“Holy Maiden?” Shelika’s confusion rose like fog off a cold river; she was sure that title had nothing to do with her.
The Nether Knight seemed to read the mist in Shelika’s eyes. She smiled, moonlight bright, and said, “If you’re not the Holy Maiden, who under heaven could be?”
Shelika paused; her tone straightened like a blade on an anvil. “My lady Knight, that’s not a funny joke.”
“This isn’t a joke.” Her voice went firm as steel; she rose and stepped toward them.
“Before we begin, allow me to introduce myself. As you know, I am the Nether Knight—”
“But for the sake of our future dealings, I’d prefer you call me Menea.”
The Nether Knight, a Demonic Human Race girl chiseled to perfect proportions, gave her name: Menea.
“Al...right, Miss Menea,” Shelika said, a beat stunned, like a deer in bright torchlight.
Beyond her looks, Shelika’s first impression was her severity—too earnest, even more than Rex, honed to an edge.
She felt it wasn’t mere military habit; it was Menea’s own grain, straight as an arrow.
That left Shelika at a loss; thoughts scattered like startled sparrows.
Blame Fulin—her past life had binged more shows than stars.
In her eyes, knights this earnest and this pretty often became the R-18 heroine—running to save comrades, only to be tricked and dragged into ruin.
Menea spoke with solemn care. “The third child of the Blood Clan’s queen, and the Holy Maiden who saved Oriel City—”
“I’m glad you call me Miss Menea. Then, without delay—”
Yanked from her foolish spiral, Shelika’s mind cooled like quenched steel. “Wait. You still haven’t said why you’re calling this lady the Holy Maiden.”
Menea fixed her with a steady look. “As I know it, the Dark Blood Clan claims high intellect, yet lacks the responsibility to match. But you’re different—”
“Sixty years ago, you went alone into the dangerous Doran Kingdom for the Empire’s good—”
“It failed, yet you returned with the enemy’s new weapons—”
“You piloted them, fought savage foes, and in the end shielded the citizens of Oriel City—”
“Frankly, not only the Oriel region, even the army now passes your story like a lantern in the night.”
Menea wasn’t only earnest; she pressed hard. Her words came in long tides, quietly asserting an officer’s right to be heard.
“My lady, set aside that lone venture to Doran sixty years back. In Oriel City’s affair, this lady never chased heroics. The enemy was detestable. I couldn’t bear the locals’ peace breaking like glass, so I stepped in. Please don’t misunderstand.”
That was Fulin’s true thought; Shelika only voiced it.
The lesson from Lance still stung—play the hero, and the ending is usually bleak.
She only wished to clarify—yet it backfired.
Menea’s purple-blue eyes, clear as glacier water, widened a fraction.
She grew more resolute. “I’m sure I haven’t misunderstood. Your selflessness rings true. You’re a Holy Maiden, without a doubt.”
Frustration pricked Shelika like thorns. If she dumped every grubby deed she’d done on the table, would this woman still think so?
Curiosity flickered, but the room’s gravity doused it; she let the thought die.
“Leaving the Holy Maiden aside, Miss Menea, you had your people invite me to this temporary lodging. What urgent matter is it?”
To Shelika, those words carried no weight. Yet Menea’s righteous gaze flashed with shy color, like a peach blossom after rain.
Menea asked in disbelief, “Lady Shelika, may I ask... are you truly staying at the Rose Traveler?”
“The rates are cheap. Is there a problem?” Shelika’s tone drifted like falling snow.
Her half-answer was enough. Menea turned grave. “There is a problem, a great one!”
“What problem?” Shelika admitted she couldn’t guess the next words.
“If I’m not wrong, the Rose Traveler is for that sort of thing. If people learn someone as pure as you lives there, have you thought what it would do to your name?!”
Amusement curled in Shelika’s chest like smoke. I’m already planning to throw hands with the Wasteland Deity—do you think I care about reputation?
She couldn’t say that aloud, so she shifted the wording—
“Reputation isn’t important to this lady. Whatever the world says, I’ll do what I must, unwavering.”
“Ah...” Menea breathed out, wind through pines. “What a lofty, forthright ideal~!”
Shelika’s confusion only thickened, a fog in a mountain pass. She was about to explain she was just an ordinary person when a voice broke in—
“Big sis, don’t let this fox spirit trick you!” The voice was a budding girl’s, spring-bright, and somehow familiar.
Shelika looked toward it. When she saw who it was, she blurted, “Good grief.”
“Rex, keep your girlfriend under control.” Her tone was lazy, but inside she thanked the speaker for the timely rescue.
Rex, upright as a spear in formal moments, panicked at once. “No! Shelika, listen to me—Geli and I have nothing going on!”
“People with nothing don’t call a beautiful stranger by name, do they?” Mischief sparked in Shelika’s eyes, tea-sweet and toxic. “Or do you two add dear before your names in private?”
Rex and the Demonic Human Race beauty called Geli spoke nearly in unison.
“No! We’re not.” “Yes—exactly!”
Their chemistry was frighteningly strong in its own way; Shelika was honestly impressed.
She also noted that Geli didn’t resemble Menea, yet called her elder sister.
“Is she your sister?” Shelika asked in the lull.
“She is...” Menea seemed troubled over how to frame Geli.
Rex jumped in like thunder. “Geli is a relative of Lady Menea’s family. Lower in seniority, strong in spellcraft, also serves in the army. She’s just in the same squad as me—”
“So, Shelika, please trust me—my heart belongs to you forever!”
He hurried to declare his devotion, but Charlotte shoved him aside. “Wait, wait! Forever belongs to you? Big Sis is mine, Charlotte’s. No one can steal her. Try, and I’ll summon a hellhound to eat you~!”
The little menace struck a man-eating tiger pose. Only Rex would take it at face value.
He drew his knight’s sword high. “A mere retainer coveting her master? In the name of the Ruin Knight, I’ll teach you a lesson!”
Geli, meanwhile, wept like pear blossoms in rain. “Rex! Why can’t you be this serious with me? Am I really beneath that fox spirit in your heart?”
In the storm’s eye, Shelika could only groan. Menea, however, watched with interest and a smile, a cat tracking sparrows.
“It seems our Holy Maiden is very greedy in matters of the heart~”
