Henna held the hilt of the blade with one hand while her other hand gently traced along the edge.
After coming into contact with her, the blade had shrunk.
But that didn’t change the fact that its bizarre weight of nearly one ton had been condensed into a three-foot straight sword that an ordinary person couldn’t even lift—yet in Henna’s hand, it felt as light as a wooden stick.
She sensed a certain aura emanating from this straight sword, one that felt familiar and close to her, yet at the same time somewhat foreign.
It was like a relative who suddenly showed up from some forgotten corner—their brow and eyes resembled someone she remembered, but she couldn’t quite recall who that “someone” was.
The blade appeared crimson red like blood, but it actually had a translucent, jade-like texture, as if it would shatter at the slightest touch.
However, its toughness was far from ordinary. The overall blood-red hue also matched Henna’s color scheme perfectly.
The grain was golden—gold and red paired together created an atmosphere of splendor.
She gave it a light swing and widened her eyes in surprise.
The moment Henna had accepted this blade, she’d already noticed something extraordinary about it—apparent from how it deformed upon landing in her hand, shifting into a form suited for its master.
Henna raised her head and looked toward the Black Nun, Lady Enya, whose back was turned to her.
“Mi…Mistress, this is?”
“For how obedient you’ve been, it’s a reward for you. Are you happy?”
Enya spoke indifferently, yet her presence was overwhelmingly oppressive.
Henna lowered her head, not looking at her back, and fixed her gaze on the blade in her hand.
“I’m happy.”
“Hehehe, that’s good.”
Enya nodded lightly.
With a faint shift of her will, the surrounding scenery underwent a tremendous transformation.
Before Henna could even react, she saw the scene before her eyes change back to the moment she’d first stepped out of the tent.
She looked down at her hand—the long blade had vanished, but a red ring had appeared on her finger.
And on her ring finger, no less…
The small joy Henna had felt from receiving a gift vanished in an instant. She tried to pull it off, but the ring clung fiercely to her finger, refusing to budge.
Only irritation remained in her heart.
“I knew it!”
Nothing in this world is free—would a demon woman really be that kind?
She called me her little pet, so how could she possibly prepare a genuine gift for me?
That blade, this ring—they’re definitely just tools to control me!
Henna wanted to find a place to cut her own finger off, remove the ring, and then reattach it. Her regeneration was strong enough that it would be good as new in at most a second.
But after thinking it over, Henna decided against it. She’d just pledged her loyalty—bah, her obedience!
Just as she was stewing over this matter, two people walked over.
Henna suppressed the minor emotions showing on her face and looked toward the newcomers.
As the behind-the-scenes overseer of Red Pine City, Henna naturally wouldn’t take the initiative to ask these out-of-town guests what business they had.
The quick-witted Lady Samuel spoke a step ahead of Tristan:
“Lady Henna, we failed to properly account for the dangers of the Northern Mountains, causing you and Red Pine City to suffer such great losses.”
Henna gave a slight nod.
“Mhm.”
She too felt that allowing young people into the Northern Mountains too early was a dangerous matter.
Even she herself wouldn’t have gone to such a place as a child. The pressure was too great—it would only crush them.
Initially, she’d actually hesitated and even entertained the thought of refusing.
Henna’s scarlet pupils drooped slightly, not focusing on the two people standing before her, but soon her gaze returned to Lady Samuel’s face as she spoke:
“I share the responsibility as well. After all, I was the one who ultimately allowed Yelena to agree. I got a bit carried away after advancing to the Seventh Tier.”
After advancing to the Seventh Tier, Henna had believed Red Pine City was safe from all worry. Moreover, hidden within it was a humanoid demon woman.
A Red Pine City like that could hardly fall to anyone’s power—but the Northern Mountains had slapped Henna with a harsh reality check.
Samuel was stunned by those words. She hadn’t expected a ruler to admit her own mistakes in front of outsiders.
That… that was nearly impossible!
She said with a smile:
“Lady Henna, my current Lord is my sister, Yelena.”
Henna could see the thoughts beneath Samuel’s shocked expression and said calmly:
“Yes, I know. I am no longer the Lord of Red Pine City.”
Samuel replied respectfully:
“Ah, I see. Lady Henna.”
Tristan coughed, stepped forward, and spoke to Henna:
“It was my proposal. The greatest responsibility should fall on me. I will bear the losses—to the best of my ability.”
Henna was about to say it wasn’t necessary. She’d had expectations for personnel losses, and this was actually fewer than she’d imagined.
Small skirmishes had been constant, but the major conflicts were primarily between high-tier forces, and it had never truly escalated to the point of splitting mountains and cracking the earth.
A year ago, that battle between the Ordinary-blood Sword Saint and the Doom Dragon had turned everything within a hundred miles into scorched earth where no living thing survived.
Compared to that, this was nothing more than child’s play.
Of course, that was thanks to both sides deciding victory through a clash of Authorities rather than raw, brute force.
Enya, hidden in the shadows, whispered a single sentence into Henna’s ear.
“Can you afford that?”
Henna: “…”
Henna saw something in Tristan’s heart shatter like some kind of creed being dashed to pieces.
