As everyone knows, in a Human’s long yet fleeting life, there are always some special circumstances—
Like suddenly possessing a fervent obsession, a wish so strong you’d give everything just to reach it.
Vyea pressed her hand against her chest and breathed lightly. Her heart hadn’t beat so vividly in ages.
She couldn’t even remember when she was last this excited.
But right here, right now—
A surge of excitement, fear, tension, and a thrill mixed with the bitterness of coffee kept churning in her chest. Vyea felt she’d never forget this for the rest of her life!
“Sorry… Only now do I find out you left me a Daughter… I really am useless…”
Her faint sigh was swept away by the whirling morning breeze.
Vyea suddenly stopped at an empty crossroads, tilting her face up to the sky. The golden morning sun made her instinctively squint.
A flock of doves flew through the morning mist, their white wings cutting through air currents that still seemed to carry the afterglow of last night’s heavy rain.
At this moment, Antler City was caught in a magical state of overlap—both the lingering shadow of last night and the budding form of today.
Such beauty, and yet, it only made her feel worse.
Her mind was completely filled with thoughts of finding her Daughter, but all Vyea could do was stand blankly at the crossroads, glancing in every direction like a hopeless, clueless mother who’d lost her child at a train station.
No clue at all.
Where on earth should she even begin searching…
The thought that a living being—one that carried her and Flavail’s blood—was waiting for her somewhere in this world, filled the Slime-girl’s mind so fully that she felt she might burst into little pearls of worry.
She didn’t know her Daughter’s appearance, personality, or preferences, yet in just a few minutes, her sense of guilt had fermented as if it had been brewing for three years.
The elated Vyea suddenly felt deeply uncomfortable again.
“Yeye-jie!”
The green gem Vyea kept in her pocket lit up. Xiaolu, who’d been quietly listening all along, picked up on her thoughts. Not wasting a second, she immediately transmitted her reasoning to Vyea’s ear:
“Judging by the information we have, your Daughter’s location should be somewhere near the Monster Forest. Not long ago, there was a rebellion within the Demon Race; a large number of monsters rioted and escaped. They clashed with Humans at the South Border in a brutal battle, and your Daughter, the Little Demon King, also vanished around there…”
“If you want to search for her, starting from the area around those South Border skirmishes would be the best and quickest plan.
Because your Daughter is a mixed-blood of Human and Demon Race, her bloodline is naturally unstable, so you need to focus on Human gathering places nearby. Hybrid bodies are fated to be weaker than monsters, sometimes even weaker than Humans…”
Xiaolu continued her calm analysis:
“But if you search alone, it might be difficult. Properly and cleverly enlisting Human help isn’t a bad idea either.”
“Enlist Human help?”
Vyea pursed her lips. Learning of her Daughter’s existence had already thrown her old plans into chaos. For now, her trip to the Capital would have to wait.
But to ask Humans for help now… would anyone really be willing to help her?
Lania was probably still lying in a hospital bed. When she woke, she’d likely notice how familiar Vyea’s swordplay had been.
Sigh.
If only she’d known about her Daughter sooner. Things had come to this—Vyea no longer felt like blaming anyone, only quietly bearing it herself.
She sighed, suppressing the pain in her heart, and kept thinking.
As for using force to threaten people?
Things were already messy enough. Making it worse would only make Humans less willing to help her.
“Yeye-jie, I can help persuade Humans. But you can’t just disappear on me again!”
Xiaolu suddenly chimed in, a hint of playful mischief in her tone. “And you’ll need to put aside a bit of your pride. Acting like a cold-faced Asura all the time—no matter how cute you look, it’s hard to get help from others like that.”
“Uh, Asura… Am I that scary? I thought I was funny…” Vyea mumbled. “It’s not like I’m a villain.”
“That joke isn’t funny.” Xiaolu said quietly, “In Human society, a friendly smile is the passport to success. You should’ve figured that out by now.”
“All right, I’ll just giggle at everyone from now on.”
Vyea massaged her stiff cheeks, trying to pull off an innocent, harmless smile, then steered the conversation back on track:
“I’m begging you, oh adorable Green One! Please, do your magic! Time waits for no one! Please, I’m begging you!”
“Ahh!”
Xiaolu shuddered, cyber-goosebumps dropping all over the place. “Yeye-jie, just talk normally! Stop the cutesy stuff, it’s scary…”
“……” Vyea fell silent.
