The story of the black silk female knight

"...Hehe, I knew Tia was the best!"

Valensa finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

She first glanced around the entire milk tea shop and found that there were basically no outsiders, only female employees of the Nora Chamber of Commerce who often came here to drink milk tea. She then stood up halfway, leaned forward, pressed her heavy breasts on the table, and wanted to kiss Tia's face.

"Go! Go! Go……"

Tia, however, pushed Valensa back with a look of disgust, saying rather helplessly:

"You start acting all serious when I give you a nice look... Actually, I just came here this afternoon to read and drink milk tea. I didn't expect you to go back to the capital today."

"Because you've been working hard on your cultivation lately, Tia, I didn't want to disturb you, so I didn't tell you about these little things."

Seeing that Tia had finally stopped bringing up the topic of milk tea, Valensa quickly changed the subject:

"Speaking of which, my dear Tia, how's your cultivation progressing lately? Are you still not planning to accept the complete inheritance from your family or the Sage's Tower?"

"Yes, I've decided to give up on those two paths."

Tia's voice was calm, and it sounded like a well-considered decision, not an impulsive one.

"Neither of these two paths can give me what I truly want... so I've decided to walk my own path, and neither my father nor my teacher has blamed me."

"After all, Tia, you are a genius... Even without the blessings of your predecessors, you can definitely achieve something no less than your ancestors. I believe in you!"

Valensa naturally took Tia's hand, and their fingers intertwined on the table:

"So? Honey, what are your plans for the future?"

"Mmm..."

Tia wore a serious, thoughtful expression, but her small, white-stockinged feet quietly lifted from under the table, playfully launching a sneak attack on Valensa while simultaneously distracting her with questions:

"How are things going with the expeditionary force and the new trade route? You don't need to keep an eye on them as often anymore, right?"

"Mmm...uh~"

The female knight, caught off guard, flashed a brief, alluring expression before quickly regaining her composure. She nonchalantly retaliated under the table with her black-stockinged legs while earnestly answering:

"The wild beasts seem to have lost interest in the new trade route... They haven't launched an attack for almost two months. As long as the early warning system is still functioning properly, there shouldn't be any major problems even if I'm not there keeping an eye on things."

"……That's good."

Tia's face flushed slightly, but she immediately took a sip of the iced milk tea on the table to suppress her slightly rising body temperature, and continued to ask:

"Do you remember the promise we made together in America last year?"

"Promise?"

Valensa looked on with a look of reminiscence, which gave Tia the opportunity to launch several more sneak attacks.

Valensa's azure eyes became even more watery, but she could clearly still hold back. While using her black-stockinged legs to trap Tia's white-stockinged feet, she exclaimed in realization:

"Oh...you mean that invitation from Sister Alanfeier to visit the Witch's Forest? Didn't we agree to go after graduation?"

"...But I can't wait any longer~~"

Tia tried several times to pull her foot back but couldn't, so she could only whine and say:

"I want to go and see for myself... I want to experience the power of the witch firsthand, it's very important for my training."

"This……"

Valensa was slightly puzzled:

"If you just want to feel the power of a witch, why don't you just go to Sister Friggia? She was the first and strongest Great Witch."

"...Relying on Sister Frieda alone won't be enough."

Tia adjusted her lady's hat and smiled wryly:

"Sister Friggia is so powerful. Many of her spells are like beautiful and dazzling mirages to me... I can only see the wonderful end, but I can't see the road under my feet."

Moreover, although Sister Friggia is the origin of magic on this continent, she has been sealed away for over 1700 years... Many modern spells are quite different from their original forms.

So I want to go to the Witch's Forest to find and forge my own path.

"Is that so...Okay."

Valensa undoubtedly loved Tia very much. She knew that Tia had been struggling with her path of cultivation, so she readily agreed without much hesitation.

. . . . .

When the Witch of Destruction, Elanfil, made a promise with Valensa, she said that she needed Valensa to do her a favor in the Witch Forest. It would take three to five days or half a month to get it done, and if nothing unexpected happened, it wouldn't delay anything.

So after making the decision, Valensa and Tia simply gave each other a brief explanation before embarking on their journey to the Witch's Forest.

Valensa's current strength is actually enough to take Tia directly across the Misty Mountains.

However, since the Witch of Destruction, Elanfiel, left a token, it would be better to contact her and say hello first.

