Become their wicked yet gentle lord.

Chapter 13 Hot Springs and Snow Spirits

Go to sleep, you have things to do tomorrow...

The whispered words slipped through the cracks in the wooden planks, carried away by the wind and snow into the distance.

On the cliff opposite the wooden house, a figure in ethereal blue stood on the moonlit snow, putting away its listening magic and gazing with icy blue eyes at the wooden house where a faint light shone through the darkness.

"I heard something interesting, and I never expected that the red-haired, violent woman would have such a side."

"Ha, the sound of her voice is all distorted from being fucked by that younger brat, like a beast in heat, how shameful."

"The current terrain and environment are in my favor, but... I can't let my guard down, can I? While I recover and become stronger, the other side probably won't be idle either. Besides... the main objective now is..."

Awoo~~~~

The howling of a pack of snow wolves echoed from the darkness, and the figure turned to gaze into the deeper icy snowfields.

As the first rays of dawn shone through the cracks in the wooden planks, Ryuka opened her eyes early and began packing her things, preparing to leave...

After finishing his work, he glanced at Hetia, who was still familiar with him. Her serene face was no different from that of any other nineteen-year-old girl.

Whether it was her brutal, foul-mouthed demeanor when they first met, her expression of shame and indignation when she was bullied, or her fiery, beastly appearance at her most frenzied moment, not a single trace could be found on this exquisite face.

Then the boy had a wicked idea. He quietly leaned close to Hetia's ear, took a deep breath, and then...

"Enemy attack!!!!!"

"What?! What happened?!"

Hetia sprang to her feet from her sleeping bag, her head hitting the top of the tent. The force of her movement tore the sleeping bag apart; she clutched the tattered bag with one hand, while the other hand held a longsword glowing with crimson battle aura.

If there were a real enemy attack, she would probably tear them to shreds in an instant.

But all she saw was Ryuka laughing so hard she couldn't stand up straight, clutching her stomach...

Half of her head was still reeling from the shock of his shout, her ears were ringing, and Hetia felt like her lungs were about to explode with anger.

But he had already tried far worse methods, so this little prank wasn't enough to make Hetia angry. She snorted and began packing her gear.

"What? Are you angry?"

"How dare I? I'm just a slave. Do whatever you want with me."

Hetia remained expressionless and cold in the face of Ryukyu's question.

"I'll head out now, you can take your time packing."

Liuxia made an insincere apologetic gesture, but her eyes crinkled into crescent moons as she pushed open the door with her luggage.

A sharp chill instantly rushed in, making Hetia, who wasn't even dressed yet, shiver. In her heart, she suppressed the piercing pain and cursed him as a little bastard and a pervert.

But when she was washing up, she discovered that Ryusha had left half a pot of hot water for her by the extinguished campfire, and she felt a little happy for some reason.

I won't be bought off by such petty favors! He just wants his slaves to stay clean anyway!

Despite her reluctance, Hetia used a towel soaked in hot water to wipe herself down, then quickly packed herself and her luggage.

As she pushed open the door to leave, she glanced one last time at the closed side door, recalling the story Liu Xia had told her, and finally bowed her head in respect.

"We're just here to explore the hot springs, nothing more."

……

Although the horses had been given a good meal before heading up the mountain, Liuxia still fed them a few pieces of bean cake in the morning. Fortunately, the journey wasn't far, and they would be back by tomorrow at the latest, so the supplies they carried were more than enough.

This time, instead of a lance, they brought a bow and arrow. Although it was difficult to find a good bow in Linhu Town, Kira picked out a short bow for Ryusha from a weapon shop outside that was reasonably priced and performed well.

Besides her longsword, Hetia also carried the giant crossbow that had once injured her. In the regular battlefields of this world, the niche for ranged attacks was occupied by mages, so apart from personal hobbyists or professional adventurers, most academic knights didn't spend time practicing archery.

After another hour of walking, in a marked mountain hollow, the temperature was indeed slowly rising, and patches of green gradually replaced the endless expanse of ice and snow.

"Really? The temperature has risen quite noticeably, but there shouldn't be any volcanic activity in this area."

Hetia muttered first, but since both she and Ryusha were only average at geography, they could only remain puzzled.

Ryūka, however, reined in his horse, dismounted, and started rummaging through a puddle of excrement in the grass. "Mei ne Mei wo zai kong ni lin zai zai mo ne..."

