Unlike the explosive roar of a dust blast.

Mei Yige didn’t even visibly summon her Magic Wand. After a piercing whistle, pale blue flames instantly devoured the arrows. Chains then shot from her sleeves, swiftly binding the two would-be attackers.

All this happened in mere breaths.

“You?!”

Such overwhelming power couldn’t possibly belong to a Priestess. Luna instantly realized Mei Yige had been bluffing all along. But before curses could leave her lips, magical chains snapped her jaw shut.

“Quiet. My turn to talk.”

Honestly, Mei Yige had only known these people half an hour. She had zero proof they weren’t troublemakers. Nor could she confirm if this “Ist” was truly left behind as bait—or betrayed. She’d come to River Opening Town solely to pick up Carlicart. With time to spare, she’d taken a harmless side job.

She owed no one rescue. And killing to save lives? Absolutely not. This was every salaryman’s dream: paid slacking off!

Glancing at the dumbstruck Kadi, Mei Yige felt disappointment.

People were never simply black or white.

“Now spill the truth. Attacking me already gives me reason to deal with you.”

In a way, Miss Mei’s philosophy aligned quite well with Miss Shi’s.

Specializing in *overkill*, you might say.

Ten minutes later, inside the stone hall, Mei Yige scanned the chamber. Her gaze lifted to the three figures dangling from the ceiling.

“This Ist you mentioned—I don’t even see bones.”

“I-I don’t know… waaah…”

Jessie had already started blubbering.

Suspended eighteen meters high in the stone hall—this was the fate of those who angered the Association’s contracted mage.

She regretted not resisting Luna sooner. If only she’d defended Ist, or opposed Luna’s ambush plan… things wouldn’t have spiraled this badly.

Every adventurer had their reason.

As the team’s Priestess, Jessie joined purely because some hothead needed a healer—and she just…

Kind of liked Ist.

That simple.

She only knew basic healing and group-cloaking spells. Technically unqualified as a Priestess, she was barely different from any magic-less commoner.

Now, her reason for adventuring was gone. Would her life be next?

Jessie felt no fear.

Only regret.

After hearing her confession—and the others’ matching guilt—Clear Soup Lord Mei Yige was deeply moved.

So she hung all three as a memorial to the late Ist.

Naturally, only Jessie could still speak.

Kadi’s fear of heights and Luna’s foul mouth made silencing them necessary.

Though Mei Yige did feel a twinge of remorse.

“Sigh… should’ve questioned them first…”

Magic was power shaped by imagination. By hanging them immediately, she’d essentially offered them as living sacrifices—

Assuming Ist was already dead.

This wouldn’t guarantee consequences, but it risked forming… troublesome bindings.

A flicker of guilt rose as Mei Yige averted her eyes from the bloodstains on the stone walls.

Human blood.

“A black-haired, red-eyed inhuman woman…”

Humanoid, yet killing with cruel methods—it was likely a female Demonic Being.

*Sigh.*

Of course. Not a single Demonic Being in this world was as kind as Sister Shi.

So gentle. So compassionate.

Another sigh escaped her.

Alright, she admitted it: she truly was blessed by the Goddess.

“Now I can’t even collect the bodies! All your fault! Your fault!” Mei Yige suddenly yelled up at the trio. “You should repent for what happened here! Without you, none of this would’ve gone so wrong!”

“Waaah! Yes! All our fault!”

“Pray for the dead! Priestess, beg the Goddess for forgiveness!”

“If the gods forgive us, we’ll do anything!”

Bullying the timid was oddly satisfying. Jessie’s emotional payoff made Mei Yige glad she’d come to this mine.

Let them hang a while longer. Since no other adventurers were around, she’d use the free time to educate the young—and cast a search spell for trapped miners.

She was a good person who stockpiled good karma. She hadn’t forgotten the foreman’s words.

“This girl cries a lot. Annoying… but crying’s healthy.”

Their conflicting stories painted Ist as a hotheaded youth. Calling Luna’s group “traitors” was too harsh—they’d just been saving their own skins. Barely worth mentioning.

Having a brute like Blau in a party just meant rookie bad luck. She’d met his type before. Back then, she’d had the strength to kill them—not run.

Since Ist mattered to them, she’d kindly help them remember him. Permanently.

*[I’m almost moved by my own kindness… Sigh…]*

Constantly awed by her own benevolence, Mei Yige truly felt she was becoming a saint.

“Wait—what is that?! No! Help! Help me—!”

A sudden scream snapped Mei Yige’s attention upward. A massive, unidentifiable creature clung to the hall’s ceiling, jaws dripping gore as it lunged for the captives.

Jessie’s whimper cut off as she fainted. The other two strained desperately against their bonds, eyes wide with silent terror.

“What *is* this thing…?”

Mei Yige instantly wrapped them in a defensive barrier before leaping toward the creature. Even after centuries of life, she couldn’t name this monster.

Its thick aura of blood and overwhelming presence screamed: a man-eater. A real nuisance.

If forced to describe it—it resembled a blob of putrid blood covered in countless eyes. Utterly revolting.

“Did you eat all the corpses?”

The conclusion came easily.

Mei Yige hadn’t sensed it earlier—only noticing it when the scream and attack intent hit her.

The creature ignored her. To her shock, it swallowed the barrier—and the three captives—whole. Then it shot out of the hall at terrifying speed.

“Huh?!”

For the first time ever, someone had stolen her prisoners right before her eyes. Mei Yige’s face flushed crimson. “You give it back to me!”

Her Magic Wand summoned a gale as she gave chase.

But after only a short pursuit, the bizarre monster vanished beyond her reach.

“Ah—”

“Ugh… what…?”

“Miss Sami! Are you alright?”

Voices cut through the chaos. Mei Yige blinked up from the ground, spotting a golden-haired girl slumped nearby—and a group of bloodied, battered miners standing over her.

*What… is happening now?*

Mei Yige didn’t understand.