episode_0032

Unbelievable. This can’t be happening. Arina’s pupils trembled.

“How?”

The attack should have been impossible to block, given the strength of Ian she remembered.

“I’ve gotten stronger too. I’m not the same person you remember.”

“No matter how much you’ve grown, there’s no way you could’ve improved this much in such a short time.”

“Isn’t it true that lacking skill can be compensated with equipment?”

It was a gruff, middle-aged voice—one she’d heard often over the past few months. But the owner of that voice was barely older than a youth in his prime.

“Daniel. Even you…?”

I thought you’d be disappointed in me after hearing the hero party’s story.

“You’ve done nothing wrong, Noona. You were just a victim. And didn’t you once call me your adoptive brother? Even if you were guilty, how could I abandon my sworn sibling?”

Turning her gaze back to Ian, she saw him clad in adamantite armor and sword—literally draped in bundles of gold.

Not only that, he had even taken a potion to temporarily enhance his physical abilities. Ian grumbled, asking her to keep that a secret, but—

“All of that stuff is insanely expensive.”

“It’s money unworthy of being compared to you, Noona.”

“Forget the money—how did you even get the potion? They shouldn’t be selling such items to people connected to me.”

“Isn’t this exactly why I’m here?”

Lirit stepped forward from behind Daniel, her chest puffed with pride. For the last six months, she had been stuck doing odd jobs.

But now, having accomplished something significant for the first time in a long while, it felt like a revival of her glory days as one of the Succubus Queen’s most trusted aides.

“Even though they insisted they wouldn’t sell it under royal decree—me, Lirit, pulled it off perfectly with my charm!”

Shoulders lifted high with pride, Lirit handed Arina a recovery potion.

It wasn’t enough to fully heal her, but the effect was undeniable.

She moved slightly to assess her condition. Though her entire body ached, she was still fit to fight.

Arina’s head kept turning left and right.

“I don’t see one of them.”

As expected, that one didn’t come. Not surprising—she sees me as a romantic rival, after all.

“If you mean Millen, she’s over there.”

Ian pointed toward Leonah, lying unconscious on the ground. Millen was crouched in front of her.

With a dagger in hand, Millen activated her Thief’s signature skill—Whisper of the Blade.

[Stop hiding and come out.]

Millen’s blade rested against Leonah’s nape. No matter how superhuman one was, there was no defense against a direct strike against a vital point while unconscious.

Hearing Millen’s whisper, Erwin gritted his teeth.

“Kh…!”

His face stiffened at the humiliation of yielding to a mere human’s threat—one neither a Swordmaster nor a Grand Mage.

But he couldn’t leave Leonah to die. Tying a wire to his arm, Erwin shot an arrow and rode along its path, landing squarely in the middle of the plains.

“Step away from Leonah, human.”

“Our dear elf seems to struggle with Common Tongue. You step away, got it?”

With tension flaring, Erwin narrowed his eyes while Millen glared back defiantly.

Their silent standoff continued until Arina’s group arrived. Keeping Erwin under watch, Arina crouched next to the unconscious Leonah.

‘Aside from passing out from the shock of being blown away, there’s just some superficial burns.’

It was sheer luck Leonah had been knocked out. Otherwise, even with help, they couldn’t have avoided annihilation.

“Still can’t read the room, huh? I told you before—know when to retreat.”

“Shut it, Liel. You’ve fallen, haven’t you? Reduced to relying on these lowlifes.”

“That’s my line. Who was the one in trouble against these same ‘lowlifes’?”

Arina’s sarcasm made the veins on Erwin’s forehead bulge.

‘Still easy to provoke, huh.’

They had clashed countless times in the past. It always ended with Arina’s victory.

“We still don’t get along, Liel. If I wanted, I could wipe out you and these exhausted fools in an instant.”

“Try it.”

Just as an enraged Erwin aimed an arrow at Arina’s head—and she raised a hand wreathed in a magic circle—

“Enough.”

A third—no, fourth voice interrupted.

The powerful voice belonged to a middle-aged man wearing a helmet shaped like a red lion. Behind him stood rows of subordinates clad in flaming crimson armor.

“The Knights of Flames!”

Daniel exclaimed in shock.

An elite force culled from the greatest warriors of fire, the Knights of Flames were legendary. Rumors spread that their lion-helmeted leader wielded power rivaling a Swordmaster.

Though Daniel nearly gasped in awe at the sight of the man he’d only heard of, he quickly sealed his lips—realizing the worst possible faction had just arrived.

“It’s been a while, Klaus.”

A veteran of the hero’s party, Arina had expected this encounter. Not entirely surprising.

“So you’re Liel? The rumors about you turning into a woman were true, after all.”

“What you see is what you get.”

