Chapter 104: A Win, After All

If she had been tricked just now, who knows how badly she would have been squeezed—truly a close call.

Fortunately, the slender assassin girl hadn’t noticed the little detail in the busty girl’s life, which gave her the only crack to discover the truth.

Ayla wiped the fragrant sweat from her forehead and thought to herself: finding the flaw and escaping a disaster was, in itself, a kind of victory.

“I won.”

The Demon Lord straightened up again, stepped out, and went down to the first floor.

The hall was already empty; Vina and Leah had disappeared without a trace.

On the table sat half a pot of black tea, still slightly warm.

Estimating that Celes would be back soon, she decided to head to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

At this moment, in the courtyard outside, two girls sat at a stone table.

One was pure and elegant, the other had flirtatious peach-blossom eyes filled with mischief.

“I’ve already said it, Purification is a very serious matter. Even if you didn’t dress properly because of the heat, between us it’s still serious,” Leah said.

When it comes to the Church of Light, can anything be called risque?

No, that’s called Purification.

“You can say that now because we didn’t catch you in the act,” Vina drew circles on the table with her pinky, “But if we’d gotten in a few seconds earlier that night, it wouldn’t be so easy to say.”

The wicked little witch, so malicious—it was hard to figure out when exactly she was suspected.

Saintess Leah was inwardly fuming but kept a dignified smile: “Why would you say that? Between us, it’s pure and chaste. Nothing happened, and even if we’d come a few minutes earlier, it wouldn’t have made any difference.”

“Then how about a bet?”

Vina suddenly leaned closer and whispered to her:

“If I catch you doing something bad, you have to agree to a small request of mine.”

“What request?” Leah asked instinctively, then quickly added, “Of course, since nothing happened, you won’t catch anything. I’m just curious.”

“I haven’t thought it through yet. Don’t worry, it’s just a tiny request. Like letting me watch from the side…”

Absolutely not!

Leah’s chest rose and fell a few times as she struggled to say, “Between us, it’s pure and chaste, so that’s impossible.”

“If it’s impossible to lose, then what harm is there in agreeing?”

“Fine!”

Provoked by this challenge, Saintess Leah was so fired up she even forgot to ask what would happen if she lost.

But since the bet had no deadline, it was hard to say when the little witch would lose.

At that moment, footsteps sounded from the camp gate, and the figure of a girl with icy blue hair appeared.

“Celes is back! Welcome back~”

“Mm, I’m back. What are you two doing outside?”

“Drinking tea.”

Celes looked at the empty table and was slightly stunned.

“Drinking tea? Where is the tea?”

The teapot was still in the hall.

Leah explained that she had forgotten, but after coming out, they chatted a bit about their experiences in Harbor City.

Now that Celes was back, they wouldn’t drink the tea and would go back to eat dinner together.

In the kitchen, they met Ayla wearing a maid apron.

The white lace and short skirt were super cute.

“Please wait a moment, dinner will be ready soon,” Ayla said, her voice tinged with a small, charming lilt.

Celes’ breathing quickened a little, and she forgot to share the good news about the reward.

“Don’t, don’t look at me like that.”

Ayla shyly pinched the white lace of her skirt, “This is the only thing I found to wear in the kitchen.”

Heh heh heh, gotcha.

Being distracted by the maid outfit was enough to make one temporarily forget the events of that night three days ago.

The Demon Lord was very pleased—until she saw a petite figure with long, straight black hair walking over.

“Ayla, this outfit suits you very well,” Zero smiled.

“Super cute.”

Her smile was bright, but Ayla felt a chill in her heart when she thought of what Zero had done just half an hour ago.

“Glad you like it… By the way, Celes, did the report go smoothly?” she quickly shifted the topic.

“Very smoothly!”

Celes briefly summarized the report contents and mentioned the awarding ceremony as well.

“The Royal Family is stepping in to hold the ceremony in the Great Hall,” Vina cupped her face in her hands.

“If that Prince shows up, the scene might get pretty awkward.”

Ayla remained noncommittal.

She wasn’t sure if the award ceremony on the Human Race side had to be officiated by the Royal Family, but since the square-faced one had taken the initiative to propose it, it probably meant some intention to ease tensions.

Leah didn’t care about such things; she intended to keep a low profile, so it wasn’t her concern.

Dinner was simple home-style cooking, whatever they could find nearby.

Ayla’s cooking wasn’t spectacular, just decent, but the girls ate heartily.

Especially Celes, who had two extra bowls of rice.

Maybe the maid outfit played a big part.

“I’m full~ Anyone want to take a walk in the courtyard?”

“No, I want to rest early.”

“I need to rest early too. Tomorrow, I have to return to the Church to discuss establishing the branch.”

“I won’t go. Dinner was delicious, Ayla. Thanks for the meal,” Celes said.

“Also, tomorrow, are you free to come with me to see Mentor Luosi? I have to personally explain about the Evil God.”

Explain about the Evil God?

Right. As the Hero of Humanity, battle-hardened and experienced, he must know something.

Ayla quickly nodded.

“I’m free. We’ll go together tomorrow.”

And that was settled.

At night, after tidying everything up, Ayla locked her door and finally lay down to sleep.

Perhaps because her earlier “disguise” had failed, Zero did not attempt a second time anytime soon.

Instead, she kept quiet, allowing Ayla a rare good night’s rest.

The next morning, after washing up and a simple breakfast, the two girls headed to the Offering Hall.

The soldiers on duty at the palace gate today were decent.

At the sight of the pink-haired Thunder Girl, their pupils shrank briefly but they still performed their duties properly, asking their reason for entering the palace.

Since they only needed to go to the Offering Hall, they didn’t have to enter the inner palace.

After a brief inquiry, they were allowed in.

Mentor Luosi had learned of the girls’ return yesterday and had gotten up early today.

He took out some treasured tea leaves and waited in the living room.

Walking through the gates into the corridor, Ayla once again saw the calligraphy on the wall: “Law of Conservation of All Things.”

She couldn’t help but feel a bit moved.

Recently, things had gone badly one after another.

If conservation was true, shouldn’t some good luck come soon?

“Good morning, little Celes, and Ayla.”

“Good morning, Mentor.”

Celes sat down without delay and didn’t even sip the tea, cutting straight to the point: “Regarding what happened in Harbor City, I didn’t include it in the report, but in fact, during our confrontation with the Sirens, we discovered they were attempting to summon the Evil God.”

Mentor Luosi immediately put down his teacup.

“What did you say? The Evil God?”

“Yes, and they almost succeeded!”