Sorry, you scumbag woman, you can do whatever you want.

This shrine maiden is unprofessional.

“…Go take a shower.” Möbius, holding a towel and drying his wet hair, looked at Kikyo sitting on the sofa and asked, “Do you need me to teach you how to use it?”

"No need, I've already washed up," Kikyo shook her head slightly in refusal.

Mebius didn't mind, sat down next to Kikyo, handed her a towel and said, "My priestess, it's time for you to serve me."

"..." Kikyo remained silent, took the soft towel, and dried Möbius's hair. Now, as long as she unleashed her exorcising spiritual power, she could make Möbius's head disappear.

but.

"Not bad. Do you often dry people's hair?" Mebius squinted comfortably, perfectly cooperating with Kikyo's movements, without the slightest suspicion, as if she didn't know that the person drying her hair was the strongest priestess of this era.

She wasn't worried at all that the other party might suddenly attack and take her life.

“I occasionally dry Xiaofeng’s hair,” Kikyo explained coolly, her movements very gentle as she patiently dried Möbius’s hair, choosing not to do so at this moment.

“It seems you’re quite good at taking care of children,” Möbius chuckled. “In the future, when we have children, we won’t need to worry about their education.”

"..." Kikyo paused slightly while drying her hair, then continued as if nothing had happened, ignoring Möbius's wicked joke and naturally changing the subject, "Why did you choose me to be the priestess?"

"Well," Möbius hesitated slightly, then asked Kikyo, "do you want to hear the truth, or a lie?"

"The truth," Kikyo replied. She was very eager to know what Möbius was thinking, and why he had come to Maple Village specifically to threaten her into becoming a priestess.

If Mebius intended to eat her to increase his demonic power, she could understand, but Mebius did not do so, and his attitude towards her was... very gentle and friendly.

“I was just passing by when I noticed you were beautiful and very strong,” Mebius replied. “So, to avoid wasting resources, I decided to take you as my own and make you my priestess.”

"..." Kikyo fell silent, not expecting things to turn out this way. How was this any different from the nobles and samurai who forcibly abducted women? She was actually being threatened by Mebius because of this.

"A lie?" she asked softly.

“Because you are the strongest priestess, and you’re also beautiful,” Mebius replied. “It feels very prestigious to have you as my priestess.”

"Is there a difference?" Kikyo asked, receiving a confident reply.

“Yes, one was a spur-of-the-moment decision made while passing by, and the other was premeditated.” Möbius chuckled. “Isn’t the difference between them significant enough?”

"..." Kikyo didn't speak, but pursed her cherry lips and silently increased the pressure of wiping Möbius's hair, no longer as gentle as before.

However, it wasn't very forceful.

after a while.

“It feels really nice to be served by a priestess.” Mebius stretched, brushed a strand of hair behind his ear, and spoke to Kikyo, who was folding towels beside him.

"My priestess, come and serve me in bed."

"..." Kikyo didn't speak, but handed the folded towel to Möbius. Meeting Möbius's emerald eyes, she said in a cool voice, "It's getting late, please get some rest."

After saying that, she turned and left, opened the villa door, and hurriedly disappeared into the night, without going to serve him in bed as Mebius had requested.

Mebius blinked and noticed that Kikyo had disappeared rather quickly, as if she were being chased by a wild beast. She had been calm and composed before, and even when she was being coerced, she still had a calm expression on her face.

At this point, I started to panic.

That was just the duty of an ordinary shrine maiden. There's a saying that shrine maidens are the brides of gods, so it's normal for them to serve the gods in bed... right?

"Never mind, I should get down to business." Shaking her head, she left the villa, intending to capture two monsters for research to understand their life forms.

……

……

The sound of a branch snapping underfoot echoed through the dark forest, attracting predators lurking in the shadows. Pairs of green eyes drew closer to the source of the sound, and with the rustling of the grass, they blocked all escape routes.

After a while.

"My lord, please spare my life!" With a thud, a monster with a huge wolf head knelt on the ground, prostrating himself. Beside him were dozens of wild wolves, also lying on the ground making whimpering noises. They had no predator spirit whatsoever, and were like domesticated dogs that had lost their wildness.

Mebius looked at the cowardly wolf in front of her. She hadn't even made a move; she had only exchanged a glance with it, and the wolf had immediately knelt down, leaving her completely astonished.

What happened to the monsters that were supposed to be extremely cruel and warlike?

"Little monster, do you want to eat me?" She squatted down in front of the wolf demon and reached out to stroke its furry head. "You've got guts, why did you suddenly give up?"

"How dare I offend you, little one?" the wolf demon pleaded. "I was so hungry that I didn't notice your identity as a great demon and thought you were a human."

