After resting, Vieya managed to pull herself back together. She originally wanted to go out and stroll around with Flaviel, but the map of the Western lands spread across the table caught her attention again.
So many years had passed. Aside from a few major cities and terrain features she still rembered, she could barely recall any other routes.
So—from the West Coast to the human settlent of Aden on the outskirts of the Elven Forest, which path was the fastest?
Vieya cald herself and focused fully on the map before her.
“We’re on the West Coast. Aurora’s elder sister—where does she live now...... I heard she moved, but with her sister’s health, she definitely wouldn’t have moved far.”
Unlike Aurora, who’d grown up bouncing around, climbing trees for bird eggs and diving into rivers to catch softshell turtles—
Her elder sister, Ophina, was a genuine sickly girl. Congenital heart issues prevented her from doing any strenuous exercise. She always sat quietly, gentle in temperant, fond of reading all kinds of pharmacology books.
It was worth ntioning that before their Hero Squad ever welcod Lilian—the fully ordained Saintess trained by the Church—it had always been Ophina who brewed the potions for the party.
At this mont, Vieya spotted a star-shaped mark near Aden City and Aden Village. It was one of Aurora’s habitual symbols—used to indicate ho, or a long-term base of operations.
“Oh? So she moved here?” Vieya blinked, forming a guess.
“As expected, very close. Even moving house, she only moved next door......”
Beside her, Flaviel heard the rustling and ca over, tilting her head with curiosity, clearly wanting to see what the sli girl was looking at.
But the mont she leaned in, a rciless hand pushed her away.
“Shoo, don’t block my view......” Vieya braced both hands on the golden-haired Demon King’s forehead and shoved her aside.
“Go pour so cold water, it’s really hot in here.”
“You—! So rude!”
Flaviel raised her hand to pinch Vieya’s cheek, but her current strength was even weaker than a child’s.
Within seconds she was easily pinned face-first onto the table by the wicked sli, her cheeks squished flat against the hard wooden surface.
The Demon King flailed twice to absolutely no effect, then bared her teeth and glared.
“Let go of ! You damn little bastard!”
“When soone’s under another’s roof, they have to lower their head. Vivi, go pour that water or I won’t let you go.”
Vieya didn’t even look up, still focused on the map.
Coincidentally, Aurora’s tribe had originally road the outskirts of the Elven Forest. So after saving her years ago, Vieya had settled the sisters in Aden— the biggest human city nearest to the Elven Forest.
And in the current Human Alliance, the larger the city, the more widely the law was upheld, and the safer the lives of common people.
It wouldn’t end up like those tiny villages that got flattened by monsters, only discovered months later by chance adventurers who recorded and uploaded the tragedy.
Even without knowing the exact reason Aurora’s sister had moved, she definitely wouldn’t have moved far from Aden City.
And Aden Village just outside the city was a perfectly viable choice.
“Looks like this is Aurora’s new ho location...... Hmm? Vivi, why aren’t you saying anything? Is pouring water really that hard?”
Vieya looked up curiously.
Flaviel kept her eyes closed, stubbornly silent like a dead fish.
For soone as proud as her, being treated like a little chick by her mate left her feeling suffocated and wronged.
It reminded her of many years ago, when she had swallowed her pride after a quarrel and gone, in her loli form, to reconcile. She had even bought a box of octopus takoyaki—Vieya’s favorite—as an apology.
But the result was being stood up the entire day.
They had clearly made an appointnt, yet from ten in the morning to ten at night, not even a shadow showed up.
That evening, she sat alone on a park bench, eating cold, soggy takoyaki under the rain.
And the next day, so sli strutted around in front of her as if nothing had happened, bragging about leveling up and how much her stats had grown.
And had even deliberately, mockingly asked:
“Where were you yesterday? Why didn’t you say anything?”
You really don’t know where I was?!
You seriously have no idea why I wasn’t speaking?!
The more Flaviel thought, the angrier she got.
Old resentnts stacked on new anger.
She wanted nothing more than to punch this stupid sli’s head off—
but she couldn’t beat her.
She could only glare with volcanic hatred.
