Inside the House of Truth in the Mist Core Zone, Ariel took a long while to calm her emotions after Little Mist chased her back into her own room.
That had really scared her to death just now. She thought she was going to meet her end here today. Thank goodness the Seeker Demon hadn’t done anything to her…
…Could it be that she was in a good mood today?
Ariel couldn’t help but wonder.
After all, she had offended the Seeker Demon twice in a row today, yet the latter hadn’t laid a hand on her at all.
When they first met, she had directly snapped her Magic Staff in half.
After meeting Heavenfire Lord, she had cussed her out telepathically in her own mind.
Then when they went to Fireblaze Island, it was straight to fighting. That temper was anything but mild…
Yet a Seeker Demon with such a fiery temper treated her so kindly today. It felt weird…
“Since Wilona has already left, I might as well lie down too.”
So Ariel began to take off this ridiculously lewd employee uniform she was wearing.
But just then, crisp footsteps suddenly sounded from outside the room.
…Was it the Seeker Demon?
Since the entire house was made of wood, the soundproofing wasn’t very good, so Ariel immediately stopped what she was doing and pressed herself against the door, trying to figure out the Seeker Demon’s next movements.
Then, accompanied by Little Mist’s light footsteps going upstairs and the sound of a door closing with a “bang,” Ariel immediately got a rough idea:
“Mm… the position of that door closing should be the master bedroom. Seems the Seeker Demon has returned to her room…”
Come to think of it, ever since her Soul was hooked away, the Seeker Demon hadn’t punished her again. At most, she just scolded her a bit.
…Could the Seeker Demon be the type who only gets violent during battle?
After finishing her eavesdropping, Ariel, now changed, lay on the bed for a while, continuously recalling in her mind all the details of her interactions with the Seeker Demon during this period.
But a demon’s personality was not something a normal person could guess.
After thinking for a long time, Ariel ultimately gave up.
“Whatever. Things being what they are, I might as well go wash my clothes.”
After working at high intensity for several hours, Ariel’s uniform had gotten a bit smelly from sweat.
Coupled with the dampness of the Mist, it was best to wash it quickly.
But just as Ariel opened the door while carrying her clothes, a faint voice from the Seeker Demon suddenly came from the master bedroom at the end of the hallway:
“Ariel, I command you to walk to the side!”
“Huh? What?!”
Ariel, who was about to head to the washroom outside in the hallway, was completely baffled.
Just as Little Mist had said, the house’s soundproofing wasn’t very good.
Although the master bedroom door remained tightly shut, the voice from inside still reached the hallway faintly but clearly, and Ariel heard it perfectly.
Then the voice from inside the master bedroom sounded again:
“Mm… at a time like this, using ‘get lost’ would be better, right? Ariel, get lost to the side! Hiss… but using ‘get lost’ seems a bit too harsh, doesn’t it? But if I don’t do it that way, I won’t be able to mimic her properly…”
Inside the master bedroom, since she thought she might need to occasionally mimic Truth in the future, the somewhat bored Little Mist began practicing how to imitate Truth in front of the full-length mirror on the wall.
After studying the movements and lines from before, Little Mist, who in human form looked exactly like Truth, put her left hand on her hip, pointed her right hand at the mirror, and with a slightly fierce look in her eyes said:
“Ariel, get lost to the side!”
“Uh, now it feels about seventy percent similar to Truth…” Little Mist thought.
But how was she supposed to make that expression of absolute confidence and looking down on everyone else like Truth did?
It felt like it would be very difficult…
This slightly troubled Little Mist. But she wasn’t about to give up directly.
Instead, she thought: since the two of us look exactly the same in human form, if Truth can pull off a full-on authoritative look with this cute appearance, then I can do the same!
And besides the trouble of not being able to mimic Truth well enough, Little Mist now had another worry.
When she had just returned to the master bedroom, the first thing Little Mist saw was that silver-white special pendant placed casually on the nightstand. She recognized it immediately — that should be Wilona’s Space Pendant!
She really hadn’t expected that the Space Pendant Wilona had been wanting to get back was just casually lying on the master bedroom nightstand… Moreover, after seeing this Space Pendant, Little Mist quickly conceived the idea of returning it to Wilona.
After all, this pendant had already been given by Truth to Wilona.
Returning it to Wilona herself was only natural, right?
Besides, Wilona had said this pendant was taken from her by Truth using dirty means!
So now Little Mist returning it to Wilona was only proper! And doing so would also let Wilona leave the Mist without regrets — everyone happy!
But how was she supposed to explain it to Truth afterward?
By then, Truth would definitely know that she had secretly returned the pendant to Wilona.
She wouldn’t escape a punishment… So what should she do? On one side was Truth’s oppressive might, on the other was her good friend’s cherished possession.
How should she choose? Little Mist fell into hesitation…
But after doing a few more imitations of Truth’s movements and tone, Little Mist immediately made her decision — no. Friends are the most important!
After all, Wilona was the first person to be so friendly to her after her revival!
As for Truth’s punishment… Little Mist thought again.
She should still be somewhat useful to her now, right?
She probably wouldn’t kill me. If I die, there’d be no one to temporarily fill her Saintess position.
And if I begged desperately then, I probably wouldn’t lose half my life, right?
Thinking this, Little Mist swallowed.
Although she was the only one in the bedroom, she still tiptoed toward the nightstand, then very quickly stuffed the Space Pendant into her Pocket.
Then she continued acting as if nothing had happened, mimicking Truth’s posture and tone in front of the full-length mirror:
“Ariel, you actually dared to steal my things. I’ll make you suffer the consequences… No, that’s wrong. Truth wouldn’t speak so tactfully. She’d say it like this: ‘I’ll make you die a very ugly death!'”
Meanwhile, in the hallway outside the master bedroom, Ariel’s curiosity had overcome her fear.
After hearing her own name and a few special keywords like “mimic,” she immediately lay flat on the ground, crawled with her knees and hands without making a sound, and slowly moved to the master bedroom door.
Since the Seeker Demon was in a good mood today, her going to “check on” her… should be fine, right?
And the closer she got to the master bedroom, the clearer Little Mist’s words became — things like “tone” and “movement” — which inevitably made Ariel’s heartbeat quicken.
She had a feeling that today she was about to discover a major Secret about the Seeker Demon!
Gradually, Ariel pressed her ear against the master bedroom door.
The next second, Little Mist’s voice came clearly into her ears: “Mm, this movement is more authoritative. It should be able to scare Ariel and the others. Then how should I do the expression…”
Outside the door, after hearing Little Mist’s words, Ariel’s brain almost crashed… What did she mean by “scare me”? Then Ariel listened even more intently…
After a few more minutes of eavesdropping, soon, one of Little Mist’s big secrets was exposed right in front of Ariel — namely, Ariel discovered that Little Mist was actually bluffing her by borrowing someone else’s authority!
That was when Ariel suddenly remembered something important that Suna had once told her: the Seeker Demon was possessing the Ninth Saintess Truth. If not possessing her, then normally she was just the regular Ninth Saintess.
Could it be that during this recent period, she had been talking to the Ninth Saintess pretending to be possessed by the Seeker Demon the whole time?
Ariel slapped her own head, the truth suddenly dawning on her!
Then she suddenly thought of another problem.
“But if the one inside the master bedroom is the Ninth Saintess, then who is the injured Ninth Saintess in Deya City?”…