Chapter 395: She Won't Give It, He Insists (Subscribe Please)

"Stop!"

"Don't come in!"

A wretched wail echoed from deep within the bronze fortress.

Miss Devil had locked herself in the deepest part of the bronze fortress, trying to escape the clutches of the terrifying Holy Knight.

But the ruthless Warden had no intention of giving her that chance, no intention of letting her off the hook.

Knock knock knock!

Herbert didn't choose to keep using his authority to force the door open. Instead, he slammed his palm against the great door and hollered, "Open up, open up! I know you're in there, don't hide inside and stay silent!"

"Listen up, you inside! You're surrounded! Stop resisting!"

"Surrender immediately!"

On top of that, he imitated Master Ye's wooden-dummy routine and threw a flurry of high-speed Wing Chun strikes against the bronze iron door.

Knock knock knock knock—

"You can't do this!"

"That contract has loopholes! You tricked me!!!"

"That contract doesn't hold—"

Herbert listened to Kreti's wailing, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

"Hmph."

Scammed you?

Isn't that obvious?

Who doesn't scam?

Do you mean to say you never scam others yourself?

You can't only remember the fairness of a contract when you're the one getting screwed by it.

"Enough said, I don't want to waste any more words. Open the door for me now!"

Cut the crap!

Open up!

F! B! I!

So Herbert's knocking sped up, the raps stringing together into one continuous sound, while he chanted nonstop: "Open up open up open up open up open up open up!"

And Kreti, bracing against the door, shouted back no less defiantly: "No No No—"

To be fair, the scene was truly bizarre.

The devil who toyed with hearts was wailing inside the room, while the human outside the door held up a contract and stressed the legality of his actions.

It felt like some once-mighty world empire shouting about isolationism, trying to reclaim the last shreds of its former glory.

And on the other side, the once-bullied, farming-only peace-loving nation had taken up cannons and warships and blasted open the other's tortoise shell.

Open up!

Free trade!

The world has flipped upside down—

And after persisting like this for a while, Herbert was the first to stop the meaningless antics.

"Tch."

He shook out his hand, wiped the nonexistent sweat from his brow, the corner of his mouth twitching, and muttered, "So unromantic, not cooperating at all."

He wasn't tired of playing.

He was simply bored of it.

Time to switch to a new way of playing.

He could, in fact, rely on his control over the sealing arrays and the Precept House to force his way in, then give Kreti some "mandatory assistance"—a loving education.

But how boring would that be!

Compared to using raw power to force others into submission, Herbert still preferred some "gentle and roundabout" methods to leave a deep impression on them.

Yes, this was his strategy for conquering monster girls!

... This is definitely not just playing around!

And now that Kreti refused to play along, he had no choice but to pick some tougher methods.

"Are you really planning to keep this up?"

But before taking action, the kind-hearted Herbert still issued a final ultimatum to the criminal behind the door.

"If you keep being so uncooperative, I'm really going to make a move."

Don't say I didn't warn you!

But perhaps Kreti really thought her resistance was working. She let out a breath of relief, dropped her earlier flustered attitude, and said firmly:

"That's right!"

"Give up! I will absolutely not come out!"

Miss Devil is forever no slave!

Miss Devil bows to no one!

For the glory of devils!

For the dignity of devils!

And Kreti's confidence wasn't entirely without basis.

Miss Devil had a trump card—at least, that's what she believed.

Kreti had layered many seals onto this door; it no longer belonged solely to the Third Precept House, but had become her personal barrier.

This wasn't something hastily thrown together; it had been prepared long in advance to resist Flora.

It's just that every time Kleititi tried to hide here, Flora had already caught her, so it had never actually been put to use.

This time, however, the great door unexpectedly displayed an ability beyond what anyone had anticipated and truly held against Herbert.

Even if Herbert forcibly invoked his authority, it could still resist for quite some time.

And to increase her own odds of winning, Kleititi added another line:

"Herbert! This is a matter between us! Even if you drag other people into it, I still won't accept it!"

And hearing her declaration of "stubborn resistance," Herbert was not in the least angry; on the contrary, a delighted smile spread across his face.

To keep Herbert from recruiting other prisoners to help, she forced out words that sounded tough on the surface but were actually a show of weakness.

