“Sigh...”
Sitting in the shade of a tree, Leticia gazed at the fenced-in fields in the distance, and the little wooden houses scattered far apart from one another. She’d lost count of how many times she’d sighed.
This was the outskirts of a town, bordering a small village. Its atmosphere and surroundings were completely different from Innsmouth Village, where Leticia had been born.
The soil was rich, the greenery lush. There was no dry, cracked earth or dead old tree for crows to roost in. Almost everyone passing by wore a smile, faint or bright. They greeted one another with nods, called out, and exchanged pleasantries. It was the bare minimum.
The ground beneath her was pleasantly soft, even where it wasn’t farmland, and carried a unique, fresh scent of nature. It was the perfect place for life to flourish.
“Ah...”
Leaning against the old tree behind her, Leticia let out another sigh. “My head’s so dizzy...”
Lady Ye Mi'ai had generously granted her a little freedom to go wherever she liked, on one condition: she had to return to their lodging that night.
She’d come to this little town called Volkin for what seemed like quite a few reasons. She’d already been here for two days, with no plans to head back at all.
Her head constantly felt stuffed up and swollen. It was awful. Leticia knew that if she exerted herself, or got worked up enough to make her heart beat faster and her blood rush, she’d faint and go into shock before long.
This was way too cruel!!!
“I’ve gone from fine to practically useless in an instant. I can only walk slowly, and I’m not even allowed to get too emotional...”
Even this complaint was a pretty intense display of emotion for her. “What am I supposed to do...”
When Leticia gave up on everything and asked Ye Mi'ai for help, she did get some advice—and three possible options.
The first: let the Church save her “lost and fragile” soul.
Rejected!
Never mind that she’d already been classified as a Heretic. Going to the Church would be suicide. And she expected them to help her survive? What a joke...
Even if she weren’t one of those ridiculous Demon Maids, but just an ordinary civilian, was she really supposed to go to the Church and hope some priest would take pity on her and use one of those miracles—with their enormous cost—to help her?
Even children who entered the Church through the Path of Veneration weren’t entitled to that. She’d better not count on it. It was nice to dream about once in a while, though.
The second: follow a Heretic’s instincts and, as a maid, actively drain other people’s vitality to make up for her own losses.
It sounded pretty mystical, but Leticia couldn’t bring herself to do it.
When she asked Ye Mi'ai about it, the Black-Clad Lady gave her two examples.
The first was to kill something and take its vitality in the simplest, most brutal way. Her instincts would tell her how to drain it afterward.
That was obviously out of the question. With her tiny arms and legs, and as a disabled person who couldn’t exert herself, how was she supposed to take anyone on one-on-one?
She’d just be handing herself over on a silver platter.
As for the second...
Just thinking about it made Leticia’s face burn with embarrassment and shame. Ye Mi'ai’s second example had been—had been sleeping with a man...
“You don’t even understand something that simple? You just have to get in bed with them (censored), don’t you? Those men are bursting with energy and vitality. Is that so hard? Find some man who looks simple-minded, take off your clothes, give him a little look, and tell him you want to do it. How many men would turn you down? You can replenish your vitality through their bodily fluids, while he only gives up a tiny fraction of his own. And you both get to enjoy the ultimate pleasure. What’s not to like?”
Those were Ye Mi'ai’s exact words.
“Ugh...”
The little girl covered her face and groaned. “How could I possibly do that...”
Just imagining herself in bed with some man she didn’t even know made Leticia feel like she was about to pass out. Actually pass out.
“Looks like I can only think about the third option...”
There were things in this world that didn’t belong to the ordinary realm.
Whether it was the sacred rites and miracles that only members of the Church could possibly wield, or the witchcraft and magic of the dark world, almost entirely unknown to outsiders.
Ordinary people had no idea magic even existed, because only so-called Heretics could use it.
Magic was a miracle of the demons.
That idea was a little different from the novels Leticia had read in her old life, though there were some similarities.
And if magic existed, then there had to be objects capable of unleashing it.
Ye Mi'ai’s third option was to search for special objects imbued with so-called magic that could ease or treat the symptoms of her failing vitality.
But that would only save her from the threat of death. The damage she’d already suffered couldn’t be reversed, because this was magic, not a miracle.
In other words, she still needed to find something that could stabilize her mental state. Something with an effect similar to a sedative, probably.
If only she’d studied pharmacology in her previous life... Then she could’ve made it herself (lol).
“But this is so hard, too...”
She sighed again. “I can’t even read all the words. How am I supposed to find those amazing things?”
No matter how she looked at it, this was a dead end—a dead end with no way out.
And yet she had to find a way out of it.
Somebody, come save her!!!
“Ugh...”
Damn it. She’d gotten a little worked up, and now her head was spinning again.
“Looks like I’ll have to ask Lady for advice again... See if there’s anything I can do...”
Suddenly, Leticia noticed someone beside her.
But there was no one in sight. The only shadow beneath her was the tree’s shade. The tree’s shade. The tree’s shade...
She snapped her head up, and Leticia’s gaze collided with a pair of blue eyes.
“Who’s there?!”
“Waaah!”
The other person was more startled by Leticia’s shout. He nearly fell out of the tree, but managed to grab a branch at the last second, barely keeping himself from falling.
Then, just as expected, came the sound of the branch snapping.
“Waaah!!!”
Thud! Leticia couldn’t even bring herself to look at how badly he’d landed.
“That hurt like hell!”
The little boy rubbed his backside and wailed.
“Um, who are you?”
Leticia asked, fighting back a laugh. The waves of dizziness in her head actually helped keep her from bursting out laughing.
“Uh... I-I’m Joey...”
He quickly shifted into a pose that made him look a little less pathetic. The brown-haired boy, whose face was dotted with freckles, tried to keep a straight face. “Ow, ow, ow, ow...”
