In a dim room somewhere, candlelight flickered.
Meili sat on the edge of the bed, dangling her legs, chin in hand, looking at Elsa who was picking at a wound on her arm:
"I say Elsa, shouldn't you be in a better mood by now?"
"I'm not in a bad mood."
Elsa replied nonchalantly.
"Liar!" Meili jumped off the bed and ran in front of Elsa, "You always do this when you're in a bad mood. It was the same after the last failed mission, you kept picking at your wound until it bled."
"And now?"
Elsa finally looked up, lifted the hem of her clothes; the once gruesome wound on her arm had vanished, her skin as smooth as new.
"Ugh... it healed again." Meili pouted, then asked with a puzzled look, "So, that black-haired big brother, does he bother you that much? Is it because he could hurt you?"
"Bother?" Elsa's fingertips lightly brushed over her collarbone where the blade had grazed, a hint of unidentifiable pleasure in her eyes,
"It should be said... he's fascinating~ Just a fledgling young man, yet he could surpass me in speed, and that one strike... it was beautiful enough to make one's heart tremble~"
"Eh eh eh?!" Meili put her hands on her hips, her small face puffed up with anger, "Elsa, are you crazy? That fierce big brother almost killed you!"
"Precisely because he could kill me, he's even more charming... How many people have you seen who can kill me in close combat? What's even rarer is..."
At this point, Elsa's voice suddenly became excited, a flush appearing on her fair face, as if reminiscing with intoxication,
"That power, erupting to protect those he cherishes, that instantaneous speed caught even me off guard... Ah~ Just recalling it makes me excited all over again~"
"But that big brother was completely reckless." Meili tilted her head, her sky-blue pigtails swaying with the movement, "He almost disemboweled you, Elsa!"
"You know, when facing death, people usually only have two choices." Elsa elegantly held up two fingers, slowly explaining to Meili, "Either wait obediently for death, or fight desperately to resist. And he... chose the third option."
"The third option?" Meili blinked in confusion.
"While resisting... he also had to protect." Elsa's gaze deepened, "You will never understand how dazzling that light, which can bloom even in desperation, truly is."
"I still don't understand... He hurt you, why do you say you like him even more?"
Meili shook her head helplessly.
Elsa's thoughts were always so strange. Although they had worked together for so long, Meili still often couldn't figure out her companion's thought process.
"So, you don't understand." Elsa stood up, her black dress shimmering with a dark red luster in the candlelight, "The sharper the blade, the more one wants to break it..."
"Actually, it's normal for big brother to resist." Meili tilted her head and said, "After all, when faced with a death threat, most people would choose to resist, right?"
"Yes, didn't you resist once too?"
Elsa's fingers unconsciously stroked her own neck, her gaze distant, recalling their first encounter in the Mabeast forest.
At that time, Meili was still a wild little girl, dirty all over, but with the sharp agility of a wild beast. Because Meili was abandoned in the perilous Mabeast forest as a child, she was taken in by the Mabeasts due to her special constitution.
When Elsa found her, this untamed little creature displayed astonishing combat talent, and the two engaged in a fierce struggle. Ultimately, Meili chose to follow Elsa, joining the assassin organization "Mother."
Today's Meili was no longer that wild child from the forest. And under Elsa's influence, she gradually formed a killer's mindset, consciously or unconsciously imitating Elsa's words and actions.
She held an almost blind admiration and longing for Elsa, especially after witnessing Elsa's tenacity to survive even under "Mother's" cruel domination, this worship grew stronger day by day.
"Did I?"
Meili tilted her small head, feigning innocence as she blinked.
Actually, she remembered every detail of her first encounter with Elsa clearly.
"Of course, you did." Elsa's fingertips gently caressed her neck, "The pain when you bit me here, even now, it still faintly aches when I recall it."
"Liar!" Meili pouted, her sky-blue pigtails swaying gently as she shook her head, knowing full well that with Elsa's terrifying self-healing ability, such a minor injury would have healed long ago.
"So what exactly do you like about that big brother?"
Meili tilted her head, pressing further, her large eyes full of confusion.
