Free Web NovelBy the time the three finished their meal and parted ways, the sun had already set.
The night sky was a deep, fathomless blue, and beneath it the city lights still shone brilliantly. It was close to midnight before the moon leisurely revealed half its face from behind the clouds, washing the neatly gridded rooftops with a sheet of bluish glow like pieces on a chessboard.
Talin was far larger than Fengxiang Town, and far more beautiful.
From Vieya’s perspective, if Fengxiang Town was a third-tier small city, then Talin was a first-tier metropolis several times its size.
Somewhere in the distance a dog barked, startling a sleeping flock of birds. They burst out of the pitch-black greenery with a flurry of wings.
When Vieya returned to the inn, she threw herself onto the soft bedding and began rolling around. She had no idea why she was rolling; she only felt she needed to do something—like... unleashing her slime nature all across the bed.
The white little “caterpillar” flipping and flopping on the bed immediately drew the attention of the cat-girl maid. She closed the door, turned on the lights, and placed the packed midnight snack on the table.
Only then did her gaze settle on her master, who had been acting strangely all day. A cat’s sixth sense was sharp—able to distinguish danger from safety, and also able to pinpoint the oddities of the person she lived with.
“Master, are you worrying about Jasmine?” Helcat pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down, curiously watching the slime girl’s odd movements.
“I’m trying the unique relaxation method of slime girls described in Monster Girl Species Compendium.” Vieya wrapped herself in the blanket, forming a roll, then flopped herself out of it like a salted fish. “Tell me, with those two Demon Kings and a Hero there, is Jasmine really going to be in danger?”
“We’re not them. Go ask them.” Helcat leaned back in the chair, lazily watching the white slime girl squirming nonstop on the bed.
“Xiao Lü said Jasmine won’t be in any life-threatening danger, but she might be overly frightened... Jasmine is still too young, she only turned eight this year. If she gets too scared, it might leave psychological trauma.
Like post-war stress disorders. Jasmine is timid to begin with—she can’t even sleep unless she’s clinging to me.”
Vieya pulled the blanket over her head and spoke in a muffled tone, “Xiao Lü also said my daughter isn’t like me, thick-skinned slime monster girl that I am. She’s just a half-blood, and her body is even more fragile than a normal human child. I can’t raise her like this... mmph...”
“It’s not that dramatic, right?”
Helcat fished a little cream cake out of the snack bag, popped it into her mouth, then licked her fingers clean. She said comfortingly, “The little Demon King princess has been toughened since infancy. She was locked up for three years the moment she was born, and she didn’t break down or get depressed.”
“Quite the opposite—she was incredibly resilient. Like a blade of grass sprouting between stones. She looks like she’ll topple with the slightest breeze, but she’s surprisingly tough.”
“Really...” Vieya’s voice stayed muffled.
“When I first met her, she was already locked in the Demon King’s bedchamber. Aside from the maid who delivered food at set times, no monster took care of her. At first I thought the newly born little Demon King wouldn’t live long. That she’d be found dead in the room, and then we’d welcome the next Demon King.”
“But several months later, I got curious whether she’d died, so I turned into a kitten and climbed to the outside of the Demon King’s bedchamber. I hooked myself to the window and peeked inside, and there she was—lying on the bed, staring into space.”
“I didn’t expect a half-demon with incomplete bloodline to have such vitality. Was the previous Demon King’s bloodline really that strong? I was curious, so I spoke to her. But she ignored me, lying there quietly like a dead little dried fish.”
“A few days later, I went again. Hey—she still wasn’t dead! I tossed her two dried fish from my own snack stash, but she still ignored me. Nothing I could do.”
“It wasn’t until the third time that the little Demon King finally reacted. She walked to the window wanting to talk to me, but she was too short. Even jumping, she couldn’t reach. And the bedchamber had defensive arrays—if anything living tried to force its way in, those old fossils would chase it down. So I had to give up.”
“But even with a window between us, we eventually got close. From time to time, I’d bring her wild fruits and she’d be so grateful, meow.”
Helcat stayed by the bedside, slowly recounting her story with Jasmine from years ago.