Who was she most worried about?

There were quite a few such people~

"Herbert, give me a little more time, alright? Let me think it over… over… over again!"

The Young Lady devil wasn't a Bai Chi either; once things had escalated to this point, she caught on — Herbert had no real intention of forcing her into submission by brute force.

What was happening now looked far more like two people bantering and play-fighting.

And with so many things happening all at once, Kleititi's head really was in a bit of a muddle.

She hadn't expected that the "blood purification" Valentina had mentioned would involve doing something like this!

Logically speaking, a devil belonging to an evil faction shouldn't really put up much resistance to such a thing.

Corruption is, after all, a devil's stock in trade.

While corrupting others, one is constantly sinking deeper into corruption oneself.

But at this moment, Kleititi felt a certain bewilderment.

If the other party weren't Herbert, she probably wouldn't have reacted so strongly.

At most, she would simply cut down the fool who'd proposed such an absurd thing, without wasting a single extra word on him.

The fact that the one who brought it up was Herbert was precisely what threw her heart into disarray.

Their relationship was actually quite unique.

Among all the monster girls, Kleititi and Herbert's relationship was probably the slowest-progressing one — they hadn't yet reached what could truly be called friends.

With the others, some had already been fully conquered and were even sharing a bed.

Others were somewhere above friendship but not yet lovers.

And only she was stuck in that awkward in-between of "above strangers but not yet friends."

But in truth, Herbert's relationship with her wasn't bad either; the two of them had cooperated plenty.

Though she wouldn't say it out loud, Kleititi was quite intrigued by Herbert, that mysterious holy knight.

She was especially curious about how Herbert had managed to overpower Flora and take her as a servant.

She wanted to learn.

Even if she couldn't master it completely, picking up one or two tenths of it would be nice — enough to keep that detestable demon in line.

Under such a special relationship, Kleititi's feelings toward Herbert were quite peculiar.

Especially after Herbert proposed this particular form of help, her heart was thoroughly thrown into chaos.

A heavy bomb had been dropped into what had been a fairly calm lake.

Boom!!!

It stirred up her previously composed mood and set her thinking.

Kleititi couldn't quite figure out whether she truly desired to grow stronger as much as she thought.

If Flora really were her sworn mortal enemy, then even doing something like this — what of it?

Driven by true hatred, the Young Lady devil would be willing to pay any price to gain power.

But the problem was that her relationship with Flora was also quite unique.

Over these several hundred years of "harmonious" coexistence, they couldn't be called friends, but they had long been thoroughly familiar with each other.

The most familiar of strangers.

Annoyance? Yes.

But hatred? There really wasn't much.

Was all of this really worth it?

Moreover, Kleititi had a strange premonition.

If she were to simply bow her head and submit right now, then many things would become very strange — she would never be able to hold her head up in front of Herbert again.

Although she wasn't holding it all that high right now either, at least it still counted as an "equal" footing.

Calming down a little, Kleititi used her ability to whisper softly into Herbert's ear: "Herbert, give me a little more time."

And hearing that Kleititi was beginning to show faint signs of softening, Herbert, outside the door, curved his lips into a slight smile.

"…Heh."

He knew that, in this round, he had already won more than half the battle.

This exchange was his victory.

Not only had he gotten Kleititi to voluntarily sign an unequal treaty that would make even the Qing Dynasty weep, he had also successfully thrown her emotions into violent upheaval.

At this point, having achieved a阶段性 victory, Herbert could have completely sounded the retreat and quit while he was ahead.

But Herbert chose a different approach.

He nodded slightly and said softly, "Since you put it that way, I understand what you're thinking."

The Young Lady devil breathed a sigh of relief at his words and said, "That's good then — you go on ahead first, let me think it over a bit more…"

Before she could finish, Herbert continued, "Your proposal is excellent — however, I refuse."

One of Herbert's favorite things is to say NO to those self-important fellows!

Don't stop! Keep going!

Herbert rejected Kreti's ceasefire agreement and stated that he would continue to launch attacks!

These spoils alone are not enough — far from enough.

What he wants is — a total, overwhelming victory!

Most importantly, he hasn't had enough fun yet!