"What do I like~" Elsa crossed her arms in front of her chest, her impressive bust accentuated by the movement, her black eyes narrowing slightly,
"Perhaps... when I cut open such a person's belly... I'll understand that thrilling pleasure~"
"I completely... completely don't understand your strange sense of pleasure."
Meili's fingers unconsciously twirled her sky-blue pigtails, muttering under her breath.
"Next time I fight little brother..." Elsa gently wiped her Kukri knife, gazing with fascination at her own distorted reflection on the blade, her eyes slightly glazed,
"I must cut open his abdomen first... Until then, let's preserve this pleasure for now～"
The figure of the black-haired youth appeared before her eyes again.
His bloodstained lips, his determined gaze, and his foolish act of protecting others regardless of himself.
All of this made Elsa's heart race, filled her with delight.
I want... I want to fight him again.
I want... I want to cut open his abdomen with my blade!
"Those vibrant intestines, they must be breathtakingly beautiful."
Thinking this, Elsa's breathing quickened, her body under the black dress trembled slightly with excitement. She extended her scarlet tongue and slowly licked her dry lips, as if already tasting the imagined bloody feast.
"Elsa." Meili looked at Elsa, whose eyes were glazed over and face flushed, and muttered softly, "Your thoughts always seem strange..."
"No matter what." Elsa gently stroked her abdomen where Natsuki Subaru had stabbed her, an unnatural flush on her face, her voice trembling slightly with excitement,
"When we meet next time, he will surely become even more... exciting~"
"Speaking of which, that big brother, I couldn't do anything to him at all." Meili drooped her small head in frustration, "Even controlling a hundred Mabeasts couldn't take him down, he's terrifying!"
"That's perfectly normal." Elsa's black eyes narrowed with pleasure, her slender fingers lightly tapping Meili's nose, "That little brother isn't an opponent you can easily deal with."
"What do you mean?"
Meili blinked her large eyes in confusion, her small face full of incomprehension.
"Because..." Elsa leaned down meaningfully, her black hair cascading like a waterfall, whispering in Meili's ear,
"You're still a child now~ You wouldn't understand... this wonderful feeling."
"......"
Meili tilted her head slightly, quickly glancing at Elsa, then fell silent.
Although what Elsa said was true, it sounded inexplicably irritating.
"Am I... really that small?"
Meili subconsciously looked down at her flat chest, then couldn't help but sneak a peek at Elsa's impressive bust, suddenly feeling speechless.
At this moment.
Meili knelt behind Elsa, her slender fingers nimbly weaving through Elsa's black hair, seriously braiding it.
"Your braiding skills have improved quite a bit." Elsa said, her eyes slightly closed, leisurely enjoying the gentle manipulation of her hair,
"I remember when I first met you, your hair was a complete mess."
"This is only because you taught me well." Meili mumbled, her hands not stopping.
"Is that so..." Elsa chuckled lightly.
"Speaking of which." Meili complained while braiding, "You should change your lazy habit of throwing everything to me."
"Because you do it better."
Elsa turned back and gave Meili a very reassuring smile.
"Wuwu!"
Meili suddenly bit Elsa's neck.
"What's wrong all of a sudden?" Elsa asked, completely unfazed.
"Nothing." Meili released her bite, "Just remembered something from the past. Next time you get bitten to death, I won't care."
"You won't bite me again." Elsa smiled gently, "Right?"
"Didn't I just bite you?" Meili said.
"That was just playing around." Elsa shook her head, "It's different from back then."
"Then is Elsa different too?" Meili stopped her hands and said, "You don't want to cut open my belly anymore?"
"It's not that I'm not interested anymore." Elsa lazily stretched, her black dress outlining her graceful curves, "It's just that its charm hasn't reached the point where it makes me want to destroy this leisurely time. Don't worry."
"Is that so?"
Meili rested her chin on her hands, tilting her head to look at Elsa, her sky-blue pigtails swaying gently with her movement.
"Time to write the daily report."
Saying this, Elsa stood up.
"Writing a report for that annoying employer again?"
"That's right~"
"What a strange employer."
Meili sat on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs.
