Miss Demon King, Please Endure a Little Longer - Volume 2 Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Departure

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In the Governor’s mansion, the reception room, two cups of carefully brewed fragrant tea were placed on the table.

Celeste had just come from having tea elsewhere, so she didn’t touch the cups on the table and went straight to the point, asking about the merfolk priests.

“The foundation of our cooperation with the merfolk is that we don’t interfere with their religious affairs, so I’m very sorry, I can’t provide help in this matter.”

That’s how it was, when she came, they said they’d provide full support, but when it came to specifics, it was just apologies.

Celeste quietly sighed and stood up to take her leave.

At the marketplace, the two girls who had pretended to go shopping returned.

To be honest, even Aira herself felt that the reason for going to the mountains to seek help from the demon army was a bit far-fetched.

But who told Vina to have a taste for this sort of thing.

“You absolutely must succeed.”

“…I’ll do my best. For now, let’s go back and find the others.”

So they returned to the marketplace, only to discover the beautiful and holy blonde saintess angrily packing up her preaching platform.

“Miss Lia, things didn’t go well on your end?”

“More than just not well, I’m furious.”

To fully demonstrate the superiority of faith in the Goddess of Light, Lia had not only put forth sincere effort but had worked especially hard.

After setting up the platform, she first went to the fish stall to buy several dead fish, arranged them on the platform, and when enough onlookers had gathered, she cast a blessing. The entire platform was instantly spotless, without even a trace of fishy smell.

Aira quietly wiped away a bead of sweat from her forehead: “I think they’re used to living here and are accustomed to fishy smells, so they probably can’t easily tell the difference.”

Your life hack doesn’t have much use for the locals, they don’t care about that sort of thing.

Vina was also puzzled: “Why didn’t you perform something more impressive?”

“I wanted to,” Lia said huffily. “There were no injured people around. I couldn’t just grab someone and slash them, then heal them for others to see.”

You could tell she really wanted to do that, but had held back for the sake of maintaining her saintess image.

Restraint was right, small impatience ruins great plans. Just like how the Demon King had been enduring ever since her transformation, which allowed her to reach today’s excellent strategic position.

But the saintess’s missionary attempt had indeed failed.

“I really don’t understand how the merfolk’s god convinces people to believe,” Lia said, looking around unconvinced and uncomprehending. “They say quite a few local humans also worship it.”

Our human race has such a wonderful Goddess of Light to believe in, yet they run off to worship strange things from other races. She really wanted to smack them on the head with her staff.

Aira gently comforted her: “Maybe it’s just for business, superficially going along with the faith as a kind of social technique.”

“Hmph.”

Lia believed the pink-haired big-breasted girl’s explanation, though her expression still showed some pride.

The separate action phase ended, and it was getting late, so they returned to the inn to meet up with Celeste and Zero.

Yes, Zero had also returned, though she looked rather ordinary, not happy, but not too bad either.

“My lead went cold,” Celeste was the first to speak. “Governor Kru is unwilling to provide help.”

“We didn’t make many new discoveries either,” Vina tilted her head. “But a shopkeeper is willing to take us to local scenic spots, so maybe we’ll find more clues. Aira and I need to take the whole day off tomorrow.”

Sharing results while getting things done, that was the little witch’s efficiency.

Celeste didn’t think much of it and nodded in agreement.

“Miss Lia, how did your missionary activities go?”

“Minimal results. The locals don’t buy it, not just the merfolk, but the humans too.”

After going around in circles, everyone had little to show for it. Finally they looked at Zero, and from her expression you could already tell—

“I went back to that little alley behind the workshop, but I didn’t find any traces.”

“At least you returned safely,” Celeste could only offer this comfort.

Comforting Zero, and also comforting herself and the other companions.

Aira looked at the dejected atmosphere around the table and suddenly remembered her initial role in this team — the gentle, caring good girl who cheered everyone up.

“It’s okay, failure is the mother of success. Today we eliminated many wrong answers, so we’re closer to success~”

A little cute voice, super adorable, if she wasn’t worried it would be unlucky, she would have added a “meow” at the end.

The atmosphere did improve considerably. Everyone went back to their respective rooms to sleep, and no one wandered around during the night. They slept soundly until dawn.

Zzzz

The next day, 5 days remained until the merfolk’s ritual.

That morning, Aira walked out the door yawning and saw Celeste standing at the entrance, looking very energetic.

“I thought it over carefully,” the sword saint girl said, “Besides Governor Kru, there’s one more person… or rather, one type of person most likely to have contact with them, the fishermen who gather from the sea.”

Of course, due to the presence of those merfolk at the fish market, local fishermen no longer worked catching fish and shrimp. Now they only had one job: going to the beach to collect shells washed up by the tide, selecting pearl shells, then selling them to workshops.

“Most of them have had contact… no, someone among them has definitely had contact with merfolk priests,” Celeste said excitedly. “I’ll bring back good news!”

Aira smiled sweetly: “You definitely will, I believe in you!”

Whether she believed it or not didn’t matter, a good girl definitely had to say that.

After saying this, Celeste left, but soon Zero came over, today wearing a tight-fitting outfit with her long black hair tied in a single ponytail.

“I figured it out, there was something I didn’t notice yesterday. I’ll go back once more today and definitely make some progress… Thank you!”

After saying this, Zero left, moving with such efficiency and grace that matched her outfit style perfectly.

Aira didn’t even get a chance to say “I believe in you.”

After she left, within half a minute, a fragrant breeze full of sunshine approached.

“I’ve decided that just because there were no results yesterday doesn’t mean there won’t be any today. As long as I get one chance to demonstrate and let them witness the power of light, someone will definitely embrace the light.”

After speaking, the saintess looked at Aira with beautiful eyes, seemingly waiting for her response.

“Yes! I believe in you! You’ll definitely succeed!”

“What else?”

Aira was slightly stunned: “What else?”

“Nothing, just that I might need a helper. Would you be willing to join me in spreading the voice of light?”

“But I’m supposed to go with Vina to gather information today, we agreed yesterday.”

“Hmph!”

Lia left in a huff.

Aira stood there stunned for a while, not quite understanding why everyone had to come over and say something to her before leaving.

Am I some kind of action-starting NPC that needs to be clicked before they can set out?

“Oh my, everyone’s morale is high~” the little witch’s voice rang out nearby. “Thanks to your speech last night~”

Eh, mine?

“Don’t space out, we should go too,” Vina grabbed the girl’s small hand. “You absolutely must give it your all.”

Aira thought to herself that goes without saying, of course she’d give her all, that was her own army after all.

They had indeed contacted someone, though not some merchant, but a mountain climbing expedition team from the east.

This could also be considered a type of local scenic attraction.