Chapter 79: Special: ???

"I apologize for disturbing you in the middle of your work, Mistress."

"It's fine. You coming here earlier than usual means you have something urgent to report, right, Sei?"

"Indeed. Thanks to your generous contributions, I'm able to sense things with my magic at distances that I couldn't fathom to achieve in my previous form, one of which had caught my attention quite intensely as I was training outside of the city walls."

"What did you sense?"

"A great power of Wrath … a power that I could only recognize to be the Queen of Lust's runaway lover."

"Ooh~, that sounds scandalous. What happened to them?"

"I don't know. I just heard the King of Wrath ran off on her without a word. I checked in on her out of curiosity but I gave up trying after she didn't answer me once."

"Huh, do you need to go back to the Cursed Realm to check in on her again? You may be the former duchess of the Sloth Faction, but is she a friend of yours or something similar?"

"I'm not sure if 'friend' would be the right word for it. We were acquainted once and she filled me in on all of her … 'escapades' with her lover a few times, with more details than I wanted to know about, just because I was around for her to speak them to. Other than her being my superior, we're 'coworkers' at best. It's too bothersome for me to poke my nose in on something any further. It's especially so, now that I need to watch over someone who can't seem to trust anyone into forming a party enough to resort to summoning a comrade to watch her back instead."

"Ha ha, very funny, Sei. Still, to not bother yourself with something of this matter, I guess that's normal for you guys in the Sloth Faction, huh?"

"I can't deny that. Moreover, Mistress, if what I've read and heard on human females is correct, currently 19, you're at an age when the likeliness to be picked up by a male starts to decrease. It's incredible that you can even still act as energetic and alluring as you have along with your looks during the day yet push away any suitors who show an interest. Soon, that will become less likely. If you're looking for a lifestyle with as little responsibilities to do as possible, you'll have to change your angle in how to snag a male."

"… I've said it once before in a topic similar to this, right? There's only one target I have my eyes on and I will wait for him no matter how long it takes. In the meantime, I'll get stronger and gather whatever intel necessary that may pose a threat to him in the long run. For my own safety, I won't involve myself in any affairs that don't have anything to do with that or myself."

"Mistress … with all due respect, I'm amazed you haven't considered summoning someone greater than I with how powerful you are already. You could possibly take down an army with your powers and yet you say you're still not strong enough?"

"There's nothing wrong with grinding yourself to a high enough level to move on and enjoy the plot to a story on hard mode. That's what he told me once. Besides, unless he comes with new friends of his own, I'm not taking chances of exposing my weakness to multiple parties. One confidant is enough for me and I'm glad to have one who's gotten so cute now."

"While I'm not familiar with the metaphor, I'm unworthy to receive your praises, Mistress."

"Is there anything else to report with that King of Wrath? What about the person who summoned him?"

"Actually, not too long after the King of Wrath came to this realm, another great power also revealed itself in that same general direction, and this one's from the Holy Realm. What's more … for a brief moment, the one who summoned both of them revealed their own powers to be as on par if not greater than you were when you summoned me before they erased their presence again."

"So, this one's able to use both Curse and Holy Magic and was able to summon two powerful magical beasts. Do you think they'll be a great threat down the line?"

"The direction where both of them came from was the Demon-Kin's Territory and not very far from here. I didn't sense it approaching us but since this one has made a contract with the King of Wrath, as we're intending to not get involved in any affairs, it would be wise for us to keep our distance until further notice."

"I see …"

"Komiwaaaaaaa! Please, come back from your break soon! We have a full house here and most of them are here for you!"

"Okaaaay~☆! I'll, like, be there in a little biit~☆! Sei, we'll continue this discussion later. For now, come on inside and I'll reserve our next open seat for you. You can order something extra special as thanks for your hard work tonight."

"I thank you for your generosity, Mistress. As always, I'll take care of whatever bothersome customers may come your way … no matter how much of a pain it is for me to deal with. Since you said I can get something special, I would be prepared for a large tab coming your way."

"Whatever, no biggie. I'll be counting on you as always, Sei~. Ki☆."

"… And for the love of Curis, don't call me that."