That evening, Valensa and Tia first traveled along the Sacred Road to Klar City, the closest city to the Misty Mountains in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Fran. After checking into the city's most luxurious hotel, they took out the gem given to them by Elanfiel and activated it with magic.

Soon, a crimson glow enveloped the entire room, and a projection screen, commonly seen in remote magical communication, appeared above the gem.

The scene shows four or five enormous monsters that looked powerful in life, but now their corpses are all mangled and broken, as if they had just been ravaged by some destructive force. Many of the limbs are so bad that it is difficult to tell which corpse they belong to. The ground is completely stained red with the monsters' blood.

Amidst this mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood, lay a woman of exceptional beauty and a stunningly hot figure, wearing a gorgeous crimson deep-V gown... It was unclear whether the gown was originally this color or had been stained with the blood of demons.

"Mmm..."

When the projection started, the beautiful woman was sleeping amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

But she quickly sensed it, lazily yawning as she opened her eyes and looked at Valensa and Tia from afar, like someone in a surveillance video looking at a camera.

"You are……?"

The beautiful woman, who had just woken up, was still a little groggy, but she quickly remembered, her eyes lighting up with a happy expression:

"So it's Valensa and Tia... Did you activate the gem I left for you? Are you planning to come to the Witch's Forest? Where are you now?"

Good evening, Sister Alan Feier.

Valensa ignored the monster corpses scattered all over the ground in the projection and smiled naturally:

"Indeed, we do plan to visit the Witch's Forest. We are currently in a small town in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Fran, near the Misty Mountains, and we expect to cross the Misty Mountains tomorrow."

"Oh? Valensa is already confident enough to lead a group across the Misty Mountains in a day? It's only been a year since we last met, hasn't it?"

Alanfeier raised her head slightly in surprise, then quickly lay back down:

“But that makes sense… Valencia, you are a chosen one of the gods. With divine grace, crossing the Misty Mountains shouldn’t be difficult for you at any time… emmm.”

After a moment's consideration, Ailanfeier continued:

"Valenza, as you can see, I'm not in the Witch's Forest right now. I'm stretching my muscles somewhere else, and I probably won't be back for another two days... How about this, I'll have my little apprentice wait for you at the border between the Misty Mountains and the Witch's Forest. You can play around with her in a few safe spots in the Witch's Forest for a while, and we can talk about everything else when I get back, okay?"

"...Yes, no problem."

Valensa and Tia exchanged a quick glance and readily nodded:

"I'll leave everything to Sister Ailanfeier."

. . . . .

"This is Sergin Town. After I fled the capital with my sister Melina in the dead of night, we spent three years here as adventurers..."

Early the next morning, Valensa and Tia set off to cross the Misty Mountains, even taking a detour north and passing through Sergin.

Tia had long heard of this border town that transformed Valensa from a useless young lady into an outstanding female knight, but this was her first time visiting in person. She seemed very interested and had Valensa show her around the town.

Since this was just a stopover, Valensa didn't want to attract too much attention, so she had Tia use a spell to hide herself and quietly stroll through the town while she whispered to Tia about everything in the town.

Unlike the bustling capital, Sergin Town has remained almost unchanged over the past three years.

The gatherers and planters still worked from sunrise to sunset, while the adventurers were still overjoyed if they managed to defeat even a single Pearl-level monster.

The entire town lived a simple and honest life... Natural disasters, cults, new trade routes, and other troubles that only people in big cities had seemed to have nothing to do with them.

"It's a great place to retire!"

After Valensa led them on a tour of Sergintown, Tia gave this assessment.

Then she glanced at Valensa sideways and said meaningfully:

"Aren't you going to take me to see the Adventurers' Guild here? That's the most important place for you while you're living here, isn't it?"

"Ah this... okay."

Valensa knew that refusing was useless. With a helpless tug at her hair, she led Tia toward the place in town that she knew best.

Thanks to the concealment spell, Valensa and Tia entered the Adventurers' Guild without alerting anyone.

After all, this was just a very peaceful border town, without even lighthouse-level adventurers, and pearl-level adventurers were extremely rare. No one could see through Tia's magic.

The Adventurers' Guild is relatively quiet in the morning because the adventurer quests in Sergin Town are assigned by the Adventurers' Guild in Klar City, and the Adventurers' Guild staff who deliver the quest scrolls usually arrive in the morning, so it usually doesn't get lively until noon.

