Miss Demon King, Please Endure a Little Longer - Volume 2 Chapter 12

Chapter 12: It’s About Time

***

“How did it go, how did it go? Did you manage to negotiate successfully?”

Vina, who had been waiting in place, immediately asked eagerly as soon as they approached.

“We were very lucky. The commander in the mountains is a close confidant of the Demon King, and also a general I know.” Aira smiled softly and sweetly, “He agreed to send troops to attack the merfolk in the city.”

“Great, great, that’s wonderful! I really want to see that day come soon!”

Upon hearing such good news, Vina’s peach blossom eyes lit up brilliantly.

Aira suspected she might be even more eager than herself to see fighting break out in the city.

“It’s getting late, let’s head back.”

They first returned to the expedition team, handed over 2 pearl shells to the hunter uncle, and the two girls went down the mountain early.

“We’ve successfully completed our mission objectives today.” Vina stretched lazily, “I wonder how the others did~”

Lia had also gone smoothly in today’s separate operations.

Due to the impact of the murder case, those little merfolk who usually worked were all hiding in the fish market and wouldn’t come out, so the work they couldn’t do had to be taken over by humans.

An inexperienced cook cut his hand while filleting fish, causing blood to flow immediately, and Lia happened to pass by. She grasped his hands and cast a blessing, instantly healing the knife wound.

“My wound is healed!”

“As expected of someone from the royal capital, the god she believes in really works.”

“Our deity, is called the Goddess of Light, right?”

Just like that, the Lady Saintess gained her first believer in Harbor City, then the second, the third, and by the end of the day, several dozen people had embraced the light, all of them humans.

Since Harbor City had no church organization, these believers couldn’t become clergy members.

But that was fine. Lia gave each of them a small booklet, encouraging them to practice prayer regularly. When a church branch is established here in the future, you’ll all be the backbone.

Meanwhile, Celeste, who had gone to the beach, also had some gains.

She found old fishermen collecting shells during low tide and successfully struck up conversations with them, but when she asked about topics related to merfolk rituals, the atmosphere immediately became tense.

The eldest fisherman among them advised her: “Young lady, don’t inquire about this matter, and don’t be curious about it. When your travels are over, leave this city as soon as possible.”

But this only made Celeste more concerned: “Will something very bad happen?”

It wasn’t curiosity, nor was it seeking trouble, it was her duty.

“If you don’t go looking for it, it won’t happen.” The old fisherman said earnestly, “Don’t go looking for them, don’t look for the merfolk priest, don’t look for the temple…”

“Temple?”

Realizing he had accidentally let something slip, the old fisherman quickly fell silent and wouldn’t speak anymore no matter what the girl said.

The day was drawing to a close.

On her way back, Celeste saw that the merfolk who had been hiding for 2 days had actually come out, carrying various ritual items in their hands. Those shrines and divine statues custom-made from workshops were being carefully placed by them in corners throughout the streets and alleys.

The humans, on the other hand, were used to it and found it unremarkable.

Celeste wanted to approach and ask about ritual-related matters, but just then, a scream came from nearby—

“Another murder!”

She turned to look and only saw a blood-spurting merfolk corpse, as well as the perpetrator rapidly fleeing the scene, a cloak completely covering a rather small build.

It wasn’t the same person’s body type as last time, but the clothing and appearance were identical.

The onlooking crowd was in chaos, but not a single merfolk ran. They remained standing in place, continuing their tasks at hand. Even though their legs were trembling with fear, they persisted in placing the shrines properly first.

“Heretics, heretics, damned heretics, He will never let you go…”

Celeste approached and asked: “Hello, please…”

“Don’t come over!” The merfolk had a stress reaction, “Lowly heretic! He will drown you in the sea of despair!”

“…”

There really was no way to communicate with them.

Never mind, it was fine. Today she had gained new information about a “temple,” so it wasn’t completely fruitless. She’d leave it at that for now.

When she returned to the inn, she found that her companions had already returned before her, even Zero was no exception.

The pink-haired big-breasted beautiful girl came out to greet her, smiling gently:

“Celeste, you’re finally back. Let’s have dinner~”

What was the Hero Party’s dinner today? Of course it was seafood and fish, at most with more variety in preparation methods, steamed, grilled, fried, and boiled. The geographical environment was just like that.

However, to make today’s “travel” more convincing, Vina had brought back some mountain delicacies and put them in the pot, making the fish soup even more delicious.

“These are specialties from the place we visited today. Who would have thought that the mysterious scenic area they mentioned would turn out to be the mountains to the east.” Vina sighed regretfully, “It’s a shame we didn’t find any useful information, only found these things. We brought them back for you all to try something fresh.”

“Yes.” Aira agreed, “We’re very sorry.”

Of course no one would blame the adorable Lala.

At this moment, Zero put down her knife and fork and said: “I didn’t discover anything during the day, but I want to go out once more at night.”

The other girls paused their movements.

“Go out at night?” Celeste was rather worried, “It feels too risky…”

This was an unfamiliar place, and with the ritual day approaching, everything seemed somewhat strange.

She obviously didn’t know that 2 girls in their group had already made a trip to the other side of the mountain today.

“I understand.” Zero held her teacup with both hands, “But if they really are a professional assassin organization, daytime and nighttime must be different.”

Since she put it that way, Celeste had nothing to object to, let professionals handle professional matters.

“It’s fine, Zero is very capable.” Aira gently smoothed things over, “Back in the royal capital, she would go out at night and… mm-hmm, anyway, she’s very capable.”

Back in the royal capital, she would go out late at night to knife a noble and even pull off a divine punishment stunt. If it weren’t for her methods being too professional, only she in the entire royal capital could have done it, they never would have traced the perpetrator in the end.

Of course she was capable.

After finishing her meal, Vina jumped down from her chair and stretched: “Having energy is so nice. I need to rest early though, I climbed mountains back and forth today and I’m exhausted~”

“Thank you for your hard work.” Aira clasped her hands together, “Rest well~”

Today’s good girl persona mission should be pretty much completed.

Everyone at the dining table had finished eating, except for the most ladylike Lia, whose bowl was still less than half empty. Her companions were used to this and paid no attention.

But the Lady Saintess secretly observed everyone and began scheming in her mind.

Tonight, Zero would be going out for solo activities, Vina was exhausted from the day and would fall asleep as soon as she hit the pillow. As for Celeste, she looked relaxed and would surely sleep early and wake early, sleeping soundly through the night.

In other words, tonight was a heaven-sent opportunity!

While pretending to drink tea, she quietly looked toward the pink-haired big-breasted girl who was still playing the soft, sweet good girl role.

Last time it was done hastily, the time was too short, and the effect’s duration was also very brief, so — it was time for purification.