"Wolf droppings, but they've been there for a while, at least not in the last few days... The footprints here... are from a snow goblin, we need to be careful."

Compared to the large and agile snow wolf, the goblin's distant relative, the snow goblin, is far more insidious and troublesome. Although their rudimentary weapons are insufficient to penetrate armor, smeared with feces and plant toxins, even non-vital injuries are troublesome enough.

Both groups are characterized by their group behavior and their cunning and treacherous nature. However, Liu Xia and his group's plan for this trip was merely to survey the specific location and plan their route, while also checking for any nearby nests.

The two left the horse behind, while Liuxia took out a wooden bottle and poured out some foul-smelling ointment.

"What is this?" Hetia pinched her nose.

"Odor masking agent, a unique formula from Linhu Town."

Without a word, Ryusha started applying the product and then tossed it to Hetia.

Although she wasn't mentally prepared, Hetia wasn't a delicate little girl. She quickly and efficiently started applying the ointment, her only wish being to finish the task as soon as possible, find the hot spring, and enjoy a comfortable bath.

The mountain road is difficult to travel, but if the forests and vegetation are cleared and the road is converted into a simple dirt road, it will only take less than a day to get here from Linhu Town.

The permafrost there remained firm even during the short summer months, preventing it from becoming muddy and difficult to traverse. Therefore, developing this area shouldn't be too difficult.

However, the two of them wasted a lot of time on 'fun' yesterday...

Ruka led Hetia carefully forward, and finally, a beautiful view appeared before them.

Within a depression, numerous pits of varying sizes dot the surface, within which steaming spring water, tinged with blue and green, darts and teem with small fish.

The large hot springs are as big as the foundations of two or three houses, while the small ones are as small as bathtubs. Their bases are either stone or mud, like shattered glass adorning this oasis in the snow and ice.

"gorgeous……"

"Shh-"

Ryusha raised a finger to stop Hetia from praising him, and pointed the finger forward.

A group of blue-brown snow sprites were lurking in the grass ahead, while the dog scurried towards a roe deer by the hot spring lake.

Ropes, stone spears, simple bows and arrows... just like primitive hunters, the snow spirits launched a fierce attack on the roe deer once they were within attack range.

Subsequently, under the influence of the toxin, the roe deer quickly collapsed and stopped struggling, allowing several small snow sprites to dance and chatter on its body and head.

A snow goblin raised a stone spear, intending to stab the roe deer in the throat, but was instead punched hard by an even larger snow goblin.

The snow goblin, dressed in simple leather armor, was almost as tall as an adult's chest, and held a steel fork similar to the one worn by Ryusha, adorned with bones and various gemstones.

Of course... it's the same style worn by all rural hunters...

It was yelling and shouting at its companions, making incoherent noises. Judging from its body language, it was probably saying something like this:

"Don't kill it! Take it back alive; it'll taste fresher and better!"

Chapter 14 An Unexpected Incident on the Snowfield

It's an elite-level snow goblin; if left unchecked, it could very well grow into a hero-level one. Once it unifies the nearby snow goblin faction, its next step will be to descend the mountain and wreak havoc on Lakeshire.

Ryuka and Hetia exchanged a glance and silently followed.

Then, at the entrance of a secluded, snow-covered cave, arrows and crossbow bolts were fired simultaneously, causing the snow goblin's future 'king' ambition to crumble before it was even halfway through...

Before the snow goblins could figure out what was happening, several more arrows came flying at them. Then two despicable humans rushed out and beheaded them before they could run into the cave.

The battle itself wasn't particularly complicated; the only challenge was avoiding taking damage, since nobody knew what strange stuff the snow goblins had smeared on their weapons.

"Still alive? That's an amazing vitality."

Ryuka approached the elite snow goblin, using her toe to lift its hunting spear. Looking at the snow goblin still convulsing and howling, glaring at her with hatred, she ruthlessly pierced its heart.

“And then there’s the lair inside.” Hetia kicked aside a corpse and looked into the deep cave.

Looking at the imposing female knight beside her, Ryuka couldn't help but tease her.

"A female knight entering a goblin or gnome's cave is generally not a good thing, is it?"

"Please don't compare me to those cheesy female knights from those ridiculous stories."

The long-awaited killing brought back some of Hetia's wildness. Crimson battle aura danced around her, making Ryuka feel like she was about to transform into a Super Saiyan.

