Volume 2, Chapter 19 – First Watch

Lainia’s entire body trembled.

‘E-Execute?!’

‘As expected of an evil Archsuccubus. The hope that had just risen in my heart had been nothing but an illusion!’

She had only escaped the tiger’s den to fall straight into the wolf’s lair. Her life was over.

Of course. How could the Lord’s great enemy possibly be kind enough to save her?

She must have thought that Lainia still hadn’t been broken enough as a toy and was unwilling to simply hand her over to the Disciplinary Committee, so she wanted to personally drag her back and continue tormenting her!

That had to be it.

“…Since you’ve put it that way.”

The last trace of doubt in the Disciplinary Committee Leader’s mind disappeared.

Right.

Rather than take her back for interrogation, they might as well hand her over to this master who was notorious for her brutality.

If Stella dealt with her personally, this slave’s fate would probably be a hundred times more miserable than anything awaiting her in an interrogation room.

The committee leader unlocked the chains around Lainia’s wrists and pushed the trembling little nun in front of Stella.

“She’s yours.”

“However, Miss Darkfallen. Although we’re handing her over to you, the investigation into the ghost will not stop. If… I mean, if the attacks continue afterward, or if more evidence emerges pointing toward her…”

“For the safety of the school, even at the risk of offending you, we will have to take action again.”

“Do as you please.” Stella waved a hand indifferently. “As long as you have the nerve.”

Only after watching the Disciplinary Committee disappear at the end of the corridor did Stella’s tense expression finally relax slightly.

‘Phew, that was close.’

She had finally managed to get Lainia back.

If those people had really taken Lainia away and uncovered something about the relationship between the two of them, Stella’s career as an undercover Saintess would have been finished.

She’d had no choice but to say some threatening things to bluff her way through. Lainia… should understand that Stella had only been trying to save her from the situation, right?

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She wouldn’t seriously misunderstand and think Stella was going to execute her, would she?

Stella turned around and lowered her gaze, looking down at the trembling Lainia.

Looking at her greasy maid outfit and the wooden 【CRIMINAL】 placard hanging from her chest, Stella was speechless for a moment.

They had only been apart for a few days, yet Lainia had already managed to get herself into this state.

That was a talent in its own right.

If Stella left her alone, there was a good chance she’d somehow manage to get herself killed within a few days.

Sigh.

She hadn’t even gotten dinner yet, and now this had happened.

Stella’s head started to hurt.

She turned and walked deeper into the corridor, with Lainia reluctantly following behind her.

The corridor was exceptionally quiet beneath the night sky, with only the echoes of their footsteps lingering through it.

“Master… where are we going?”

Following behind Stella, Lainia asked uneasily.

“To the scene of your crime.” Stella kept walking. “The washroom up ahead.”

If Principal Gehenna’s ghost arrest order had merely been one troublesome extra assignment forced onto Stella before, then the nature of the matter had now changed completely.

If she didn’t uncover the truth as soon as possible and allowed the situation to keep deteriorating, then as the only human slave openly known to exist in the entire school, Lainia would unquestionably become the perfect scapegoat.

Just imagine it.

A nun who served God, ultimately dragged onto the judgment platform by a group of succubi and publicly executed as a heretic before countless watching eyes…

The image was so absurdly ironic that it almost hurt.

Stella shuddered just from imagining the scene.

Sooner or later, that might also be her ending.

No matter what, investigating the ghost had to become her highest priority.

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Stella silently made up her mind.

She stopped walking.

Before her stood the washroom where the incident had occurred.

The entrance had already been sealed off with yellow warning tape by the Disciplinary Committee, with twisted runes drawn across it. A faint scorched smell still seeped through the cracks around the door.

Stella turned around and looked at the trembling Lainia behind her, then reached out and gently patted her shoulder.

“Wait here. Don’t wander off.”

“And while you’re at it… before I come back out, think carefully about exactly how I should deal with you.”

Stella lowered her voice and leaned close to Lainia’s ear, speaking through gritted teeth.

