Maid Linne Makes Her Entrance

This white-haired loli actually wants Dugu Qing to conceal his mana. Does she take me for a blind fool?!

Standing in the dark alley, Linne felt that her intelligence had been underestimated.

She looked at a nearby street stall covered in ladies' hats of every style, and a brand-new, thrilling plan quickly took shape in her mind.

What was more, she had to put it into action immediately. She couldn't waste a single second.

I rarely appear before humans. If I hide my demon horns with a hat and then use Imitation Magic to turn into an ordinary person, Dugu Qing and the others shouldn't notice who I am.

Linne covered her demon horns, dashed out of the alley, snatched a pink, high-crowned court hat from the stall's mat, and vanished at the speed of light.

The hat seller saw only a pink figure flash through the air before a hat disappeared from the stall.

"You damned thief! Stealing my hats again! Are the men of Granat all this repressed?!"

The stall owner flew into a rage, his furious roar shaking the surroundings.

Linne returned to the alley and put the hat on her head, perfectly concealing her two horns.

Expressionless, she walked out of the alley, entered the inn, and headed straight for the room where she sensed Dugu Qing's mana.

"Knock, knock, knock~"

As she gently knocked on the door, Linne's heart began to race. Her expression, unchanged for decades and centuries, finally thawed like an iceberg. Shy as a human girl, she waited for Dugu Qing's answer.

"Is that you, Fern?"

Dugu Qing had just gone to bed. Hearing the noise, he thought it was Fern and opened the door in a daze.

It's him! It really is him!

Looking at Dugu Qing right in front of her, Linne's lips curled slightly into a gentle, bashful smile, like that of a lovestruck girl.

The imposing indifference innate to demons was now sealed away completely at the bottom of an abyss.

She looked at Dugu Qing with eyes full of fascination and admiration, no different from a human girl.

"A maid? Are you an inn employee?"

Linne wore a simple red-and-white court dress. Her waist was slender, black ribbons wound around her well-proportioned legs, and her skirt was fluffy and soft, light as a cloud. It resembled the Japanese maid outfits Dugu Qing had seen before.

So Dugu Qing naturally assumed that Linne was a maid at the inn.

"A maid? Big brother, you're so clever."

Linne had come to find Dugu Qing playing the part of a maid.

She had originally thought it would take some talking to fool him, but she hadn't expected Dugu Qing to be so easy to deceive.

He had been fooled at a glance by the occupation her maid outfit represented.

This is wonderful!

"What do you need me for in the middle of the night?"

"Would you like a late-night snack? Our inn offers free snacks at night."

Linne's palms were sweating as she looked at Dugu Qing expectantly.

"Eating at night is bad for the stomach and intestines."

Hearing that, Dugu Qing slammed the door shut.

He closed the door just like that? Damn you, Dugu Qing! Once Lady Aura gets here, I'll lock you in a cave and teach you a proper lesson!

Linne clenched her delicate fists, her face flushed red with anxiety and anger. She wanted nothing more than to kick the door open.

But then she thought of the powerful mana radiating from Dugu Qing, and of Frieren right next door.

Linne chose to endure it.

She found the innkeeper and successfully applied for a job as an inn maid on the condition that she wouldn't be paid.

At one in the morning, at the Earl's residence.

Lügner sat on the Earl's throne, swirling the red wine in his glass.

"Linne's been gone so long. Why hasn't she come back yet?"

Draht knelt on one knee, a hand over his heart. "My lord, do you need me to look for Linne?"

Lügner was deep in the heart of human territory, surrounded by human armies, and needed his subordinate nearby as a deterrent, so he could only refuse.

"No. Our priority now is to remove the barrier. Once it's down, our mission will be complete."

"But Granat Earl still refuses to remove it. I searched his house and found nothing about the magic behind the barrier. I'm afraid it's been passed down by word of mouth."

Draht was deeply dismayed that he hadn't obtained a scrap of useful information from Granat Earl.

"In that case, let's not wait any longer. Lady Aura's Obedience Magic is invincible. As long as I hand Granat Earl over to her, what is a mere barrier to us?"

Lügner rose, grabbed Granat Earl's body, and took a carriage out of the city.

Aura, one of the Seven Sages of Destruction, was a top demon expert. After the Demon King fell, she became one of the strongest contenders to be the new Demon King.

She specialized in Obedience Magic and could use the Scales of Obedience.

As long as her opponent had less mana than Aura, they would be controlled and turned into a puppet.

There were two types of puppets. The first had not been beheaded. Their bodies and mana remained intact, and although their actions were controlled by Aura's commands, they could still use magic.

The second type was the headless puppet. These puppets had been beheaded, their consciousness dispersed, leaving only their bodies. Unable to use mana on their own, they could only carry out simple physical commands.

Lügner was taking Granat Earl out of the city so that Aura could turn him into the first type of puppet and remove the barrier above the Earl's domain.

Early the next morning.

Dugu Qing was sleeping soundly and still hadn't gotten up by eight.

Linne, however, had woken early. She had closed her eyes at eleven the previous night, but tossed and turned in bed until she finally fell asleep at two in the morning. At three, she woke up because she missed Dugu Qing.

She had endured it until now, when she heard movement in Dugu Qing's room.

Linne put milk, bread, and eggs on a tray at the speed of light, hurried to Dugu Qing's room with her high heels clacking, and knocked hard on the door.

Dugu Qing opened the door and welcomed Linne inside.

Linne deftly set the food on the table, but her expression was stiff, much like that of the demon he had seen yesterday.

Dugu Qing couldn't help growing a little suspicious.

This person's expression doesn't change at all. She's a lot like a demon!

"These are complimentary from the inn. If there's anything else you need, please let me know."

Holding the tray, Linne faced Dugu Qing, a sweet, radiant smile spreading across her face.

How could a smile like that appear on a demon's face?

Seeing Linne's smile, Dugu Qing let down his guard and saw her out.

Fern opened her door and was about to go downstairs when she turned and saw a beautiful girl in a maid outfit walking out of Dugu Qing's room.

She stared in disbelief. Her sense of crisis erupted, and an unparalleled divine strength arose within her body.

She raced up to Linne at the speed of a hundred-meter sprint, abandoned all restraint and elegance, and unceremoniously pressed her forehead against Linne's.

"Where did you come from?! What were you doing in Dugu Qing's room?!"

Linne froze for a moment. The hat concealing her horns was knocked off her head and fell to the floor.