Of course, the liveliest time was around lunchtime... Most adventurers who had completed their quests would return to the guild hall at that time to drink and chat together, which was one of the few forms of entertainment Valensa had while living in the town.

Right now... there are fewer than five adventurers in the entire hall, all sitting in their respective corners, dozing off in different positions. They are probably waiting for the quest scrolls from Klar City to arrive so they can grab the most suitable quest as soon as possible.

Behind the counter where the handover procedures were handled were two figures that Valensa knew very well, which was also the main reason why Valensa was initially hesitant to bring Tia here directly.

Kiri and Lulu.

Both of them got along very well with Valensa... originally there was nothing between them, they were just friends.

Moreover, they were originally straight women, and they would often tell dirty jokes to the adventurers, and they would also discuss in private which man was more handsome and which man looked stronger and more practical.

Unfortunately, one becomes like those one associates with, and one's surroundings influence one's character.

After spending a lot of time with Valensa, the two pretty receptionists gradually lost interest in men. Not only did their friendship turn sour, but Valensa also took advantage of them when she came back from her first year summer vacation.

Life in Sergin Town was quite good, and since Kiri and Lulu were already a couple, Valensa didn't want to interfere too much in their lives. She simply instructed the Adventurers' Guild management to take good care of them.

But Kiri and Lulu clearly didn't think that way... Even though they knew nothing about Valensa and Tia walking into the hall, they still naturally started talking about Valensa.

"I wonder how the young lady is doing now... She hasn't come back for so long."

"Yes, yes... Last time when I went to the neighboring city of Klar to do some business, I heard a young adventurer from a noble family talk about the young lady. He said that his sister had been lovesick for the young lady ever since she attended two parties where the young lady was present."

"After all, she's a young lady... I always feel that she has a very special scent. Sleeping next to her gives me an indescribable sense of security."

"...Is this why you often hug me and call out 'Miss's' name when you sleep at night, and why you always sniff me and lick me?"

"You talk as if you're better than me. Last time you weren't... um!"

"Ah! Don't tell me about that, you idiot! It would be so embarrassing if someone overheard!"

The two girls behind the counter soon started playfully fighting, pinching and grabbing each other, and the neat adventurer counter girl uniforms quickly became messy.

Fortunately, the two of them probably joke around like this often and are very sensible. They stopped in sync before they were about to do something really embarrassing.

But after their playful fight, both of them were noticeably downcast.

After a long, silent silence, Lulu finally whispered dejectedly:

"Do you think the young lady has already forgotten about us? When I went to Klar City last time, I heard the noble adventurers there talking about how powerful the young lady is now. She can single-handedly cut through the north and south of the Wasteland and protect the entire trade route... More importantly, it seems that the young lady is about to marry a very powerful noble heir in the capital."

"...That's actually quite normal, isn't it?"

Qili tried hard to maintain a blank expression, but her tightly clenched lips, a result of her unwillingness to accept defeat, betrayed her:

"Could it be that you have other ideas about the young lady? Don't be silly, a nobleman's marriage partner can only be another nobleman... by any measure, it's not our turn."

"I definitely wouldn't dare to even dream about something like that."

Lulu quickly waved her hand and slumped onto the counter like a salted fish, looking utterly dejected.

"But being a maid for the young lady would be nice, right? When she came back last time, didn't she say she would hire us? I wonder when that will happen... Sigh, I really don't want to do this job at the Adventurers' Guild reception desk for another day. I want to go to a big city, I want to go to the capital."

"...Are big cities places you can just go to whenever you want?"

After a moment of silence, Qi Li shook her head with a wry smile:

"Don't even think about it... The young lady is so powerful now, all the maids under her must be as excellent as Manager Melina. If we two country girls who can't do anything went to the capital, we would only embarrass the young lady."

“…Ah~”

The two girls didn't say anything after that. They just lay on the counter, sighing and looking very unhappy.

"It seems your friends here miss you very much... What wonderful girls, yet they've become so sentimental, sad, and melancholic because of someone."

Tia, who had overheard the entire conversation between Kiri and Lulu, finally couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark:

"And the person they longed for had almost completely forgotten them, spending all his time drinking milk tea~~"

"Gulp... Please spare me, Tia, stop talking."