Trial 31: Maiden in Shrine

As Hiro skimmed through the book listed with detailed properties of various powers, the door opened, and a silver-haired girl entered. Her frilly maid dress fluttered as she skipped over to the bed and sat behind Hiro. Peering into the book, she asked,

"Hiro! What is this!? Can you teach us about this?"

She turned her curious eyes up. Staring at Tsuki, Hiro shut the book with a *Snap!*

"You are still continuing the maid training?"

She pumped her fist in the air and declared, "I promised Hiro to become the best maid, and I shall fulfill it with all of my strength."

Hiro let out a deep sigh unbefitting a teenager. Her reliance on him decreased after she transformed into human form, but from Elans' experience, she'll blindly rush if someone were to attack him.

"Do you really wish to become my maid? Nothing more?"

She cocked her head to the right, seemingly confused by the out of the blue question. However, she could feel the severity of this question from Hiro's tone.

"What more… can we become?"

Hiro shook his head and placed his hand on her head to stroke her hair.

"I can't answer that for you. You need to discover the answer yourself without others' help… even Tiamat onee-san."

Tsuki flinched at the mention of Tiamat onee-san. She was already considering asking her about this, but Hiro poured cold water on her plans.

He wanted her to discover her own feelings and confess it herself if she really wanted to be with him. Right now, she was too immature, and maybe this will make her think about herself.

"We will!"

Looking at her energetic self, he smiled ruefully, guilty for bringing her to the record. But stopping her will only disrespect her feelings and resolve.

To think I would stoop so low to use this naive girl to keep myself alive…

He shook his head to clear out the negative thoughts.

"Hiro, give us the candy! You haven't given us that for two days."

He quietly summoned five from his Sumatofone and pushed on in her full open mouth. Her eyes narrowed pleasantly as she rolled her tongue around the candy. This gesture looked borderline dangerous when done by someone beautiful like Tsuki.

Why is everyone so addicted to this?

[Answering the Host's question, the origin energy inside the orbs assimilates with the existing magic power, which results in immense satisfaction. The effect varies between people to people.]

'Immense satisfaction… So this is the reason Ophis is so addicted to it instead of silence she is getting her satisfaction from these. Even Kuroka, who hates me, loves the candies…'

He imagined the day Ophis would come to his doorstep and take every bit of origin candies…

Why do I feel like I'm playing with fire?

His bitter thoughts came to an end when the door opened again and entered a beautiful woman, her silvery-blue hair tied in a single ponytail swayed as she walked.

She was dressed in a maid outfit with a knee-length skirt. Despite not being someone who lusted after women, Hiro had to admire her beauty and elegance exhibited in her bow. His eyes unconsciously turned to the low neckline displaying her cleavage.

"Hiro-sama."

"What was that? Why are you adding 'sama' to my name?"

Hilde's calm expression crumbled. Gritting her teeth with a nasty look, she answered,

"Tiamat-sama said to address Hiro as Hiro-sama…"

'Tiamat onee-san, what have you done to most powerful Valkyrie of Asgard?'

"How long will this last?"

"...One week."

"Yay! We are—" Tsuki yelled after finishing her candy.

He quietly put another candy in her mouth to shut her up. He got off the bed and patted Hilde's shoulder.

"...You have my condolences. You can borrow my shoulder if you want to cry..."

"Hiro-sama…" she whispered with a touching expression.

"I'm glad that I won," Hiro whispered, and with light steps, he walked out of the room. Finding 7 PM on his hand watch, he mused, "What should I cook today?"

After a long moment, Brynhildr realized the meaning behind Hiro's words. Angry, she stomped her feet on the floor.

"Repair every damage, or I'll extend the duration of your service," Tiamat's voice came from the room on the right side.

"Hai! Tiamat-sama!"

Crying tears of regret, she cast earth magic to level the craters on the floor. She glanced at Tsuki, dozing off while sitting.

"..."

---

The still water of a small river reflected the gentle orange sunlight of a setting sun. A bit far from the river, a beautiful and magnificent building stood, its design resembling a Japanese Shrine. One could quickly feel the ancient aura around it.

From the bridge connecting two sides of the river, a path to the shrine could be seen; it ended in many stairs leading to various small shrines.

On one of these stairs, a girl in her teens walked. Her long black hair reached nearly the end of her traditional shrine maiden outfit. Instead of clean and pure, the outfit looked slightly dirty with rough patches on it. Her split bangs revealed a blue semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses and the heterochromatic pair of eyes behind it. Her right eye looked regular light brown, but her left one had a mysterious violet.

Her beautiful face could have attracted anyone. However, everyone surrounding her barely even glanced at her, much less admiring her. 

Her hands tightly held on to an old-looking grey book as she descended the stairs. After descending for more than five minutes, a half-broken shed appeared in front.

The girl carefully pulled the door and entered the shed. Inside lacked any source of light. Only through an open window, pale orange sunlight fell on the wooden bed. 

*Creak*

The bed creaked as she sat on it. She placed the book on her lap. The title on the cover was Japanese, stating ''Devil Race: Powers and Weaknesses'. She flipped through the pages of the book with a severe frown.

After reading till the light on the book changed into dim moonlight, she lightly shut the book and took out a worn-out phone from her pockets. It was pretty outdated, considering the current year is 2004. 

She dialed a number and pressed the call button. After a small ring,

(Are you ready to take my offer?)

A female voice came from the other side. For a brief moment, none spoke until the girl broke the silence.

"Yes, I'm ready… to give up on my humanity…"

(Great, then let's meet tomorrow at the same cafe near the Shrine. Is ten in the morning okay for you?)

"Yeah," she answered and ended the call.

Hugging the long naginata in her bosom, she fell asleep.

---

*Tting*

Hiro's phone chirped during dinner. He put down the chopsticks on the table and checked on the phone.

Sona: You'll be accompanying me tomorrow morning *Wry smile emoji*

It felt like he would never get used to her way of using emojis. He shook his head and typed his reply.

Hiro: Alright. Is that a date proposal?

*Tting*

Sona: Maybe *whistling emoji*

Without replying, he put down the phone, wondering how people changed on the phone.