“I’m heeeeerreee!!!” I cried out, bursting into what I’m now calling the sweets room.
Emilia was already waiting for me inside and as she had agreed with me, prepared an entire table’s worth of sweets and pastries.
“Oh, hello Lady Aster! I’ve prepared the best desserts for you just as we have agreed!”
Ahhh! She really knows how to spoil me!
I quickly dug into my pocket and took out the prepared payment, “And here’s the dragon scale for them!”
Emilia’s eyes immediately changed to money symbols as she took that scale from me, scurrying away to the corner to fuss over it as soon as she received it.
That left me the entire table full of my sweets and pastries to enjoy~
I immediately dove into it, pausing just long enough to grab a couple of them to shove inside my Pack of Folding for the other girls later since I came here without them. I simply told them I was going to find Emilia and they understood I was going to get my sweets and let me prance off on my own.
Katsuki wanted to follow me but I decided she didn’t need to since I’ll probably be too absorbed in my sweets anyway.
And sure enough, I was lost in pastry heaven the moment I started devouring the goodies laid out on the table for me.
Mnnnngghh!!! It truly is perfect!!
It may just be my imagination, but I think the sweets today were better than the last batch! Maybe she specifically told them to make it nicer for me?
Ahhhh~ I could kiss you Emilia!
Ahhh~ The cookies had the perfect blend of chocolate and dough~ And these eclairs were chilled just right~ Oh! These puddings too! They’re perfect!
I stuffed myself with all the sweets that were arranged in front of me, completely lost in enjoying the delicacies until they were all gone.
I licked up the whipped cream and chocolate from my fingers before letting out a contented sigh.
“That was so good~” I moaned, still enjoying the sweet taste that was lingering on my tongue.
I turned back to see Emilia busy polishing the dragon scale I had given her with a cloth, her face also one of ecstasy while her eyes were still in the shape of money symbols.
Well, I already know she likes money already so that wasn’t too surprising. The thing that surprised me was that she could spend this much time just polishing one dragon scale?
She then carefully placed the scale in a box before wrapping it up in cloth and sliding it into the sleeves of her kimono.
That was when she finally realised I was done.
“Oh! Lady Aster! Were the sweets to your liking?”
I grinned at her, “Oh they most definitely were! Did you do something special to them this time? They taste better than last time!”𝒐𝓋𝓛xt.𝒸𝞸𝔪
“Ah, about that… Your attendant came to tell us how you like your sweets so we made some adjustments to our usual sweets.”
Oh! She must be talking about Katsuki! To think she actually did this for me, you’re just so cute! I’m definitely going back later to fluff her tail! It’s been a while since I last fluffed it after all~
I was just considering if I should hand over another Infant Dragon scale for making something so good when the door suddenly burst open to slam against the wall.
Emilia immediately leapt onto her feet with her hand grabbing the handle of her katana, the Nekomata drawing her blade halfway out of her sheath before stopping herself when she realised who it was.
“Oh, whoops, sorry about that! I didn’t have any hands to open the door with!” Odeta laughed, appearing from the doorway with Sariena, the woman I rescued, in her arms.
Eh? I thought it hurt to even move her? Did Lisa help her recover or something?
“What are you both doing here and how did you even know about this place? Did Lady Aster tell you?” Emilia asked.
Odeta nodded at the woman in her arms, “I dunno, this girl was insisting that she had to speak to you no matter what so I carried her here. She’s the one who told me where to go.”
Emilia’s gaze switched to Sariena, “You… Guided her here?”
Sariena nodded quickly, “We have no time! I found one of the people who were responsible for my injury! I think they’re making their move right now!”
The Nekomata beside me did not seem to hear her as she ended up drawing her blade anyway to point at the woman in Odeta’s arms.
“The only people who know about this place are my aides. Lady Aster found this place by following me so for an outsider like you to know this place… You’re one of them aren’t you?!”
Sariena seemed a little shocked at the accusation but before she could answer that, Prifa came in and made her presence known.
“Boss? We have a problem…” Our assigned maid reported.
Emilia did not move her gaze from Sariena but lifted her chin slightly to show acknowledgement, “What’s the problem?”
Just as Prifa opened her mouth to speak again, the ship suddenly shook violently and the sounds of explosions echoed from around the ship.
For the briefest of moments, Emilia’s gaze shifted up towards the ceiling where the loudest of the explosions came from.
At that moment, I saw Prifa take out something from under her skirt to toss towards Emilia.
My instincts immediately screamed that it was not something I wanted to be close to so I reacted by using my Aeromancy to conjure up a gust of wind that blew the object back towards Prifa.
Fortunately, that proved to be the right decision as the thing exploded a moment later.
Prifa only had time to widen her eyes in surprise before the upper half of her body was engulfed in the ensuing explosion, killing her instantly.
Unfortunately, the force of the explosion was large enough to tear a hole in the wall behind us and all of us were thrown back through the hole.
What was even more unfortunate was the fact that this seemed to have been the edge of the ship as the hole led out into open sea and I found myself falling towards the waters below.
I prepared to flare my wings to stop my fall but I saw Emilia, Odeta and Sariena falling as well.
Odeta should know how to swim but Sariena definitely can’t with her legs right now. As for Emilia… I’m going to assume that someone who spends most of her time at sea would know how to swim?
Making a split second decision, I dived down towards them to try and save them.
Diving into the sea, I was not prepared for how cold the waters were at this time of the night and my body froze up in shock for a moment.
I quickly shook myself out of it and tried to find where the others were, only to have something explode somewhere in the water and send me tumbling away in the ensuing shockwave.
I clawed at the water as multiple explosions started happening around me, not close enough to do any damage but the shockwaves were enough to throw me around the water and disorient me.
When it finally calmed down enough, my lungs were already burning from the lack of air and I fought to keep myself from panicking.
I followed the direction the air bubbles were floating and swam in the same direction, finally breaking through the surface, only to hear thunder rumble above me.
Oh great, there’s a storm happening right now as well?! What’s with the timing?!
Plus, Prifa was also a traitor too?! Emilia, you need better recruitment policies!
A wave crashed into me and I went under again.
Right, now isn’t the time to think about other things.
I tried to look for the three of them and I found Odeta and Emilia easily enough. The only problem was that they were both surrounded by mermaids and by the looks of their weapons, they were not there to save them.
And as though that wasn’t surprising enough, Sariena was with the mermaids too, her legs having transformed into a fish tail.
This bitch… She couldn’t walk not because of something dealt to her but because she doesn’t have bipedal legs to begin with! That arrow must have been shot from one of Emilia’s guards when they caught her and Priefa was an accomplice!
Ok, taking Sariena in was my fault but you still need to go and check out how your HR is handling your hiring process, Emilia.
The mermaids brandished their harpoons and started swimming towards Odeta and Emilia from all directions, clearly aiming at skewering them with it.
Not good.
I never actually fought underwater before and my Hydromancy is only at tier one. What can I do against them?!
I was just about to try and summon a ball of light to distract them when Emilia lowered her waist before her sword slashed out in an arc.
The mermaids that were within a certain radius in front of her were immediately beheaded and I swear I saw the water part for a split second before joining back together again.
She then flipped herself upside down and slashed out her sword again, this time cutting off the heads of the mermaids in front of Odeta as well.
Just like that, most of the attackers were already dealt with.
Holy hell!! That is so cool Emilia!! Can you teach me that move?!