episode_0017

Clunk, huff!

The door closed with a frightening force, as if some power was acting on it, and it opened inward.

“What are you doing standing there? Ah! Juice!”

Rania, who had been patting the collapsed Doban, approached with a loosened expression, mixing her voice with aegyo, and took the juice. It all happened in an instant.

“Gulp, gulp. Kya! It’s delicious!”

“Please have some too, Mia. I made it with the fruit you bought last time.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Mia skillfully took the glass and sipped the juice. Rania, who licked the juice off her lips, sat opposite Mia and crossed her legs.

“Oh…”

As she crossed her legs, the pants, which were already insufficient to be called underwear, rose even higher. After barely managing to redirect her gaze, she coughed and spoke.

“What should we do with that person, Mia?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

Mia rolled her eyes and looked at the half-fainted Doban.

“I’d like to kill him, but I guess I can’t.”

“Why not just kill him?”

Rania said, pushing one of the few remaining cookies into her mouth. Rania’s sexy and attractive face softened in an instant.

She really seemed to like the cookie.

“Ha, even though I look like this, I’m involved with another one of the Four Kings. I don’t want to make unnecessary trouble.”

“Oh, just kill him.”

“Even if that Four King is Ervorn?”

“Hmm…? You’re saying he knows Ervorn?”

“More precisely, he’s acquainted with one of Ervorn’s aides.”

“It’s ambiguous.”

Ervorn was one of the Four Kings famous for strictly distinguishing between public and private matters. He played the role of a staff officer within the Demon Army.

If you got on his bad side, countless troubles would pour down on you. If you were acquainted with him, it was better to avoid him, but if you were acquainted with one of Ervorn’s aides, it was strangely ambiguous.

“In a situation where a full-scale war is taking place, making unnecessary fights is troublesome, isn’t it?”

“Then what should we do?”

Rania smiled happily as she puffed out her cheeks. As a dedicated cook who baked cookies, she felt proud.

“I’m going to leave the negotiation to Jiso-nim.”

“Good idea. Quite devilish, I must say.”

Jiso was one of the Four Kings, operating a frenzied arena and dealing with dreadful matters such as usury and drugs.

Leaving the negotiation to Jiso meant that he would forcibly take from Dovan an amount of money deemed “reasonable” for the damages Mia suffered.

If there was enough money, it wouldn’t be a problem, but if there wasn’t, Jiso would take everything, including body and soul.

Even if they managed to pay the compensation, Jiso would still take the remaining money as a “fee.” Rania had a reason to call him a “demon.”

If Jiso acted directly, there would be no troublesome retaliation, and he could take as much as possible. Moreover, he could even send Dovan to ruin, making it the best choice.

“Then will you release this?”

“No, I’ll put a constraint on it.”

“If I just release it, you’ll obviously cause trouble.”

Mia closed the book she was reading, got up, and approached Dovan. He was in a mess due to all the harassment by Rania’s various spells.

“…ψπΝδΦΩ”

As Mia muttered something, a magic circle rose above Dovan’s body and soon seeped into him.

“This should do.”

“Then will you get rid of this?”

“Yes, please do that.”

Rania lightly flicked her finger, lifting Dovan into the air. Then, she approached a mirror in the reception room.

“Let’s see, the coordinates are… here.”

She traced the magical traces left on the mirror, identified the place Dovan had crossed over, and activated the mirror.

Hummm.

The surface of the mirror shook once again.

“If you want to die, come back again. I’ll entertain you.”

Rania sent the flying doban in the air with a captivating smile on her lips, using the mirror to blow it away. Doban left only its trace, disappearing beyond the mirror at an incredible speed.

Tap, tap.

Rania lightly brushed off her hands as if she had thrown it herself and walked back to her place. I cautiously spoke up.

“Um, I have something to say about Mia’s security…”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. We plan to install security magic throughout the building to prevent such incidents in the future.”

“Oh! Thank you!”

I quickly bowed and bid my farewell.

***

As Lian left the room, the somewhat light atmosphere sank.

“Cute. Should I have taken her with me after all?”

“You’re not properly taking care of your slave, Master. You’ll let her starve to death if you keep neglecting her.”

