Miss Demon King, Please Endure a Little Longer - Volume 3 Chapter 26
Chapter 26: I’ll Help You
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The message came in the evening when the girls were preparing to return to their tree houses to sleep, and Elder Isadora suddenly paid a visit.
“The demon army leader you asked me to keep an eye on, someone spotted traces of him in the northern forest earlier. Also, there have been unknown changes to the Sacred Spring seal, and we’re sending people to investigate.”
Celeste was a bit confused by the first half of the sentence, but her attention was quickly drawn to the second half.
“Something happened to the Sacred Spring seal?”
“It’s a change, not necessarily caused by external factors.” Isadora looked at the pink-haired big-breasted human girl. “Miss Aira, if you’re free tomorrow, could you come with me to take a look? I’d like to hear your opinion.”
Celeste frowned slightly: “Aren’t we going together?”
“It’s just to take a look, nothing else, no need for so many people.” She said to the other girls, “These are troubled times right now. Elder Trinia hopes you’ll go see her tomorrow, she has something she needs your help with.”
Busy, everyone’s busy.
Aira thought it over. Just going to look at a seal, at most a few hours. After looking, she could slip away, find some excuse to get a Dragon Eagle, and then head to the northern forest to settle accounts with Bloodslaughter Lord.
Damn traitor, your Demon King is coming for you!
“Do we really not need to go together?” Lia was very reluctant. “But… but…”
She thought of a reason they could go together, like saying she was also very smart and could help by observing from the side.
But saying “I’m also very smart” out loud would make her sound not very smart at all.
Then the Saintess suddenly thought of a reason: “But if something unexpected happens, I could guarantee Aira’s safety if I’m there.”
Vina was very surprised: “How so?”
“Didn’t I mention it before? Aira is the honorary director of the church branch, with internal clergy status. We already held the ceremony at the church that night.” Lia said proudly, “I personally helped her join the church… personally performed the ceremony for her, so as long as I hold her hand, I can enhance the power of healing blessings.”
Don’t think bringing the pink-haired girl to the church that night was just for sleeping, there was real business too. See, the bond is connected now.
However, Isadora didn’t agree to this request: “Please rest assured, we’ve already surveyed the Sacred Spring situation. We’re just going to take a look.”
Aira looked thoughtful.
If that’s the case, there’s probably something she wants to discuss with me alone.
“It’s fine, Miss Lia.” She gently consoled the Saintess. “I’ll just take a look and come back.”
“Alright…”
With all the companions watching, Lia didn’t dare insist further.
Tomorrow, the girls would make their first separate actions since arriving in the elven territory. Aira would go with Isadora to see the seal, while the others would go find Trinia to hear what she needed.
“I want to act on my own.” Zero suddenly raised her hand.
Celeste agreed without even asking why.
The free agent in the team could go wherever she wanted, that’s why she’s called a free agent. Last time in Harbor City, they let her wander around the city on her own, and she ended up playing a crucial role.
What’s most important in a 5-person team? Trust!
Everyone thought Zero had her own ideas and plans. Aira thought so too, until she returned to the tree house to sleep that night and was suddenly embraced from behind in bed.
This size, it was the assassin girl.
“Sorry, Aira. I meant to make some footstep sounds, but the ground is too soft. I can’t make any noise without using force.”
That was true. Even Lia wouldn’t make footsteps in this place.
Aira didn’t panic or lose composure. Even her chest didn’t tremble. Having someone climb into bed at night was something she’d experienced too many times to be bothered by it anymore.
The Hero Party was like this, the girls always had various troubles and worries on their minds. Whenever they had something on their mind, they’d come climb into bed to chat about it. Who told her to be the caring big sister?
“Zero, what’s the matter this time?”
Go ahead and talk, then hurry up and go sleep in your own bed after we’re done.
Then she heard the girl behind her say: “Aira, you want to secretly kill that Bloodslaughter Lord, don’t you?”
Aira closed her eyes, opened them, and managed to pull herself back from the edge of nearly fainting.
Stay calm, don’t panic yet. Maybe it’s just a wild guess, like what Vina did a few days ago.
“A few days ago when we went to gather intelligence and captured demon army prisoners, after you got their leader’s name out of them, you showed some killing intent.” Zero said slowly, “Just now when the elven elder came and mentioned the demon army leader’s appearance, that killing intent appeared again.”
Aira’s suspended heart finally dropped completely.
So you have killing intent detection? You should have said so earlier!
But then again, of course, how could a legendary assassin not have that ability…
“Aira, what Vina said was all true, wasn’t it?” The person behind her hugged a bit tighter, like an intimate gesture but also like a threat. “You’re actually the one giving orders, so when you learned they weren’t following commands, you got very angry and decided to kill them.”
“…”
That really was the case that day.
Aira felt flustered being held like this and tried hard to keep her voice small: “Zero, listen to me.”
The room fell quiet.
“Zero?”
“I’m listening to you, Aira. Go ahead and talk.” The girl made a soft sound. “Haven’t thought of what to say yet?”
This was basically asking if she hadn’t made up a story yet.
That definitely couldn’t be the case, yes or no, it couldn’t be.
“Actually, I… was influenced by magic.” Aira said pitifully in her small voice, “You’ve seen what those magics look like. The price of challenging the boundary between life and death makes me often hear voices that don’t exist, making me feel insecure.”
Feeling insecure, so wanting to kill traitors when seeing them, very reasonable, right? If she didn’t always blame magic for everything, it might be more reasonable.
A few light laughs came from behind, unclear whether she was amused or couldn’t help herself.
Not just Zero, Aira herself was about to lose it. Who keeps blaming the same thing over and over? Once or twice is fine, but seven or eight times? Who would still believe that?
“What do you want to do?” she asked directly.
Due to her somewhat collapsed mental state, she didn’t manage to keep up the green tea soft voice, and it even carried a bit of the feeling of giving up along with her sense of redemption.
Zero stopped laughing, and her hands relaxed a bit, gently hugging Aira’s small waist as she said: “Don’t worry, I won’t tell them.”
“…Then why are you bringing this up tonight?”
“Because I’m worried about Aira. I’m afraid you won’t be able to kill that person. I want to help you.” The girl whispered in her ear, “Let me go with you tomorrow.”
Climbing into bed in the middle of the night to say all this, just to help kill a traitor? Really?
Aira’s suspended little heart flipped around several times, and after thinking for half a minute, she tentatively asked: “What do you want in return?”
“Nothing really. It’s just that seeing you and Miss Lia being so intimate, I’m envious. Next time when there’s a chance, could you be like that with me too?”