A heavy weight pressed down on her wrist, and the magic flowing through Vyea’s body instantly solidified.
Good grief, really good grief.
They actually put the shop’s treasure right on my hand. Looking at the gold-patterned magical shackles tightly sealed around her wrist, Vyea was slightly taken aback.
“How is it, sis? Aren’t these handcuffs pretty~?”
The pink-haired dwarf rubbed against Vyea’s cuffed wrist, her delicate, youthful face wearing a sweet, unforced smile:
“These were made back then by the strongest human Craftsman, the most powerful Branding Master, and the top Formation and Magic Constructor all collaborating to create this limited, commemorative edition of shackles. Even the Arbitration Office in the Capital only kept one set of these precious items~”
Limited commemorative edition shackles?
These were exactly the ones Vyea had once commissioned those Craftsmen to make, specially designed to restrain Ninth Rank monsters meaning monsters above level 900.
In this world, every hundred levels constitute one rank, and the higher the level, the stronger the basic attributes. Ordinary people usually range from levels 1 to 10, seasoned adventurers rarely exceed level 50, and only those exposed to mysterious or miraculous magic such as Clerics or Magic Swordsmen have a chance to break beyond level 100.
As for special classes like the Brave, the normal level system here simply doesn’t apply.
Braves are born to counter those fierce demons.
A named Brave can take on a hundred monsters of the same rank without flinching.
But becoming a named Brave is no easy feat. Luck is essential, but so is relentless grinding—except for one exception: Vyea herself.
Even among Braves, there are differences. When Vyea was still the First Brave of the world, the second-ranked super grind king Brave couldn’t land a single move on her.
Remembering that, Vyea couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.
After commissioning these shackles, the weak monsters didn’t need them—they were easily killed on the spot. The strong monsters didn’t need them either—there was no chance to shackle them. Demon King rank fights were clashes of authority power; after a battle, you might not even touch the opponent’s wrist before the Way itself was extinguished.
So these things just gathered dust in a corner.
Because of their high manufacturing cost, these shackles were never reproduced. The few pieces Vyea left behind became collector’s items in Arbitration Offices across the regions.
“I really didn’t expect to experience them like this.”
Vyea felt a bit sad. It was as if the paper airplane from her childhood had flown back to her—only to crash land in her hands.
“Sis, what’s wrong? The Hero and the Director both had business to stop the chaos, so they left me alone to keep you company… Hmm, are you upset because you feel unimportant?”
Pink-haired Flower Shiyu’s lively pink eyes gleamed with a fox-like cunning. She bit her nails and looked up at Vyea, her voice tinged with melancholy:
“What should I do? Looks like my charm isn’t as strong as the Hero’s or the Director’s~”
“You talk too much,” Vyea said.
“…”
The pink-haired dwarf felt as if an arrow had pierced her heart and immediately got more fired up. “Sis, you’re not still blaming me, are you?”
Saying this, Flower Shiyu looked pitiful. “If I hadn’t bumped into you, you wouldn’t have been caught. If you weren’t caught, your spy identity wouldn’t have been exposed. Isn’t that right?”
“Where are you planning to take me?” Vyea didn’t respond and calmly asked her own question.
“Eh?”
Seeing Vyea not falling for it at all, Flower Shiyu pouted in frustration and said in a bad mood:
“Obviously, a spy has to go rot in jail.”
“I’m not a spy,” Vyea denied vehemently.
“Of course, I believe you’re not a spy…” Flower Shiyu sighed sadly, “but the law doesn’t believe you, and there’s nothing I can do about that.”
“You want to torture me?” Vyea unexpectedly stopped walking, her shackled hands hanging together before her abdomen. She glanced down slightly at the pink-haired dwarf leading the way.
And at the line of Arbitration Knights following behind.
Despite looking like a prisoner, Vyea’s eyes were full of composure and calm.
A playful smile curled at the corner of her lips:
“By the way, how did you figure out something was off about me? I was quite confident in my disguise skills.”
“Ah—eh…?! Sis?”
Flower Shiyu swallowed her nonexistent spit. “Are you admitting to being a spy?”
Vyea just smiled without answering.
The pink-haired dwarf was thrown off by Vyea’s sudden self-exposure and lost a bit of confidence. She waved to stop the Arbitration Knights and then looked up at Vyea, who was almost a head taller than her.
Those two plump slimes made Flower Shiyu secretly disdainful. What use are they, growing up like this?
Hmph.
The bigger the slime, the worse the person!
I really want to bump into it two more times! Smash it smaller! Flower Shiyu thought viciously, but her pink pupils were as sweet as honey. She looked up at Vyea and said sweetly:
“Sis~ So you really are the bad guy? The Director and the Hero we split up with just now—were they all fooled by you?”
“Unfortunately…”
Vyea said as she slowly retreated against the light, tilting her face slightly upward. Her stunning features seemed like an angel descending under the sunlight, carving a striking impression into everyone’s hearts.
The corridor fell silent.
“…Congratulations, you got it right.”
Vyea said, looking down on the shocked Flower Shiyu with a smile, “Little… sis.”