Ryuu said nothing.
Her eyes remained locked on the spear tip hovering less than a finger's width from her throat.
Under the moonlight, the silver blade gave off a cold gleam. With the slightest push forward, it could pierce her windpipe with ease and reduce Gale, the woman who had once made the remnants of Evilus tremble, into dust in history.
"It's not over yet!"
Ryuu let out a low shout.
The pride carved into her elven bones was still resisting.
She refused to accept that two years of endurance had only left her this weak and this easy to break.
In the next instant, Ryuu moved without warning.
She didn't even care about the danger at her throat and lunged straight at Haimer.
The spear tip scraped across her neck, leaving behind a thin line of blood.
This was a life-for-life exchange.
Since technique wouldn't win, then she would gamble with her life.
She no longer had her daggers, but an elf's body was a weapon in itself.
Her knuckles tightened and drove straight toward the soft point beneath Haimer's ribs.
Yet in the face of that almost desperate counterattack, Haimer only let out a helpless sigh.
"Too reckless."
The moment the words fell, the spear in his hand didn't come back to defend.
Instead, he merely shifted his body slightly and let Ryuu's punch sweep past the edge of his clothes.
Then his left hand shot out.
At the exact instant her fist had spent its force and had not yet regained any new power, he caught her wrist with perfect precision.
And then, with one smooth pull forward,
"?!"
Ryuu felt an overwhelming force seize her, and her center of gravity collapsed in an instant.
Before she could react, the world spun.
Bang!
Her back slammed heavily against the stone wall.
Both of her hands had already been pinned high above her head, pressed tightly against the wall.
She couldn't move.
"Ha… ha…"
Her harsh breathing echoed through the narrow alley.
Those sky-blue eyes were full of unwillingness.
She had lost.
She hadn't even been able to force him to get serious.
From beginning to end, this god hadn't disturbed his breathing even once.
"Calmed down now?"
Haimer lowered his head slightly and looked at the elf girl he had pinned against the wall.
In the weak moonlight, he could clearly see the flush on her cheeks from the violent exertion. Beneath the green-dyed short hair she wore as disguise, her pointed ears trembled faintly.
He had to admit, even pressed against the wall like this, this elf was still stubborn like a little lion.
She glared at him as though she wanted to burn two holes straight through his body.
"Kill me."
Ryuu ground out the words through clenched teeth and turned her face away.
If her skill was inferior, then she had nothing to say.
"Kill you?"
"I have no interest in taking the precious life of a child of the Lower World."
After saying that, Haimer released the wrist he had pinned down.
The moment the restraint vanished,
"Uh…"
Ryuu's body gave way, and she slid down the stone wall to the ground.
…
Haimer stepped back and looked down at the stubborn elf from above.
Under that gaze, Ryuu bit hard on her lower lip. The humiliation of defeat, mixed with the helplessness of being completely under someone else's control, had dimmed the brightness in her clear sky-blue eyes.
If he wasn't going to kill her… then what did he want?
At this point, Ryuu had already prepared herself for the worst.
As long as the tavern wasn't implicated, and as long as Syr wasn't dragged into it, she had nothing to complain about.
…
"Since the elf lady lost, then let's go by our agreement."
"You need to grant me one request."
"But don't worry."
"Gods keep their promises. Since I said it wouldn't cross your bottom line, then it won't."
"You saw my house."
"I only just bought it."
"There's no way I can handle all the chores there by myself."
"And those children of mine are warriors who have to fight in the Dungeon. I can't exactly let them waste all their energy on trivial things."
"So this works out well, since the elf lady is already a maid at The Hostess of Fertility."
"Starting tomorrow morning, come report to my Familia residence."
"The work won't be heavy."
"You'll help clean the courtyard, trim the plants, and tidy up the house."
"To put it simply, you'll be a maid."
"At least until I find another maid more to my liking."
In truth, while Ryuu had been tailing him and the others, even Tsukuyo's sharp hearing hadn't picked her up.
Because of that, Haimer was more interested in having Ryuu serve as a sparring partner for Tsukuyo and the others.
As for making this idiot elf clean the house, that really wasn't the most important part in his mind.
"This…"
Ryuu's eyes widened. Her lips parted slightly, but for a long moment she couldn't close them again.
A maid…
A maid?!
Why did it have to be this kind of request again?!
Two years ago, Mama Mia had used the excuse that the tavern had been wrecked and slapped Black Cat, Chloe Lolo, and Black Fist, Runoa Faust, with an astronomical debt of one hundred million valis, forcing them to work there as maids to pay it off.
And even now, they still hadn't finished repaying it.
"You don't want to?"
