After an abstract academic discussion on "The Utilization and Management of Dragon-Blooded Sorcerer Mana," night fell.
Night in the Valerian Duchy was quiet yet dangerous, with the occasional howl of an unknown magical beast echoing from the forest.
By the campfire, Vespa had been chatting with Leo and Lucrezia for the entire evening.
As a subordinate of the "specialist" big shot, Vespa displayed twelve points of professional integrity. She spilled the beans on everything she had uncovered over the years in the Virado Federation, the Valerian Duchy, the Thousand-Tentacle Swamp, and several surrounding small countries.
She even pulled a hand-drawn map of the Virado Federation and surrounding areas from some extra-dimensional pocket. The map was crooked and the proportions were severely distorted, but the place names, power distributions, and dangerous zones were clearly marked.
"Phew... my mouth is dry."
Vespa had been rattling on all night. She felt her performance tonight was perfect and had definitely left a deep impression on the "specialist."
She finished the last bite of rabbit meat with satisfaction, feeling she had earned her dinner. Content, she wrapped herself tightly in her small blanket, found a comfortable position, patted her full little belly, and prepared to sleep.
Meanwhile, Leo was still studying the map by the firelight.
Though the drawing skills were pathetic, the amount of information labeled on it was immense.
It detailed the spheres of influence of various small duchies, the secret outposts of the Holy Light Church, and even locations of black markets, intelligence houses where "anything can be bought if the price is right," and a must-eat list for top courtesans...
Wait, did something strange get mixed in there?
Still, this little cat really had something.
As Leo looked, he took notes in his notebook using Chinese characters.
A sharp wit is no match for a blunt pencil.
In this other world without the guidance of a search engine, this information could save his life at a critical moment.
Leo didn't put the map away until late into the night.
But with so much information in his head, he couldn't fall asleep at all.
Thinking about the Church pursuers, Imperial spies, or even Abyss cultists they might encounter on the road, and whether he could find a way home...
Leo, who seemed to be entering a molting phase, felt somewhat restless.
Suddenly, he felt a tug on his mana threads. Before Leo could even react—
"Who's there?!"
Vespa, who had been sleeping like a dead pig, suddenly let out a roar. She sprang from the ground like she had a coiled spring inside her!
Immediately following:
"Bang! Thud! Bam!"
The once quiet camp instantly fell into chaos!
In the darkness, the sounds of whistling fists and kicks, clashing limbs, and muffled groans rang out in quick succession. The speed was staggering!
"An assassin?!"
Leo reacted instantly. He instinctively rolled, shielding the soundly sleeping Lucrezia behind him while simultaneously casting 【Ice Shield】 on himself. The arcane glow at his fingertips lit up immediately.
However.
Before he could identify the enemy's position, and before he could decide whether to lead with a Pyroblast or use a frost nova for control...
The battle was already over.
"Aaaah—!"
In the darkness, Vespa let out a shrill scream as if she had been hit hard. She hit the ground with a wet thud and then went silent.
She probably couldn't win and had gone back to her practiced routine of playing dead.
Leo's gaze sharpened.
So fast?
Even a heroic level thief like Vespa was taken out in a second?
He didn't hesitate any longer. Tracking the sound, he was about to fire a 【Pyroblast】 at the dark figure.
Whoever it was, he'd cripple them first!
But the moment he raised his hand.
A cold, flat voice—one that even held a hint of... confusion—rang out in the darkness:
"Sister?"
The air suddenly went still.
The massive fireball at Leo's fingertips halted abruptly in mid-air. His brain felt as if it had been struck by something, momentarily freezing up.
Sister?
Who's the sister?
Even in this life-or-death moment, Leo's gaze instinctively fell upon the cat-person lying on the ground playing dead, clutching her eye and groaning.
This cat-person who was full of street slang, slippery, and looked like a little punk no matter how you sliced it... was actually female?!
No wonder... no wonder she had such a huge reaction when he pulled her tail before...
And the name Vespa, thinking about it now, it really was a bit feminine?
I always thought it was just a sissy name...
But now was clearly not the time to obsess over the cat's gender.
