“Faster, even faster.”
With the Sage’s magical blessing, Princess Lia and her group rushed at full speed toward the border.
How is Tina? She can’t be in trouble, right?
A wave of anxiety surged through Lia’s heart, a rare display of frustration on her face after two years of fleeing.
But when they finally arrived at the scene, everyone was shaken to the core by the brutal sight before them.
“What… is this?” Even the Sage had never seen such a scene before.
Bones lay scattered everywhere, soaked in the Blood Pool, while the enclosed space was filled with a pungent stench of blood.
Magic infused with intense heat still seeped upward relentlessly.
This was… hell.
The Sage cast a fire resistance blessing on the group and began searching the scorched earth for survivors.
“Sir, there are still two people here—they’re not dead yet.”
Upon hearing this, Lia was more anxious than even the Sage and dashed over wildly.
“Hm, it’s her. She’s still alive.”
Thank goodness.
The girl and Tier lay on a patch of earth that hadn’t been burned.
On Tina’s profile, dried blood stained her cheek—dried blood that had flowed from her eyes.
Her skin had slightly shriveled from the scorching heat.
“Everett, I want to take her back first.” Lia lifted Tina, feeling the warmth of the girl’s body.
“All right. I’ll stay here and finish dealing with this. You go ahead and rest at my shop.”
The Sage named Everett gazed at the dismembered bodies not far away, deep in thought.
The Moonmist Sect? And an Archbishop?
In his memory, only one person had ever reached such a level using Blood Magic—Uli Patterson.
Judging by the scene, it had to be him.
But what kind of existence could cause him to die so completely, so brutally?
Shaken yet afraid, Everett couldn’t help but feel a chill.
“That girl might just become a great help in restoring the princess’s kingdom.”
***
Meanwhile.
In a room within the Inner City Underground District.
Tina opened her eyes groggily, greeted not by raging flames but by a gentle, warm light.
“You’re awake?”
A soft voice spoke nearby.
“So I’m not dead after all?” Tina smiled lightly, feigning ease, which earned a slight scolding from Lia.
“Don’t go saying death like it’s nothing. If you leave me behind again, I’ll really be mad!”
“Ahahaha, I’m fine, see?”
Tina stretched and suddenly realized her head was resting on something exceptionally soft.
“Eh? Could it be?!”
She looked closer in disbelief. From this angle, she could see Lia’s chin—the perfect warmth confirmed it: a lap pillow.
But when Tina tried to turn her head downward, Lia stopped her abruptly.
“Are you a pervert? Don’t get too carried away.”
“All right…”
Damn it, so close.
Still, the lap pillow was very comfortable. Lying here, she didn’t want to move at all.
“Tina, I want to ask you something.” Lia’s eyes held a hint of confusion.
“Hm? Your Highness, please ask.”
“That Archbishop… did you take him down? He’s completely dead, right?”
“Ugh… I’m not quite sure. I passed out halfway through fighting him.”
Recalling the incident, Tina’s memory stopped just before she was struck by a bone spike.
At that moment… she didn’t seem to have the strength to dodge.
Then she vaguely heard the Simulator’s voice, though she forgot what it said.
But from Lia’s tone, it sounded like they won in the end.
【Notice: The Simulator took control of your body at that moment. The cost: your mission time is shortened to six months.】
What? They just cut my time in half all at once?
Tina felt the already tight schedule getting even worse.
She thought it best to avoid danger in the future; otherwise, she’d have to rely on the Simulator again if things turned bad.
“But it’s not like I gained nothing. I learned most of the Moonmist Sect’s secrets from that man.”
Tina recounted everything useful and useless to Lia.
Their purpose for venturing underground was to gather intelligence on the Moonmist Sect.
Though the process had been rough, they had ultimately succeeded.
“Your Highness, what are you thinking about?”
“I’m wondering—since we now know the royal family is cooperating with the Moonmist Sect, who exactly is this murderer?”
“And what conditions did they promise to meet? Is it a large number of living humans the sect needs, or the kingdom’s Crystal Mine resources?”
Too many mysteries remained unsolved, and Lia felt overwhelmed.
Thankfully, she had people by her side willing to support her, which gave her renewed confidence.
At some point, Tina was no longer the reckless young lady from the rumors but a friend willing to open her heart and trust her forever.
If she lost this girl one day, could she still carry on?
Such thoughts… was that really what friends did?
“Your Highness, are you overwhelmed from taking in too much information?”
Seeing Lia still lost in thought, Tina decided to lighten the mood.
“How about I tell you a bedtime story? Just like the storybook you got from the bookstore.”
“Okay.”
Lia nodded.
Tina rose from the lap pillow and randomly picked a book from the table without checking the content.
This title looked good—let’s go with this one!
So, one of them lay on the bed while the other held the book and read aloud.
“Once upon a time, a princess was kidnapped by a fierce dragon. Her beloved knight couldn’t bear to see her suffer, so he braved countless dangers to slay the beast.”
“When it was all over, the princess was safely rescued by the knight. Just as she wanted to promise him forever, she realized the knight was actually a girl in disguise.”
“The knight feared the princess would leave her upon learning the truth, but the princess didn’t care and said, ‘Our love is pure; it has nothing to do with gender.’”
“The knight was deeply moved, and the two joyfully battled together all night long.”
Something’s off here.
Why did it turn into an Andersen fairy tale?
Tina glanced further into the book and realized this was the one she had brought.
Their story only made up a small part in the beginning; the rest was about having fun around the palace.
“Haha, sorry, grabbed the wrong book.”
This time she carefully chose another volume, cleared her throat: “Ahem, this one’s definitely normal.”
As Tina wished, this story was a pure fairy tale about a little girl living with the townsfolk.
Lia seemed unable to fall asleep.
‘Not about gender, huh? Makes sense—it’s just that the person she likes happens to be a girl. That doesn’t mean she’s a lesbian.’
Once she cleared that up, everything became clear.
Lia now slept soundly.
***
Outside the Simulator.
Keliweier Kingdom, inside the royal palace.
Several attendants knelt on both knees, silent before the figure on the throne.
“Have you found her?”
“Reporting to Your Majesty, not yet…”
“Your efficiency is really slow.”
“Your Majesty! Please give us more time! We have roughly located her position!”
“Oh? I’ll trust you one last time. You should know the consequences of deceiving me.”
The silver-haired queen leaned against the throne, her eyes heavy with a mix of love and hatred.
“Tina, we will meet again.”