“So… you went to the slums, which you said were dangerous and filthy, and you not only wiped out their criminal organization… but you also robbed them? You killed all the higher-ups there?”
“Umm… pretty much, yeah?”
Back in the inn room after leaving the slums.
Friede, who had heard about what I had done over the last hour, was speechless, her mouth moving without sound for a while.
I initially wanted to hide the fact that I went to the slums, but given how things twisted, I couldn’t keep it a secret anymore.
It had gotten way too big to hide. I became the new ruler of the slums in just an hour, can you believe that?
No one at the scene dared oppose me out of fear, but there would definitely be some who thought it was disgusting that I held such power.
Thinking about how those guys would be plotting to stab me in the back only made me feel I had to inform Friede in advance so she could prepare.
“Have you lost it?!”
I knew I was going to hear that loud and clear, but… well, I guess I had to endure it.
After all, I was the one who had lied in the first place.
“What on earth did you do?! You said you wouldn’t do anything dangerous!”
As expected, Friede shot back with a furious tone.
She sounded like a wife berating her foolish husband who had burned through millions on hobby supplies.
“What if you got hurt?! What if there was an unexpected strong enemy? What if you fell into a trap? They say those guys use drugs and poison and stuff!”
“……”
I had no excuses. Getting scolded was all my own doing.
So, I just sat quietly and listened to Friede’s scolding like a sinner.
I actually thought Eleadra would step in to stop me, but she just sat there quietly, looking like she agreed with everyone saying I was in the wrong.
…Wait, has her intelligence come back or something?
She still calls me ‘Mommy,’ so maybe not, but she was judging the right and wrong of things pretty accurately for a kid.
Maybe she had regressed, and her consciousness had reverted back to that of a young child?
“Hilde! You’re thinking about something else right now, aren’t you?! I’m talking!”
Oops, caught.
“Uh… sorry?”
“Eeek…!”
Friede clenched her fists and trembled in rage, looking like she was desperately trying to hold back from giving me a flick on the forehead.
“I’m really sorry, but it was… unavoidable, I guess…”
I started with a sincere apology, trying to calm down the furious Friede, who was just too fond of me to lay a finger on me.
“What was ‘unavoidable’?!”
“……”
Yeah, this isn’t going well. I might have over-apologized.
“Hilde, do you realize your words and actions have been a total mess lately? It’s like you’re itching to cause trouble!”
“Umm…”
I can’t really deny that, can I?
It’s true; I’ve had my fair share of mishaps lately.
Whenever given a choice, I always seemed to end up picking the option that leads to the worst outcome.
Why is that? I used to be the type that wouldn’t go for such dangerous and violent actions.
Have I completely forgotten the word ‘caution’ just because I’ve gained a bit of strength?
Or is it because I’ve been using Brunhilde’s trait, ‘Ice Heart,’ a bit too often?
The Ice Heart is essentially a small, compressed heart from one of the eight demons, Jotun, grafted onto a human body.
Though it was stabilized through modifications to prevent rejection and allow it to be inherited through bloodlines, at its core, it was still a demon’s bodily organ.
Because of that, a Valkyrie who awakens the Ice Heart isn’t purely human but rather a half-human, half-demon hybrid.
In other words, my heart might still contain the instincts of a demon, filled with malice and violence.
Maybe I’ve been unconsciously driven by those instincts, making reckless and dangerous choices I wouldn’t have even considered before.
…I should probably be a bit more cautious.
You know, every time I activate the Ice Heart, I’ve felt unusually comfortable with killing people and a little more brutal than usual.
What if that isn’t just built-up stress but actually because my mind is getting closer to that of a demon?
Thinking that way honestly gave me the chills.
“Anyway, Hilde—”
“Okay, okay, I messed up. I’m sorry, Friede.”
I showed sincere remorse and stretched my arms out to hug Friede while apologizing.
“I’ll think and act more carefully from now on. I’ll make sure to consult you properly.”
“Sigh Really, just getting skilled at causing trouble…”
For a moment, Friede seemed like she was still a bit angry and tried to pull away from my embrace, but she sighed softly and settled back into my arms.
“…If you do that again, I’ll really get mad. Got it?”
“Yep. Understood.”
“And you’ll really be punished if it happens again. Do you understand?”
“I’ll accept anything.”
“……Anything?”
Was it just my imagination, or did Friede’s eyes momentarily flash like a predator spotting its prey?
“Except for anything too weird.”
“…Tch.”
