Chapter 383: Valentina Is So Cute (62K — Please Subscribe)

"Hmph hmph~"

When Valentina returned to the Third Commandment's quarters and once again saw her "enemy," she suddenly found herself in the mood.

She was no longer sleepy, no longer thinking about sleeping, and prepared to have a proper word with Lucalia.

"Want me to let you off? Hmph! It's not that simple!" She raised her head and glared at the reflection in the mirror with her nostrils.

Hmph!

It was you who bullied me before, wasn't it?

It was you who locked me up, wasn't it?

It was you who disguised yourself as me to trick Herbert, wasn't it?

Answer me!

The previous Valentina was still at the Legendary realm, and in a state of advancement, unable to bring out her full strength.

In a weakened state, she had accidentally stumbled into the Mirror Space, fighting on hostile ground, ambushed and plotted against by the Mirror Demon, and locked into the world within the mirror — she was certainly not going to take that lying down.

That humiliating experience had been weighing on her mind all this time.

But now, she had already recovered to her peak condition!

Feels great!

It was also time for revenge.

Valentina felt she was in excellent condition, in a good mood, and could eat four or five Herberts in one sitting.

Some are happy, some are worried.

When a bright smile appeared on Valentina's face, the smile on someone's face would vanish without a trace.

"……"

On Lucalia's side, her mood was as if she'd eaten shit, and she could only give an awkward dry laugh toward the fierce dragon Young Lady outside the mirror rubbing her fists in anticipation.

"This giant dragon — how did she advance to Epic so quickly?"

"Weren't the two of them still stacked together just now? How did she turn around and successfully advance?"

Just like that!?! Is it really that casual!?!?

The Mirror Demon Young Lady could not understand.

Advancing from Legendary to Epic is a difficult trial for all mortal beings — one must brace oneself and not allow the slightest carelessness.

But from what Lucalia had seen, Valentina seemed to have done no preparation at all, and simply advanced successfully just like that.

Even though she was already an Epic-tier powerhouse, Lucalia could not help but feel a trace of envy toward Valentina's bloodline at this moment.

Is this the terrifying talent of a dragon's bloodline?

Although the truth was not that simple, and Valentina had endured quite a bit of hardship, her behavior in the eyes of outsiders was indeed outrageous.

Eat, sleep, sleep, eat, eat again when awake, sleep again when full… an endless cycle.

Then, after eating a few Herberts, she advanced successfully just like that, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

To sum it up in one word — this is truly fucking outrageous!

Same old saying: to stand out before others, one must suffer behind the scenes.

You must work extremely hard, endure tremendous hardship in secret, only to appear effortless in the eyes of outsiders.

That's right!

Valentina is the legendary type who looks calm and breezy on the surface, but burns the midnight oil behind the scenes — how could that be.

Even Valentina herself didn't believe it when she said it.

Sorry, the reason I, Valentina, have been able to get this far is entirely due to talent and the help of benefactors, with little effort or sweat of my own.

Endure tremendous hardship?

Valentina did indeed eat hard behind the scenes, but what she ate was not the bitterness of life, nor the bitterness of cultivation.

It wasn't even bitter to eat — it was a little sweet, even…

Besides, who exactly was the one suffering and putting in the work wasn't certain either.

That's right, someone else was the one suffering.

The reason Valentina's bloodline could undergo atavism was all thanks to Herbert's hard work and diligent sweat.

He put in a great deal of effort.

Without Herbert's "upholding" help and willingness to give everything, she still didn't know how long she'd have been stuck at the peak of Legendary.

So…

Herbert is the MVP! Valentina is the freeloader riding the win!

The specific details and the truth of the matter were beyond Lucalia's imagination.

She had only seen the two of them stacked together, and didn't know about the many unusual aspects of Herbert.

The Mirror Demon Young Lady sized up the hungry dragon Young Lady, sighing endlessly to herself.

"Truly exaggerated!"

"How is the aura she gives off more dangerous than the vast majority of Epic powerhouses I've seen?"

This dragon was very strong.

Even though they were in the same realm, Lucalia still couldn't help making such an observation.

Valentina had clearly only just stepped into the Epic realm, yet in terms of danger, she was no less than any Epic she had seen in the past.

If anything, she surpassed them.

On her, one couldn't sense any astonishing magical fluctuations, nor was the dragon's innate dragon might all that exaggerated.

But even if Valentina did nothing and simply stood still on the spot, everyone could intuitively feel how dangerous she was.

That pure power seemed to be the violent embodiment of the very essence of "power" itself.

Strictly speaking, this was appreciation, not fear.

Liukaliya was not afraid of Valentina's attacks against her, nor did she worry that she was wreaking havoc inside the Mirror Space.

Although she was somewhat weaker in raw power in a head-on confrontation, her ability to flee, run, and protect herself far surpassed the other's by a wide margin.

