Chapter 22: Dispute

Seeing Yelena resist so strongly, Sylvia regained some of her composure.

It seemed the only option left was to use her healing power to conduct the inspection.

She stepped closer slowly, and Yelena was already backed into the corner of the alley.

Watching the little fox girl trembling with fear in her eyes, Sylvia slowly reached out one hand.

After concentrating her healing power, she pressed it against Yelena’s lower abdomen and began the good girl quality inspection that the Hero Party cared about.

But Yelena was growing more frightened by the second. She kept one hand protectively over her chest and the other over her throat.

After a while, the healing light of Holy Light dissipated, and Sylvia revealed a satisfied smile.

“Whew~ You can rest easy. Miss Yelena’s vital signs are all normal, and there don’t seem to be any obvious marks.”

Seriously, lady? Do I need you to tell me whether I’m normal or not?

Yelena found it more and more unbelievable. These annoying old acquaintances of hers—how many different ways could they find to disgust her?

[Key person detected. Related emotional fluctuations.]

[Relief]

[Relaxation]

What the heck! Your relief and relaxation—are they built on the little fox girl’s suffering?

“Miss Yelena, we still hope you will leave Iwitte. She is not someone to be trusted. There are many bad rumors about her within the Holy See, saying she’s a spoiled brat from the Sword Saint family, and so on…”

Aisha then started monologuing, using the Holy See’s gossip to unilaterally pin blame on Iwitte.

Her? Iwitte? Not trustworthy?

She’s a hundred times more reliable than the three of you!

Yelena got angry and decided she wouldn’t hold back anymore.

“Hero Aisha Parisio, please use your own brain more often instead of always listening to hearsay from the Holy See people.”

“Iwitte is truly a gentle and trustworthy person. She even brings stray kittens home from the street to take care of them. Her maids play with over a dozen cats in the courtyard every day, giving them a warm yard and a reliable home.”

“Before you slander someone unilaterally, think carefully about whether your reasons hold up.”

Faced with Yelena’s barrage of words, the Hero Party’s three members were stunned.

They never expected that the fox tribe cook they had always known as quiet and reserved would be so firm and so eloquent when it came to the topic of Iwitte.

“Miss Yelena, you need to stay calm too. You might have been brainwashed by Iwitte! She might be forcing you!”

Seeing Yelena’s sharp words, Kate chimed in from the side.

Yelena put on a stern face. “You’ve misunderstood. No one is forcing me! All of you stay away from me, or I’ll scream for help!”

“Are you still afraid of her?” Aisha stepped forward, trying to grab her hand. “Don’t be scared. Even if we have to risk our lives today, we’re going to save you from that demon!”

“Who’s doing brainwashing? Who’s risking their life?”

A lazy voice came from across the street.

The red-haired sword saint strode over unhurriedly on her long legs, sunlight falling on the sword hilt at her waist.

Iwitte walked up to Yelena, naturally wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her into her embrace.

“The eldest daughter of the Parisio family, harassing a member of my party in public—is that what the Holy See teaches you, how to be street thugs?”

Aisha drew half of the Holy Sword from its sheath and glared at Iwitte.

“Iwitte! Don’t act so arrogant here! You used underhanded means to imprison Yelena. I know all about last night! You pervert!”

Iwitte looked down at the little fox girl in her arms, leaned close to her ear, and chuckled. “Oh? Last night? Little fox, did you scream a lot last night?”

Yelena lifted her boot and stomped hard on Iwitte’s foot. Iwitte winced. “Ouch!”

This bastard—isn’t she embarrassing enough already?

Iwitte flinched in pain but didn’t let go. Instead, she held on tighter.

She looked up at Aisha. “So what if you heard? That was just some special communication within our party. Yelena enjoyed it quite a bit, didn’t you, sweetie?”

Aisha stared at Yelena. The little fox girl was blushing furiously as she pounded her fists against Iwitte’s chest. She looked like she was flirting!

“You… you two…” Aisha stammered.

Iwitte dropped her smile. “She’s my woman now. Are you all that close with her? Why do you come pretending to be saviors? What, the Holy See’s great Hero—you treated someone like garbage yourself, and now instead of going to get him back, you want to steal my mascot?”

