Volume 3, Chapter 26 – The Festival

The sun was gradually rising. Although it was only nine in the morning, the streets of Byrne City were already overcrowded. The air was filled with the shouts of vendors, the arguments of people haggling, and the sound of wheels rolling over the streets. Pedestrians were shoulder to shoulder, and under the direct sun of the desert region, the streets felt crowded and sweltering.

It should be said that this was a rare sight for Byrne City. Normally, by nine in the morning, people would have already finished their work and be on their way home. The desert region, while lacking water, also had few clouds. The scorching sun beat down directly on the skin, and apart from the thick-skinned beastmen and other special races, no one could stand it. Therefore, people’s working hours were usually from six to nine in the morning, and then from four in the afternoon until night, with a very long break in between.

The reason the streets were still bustling at nine o’clock today was due to a decree issued by Baron Khesa.

To celebrate the successful defeat of the Flame King by the hero named Thanatos, which had brought the ley lines back to life, Byrne City would hold a week-long festival. Baron Khesa would personally pay for free food and drink, and there would be performances all night long. In addition, all non-essential posts in the city were given a three-day holiday.

Under such a grand festival, people were naturally overjoyed. To be able to eat and drink for free without working was the greatest happiness of all. In addition, the Flame King had been a long-standing trouble for the residents of Byrne City, so everyone was happy to see him dead. Therefore, even thieves, local thugs, assassins, and other characters who made a living through shady means had joined in the celebration.

It could be said that since the founding of Byrne City, there had never been such a peaceful and lively time.

Although, this was not very friendly to Fia, who had wanted a good night’s sleep. ¹ can relate…

“Ngh…”

The cheers from the noble district outside the window made Fia frown deeply. The noisy street had woken her up long ago, but her need for sleep made her refuse to open her eyes, clinging tightly to the soft and sweet-smelling bed, thinking that as long as she didn’t open her eyes, she would soon fall back asleep.

However, her struggle only added to her frustration. As the parade floats slowly passed through the noble district, the street outside was already a sea of people. Even if Fia wanted to sleep, it was impossible.

A frustrated sound escaped Fia’s throat, but continuing to lie there would just be a waste of time. She had no choice but to wake up and get moving. She couldn’t help but be glad that she had had the foresight last night to tell Anastasia to postpone their departure and not to disturb her during the day. Otherwise, with Anastasia’s habit of getting up at six-thirty sharp and waking her up at seven, she, who had only gone to bed at one or two, would surely be in agony—her brain would feel like it had been shaken up, her thoughts extremely sluggish.

Today, I’ll first go to the Mage Association to sell the magic potions I made last night. Then I’ll find Baron Khesa and make arrangements for those unfortunate women from the bandit fortress. As for the curse on Milu, since she only remembers that her master is a huge crystal deep underground and doesn’t know the specific location, I’ll ask for clues at the Mage Association and from the baron as well.

Having planned out her day, Fia, lying on the bed, stretched languidly, a comfortable moan escaping her lips. Although the elf princess’s body was petite, Fia liked it very much—in her past life as a super-intelligent being, “feeling” was just a linguistic description to her. She could not actually feel “comfort” or “pain.” Now that she had a real physical body, the rich and colorful world gave her a wonderful new perspective. Of course, Fia was not aware of this; for her, she was simply very satisfied with her current state.

It’s about time to get dressed and have breakfast.

With this thought, Fia opened her eyes.

And then, Milu’s face appeared in the corner of her vision.

“Eh?”

At first, Fia thought she was seeing things. But when she turned her head, she found that it was not an illusion. Milu was indeed lying obediently on her side beside her, her bewitching cat’s eyes staring intently at her face.

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“Ugh.”

Yesterday, Fia would have definitely been startled by these eyes. But now, she only felt embarrassed—to wake up and find a pretty loli staring at her face, and to have her stretching posture seen so clearly, feeling embarrassed was a normal person’s reaction.

“Ah, you’re awake. Good morning, master.”

In contrast to Fia’s embarrassment, Milu just stated the fact in a tone devoid of emotional fluctuation.

Fia couldn’t help but awkwardly turn her neck and sit up in bed. If she remembered correctly, Milu should have been sleeping in the same bed as Renee, while she slept alone in another. Milu shouldn’t have come to her bed.