Such a bold statement! Ryuka couldn't help but complain, but he ultimately chose to walk ahead of Hetia.

Upon entering the dark cave, Liuxia's eyes glowed with a faint purple light, revealing everything within the darkness.

The 'dual cultivation' with Kania during this period has also yielded results. As the strongest heretical witch, darkness is like coming home to her.

Then, Ryuka sensed fear, lust, and other emotions emanating from various dark corners, as if she possessed X-ray vision. The two easily bypassed various traps and ambushes, reaping the lives of the snow spirits one by one with their swords. (The last two lines appear to be unrelated and possibly machine-generated text.)

In the deepest part of the cave, several female wolves and deer, tortured beyond recognition, were on the verge of death, surrounded by snow goblin cubs.

Ryusha sighed. Sure enough, goblins and gnomes were quite similar in many worlds, while Hetia felt a wave of nausea...

A fire burned down the cave, and the two finally returned outside, breathing in the cold, fresh air.

“What an unclean creature…” Hetia was still somewhat uncomfortable.

"Really? But I think their cubs are kind of ugly-cute." Ryusha's outrageous statement made Hetia's expression change drastically.

"Hmph, only heretical ability users would say something like that."

"It's just another kind of life form in nature, but if it poses a threat to us, we have to eliminate it. That's the law of the jungle." Ryusha didn't care about Hetia's dissatisfaction.

But for some reason, every time I see Hetia's dissatisfied expression, I feel like bullying her.

In an instant, Ryuka moved closer to Hetia, looked up at her with a mischievous smile, and asked:

"They're all heretics, am I better than them?"

"Hmm..." Hetia looked at the boy's delicate face and indeed felt that if she had to become someone's slave, this handsome boy in front of her was the best choice.

But she's not that honest.

"None of them are good, and your sex drive is no less than these filthy things..."

And that thing with its ridiculously high inflation rate, it's just not like a normal person, Hetia thought to herself.

"Let's clean up the area again and see if there are any other dens. Snow wolves are very smart and will avoid humans unless they are hungry, but snow goblins are different. They are a danger if they stay near the hot spring."

Instead of further teasing Hetia, Ryusha turned her gaze to the deeper snowfield...

After some time, several snow elf nests nearby were destroyed, and thick smoke and blood spread across the white snowfield. The two finally decided to return to the hot spring to rest.

At this moment, Hetia couldn't help but ask, "Won't what we're doing anger the 'White God'?"

Ryuka smiled nonchalantly.

"That's just a legend from decades ago, and if it were true, do you think your respected princess wouldn't have done some research beforehand?"

"She's the kind of person who likes to make detailed plans. She's even done geographical surveys. If there were any signs of heresy, she would definitely be prepared."

For example, there's that white-haired nun whose strength is somewhat frightening and who reacts strongly to heresy.

Of course, this was just Ryuka's guess, but he believed that if he stayed behind the princess's development path in the early stages, he should be fine.

If given the chance, I really want to see for myself what kind of person this thirteenth princess is, Ryuka thought to herself.

If given the chance, I really want to see for myself what kind of person this thirteenth princess is, Ryuka thought to herself.

But a roar from several kilometers away suddenly interrupted his train of thought.

Boom! The tremor came from the ground beneath their feet, and Ryusha and Hetia turned their gaze to the vast expanse of snow mist rising in the distance.

"No, could it be that 'White God' is angry..." Hetia said nervously.

"How is this possible? This feels like magic."

Liu Xia frowned, quickly climbed up a hillside, and stared intently into the distance.

It was too far to see clearly, but in the white snow mist, icy blue magical light and ice shards flickered back and forth, appearing as if blue sparks were dancing in a place the size of a grain of rice in Ryusha's vision.

Although it looked tiny, Ryuka felt that it looked somewhat familiar.

"It feels... somewhat familiar, like your old friend, but the feeling is stronger."

"Old friend?"

"Melanie Snowfield".

Ryūsha's words caused Hetia's pupils to shrink instantly, and she looked into the distance with a serious expression: "She's come around to the rear of our territory? What does she want to do?"

"I don't know, but this is something we didn't expect." Ryuka's mood also became heavy.

"Looks like our hot spring trip is going to be canceled. We have two options: go and scout ahead, or go back and ask for help. What's your opinion?"