She wasn’t the type to push things to the absolute extreme—one should forgive when possible—but Enya had stopped her from smoothing things over afterward, commanding her not to speak.
Tristan, that hulking mass of muscle, seemed to have lost some of his fighting spirit.
Lady Samuel, watching from the side, let out a sigh. She didn’t know whether this was good or bad for Tristan.
The trip to Red Pine City was his chance to prove he’d been right, and conveniently, there were two exceptionally outstanding seeds here.
But even without her, Rosily and Estelle’s growth wouldn’t slow by even a step. Those two children had absurdly extensive combat experience—even without a teacher, they would still go incredibly far.
Henna heard Enya’s whisper by her ear and repeated it:
“You may go back now.”
“Yes, Lady Henna.”
Lady Samuel bowed in salute, then pulled Tristan back and withdrew.
Henna had only taken two steps when she saw the Old Knight Wade and Swordsman Alvin approaching together to meet her.
“My Lady.”
The two big men said in unison.
They held great respect for Henna, both before and now.
Henna once again gave a slight nod.
Old Knight Wade reported the situation and requested instructions on what to do next.
Henna said calmly:
“Return to the city. No need to continue investigating.”
“But… very well.”
Wade was somewhat confused but still followed Henna’s orders.
After the two departed, Henna let out a sigh.
“Mi…Mistress?”
Enya leaned on her shoulder and spoke softly into Henna’s long ear:
“The waters here run deep. You just do your job well as Red Pine City’s Guardian. I’ll handle everything else myself.”
“Understood.”
Henna swallowed hard.
With those words from Enya, she’d already concluded that the matters of the Northern Mountains were beyond the involvement of someone like her—a Seventh Rank of Magic and the last pure-blood Blood Elf—and immediately set aside any thoughts of probing further.
Enya went to check on her two daughters. Rosily was already up, but Estelle was still sleeping. Her expression didn’t change in the slightest.
Like a sleeping beauty…
Perhaps she needed a “prince’s” kiss to wake her up?
Enya’s expression turned ominous, and the temperature inside the tent plummeted rapidly. Rosily felt it and frowned in confusion.
“Why did the weather suddenly change?”
Enya restrained her murderous intent. If her daughter liked someone, then so be it—but if anyone dared to mess with her Estelle, they’d have to get through her mother first.
Someone had arrived outside the tent. A female voice tentatively asked:
“Excuse me, is Estelle alright?”
Enya glanced over—it was that girl named Ariel. Nothing particularly special about her; her looks were only slightly above average at best.
She didn’t discriminate based on gender. Even if a woman wanted to court her daughter, they’d still have to pass her test first—otherwise, don’t even think about it!
As for Rosily…
She was already the one doing the courting. Enya couldn’t quite keep up with that one, but Estelle was so pure—she needed proper protection.
Ariel felt a chill run down her back, like something terrifying had locked onto her, making her want to flee from that door.
But certain feelings in her heart forced her to persevere.
Rosily opened the door.
“Estelle…”
Ariel called out instinctively, but she quickly realized she must have mistaken the person.
“No, you’re Rosily? My apologies—you and your sister… look a bit too much alike.”
“Is that so? But I’m the golden one!”
Rosily smiled brilliantly, lifting her chin and puffing out her chest.
She now had long golden hair—fine and soft, yet able to maintain its length and straightness.
Compared to her previous shoulder-length look of youthful energy, it gave the girl an added air of purity and distance.
She was no longer the girl next door!
Rosily looked Ariel up and down and noticed she was trembling all over. She had no idea what was wrong with her.
“You’re here to see my sister? She’s still sleeping right now. Do you want to see her?”
“No, no, it’s fine. Is she in good health?”
“She’s fine. She just might need to sleep for a while longer.”
“That’s good, that’s good…”
Ariel finally couldn’t bear Enya’s piercing gaze any longer and turned to run off, earning herself the label of a strange woman from Rosily.
Enya let out a soft sigh. She treated Rosily and Estelle differently, mainly because the two children’s personalities were practically complete opposites.
As a mother, it was impossible to treat two children with such different temperaments the same way.
Acknowledging their differences was what being responsible truly meant.
“Is this too much? Does it make me look too controlling?”
Enya thought to herself.
“No, it shouldn’t. All Estelle thinks about is getting stronger.”
The forward camp was being relocated entirely.
The children had been escorted back, and all investigations into the Northern Mountains had been halted. Humans withdrew completely from the forest and returned to the cities.
***
Meanwhile, Enya had long since returned to her home in Red Pine City, pressing Phil down onto the bed with both hands gripping her slender neck.
Phil looked at Enya sitting on top of her and gave a light snort:
“Just strangle me then.”
Enya’s eye twitched, then she let out a laugh of exasperation.
“What, you’re getting jealous now? You really need a good lesson.”
“You’re the one who needs a lesson, aren’t you?”
Phil raised an eyebrow, completely unafraid.
“You reek of fox stench. I’d like to see how you face Vivienne like that.”
“I…”
“Hehe, all we need is to fuse together.”
“No fusion.”
“Fuse now!”
“No!”
“I really think you’re begging for it!”
And then Enya ended up wrestling with Phil right there.