Chapter 112: Free-Roaming, Serenity
With the disappearance of the white army, the labyrinth once again fell into tranquility. Of course, not every single spider was gone; a multitude of spider eggs remained hidden within the Upper Stratum. They were the sparks left behind by Shirazawa and Shiro, who knew they might bring some pleasant surprises in the future.
"Leest."
"Master~"
The little girl, who had been solo-leveling in the Upper Stratum, came sprinting over and threw her arms around Shiro's long legs. Her body was covered in a fresh layer of cuts and bruises, making it glaringly obvious that her grinding hadn't been entirely smooth sailing. Shiro gently patted her tiny head and cast a healing spell, closing her wounds instantly.
"Let's just leave her to keep leveling in the labyrinth. Most of the powerful monsters are gone anyway, so she'll be perfectly safe," Shirazawa suggested.
"Mm, sounds good," Shiro agreed with a nod.
And so, the poor little creature was left entirely to her own devices in the labyrinth by two profoundly irresponsible adults. Her sole companion was a Myth-tier Nightmare Vestige—a Sage Taratect with stats hovering around fifteen thousand. With such a legendary guardian watching over her, her safety was effectively guaranteed.
"Leest, your masters have important matters to attend to. Work hard on leveling up here, and by the time we return, we expect to see some major progress, okay?"
"Mm-hmm! Leest will do her absolute best!" she promised obediently. She desperately wanted to grow stronger so she would never be a burden again.
Shirazawa left the Dark Blade with her to use as a permanent weapon, and then escorted Shiro back to the Demon Lord's estate. As for the "important matters" he had mentioned, it actually amounted to nothing more than sunbathing and enjoying afternoon tea. When it came to something as paramount as enjoying a lazy life of luxury, both Shirazawa and Shiro naturally believed in a strictly hands-on approach.
"Ah, now *this* is what I call living~"
Out in the estate's rear garden, Shirazawa lay sprawled across a lounge chair, comfortably narrowing his eyes as he sighed with absolute contentment. Beside him, Shiro held a cup of coffee with practiced elegance, looking entirely at ease. She cast a sideways glance at the utterly relaxed man but remained completely silent.
The sheer volume of information she had received earlier was massive, and she needed an extended period of quiet to properly untangle her thoughts. In particular, now that her erratic emotions had thoroughly cooled down, she was slowly beginning to remember an undeniable reality: the person she had been talking to was an Evil God. How could she have allowed herself to believe D's words so effortlessly? Taking a slow sip of her coffee, Shiro drifted deep into thought.
Meanwhile, inside the manor's living room, a beautiful tutor wearing gold-rimmed glasses was conducting a formal lesson for Sophia. This private teacher had been personally hired by Ariel in a calculated bid to correct Sophia's distinct personality flaws. The grand plan was to have the young girl officially enroll in a proper academy once she hit the right age. Ariel figured that exposing her to a healthy environment with peers of her own age would naturally iron out her behavioral quirks. Whether anyone else agreed with the logic was up in the air, but Ariel was fully convinced the method was completely sound.
The mischievous Fiel, having received a thorough thrashing from the returning Ael, had been promptly dragged away. Now, the only ones remaining in the manor were the introverted Sael and the delightfully scatterbrained Riel. Without Fael around to spearhead any chaotic pranks, the two of them sat as still as statues, quietly crouching in the corner of the room without making a single sound.
The estate's elderly butler found himself feeling profoundly grateful for the silence. Having already witnessed the catastrophic, house-wrecking capabilities of this entourage firsthand, he knew their destructive talents were top-of-the-line. If every single child in the group behaved like Fiel, this entire estate wouldn't have survived a single fortnight. No, scratch that—three days max.
Visualizing that nightmare scenario made the butler shudder involuntarily. Hurrying his pace, he moved quickly toward the garden. He didn't dare show even a shred of disrespect toward these two mysterious guests—or rather, toward *any* of the guests currently residing in the manor.
As for the reason... it all traced back to a dark and stormy night.
Acting under direct orders from the Duke, the old butler had been tasked with subtly testing the true origins of this bizarre traveling party. While he operated as a butler on the surface, he was actually a veteran operative of the intelligence division, specializing in reconnaissance and espionage. Having outlived generation after generation of his own subordinates while operating deep within the demon capital over the decades, he was an absolute master in his field.
