"I didn't expect Miss Tiran to come and be a bodyguard. It's not easy for her to be recognized by Mr. Shanyan as Coco."

In the small courtyard where the temporary bodyguards lived, inside the two-story building of the girls' dormitory, Xuanzi sat on an empty bed, swinging her legs, holding a cup of hot tea brewed by Shaye in her hands, and said in surprise.

"Not at all, I never expected to meet the daughter of the mayor as the first person after landing..." The princess was still immersed in regret for missing the chance to eat and drink for free, and said with a hint of disappointment.

"Oh, by the way, Xuanzi, it is said that before joining the bodyguard team, Tiran gave Captain Shanyan a beating." Shaye stood beside and chuckled.

"...What?"

"Cough!"

The door was knocked three times, and then slowly opened a crack. Uncle Shanyan, with a somewhat unnatural expression on his face, stood outside the door, staring at Shaye who was coughing hard.

"Hey, hey, Captain, it's not gentlemanly to barge into a girl's room like this." Clearly being discovered gossiping behind his back, Shaye showed no panic at all. He directly turned the tables and put the pressure on Shanyan.

"I knocked on the door." The corner of the bodyguard captain's mouth twitched slightly as he sighed helplessly.

Shanyan himself had little authority over the temporary bodyguards. The funding came from the Finance Office of Haixi Town, and he was only appointed as the temporary manager. It was already the limit for him to ensure that the bodyguards didn't cause trouble and just did their job. Training this group of recruited helpers into a disciplined army was simply a pipe dream.

Moreover, as an old uncle, Shanyan had no difference in his experience with women compared to any single, twenty-year-old mage who had recently changed jobs.

"Miss Xuanzi, your father is looking for you. Please go back quickly." Deciding to ignore the other two people in the room, Shanyan said.

"Huh? So soon..." Xuanzi was surprised and pleaded with Shanyan, "Can't I stay a little longer?"

"This is your father's order, and I'm just following orders." Shanyan had a stern face, showing no signs of wavering.

"Just a little longer won't hurt. Don't forget, I can easily defeat you again. It wasn't long ago that I knocked you down with a single punch." The princess raised her arms challengingly and glanced at Shanyan. Well, since Xuanzi brought me from the beach to the town, I'll help her make a plea.

"..."

"If you're not convinced, shall we have another sparring session? Don't forget, not long ago, I knocked you down." Shanyan sighed, "Miss Tiran, I admit that I underestimated you at that time, and I couldn't defeat you. But isn't this something for Miss Xuanzi to decide? Miss Xuanzi, your father asked me to tell you that the festival is less than a week away."

The last sentence was directed at Xuanzi.

"Uh... I'll go back then." Xuanzi's expression froze for a moment, then she slowly drank up the tea in her hands, stood up, and walked towards the door.

Since Xuanzi had made up her mind, Tiran couldn't say anything else. She could only follow and see Xuanzi off. They went downstairs and arrived in the courtyard. There were still many temporary bodyguards chatting or practicing swordsmanship. When they saw Xuanzi coming downstairs, they all gathered around.

"Take care, Miss Hiraegi!"

"We're looking forward to your performance at the festival!"

"It seems that Xuanzi has a high popularity?"

One of the bodyguards who shouted loudly, "Miss Hiraegi is the best!" suddenly felt a tap on the shoulder and heard a voice asking.

"Of course! If the goddess of the sea exists, then she must be like Miss Hiraegi!"

"Oh? Is that so? She is indeed very beautiful, but not to mention anything else, aren't the two girls in the bodyguard team also beautiful?"

"It's different! Miss Pingzhi is not only beautiful, but also kind-hearted and friendly. That's exactly the kind of person I like the most. On the other hand, Shuoya may be cute, but her personality is too blunt. And the newcomer, don't even get me started... she doesn't even have a chest..."

"Xinei, Yaka."

Huh? The sudden change in tone behind him caught the guard off guard, but before he could turn around, he lost consciousness.

...

"Phew... damn it, why does this strategy work on men too?" Tiran muttered to himself as he climbed the stairs, moving his wrist.

But it seems to make sense. After all, men generally prefer the type of virtuous wife and loving mother. Hmm, but what about Aya... Dragon? Should I try being gentle with him too when we save Aya?

The princess pondered seriously.

"Tiran just went downstairs to see Xuanzi off?"

Back in the room, Shuoya was already lying on the bed, flipping through a book.

"Yeah." Tiran absent-mindedly nodded, still recalling the unfortunate guard's words, "By the way, they mentioned something about looking forward to Xuanzi's performance at the festival. What does that mean?"