“Why are you sleeping in my bed, Milu?”

“I woke up in the morning and saw that you were sleeping so soundly, so I couldn’t help but keep watching. Then I got tired of standing, so I lay down.”

“There’s nothing to see…”

Fia’s gaze fell on Milu’s shoulder, which was exposed outside the blanket. Although Milu was under the same thin blanket as her, she was properly wearing the white short top and skirt that Liti had prepared for her yesterday. This made Fia breathe a sigh of relief. If Milu had crawled into her blanket naked, she probably would have been so scared she would have rolled off the bed.

Blinking her eyes cutely, Milu said with great seriousness.

“It’s very beautiful. I could never get tired of looking.”

“Eh…”

If Milu were a little older, or not a woman, she would have definitely taken this compliment as a cheesy pick-up line.

Shaking the strange thought out of her head, Fia put on an adult-like demeanor and answered in a businesslike manner.

“You’ll be even more beautiful than me when you grow up a little, Milu. Where’s Renee? Why are you the only one in the room?”

As she spoke, Fia got out of bed with movements that were not too stiff. Sleeping with someone else like this, apart from with Claire, had only happened in the carriage with Anastasia or Liti. However, the carriage was a force of nature, and she had only just met Milu. The current situation made Fia feel unnatural, as if she had done something terrible.

Milu also got out of bed. Fia’s figure was already considered petite, but Milu was a few centimeters shorter. She sat on the edge of the bed, gently swinging her porcelain-white calves, and watched Fia’s back.

“She went outside. It’s very lively out there today.”

“Yes… it is very lively. Have you had breakfast, Milu?”

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“I was waiting for you, master.”

“Waiting for me? You don’t have to wait for me in the future. I don’t have a rule that ‘a slave cannot eat before the master eats.’ And I don’t see you as a slave.”

Fia planned to free Milu from her slave status as soon as she found her master and obtained her ownership.

“But I want to eat with you, master.”

“…”

Through the room’s mirror, Fia could clearly see the seriousness in Milu’s crimson eyes. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say—was Milu a little too fond of her?

Although it was a good thing that she liked her, something felt off.

Maybe it’s because I still don’t know how to see Milu yet, Fia said to herself. Influenced by Milu’s “mother” from yesterday, for a moment, Fia didn’t know whether to treat Milu as a younger sister or… a daughter.

Such a conclusion was truly shameful.

Even the action of tidying her black hair became stiff. She was still a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, yet she was thinking of treating Milu as a cute daughter.

—It would be a lie to say she wasn’t tempted. Imagine, cute Milu calling her “mother” over and over again. Such a scene really made her want to hold Milu’s head and caress her. However, this could only be a thought and was difficult to put into practice. After all, if one imagined it further, a fourteen-year-old girl saying to a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl, “From today on, I am your mother,” the scene would be so strange it would make one want to crawl into a hole in the ground. And if Milu were to retort, “Is this a game of house?”, she would surely flee from this planet overnight.

She was straying further and further down a strange path.

“Master?”

Seeing Fia remain silent for a long time, Milu tilted her head and asked. At this moment, Milu was already holding the clothes Fia needed to change into with both hands, looking just like a little maid serving her master.

She’s too sensible.

So much so that it made one feel pity. Milu must have endured considerable hardship to have developed this ability to read people.

Taking the clothes, Fia asked, feigning a relaxed tone.

“What did you do every day before, Milu?”

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“Look for food. My body won’t die, but it gets hungry. It was very hard at first. I could only find fruits and food that others didn’t want. But later, someone found out that my blood could be used for alchemy, and things got a little better. Magic casters are more trustworthy than ordinary people. They’re afraid of my eyes, but they won’t refuse to pay because of it.”

“So people like Dick are a minority?”

Fia nodded thoughtfully. Magic casters were rare, and their growth required a lot of gold coins. Therefore, few were willing to ruin their reputation over a little girl’s meal money.

“Yes, his alchemy is too poor, and he’s about to be squeezed out of Byrne City by the witches, so he didn’t want to pay me. What were you doing last night, master?”

“Trying alchemy? I wanted to make some low-grade magic potions.”