After a moment of dead silence.
The "corpse" on the ground suddenly moved.
"You bastard..."
Vespa clutched her right eye and crawled up from the ground, her voice full of resentment and pain.
"I was wondering why those moves looked so familiar... Hiss! My eye! It hurts like hell!"
"Damn it! You have the nerve to call me sister? Your wings have grown strong now, haven't they? You actually dared to hit me?!"
"I really saved you for nothing back then! I would've been better off saving a dung beetle! At least a dung beetle would know to roll a ball of poop for me as a gift! But you? You just come up and punch me?!"
Silence returned to the darkness for a few seconds.
That cold voice spoke again, her tone as flat as if she were stating an objective fact:
"You kicked me first, Sister."
"If you hadn't snuck up on me trying to scare me, would I have kicked you?! Besides, I didn't even land that kick! Look at what you did to me..."
Vespa pointed at her black eye, filled with grief and indignation.
The darkness went silent again. The intruder didn't seem to want to argue with her, while Vespa's muttering never ceased, constantly rambling about how the other person had no conscience, was an ungrateful wolf, and was worse than a dung beetle.
"Ahem."
Leo cleared his throat. A soft flame sprouted from his fingertip, illuminating the camp.
Vespa was sitting on the ground looking disheveled. Her once-perky cat ears were drooping, and her right eye had swollen into a textbook shiner—a dark bruise that looked shiny and oily. She looked quite pitiful.
And standing opposite her...
Was a classic beauty with long, straight black hair.
Tall.
That was Leo's first impression.
He estimated this woman was only slightly shorter than his own height of over 1.8 meters. Standing there, she was like an unsheathed blade, giving off an intense sense of pressure.
Large.
That was Leo's second impression.
She wore a form-fitting black combat suit. The tight fabric couldn't contain the physics-defying, proud curves of her chest.
With every breath she took, that heavy "conscience" rose and fell slightly, creating an exaggerated visual impact against her slender waist.
Her lower half featured a pair of long, straight legs encased in shimmering black silk stockings, with over-the-knee high-heeled leather boots on her feet.
She carried a long tachi on her back and had smooth, straight black hair that she kept exceptionally sleek even in the wild.
Her small, exquisite heart-shaped face had cold, elegant features. Her frigid eyes held no ripple of emotion, like a bottomless cold spring, radiating a distance that kept everyone a thousand miles away.
A-Ling.
A woman who combined the traits of being cold, mature, well-endowed, and long-legged... a kunoichi?
Wait, did this world have ninjas too?
As the firelight flared up.
Her cold eyes instantly turned sharp. Her hand rested on the hilt of the sword at her waist, and she leaned forward slightly. Her long, black-stockinged legs tensed as she settled into a flawless iaido starting stance.
In that instant.
Leo felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
A master!
An absolute master!
This level of pressure was even stronger than Kofman's!
"Alright, alright! Stop being so tense!"
Vespa clutched her eye, shouting through bared teeth:
"Put the sword away! We're on the same side! Don't start fighting again; I'm the one who ends up unlucky either way!"
She had been having a great day—securing a powerful patron, establishing her goal for a permanent position, becoming a Fire Lord, and eating a delicious roasted rabbit leg.
She never expected to face a disaster in the middle of the night, nearly getting blinded by her own troublesome sister. It was truly a stroke of terrible luck.
Hearing Vespa's words, the young woman proved obedient.
She slowly released her grip on the sword and lowered her gaze, no longer staring at Leo. That suffocating killing intent dissipated as if it had all been an illusion.
Vespa sat there for a moment to recover before standing up with a pained hiss, starting the introductions:
"Hiss... Lord, let me introduce you."
Vespa pointed at the expressionless girl.
"This is my sister, A-Ling. She's a... well, a ronin swordsman."
"A-Ling, this is Lord Leo. He's a very powerful mage. And the one over there sleeping and drooling is... Lucifer, Lord Leo's accessory."
Lucrezia was still smacking her lips in her sleep, completely unaware that she had been labeled an "accessory."
Rate on N.U.