"Performance? Oh, they must be talking about the Divine Dance Festival. Tiran, as an outsider, you probably don't know much about it. It's an important part of the festival, where every year the girls who have completed their coming-of-age ceremony in the town perform the Divine Dance. It's a highly anticipated event. Xuanzi also just came of age this year, so no wonder they're so excited."

Shuoya clicked her tongue, "After all, Xuanzi was already famous for her beauty in the town before she came of age. Heh, men."

"Come to think of it, when I met Xuanzi before, was she practicing that song?"

Thinking back to the song Xuanzi sang when she woke up, it had a calm and ethereal feel, almost like a hymn.

"Now that you mention it... here, take a look at this. These are portraits from past Divine Dance Festivals." Shuoya held up the book in her hand—it was actually an art book—and showed it to Tiran.

Just one glance at the art style in the book, and the princess couldn't help but marvel at how true to the island country it was. Even though it had a realistic touch, it still had that certain charm, very... 2D? And the costumes, although there were subtle differences, I can definitely tell it's the traditional red and white miko attire!

Is this cover really not Reimu?

Come to think of it, a girl like Xuanzi would be a perfect fit for the role of a miko with that kind of style. Wearing a light robe, holding a bell, gracefully dancing to the soothing music... hmm, I'm starting to look forward to it. And it's great that Captain Planck's departure coincides with the festival. The timing couldn't be better.

As the date of the festival approached, the temporary guards finally had something to do instead of just idling around, to the point where they were already stressed out.

Although their title was guards, there wasn't actually much guarding to be done. They considered catching a few thieves as the most hands-on task, while the rest of the time they mainly stood around maintaining order or giving directions, and occasionally even acted as movers.

"So, are we like freshmen in a student council at some school?"

"With a heave-ho" sound, Tiran put the cardboard box he was holding on top of a stack of boxes and wiped his forehead, taking a deep breath.

Even though Princess couldn't sweat or feel tired from moving boxes with her physical condition, she couldn't help but feel that being a mover was a tiring job mentally.

"Can't help it, Hai Xi Town is just splurging." Shuoya was actually enjoying the work of hauling things and couldn't understand why they would spend so much money hiring a group of guards who can fight to be movers and police officers. But at least according to the final paycheck, being a mover for seven days would definitely yield a hefty profit.

"By the way, what was that thing you mentioned earlier about a freshman?"

"Ah...don't mind that, it's just some group of self-proclaimed beings who thought they escaped one hell only to end up in another hell and then have to descend eighteen more levels."

After finishing handling the batch of things to be moved, Tiran and Shuya found themselves with some free time. Temporary security duty was assigned based on jurisdiction, and their group was only assigned to patrol this street today. If they left before the designated time, their pay would be deducted.

But on the other hand, as long as they didn't leave this street, as long as they were present when someone came looking for them, no one cared what they did during their free time.

"So, can I trouble you to cover for me for a while? I want to go have fun and I'll bring you some takoyaki."

Tiran, with her big watery eyes, sincerely expressed her modest wish to Shuya.

"Why can you make slacking off sound so justified?" Shuya didn't know what to say and responded with a wry smile.

"I also want some cotton candy from that shop in the north of the street. Thank you."

She added as an afterthought.

...

Can we say that they were blessed with Princess's "because good girls have all A grades, so lucky with A cup" buff? The street that the duo was assigned to happened to be one of the busiest streets in town, leading to the pier. Therefore, there were plenty of places to play and explore.

However, Tiran still didn't like crowded places and had no intention of strolling for a long time on the street. She planned to buy snacks later, but now, of course, they would go to-

"The Mayor's mansion!"

Tiran vividly remembered that she and Xuanzi had separated after entering the town, and the place she went was on this street. Her home was not far away.

"So, we might as well take a sneak peek, the Dance of Divine Prayer."

With this in mind, Tiran arrived at the outer wall of the Mayor's mansion and easily leaped to a spot where no one could see her. In the country of Dawn, they couldn't use Chi, there was no Magic either, so there wouldn't be any triggering of Magic traps or alarms. As long as she was careful not to be seen by the guards, it would be fine.

Although the highest ruler in the small town was just a mayor, naturally, his mansion couldn't be unusually large. After Tiran quietly passed through one inner wall, she easily found Xuanzi practicing alone in the backyard.

Still wearing the same kimono as before, Xuanzi leaned against a tree and softly sang with her hands clasped in front of her chest, like the sound of wind echoing the song of birds, she was truly a first-class singer.

"Hey! Who are you! And why are you here!"

Oops, she didn't pay attention and didn't notice the patrolling guards coming from behind...

The two guards, who already had their hands on their sword hilts, felt a little strange. They didn't see any panic on the face of this intruder, but rather a helpless expression?

"Don't move, tell us honestly what you're here for!"

"I have no choice...sorry, guys. A-level memory erasure!"