Even when facing that Fallen Angel, as long as the other party didn't truly intend to kill her, she wouldn't suffer much substantive harm.

Her mirror shard clones had been shattered several times by Rucier inside the Aurora Sanctuary, but her main body hadn't suffered any impact at all.

Even if it really came down to a life-for-life fight, she could still choose to run!

Over all these years, Liukaliya had only failed at fleeing once—and then she was locked up here.

Liukaliya actually still had a fairly good impression of Valentina, feeling that the two of them should actually be able to chat together and have plenty of common topics.

So the question now was how to turn hostility into friendship, to turn the two of them from enemies into friends.

This matter looked difficult, but actually it wasn't all that hard.

Because the hardest step had already been taken—Herbert had done it for them.

When the two met, Herbert had also specifically instructed Valentina not to act rashly.

And it was precisely because Herbert played matchmaker from the middle that the two of them didn't immediately start fighting the moment they met (one-sided smashing).

The second step was complete, but as for what to do next, Liukaliya couldn't come up with any ideas for the moment.

"... Tch."

Threats? Bribery? Neither seemed reliable.

She had been in contact with Valentina for a period of time and knew she was the most stubborn of the stubborn.

She didn't know if it was because she was straightforward or just didn't have enough brains, but the concept of compromise simply didn't exist in this dragon's mind.

Beyond fighting for fun, it was fighting to the bitter end.

If fists could solve it, there was no need to think—just throw punches.

If she could act, she absolutely wouldn't waste words.

While deep in thought, Liukaliya also recalled what Herbert had quietly said to her before leaving.

"Although you might not be able to tell, Valentina is a good kid."

Herbert had once quietly told Liukaliya: "Although she's a bit stronger and a bit more simple-minded, her nature isn't bad."

"If Valentina behaves and doesn't immediately start fighting after I leave, that means she still has some reservations."

"Of course, she isn't concerned about your feelings—she's concerned about me, not wanting me to worry and be upset because of her recklessness."

Herbert seriously gave her a piece of advice, or rather, a warning.

"You need to be sincere."

"So what you need to do isn't find excuses to shirk, but sincerely apologize."

"She's an innocent and frank child—never think about deceiving her with lies."

"Valentina's intuition is very sharp; she can see through surface disguises and distinguish others' true feelings of like or dislike toward her."

When saying this, Herbert was extremely serious, and there was even a trace of unease left in his expression as he glanced back over his shoulder, still shaken.

"And after the apology, if Valentina is willing to accept it, then you can move on to the next step—you need to give her some benefits to draw closer."

Benefits?

What benefits could I give her?

Liukaliya was a bit dumbfounded at this point, not knowing what she could offer the other.

She was trapped here, unable to communicate with the outside world, and didn't have any special magical items on her—there was simply nothing presentable.

But she was thinking wrong; the benefits Herbert referred to weren't that kind of material giving.

"Forget it, let me just point you in the right direction—food."

In the end, Herbert didn't keep playing riddles and directly gave his guidance.

"Valentina really loves eating. Although food is no longer a necessity for her, eating is still one of her great pleasures."

"Even food she doesn't actually put in her mouth will do—just a few segments of memory is fine. If you can use food as bait, it will definitely greatly reduce her hostility toward you."

"Alright, that's all I can say. As for the specifics, you'll have to figure it out yourself."

To be fair, the plan Herbert provided was very thorough and responsible—you couldn't find fault with it.

But, for some reason, it always gave Liukaliya a wrong sense of déjà vu, as if Herbert wasn't teaching her how to make peace with Valentina.

It was more like a zookeeper painstakingly teaching someone how to build a friendship with a large dangerous creature he kept.

Besides, Herbert also seemed like an old father worried that his own daughter couldn't get along well with others.

She saw that Herbert hadn't only given her some advice—he had repeatedly urged Valentina about many things as well.

Caught between the two of them, he was the one who had it the hardest.

It was simply heartbreaking.

After realizing this, Liukaliya suddenly couldn't help but laugh.

"Pfft! Haha... uh!"

But after laughing out loud, Liukaliya realized something was wrong and became aware that she had been careless.

"Hm?"

Originally, Valentina across from her had already not much anger left in her heart, but upon seeing Liukaliya suddenly laugh, she narrowed her eyes, her slit pupils staring dangerously at the reflection in the mirror.

"What do you mean?"

"Laughing at me?"

Liukaliya inwardly broke into a cold sweat, but on the surface she forced herself to stay calm, shook her head, and said softly: "Of course not, I didn't laugh at you at all."

"Then why are you laughing?"

"... I just suddenly thought of something happy."

Liukaliya, sweating, finished speaking and quickly changed the subject: "Valentina, although I already apologized to you just now, I know that's still not enough."

"To show my sincerity, I've specially prepared a special gift here for you."

