Volume 10, Chapter 45 – Everyone’s Daily Routine

“Achoo!”

Just as she finished lunch, Yisi let out a big sneeze. Camilla, sitting to her left, looked worried.

“Onee-sama, do you have a cold? I’ll have the servants buy some Winterbloom.”

Yisi, covering her nose with a handkerchief, waved her hand at Camilla. “N-No, it’s fine. I don’t have a cold. No need to make them run an errand.”

“But you’ve been sneezing all morning…”

“I’m probably just allergic to something. The gardeners have been tidying the courtyard these past few days. Maybe some dust or pollen got in my nose.”

Even as she said it, Yisi didn’t think it was an allergy. All negative statuses, including colds, would show up as debuffs on her status bar. She had already checked her status bar many times, and there was nothing new.

But this sticky feeling is disgusting…

Besides sneezing, Yisi hadn’t told Camilla that she’d felt a sticky, unpleasant chill all over her body ever since she woke up. After confirming with Laxy, Yisi was certain it wasn’t because Tiffany had snuck into her room, nor was it because she had forgotten to bathe. To alleviate the discomfort, Yisi had even specifically asked Laxy to heat water for her to take a bath first thing in the morning, but the sticky feeling had only gotten worse. It’s like I’m being licked by a pervert with a greedy gaze. It gives me goosebumps.

“Allergy?” Hearing a word she didn’t recognize, Edith frowned, but quickly dismissed it. “In Hyurent, there’s a saying. If you are being thought of by a relative far away, the person being missed will sneeze continuously under the gaze of the First Blood Queen, as a reminder to the traveler to return home soon. It’s not Her Majesty the Queen thinking of you, is it?”

“If it’s An-chan, it’s very possible~ An-chan loves Master~”

Hey, hey, don’t imitate Andrea’s voice and call me ‘Master.’

Mary was wearing a small-sized maid uniform today. Hearing her use Andrea’s voice to call her Master, Yisi couldn’t help but imagine Andrea in a maid uniform. Come to think of it, she’d probably be really cute. I can just picture Andrea and Mary in maid outfits, sitting on their knees on the bed, hands clasped, looking shyly at the camera, their faces as red as apples. It’s so tempting, I’d want to just pounce and take a bite…

…This is so sinful.

I shouldn’t be fantasizing about others like this. If I really want to see it, I should just ask Andrea and Mary honestly.

Shaking her head to dispel the pink thoughts, Yisi said with a wry smile, “I don’t think it’s Andrea…”

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She had just seen Andrea the day before they’d arrived in Wilfred. It hadn’t even been a week. Andrea wouldn’t be missing her so much that it made her sneeze.

“Then who else? The half-dragon girl? Or that Evelyn, who calls herself your sister but actually wants to sneak into your bed?”

“Lin has her hero duties, so let’s leave her aside. And Evelyn likes the opposite sex. It’s rude to say she’s ‘sneaking in.’ What if it affects her future relationships?”

Edith seemed to remember something, her vivid red lips thinning into a line.

“…True. Her blood is disgusting. It would be a hassle for me if she got attached.” At this, Edith’s eyebrows suddenly rose. Her delicate, doll-like features took on a sly look, and she crossed her legs, smiling at Yisi. “If her life is ruined, you can just take her, right? She’d be overjoyed.”

“L-i-k-e I said, Evelyn isn’t like me. She’s from the normal world. You two are just exactly alike in how you love to tease people.”

“Ara, but you look like you’re enjoying it.”

“An M.” ¹ if you don’t know then you should still

Tiffany snorted through her nose, expressionless.

Tina, with a fork in her mouth, looked confused. “An M? What’s that?”

“Tina, a good child doesn’t need to know.”

“This one is ages older than you, Yisi. Don’t treat this one like a child.”

“That’s right! I’m a year older than Master, too, but Master always treats me like a kid.”

After Mary spoke, Tina slowly turned to look at her, her cute face wearing a complicated expression. “…No… Yisi treating you like a child is… understandable.”

“Tina, you traitor!”

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“Pfft.”

Watching Mary pounce on Tina in protest, Yisi couldn’t help but laugh. Interactions between beautiful girls really do lift the spirits. It might even extend my life—no, it’s too early for me to say that.

“By the way, Pepe, what were you doing yesterday? You and Refina didn’t come back until after dinner.”

“Tsk.” Yisi had brought up an unpleasant memory. Edith clicked her tongue, her voice full of disgust. “Visiting a branch-family relative.”

“A branch of the Pescia family? Is it your older or younger sister, Pepe?”

“She’s my ‘sister’ in age, but she and her parents were disowned from the Pescia family long ago, so they don’t even count as a branch. If I wasn’t afraid they’d bring shame to the family, I would never have gone to see them. It’s utterly filthy. She has Pescia blood, but she eloped with a human who has no family name and no redeeming qualities, treating the Pescia family’s honor as nothing. If my mother hadn’t been cared for by her parents in the past, I would have already erased them from the world on my father’s behalf… Hmph. To think they dared to send a low-class bloodkin with tainted blood to me back then. I shouldn’t have listened to my Father’s advice. I should have never let her go.”

“Viel, that is all in the past…” Refina, standing behind Edith, advised in a low voice that was hard for others to hear.

Is it complicated?

As Yisi blinked in confusion, Camilla, who had followed Edith before, explained in a low voice. “Her name is Dona, a low-class bloodkin. Dona’s mother was originally Count Pescia’s older sister, but she was exiled from the family for falling in love with a human slave. That should have been the end of it, but over a dozen years later, her daughter, Dona, was spotted by Edith, who was touring her territory, and became Edith’s ‘pet.’ It wasn’t until Dona’s parents found Edith that Edith learned what she had done. Out of disgust for Dona’s mother’s actions, Edith banished Dona on the spot.”