“But she can cook for herself.”

“She needs ingredients for that.”

“That’s true.”

The two exchanged meaningless conversation before getting to the point.

“So… why did you come to see me in the midst of your busy schedule, Master?”

“Oh, right.”

Rania pushed her hand into her chest and pulled out a black envelope from inside. It was quite a fancy envelope with gold embossing around the edges.

“Take this. It’s directly from the Demon King.”

Swoosh.

The letter envelope slipped out of Rania’s fingers and landed lightly on Mia’s thigh, riding the gentle flow of magic. Mia immediately opened the envelope to check its contents.

“…!”

“What’s written there, Mia?”

Rania asked while stuffing a cookie into her mouth. In response, Mia, who had been slightly frowning, let out a small sigh and said,

“It says they need help pushing over the neighboring kingdom.”

“Well, that’s fortunate. It’s an easy opportunity to gain favor. Yes, yes.”

As Rania nodded, Mia put the letter back into the envelope.

“I’m not particularly interested in that kind of thing, you know. More importantly, if I participate there, who will guard here? Didn’t the master ask me to take care of the slaves until they become adults?”

“Well, can’t we just put up strong security spells?”

Rania looked down at the envelope as if she didn’t like Mia’s casual remark.

“It’s not just security that we need to be concerned about.”

“Heh… But still, seems like you’re doing quite well, huh? I thought you’d throw everything away just because it’s bothersome, like before.”

“…It’s just because the master personally asked for it.”

As Mia muttered without responding, Rania smacked her lips.

“Ugh, if it weren’t for the war, I would have taken her with me.”

Due to frequent wars, she found herself in a position where she had to leap across numerous battlefields. Consequently, she couldn’t easily bring in new members.

“When the war is mostly over, I’ll just kidnap her then.”

She was one of the great Four Kings of the greedy Demon King’s army. If she wanted something, she had to have it, and if she wanted to do something, she had to do it.

Normally, regardless of the situation, she would have kidnapped Lian and carried her by her side, but this time the situation was special.

Mia was her disciple. That meant that Mia belonged to Rania. She tended to show mercy towards anything that entered her domain. Therefore, she could easily set aside her obsession with Lian for a while.

“Did you have a strange thought just now, Master?”

“Huh? Me? No way?”

“Hmm…”

Mia blinked her eyes as she looked at her master making an animal-like expression before Rania shrugged her shoulders and put on a gentle expression.

“Well, thank you for delivering the letter anyway.”

“So, are you going?”

“I have to. The Demon King himself requested it.”

“If you hadn’t gone, Ervaan would have made a fuss.”

Rania picked up the last remaining cookie and got up from her seat.

“So, will you deliver it like that?”

“I’ll respond right away -…”

“Ah, why is that necessary? I can deliver it myself.”

“Wait… Master!”

Mia made her disappear in an instant with magic before Mia could grab her. Mia sighed and got up from her seat.

“I should cast a security spell. And finish some basic experiments before leaving.”

Thinking that she needed to finish basic experiments on Lian before leaving, Mia left the reception room.

***

“Okay, eat slowly. It’s hot.”

At lunchtime, the children stood in line with their bowls in front of Lian. Pia bit her lip, watching the familiar scene.

“Thank you.”

“Thanks.”

The still inexperienced children made short sounds and took the food. Some of them even looked at Lian with eager eyes, hoping to catch his attention.

Pia felt like she was going to be sick.

“A despicable guy.”

Pia disliked Lian. It wasn’t just because he had been unkind to the children in the past.

“He’s just using the kids.”

In Pia’s eyes, who had survived in the land of the cruel demon king, she could see the struggles of the children trying to cling to someone strong to avoid starvation and experimentation. And she could clearly see Lian enjoying those struggles.

“He’s no different from a demon.”

Pia thought that Lian enjoyed the children’s antics, mocking them in front of his meager power.

“…Whatever, as long as I protect my little brother.”

In Pia’s darkened gaze, the figure of Lily standing in line to receive food was captured. At the same time, madness flickered above her pupils.

“If he ever lays a hand on Lily, I’ll kill him then and there.”