Dilen stood in the doorway, stunned. His eyes flashed, and his brain froze when he came face-to-face with Nellio for the first time since 'that night'. Even he, who was a bit of a playboy, couldn't help but admit that Nellio was now a beauty. In his mind, the pain from the chomping, the panic from the black shop, the shock from seeing an old friend, and the confusion caused by the uncanny effect from the gender-bending were all swirling around in his brain.
Just then, a green rope shot over from behind and wrapped around his neck.
His eyes flashed, and then, without the time to even scream, he was ripped back, flying off his feet, and disappeared back into Poppy's Potions with a faint cry.
The door closed slowly…
Nellio: "…"
Nenl: "…"
Lalume: "…"
They all shared a look.
It would seem as if they weren't the first to leave the forest…
-
After taking a deep breath, Nellio once again reached for the door handle. After grasping it, she paused, looking down slightly with a strange expression.
Nenl and Lalume looked over her shoulder, then the trio pushed open the door again.
After entering, the first thing they noticed was the large assortment of medicines.
There were cures for all kinds of things, many of which were remedies that Petra had prepared beforehand for those who left the fog-filled forest. After exploring inside for so long, it was only natural that they would discover many poisonous creatures or toxic plants, so Petra put cures for these things on sale and decided to sell a few.
After that, Nellio scanned the room, swept her gaze across the two small girls at the counter, and then rested her eyes on Petra, who was sitting on a small stool with a brown-haired maid one step behind her. On the floor, Dilen struggled desperately, already tied up and gagged like a caterpillar.
Nellio didn't know what that green energy was, but it gave her a very intimidating feeling, so she knew Dilen was unlikely to break free anytime soon.
As she looked around, Nenl and Lalume stepped past her. Their eyes shone with light as they looked at the medicine shop, before noticing Petra and excitedly walking over. Lalume greeted her with a smile, while Nenl stepped on Dilen's face, then followed just behind.
After he roared in pain, Petra flicked her finger and sent the man-sized dumpling flying, smashing against the wall a moment later to make room.
Neither girl seemed to care; only Nellio walked over to make sure he was okay. Mell's eyes watched this with a cool expression, but Petra's attention was completely on Lalume and Nenl.
"Hey! It's been a long time! You guys look like you're doing well!"
It was such a kind greeting that both Nenl and Lalume felt a weight lift off their shoulders. It seemed as if Petra really didn't hold the Azurefell incident against them. With much brighter expressions, they found a few free seats and sat down, quickly beginning to catch up with Petra like old friends.
Meanwhile, Nellio looked down at Dilen, then back at Petra.
After seeing this green-haired little girl again, it was inevitable that she would want to ask her to fix her gender right away, but in the end, she chose not to. After thinking about it, what they did was indeed a grave crime, and losing one's manhood was a small price to pay compared to extinction.
She looked back.
Nellio crouched down and looked at Dilen with a strange expression. Dilen, still bound, had a face filled with indignation. Her eyes swept around, and she quickly found the cause of his misery, which was the ancient red spear leaning in a corner not far from Petra's feet.
She turned her gaze back, then sighed…
Putting two and two together, she understood the truth about this black shop.
After a sigh, she stood up, then looked between Petra and the two Petra-like little girls behind the counter. Her eyes turned, then she stepped towards Petra, who she suspected had already planned out everything in advance.
"This is a shop, right? What will it cost for you to let this big idiot go?"
Petra tilted her head, then smiled. She clapped her hands, then repeated the words that Nellio had heard while still outside, "—Petra's Five Principles of Life, No.1: 'Nothing cannot be traded! If you don't get a price, make one! Equivalence is relative!' Why don't you pay with this super cool red spear? I think that should be sufficient to release him!"
Hearing this, Dilen began to thrash around wildly.
His eyes turned red as he performed a violent caterpillar dance.
Nellio pursed her lips, already suspecting this answer.
Indeed, just like the rumours, this girl was indeed a scourge.
After peeking back at Dilen from the corner of her eye, an idea popped into her head, and she asked once again, "Since that's the case, how about I trade his freedom for the spear, then buy back the spear with this?" She took out a long coil of chain from her bag.
