After Zhu Qiu used the magic she learned from Ilanka to escape, she drifted through the air.
Fortunately, since she began using the spell, the clouds in the sky had never dispersed, making it look like a very overcast day.
This created a favorable environment for her subsequent escape.
While floating in the sky, Zhu Qiu thought, ‘They’re a bunch of lunatics. They almost killed me. I have to find Dinksway immediately; I don’t want to become a Sword Saint rejected by the Human Race.’
Because Zhu Qiu moved extremely fast in the darkness, she reached the Mages Association without any effort.
However, when she prepared to deactivate the magic and land, the sudden situation before her eyes made things difficult.
At this very moment, almost all the residents of the Human Race had come out of their houses.
They were wandering the streets with expressionless faces, one after another, as if they were being directed by someone.
The entrance to the Mages Association, in particular, was so packed with people that Zhu Qiu had nowhere to land.
‘Why are these people surrounding this place for no reason? It must be that goblin’s doing again. The people who tried to catch me just now were probably sent by him too.’
With no other choice, Zhu Qiu had to find a hidden alley nearby and wait for an opportunity.
She hid behind a trash can, revealing only her small head to observe the outside through the gaps in the alleyway.
‘These people must be looking for me. There is no way I’m stupid enough to walk out there and die. I have to find a way to disguise myself.’
Zhu Qiu looked left and right, but she couldn’t find anything useful in the vicinity.
“Sword Spirit, do you have any ideas?”
Zhu Qiu asked the Holy Sword.
‘I don’t have any ideas either. I’m not good at things like disguises.’
“Then what should I do now? Everyone outside is looking for me. I’ll be caught as soon as I go out.”
‘Isn’t it simple? Just take off the magic prop the Great Evil Dragon gave you and turn back into a loli. I bet your appearance as a little loli could fool all of them,’ the Sword Spirit said with a wicked smile.
Zhu Qiu looked disdainful.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, why are you joking at a time like this? Wouldn’t that be just walking right back into the same situation I just escaped from?”
‘Oh, right. Sword Spirit, you’re actually quite smart.’
Zhu Qiu no longer hesitated and used magic for Shadow Integration.
‘Remember! Use these things less in the future! I am your only choice!’
“Alright, alright, I get it.”
She returned to the sky above the Mages Association building and found an open window on the second floor.
‘Dinksway must be in here.’
Zhu Qiu dove inside without hesitation.
Since the area by the window happened to be illuminated by the room’s lighting equipment, the dark environment vanished, and the magic deactivated automatically.
She brushed the dust off her clothes, looked around, and sighed.
“That big goblin sure is rich, keeping the lights on even during the day.”
“I told you, I am not a goblin!”
Dinksway walked down from the central spiral staircase, crushing the cup in his hand in a fit of rage.
“Why are you here? Wait, no, you really are here!”
“Where else would I be? This is my home. Sword Saint, isn’t it a bit impolite to come here uninvited?”
“Don’t give me that useless talk. You’re the one behind the false information in the newspapers, aren’t you? Go outside and explain everything to the residents immediately!”
“What? What newspaper? What false information? I don’t seem to understand what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t think that just because you won’t admit it, everything will be fine. I know everything that happened to me today was your doing. You’re trying to ruin me!”
Dinksway stepped forward.
“So what? Even if you know, what can you do? Sword Saint, you can only blame yourself. You created the current situation with your own hands.”
“Are you sure there isn’t something wrong with your head? How can you say something like that?”
Dinksway was clearly the one spreading rumors, yet he turned it around and said she did it.
If that wasn’t a problem with his head, what was?
“Then think about it carefully. Why do you think I had Sote fight you? Wasn’t it to gather evidence that I could easily forge? Although the Human Race didn’t see the actual process with their own eyes, as long as there is ‘evidence,’ why wouldn’t they believe it?”
Dinksway crossed his hands behind his back.
He could no longer hide his smile and let it spread across his face.
“So, you’re the one who buried yourself. It has nothing to do with me. Don’t you understand yet?”
Zhu Qiu did not respond, nor did she show any extra emotion.
“To think you can still be so calm. As expected of the Sword Saint, your psychological resilience is truly strong.”
Although the little loli didn’t show anything on the surface, a tidal wave of rage was surging in her heart.
‘Don’t you dare slander me! I am the Sword Saint who protects the Human Race!’
“Holy Sword! Manifest!”
Zhu Qiu summoned the Holy Sword and gripped it tightly.
When Dinksway saw this, his interest was piqued again.
“You’ve even summoned the Holy Sword. Do you intend to attack the Human Race? If you do that, it will be even harder to explain yourself, won’t it?”
“You!”
Zhu Qiu was so angry she pointed her sword at Dinksway.
“Come on. It’s the perfect time to let everyone know that the Sword Saint is the enemy of the entire Human Race!”
He intentionally emphasized the word “enemy.”
Zhu Qiu had been trying to keep herself calm, but who could endure this! Aside from suffering at the hands of those female dragons, she had never suffered such a loss to a goblin!
When patience reaches its limit, there is no more need to endure!
“Slash!”
Zhu Qiu didn’t care about anything else anymore and slashed forward with her sword.
Blood splattered, dripping continuously onto the floor.
Dinksway clutched his injured finger, his face distorted in intense pain.
He never imagined the Sword Saint would actually attack.
He only reacted when the Holy Sword was inches away and barely managed to shift his body, but in the end, he still lost a finger.
“I, the Sword Saint, am not someone you can bully so easily! You thought I wouldn’t dare? That’s just what you thought!”
After saying that, to prevent Dinksway from using some method to reattach the finger, she used the Holy Sword to flick the finger out the window.
She walked to the window and watched as a dog swallowed the finger.
Giving him a lesson was enough. If she really killed him, the rumors would come true.
One finger would serve as a warning.
“Sword Saint! You will pay for this! I’m going to complain to the King right now. Just you wait to be expelled from the Human Race!”
Dinksway walked straight downstairs.
Zhu Qiu did not stop him because she knew it would be useless.
The Human Race no longer believed her — at least not for now.
With no other choice, she could only go back to Soderland’s House to regroup and wait for the upcoming confrontation between the King and Dinksway.
Using the exact same magic she used to escape the pursuit earlier, Zhu Qiu quickly returned home.
She pushed the door open, but the entire house was empty and as silent as death.
At that moment, she suddenly remembered one thing.
Father had not come back yet…
“Danger!”