Chapter 245

Li En finally found another job and happily prepaid a month's salary; his mood was quite good.

On the way back, he bought a cake, some fruit, three taels of elf wine, and a few candies and biscuits, planning to treat himself.

No, this wasn't for anyone else's sake—he was just greedy, and these days his pockets had run dry, making life awkward.

There was a wealthy woman at home, so he wouldn't starve, but he had no say in the mansion's operations; he'd already grown too ashamed to mooch from Lana's snack bag.

Several times when he went shopping, he'd used the kid as an excuse to make the maids and Sallyman buy him snacks.

Li En had more or less confirmed it—the maid was Sallyman's person.

These past two days, the kid's gaze at him had grown strange; her sharpness had clearly picked up on something.

But the kind girl didn't refuse him; instead, she happily shared her favorite little lion-shaped cookies with Li En, which made him feel slightly guilty.

Originally, with his pockets empty, Li En had planned to work as a mercenary for a couple days to earn some bounty money, or just head into the dungeon to gather materials to sell—but he'd been too busy lately.

"Hmm, should I go in? First, let's eat."

The unscrupulous man had completely forgotten the kid at home, enjoying his snack and drink in the courtyard, planning to go inside only after finishing.

There was no beer or hard liquor, because Sallyman and little Lana didn't like them.

In a way, Li En had prematurely entered the miserable life of a middle-aged man raising a daughter.

But with so many recent events draining him, his small purse had been emptied; given a little time, he should be able to build up his own little stash.

Part of this was Lex's fault—he'd gone around saving people that day, saw some disaster victims living in terrible conditions, and pulled out his gold and silver coins, tossing them carelessly; with his meager savings, he'd emptied both pockets in two rounds, then shamelessly took money from the governor's purse afterward.

But he hadn't finished eating.

"Young Master Li En?"

Oh—he'd already been caught by the maid.

But she didn't scold him; she just hurriedly pulled him inside.

"A guest has arrived—severely wounded."

Li En instantly snapped to attention and followed the maid into the parlor.

There, before him, was the magic girl "White," whom he hadn't seen in ages; he'd just begun to smile in greeting when he noticed her sorrowful expression—and the figure lying behind her.

"Red Feather Arrow," dressed in a red travel outfit, lay there, her once eagle-sharp eyes gone, replaced by hollow, terrifying eye sockets.

"We were ambushed on the road—the sky suddenly turned dark, and that woman in black…"

—

"Can she be healed?"

"Probably not."

The priest summoned by Sallyman shook his head; Red Feather Arrow had no other wounds. Precisely speaking, aside from her eyes, all other injuries had already self-healed.

"Gulp. She ate it. She ate it!"

In the parlor, a giant eagle, also missing its pupils and bound with eye patches, lay on a stand, wailing.

Magic girls are Beast Witches—essentially humanoid Beasts—with exceptionally strong self-recovery abilities.

Even if they don't match the near-immortal "Deer," who specializes in this, they're strong enough to barely need priests, and often possess healing abilities themselves.

But Beast versus Beast combat involves specialized, targeted techniques.

"Eating" doesn't mean literal digestion—it means "seizing and retaining within the body," conceptually stealing a part of the opponent.

This is a rare combat technique among Beasts. By the time one can use it, the opponent is already defenseless—death is inevitable; there's no need for such complications.

She deliberately left Red Feather Arrow and her contract beast alive—just to show us.

"Rosalind."

Li En sighed. Everyone assumed Rosalind was locked in a brutal struggle with the new capital and had no time to bother with him.

But clearly, to her, perhaps even her queen sister in the new capital wasn't that important.

The magic girl lying in the parlor was, in essence, a declaration of war.

"Why didn't she just come for me directly?"