Round Two Ends; Round Three, an Even Fiercer and More Spectacular Clash Among the Gods, Begins at Once! (Continued)

After slipping Rhine a room key, the bunny-eared girl gave him a flirtatious wink and sashayed away.

Rhine smiled,

then tossed the key into the trash.

Meanwhile,

in White Vulture's room, two communication arrays were activated.

The voices of the other two demigods in the Demon Sword Sisterhood came through to White Vulture.

The three demigods of the Demon Sword Sisterhood had originally been carrying out missions in different parts of the mortal world.

But after hearing about the upheaval in the Golden Land,

even the two demigods who were outsiders to the situation immediately realized that things were going badly.

"The Hain Empire's Prince killed Golsmith, causing the Golden Land to spiral completely out of control? Captain, we have to handle this carefully."

"The goblins can't keep the Golden Land under control anymore. The dwarves will probably take it back before long. When that happens... do you think they'll honor the goblins' debts?"

In response to her demigod sisters' questions,

White Vulture's answer was: either was possible.

The Demon Sword Sisterhood had a long-term partnership with the Golden Land.

At the moment, the Golden Land still owed the Sisterhood several payments.

And compared to the treacherous, cunning goblins, the dwarves could be called downright honest and dependable.

They were usually warm and amiable, and easy to get along with. But once roused to anger, those rampaging honest folk would make their provokers understand just how brutal dwarves could be.

So, depending on the mood of whichever dwarf faction occupied the Golden Land first,

the Demon Sword Sisterhood really did have a chance of collecting the payment they were owed.

However.

"Sisters, you haven't been to the Golden Land, so there are some things you don't know..."

White Vulture murmured dreamily, "The problem now... isn't the money at all..."

The Golden Land was a reliable employer,

but the Demon Sword Sisterhood was the strongest mercenary organization in the mortal world, with three demigods.

They had no trouble finding work.

But there was someone in the Golden Land now who had captured the hearts of the entire Sisterhood, making none of them willing to leave...

Rhine Hyun, Prince of the Hain Empire.

The members of the Demon Sword Sisterhood had never before seen with their own eyes the most nobly born man in the entire mortal world.

That face, those eyes, were simply...

enough to make even the sun and moon pale in comparison!!

And among all the Sisterhood's members stationed in the Golden Land, the one most infatuated with Rhine was their captain, White Vulture.

White Vulture had faced off against Rhine Hyun and witnessed the Prince's charm firsthand.

And with a demigod's powerful senses, she had also discovered things about the Prince that she couldn't forget, no matter how hard she tried.

In short,

as a deformed race cursed by the gods and unable to reproduce normally,

the Demon Sword Sisterhood had never shied away from their desire for life.

Let's be frank.

They wanted to perform the Azalea Secret Ritual with Rhine Hyun!!

White Vulture ended her call with her two demigod sisters.

The final decision was for White Vulture to remain in the Golden Land and watch how things unfolded.

Her two sisters would also prepare to provide support at any moment.

White Vulture stepped out of her room.

There was someone she wanted to see now.

She went to the Golden Land's aboveground fortress, where she found her target on a rooftop terrace.

The Hain Empire's Demigod Imperial Guard,

Hela Hain.

Hela looked a little different today.

The unrest in the Golden Land had kept her awake all night. Now she stood at the edge of the rooftop, gazing at the bleak, barren landscape in the distance.

Hela's thoughts were even more tangled.

White Vulture said, "Relax. I'm just a mercenary. I have no ill will toward you or His Highness Rhine. Speaking of which, the scenery here is pretty awful, isn't it?"

White Vulture walked over to Hela and said with a smile, "This is the dwarves' sacred land, and also the richest gold vein in the entire mortal world. The Golden Dwarves used a mysterious form of alchemy we can't understand to transform the vitality of the earth into solid gold, burying it layer upon layer underground. They made long preparations for the ultimate ritual in their covenant with the gods—until their nation fell and their people died out."

White Vulture asked with a smile, "What do you think those Golden Dwarves were trying to do?"