While looking at it, Petra raised an eyebrow.
Nellio continued, "This is an unprocessed chain meant to go to the 'main branch' of the Cross Continents Azurefell family. It is usually custom forged for each family member, but this one has yet to be processed. You can melt it down and turn it into a weapon for the twins."
She looked at Petra, and Petra looked back.
There was a long silence, and then Petra giggled.
"You're right, I can do that, but do you think that it's worth the same as the spear?"
Nellio gave a knowing smile. "It seems as if you don't know a lot about the crafting methods of the Azurefell family's Fire Branch, do you? It's understandable, after all, those two didn't have time to learn about it." She pulled out a loop of the chain and let Petra take a closer look. "This is a special alloy sent over from across the sea. We only get it every ten years, and it's only enough to craft half a chain. After a century or so of accumulation, it can be used to make a proper set of weapons for a higher-level practitioner from the Azurefell family, given to those that are picked."
Petra nodded, then took a closer look.
Although she knew nothing about crafting, even she could tell the uniqueness of this alloy. It was definitely not something she could reproduce in a short time. Also, just hearing about the Azurefell family from overseas had piqued her interest.
Petra asked, "Then what can it do? It shouldn't have anything to do with the chain-dancing technique the people from your family specialize in, right?"
In truth, ever since Lilly and Luna had broken the bloodline curse, their ability to inherit their family's bloodline inheritance was cut off. They had learned some of the basics, but beyond that, they were lacking a lot. Since this alloy came from overseas and the bloodline supposedly came from the Guardian, they should have nothing to do with each other, unless there was a different Guardian overseas.
Petra's eyes flashed.
If there was a second Guardian overseas, then she would have to go snatch it for a snack sometime…
Nellio didn't know what she was thinking. She looked down, and after hearing Petra's question, she began to explain the purpose of the alloy that formed the chain.
"This alloy can resonate with a special power and allow it to pierce the Void. That is why this is called Void Iron. It's a low-level version of a much higher material, but this is already an extremely precious material that many people come to buy from the main family."
Petra nodded. Perhaps Nellio didn't quite know what the Void was, but as a student of Levy, hearing about a material that can pierce the Void was quite interesting.
After muttering to herself for a while, Petra agreed to the trade.
She released Dilen, who immediately lunged at her like a mad dog. After he was kicked away, she handed the spear to Nellio, and to her surprise, Nellio packed it away instead of handing it back to Dilen.
Turning her head, Petra caught a smug smile creeping across Nellio's face when she looked back at Dilen. Looking between the two, Dilen's face had contorted, and Petra even felt as if the face he was showing now was even worse than when she forced him to sell. She wondered what the relationship was between these two young masters, erm… these previously two young masters.
After that, Petra talked with Nenl and Lalume for a while, and Nellio even joined in. Dilen sat cross-legged in a corner, acting like a sullen pet, but Petra felt as if he intended to follow Nellio after they left.
Time passed, and soon, the four 'customers' left the shop.
Seeing them leave, Petra muttered a few things, then turned toward the two little girls behind the counter. "How is it?"
The two Petra look-alikes looked at Petra, then turned away.
Instead, a fourth little girl walked out from behind the counter, trotted over to Petra, and clicked with a happy expression. After a few indescribable sounds, she pulled out a few handfuls of things, then dropped them on the ground with a crisp clatter.
This fourth ant avatar was the kleptomaniac of the family…
She couldn't wait to introduce her to the raccoon maid as a student!
Petra found the Dimebeck Family's Young Master Token, a bag of silver, gold, and crystal coins, a few bottles of low-level pills, and an assortment of miscellaneous junk. She chuckled. This was the problem with not having a storage ring. If a slightly better pickpocket appeared, then who knew what kind of important things you might lose!
"Hehehe!"
Mell watched from behind, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Not even she had seen when the little thief had swiped them from Dilen, which was a testament to just how stealthy she was.
For a moment, Mell even felt a bit bad for the headstrong young master.
