Chapter 316 - Side Kuina
Chapter 316 - Side Kuina
My name is Kuina, I serve the Beastkin’s Country as a palace maid.
When I was two, I was brought to the nursery for maids within the palace but I can’t remember anything before then. The nursery gathered orphans for education, those qualified would be chosen as maids while those who could not meet qualification by a certain age would be assigned to other departments.
The training was so harsh that it was not uncommon to die, but even with poor performance, as long as you stayed alive, you wouldn’t be abandoned. If it was an orphan shelter, it would be considered kind.
The qualifier to become a maid is combat power, and thanks to my talent in fighting, I was chosen to become one. I trained with my predecessors until the age of 14, whereafter I was introduced to my lady. I will always remember the first time I was introduced to the newly born lady.
The feeling I felt was indescribable. It wasn’t just her loveliness nor the feeling of nervousness that I felt, although those were present.
It is well known that the children of the Red Cat Tribe have gold or red hair and yellow-tinted skin, and their eyes are mostly gold, silver, cyan, and brown, this includes members of the Royal Family.
However, my lady’s hair and skin are snow-white and her eyes red. When we first met, I couldn’t tell her race for a moment. It was surreal.
I didn’t know at the time, but my Lady was a rare variant called White Shrine Maiden .
Everyone present was happy while gazing at the newly born girl. Those born White Shrine Maiden gain special skills or abilities at birth, and the white flame held by my lady is a strong unique skill bestowed by the gods. According to scholars who came to study the skill, it surpasses the golden flame in power.
With such power came high expectations and annoying people. There were those who wanted her to use that power to destroy the Kingdom of Bashar and others who want my lady to use the power to help themselves.
Those with malicious intentions began to spread bad rumors about the Kingdom of Bashar in hopes to infect my lady, but the Beast Lord, despite being a muscle head, thought of my lady’s happiness and came up with a plan so as not to crush my lady with expectations.
In response, my Lord arranged Bodyguards for my lady and also granted her freedom outside the palace. I was the only one entrusted to accompany her outside and despite the dangers, my lady gained freedom, and a life better than being stuck inside the palace.
Here, she grew up healthy and my lady who had been spoiled when she was born, turned out to be an exceptional fighter. By the time she turned 13, she had become strong enough to crush a dungeon.
When it happened, I was amazed. My lady was still not proficient in controlling her skill and accidentally made the skill go berserk. That E-rank dungeon, in just a short time, was annihilated.
This all happened in a dungeon near a small town. The local adventurers guild discovered Magical Beasts preparing to stampede, and my lady, who had been taught it was the nobles duty to protect her country, rushed to their aide.
Upon entering the dungeon, we encountered a stream of magic beasts rushing to exit, here my lady unleashed her skill. I told her she could withdraw and leave it to the adventurers, they could have handled it, but she was still in a rebellious phase at the time.
Just a bravado, my lady unleashed her skill, which spread and swallowed the entire dungeon. From the entrance, all the mid-level magic beasts inside where engulfed by the white flame, and the size of the dungeon worked to me lady’s advantage as the corridors were tight. In the face of the White Flame, even beast ranked E and D could do nothing to stop her.
Although all adventurers survived in the end, the dungeon core was ruined, completely dead, so it was all in vain.
Through this event, my lady earned a lot of experience and gained her evolution, and with it a new title; Not Dungeon Traveler, but Dungeon Tyrant. You could feel the gods influence in that.
My lady’s eagerness to help would sometimes cause trouble for people, but at the end of the day, things turned out ok.
The only problem I could see was that she didn’t have friends her age. Well, to begin with, she’s too powerful when compared to those her age and her royal status would make those around her treat her with a sense of dignity.
Despite all that, my lady finally found someone who could be her friend.
We came across the rumored Black Lightning Princess in our travels. Since hearing the rumor, I had been wondering if she would become my lady’s friend. Ah but to suddenly start fighting… my illusion of my lady with a friend began to crumble and it was a little hard to take in.
Fran was as fond of fighting as My lady and they got along well, but when I brought up that they were friends, they got angry and called themselves rivals instead. Honestly, it’s hard to know what goes on inside the brain of a meathead.
