A Maid’s Ambition and a Mercenary’s Resolve

“Master, I’m off to work~”

“Be careful on your way.”

By now, such exchanges had become an everyday occurrence for Tang Wenxu and Kuroki Nao.

Kuroki Nao turned her back to her master and left the church.

She never looked back, fearing that if she did, she wouldn’t be able to force herself to leave. Yet, she had no choice but to keep moving forward, for her plans had become unstoppable.

All of this was to forge a kingdom meant solely for her and Tang Wenxu.

She needed money.

Kuroki Nao had once asked herself if she was a good maid. Her answer to herself was a resounding no.

A truly excellent maid should wish for her master to become an independent person, focusing on his growth while serving him silently from the shadows. That was what an excellent maid ought to do.

However, she wished for Tang Wenxu to be as useless as possible. She doted on him, precisely so she could perfectly control his every aspect. Sometimes, a terrifying thought even sprouted within her: to keep Tang Wenxu under house arrest.

If a maid were likened to a sword, she would undoubtedly be a double-edged one. Without the ability to wield her, one would eventually be consumed by the backlash.

The longer she worked each day, the longer she was away from Tang Wenxu, the colder she felt. She yearned more and more to embrace Tang Wenxu tightly, then push him down.

Her desire for his body grew ever stronger; she had even forced herself upon him once without his knowledge. Afterward, facing her master’s pure gaze again, she felt a profound sense of self-reproach. Yet, this very self-reproach brought her immense pleasure. She couldn’t understand what was happening to her.

Whenever confusion struck, she would repeatedly tell herself:

‘I’m just a maid!’

‘I’m just a maid!’

‘I’m just a maid!’

Upon arriving in Komi City, Kuroki Nao, as usual, first went to the palace-like clothing store. A short while later, Karamanda—the man who replaced Kuroki Nao—emerged from the shop.

Karamanda made his way to Dals’ tavern, which operated out of the Adventurers’ Guild.

“How did the mission go?” Dals asked casually.

Karamanda glanced left and right. Although the tavern wasn’t overly crowded at the moment, it wasn’t empty either.

“It’s fine. Everyone here right now is one of us,” Dals said, as if seeing through Karamanda’s apprehension.

Dals’ informants were spread across every corner of the Five Kingdoms; there was nothing in the world he didn’t know. Dals had once had a dispute with Karamanda because she had massacred an entire village.

Karamanda remembered Dals furiously saying, “You bastard, my informants were there!”

Recalling Dals’s immense anger from that time, Karamanda suddenly flashed a fleeting smile before saying, “The targets have all been eliminated.”

“Good, very good.” Dals nodded. “Now all that’s left is the opportune moment. There’s nothing in the Zelin Kingdom that can stop me anymore.”

Dals’s eyes were filled with a chilling glint, like those of a king making his first move on a chessboard.

“What opportune moment?”

“That’s not for you to know.”

In this line of work, the less one knew, the better. Knowing more only brought one closer to death—though this rule usually only applied to the weak.

Dals produced two million gold coins in exchange crystals. “Here, this is your payment.”

Karamanda nodded, accepting the remuneration. She had long grown accustomed to such enormous sums.

Though Dals appeared to be a respectable figure, his actions were always the darkest and most despicable. However, despicable methods had their advantages; assassination and intelligence always had a market, meaning he would never lack money.

He would work for anyone for a price, be it nobles, merchants, or s*ave owners. Karamanda even suspected that Dals was the one who had previously given Mia’s location to the perverted noble, just as he had sold the intelligence of his own assassination mission to the Finance Minister beforehand to hike up the price.

“Oh, right,” Dals said. “Get ready soon; you’ll be working in Liejinia from now on. You’re no longer needed here in the Zelin Kingdom.”

“The Liejinia Kingdom?”

There was a saying that there were only kingdoms and empires in the world, and “kingdom” here referred specifically to the Liejinia Kingdom. Although people superficially spoke of the Five Great Kingdoms, perceptive individuals understood that the true geopolitical reality was the Liejinia Kingdom and its four vassal states.

Since the war twenty years ago, Liejinia’s influence had deeply permeated the upper echelons of the other four kingdoms. On Earth, the Liejinia Kingdom would be akin to Germany during World War II, while the Empire would be equivalent to the Soviet Union. The Zelin Kingdom, where they currently resided, would be like a small vassal state such as Hungary at that time.

“Who am I to kill this time?” Karamanda asked.

“The King of the Liejinia Kingdom.”

“Alright.” Karamanda nodded, then coldly added, “I’ll depart immediately, but I have a condition: he must not suffer any accident during my time in Liejinia.”

“He’s going with you.”

“Hmph.” Karamanda sneered. Her hand, which had just been holding a wine glass, instantly moved. A flameberg throwing knife was suddenly pressed against Dals’s throat. Simultaneously, everyone else in the tavern raised various weapons and pointed them at Karamanda.

The entire process took less than a second, and the icy air in the room plummeted to an extreme.

“Hahahaha.” Yet, Dals didn’t seem angry; instead, he let out a hearty laugh.

The others exchanged bewildered glances, but Karamanda’s ruby eyes remained sharp and ruthless.

“Put them down, put them down. We’re all on the same side; it was just a little joke,” Dals waved his hand dismissively.

“Oh, and this ‘one of us’ doesn’t include you.” Dals casually flicked his wrist. The swordsman who had been the first to draw his sword and point it at Karamanda instantly collapsed.

A golden cross-shaped dagger was embedded in his chest.

Dals had completely ignored Karamanda throughout the entire process of purging his own informant, not bothering to address the knife pressed against his own throat.

“Do you intend to drag him into this too? You should know my bottom line,” Karamanda said coldly.

“Of course, that child is your bottom line,” Dals replied. “But don’t worry, I won’t involve him.”

Karamanda watched him with cold eyes. “Speak. What do you want?”

“You’re truly misunderstanding my good intentions. I was just worried you’d be lonely at night out there alone. With him, couldn’t you just vent your frustrations? Just like that night,” Dals said with a wide, grinning smile.

“I advise you not to entertain any twisted thoughts, or I will kill you.” Karamanda finished coldly, withdrawing her blade before leaving the tavern.

“How terrifying, how terrifying.” Dals’s flippant tone betrayed no hint of actual fear.