Oh?
Fíliya's eyes widened with excitement.
"Hmm... this is a problem."
Fíliya gave a wry smile.
Fíliya was still hesitating. Poor Miss Linie's face was already red from her pinching, but she could only swallow her anger and let this detestable human have her way with her face.
Why, why wasn't Lady Aura responding to her cries for help... Could it be that Lady Aura was afraid of this person?
How could this be?
Miss Linie thought, feeling utterly wronged.
Magic Imitation. To think there's magic that can copy a warrior's techniques and combat memories. The magic of the Demon Race truly is fascinating.
However, there was one suspicious point in the demon girl's statement that made Fíliya very curious.
She knew that Eisen the Dwarf was the warrior in Hero Himmel's party, the legendary warrior who had accompanied Himmel to subjugate the Demon King.
If this child could truly perfectly replicate Eisen's techniques and combat memories...
...then there was no way she couldn't beat Sense. On the contrary, Sense would be in extreme danger.
Hmm... something's odd.
Fíliya pinched her chin with her right hand, wearing a contemplative expression.
She sized Linie up and down... and after looking at Miss Linie's cute, slender arms and legs, she finally had her answer.
Oh... I should have realized sooner.
Fíliya nodded. This child's magic was indeed terrifying, and it had immense potential.
But this demon named Linie shared a somewhat similar plight to her own.
Yes, the crux of the issue was... Miss Linie's stats were a bit too low.
With such a frail body, even if she perfectly replicated the combat skills and techniques of a legendary warrior, the power she could produce wouldn't come close to the original.
"Hmm... this is a problem."
Fíliya gave a wry smile.
"Huh? What's the problem? I already told Linie to give up on revenge, can't we just continue our journey?"
Aura was a little confused.
"Hmm... If my guess is correct, Sense should be rotating in to guard the great barrier of the Golden Land. So, um, I'm a bit afraid of running into her. I think we'll have to postpone the trip to the Golden Land for a while."
Miss Fíliya said helplessly.
"Huh? There's someone in this world you're afraid of?"
Aura stared at Fíliya, her face a mask of shock.
The fact that this human, who feared neither heaven nor earth, actually had someone she was afraid of made Aura extremely curious.
"Of course I'm scared, scared to death. The kind where I can't even handle it if Sense says a single harsh word to me... Sigh, everyone has their own kryptonite, right?"
Miss Fíliya scratched the back of her head, looking slightly embarrassed, but her words were remarkably frank.
"Just think about it, what if we run into Sense, and she sees me hanging out with a bunch of demons? I'd die of embarrassment..."
Fíliya's face turned slightly red.
Her predicament was just like that of a child who had snuck out to mess around behind her parents' backs, only to find out they were searching the world for her.
"Then can't we just avoid her? She's just a human first-class mage, after all. Her detection range can't be that large; there's no way it could cover the entire Golden Land. It wouldn't be difficult for us to evade her detection and slip into the Golden Land from the edges."
Solitär said calmly. Although Fíliya's various attitudes toward the human named Sense intrigued her, she didn't say much more.
Her method was, of course, feasible. In fact, they had already planned to do just that when they were discussing it back at the abandoned shipyard.
"Mmm... It's not about the certainty, it's about the 'what if.' With anyone else, it would be fine to just sneak in along the edge of their detection range. But against Sense, I'm genuinely terrified. If we run into her, it's all over."
Fíliya muttered with a grave expression. Feeling vexed, she even pulled Miss Linie directly into her arms and repeatedly pinched her face.
The motion was like squeezing some kind of plush doll to relieve stress.
"La~dy~~ Au~~~ra..."
Linie whimpered, making some muffled sounds. It was obvious she was crying out to Aura for help, but Aura was clearly not a good boss. She just silently pretended to look at the surrounding scenery, completely ignoring her subordinate's plea.
"Then... should we go back? Wait a few months until the Golden Land's guards rotate again??"
A faint smile finally appeared on Solitär's face. She didn't even pay attention to Fíliya's manhandling of Linie, seemingly feeling that a threat of a higher order was more worthy of her attention.
She had never been very supportive of this trip in the first place. If Fíliya chose to go back, she would naturally be happy to accept.
"Hmm..."
Fíliya was still hesitating. Poor Miss Linie's face was already red from her pinching, but she could only swallow her anger and let this detestable human have her way with her face.
Why, why wasn't Lady Aura responding to her cries for help... Could it be that Lady Aura was afraid of this person?
How could this be?
Miss Linie thought, feeling utterly wronged.
"No... don't! Let's not go back, it's so boring back there! Solitär, didn't you say the guards at the great barrier of the Golden Land rotate every few months? It's only a few months, that's like the blink of an eye for us. Let's just go wander around somewhere else first, and once that person named Sense has been rotated out, we can enter the Golden Land then."
Seeing the hesitant Fíliya, Aura finally stepped forward decisively and presented her own proposal.
This was definitely not because she didn't want to go back to her days of serving tea and pouring water.
And it was definitely not because she was afraid of losing face in front of her subordinate.
"Hmm..."
After hearing Aura's proposal, Fíliya finally perked up a bit.
She was seen walking over to Aura.
"Not bad, Aura. See, you can give some decent suggestions. I think that works. Let's do that. It's a good chance to explore more of the Northern Plateau anyway. We'll go to the Golden Land after some time has passed."
Fíliya excitedly reached out, wrapped an arm around Aura's waist, and then bumped her with her shoulder and hip. It was as if the two of them were extremely close.
Of course, while doing this, Miss Fíliya didn't let go of Miss Linie at all. It resulted in the strange sight of her with one arm around Linie and the other around Aura.
"Hey, Aura, I really like this kid. Can you give her to me to play with? Let her take my orders?"
"Uh... shouldn't we consider Linie's opinion?"
Aura felt a drop of sweat slide down her forehead. She could feel her 'dignity' was in danger of shattering at any moment.
"Well then, Linie, see? Aura doesn't have any objections. From now on, you'll listen to me, okay?"
Fíliya said, as if to herself.
To an unknowing observer, the scene looked like a tyrant taking possession of some noble lady, with Linie clearly being the handmaiden included as part of the dowry.
Watching this scene, Solitär suddenly felt an urge to punch something.
But who was she if not a highly cultured, thousand-year-old greater demon? So, she just silently turned her head to the side, adopting an 'out of sight, out of mind' expression.
And so, the group transformed from one human and two demons into a party of one human and three demons.
They turned around mid-journey and began heading in the complete opposite direction of the Golden Land, venturing deeper into other parts of the Northern Plateau.
_____
🔥 Check out the new story releases! 🔥
🪦 A 25% discount is active on my P... support page!
✅ Unlock a 40-chapter backlog for ALL my series.
✅ Receive exclusive content and regular updates!
Help us reach these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 universal bonus chapter
🚀 80 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters for ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan