The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Latrard home. The dining room.

For the first time in several days, the members of Vivian's party have finally gathered here once more.

The girls were happily chattering with smiles on their faces as they enjoyed their delicious food, giving the entire dining room a warm and uplifting atmosphere.

Shien found the scene quite heartwarming.

"Despite having just endured a life and death ordeal, they really did manage to recover quite quickly."

No, it wasn't just to the point of recovering.

Shine noticed. Vivian's group seemed to be getting along even better than before.

Diere especially. She rarely joined in this kind of inane chatter before, and even if she was there, she'd just silently sip at her tea from the side. Now though, she has started to occasionally join in with a few words here and there.

This is proof that Diere's heart has undergone a change.

After this ordeal, Diere finally knew for certain that these comrades of hers won't care about her past, and that they would stand by her side no matter what.

Especially given the fact that despite Diere's "oni" having been exposed, not a single person near her had changed their attitude because of that. Nor did they ever question Diere about this matter at all. It was like it wasn't even a thing to them. Such a thing must have moved Diaer quite a bit, no?

The girls didn't even bring up the matter of them being targeted.

It's because that trap was aimed at Diere, and they were only caught up accidentally. If they were to bring it up, then they were worried that it might end up making Diere feel ashamed about it.

Thus, the girls truly did just decide to pretend this matter never happened. From start to end, they just continued to smile and chat about some unimportant things. That attitude should have given Diere some amount of comfort and salvation, which is why Diere has become more open before Vivian and the others, right?

Shien on the other hand kept feeling like his attention keep getting drawn to Diere. He was practically like a little boy with his first crush.

It's because Shien just had a long "battle" in his dreams just now, after all.

It's impossible for him not to have thoughts now.

Of course, Diere didn't notice this. Otherwise, she might have done something in response.

That said, Lasha's appearance did draw some attention from the girls.

"Lady Lasha, can this dish be set on the table now?"

"Please check this dish for me, lady Lasha."

"Onee-sama, are you tired?"

"How about taking a break, onee-sama."

One maid or chef of the Latrard home would gather by Lasha's side every once in a while and ask for her opinion on all sorts of things as they looked at her with worshipful eyes. It was a scene that made the girls stare in confusion.

"… Seriously. Just what happened here during the time we were away?"

"… That's the maid of that person, isn't it?"

"T-the one in the Flowersong Mansion?"

"Why is she here? And also why is she being treated so attentively by the servants here? Or rather, it's more like idolization…?"

Vivian, Diere, Lumia, and Melika all glanced at each other for some time as they watched all this speechlessly.

Lasha had only appeared and was brought back by Shien after they had already left the Capital for the Ataru Canyons. It's therefore only natural for them to not know what was going on.

Shien roughly explained it a bit and told everyone that Lasha will be temporarily staying by his side, and that he'll be taking care of her.

The girls may not have known just what had happened, but they didn't say anything in regards to Shien's decision either. Vivian had even volunteered to speak to Megis in order to get Lasha permission to stay if required.

Unbeknownst to them though…

"There's no need to worry. The day I came to this house, I had already privately asked Lord Megis and gained his permission to stay here. The condition for that is to take care of the various minor tasks within the Latrard home, so there's no need to trouble anyone in this regard."

Lasha's calm statement made everyone speechless.

Shien's mouth especially twitched.

He had no idea about that at all.

No wonder Megis was so quick to agree when he asked him to allow Lasha to stay here. It's also no wonder now why Lasha had made this residence so orderly and beautiful. So it's all because they had made a private deal huh?

That's dirty! Such a dirty deal!

While Shien was getting angry for some strange reason, the girls had also learned of Lasha's superhuman capabilities. Thus, each and every one of them ended up quite interested in Lasha and started talking to her.

Lasha responded orderly to them. She was neither humble nor rude, with a calm and unshaken disposition. She really did show something like the aura of a big sister.

And as they chatted, everyone ended up talking about a few pieces of good news.

One matter is that, after everyone of Vivian's party got through this life or death ordeal, all of them had gotten stronger.

Vivian's level has already reached 52.

Diere's level successfully reached 60.

Melika's level had also reached 45.

Even Lumia's level had risen, and has now reached 47.

The girls all got stronger. Diere especially. After she broke through to level 60, she had solidly taken the position of the number two prodigy right below Lucy. Even her [Magic Sword] skill had been brought up to level 4, making it far stronger than it was before.

It truly the saying goes, crisis and fortune comes linked. The growth after getting through the life or death ordeal is unquestionably the most obvious proof of that. Thus, it's quite understandable that the members of Vivian's party was able to rise several levels at once.

Besides that, given that all of them were only in such great danger due to the plot of the Garibaldi family, as well as the fact that they did more or less participate in the incident, they also received compensation from the Kingdom's side.

Basically, they gained a small portion of the wealth belonging to the nobles who got wiped out by Yulin. It's just the right opportunity to upgrade their equipment as well, which boosts their capabilities even higher by quite a bit.

The girls of Vivian's Party had already decided to properly do some looking around in the Capital for the upcoming days. They'll be using this opportunity to buy some of the Capital's quality brand equipment and even prepare some magic potions just in case they end up in a bitter fight over several days just like what happened his time.

High quality magic potions can recover injuries or magic power, and some could even restore physical or mental fatigue. All of them are very useful.

Thus, the girls have already prepared to go on a major shopping spree.

Obviously though, Shien, being a penniless beggar, have no ability or right to join in.

His money had long since been completely wiped out by two deserts monsters. From now on, he's going to have live while tightening his belt, so like hell he was going to be able to do any shopping sprees.

That said, Shien doesn't really mind.

He got a big piece of good news as well after all.

"You accomplished a major merit this time, so have you thought about what kind of reward you want?"

Vivian asked Shien such a question.

That's right, the reward for what Shien did this time hasn't been given yet.

As for Shien's feelings about it.

"So long as it's not to make me a noble, anything's fine."

The meaning behind that is that he has no interest in such empty stuff. He can accept pretty much anything so long it's something real though.

However, when Shien visited Lucy's room, his previous decision was completely overturned.

"You want to make me a noble too?"

Shien stared at Lucy, stunned.

"That's right."

Lucy solemnly nodded.

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