“Um, Miss Lopera... are you sure this is where we handle the paperwork?”

Wude noticed that the farther they walked, the fewer people there were. Even the style of the buildings had changed completely.

Before, it had looked like some kind of isekai bank. People were lining up at the counters to process documents. But now, no matter how he looked at it, this place felt more like an arena.

Lopera suddenly stopped. With her back to Wude and Alreis, her figure seemed half-buried in shadow.

“This? Of course it isn’t!”

Alreis’s spiritual power surged out in an instant. She sensed that back where they had entered, a door had dropped shut. She was ready to humanely erase the person in front of them. How dare she be that huge... no, how dare she mean them harm.

But Wude squeezed Alreis’s hand, telling her not to move.

That sudden pressure made Alreis feel a little strange. Come to think of it, Wude had been holding her hand this whole time. Somehow... it made her a little embarrassed.

So Alreis stopped the spell she had been about to throw. She let Wude keep holding her hand.

Anyway, with her here, no one could possibly hurt Master. That was how Alreis convinced herself.

“Miss Lopera, what exactly are you trying to do?” Wude asked without the slightest panic.

“Oh ho? You’re not scared?” Lopera turned around, and her gentle smile became a little eerie. “There are only three of us here, you know.”

“Of course I’m not scared.” Wude stayed calm, which only made Lopera find him stranger.

Leaving aside the fact that Wude himself was already at Rank Six and counted among the stronger crowd, who’d panic with a max-level slave by their side? In the past, Wude definitely would’ve panicked a little. But now? This was Wude after witnessing battles between an Ascendant Sovereign and a Sage, battles between Ascendant Sovereigns, and fighting all kinds of beasts himself. He wasn’t panicking at all.

“So then, Miss Lopera, what are you actually trying to do?” Wude was genuinely confused. Logically, this made no sense. Sure, he and Alreis had wanted to cut in line and got caught. But they hadn’t actually cut. And he didn’t even know this girl. What was the point?

“You still can’t recognize your own mistake? What a pitiful man!” Lopera wasn’t tall. She had to look up at Wude. Even so, she stared at him with utter arrogance and contempt.

Wude didn’t get angry. If anything, with Lopera’s exaggerated figure and soft tone, the whole act was actually pretty cute.

He started wondering if something was wrong with him lately. Why did every girl seem kind of cute to him? Was this the legendary “moe filter”?

Using the tone of someone teasing a child, Wude asked with a grin, “Then where exactly did I go wrong?”

“Hmph hmph! At least you know to humbly ask about your mistakes. That means you’re not beyond saving. I may spare your life later,” Lopera replied with adorably haughty pride.

Wude felt like he’d been hit right in the heart. This girl was seriously cute. Totally different from that worldly, capable vibe she had earlier. This version of her felt so pure.

“Mmgh!”

Wude’s life turned tragic. He held back the sound, but the hand he was using to hold Alreis’s was now in intense pain. His combat power came from his body, sure, but that didn’t mean Alreis had no way to deal with him. She only needed to shift space slightly. Just a tiny twist.

Wude felt like his hand was about to break. He really thought something had been off with him lately. How had he made it this obvious in front of Alreis? He wasn’t one of those stupid male leads with zero emotional intelligence.

Lopera, however, didn’t notice that detail at all. She had decided to magnanimously tell Wude what he had done wrong.

“You, a man consumed by desire! Let me, the great Miss Lopera, enlighten you! Earlier, that girl over there called you ‘Master,’ didn’t she?”

As she brought it up, her face was full of disdain and contempt.

“Uh...” Wude and Alreis both scratched their heads awkwardly and gave embarrassed smiles. They hadn’t expected her to hear that. “It’s a little embarrassing to say, but... yes, that’s true.”

“So it is!” Lopera suddenly looked furious. She pointed at Alreis. “That girl is your slave, isn’t she?!”

“Eh?” Alreis, suddenly being pointed at, froze for a moment. And she was very embarrassed. As an Ascendant Sovereign, becoming someone else’s slave was already one thing. Having a complete stranger say it out loud was another. The shame level was exploding. She lowered her head and didn’t dare answer.

“So it is!” Seeing Alreis react like that, Lopera became certain she was right. She was so angry she kept panting. The surging motion completely mismatched her height, appearance, and voice. Wude’s eyes kept jumping all over the place.

“So what exactly is the problem?” Wude still didn’t get it. Was this really something worth getting angry over? He didn’t mind, if anything. He’d only seen scenes like this in anime before. He hadn’t expected something this exaggerated to exist in real life.

“You!” Lopera exploded when she heard how utterly guiltless Wude sounded. “You turned a girl into your slave, and you don’t feel even a shred of shame?!”

Then she suddenly reached out. When Wude and Alreis focused on her hand, neither of them expected this—

Lopera actually shoved her hand into her own cleavage.

“Wh-What?!” Wude and Alreis were both stunned.

But what came next was even more shocking. From the gap in her chest, Lopera pulled out a blue staff the same color as her hair.

In that instant, both Wude and Alreis dropped to their knees.

Alreis went gray with shock. “Impossible. That had to be spatial magic. I didn’t sense any spatial magic just now, so I must’ve been distracted. That is not something a human should have...”

It looked like some core belief of hers had just taken a direct hit.

As for Wude, he practically worshiped Lopera. “Thank the heavens. I never thought four-dimensional breasts really existed. I can die without regrets now!”

His eyes shone with pure devotion.

“Eh?” Lopera was dumbfounded. What was going on? She hadn’t even made a move yet, so why were these two already kneeling? Had they fallen before the might of Miss Lopera?

That was what she thought. And in a certain sense, she wasn’t exactly wrong.

“But even if you admit your mistake, I can’t let you off that easily!” Lopera felt she had already made the man before her submit, but she still had to finish what she came to do.

“Ice Prison!”

Lopera cast a Fifth Rank spell and trapped Wude inside.

“This is...?” Wude knocked on the ice pillars that had suddenly appeared around him. The hardness was pretty high, though he could probably smash it with full force. Still, this girl had cast it without chanting. Was she actually really strong?

Wude thought carefully about all the girls he knew. It seemed only Elisa had combat power that counted as normal. Even then, Elisa’s strength would be considered genius-level by most people. But among the girls Wude knew, that only counted as normal.

He probably couldn’t beat this girl. Wude made that judgment.

“Give up. This prison isn’t something a person with only Third Rank mana fluctuations can break,” Lopera said, instantly pointing out Wude’s mana level.

Wude’s mana level was indeed very low, but that didn’t mean people could casually see through it.

Other than special instruments, only someone who could release spiritual power outward could inspect another person’s mana and judge their level.

That meant Lopera, unsurprisingly, had strength at Seventh Rank or above. Did random little girls in the Adventurers’ Guild all have this kind of power?

“Mm, yeah, I can’t open this thing,” Wude admitted. “And even if I did, it wouldn’t mean much to you. But I don’t need to open it myself.”

“Oh ho? Have you realized your mistake and given up resisting?” Lopera clearly thought Wude had finally understood where he went wrong.

“No, no, no.” Wude raised one finger and shook it at her. “I mean I don’t need to open it personally.”

The moment his words fell, Alreis cast her spell in an instant.

Then Wude appeared outside the prison.

“What?!” This time it was Lopera’s turn to be shocked. Only now did she finally turn her attention to Alreis, who had been standing there like background scenery the whole time.

Alreis had wanted to make a move ages ago. But Wude had actually been charmed by this woman, so she had no choice but to hold back. Now that her chance had finally come, there was no way she was stopping easily.

She didn’t use any flashy spell either. She just lightly waved her hand.

“Spatial Prison.”

The name sounded similar, but the spell itself was on a completely different level. Though for Alreis, there wasn’t much difference.

“What is this?” Lopera didn’t feel any change at all. She had clearly sensed mana fluctuations, so why was there nothing? She cautiously threw an ice spear at Alreis.

It vanished.

“??”

She quickly retreated.

And yet, her position was still the same as before.

“This is... high-level spatial magic? The kind whose inheritance has already been lost?” The word “shock” was practically written all over Lopera’s cute face. She stopped moving and pointed her staff at Alreis.

“Who exactly are you?”

“Me?” Alreis pointed at the smug-looking Wude. “I’m just his slave.”