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Join the Server“Do I look like I don’t need help?”
That was what Lila wanted to say. But right now, she was acting under the shopkeeper’s identity. The words reached her lips, then she forcefully swallowed them back down.
Left with no choice, she raised her voice slightly and squeezed out two words through clenched teeth.
“I do.”
Hearing that, Ulysses curled his lips into what he believed was a reassuring smile.
To Lila, however… it looked a bit greasy.
At last, she saw the massive sword on his back leave its sheath. Calling it a sword felt generous, it was more like a gigantic slab of iron, thick and heavy, clumsy in appearance, yet astonishingly nimble in his hands.
In Lila’s imagination, rather than slicing enemies apart, it seemed more fitting that he would simply smash them into pulp.
As he swung the enormous blade, a violent gust surged forward, sweeping across the dark sea of writhing vines.
The vines froze mid-motion.
Time itself seemed to halt for a single instant.
Then…
In the next moment, the overwhelming tide of vines that had nearly swallowed Lila whole collapsed like foam, disintegrating into countless fragments that scattered into the air.
Only faint dust remained, drifting in the breeze.
“Why? Why is there always someone stopping me? It would be better if she just died!”
The monster shrieked hysterically, its voice filled with madness.
Lila, meanwhile, broke out in a cold sweat, silently wondering if she was really that hated, especially in her shopkeeper identity. She truly couldn’t understand.
“I’m not stopping you,” Ulysses said calmly. “But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t stop me either.”
His tone was casual, but the authority behind it was impossible to ignore.
The monster was completely enraged.
It unleashed everything, ice, wood, wind magic, hile the vines surged forward like a raging tide, attacking relentlessly without pause.
Yet everything it did crumbled into meaningless debris before Ulysses.
This was the most fundamental difference in the world.
Power.
As long as such a gap existed, the strong could do whatever they pleased to the weak.
Holding his massive sword, Ulysses advanced steadily, step by step.
Through the will of his blade, he could perceive the world more clearly, see through all superficial layers and grasp the essence of things.
And in his eyes, inside the monster that Alice had become, there was a dark seed.
Its roots had wrapped around her heart, its branches extended through her blood vessels and bones, bursting outward from her body.
The monster attacked wildly, but to him, it was no more threatening than a flailing kitten.
“Goodbye… no, actually, good riddance.”
His gaze sharpened.
Invisible sword intent pierced straight into the monster’s body, slicing apart the roots and branches of the dark seed, reducing them to nothing.
But…
The seed itself remained intact.
Each time it was destroyed, it regenerated instantly.
Ulysses frowned slightly, surprised.
Even he couldn’t eliminate it.
The vines, roots, and flowers dissolved into dust, revealing the original form beneath…
Alice.
“I remember her. Isn’t she that genius student Kuroko is always bragging about?”
Ulysses sounded genuinely surprised.
“Miss Shopkeeper, I think you owe me an explanation.”
Though his tone remained light, there was an undeniable pressure beneath it.
“I just happened to run into her,” Lila replied stiffly, looking away.
“And that holy light of yours? It’s stronger than some archbishops. You can even form a holy sword, that’s unheard of.”
Lila thought for a moment, then answered,
“Maybe my constitution is… special?”
“You mean you were born with it?”
“Something like that.”
Which wasn’t entirely false. After all, the moment she reincarnated, that foolish goddess had insisted on granting her the power of holy light.
“Then why would someone like you open a small restaurant here?”
“Because I grew tired of worldly affairs… something like that.”
Even Lila felt like she was about to lose it saying that.
“Then tell me your identity.”
A sharp glint appeared in Ulysses’s eyes.
“Comphlore Wendell. You should know the Wendell family, hey’re famous tea merchants. I’m an illegitimate child, unwanted and pushed aside, so I left and came to the academy to open a small restaurant.”
Lila was confident in her story, airtight, with preparations to back it up if needed.
“Fine. I’ll believe you, for now.”
Ulysses withdrew his sharp gaze.
Seeing that Alice still hadn’t woken, Lila frowned.
“Why isn’t she waking up?”
Ulysses shook his head.
“Even I couldn’t completely remove the dark energy.”
He pointed at Alice’s chest.
“There’s a seed-like core lodged in her heart. Even my sword intent couldn’t destroy it.”
“As expected of demonic influence…” Lila muttered softly.
She approached cautiously. The earlier ambush still lingered in her mind.
Alice lay there peacefully, as if asleep.
A kind, pure girl, reduced to this by darkness.
Dark magic really was terrifying.
Lila reached out and touched her face.
No response.
Like a cursed sleeping beauty.
“You can’t do anything?” she asked.
“Not my specialty,” Ulysses shrugged.
Lila gazed at Alice’s sleeping face.
Then…
A soft, warm voice echoed in her mind.
Only you can save her.
…Me?
Yes.
Almost unconsciously, Lila gathered a small amount of holy light, just enough to form a radiant blade.
Guided by that voice, she drove the blade into Alice’s chest.
“You-”
Before Ulysses could finish, he saw it…
Under the brilliant holy light, the dark seed was slowly destroyed, reduced to dust, and scattered by the wind.
What remained…
Was Alice, completely unharmed.
“Well done, Lila!”
Lila, overwhelmed by unexpected joy after saving her, responded without thinking.
“Of course!”
Then…
She froze.
Turning her head, she saw Ulysses smiling with narrowed eyes.
“Li-Lila? That’s that awful noble girl, right? Don’t go saying nonsense.”
“So you finally admitted it, Lady Lila?”
She instinctively tried to deny it again, but then remembered everything.
A bad feeling rose in her chest.
“…You knew all along?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“Since the first time I saw you like this. You know, swordsmen have very sharp senses.”
Lila thought back.
The first time…
Wasn’t that when he dropped to one knee and proposed?
Her scalp tingled.
What was wrong with the people around her?
“You perverted old man, are you insane?!”
She snapped, teeth clenched.
You’ve got to see this next! How to Avoid Regression will keep you on the edge of your seat. Start reading today!
Read : How to Avoid Regression
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