"Indeed." Elsa nonchalantly twirled a quill pen, writing casually on the paper, "Clearly ridiculously strong, yet always likes to hide behind the scenes pulling strings. What's even stranger is that he always has us deal with people around him."
"However..." Elsa chuckled lightly, "Only such a strange person would dare to use assassins like us~"
"True." Meili tilted her head thoughtfully, "No normal person would hire the Bowel Hunter."
"Anyway, the mission failed, the employer probably won't care."
Elsa shrugged.
"It's strange, the employer seemed to know from the start that we couldn't kill that big brother."
Meili said with a puzzled expression.
"Who knows..." Elsa also showed a thoughtful expression, "Perhaps it's a strange person's intuition."
"No matter what," Meili said with a grin, "as long as the pay is good enough, maybe we can get even more for the next mission."
Elsa licked her moist red lips, a hint of anticipation in her eyes:
"I really look forward to what surprise that little brother will give me next time we meet~"
.........
.........
Roswaal Manor, second-floor study.
"I am terribly sorry, Lord Roswaal."
Ram bowed respectfully, her pink shoulder-length hair swaying gently with the movement.
She had already reported the previous incident in detail to Roswaal.
"No need to apologize." Roswaal's heterochromatic eyes twinkled with a meaningful light, "On the contrary——you all handled things very well in my absence～"
"No, this is all Subaru's doing." Ram shook her head slightly, then continued earnestly,
"If he hadn't stepped forward, Rem and those children would likely have perished. Subaru not only eliminated the attacking Mabeasts alone but also held out against the Bowel Hunter Elsa until our arrival."
"Oh——so Subaru is quite outstanding——dayo～" Roswaal drawled, then asked, "How are they doing now?"
"Rem's curse has been lifted by Lady Beatrice, and Subaru is being cared for by Lady Emilia. Speaking of which..." Ram paused slightly, then continued,
"If not for the timely treatment from both ladies, Subaru would likely have been in grave danger."
"What a lucky fellow indeed——" Roswaal, with his clown-like makeup, smiled, then his tone shifted,
"By the way, Ram——the leader manipulating those Mabeasts——any leads on their identity?"
"Her identity has been confirmed. It was a girl who infiltrated the village a few days ago, but her current whereabouts are unknown."
Ram respectfully reported to Roswaal.
"Is it related to the Royal Selection again?" Roswaal sighed lightly, "Bowel Hunter, Mabeast User——always getting involved with strange fellows——right~"
"No matter how many riffraff gather, they cannot shake Lord Roswaal in the slightest."
Ram looked at Roswaal, her eyes firm.
"You've become quite boastful——indeed~" Roswaal smiled, then slowly said to Ram, "Things will get busy again——although it will be tough, I'll have to trouble Ram and Rem, dayo~"
"It is our duty."
Ram bowed and excused herself.
Once the door closed, the smile on Roswaal's face instantly vanished, replaced by a rare seriousness:
"This Royal Selection must be won, to achieve my goal... for the Day of Dragon Slaying!"
"However, Subaru is truly... surprisingly capable～ He single-handedly killed hundreds of Mabeasts, and even the Bowel Hunter couldn't finish him off, dayo~"
Roswaal drew out his last syllable, his tone full of deliberate amazement.
However, deep within those heterochromatic pupils, there was an icy calm.
If Natsuki Subaru was indeed the person prophesied in the Tome of Wisdom, achieving these feats was only natural.
If not, his death would be inconsequential.
In the long four hundred years, he had long since abandoned his humanity; the only thing he cared about was that ultimate goal.
"Still, he's too naive in the end——risking his life to save a few irrelevant people. Such resolve is far from enough... Subaru～!"
Roswaal revealed a meaningful smile, but quickly regained his composure.
His past doubts had vanished.
Regardless of how Natsuki Subaru repelled the Mabeasts or held his own against the Bowel Hunter Elsa, it was unimportant to Roswaal.
The only thing he was certain of was that this youth was the one prophesied to correct the world, and would surely help him achieve his long-held wish.
"The ability to correct the world, is it..."
Roswaal gazed at the moonlight outside the window, his peculiar heterochromatic eyes glinting with a light that was a mixture of anticipation and madness.
______
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