If looks could kill......
Flaviel stared daggers at the clueless sli girl.
The atmosphere grew stranger and stranger, and even Vieya felt a pang of guilt.
“......Alright, I’ll stop teasing you.”
Perhaps conscience struck for a fleeting mont.
The sli girl let go, acting as if nothing had happened, and casually shifted the topic.
“Haha, actually, you don’t have to pour water. During dinner you can drink sothing cold with ...... Speaking of which, you’ve never shown up in front of Aurora before. She’ll definitely be surprised to see you.”
“......I’m not eating dinner.”
Flaviel’s tone was faint. She took a few steps back, rubbing her sore cheeks, and added softly,
“I don’t want to see you for the next few days. Don’t talk to either.”
“?”
That’s not right!
Vieya blinked in confusion.
But the golden-haired Demon King didn’t look at her once. She simply vanished.
“She’s seriously mad? Vivi, I’m sorry, okay? Forgive this once?”
Vieya apologized to the air—clearly not the first ti this had happened.
“......”
“If you really don’t want to pour water, then co out and I’ll pour for you. Hehe, you know, our daughter says the boiled water I make tastes amazing— refreshing, delicious, and healthy! Vivi, don’t you want to try it?”
“......”
“Vivi? Fufu?”
Vieya began throwing out random nicknas.
“Little Vivi? Little Fu?”
“......”
The house fell completely silent.
Out of ideas, Vieya propped her chin and sat thinking for a long ti. But no matter how she thought, she had no clue how to coax an angry dragon.
At that mont, footsteps echoed in the hallway outside.
“Looks like our daughter is back.”
Vieya breathed out in relief, escaping the heavy tension.
As she walked toward the door, she muttered under her breath,
“Looks like I’ll have to boil water for you next ti.”
“Still thinking about that awful water......”
From the void, Flaviel let out a weary sigh.
Click.
The door opened.
“Mom! Look, we found treasures!”
Jasmine hurried in with a stuffed bag on her back, face bright with excitent.
Vieya was just about to ask what they’d bought, why it took so long, why it was already dark—
But before she could speak, Jasmine shoved sothing cold into her palm.
“A cooling bead...... huh?”
Vieya lowered her head, pinching the small blue glass-like sphere.
“Mom, you know what this is?!” Jasmine asked with surprise ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) and delight. She’d seen so many unfamiliar things since arriving in the West.
She had assud this was the first ti both of them had seen such an item—
but it turned out she was the only one clueless.
“Of course I know. Your mom has been to far more places than you imagine. Thank you for the treasure.”
Vieya slipped the bead into her pocket.
Then she looked up—and froze.
Jasmine and Aurora were carrying armfuls of bags, an absurd number of parcels hanging off them.
Her brow twitched sharply.
“What did you even buy? Weren’t you only supposed to buy food? Why did you bring back so much stuff? We have to travel early tomorrow!”
“It’s fine, Captain.”
Aurora flexed her arm muscles and grinned proudly.
“I’ll carry everything myself!”
“Heh.” Vieya’s smile was cold.
“And the food?”
“Mom, the food’s with .” Jasmine raised her hand like she was presenting an achievent.
“The things in Aurora-sis’s bags are all antiques! She bought them dirt cheap with just two silver coins—they’re super valuable!”
“Dirt cheap......” Vieya’s eyelids twitched.
She turned slowly toward Aurora.
“That’s the vocabulary you taught my daughter? And after all these years, you still have that sa habit of spending money on trash?”
“Captain, that’s not fair.”
Aurora lowered her head, lips tight, muttering in a small voice,
“These are my personal hobbies...... It’s like how Captain loves playing gas even though Captain is unbelievably terrible at them, but still plays all the ti......”
“Co again? I didn’t hear that.” Vieya asked, puzzled.
“Sorry! Captain, let’s— let’s hurry and eat and rest!”
Aurora surrendered instantly. Hands together, bowing sincerely.
“As instructed, I’ve already marked the route on the map! And I even bought two updated maps in Haishi, so our route will definitely be the fastest and most efficient!”
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