Petra jumped up. With Dilen and Nellio leaving, the shop was once again left empty. Since opening for the day, there had been five customers, most of who were unknown faces. Now that these four had left, it was slowly approaching the time to close the door for the day.
Petra decided to leave the first floor to Mell, then hopped and skipped upstairs to do her own thing.
Mell watched her go, then shook her head and found her way behind the counter.
The four little girls quickly made way, then after receiving permission, they scattered, leaving her alone.
-
Petra climbed up the stairs and passed down the hall. Wind had woken up, so she waved while passing, and soon returned to her room.
After closing the door, she climbed onto her bed and took down the frog.
While the jiggly blob hopped away, she reached for her satchel, then took out a small notebook that recorded information about herself and the other maids working for her.
The focus was the cultivation levels of the maids and their personal information.
Petra currently employed forty-five maids, not including herself. There were fifteen main maids, eight beast maids, four bunny girls, three gardeners, two craftsmen, one alchemist, and twelve butlers, which added up to forty-five, leaving five slots empty. All the butlers were at the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm, the support staff (gardeners, craftsmen, and alchemist) were at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, and the four bunnies had just broken through to the Golden Core Realm. As for the beast maids, these girls were a chaotic mess; because Petra wanted to maximize their skills, so they were actually lagging behind, only around the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm on average.
Finally, there were the fifteen main maids: Lilly, Luna, Mell, Wind, Rose, Lira, Nebula, Dorthy, Bell, Soryn, Jillian, Noah, Poya, Elli, and Levy—
Lilly: Mage Pathway (3rd Realm), Spirit Root (Water),
Position: Tailor, Petras Personal Maid. Hobbies: Tailoring…
Luna: Mage Pathway (3rd Realm), Spirit Root (Water),
Position: Cook, Petras' Personal Maid. Hobbies: Cooking…
Mell: Immortal Pathway (3rd Realm), Spirit Root (Fire, Water, Earth, Metal, Wood),
Position: Head Maid (Resources / 'What we need'). Hobbies: Handicrafts & Trinkets…
Wind: Immortal Pathway (3rd Realm), Spirit Root (Wind),
Position: Head Maid (Logistics / 'Gets things done') Hobbies: Map Collecting…
Rose: Immortal Pathway (3rd Realm), Spirit Root (Fire),
Position: Head Maid (Combat / 'Really gets things done') Hobbies: Beast Rearing.…
Lira: Immortal Pathway (3rd Realm), Spirit Root (Fire),
Position: Idler. Hobbies: Archery…
Nebula: Unknown Pathway (3rd Realm), Spirit Root (Light, Dark),
Position: Petras Shadow Guard. Hobbies: Painting…
Dorthy: Mage Pathway (3rd Realm), Spirit Root (All),
Position: Head Librarian. Hobbies: Magic & Runes…
Bell: Mage Pathway (3rd Realm), Spirit Root (Earth, Wood, Light),
Position: Assistant Librarian. Hobbies: Writing…
Soryn: Immortal Pathway (4th Realm), Spirit Root (Water, Ice),
Position: Combat Trainer & Common Sense Teacher. Hobbies: Fishing…
Jillian: Necromancer Pathway (3rd Realm), Spirit Root (Fire, Water, Ice, Dark),
Position: Lab Researcher / Petras Assistant. Hobbies: The Soul…
Noah: Immortal Pathway (2nd Realm), Spirit Root (Fire, Water, Earth, Metal, Wood),
Position: Idler. Hobbies: Training…
Poya: Controller Pathway (Unknown Realm), Spirit Root (Wood, Light),
Position: Idler. Hobbies: Gardening (Mushrooms)…
Elli: Unknown Pathway (Unknown Realm), Spirit Root (Unknown),
Position: Teacher (Rune Language). Hobbies: Rune Language & Physiques…
Levy: Unknown Pathway (Unknown Realm), Spirit Root (Unknown),
Position: Teacher (General Studies). Hobbies: Cosplay…
Petra began frantically adding extra notes about each girl and the direction she planned to cultivate them towards. After looking through the notebook one last time, Petra snapped it shut, then rolled around a few times on the bed…
She began an introspection.