Hearing Fia’s words, the feathered wings on the sides of Milu’s head spread out, and a look of joy appeared on her childish yet bewitching face.

“I can help you, master! Just by adding a little bit of my blood, the quality of the magic potion can be improved. Those alchemists can testify to that!”

“That’s not necessary,” Fia patted Milu’s head. “How could I make you bleed for the quality of a magic potion? That kind of thing will never happen again.”

“Hmph.”

Unable to help Fia, Milu’s mouth curved downwards, showing a look of disappointment.

Fia pretended not to see and changed the subject.

“By the way, are there any magic languages among the languages you’ve mastered, Milu?”

“Yes, but only the magic languages of humans and Stellacrysts. And I have to be holding a weapon to use them.”

“Oh?”

Fia raised an eyebrow. Since Milu knew magic, she didn’t need to teach her from scratch. Instead, like with Liti, she could directly jump to the stage of killing monsters and raising her rank. She had made a considerable number of lowest-grade Mana Recovery Potions last night. Even if Milu and Liti drank them like water, it would take several days to finish them.

“Then what about the types of magic? What spells do you know?”

“[Heavy Strike], [Throw], [Beast Form], and [Danger Sense]. Only these four. They are the spells I learned in the workshop.”

Since Milu usually wore dirty clothes and didn’t look like she had any mana at all, when she stepped into an alchemy workshop, the alchemists inside would basically not stop her from observing the contents of their books from a distance. And this gave her the opportunity to learn magic.

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According to Milu, [Heavy Strike] and [Throw] were spells she had learned by stealth. [Beast Form] and [Danger Sense] were spells she was born with, innate abilities of the Stellacryst race.

Her skill set was more biased towards a warrior than a magic caster.

Fia, still in her thin pajamas, began to think. If Milu was a warrior, she might be able to coordinate well with Liti. She was just about to go to the Mage Association next. She could take Milu there to choose a suitable weapon and armor. In addition, she had to buy another suitable longsword for Anastasia. Anastasia had been using a standard-issue longsword all this time, which was a bit shabby for someone of her level, a waste of her talent.

As for what [Beast Form] was, it was really intriguing. This must be the reason why Stellacrysts were called “beasts.” Fia guessed that although the Stellacryst race had the word “beast” in their name, their appearance was similar to humans. The only difference was that where their ears should be were small white feathered wings. At the same time, in terms of both physical and magical abilities, they were much more outstanding than humans.

If beastmen were biased towards physical abilities and elves towards magical abilities, then Stellacrysts were a combination of the advantages of both, and at the same time, had a long lifespan no less than that of elves. The only reason they had not ruled the continent was their extremely poor reproductive ability; they were still at the oviparous stage.

“Are you curious, master?”

“A little. Does [Beast Form] mean you will become like a monster, Milu?”

“It means becoming like a dragon, with a dragon’s tail and horns, but no scales.”

Milu patiently explained to Fia. In Fia’s imagination, [Beast Form] would turn Milu into something like a dragon girl—it would surely be very cute. Milu already gave off the feeling of a foreign princess. If she grew dragon horns and a tail, the non-human feeling would be even stronger, and her cuteness would only increase.

Unfortunately, after using [Beast Form], Milu could only maintain it for less than a minute, and she would be exhausted each time. Although Fia felt that if she asked Milu to use it, she would probably show her, but then Milu wouldn’t be able to go out with her in a little while. Fia could only suppress her curiosity to see Milu in her dragon girl form.

“Um… aren’t you going to change your clothes, master?”

“Of course I am. You go wait outside the room first, Milu. I’ll be out soon.”

“Don’t you need my help? I heard from others that slaves have a duty to help their masters dress.”

Milu looked up at Fia’s face. For some reason, Fia felt that Milu’s bewitching vertical pupils were filled with a sense of urgency.

“I’m fine,” Fia politely refused.

The reason she hadn’t changed for so long was because Milu was still in the room. She hadn’t yet developed the habit of undressing in front of others. After all, under her pajamas, her smooth and petite body was only wearing a pair of frilly panties.

“Hmph… then I’ll wait outside for you, master.”

There was a hint of disappointment in her voice. Milu left the room with small steps. Before she left, she peeked at Fia through the crack in the door one more time, and then made no other movements.