Although through the earlier collision, Elma could feel that Shin wasn't an ordinary human but one possessing considerable strength.
Even so, Elma didn't think she would lose in battle.
Perhaps the other party's physical toughness was more exaggerated than her own, which was why in the earlier collision he could knock her back while remaining unscathed himself.
But Elma wasn't a dragon who fought only with her body—besides physical strength, magic was also a very important aspect of dragons' power.
Elma was called the "Shrine Maiden of the Holy Sea" by humans in this world. Water-attribute magic and miracle-summoning magic were her strengths.
Although this world wasn't without humans who could fight dragons, they would often ultimately lose. Elma felt she only needed a few minutes to take down her opponent.
"Come, human! I'll try not to hurt you!"
Elma once again transformed into her sea dragon form. Her azure body circled before Shin, her massive shadow almost enveloping him.
She couldn't wait to defeat Shin, then get Tohru's whereabouts from him and go have a good chat with Tohru.
But this wish of hers was destined not to come true.
Half a minute later, Elma, who had transformed back into human form, lay spread-eagle on the forest floor, staring blankly at the sky.
The battle had ended much faster than she'd imagined, but the result was completely opposite to what she'd expected.
Shin had just floated there, taking several of her attacks head-on, then charged up and slapped her to the ground with one strike.
Originally Elma had wanted to use magic to try eliminating Shin's fighting spirit, but that also failed in the end.
As the "Shrine Maiden of the Holy Sea," when humans in this world had disputes, Elma would occasionally use miracle magic to eliminate their fighting spirit to resolve wars.
This was also one of the special magics unique to her as part of the Harmony Faction.
Although "eliminating fighting spirit" was quite a cheat-level magic, Shin used Blackbird Requiem to consume a bit of "ki" and could directly cut off the "result" produced by her magic.
In the end, Elma on the ground was picked up by Shin and slammed down hard once more.
This final slam completely eliminated what little fighting spirit Elma had left.
She'd originally wanted to use magic to eliminate Shin's fighting spirit, but the result was her own fighting spirit being slammed out of her. Elma didn't know how to react for a moment.
"Elma-sama, are you alright?"
Kanna had at some point landed beside Elma. She crouched down and poked Elma's cheek with her finger, as if wanting to see whether Shin had broken Elma.
"I'm fine... what is that human anyway? Is that the kind of power a human can have?"
Of course Elma hadn't been broken—she simply hadn't recovered from the earlier impact yet.
It wasn't that she couldn't accept her defeat—she just never imagined she would lose so decisively, being slammed into submission after just two moves. Moreover, from Shin's expression and movements, he obviously hadn't used his full strength or even gotten serious, which made Elma feel even more discouraged.
"There's nothing strange about it. Tohru is pretty much the same in his hands."
Shin also walked to Elma's side, extending his hand to her with a smile:
"So? Have you thought it over? You should know that with your strength, it's impossible to force me to reveal Tohru's whereabouts. Your only choice is to come with me voluntarily."
Elma silently extended her hand and was pulled up by Shin, then glanced at Kanna.
Kanna nodded gently at Elma, indicating Shin was telling the truth.
After all, Kanna had seen very clearly at Shin's house that Tohru was now completely infatuated with Shin—there was no way she'd return to this world.
If Elma didn't go with Shin, even if she turned this entire world upside down, she wouldn't find the slightest clue about Tohru.
Elma sighed and resigned herself.
Since Tohru in Shin's hands had the same result, no matter how hard she struggled it would be useless.
After all, Elma's strength was very close to Tohru's—Elma knew this better than anyone in her heart.
However, although she'd already accepted Shin's invitation in her heart, Elma still made a small verbal resistance:
"But I'll say this upfront—even if you're telling me to be your maid... I don't really know what maids are supposed to do."
Although Elma had seen nobles' maids in this world and knew maids were beings who served their masters, she still didn't really understand the specific work content.
Though she was in the Harmony Faction and had handled quite a few human disputes, she was still a dragon after all, and her understanding of humans was limited.
"It doesn't matter. Tohru didn't know at first either, but now she's also a qualified maid."
Shin's face carried a capitalist-like smile as he spoke to Elma.
"Besides, the main reason I invited you over is actually to have you help me manage Tohru."
"Hm? Manage Tohru? What did that girl do? Don't tell me she wants to destroy humanity again?"
Hearing Shin's words, Elma suddenly became alert and asked with some concern.
It was obvious what Tohru used to say all the time when she was in this world, for Elma to immediately think Tohru wanted to destroy humanity.
"Not that. It's mainly that she's been frequently throwing tantrums lately, and I think only you, who have such a good relationship with her, can keep her in check."
Shin shook his head and stated his purpose.
"Throwing tantrums...?"
Elma was somewhat puzzled and didn't quite understand Shin's meaning.
Seeing this, Shin leaned close to Elma's ear and quietly told her about Tohru's possessiveness issues.
Elma was listening seriously at first, but after listening for a while, her face began to flush red.
By the time Shin finished explaining the reason for Tohru's tantrums, Elma's entire face had turned bright red, finally transforming into a scream:
"That... that sort of thing can't be done casually!!!"
"I see, so Tohru went to that world."
Watching Kanna once again use all her strength to open the "door," Elma also showed an expression of understanding.
No wonder no matter how much she searched this world, she couldn't find any trace of Tohru.
Although Elma knew about "that world's" existence, crossing between worlds was a strictly prohibited matter—even Chaos Faction dragons didn't dare casually cross over.
This was also why Elma had never previously considered searching for Tohru's traces in the other world.
"So are you ready? If you go over there, you probably won't be able to come back for a short while, you know?"
Shin walked to Elma's side, patting her head and giving her one final warning.
However, Elma seemed to ignore his warning. Instead, her body trembled, then she suddenly backed up several steps, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked at Shin with vigilant eyes:
"You... don't come any closer!"
It seemed the topic Shin had just discussed with her was a bit too stimulating, so much so that Shin's image in her eyes had now become that of a "human-shaped pile driver."
Though Shin's recent lifestyle had indeed been somewhat chaotic.
"You'd better show me some respect. From now on you'll be my maid, and I'm your master."
Shin looked at the wary Elma with a half-smile, threatening somewhat deliberately:
"When the time comes, you'd better not try to avoid the things maids should do."
Hearing Shin's words, Elma suddenly felt she might have made a very dangerous choice.
Because of the topic Shin had just discussed, Elma now thought one of a maid's duties was serving in the bedroom.
So regarding becoming Shin's maid, Elma was already somewhat regretful.
But regret was too late now—even if she wanted to escape, Shin would definitely catch her back.
With such a huge gap in strength between them, it seemed Elma could only submit.
To be continued…