than ever, emitting black lightning as if he was about to transform into a monster right now, regardless of whether Riverine tried to stop him or not.

“Is netorare your fetish?! You idiot!! Go stop them right nowwww!!”