Volume 4, Chapter 31 – Cooperation

Knowing that Edith would be skeptical, Samael turned around and exposed his back.

A conspicuous magic array was inscribed on his grayish-black skin. As if breathing, the array, which emitted a blue glow, flashed rhythmically. Yisi had seen a similar pattern before.

“A slave contract?”

Samael silently lowered his clothes, turned back around, and his gaze bypassed Yisi to look at the count’s eldest daughter behind her.

“After the other you defeated me, you handed me over to Count Pescia. At first, all that awaited me was imprisonment, but then Hetty controlled the Count. Through him, she learned of my existence, found me, and had him use the Tower of Alexia to weaken my spirit and guide me into carving a slave mark. The reason I obey Hetty’s words is also because of the contract’s binding.”

“Your experience is not a reason for us to believe you.”

Samael’s participation would certainly be a great help, but they couldn’t ignore the danger he posed just because of the benefits he brought.

Edith took over the conversation. For some reason, she seemed completely unafraid. She no longer looked at Samael, but instead began to clear the chessboard.

“If you want to kill Hetty, why don’t you just do it yourself? With your assassination skills, can’t you kill her?”

“The abilities of fallen angels cannot be used against their own kind. If one harbors ill intentions towards their own kind, all their abilities will be temporarily lost, turning them into a weakling inferior to even an ordinary human. Therefore, it must be you who deals with her.”

“Is that so…”

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Edith paused for a moment, then tilted her head slightly to look at Samael.

“What is your reason for killing Hetty? Because she is on the side of your enemy? Or do you want to gain your freedom?”

Samael answered with great patience.

“I cannot betray my Demon Lord. Hetty represents Tartarus. I cannot tolerate serving anyone other than my Lord.”

“Then you should just kill yourself.”

“Hey.”

Yisi called out to the count’s eldest daughter. Samael was here to seek cooperation, not to beg for her charity.

Edith continued to speak for herself, her tone filled with contempt.

“Since you don’t want to serve anyone other than your own master, and you can’t break free because of the slave contract, the fastest solution is suicide. If your ultimate goal wasn’t to cling to life, why would you be following Hetty’s orders now?”

“My life does not belong to me. It can only be offered to Lord Ouranos. Hetty must be completely erased from this world.”

Very rarely, Edith’s hand, holding a chess piece, stopped in mid-air. Then, with a snap, she dropped the piece onto the board. Her azure eyes were filled with a smile.

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“Hehehe… what a loyal dog. I think we can have a proper talk now.”

◇

The discussion was over an hour later.

Taking back her body from Edith, Yisi left the carriage and walked straight to where Camilla and the others were. Although the sky had already darkened, her companions were not preparing for sleep but were engaged in a mock battle with Refina and the other three pets.

Noticing Yisi’s approach, both sides stopped fighting and came to her side. To avoid the awkwardness of being mistaken for someone else, Yisi proactively waved with a friendliness that the count’s eldest daughter would never have.

“Camilla, Mary, it’s me.”

“It’s Master!”

Running and jumping into Yisi’s arms, Mary rubbed her face against her clothes.

Tiffany, holding her divine staff, also walked up to Yisi and spread her arms.

“Me too.”

“Yes, yes, to replenish your magic, right?”

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Instead of responding to Tiffany’s request for a hug, Yisi chose to cut her skin and use her blood to replenish Tiffany’s magic. This action caused a series of swallows from the surrounding pets.

It seems I forgot how delicious a pureblood’s blood is.

Yisi quickly healed the wound with healing magic. Apart from Refina, the other three pets all looked extremely regretful.

With a worried look on her face, Refina, dressed in a green long dress, asked timidly, “Miss Yisi, where is Master?”

“She said she was a little tired, so she went to sleep.”

Yisi hadn’t noticed before, but now that she thought about it, Edith’s behavior could be described as abnormal. Even though she was only active for six hours a day, her spirit would become extremely fatigued.

Refina lowered her gaze in disappointment, mumbling to herself, “She’s asleep…”

“What did you and Edith talk about, Onee-sama? I thought I heard the sound of weapons clashing in the carriage just now.”

“We were just playing chess. You must have misheard, Camilla.”

Telling a small lie, Yisi patted Camilla’s head. The matter concerning Samael was a secret. It was fine to tell her own companions, but there were too many untrustworthy people around—like the pets other than Refina.

As for what Edith and Samael talked about, it mainly revolved around four points: first, why Samael was only now seeking cooperation with Edith; second, the intelligence that Samael revealed to Edith; third, how Samael could guarantee that he wouldn’t turn on them due to Hetty’s orders; and finally, how to kill Hetty and the specific implementation of the plan.

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First, the reason for Samael’s initial attack was to test them. The person he wanted to cooperate with was not Edith, but her, who was using Edith’s body. Samael believed that only the one controlling Edith’s body had the strength to break through and kill Hetty. So, if he couldn’t verify her existence, that is, Yisi’s, then there was no need for cooperation.

Second, Samael explained Hetty’s recent movements. At Hetty’s instigation, Count Pescia planned to set out in a week with Hetty to the northern part of the territory to exterminate the Frost Giants—in reality, it was a suicide mission to deplete the Pescia territory’s resources. This piece of information matched what Yisi already knew.

Third, as the fallen angel most skilled in assassination, Samael possessed an ability to temporarily be immune to all status effects, which also included the slave contract. Therefore, Samael could defy Hetty’s orders for a period of time and do things she didn’t know about.

For example, when Edith encountered the wyvern knights, the order Samael received was to intercept her along with them, but he used his ability to temporarily defy the order and instead killed the wyvern knights, deliberately letting Edith get to her father. Similarly, his assassination attempt on Edith this time was also ordered by Hetty, and he had used his ability to defy it. The flashing of the slave contract on his back was proof that he was resisting the order.

As for the final plan on how to kill Hetty, the two did not discuss it on the spot. Samael’s immunity time was about to end, so the details would have to wait until tomorrow. During this time, Edith would have to perfect the assassination plan.

Speaking of which, she had been focusing so much on Edith these past few days that she had neglected to improve the strength of Camilla and the others. Starting tonight, she would take Camilla, Mary, Tiffany, and also Refina with her to level up every day.

Refina was only level 12 now. As Edith grew stronger, she would only become more marginalized in the future. She wanted to help Refina a little.

Anyway, with teleportation magic, she could first go hunting in the forests near Antonio City, then send her companions to Margaret for a good night’s sleep in better accommodations, and return to the camp when daylight came.

If a second person were to hear Yisi’s inner thoughts, they would surely be shocked beyond belief. In fact, Yisi herself felt the same way.

It’s so good to have teleportation magic.

Her expression gradually turned into a blissful [=w=]. ¹ mhm =w=