The fiercely loyal butler had accepted the mission without a second thought, but the actual execution... had nearly scared him to death.
On the exact night Fael had been dragged away, the butler had finished cleaning up the physical debris of the house and silently appeared before one of the guest rooms on the second floor. Armed with his hard-earned mastery in skills like
Almost immediately, his senses picked up two distinct presences inside the room. One was sitting entirely motionless in a corner, while the other sat quietly at the desk, gracefully flipping through the pages of a book.
*What on earth is going on here? Does this child simply not sleep?* He was completely baffled. Ever since they checked into the manor, this young girl hadn't closed her eyes even once. Was a high-level skill like
With the target remaining wide awake, executing a stealthy search of the room was completely out of the question. Furthermore, he distinctly remembered that when the young lady first arrived, she had been carrying a magnificent, massive blade. Judging purely by the material and the dense aura radiating from the steel, that single weapon alone was worth vastly more than the entire value of this estate. Knowing such a dangerous weapon was being casually brandished kept him entirely on edge.
*Forget it,* he thought, *no matter what, I have to test the waters tonight.*
Bracing himself with a mindset of absolute self-sacrifice, he knocked gently on the door. From inside came a crisp, youthful voice: "Come in."
The moment he crossed the threshold, before the butler could even string a polite greeting together, Sophia beat him to the punch with a deeply amused smirk. "You usually content yourself with just pretending to stroll past my door. Why the sudden change of pace today?"
The old butler's heart instantly skipped a violent beat. Every single move he had made had been completely transparent to her from the very start. *Is this child... some kind of monster?*
No, she had to be an ancient, primordial monster masquerading in the flesh of a young girl. That was the only logical theory his brain could accept. While regular demons aged at the exact same rate as humans, legendary, mythical species functioned on an entirely different scale, possessing massive, elongated growth cycles—creatures like Earth Dragons, or true Vampires.
The butler used to dismiss those stories as mere folklore, but rumors explicitly stated that the Demon Lord herself was an ancient, divine spider beast. If that was true, then the guests brought along by the Demon Lord must be...
He felt like he had just stumbled dead into the terrifying truth. Faced with an entity of such staggering proportions, the old butler didn't dare spin a lie; he chose to come clean immediately.
"This old servant was merely concerned as to why the esteemed Lady Sophia goes without rest night after night, and merely wished to check in."
"Oh? Is that so..." Sophia rested her chin on her hand, choosing not to explicitly rip his cover to shreds. "I simply haven't been in a particularly sleepy mood lately, so I choose not to sleep. That's all."
"I see." The butler kept his composure, but his gaze instinctively drifted toward the other occupant of the room.
Sael, who had been sitting frozen in the corner, seemed to register his gaze. She snapped her head up, locking her eyes onto the butler with a deathly, unblinking stare.
"Apologies. Sael's prime directive is to guarantee my absolute protection, so she tends to become incredibly alert around anyone approaching with less-than-pure intentions," Sophia explained with a polite smile.
Being pinned down by those completely hollow, soulless eyes sent a violent chill straight down the butler's spine. He nodded in hasty understanding, fully realizing that his minor espionage tactics were completely useless against these individuals. He tactfully prepared to make his exit.
"Lady Sophia, if it pleases you, you should still endeavor to get some sleep. Otherwise, it may prove detrimental to your growth."
"Thank you for the advice," Sophia offered a polite, standard smile, though she had absolutely zero intention of listening.
*Pulling an all-nighter is the path to supreme enlightenment. Why on earth would anyone waste the beautiful years of their youth on something as mundane as sleep?*
---
Author's Note:
It looks like there's a bit of a debate regarding the previous chapter. But logically speaking, a three-person household is bound to end up as one big happy family anyway, so there's really no need to overthink any NTR angles–this is a purely wholesome romance story at its core. Besides, D is an Evil God; playing mind games with people is literally her 'D' setting. Everyone is already safely inside the net, so don't sweat it. Shiro isn't dense at all; if even Moe-Wife could read the room, there's absolutely no way Shiro didn't catch on to what was happening. Also, I got a bit held up by some personal matters today, so there are only two chapters for now–I'll make it up to you guys later!
LanLi: Well it indeed gave a mixed feeling.
LanLi: Old Note. Nostalgic.
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