“You drained my meal card and left me starving, then you were stupid enough to get yourself hauled off by the Disciplinary Committee and nearly exposed everything about us…”

Stella’s finger prodded Lainia’s forehead, neither lightly nor heavily.

“We’ve only been apart for a few days, and you’ve already caused me this much trouble. Tell me… how exactly should I settle this account with you, my dear, gluttonous, clumsy slave?”

“…M-Master.”

Lainia shrank her neck and didn’t dare argue back even once.

“Hmph.”

Stella snorted coldly, pushed open the door, and stepped into the washroom, leaving Lainia standing alone in the silent corridor.

The moment Stella’s back disappeared from view, Lainia immediately straightened her posture and adopted a completely different expression.

She raised her head.

Beneath her messy bangs, those amber eyes that normally lit up whenever they saw food held no fear whatsoever. In its place was the determination and world-weariness forged through countless battles of flashing blades in the back kitchen.

There wasn’t even a trace left of the meek, pitiful slave from moments before.

Her vicious and wicked master had returned.

The trial bestowed upon her by the Lord had returned.

And so, her indomitable fighting spirit had returned as well.

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“Hmph, naive succubus.”

“Do you think I’m still the weak little nun from a few days ago who could only let others do whatever they wanted to me?”

Lainia understood the situation better than anyone.

They had only been apart for several days, yet this evil succubus who had humiliated and tormented her seemed to have undergone some kind of transformation that inspired genuine apprehension.

If the Stella from before had been a blazing fire that scorched one’s skin with pain, then the Stella of now felt more like a weapon freshly forged from the furnace, gleaming with a beautiful cold light in the darkness.

‘…Master has unquestionably grown stronger.’

Lainia lowered her eyes and immediately made the instinctive judgment of a warrior.

And as a trial bestowed upon her by the Lord, defeating Stella herself was indeed an overwhelmingly difficult task.

But…

Lainia secretly clenched the fist hidden inside her sleeve, and strength continuously surged through her body.

Had all those sunless days spent repaying her debt in the cafeteria, and all those days of endlessly tempering her body at the training grounds, really been for nothing?

Before mountains of greasy plates, she had swung her brush again and again, tempering her state of mind.

Before the temptation of leftover scraps and cold food, she had swallowed humiliation and endured hardship, forging her will.

Before a training schedule that bordered on torture, she had never once slackened, trading suffering for strength.

The balance of Stella’s meal card and the souls of thirteen thousand plates had long since transformed into her indestructible willpower!

Had the current her finally obtained enough power to defeat Stella?

How could she possibly know without trying!

Lainia felt that as she stood there proudly, she possessed a certain awe-inspiring beauty.

Were those mountains of greasy plates not a metaphor for the endless hordes of Abyssal monsters?

Were those stubborn grease stains not symbols of the sins of this world that were so difficult to cleanse?

And she, Lainia, trapped in a desperate situation where she had lost her Holy Light, had no support, and couldn’t even eat her fill, had relied on nothing but a brush worn bald from use to purify tens of thousands of enemies until not a speck remained, all while never neglecting her daily training.

Every sweep of the rag had been a refinement of her swordsmanship.

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Every time she bent down to lift a slop bucket had been the ultimate tempering of her core strength.

The novice nun who had once only known how to hide inside a monastery and pray was dead.

The one standing here now was Dishwasher of Judgment Lainia!

“Just you wait, Stella…”

Lainia slowly opened her eyes, flames burning within her amber pupils.

Once that arrogant succubus came out of the washroom, the moment she revealed even the slightest opening, Lainia would use these hands, forged through countless trials after washing thirteen thousand plates, to show her the true power of labor.

She would reclaim her dignity.

She would reclaim her freedom.

Dong, dong, dong.

The bells of Lilith School rang out.

Belphegor’s Seventh Watch of sloth and eternal sleep had passed.

Valentine’s First Watch, symbolizing awakening and blood, had arrived.

Almost instantly, Lainia heard footsteps.

From within the darkness, someone spoke coldly.

“Know your limits, human.”

Translator Note

Oh, oh! Is it the vice principal? Or maybe the maid assassins?

Either way, Lainia is screwed xD