Feng Aotian struck with full force.
The Battle Festival descended into chaos, but the disorder was quickly brought under control.
The medics and priests who rushed over to help were shocked to find that Torina wasn’t seriously injured at all—in fact, she was bouncing around full of energy.
They all thought they were dreaming.
“Forget about me, go treat Anna-veil first—wait, don’t cuff her! Stabbing me with a gun wasn’t her idea—just do as I say, this is an order from the second daughter of the Deville family, so shut up and follow it, you bunch of nobodies.”
So, Anna-veil was carried away as a seriously injured patient.
Torina felt a little bad seeing her in such a miserable state, but… this is a web novel world, right? Losing a limb just means it’s time for a power-up.
Later, she’d have Laxis and Lanifi make her a prosthetic even better than the original—maybe something like Luke’s.
Later that day, the people who went after the elven assassins returned.
Judging by their expressions, they came back empty-handed.
Patty was among them.
“You’re back, Patty?”
“Yup, I’m back.
They ran off too fast.
Are you okay?”
“Totally fine.
What about you? Didn’t run into any danger?”
“Well…”
Patty smiled sweetly.
“Didn’t run into any danger at all.
I didn’t even see them.”
Her smile was as fresh and lovely as a camellia blossom.
(How could such a sweet girl be a bloodthirsty killer? I must’ve been overthinking it.) Torina let out a sigh of relief, gave Patty a few reminders, and went off to find her sister and Milora.
—————— ——————
The next day, the streets of Valhalla were crawling with patrol guards, combing every corner for any assassins who might still be hiding.
The atmosphere was suffocating.
But despite the tension, people’s spirits were anything but low.
This was hands down the most thrilling, most dramatic, most worth-the-ticket Battle Festival in decades.
Shocking upsets and juicy drama came hand in hand, with plot twists and raw intensity in equal measure—truly unforgettable.
Even though Morai hadn’t officially announced it yet, everyone knew the final winner of the Battle Festival was none other than Milora.
The few who had bet on her before the event were now rolling in riches, achieving not just financial freedom for themselves, but for their children and their children’s children.
Meanwhile, in the city hospital’s emergency ward—
Anna-veil was fast asleep in bed.
She was out of danger, though she was missing an arm.
Outside the room, the entire Alphares family had been brought in.
The Deville family’s guards looked like they were ready to tear them apart on the spot, and Morai, standing at the front, had a gaze as cold as ice.
“Got anything to say, Miss Rei?”
“I-I-I-I-I-I don’t know anything! I never wanted to hurt you! I never wanted to hurt anyone!! Really! You have to believe me!!!!”
“Then what about those assassins?”
“They—they came to me! Said they were merchants from some rare elven tribe! I had no idea they had bad intentions!!!!”
“Oh? Really?”
“Big sis, I think she’s telling the truth.”
Torina cut in, and Rei looked at her like she was her savior.
“She’s just a pawn who got used.
The real issue is—this thing.”
Torina held up Anna-veil’s severed arm—or more precisely, the bracelet on it.
“This bracelet houses an ancient… you could think of it as an evil spirit.
It corrupts the mind and takes over people’s thoughts.
I ran into it once before in the Amana Forest.
This thing just won’t die.”
“Ah, th-this was given to me by those elves! They suggested putting it on Anna-veil!” Rei said quickly.
“Far as I can tell, she’s not lying.
Sis, we can deal with the Alphares family later.
Right now, we need to destroy this thing.
Normal methods won’t work on ancient relics.
I need you to call Brother Nikos for me.
He should be free these days, right?”
“…You want to borrow his Odin’s Spear? That’s not something you just use on a whim.”
“Please.
This is important.”
“…Alright.”
Morai agreed without hesitation, which actually surprised Torina.
“You’re agreeing?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought you wouldn’t take my opinion seriously at all.”
“You’ve already proven your strength through your actions.
There’s no reason not to take you seriously.”
“…That’s actually kind of touching.”
“But I… I hope you can fix your sexual orientation.
At least don’t be so blatant about it…”
“Ahaha, of course I will (monotone).”
——————— ———————
And so, thanks to Torina’s intervention, Anna-veil was spared punishment as a “victim of an ancient evil spirit.” The Alphares family, however, was hit with severe penalties for trusting the wrong people and for having their daughter cross-dress to deceive Morai.
Their business would be in a slump for a long time… maybe even permanently halved.
But Rei didn’t dare complain—keeping her head was already a huge mercy.
Despite everything that had happened, the champion still had to be rewarded.
So, another day later, in Morai’s study—
“No matter what, Milora Sistema, you are the final and only champion.
I hope you’ll make full use of the gravity rune and keep getting stronger.”
Morai handed over a heavy bag of prize money to Milora—her reward as the champion.
“And this is a personal gift from me.
Thank you for stepping in and saving me from the assassins.”
She gave her a golden emblem engraved with the family crest—clearly something valuable.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a token.
From now on, if you ever need anything, you can use this emblem to request any resource from the Deville family.
I’ll vouch for you.”
“Oh, thanks…” Milora carefully accepted it.
She knew exactly how much this thing was worth.
“And as for… uh… marriage and all that… to be honest, I still can’t accept it.
But you two… ahem… be happy, okay?”
“Ah, that, that!” Milora blushed.
“Getting married all of a sudden—I wasn’t ready for that! I just wanted to help her get out of a political marriage!”
“I figured…”
“In the end, it’s up to Torina.
If she’s willing, then I… eheh… definitely won’t say no… but it’s still too early… anyway… th-that’s it! Thanks for caring, Morai-sis!”
“!?”
For the first time, Milora gave Morai a genuine, heartfelt smile.
Morai flinched.
Eh? Eh, eh? What is this feeling? Her heart tightened, her chest tickled, her blood rushed, her body heated up—why…?
“Miss Morai, are you okay?”
“I-I… I’m fine! A-anyway, congrats on your win! Thanks for saving me! Bye!”
“Uh, bye…”
Morai hurriedly shoved Milora out of the study, locked the door behind her, then leaned against the bookshelf, clutching her chest and gasping for air.
What the hell? This feeling… in all 31 years of her life, this was the first time—her first time feeling her heart skip a beat for someone.
“Heart skip a beat”? No way.
She was… falling for someone? Her? For a girl half her age? Falling in love????
She, Morai Deville, was actually into girls too?
“No—no way! It’s a mistake! A total mistake! I’m not gay aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!”