“It’s good to reunite, but now isn’t the time for pleasantries. Step away from Leonah.”

A razor-sharp edge seeped into Klaus’s voice. More than that—he was radiating unmistakable killing intent.

“Sure. I do plan to kill her someday, but I can’t exactly slit a daughter’s throat in front of her parents.”

Klaus scowled, unable to dismiss Arina’s words lightly.

“You’d kill Leonah? The girl you once called a friend? Are you serious?”

“Considering what she put me through, I’d say she’s getting off lightly, wouldn’t you?”

Dramatically dusting herself off as she stood, Arina smirked mockingly. In response, towering flames erupted behind Klaus.

“Care to take me on, sir? Erwin—weren’t you bragging earlier about how killing us would be ‘too easy’? Mind if I return the favor?”

“Stop bluffing. We both know you don’t have the strength.”

“I wasn’t lying.”

Another silent battle of glares ensued. As the stalemate stretched—neither willing to back down—Klaus, having steadied himself, intervened.

“Enough. We’ll retreat for today.”

“Admitting defeat?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. Capturing you is possible, but I’d rather avoid unnecessary losses to the hero party’s strength in the process.”

“Put simply—you’re prioritizing your daughter’s safety. Must be nice. Some of us don’t even have parents to get angry for us when we’re betrayed by comrades.”

Klaus ignored the jab, departing with Leonah and Erwin in tow.

Thus concluded Arina’s first major clash with the hero party.

“Liel Frost?!”

“My daughter-in-law?!”

Surrounded by people seated at the table, one young man and one overly burly uncle gaped in unison.

Opposite them was another man whose face twisted in disgust at the women batting their eyes at him.

“Arina, what’s this about being a daughter-in-law?”

“This old man misunderstands. I’m not your daughter-in-law—I’m your son’s friend.”

While Arina corrected the misconception, Daniel elaborated.

“A sworn sibling, to be precise.”

Regardless of the explanation, Dennis’ stare turned increasingly possessive. If anything, shouldn’t he be less eager upon learning she was once a man?

Concerned for the Hight family’s future, Arina preemptively warned Dennis not to get any ideas.

“Let me be clear—Daniel has my permission to use ‘appropriate force’ if necessary.”

Here, “appropriate force” was entirely subject to Arina’s discretion. Noting Dennis’ deflated expression, she steered the conversation back on track.

“More important than my identity is the fact that House Hight is now entangled in this mess. You’d better brace yourselves.”

“Brace ourselves? But this isn’t something we can easily fix, is it?”

Having heard of Arina’s past, the Duke altered his tone entirely.

With the family heir openly aiding a continental-level fugitive from the hero party, they could be charged with treason—justified grounds for annihilation.

“For now, it’s fine.”

“For now?”

“Officially, Liel Frost isn’t a wanted criminal yet. So technically, Daniel’s crew didn’t shelter a fugitive—they aided a heroic member of the hero’s party.”

“That’s absurd. Who would buy that?”

“A flimsy excuse is all we need. The hero party will handle the rest.”

The Duke frowned, utterly lost. Peering inward, he still couldn’t grasp the logic.

Arina hesitated—this wasn’t about logic at all.

“[They’ll cover it up] because it’s boring.”

“Boring?”

“If catching me were their real goal, they wouldn’t have trailed me so halfheartedly. They could’ve just kidnapped Ian or anyone else close to force me out. But they didn’t. Because that’s no fun.”

‘Holding hostages to coerce surrender? That’s not his style.’

If her understanding of “that bastard” was correct, he was a man who relished total subjugation. Though ruthless with pressure, he left no room for excuses.

Had there been no hostages, I wouldn’t have lost—such pathetic justifications.

Breaking someone through hostage threats wasn’t true domination. It meant the initiative wasn’t his to begin with. Once the leverage vanished, the coerced loyalty would slip away like sand.

‘He wants me broken—humiliated until I submit on my own. That’s why he fabricated that insane story too.’

She couldn’t be certain, but it was a plausible deduction.

Yet, to an outsider, this reasoning was deeply unsettling.

“You’re not a child. Does covering up a scandal this huge for mere amusement make any sense?”

“The current hero party dances to the tune of a spoiled brat.”

The Duke exhaled heavily.

“If true, this is catastrophic. If even the hero party is so corrupted, who can the people trust to protect them?”

Arina had no answer. This was still speculation, but—if she did kill the Hero and Saint, what then?

New ones would eventually emerge, but no one knew when. The world would plunge into chaos. But for her, abandoning revenge was no longer an option.

“Regardless, this is why both Hight & Co. and Félix family are safe—for now.”

Ian narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Meaning?”

“Obviously, further aid won’t be tolerated. So—everyone here needs to step back.”