Sorry, Miss Lyu (Continued)

Below the waterfall, a green-haired, long-eared girl scooped up a handful of clear spring water and poured it over her flawless white body.

"Alise, Kaguya!"

As she placed her beautiful body back into the clear spring water, memories of the past flooded her eyes.

"Does a filthy elf like me really deserve to continue living?"

The question kept repeating in the girl's mind; five years had not healed the pain in her heart.

Over the past five years, she has often been awakened at night by the nightmare she had five years ago. She doesn't know if there is any meaning to her current aimless and confused existence.

"Who is it!"

Even with the loud sound of spring water crashing against rocks, the crisp sound of branches breaking in the distance did not escape the girl's ears.

Tragically, she didn't have such keen observation skills before; this ability to observe her environment was a skill she developed during her complete downfall.

"Sorry, I didn't know anyone was taking a shower here!"

"I just heard the sound of water from a distance and wanted to come and see the scenery."

The man hiding behind the big tree never expected that he would be discovered by the girl when he quietly left.

As the man gradually revealed his figure, the girl, who was clutching her shirt to cover her upper body with one hand, suddenly widened her eyes.

"Mr. Spengler, what are you doing here?"

Upon hearing the girl's familiar voice, William suddenly opened his eyes, which had been tightly closed since he came out.

"Miss Ryu, what are you doing here?"

"I'm all dressed, Mr. Spengler, you can come out now."

Ryu, who had just buttoned up the top of her shorts and was holding a wooden sword, blushed and whispered to the tree where William was hiding.

Despite having her body completely exposed by a strange man, Ryu felt only shame, not anger, because she understood that it wasn't William's fault.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Ryu."

William, emerging again from behind the tree, solemnly apologized to Liu, having come to understand in the past few days just how fastidious the elves of this world were about cleanliness.

Let alone the opposite sex, even if someone of the same sex dares to touch their bodies without their permission, it would definitely cause a bloodbath.

Not to mention that he, a grown man, had seen the body of a young girl. Even an ordinary girl would normally draw her knife and charge at him now, let alone an elf with mysophobia.

Besides, he'd been dining at the Hostess of Fertility quite often these past few days, and he'd witnessed firsthand the miserable fate of any adventurer who dared to flirt with Ryu.

"It's alright, it wasn't Mr. Spengler's fault."

"I've always been the only one here before, I never imagined anyone would discover this place."

"So it was my own oversight, Mr. Spengler, please don't blame yourself."

Liu hurriedly put on her clothes, shook off the water droplets still clinging to her hair, and strolled over to William.

"Even so, it's still my fault in the end. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, Miss Ryu, please just let me know."

Faced with the man who repeatedly apologized to her, the last lingering unhappiness in Liu's heart vanished.

Even though she understands that the problem lies with herself, Ryu is still a young girl, and she will still feel uncomfortable about having her body seen by a man.

"I have nothing to offer Mr. Spengler as compensation for, so I'll be leaving now as I have other matters to attend to."

Liu shook her head and prepared to leave. She still needed to visit the graves of her former companions. She had taken a bath there earlier to cleanse herself before paying respects to them.

Moreover, she only asked Mia's mother for one day off, as she would have to return to the shop to work after the adventurers from Rivira finished clearing out Goliath that evening.

"Miss Ryu, are you here to pay respects to your companions from your time with the Astraea Familia?"

The wooden sword, moving with lightning speed, traced a semi-circle in the air and came to rest at William's throat.

A chilling killing intent gleamed in Liu's eyes, the same look she had when she wantonly slaughtered the remnants of the Evilus in the past.

"Who are you? How do you know you are Ryu Leon of the Asteria Familia?"

"Don't get so agitated!"

William took a slight step back, narrowly dodging the girl's sword tip, but Liu's wooden sword relentlessly pressed forward.

"I know these things were told to me by Loki, and also by my master's stories."

"You mean Loki knows I work for Mother Mia?"

Ryu was taken aback; she was an adventurer from the same era as Ais and Bete.

Back then, she and Alise had quite a bit of contact with members of the Loki Familia.

But after she got into trouble and started working at Mia's mother's shop, she changed her hairstyle and dyed her hair green.

At first, she was worried that her simple disguise would be easily discovered, causing unnecessary trouble for kind-hearted Mia's mother and Syr.

However, some acquaintances from other Familia she met later did not recognize her attire, which reassured her and allowed her to settle down with the Hostess of Fertility.

"Miss Ryu, you don't actually think that someone with a discerning eye wouldn't notice your current disguise, do you?"

"The Loki Familia's Book Repository contains your old photos and documents."

"At least to me, you haven't changed at all."

As a seasoned master of disguise, William is now very curious about where Ryu's confidence in her transformations comes from.

"That can't be right. If it's that obvious, why haven't the guild members come to arrest me yet?"

Ryu still felt that William's words were somewhat contradictory.

She killed quite a few people in the guild who colluded with the Evilus back then.

Back then, the guild frequently commissioned adventurers to hunt her down, and even now, her bounty posters are still piled up under the guild's files.

"If I were to analyze this matter, I think someone must have bribed the guild to render the wanted poster worthless and save you!"

"Who would go to such lengths to protect me!"

When Ryu heard William's first words, her first thought was that it was impossible.