Friede clicked her tongue.
Wait, Friede, what on earth do you plan to do to me? The way you looked so unsatisfied made me kinda scared.
‘You aren’t thinking of putting a collar on me or something, are you…?’
I felt a slight tremor at the thought of what punishment could possibly be in store for me.
For some reason, an image of me walking around naked with a collar on popped into my head.
Ugh, that’s creepy.
“Mommy, Mommy! Me too! Elly too!”
Anyway, while we were hugging, Eleadra bounced over and tightly hugged my waist, rubbing her cheek against me.
“Uh, Elly…? Wait a sec. Right now is a bit…”
“Waaah…!”
With her lips pursed, Eleadra lay against my thigh, burying her face in my belly as if she wanted to monopolize a mother’s affection.
In reality, she was an elderly lady who couldn’t act her age, but at least in terms of visuals, it felt like a cozy moment in a mother-daughter family.
Whoosh!
Before something flew in through the wide-open window.
“…Huh?”
A clumsy jar filled with scarlet flames. We all reacted a moment too late since we were hugging.
Eleadra didn’t even seem to view it as a threat, and as a result…
Crash!
The jar landed safely on the floor, shattering and scattering its contents.
A dark liquid like burning oil flared up as the wick caught fire.
“A fire jar…?!”
Startled, Friede exclaimed, just as—
Whoosh!
The inn room was instantly engulfed in flames.
◆◆
Furniture, walls, floor, and ceiling were all covered in oil, and fierce flames danced everywhere.
These were homemade flaming bottles, not just one, but a dozen or more flew in one after another.
A surprise attack. This retaliation happened less than an hour after my own blunder.
“Who the hell did this…?!”
“Hilde! Watch your mouth!”
“…Those filthy bastards!”
I gritted my teeth, snarling as I glared at the flaming window.
It was clear who was responsible. It had to be the slum kids.
The lower-tier officials and lackeys of Abandon who had been lucky not to meet me as an enemy.
Those cowards who hadn’t dared to show their faces then.
Now, they were boldly pulling off this nonsense out of spite?
What the hell? If they were going to do this, they should’ve attacked earlier. Do they think they can just lay low and come back now?
Of course, it was exactly what you’d expect from the bastards with no parents in the slums; their tactics were incredibly pathetic.
But surprisingly fast when it came to causing trouble, they managed to act before I could prepare against their predictable method.
“This is all because of your mess, right?! This is revenge!”
“I dunno! But probably!”
In the chaos, six jars had already flown in while we were still hugging.
“Whatever happens, don’t retaliate!”
Hitting it back would just cause it to break and burst into flames.
“Just as long as it doesn’t hit us…!”
Friede picked up her great sword and swung it wide like a fan.
Wrack!
Furniture and housewares shattered under the force of her swing, their splinters flying out the window.
The flaming jars continued their relentless assault—swept away by the force behind her swing.
“Uh…”
For sure, if they got blown away like that, they wouldn’t break and explode inside, so safety was guaranteed…
‘…But what if they break outside?’
This could turn out worse.
“Don’t retaliate! They’re just going to burn on the street!”
“Yikes…!?”
She told me not to make trouble, and here she was causing even more!
Crash, clank, whoosh!
The jars flew outside, landing hard on the street and shattering, causing chaos and screeches of panic from the onlookers.
It looked like rather than just my inn room burning down, it had spread to the street.
“I’m so, so sorry…!”
“Whoa! Fire! Fire! It’s warm!”
“Just stay behind me! I’ll stop it!”
I pushed a flustered Friede and an oblivious Eleadra behind me and drew Edelmut.
“O elianal goddess!”
The miracle of the sacred barrier resting within the sword, Edelmut.
The sword plunged into the ground, pulsing gently as a pure white wave spread outwards, forming a translucent dome of light.
I worried that the high undead, Eleadra, might end up incinerated by the light, but luckily—or unluckily—it didn’t happen.
She had been safely within the sacred barrier’s inner area from the start, after all.
It wouldn’t be easy for her to pass through the barrier’s surface, but it seemed she was fine as long as she stayed put.
“Uuuu…?! My eyes are hurting!”
Maybe sensing an instinctive discomfort, she grimaced while groaning.
But anyway, thanks to the sacred barrier, at least we managed to avoid being cooked alive in this unexpectedly hot situation.
We were the only three who could evade the flames, but the inn itself burned down completely.
It was infuriating.
“Seriously, damn it, my building!!”