“And then, until that Spider Demon King you defeated attacked Demon King Castle—on that day everything was chaos, smoke everywhere, even the bedchamber’s magic array malfunctioned. I asked the little Demon King if she wanted to leave, but she shook her head. She said she didn’t know where to go after leaving Demon King Castle.”
“I told her if the other Demon Kings caught her, she’d be in a lot of trouble—they’d slice her into living sashimi and eat her! But the little Demon King was stubborn, dead-set on living and dying with Demon King Castle.”
“I had no choice. I told her I’d take her to find her father and mother. But she was clever. If I hadn’t stolen one of your clothes ahead of time, she would’ve refused to come with me no matter what.”
Helcat poured herself a cup of tea to moisten her throat.
But Vieya was already sitting cross-legged on the bed, staring quietly at the catgirl.
“You said you stole my clothes?”
“Meow?”
Helcat blinked and looked at the ceiling. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a little kitten.”
“Hmph!”
Vieya snorted coldly. She got off the bed, changed clothes, and put on her shoes with quick, practiced movements.
“Meow? Where are you going?” Helcat was stunned. “It’s the middle of the night. You’re not going to sleep?”
“I’m going to the dungeon.” Vieya threw on her night-stalker outfit. “Even if I’m not planning to help her cheat, I still need to watch her. In case something really happens and no one’s there to clean up the mess. ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ I don’t trust those three...”
“What about me?”
“You stay here and watch the house. Don’t run around. There’s money in the pocket of the clothes I took off—use it sparingly.”
With that, Vieya opened the window and jumped out.
“Meow?”
Helcat rushed to the window, sticking her head out and scanning the surroundings, but Vieya’s silhouette had already merged into the night and vanished.
Only after a long moment did she pull back, close the window, and return to the empty room. She let out a heavy sigh.
“No one cares about me. One’s a severe mother-complex, the other’s a daughter-slave. Hopeless, meow. Completely hopeless, meow!”
...
Night.
The moon was bright, the stars sparse.
A cluster of tents had already been set up at the dungeon entrance. Inside them were mages who had forfeited, knights on patrol, and proctors assigned to night watch.
A faint metallic scent drifted from some tents—a hint of blood, too thin to notice unless one focused, and gone with a passing breeze.
Vieya had a student card tucked in her pocket, its image showing a cute little girl with white hair and green eyes.
“This looks like an ID photo... Wait—where did Xiao Lü even get a picture of me in my loli form?”
These past days, the Magic Academy had rented out the entire dungeon. Outsiders were temporarily prohibited from entering. One would have to use a crooked path—or... slip in with a fake ID.
Vieya didn’t intend to stir up trouble or disrupt this joint examination held by mages from the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern regions...
“Mm. Let’s just change the Talin sightseeing plan into a dungeon touring plan.”
... fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Dungeon, First Floor.
Chest rising and falling, Jasmine exhaled a long breath.
Her arms trembled slightly after using her staff for such a long time, the wooden handle firm and warm in her palm.
Breaking out of that goblin group earlier had nearly drained her entire mana bar with the spells she used along the way.
Fortunately, Teacher Anna had once trained her specifically for this kind of situation, repeatedly exhausting her mana to push past her body’s limits.
The feeling was hard to describe.
But years of magic practice had drilled nearly every spell she knew into her instincts.
A thought, and the corresponding spell structure formed.
Then—boom.
Seal, aim, fire. freēwebnovel.com
The three universal steps of magic.
“Captain Jasmine, are you okay...”
Maixi looked worried. Jasmine was the strongest in their team, but also the one with the poorest stamina.
When everyone else ran out of mana they could still run, but once the captain had no mana, she could barely move...
“I’m fine.” Jasmine’s complexion was terrible—pale, fragile, like a porcelain doll that would shatter with a push.
“How about I carry you?” Maixi suggested.
“So dramatic.” Rorina cut in immediately. After a pause, she added, “If you can’t walk, then let’s just find a place to rest for a bit. It’s already the middle of the night. Don’t worry, I’ll stand guard. You two sleep.”
The pink-haired little girl puffed up proudly from atop a rock, as self-assured as a pompous rooster.
Of course—
That was if one ignored the fact that she had just been scared to tears by goblins not long ago.