“First, we need to erase the negative impact you’ve left behind.”
Xiaolu’s expression turned serious. “With the tactical value you showed, most people would rather win you over than push you away…
Let’s start with the Arbitration Office we know best, and turn enemies into friends… This time, if you want to find your Daughter quickly, you’ll be playing the role you excel at most—
A friend of justice.”
“No, wait!”
Xiaolu looked down at the severely shrunken Little White Fur, then suddenly, as if recalling something, said solemnly:
“It’s not an act. This is the real you!”
According to research by an anonymous scholar,
A firefly must burn through 90% of its energy just to give off a faint glow. Likewise, the light of a Human soul requires burning just as much of their fuel for existence.
The lights in the Arbitration Office still glowed.
Everyone was back to their duties, and order was returning to normal amid the chaos.
Hua Shiyu finished tying the Encrypted Message to the Messenger Dove’s leg and went to the window, facing the direction of the rising sun.
The Messenger Dove pecked at a few kernels of corn, rubbed its head against her palm, then flapped its wings and soared away.
“Hoo…”
Hua Shiyu let out a soft breath, brushing aside her pink bangs. Watching the dove’s departure, she sighed—a sound too mature for her age:
“I wonder when I’ll ever get to retire with honor… Sigh… I hope the people at the Capital will start taking border issues more seriously… And that my junior recovers soon. I hope that powerful and strange girl doesn’t hold a grudge against Humans…”
Knock knock knock!
Suddenly, a flurry of urgent knocks shattered her prayerful sigh.
“Come in.”
Hua Shiyu frowned, looking at the Arbitration Knight at the door, and asked wearily:
“Is there another emergency?”
“B-big trouble, Minister!” The Arbitration Knight was so flustered he almost bit his tongue. “The Director invited the City Lord over to discuss things, but they ended up arguing right in the courtroom!”
“……”
What good is arguing? If you disagree, just fight it out. Winner gets their way.
Hua Shiyu’s lips twitched, but she simply nodded, signaling for the Knight to continue.
The Arbitration Knight swallowed hard, then spoke in a rapid-fire stream: “The City Lord says the chaos inside the city must be dealt with first, and it’s the perfect time to weed out the criminals. Otherwise, that expensive Super-Tier Magic will be wasted.”
“The Director says everything should serve the bigger picture. With the Frontline battles so intense and supplies so short, we need to send people to deliver weapons and gear to the Frontline first. The problems inside the city can’t be solved overnight, so as long as things don’t spiral out of control for now, it’s fine.”
Hua Shiyu sighed. “You’re arguing about this? Why not compromise? Allocate 75% of resources to the Frontline, use the rest to keep the city’s chaos below the danger threshold, and wait for the Super-Tier Magic to recharge for a second use.”
She paused, then added to the Arbitration Knight, “Just deliver my words directly. And tell them, for now, forget about old grudges. Reinforcements from the Capital are almost here. Don’t embarrass yourselves by fighting among your own before they arrive…”
“U-understood!”
The Arbitration Knight gave the Minister a crisp salute and dashed out.
“……”
Hua Shiyu shook her head, shut the door to the Minister’s study, heated up a cup of milk for herself, and reactivated the Automated Quill.
She sat back on the reclining chair at her desk, sipping the hot milk, eyes closed in rest as she continued her documentation with the Automated Quill.
The sun slowly rose, pale golden light streaming into the document room, casting a shadow across the brown walnut table.
“Firelacquer Document · Tenth Cycle-0126.”
“Recorder: Human Alliance Ordnance Department Head, Hua Shiyu.”
“Writing Medium: Starwhale Stomach-Seal Scroll…”
Suddenly!
Hua Shiyu snapped her eyes open from her rest, the floating Automated Quill pausing mid-record. She looked questioningly toward the door.
Thump…
Thump…
Thump!
A careful, tentative knock sounded, breaking the Minister’s train of thought. She frowned slowly.
Who is it this time?
But before Hua Shiyu could call out and unlock the branded latch on the door, it swung open on its own.
“Ah… so someone is here.”
Vyea, who had entered by unlocking the door herself, paused awkwardly when she met Hua Shiyu’s strange gaze. She waved a little, not at all like the awe-inspiring figure from last time—now she just seemed a bit shy and out of place:
“Um, you… hello.”
Hua Shiyu paid no mind to Vyea’s awkwardness or embarrassment; she only cared about one thing:
“How did you… get so small?”