“Just banished…”

Knowing Pepe’s awful personality, the fact she didn’t kill that girl Dona on the spot is commendable. She’s showing a lot of restraint.

The reason she didn’t kill her is probably just as Pepe said: her mother had been helped by Dona’s parents. Otherwise, she would have done more than just banish her. The reason she went to see her yesterday was probably to check on how she was doing, and to give her some money.

So indirect.

I probably don’t need to worry about this. Pepe will handle it. At this thought, Yisi looked at Tina. Although she looked the same, Yisi felt that after just one day, Tina seemed a little more mature.

“What about Tina? How are you feeling? I remember you were getting dizzy from leveling up too fast.”

“Mary, you’re too heavy! Get off this one—Hm? Ah, this one is fine. This one was just a bit reckless yesterday and absorbed twice the usual amount of inheritance.”

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As she said this, a dark red light flashed in Tina’s orange-red eyes. Yisi noticed but said nothing.

“Is that so? That’s good.”

“What about you? Where did you go yesterday? Adventurers have been coming to the mansion all morning asking if a ‘woman with a blue longsword’ was here. They wanted to thank you personally. I knew it was you, of course, but I had Refina turn them all away.”

“Well… I happened to save someone?” If Pepe presses me, I’ll be forced into the vortex of telling her the Emperor of the Empire is actually a beautiful girl. Yisi quickly changed the subject. “Well, well, more importantly, I’ve found new prey. I want to get everyone’s level to 30 before we solve Tina’s problem.”

“Level 30?” Edith looked at her as if she were an idiot, her expression full of disagreement. “Yisi, do you know how hard it is to level up? I’m not bragging or trying to crush anyone’s confidence, but while it might be possible for me at Level 27, there’s no way Tiffany, at Level 18, can get to 30 in two months. If it were that easy, there wouldn’t be so few powerhouses in the world.”

“…I hate to admit it, Onee-sama, but Edith is right. Even I, at Level 21, don’t have the confidence to reach Level 30 in two months.”

Not just Camilla, but Laxy, standing guard behind Yisi, also bowed slightly and said, “My Lord, your goal is too unrealistic.”

“Eh.”

I’m not joking.

She wanted to say that, but the situation didn’t allow for it. However, she hadn’t made this decision thoughtlessly. It was a goal set after careful consideration, based on past experience.

The reason it was so difficult for people in this world to level up was that it was hard for them to find monsters of a suitable level. And even if they did, those monsters were often surrounded by other monsters that were much stronger.

Take the Steel-Blade Bees they had challenged. Outside of a dungeon, they lived in pristine forests. Not only was visibility poor, but the terrain was difficult. Adventurers never knew what would jump out of the bushes. If it was something far beyond their level, they’d be wiped out. Therefore, they could only choose to challenge monsters in areas they knew well, where the monsters were generally weaker than them. This led to slow leveling.

Of course, she couldn’t blame them for being “cowardly.” This wasn’t a game where a character would just resurrect in the starting town. In this world, there was no such mechanism. Strong and weak monsters were mixed together, and death was permanent. This, combined with a lack of cheap, effective potions and skilled healers, meant people had to be cautious.

In short, they leveled slowly because they couldn’t chain-hunt appropriate monsters and had no safety net. With her [Omniscient Map], her companions didn’t have that problem. Based on her experience, a person could level up by solo-killing 20 to 50 monsters of the same level (this number varied based on talent, race, and monster type).

Take Mary and Camilla. Mary had a higher magic talent, so she got more EXP. But as a half-elf, she also needed more EXP to level up. So, in the end, her leveling speed wasn’t much faster than Camilla’s. As for monster type, undead, for example, gave far less EXP than a normal creature of the same level.

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Furthermore, in a team, the person who lands the final blow gets slightly more EXP. She could use this to have the lowest-level member get the last hit, keeping the team balanced.

After all, if one person falls too far behind, they become a weak link. As it was, their team was almost perfect, only lacking a scout or assassin.

Mary (main tank), Refina (sub-tank), Camilla (back-line DPS), Tiffany (support/healer), and Pepe (melee DPS). Even in ‘Ragnarøk’, this would be an excellent party composition.

Yisi just smiled and shook her head at their doubts. “Yes, yes, let’s just say 30 is hard. But we must hunt monsters. To go to Fairy Land, we have to go by sea. If we don’t get used to fighting sea monsters, we’ll be in trouble when we truly encounter them.”

“Monsters in the sea…”

“Slimy.”

“I have a bad feeling about this…” Refina and Mary both looked troubled.

Well, it can’t be helped. Sea monsters are wetter and uglier than land monsters. It’s a natural human instinct to avoid them. But the sea monsters are plentiful and their distribution is regular. We’ll just have to ignore the disgust.

As her companions began to discuss the sea voyage, Enos, her green hair in pigtails, walked into the dining room. Although it had only been a few days, under Laxy’s tutelage, she and Chloris had quickly learned how to interact in the human world. They seemed to be rare, intelligent models among the Battle Angels.

“Mama, there’s someone outside to see you… Chloris is entertaining them.”

“Miss Solanya?”

“It’s a woman with golden hair and red eyes…” At this, Enos lowered her eyes and glanced at Camilla. “She… she looks a lot like… Mama Camilla…”

Yisi couldn’t immediately place who it was. She blinked, looked at the [Omniscient Map], and then froze for a second. A large question mark popped up over her head.

“…Ask her to come in. Have the maids leave. Laxy, you’ll accompany me to the reception room.”

“Yes.”