Miss Demon King, Please Endure a Little Longer - Volume 3 Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Close Call

***

If it were any of the other girls, like Vina and Zero, or even Celeste, as long as they were steady, slow, and careful not to make any noise, they could go upstairs.

But the Saintess who had the world in her heart didn’t have the ability to quietly walk up to the second floor.

Yet outside, it was clearly Lia’s voice…

“Aira~, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and open the door. Let’s continue what we didn’t finish last time~”

“Didn’t we finish it last time? We already completed the purification. What else is there to do?”

Aira tentatively changed her phrasing.

“Don’t joke around. I’m obviously not talking about purification, but that thing.”

“Which thing? What are you talking about, Miss Lia? I don’t understand.”

The person outside stopped talking.

It was very strange. In an instant, everything became quiet. All sounds disappeared, no voices, no footsteps.

Aira sat on the bed and waited patiently for a long time, counting in her mind as more than 10 minutes passed. Only then did she tiptoe down from the bed, listen by the door for a while, and gently pull the door open just a crack.

Creak—

The hallway was empty, with nothing there.

……

Celeste successfully entered the royal palace. The guards she encountered along the way all had rather complicated expressions on their faces. Obviously, 2 months hadn’t been enough to heal their psychological trauma.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that pink-haired beautiful big-breasted girl.

Celeste thought she would enter the Council Hall as usual and give her report under the supervision of the Internal Affairs Department composed of more than 10 high officials. Unexpectedly, this time there were only a few people, Macken and several ministers.

Still the same square face, sitting there like a solid rock.

“Thank you for your hard work. I heard some major incidents occurred in Harbor City. I’d like to know the details.”

“Of course, Sir Macken.” Celeste handed over a document. “This is the action record I wrote.”

She had been writing this for the past few days in the carriage. She wrote about Harbor City’s completely different cultural customs, emphasized the merfolk’s strange behavior, then described how Governor Kru inadvertently revealed his hand, exposing the inside story of his family’s long-term cooperation with the merfolk. Finally, when the merfolk saw their conspiracy exposed, they flew into a rage and emerged from the sea to attack the city. The girls conducted a decapitation operation, killed their priest, and the leaderless merfolk retreated.

This certainly wasn’t the true story, but it was sufficient for the report.

As for evil gods, independent demon armies, the original Silent Sanctuary, and such things, it was better not to mention them here.

Even so, regarding this report, a minister still raised a question: “You exposed their conspiracy of many years? Who exposed it?”

Such a hidden conspiracy could be seen through at a glance, how did you do it? Who was so capable?

“We discovered it together.” Celeste answered expressionlessly.

She knew that if these people found out it was Aira’s work again, they would become even more wary.

Although Aira’s origins were unknown, her identity was a mystery, and she hid some small secrets. She was a gentle, kind, and well-behaved good girl.

Celeste wanted to protect her.

Macken carefully read the record twice and asked, “You used a decapitation operation to eliminate the merfolk priest, and all the merfolk retreated?”

“Yes,” the girl said calmly. “According to the locals, 100 years ago during the Alliance’s fracture period, when the kingdom fought the merfolk at the border, they also resolved the situation by eliminating the priest through decapitation tactics, and the remaining merfolk collapsed without attacking.”

This could be supported by historical precedent, it was unassailable.

Macken thought for a moment and asked again, “In your report, eliminating the merfolk priest seems very easy? There’s hardly any detailed process.”

“That’s what we’re best at to begin with.” Celeste placed her hands flat on her thighs, looked straight ahead, and maintained perfect posture and expression. “When we first executed a similar operation, our target was the Demon King.”

If they could fight the Demon King, what was a merfolk priest?

Macken couldn’t find any flaws and had to set the document aside for now.

At this time, a minister sitting in the back spoke up: “So the mission to re-establish diplomatic relations with the merfolk has completely failed.”

“They never intended to coexist with humans from the very beginning.” Celeste looked up at him. “The merfolk were prepared to massacre the entire city that day. You can ask any local resident.”

The ice-blue gaze applied some pressure, and the minister muttered “I didn’t say it was your fault” and sat back down.

Another minister sighed: “But in that case, our plan to develop maritime trade routes will…”

“This matter will be discussed later.” Macken interrupted him and turned to look at Celeste. “Thank you for your hard work. Please go back and rest.”

But the girl didn’t move. Instead, she asked, “May I ask about our reward?”

This was what Aira had reminded her of before leaving Harbor City.

No matter what they say, you must bring this up. We can’t work for nothing.

The several ministers behind visibly froze for a moment.

“Although we didn’t complete the established mission, it wasn’t due to our own reasons. Moreover, we prevented a foreign invasion. Otherwise, Harbor City and the southern plains would have fallen into the merfolk hands.” Celeste said seriously, “I believe this is a contribution that cannot be ignored.”

Theoretically, this was correct. Normally, when someone achieved such merit, they would first gain great prestige, then use that prestige to get promoted to higher office.

Previously, the hero party had gained some prestige by defeating the Demon King, but they hadn’t killed him after all. Later, they killed Fenlie and had substantial military achievements, but then that incident happened the next day.

After thinking for a moment, Macken said:

“After the Harbor City incident is confirmed, I will submit a petition to award you the Kingdom Medal and grant you the title of Hero, with a medal ceremony conducted by the royal family in the great hall.”

This would make up for all the previous merits combined.

Celeste was satisfied and nodded, saying, “Thank you for Sir Macken’s favor. Protecting the kingdom’s people is what we should do.”

After speaking, she got up to leave, eager to share this good news with Aira.

After the girl left, the several ministers in the Council Hall looked at each other.

“Sir Macken, doing this will make them even more prominent. In the future, I’m afraid…”

“There’s no need to say more. This matter is decided.” Macken glanced back at them. “Instead of discussing meaningless things, why don’t you think carefully about what alternative plans we might have now that the maritime trade route plan has failed.”

……

Aira had been sitting alone on the bed for quite a while now.

As an excellent necromancer, she understood that one shouldn’t immediately think of ghosts for everything. What had just happened was more likely someone impersonating Lia, not only approaching the door silently but also perfectly mimicking the Saintess’s voice, then leaving without a trace.

Who could it be? So hard to guess, right? Like that certain assassin who had killed Lord Tydin 2 months ago and mimicked the dead man’s voice to command his subordinates.

“Gulp…”

Aira felt a chill down her back.

Close call, she almost got tricked into revealing something.