White Vulture had removed all her weapons and every battle blessing on her body. She was showing Hela through her actions that she hadn't come to fight.

And Hela knew that.

But as for White Vulture's question,

Hela couldn't have cared less. "Does it matter?"

White Vulture chuckled and asked in return, "Doesn't it? I heard you liked gold. Why didn't you grab some while everything was in chaos last night?"

That was right...

Hela had once really liked gold.

Come to think of it, even Hela herself found it a little strange. The Golden Land had erupted into chaos last night. More than a dozen vaults had been blown open by dwarf miners, and all the gold inside had been snatched up.

Wasn't this exactly the kind of thing Hela would have loved?

She could have used spatial teleportation to steal the Golden Land's gold, then pinned all the blame on the rampaging dwarves.

She'd have made a fortune without lifting a finger!

And yet last night, Hela had just curled up under the covers, sleepless all night...

Thinking about it made Hela feel even worse!

She suddenly realized.

She had been wrong.

This mercenary had come here to pick a fight! She was provoking Hela, trying to rile her up!!

This was a taunting declaration of war!

—You picked the wrong opponent, bitch!!

With nowhere to vent her pent-up resentment, Hela's gaze turned icy. She turned her head, about to tear open space and draw her weapon so they could fight—

But then she saw... White Vulture looking at her with admiration.

"Relax, I get it. You must be doing it for your beloved Prince Rhine!"

White Vulture said admiringly, "You two are really something. To be honest, I just wanted to ask you about His Highness Rhine. You two seem so close."

White Vulture looked full of admiration. "[Self-censorship]"

Huh?

What?

Uh... uh...

That was how she'd interpreted it?

Hela's smile turned awkward and strange. She wasn't sure how to respond.

But White Vulture tilted her head. Seeing that Hela's expression was off, she suddenly thought of a possibility and realized with a start:

"I see. Maybe I was reading too much into it?! So you're actually just being left out, next door—"

A scythe radiating terrifying killing intent appeared at White Vulture's throat in an instant.

Hela said, "Nope."

White Vulture said, "Ah, uh..."

Hela said, "Nope."

White Vulture said, "Okay, okay, I get it, Miss Hela. I don't want to be your enemy. P-please put your weapon down..."

Hela said, "I said, nope."

White Vulture said, "Mercy, please..."

Because she'd said the wrong thing, White Vulture had nearly been hacked to death by Hela.

After making a hasty escape from Hela,

White Vulture had also gotten the information she wanted.

White Vulture had actually been curious about something. The Hain Empire's Imperial Guards had a tradition of chastity, so how had Hela gotten together with her Prince?

After sounding her out, White Vulture finally understood... so that was what was going on.

LMAO,

what a miserable Imperial Guard!

The pitiful daughter of Order was bound by the iron laws set by the Mother Goddess. No matter how much she loved someone, she couldn't take even half a step over the line.

But,

White Vulture didn't believe in Order.

As a cursed race that had made its own path, the Demon Sword Sisterhood had no faith and no gods. The Azalea Secret Ritual that had given them new life was everything to them.

White Vulture knew Rhine Hyun's secret. She knew that Rhine Hyun's visit to the Golden Land wasn't simply to pay a courtesy call or arrange a loan.

This man...

He had just gotten his hands on the supreme holy relic the dwarves had coveted for tens of millions of years—New Single-Handed Sword 01!

So his visit to the Golden Land—and even his killing of Golsmith, which had plunged the place into chaos and disorder—had to be all about helping him seize the Golden Land's treasure for himself!

Excellent!

Since Rhine Hyun wanted to open up the Golden Land, White Vulture would help him do it!

Though of course, her beloved Prince would have to pay White Vulture a little something for her trouble...

Slurp.

White Vulture licked her lips.

Just thinking about Rhine made her mouth water!

Knock, knock, knock.

"Your Highness? Prince Rhine?"

White Vulture knocked on Rhine's door.

Soon,

Rhine Hyun opened the door and appeared before White Vulture.