"Or does the elf lady think my request crosses some principle of yours?"
"In that case, what exactly are you doing as a maid at The Hostess of Fertility?"
"Or is the elf lady a masochist?"
"Do you want me to threaten you, tempt you, and discipline you first before you agree?"
Haimer rubbed his chin, looking thoughtfully at the pointed ears trembling slightly from tension.
Ryuu's whole body stiffened.
…
Her lips parted as if she wanted to argue.
But she found she had no words.
Because this really didn't cross her bottom line. He wasn't asking her to kill, to burn, or to betray her faith.
He wasn't even asking her to change gods.
He was only asking her to clean.
And yet, why did it still feel so humiliating?
"I'll do it!"
At this point, Ryuu lifted her head in a hurry, her voice carrying a desperate decisiveness.
Hearing that, Haimer let out a faintly disappointed sigh.
"All right."
"Though I was actually rather looking forward to it."
"But since the elf lady agreed, then tomorrow morning, when the sun rises, don't be late."
"I'm not the sort of person who likes waiting for others."
With that, Haimer didn't spare another look for the elf who had completely lost her temper. He simply turned around, carrying the silver spear in hand, and began walking toward the mouth of the alley.
The sound of his footsteps slowly faded.
Ryuu remained seated on the ground, watching that figure disappear deeper into the night, her heart filled with a tangled mess of emotions.
Humiliation, relief, confusion.
And a faint, nameless sense of frustration.
This god…
He possessed martial skill so overwhelming it drove people to despair. He had clearly caught hold of her weakness.
And yet the only demand he made was something that almost felt like a joke.
Did all truly powerful people behave like this?
Did they simply not care about other things?
Or, was there some deeper scheme hidden underneath it all?
At that thought, Ryuu clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms.
"Please… wait!"
As though finally making up her mind about something, Ryuu looked up and called toward Haimer's back just before he vanished around the corner.
Haimer paused and turned his head slightly.
"Does the elf lady still have something to say?"
"No…"
"Nothing."
In the end, Ryuu still couldn't say the name.
Syr Flova.
The clumsy girl at The Hostess of Fertility who always wore a gentle smile, the girl who had picked up her battered, dying self two years ago.
The light she had sworn to protect with her life for the rest of her days.
…
Although Haimer knew perfectly well that the name Ryuu wanted to say was Syr, he didn't stop again.
His figure shifted once, and then he disappeared into the shadow around the corner.
Only Ryuu remained in the empty alley.
The night wind swept through, carrying with it a few dry yellow leaves.
At last, Ryuu's rigid shoulders sagged.
No matter what, tomorrow she would have to find a chance to test Syr's reaction and see whether she knew this black-haired god.
…
As for the other side.
Because this little matter had delayed him for some time, when Haimer returned to the residence, he saw under the streetlamp not far down the road that Tsubaki was already there.
And behind her stood Amou, Tsukuyo, and the rest of the girls.
"Yo!"
"Lord Haimer!"
The moment she spotted him returning, Tsubaki immediately raised a hand and called out.
"Did you just go out for a bit?"
Haimer walked over with a smile.
"That's right. I just went out to walk off dinner a little."
"I didn't expect you all to move this quickly."
"Heh!"
"Of course!"
"It was only a few clothes and some odds and ends. It didn't take much time."
"Besides…"
"I figured the sooner we moved everything over, the sooner these little monsters could get some rest."
"They've had more than enough excitement for one day."
"Miss Tsubaki is right."
Haimer nodded lightly in agreement.
But from the corner of his eye, he noticed that not far behind them, there was a large wooden barrel.
On this wide street, a big wooden barrel already looked suspiciously out of place.
And what made it worse was that from the top of the barrel, two extremely conspicuous black twin-tails were sticking out.
More absurd still, the Hestia hiding inside apparently had no idea how terrible her disguise was.
The barrel was still inching forward.
And those two twin-tails were bobbing up and down with it.
…
At that sight, even a god could only feel a deep, helpless exhaustion.
Haimer sighed, then raised his voice toward the barrel.
"You can come out now."
"Hestia."
…
The barrel froze instantly.
Bang!
With a light thump, the lid was shoved off from inside and flew into the air.
Hestia's puffed-up little face popped out, smeared with soot from rubbing around inside the barrel.
At that point, Haimer could only shake his head helplessly.
"Come inside and wash up too."
Tsubaki also looked utterly speechless.
"Lady Hestia… don't tell me you've really been hiding in that barrel and following us this whole time?"
"Hmph! So what if I was!"
Hestia puffed out her cheeks and lifted her chin proudly.
"Haimer invited me personally this time!"