"Please don't refuse it. Trust me, you're sure to like it."

To keep the Hungry Dragon Young Lady from refusing, she added a line: "This was Herbert's suggestion to me. He also hopes you can forgive me."

Valentina hadn't taken it to heart at first, and was about to say, "Who wants your gift? A good fight with me (let me beat you up) is the best gift!"—but upon hearing Herbert's name, her brow lifted.

Herbert's suggestion?

Upon hearing that name, the Hungry Dragon Young Lady's attitude instantly softened, and the chilling pressure emanating from her body weakened considerably.

Her slit pupils spread open, growing larger and rounder, transforming into adorably blank round eyes, which sparkled as she stared at her and asked curiously:

"What is it? What did Herbert have you prepare for me?"

At this moment, even an outsider who didn't know the relationship between Herbert and her could sense the deep bond between these two.

Trust.

Unreserved trust.

And most precious of all, this trust wasn't one-sided wishful thinking.

Valentina could set aside all her concerns upon hearing Herbert's name, and Herbert could recognize her true form at a glance.

Valentina trusted Herbert completely, and Herbert likewise trusted Valentina.

Liukaliya felt a bit emotional for a moment.

To achieve such mutual trust—even across her long years, having seen countless people and events—such sincere emotion was exceedingly rare.

One could say one in a hundred, or even one in ten thousand.

Honestly, it really makes one... a little envious.

"Hehe."

She laughed softly, without playing coy, and said directly: "I want to give you a memory, or rather tell you a story, as a gift."

"A memory?"

Valentina blinked and tilted her head in confusion: "Someone else's memory? A story? What meaning does that have for me?"

Although her own knowledge was lacking, with the Sage acting as a fully automatic search library, she was already much stronger than before.

"Hehe, of course it's not an ordinary person's memory. Have you heard of 【Gourmet Kaiden】?"

"Hmm? Who's that?"

Valentina's big eyes blinked even faster.

Eh?

"Sage, do you know this person?"

'Not sure.'

Even the Sage couldn't provide an answer to this name.

The Wisdom Dragon's inheritance isn't all-powerful—it's not a cheat that knows all the world's secrets, but rather a quick search within the dragon's inherited memories.

And what the dragons' memories recorded was mostly important knowledge, techniques, and major historical events; they stored very little about general humanities and history.

Dragons are proud creatures; they rarely care about races far weaker than themselves.

Those fellows die off so easily anyway—after a few hundred years, several generations will have come and gone.

Wave after wave, batch after batch, there's no need to pay them any special attention.

Of course, this underestimation on their part also sowed the seeds of unexpected bitter consequences.

Humanity grew step by step and gradually rose to prominence amid the dragons' such arrogant neglect.

Liukaliya explained: "Kaiden, the most famous halfling adventurer in history, spent his entire life researching how to make and savor the most wonderful foods in the world."

"Although his strength was only mid-rank, and his temperament was an exceptionally irritable one even among halflings, his pursuit of gourmet food was second to none."

"In his short life of one hundred and seventy years, he recorded over two thousand delicacies from various races, and compiled a recipe book called 'The Book of Kaiden'."

"A recipe book!!!"

Upon hearing the word gourmet food, a spark of excitement lit up in Valentina's big eyes—this is not a figure of speech, but a literal description.

A wisp of flame spurted from her eyes, and after multiple reflections off the mirror surfaces, the entire Mirror Space lit up for an instant.

Her thick dragon tail behind her also swung about, emitting bursts of whooshing sounds.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh—

Seeing her so agitated, Liukaliya was secretly delighted, knowing she had probably chosen the right gift, and continued her introduction:

"This book didn't attract anyone's attention during Kaiden's lifetime, but two hundred years after his death, an adventurer discovered and bought it from his study."

"That adventurer recognized the value of this recipe book, went through several auction houses, fabricated quite a few 'legend' stories, and ultimately sold it for an astonishing sky-high price."

At this point in the story, Liukaliya suddenly shifted her tone and said regretfully: "But later, due to an accident, the original 'Book of Kaiden' was destroyed, and the surviving fragments circulating outside amount to less than one-tenth of the original."

"Oh no! No..."

Upon hearing this tragic news, Valentina let out a wail, sighed deeply, became utterly deflated, and the tail behind her drooped down.

Don't let something like that happen—

Just thinking that all those wonderful foods could no longer be eaten, the light vanished from Valentina's eyes.

Watching Valentina's emotions rise and fall so easily, Liukaliya also vaguely understood the meaning of what Herbert had said: "She's a naive and straightforward child."

She said with a smile: "But well, don't worry. Although others don't have it, I still do."

"... Oh? Oh!"

At this moment, the light returned to Valentina's eyes.

"Really!?"

"Really. I once witnessed Kaiden's entire life, recording every food he tasted and created, from birth to death."

