Leon coughed twice, shielding Natalie, who was showing a pained expression, behind him. That last strike hadn’t caused him any significant damage.
But Natalie, being a priestess, couldn’t compare to his physical resilience. Then there was the other priestess present—her indifferent eyes seemed to look right through him.
Hesitating for a moment, he sheathed his knight’s sword. Continuing this confrontation wouldn’t benefit him.
The newly arrived foreign Paladin had been cracking down on the church’s affairs quite frequently lately. If this escalated, it would likely reach that person’s ears.
Moreover, the attitude displayed by this unfamiliar priestess gave him a very bad feeling.
Thinking this, he couldn’t help but feel irritated. His sources of income had been dwindling recently. He had finally gotten his hands on a lucrative job, only to run into this mess.
But annoyance aside, Leon, who was used to throwing his weight around, had no intention of backing down. That would be far too humiliating.
He stared directly at Lintis and said,
“I didn’t expect someone so young to have the teachings memorized so clearly.”
“However, even so, didn’t all of this start because of you?”
Hearing this, Lintis raised an eyebrow slightly. She hadn’t expected him to try pinning the blame on her. Just as she was about to speak, she sensed something and her gaze flickered almost imperceptibly towards the window nearby.
A familiar figure came into view, causing the corners of her mouth to lift a few degrees. Instead of immediately replying to Leon, she first cast a holy spell to heal the adventurer whose ribs had been stomped on.
“Thank you, Miss Angel.” Feeling his body gradually recovering, the warrior-like adventurer thanked her sincerely.
This unique form of address made Lintis pause for a moment.
The now-healed adventurer also scratched his head awkwardly and retreated to the side, mentally slapping himself.
‘What a pig brain I have! How could I just blurt out what I was thinking!’
Lintis had no time to dwell on his internal monologue. After healing the injured, she turned her gaze back to Leon, who had been waiting impatiently.
Perhaps because of her earlier action, although he was clearly annoyed, he hadn’t made any further moves.
“You’re Mr. Leon, right?”
“You say it’s my responsibility, but didn’t all this start because you stormed in here aggressively demanding answers from me?”
“Otherwise, by now, I would have finished treating the injured and gone home.”
“Oh~” Lintis suddenly blinked, as if remembering something. “I see. You think the fees I charge for treating them are too low, which affects your own income stream, right?”
Leon frowned. He hadn’t expected the young girl to state such a matter so openly. Even though everyone knew the fees for hiring priests and knights were high, people usually kept it to themselves and didn’t openly resist.
But things had come to this point, so he could only follow her lead.
“Miss Priestess, you understand perfectly well, don’t you? This Adventurers’ Guild mission was personally assigned to us by the High Priest. Are you trying to steal our task?”
Lintis innocently spread her hands. “That kind of thing is irrelevant. More importantly, let’s have a proper chat about you two harming ordinary people.”
“How is that irrelevant?!” Leon was getting angry. Her repeated dismissive attitude was testing his patience, even for someone as calm as him.
A glint flashed in Lintis’s eyes, and she smiled slightly. “Of course it’s irrelevant. Exorbitant service fees are just something you all decided on privately. What does that have to do with me?”
“I simply treated ordinary people as a priestess. That’s all.”
“And you two? Mr. Leon and Miss Natalie, who call yourselves a knight and a priestess—what exactly have your actions been?”
Leon’s face darkened, but he couldn’t find any words to refute her. This scene suddenly felt eerily familiar, taking him back over a decade to when he worked alongside that knight named “Thor.”
“That’s right! You two have no right to call yourselves a knight and a priestess! Get out!”
“Get out!”
“Get out!”
Seeing Leon and Natalie speechless, the adventurers who had been wronged earlier started shouting. Leon’s face instantly turned ashen.
The entire guild hall was filled with condemnation directed at the two, until Lintis, who seemed to have been unofficially appointed as the “spiritual leader,” raised her hand. Only then did they quiet down.
Lintis smiled and pointed a single finger towards the main door.
“Obviously, you aren’t very welcome here~”
As she spoke, she glanced at the receptionist. After the latter nodded, she continued,
“Could you please leave?”
Leon, his face flushed red with humiliation, snorted coldly. “Quite the silver tongue you have, little girl. I hope you keep that same attitude when facing the High Priest!”
“Natalie, let’s go!”
Saying this, he grabbed Natalie and prepared to leave.
Seeing them about to leave, the adventurers, despite their loud shouts, obediently cleared a path. No one wanted to provoke an obviously furious knight—the consequences had already been demonstrated.
But while they didn’t dare, it didn’t mean Lintis didn’t. She took two quick steps forward and, to the adventurers’ astonishment, directly grabbed Leon’s arm.
“Ah, I almost forgot. Please wait a moment, Mr. Leon. Do you remember me saying I would get back at you? Oh~ more accurately, it should be called punishment~”
Leon turned back, his face dark. He hadn’t expected this priestess to grab him directly and bring up such a thing with a playful smile.
But the next moment, his expression shattered. An intense pain shot up from his arm, straight to the crown of his head, followed immediately by a loud CRACK.
The sound of bone breaking made everyone present freeze—except for the owner of the bone…
“AAAAAHHH—!!!”
Leon’s scream echoed throughout the Adventurers’ Guild. He fell to his knees, frantically using his still-functional arm to hold his completely shattered one, his face filled with disbelief.
But it wasn’t over. Lintis stepped forward and delivered a kick to his stomach. The powerful force sent Leon flying out of the guild hall, rolling several times on the ground outside before coming to a stop.
Then, she turned her gaze to Natalie, who had collapsed to the floor in terror, her legs giving out. Lintis waved at her with a smile.
“Your turn~”
“AAAAAHHH—!!!”
Before Lintis could even make a move, the girl named “Natalie” let out a startling shriek. An unidentified liquid began trickling down her thighs onto the floorboards.
Overwhelmed by intense fear, Natalie, controlling her violently trembling hands and limp legs, scrambled and crawled her way out of the Adventurers’ Guild, terrified of staying even a second longer.
Seeing this, Lintis found it somewhat amusing. She didn’t chase after her to deliver any further punishment; this level of humiliation was enough.
At that moment, she glanced intentionally or not towards the window from earlier, only to find the figure she’d seen had already vanished. She couldn’t help but pout.
After a moment’s thought, she closed her eyes, briefly activating the “Magic Network,” and sent a few messages towards the nearest star.
After sending them, Lintis opened her eyes and turned around, only to find everyone in the Adventurers’ Guild looking at her with strange expressions.
Ah… she knew this feeling. The subtle emotion that arises when a usually harmless and cute creature suddenly displays fierce aggression.
And in times like these… all you need to do is smile!
Lintis clasped her hands behind her back and revealed a sweet smile.
“It’s okay now. The bad guys have been chased away~”
The guild hall suddenly fell into a deathly silence, making Lintis panic a little. ‘Did I mess up?’
Fortunately, the next second, a wave of cheers erupted.
“Lady Angel!”
“I told you she was an angel! You didn’t believe me! See! See!”
“Shut up, you brutes are scaring her!”
……
Looking at the suddenly excited adventurers, Lintis appeared a bit dazed. Her small mouth opened and closed, but she ultimately didn’t voice any words to stop them.
But being suddenly called “Angel” and such still brought a slight blush to her cheeks. She responded with an embarrassed, sheepish grin.