Chapter 184

Sheffy's brow twitched slightly.

After a moment of thought, she suddenly put down the fishing rod and stood up.

“There’s a problem.”

“Mm?”

Just moments ago, Sheffy had been saying, “No problem, just wait and the fish will bite,” and now—she was saying there was a problem.

She bent down, picked up the fishing rod, and rotated the reel to draw in the line.

Not only was there no big fish on the end of the rod, but even the bait had somehow gone missing without anyone noticing—it was so shiny it gleamed.

With a cold expression, Sheffy wiped the sweat from her forehead in a swift yet elegant motion, and spoke the words with grave sincerity.

“The fishing technique is fine. But the rod has a problem.”

“The rod...? Huh?!”

Before Livra could finish her sentence, she heard a crisp snap.

Miss Shaya suddenly raised her knee, braced the black-gold rod across her leg, and with a forceful motion, snapped it clean in two!

“Mi—Miss Shaya! Isn’t that your old companion? The one you said had earned countless honors!”

“It isn’t anymore.”

“Eh?!”

Sheffy had hundreds of such “old companions” stored in her Storage Magic.

Old companion, sorry. Today’s fishing didn’t go well.

For the sake of my fragile pride, I’ll have to sacrifice you.

Next time, old companion No. 2 can take your place—maybe it’ll bring me better luck.

Sheffy let out a quiet sigh, clicking her tongue as she looked at the two broken halves in her hand. Her expression truly made it seem as though it was the rod’s fault she hadn’t caught anything.

“Sigh... Sometimes, when it’s time to take a shortcut, you just take it. No more fishing demonstrations today. Livra, step aside—I’m going to split this lake down the middle and get a few extra fish for you to practice on!”

“......”

It really felt like...

Miss Shaya’s mood right now was brimming with frustration, resentment, and fury!

Livra had a strong feeling that an especially grand spell was about to appear.

So before Sheffy could even finish striking her stance, she had already darted behind the large rock.

Livra tucked herself in and just a few seconds later—

BOOM!!!

A terrifying explosion erupted all of a sudden. Even though Livra curled up like a coward behind the rock with her arms over her head, she could still feel the shockwaves rippling through the air.

“Miss Shaya...? Is it over? Did the fish come? Miss Shaya...?”

Livra called out a few times but received no reply. Summoning her courage, she poked her head out from behind the rock to take a look.

—Only to find the lake was still the same lake.

And Miss Shaya had done nothing at all. She was simply staring blankly up at the sky.

The sky?

Boom!

Livra heard another thunderous roar and immediately looked up.

“What’s going on?!”

Then she saw it—blazing clusters of fire filling the sky.

And from within the erupting flames, a girl with two crimson dragon wings was sent flying backward, trailing black smoke like a falling star.

At the point of impact, a massive hole had been blown into the wall of the Demon King’s Castle.

“It’s Miss Timani!”

“Don’t just stand there watching... Who’s the Fire Lizard fighting with? Uh...”

It seemed this question was unnecessary.

Faster than a meteor, fiercer than a torrent of flames, shattering the air in her wake and pursuing Timani at full force—was none other than that battle maniac.

“Aunt Ailellek...? Oh no... I forgot—she’s still in the Demon King’s Castle!”

No one knew how the fight started between them.

Sheffy had a headache just thinking about going to break it up. But the real headache hadn’t even begun.

Suddenly, a telepathic voice from the Demon King boomed inside her head, instantly sending her blood pressure skyrocketing.

【Sheffy, you unfilial child! What’s with all the noise?! What destruction are you causing this time?!】

Huh? Slandering me now?

No, seriously, it’s not me this time!

---

14. Where’s My Fish?

“Tch... You lunatic... What the hell are you doing all of a sudden?!”

Timani soared through the air, wrapping herself in a shield of flames. She turned her head and shouted the question, but received no answer in return—only the overwhelming pressure of madness-fueled battle intent coming straight at her.

And...

A pair of crimson eyes rapidly expanding in her field of view.

“So fast...!”

—Boom!

Another deafening blast resounded midair. It was hard to believe such a sound could be made by a mere fist striking through a curtain of fire.

On the ground, Sheffy’s face was full of black lines—it was unclear whether they were cast by the smoke and flame above, or if they had simply manifested from her inner state.

“This is bad... Fire Lizard’s getting pummeled for no reason. Livra, stay here. I’m going to go break them up!”

“Ah?! But Miss Shaya, weren’t you just standing there for ages, clearly watching Miss Timani get beaten up for your own amusement?!”

“Why are you so unfiltered with your words?!”

So much for enjoying the show.

In the blink of an eye—quite literally the span of one blink—Sheffy vanished from her spot.

【Advanced Spatial Teleportation】

With a flicker, Sheffy reappeared between flame and fistwind.