After parting ways from Fran, we headed south to join the war against the Kingdom of Bashar but were rejected. Well, that was to be expected, with the Beast Lords absence, they could not afford to send someone from the royal family to the front lines, lest they were prepared to bear full responsibility.
Since we couldn’t join the front lines, we ended up helping around at a supply base near the back.
My Lady’s mood gradually deteriorated and I did my best to appease her, but the moment I brought up following Fran, she instantly lit up. What a simple girl, perhaps I can use this in the future?
Although we immediately headed north, there were no signs of catching up to Fran. It was during our journey we found out she had been involved in a riot for unknown reasons but when we arrived, we only heard that she had already left.
Finally, once we had a clear idea of where they would be next, we sped up, and even triggered Awakening, however, Fran’s Demonic Wolf’s speed surpasses what we expected, and just as we were catching up…
We found something terrible at the location.
The place, Greengoat, was in a major panic with its people rushing to leave. According to the lord, a large number of Magic Beasts were approaching from the north.
Could it be a riot? If so, perhaps the Kingdom of Bashar is involved, it seems like Fran and other adventurers had been attacked by assassins so perhaps the two are linked. I wouldn’t put it past them to send out assassins but if that’s the case, shouldn’t the adventurers be heading south not north?
Most of the adventurers in this country are battle-hungry and would take the double payback to the enemy. As a result, most of them were heading for the Kingdom of Bashar, leaving the rear undermanned.
Well, no matter, My Lady was in high spirits and after we learned that the remaining adventurers headed north, we set out immediately as well.
Along the way, we discovered two more groups apart from the one we were aware of.
One of the groups had already been intercepted, it seems there were some powerful foes, but the adventurers were good as well. We could join but would that be overkill? Instead, My Lady and I headed towards the last group that was a bit smaller.
The most shocking thing we encountered was the large number of magic beasts and evil beings riding them all wore similar equipment and were led by their commander, Dullahan. They were even able to properly follow orders and form battle tactics, however, even with all that they were no match for us. After we took out their Dullahan, the rest of the forces were easily dealt with.
After we finished wiping the remaining magic beasts, we continued north, trying to investigate the source, and as we proceeded, My Lady grew along with Llinde, and things became easier.
However, what was supposed to be a simple investigation turned out to be something more urgent. What we found was Fran surrounded by a large number of Evil Beings, holding them back on her own.
Of course, My Lady wouldn’t be content with just investigating, and she would not let Fran fight alone so we joined the battle.
But, why did my opponent have to be the heavily armored Dullahan? To be honest, the kind of enemy is hard to beat with my skills. The main problem is that I don’t have a way to end the fight. My fighting style revolves around assassination and pinpointing the enemies weakness, but that doesn’t due to well against tanky ghosts.
However, since My Lady told me to do it, there is no reason to refuse.
「My lady has requested me to stop you.」
「——」
「Ok, fine. This silent ghost is so boring.」
「——」
「Whatever, guess it can’t be helped, maybe I’ll take this chance to learn to fight quietly.」
My life’s motto is cut corners whenever possible but, in order to live up to my lady’s expectations, I will go all out.
Notes:
White Shrine Maiden - original text is ‘白神子’(Shiro Kami Ko).
Shiro - 白, means white, here it refers to the skin and hair color of Mare is white.
Kami Ko - 神子 (ふじょ), are women who mainly serve the gods of Yamato (Japan).
Bodyguards - original text is ‘影武者’ (‘Kagemusha’), means shadowy bodyguards.
Demonic Wolf - Fran’s demonic attendant, Urushi, According to Ch. 51, Urushi is ‘A Highbreed Wolf Demonic Beast capable of manipulating the Darkness attribute. Its Status is low compared to other Demonic Beasts of the same rank, but its Skill and Magic diversity is top-class. With many Skills related to stealth, especially the ability to hide and move within shadows, these Demonic Beasts are very difficult to find. Their existence has been confirmed, but there have been very few discoveries. Threat Level C.’