"Don't I look human?" Mebius retorted, pinching and tugging at the wolf demon's ears, but the wolf demon kneeling before her offered no resistance.

Rather, they were very cooperative.

"...If you think you are human, then you are human; if you think you are not human, then you are not human. I completely agree with your opinion." The wolf demon crawled even lower, his voice very sincere.

"Why do I feel like you're as cunning as a human?" Mebius smiled gently and patted the wolf's head. "Little monster, I'll allow you to say your name."

"I am Wolf Yegan." The wolf demon readily gave his name, and breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad he had survived and made the right choice when he sensed the danger.

“Little monster, stand up.” Mebius stood up and looked around. “Are there any other monsters around here?”

"My lord, I am Wolf Yegan." The wolf demon stood up cooperatively, recalled who he had a bad relationship with, and then bowed to Mebius with a silly smile.

"Yes, there is a powerful monster nearby."

"Take me there." Mebius said succinctly, and Wolfman naturally dared not refuse. He took Mebius to find his rival, determined not to let him suffer alone.

If you're going to die, at least take someone you don't get along with with you down with you.

……

……

"Spare me, sir!"

A familiar plea for mercy rang out, and a female monster with a naked upper body and the lower body of a centipede collapsed to the ground, begging for mercy in a mournful voice.

"I have no disrespectful intentions toward you!"

"..." Mebius remained silent, staring at the centipede in front of her. Why did they cower so quickly? She only wanted to catch lab rats for research, so why were they begging for mercy so eagerly?

They don't even try to see if they can win.

“I think you do,” she said, and the centipede sobbed uncontrollably, her voice mournful and merciless, wiping away her tears and begging for mercy.

"Absolutely not! I have the utmost respect for you. If I have any disrespectful thoughts, may I be struck by lightning, my soul be scattered, and my body be left without a trace!" she swore, her voice filled with grievance.

This... makes it a little embarrassing to take action and use them as guinea pigs.

"...Are there any other monsters around here?" Mebius shook his head and asked the centipede.

"Yes!" the centipede answered immediately, then, after considering who she didn't get along with, said to Mebius, "There's a ghoul nearby."

"Take me there." Mebius nodded slightly, letting the centipede lead the way to the location of the so-called ghoul.

however.

With a thud, the male-looking ghoul knelt on the ground, placing the samurai sword at his waist in front of him. His voice was extremely sincere, "Please spare my life. If there is anything you need my help with, please don't hesitate to ask."

Mebius: "..."

Was she opening it the wrong way, or was she too scary? Why do these monsters cower in her presence? Monsters shouldn't be so cowardly; they should at least test her strength.

"My lord, if you want to catch a monster," Wolf Wild Man leaned closer, "why don't you let us catch it? You don't need to show up and scare people. This... will definitely work out."

“Yes, yes, yes.” The centipede beside her nodded frantically, worried that Mebius might get impatient and capture her or kill them, which would be a terrible injustice.

“It’s not impossible.” Without refusing, Mebius readily agreed. She wasn’t worried about the centipede and the wolf scavenger escaping. If they dared to run away, she would just capture them and use them as guinea pigs for research.

But if we can capture other monsters to use as guinea pigs... it wouldn't be a bad deal.

"Alright, sir, please wait a moment." Wolf rubbed his hands together, gave the centipede next to him a wink, then kicked the kneeling ghoul, and the three of them went to catch another unlucky guy.

Mebius ignored the three departing figures and instead pondered why she could frighten monsters. Perhaps it was due to her strength that made the little monsters so afraid of her that they cowered and dared not oppose her.

However, there must be some other reasons behind this.

"Is it my spirit?" she speculated. Most of the monsters in this world were born from people's fears and perceptions, and were essentially closely related to humans.

In this respect, there is a high degree of overlap with the Spirit Rank system. However, the Spirit Rank system clearly has a better upper limit and is more related to the essence. It just so happens that her Spirit Rank "Infinite Serpent" has a high enough rank.

Therefore, it is possible to better suppress weaker monsters.

Of course, these are just speculations at the moment. Maybe the little monsters they encountered were all cowardly, which is why they didn't go through any battle and immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.

In short, more verification is needed.

A few minutes later.

The three monsters, Wolf, Centipede, and Corpse Demon, brought back a crow larger than a goose. The crow, which had been struggling and screaming, fell silent the moment it saw Mebius.

The fear and dread were extremely evident.

Chapter 116

Demon Gu Cave

The next day.

The sky was just beginning to lighten.

The villagers who came out to work stared in disbelief at the extremely luxurious mansion that had sprung up overnight, despite its very unfamiliar and strange style.