Pressure from both sides pushed inward toward her, the collision only seconds away.

Sheffy rapidly scanned left and right with dynamic vision, and of course, she caught the surprised looks flashing across both their faces at her sudden appearance.

Stop looking surprised. The greatest respect you can show me right now is to put an end to this madness!

“Stop! Give me some face here. Let’s settle this peacefully—no more fighting!”

“!”

Timani was the one slightly closer to Sheffy.

The flames swirling around her had already extinguished swiftly the moment Sheffy appeared.

And upon hearing her words, she beat her dragon wings midair, coming to a hovering halt and stopping her forward momentum.

Phew... Good, good, Timani, you’re sensible. If you had charged into me just now, with those marshmallow pillows of yours, I’d have been sent flying.

So... this was basically resolved, right?

If even Timani had come to a stop, then surely her own aunt—tied by blood—would give her even more face...

“Ahhh Sheffy, get out of the way...! I—can’t—stop—myself!”

“Eh?! Mmph...!”

The moment she turned her head, a fist the size of a sandbag slammed into the side of Sheffy’s unsuspecting face.

Judging from the fact that Ailellek still had the time to speak—and drag out her words—it was clear that she wasn’t truly unable to stop. Rather, she did it on purpose… with a bit of personal grudge.

Carried by inertia, Sheffy’s thick-skinned face took the blow, and the whole little girl was sent flying. Her expression in that moment was probably one that really wanted to swear.

A silver meteor streaked through the smoke-filled sky of the Demon King’s Castle, plunging straight into the vast lake, sending up a towering splash from the massive impact.

The citizens of Campeno were too far to see what had happened.

They merely paused to gasp a few times—then went right back to whatever they had been doing.

One could only say: business as usual.

The First Princess was always stirring up huge commotions every few days. It was nothing surprising. In fact, the recent quiet over the past few months from the Demon King’s Castle had made the townspeople uneasy.

But now?

That side had exploded again.

And just like that, everyone’s spirits seemed instantly lifted.

It seemed, just as the rumors had said, Her Highness the Princess really had returned home~

Truly a joyous occasion!

...

The Wind Magic Dragonfish that had refused to take the bait earlier—was finally caught.

Lying half-dead and flopping on the lakeside, the three-meter-long magic fish had been smacked senseless when Sheffy fell into the lake, and got scooped up along the way.

It was clearly a massive and fearsome magical creature, but in its vicious eyes was a large dose of confusion.

Hey—I was just napping at the bottom of the lake, then suddenly something fell on my head!

Fuming, Sheffy hoisted the magic fish to the shore. There was no time to celebrate the harvest right now.

She rushed toward Ailellek, stomping her feet and fuming with rage.

“Are you insane or something?! Huh? Are you?! All you ever do is fight fight fight! Is that all you know?! At least act a little human, will you?! That fist of yours came straight at my face—look at this! It’s still red!”

“Wow, Sheffy, you’ve got some nerve to say that! Didn’t you already heal yourself with healing magic? Look at my face—now that’s a tragedy! You almost killed me with one punch!”

“I’m the victim here, and you had it coming!”

A gentle glow of healing magic still shimmered in Sheffy’s hand. The redness on her face from the blow had quickly faded—in truth, she hadn’t taken any serious damage at all.

In contrast, Ailellek’s scrunched-up face was swollen and red.

After all, with Sheffy’s hot temper, there was no way she’d let herself be wronged in silence. The moment she had burst out of the lake, the first thing she did was place the big fish safely aside, and the second thing—was to lock onto Ailellek’s position and return the exact same punch with equal force.

The second meteor of the noon streaked across the sky, and the lake again erupted with a wave no less grand than the first.

Apparently, healing magic wasn’t necessary. Thanks to her robust physique, the swelling on Ailellek’s face was already receding naturally. By the time Sheffy finished yelling at her, she had basically recovered.

Livra was still crouched behind the rock, tossing pebbles at the Wind Magic Dragonfish to test whether it was still carnivorous.

As for Timani, she had been circling in the sky for quite a while before finally descending.

—She couldn’t be sure that lunatic wouldn’t suddenly start another fight, so she chose to observe first.

Once both of them had arrived—

Sheffy, who had been wrongfully punched, absolutely had to get to the bottom of this.

“So? How did you two even end up fighting? Wait, no—why are you both still in your pajamas?! Do neither of you eat breakfast or something? You just wake up and start fighting?”

“Niece, your priorities are always so strange.”

“I need to eat breakfast,” Timani answered promptly.

“Not your concern—just answer the question.”

Naturally, this wasn’t a question she’d leave to Ailellek to answer first and spin the story in her favor.

Timani’s wings dissolved into flames and disappeared.