"The recipes in the Book of Caiden, I remember them; the ones that weren't, I've also recorded them down."

How about that?

Isn't it amazing!?

I told you recording all this stuff would definitely come in handy!

"Hmph hmph~"

Sighing inwardly, the Young Lady Mirror Demon proudly puffed out her chest—and then her expression changed.

With her true body, such a gesture was nothing special, a trace of cuteness peeking through her mischievousness.

But she forgot that she was currently using Valentina's reflection.

An unintentional movement, done without much force at all, instantly set off waves across her chest.

Duang~Duang~Duang~

Liukaliya:???

No way, that's way too exaggerated!

Why is fate so generous to her, yet so stingy with me?

This isn't fair!

The Young Lady Mirror Demon suddenly felt a bit of regret.

How about... not giving her this recipe after all?

Uuuuh...

But once the bow is drawn, there's no turning back—Liukaliya also knew this thought could only remain a thought.

She had already whetted her appetite; if she changed her mind and refused to give it now, that would purely be picking a fight, and the nature of it would be utterly vile.

In that case, this Mirror Space would definitely get smashed to smithereens today.

To avoid such a tragedy, she pressed down the surging feelings in her heart and chest, and asked: "... Ahem, Valentina, would you accept this gift of mine?"

"I want it! I want it!"

Lured by the recipe, the Young Lady Hungry Dragon completely forgot the unpleasantness between them, tossing those trivial matters to the back of her mind.

"Liukaliya! You're really a good person!"

Valentina, unable to wait, hurried forward, wanting to give her a big hug, but in an instant of carelessness, bumped right into the mirror surface full on.

Duang~

Fortunately, the Young Lady Hungry Dragon had built-in airbags on her chest, which avoided a tragic incident.

"Ouch! Oww..."

The rebound pushed her back two steps, her face full of grievance, and instinctively she wanted to retaliate by punching the mirror surface.

"Um, are you okay?"

But before she could act, she glanced up at Liukaliya's complicated expression, as if she didn't know what to say, and silently pulled back her fist.

"..."

But she was also unwilling to take this loss lying down, so she changed to extending one finger and flicked the mirror surface.

Ding.

Valentina's not-too-light, not-too-heavy flick made the mirror surface tremble slightly, but left no mark at all.

Regardless of whether it had any effect, let's just consider it her revenge.

After "getting revenge," she even proudly tilted up her nose and gave a light snort.

"Hmph!"

I, Valentina, am never inferior to anyone my whole life, and never suffer the slightest loss!

And Liukaliya, who had witnessed all this, kept changing her impression of Valentina over and over.

The gaze she looked at her with grew more and more affectionate, the corners of her mouth curving up into an increasingly uncontrollable auntie smile.

Where on earth did this cute little thing come from!

In the Ice Church Temple of Aelda, the mirror surface on Herbert's pocket watch cover flickered.

"Herbert!"

Liukaliya's transformed appearance replaced Herbert's reflection in the mirror, and she said excitedly to him: "Valentina is really so cute!"

Herbert's brow lifted slightly, and he immediately said: "Cute, isn't she? She's mine, I won't give her to you."

"... Huh???"

Liukaliya was dumbfounded.

What nonsense is this? Who's fighting you for her?

"Hmph hmph~"

Herbert glanced at Liukaliya's dumbfounded expression in the mirror, smiled smugly, and casually snapped the pocket watch shut.

Click.

"Heh, that Valentina is cute—do I even need you to tell me that?"

Who wouldn't like a clumsy, voracious, fierce little silly dragon girl?

"My Lord?"

Sophia, who had been reporting on Aelda's recent situation, noticed Herbert's little movement, stopped her report, and asked: "Is there something you wish to say?"

"Uh..."

Herbert blinked, very much wanting to say he had no issues, that he had just briefly let his mind wander halfway and teased the Epic Mirror Demon.

But as a superior, he shouldn't act so frivolous at this moment—especially when someone was wholeheartedly giving you a report.

After thinking for a moment, he had an idea in mind, and nodded with a smile: "I already know the general situation. You've done well, thank you for your hard work."

He first expressed his gratitude to Sophia and the others for their hard work, conveying his respect for them.

"What you've done is even better than I imagined."

"As for the labor problem you mentioned, I can solve it on my end."

Currently, the construction progress in Elda Territory is not much; although aided by magic, the shortage of manpower remains a problem that cannot be ignored.

"Are you planning to absorb more population?" Joanna inquired.

"No."

Herbert shook his head, then looked toward Sophia and smiled at her: "Sophia, would you like to see your old friends?"

"Old friends? I don't have any friends… Oh, wait, you don't mean—?" the centaur heroic spirit's eyes suddenly went wide.

"Yes, exactly what you're thinking."

He smiled and said softly:

"I'm going to summon more heroic spirits."

(End of this chapter)