“Ye Lian is not garbage!” Aisha shouted back.

“Of course he isn’t,” Iwitte said with innuendo. “But in your eyes, he was exactly that—useless, so you threw him away, didn’t you?”

[Key person detected. Strong emotional fluctuations.]

[Anger]

[Deepening regret]

“I don’t have time to argue with you. Anyone who dares to touch my precious phoenix reborn better ask my sword first.”

Kate raised her staff. “Iwitte, are you declaring war on the Hero Party?”

“Ehh?!” Sylvia flailed her arms, swinging them so fast they almost became a blur as she paced nervously between both sides.

Iwitte sneered. “War? Just the three of you? Private fights are forbidden in the city. If you so much as start anything, the Guild will revoke your adventurer qualifications. Go ahead and try if you don’t believe me.”

The Hero Party members fell silent.

Fighting would break city rules; not fighting would mean losing face completely.

Aisha looked at Yelena. “Yelena, what do you think?”

Yelena poked her head out from Iwitte’s embrace. She looked at these once-familiar teammates.

Once upon a time, she had tried desperately to please them—cooking for them, bandaging their wounds. All she got in return was abandonment.

Now they came under the pretense of saving her, just to satisfy their own ridiculous sense of justice.

“Miss Aisha,” Yelena said in a very calm voice, “I’m doing well now. Lady Iwitte treats me well. Anna treats me well too. I’m not close to you, so please stop disturbing my life from now on.”

That left Aisha with nothing to say.

The blonde hero’s shoulders slumped. The hand holding her sword hung limply. Seeing Yelena’s cold expression, a sharp pain stabbed through her heart.

“Let’s go.” Yelena tugged at Iwitte’s sleeve.

Iwitte took her hand smoothly.

She turned her back on the Hero Party, but not without adding one last remark. “Did you hear that? Don’t bother our little chef anymore. She’s got to cook dinner for me tonight.”

But Iwitte wasn’t done yet. Her sharp tongue was in full swing, and she felt she could land one more blow.

“I heard everything earlier! Damn it! Always ‘the Holy See says this, the Holy See says that.’ If you love the Holy See so much, why don’t you let those old hags of the Holy See go find your fox tribe cook?”

[Key person detected. Strong emotional fluctuations.]

[Regret continues to intensify.]

[The remaining emotions in the Emotion Menu are nearly saturated, but there is still a capacity gap for ‘Regret.’ Host, please collect more regret emotions in the future.]

Wow. Yelena watched the regret emotion on the Emotion Menu rise sharply. Besides being pleased, she was even more impressed by Iwitte’s tongue.

The two walked off side by side.

Aisha stood still. Her shoulders began to tremble. Sylvia walked over and found that Aisha was sobbing softly.

Kate sighed and patted her shoulder.

“Aisha, let it go. She’s on their side now. She’s Yelena, not Ye Lian…”

…

After they had walked some distance, Yelena shook off Iwitte’s hand and stomped ahead angrily, though her fox tail wagged happily behind her.

“What’s wrong? We worked together pretty well just now, didn’t we?” Iwitte caught up, grinning.

“You even said it! Someone heard about last night! How am I supposed to show my face now?” Yelena clawed at her fox ears in frustration.

Iwitte laughed softly. “What’s there to be afraid of? So what if they heard? Let them listen all they want—who told them to go eavesdrop in the middle of the night?”

“You have no shame, but I do!”

“Alright, alright, my fault. To make it up to you, I’ll pay for all tonight’s ingredients. Buy whatever you want.”

“You said it!” Yelena stopped and her eyes darted. “I want to buy expensive snowflake wagyu! And deep-sea magic crystal shrimp!”

“Buy it.” Iwitte waved her hand grandly.

Yelena patted the talisman materials in her pocket and smiled.

Screw the Hero Party. Screw the Holy See.

Now she had money and free time, a new class, and a ruffian but protective monstrous-strength female sword saint.

This life was so much better than before.

When she got back, she would draw a few explosion talismans. Next time anyone dared to mess with her, she’d blow them sky-high!