"Herbert!"

Feeling deceived, the demon Young Lady angrily bit her lip and said in annoyance, "What exactly do you want?"

I've already lowered my head, so why won't you give me some face?

Herbert responded — face?

You want me to give you face, so why don't you give me some face first and open the door?

The two continued their standoff for a while. Herbert stopped again, nodded, and said, "Fine, fine, fine. You'd better be able to keep this up!"

"Hmph!"

A smug little snort came from inside the door, which made Herbert's smile all the more brilliant.

Very good.

Still not opening the door, huh?

Fine.

"Wait here, I'm going to get something good."

Herbert grinned eerily, then pushed open the teleportation gate and turned to leave.

Click.

As the teleportation gate closed and she sensed Herbert's presence departing, the demon Young Lady inside finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness, he's finally gone…"

After her tense nerves relaxed, Kreti smiled somewhat helplessly and complained, "This guy, really, what a nasty personality!"

He could have just used force to make her submit, yet he insisted on making her yield willingly.

"Having such strange persistence in such a strange place — truly a strange fellow… hmm?"

Just as she was sighing in thought, her expression suddenly changed drastically.

Hmm!!?

Kreti's face went blank — she sensed a terrifying aura coming from outside the door.

That is… dragon's majesty?

That's right — the dragon's majesty of a giant dragon!!!

And an epic-level giant dragon!!?

Huh?

Did he actually drag Valentina over here!!?

Calling for backup?

"That's cheating!"

Realizing what was happening, Kreti lost her composure on the spot and shouted, "Even if you use her power to break open the door, I won't acknowledge you!"

You're cheating!

You can't afford to play fair!

"Of course I wouldn't borrow someone else's power to conquer you."

A laugh Herbert couldn't hold back came from outside the door: "Who said I was going to rely on Valentina's power?"

"I just borrowed a tool from her.."

A tool?

Just as Kreti was wondering, she heard a faint snoring sound — Valentina was actually still sleeping???

What is he planning to do?

However, this question didn't trouble Kreti for long — she soon learned the answer.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

After a few sharp sounds, the originally indestructible great door quickly cracked and was soon broken open with a large hole.

That easily!!?

But just as Kreti was in despair, Herbert did not continue his attack. Instead, he poked his head through the hole and flashed her an eerie smile.

The holy knight has arrived!

"Herbert, you… what exactly are you trying to do?"

But Herbert didn't answer the question. Instead, he pulled his head back and said in a drawn-out tone, "Kreti, do you know?"

"When the difficulty of breaking through a door is greater than the difficulty of breaking through a wall, your wall… is your true door."

Hmm?

Just as Kreti was savoring the meaning of these words, a tremendous roar suddenly came from the side of the great door.

Boom!

A head blasted through the wall cast in bronze and "drilled" out from within.

Kreti:???

Valentina: "Snore… snore… *slurp*!"

The demon Young Lady looked at the hungry dragon Young Lady's peacefully sleeping face and completely lost her composure.

Herbert, he……

He's actually using the sleeping Valentina as a battering ram!!?

Is he even human?

Beast!!!

Under this absurdly bizarre scene, Crety couldn't even work up any anger.

She was completely helpless and raised the white flag in surrender.

"I give up, but can you tell me one thing — what exactly are you trying to do!?"

You're so persistent, making such a big fuss — what on earth is it all for?

"Doing what?"

"I'm merely faithfully fulfilling the contract."

Herbert smiled faintly and raised an eyebrow: "As stipulated by the contract, you always have to let me help you, don't you?"

Forced help!

I'm here to help you~

"……So, what exactly are you going to do?"

"Since it's the first time, I'll give you a kiss first."

"Alright, I……hmm?"

Crety:?

A kiss?

The Young Lady Devil was stunned for a moment and hurriedly pressed on: "Wait! You mean, just one kiss?"

"Yes? Is there a problem?"

And Herbert squinted at her: "Also, what do you mean by 'just one kiss'? Are you perhaps wanting more?"

"I……uh, no! I don't!"

Herbert stared at the blushing Crety, paused for a moment, and said in all seriousness:

"Crety, you're really lewd."

Crety:???

(End of chapter)