The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

It's night.

After Shien finished his usual daily activity with Diere, he headed out the baths with dew still clinging to him and a refreshed look as he got ready to head back to his room.

Shien got called out to in the middle though.

"Are you getting ready to rest now?"

Vivian came from the other side as she said that. She seemed to have been waiting for Shien.

"Vivian?" Shien stopped for a moment before he smiled and moved forward to meet her, "What is it? You need me for something?"

"I suppose." Vivian didn't deny it. As she showed her usual gentle smile, she glanced toward the direction of the baths and spoke with a grin, "Why didn't you come out with Diere?"

Shien's smile froze on his face at those words.

Seeing his reaction, Vivian showed a rare teasing expression, "You can't have believed that I wouldn't find out, right?"

In response to those words, Shien's first thought was very simple.

Shit. I'm done for.

However, while it's unknown if Vivian saw through that thought of his, she started laughing out loud.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to give you a hard time or anything. Nor am I here to make you take responsibility." Vivian spoke teasingly, "For Diere, this is unquestionably a good thing. Seeing her like this, not only do I not feel worries, but rather, I feel a lot more relaxed."

"I-is that so?" Shien laughed dryly, "You trust me that much huh?"

"Of course." Vivian answered without hesitation, "After all, you're the Hero. No matter how unreliable you might act, I believe that your heart is one of justice."

Vivian spoke those words without a hint of embarrassment or suspicion.

Shien really didn't know how to respond to that.

This isn't something like a nice guy flag, is it?

That was the only thing Shien was thinking.

However, it seems like Vivian didn't mean it that way. Instead, she continued to show Shien the same gentle smile as always.

"Before we knew it, it's already been about a month since we've met, huh?"

Vivian suddenly changed topics.

"It seems so." Shien scratched his head and shrugged, "It does feel like time passed pretty quickly. But when it comes down to it, a month isn't really all that long either."

"Yeah." Vivian continued just like before, replying without a hint of hesitation while smiling, "You know, in the beginning, no one in the party, me included, really planned to make any deep bonds with you. We just intended to treat you like all the other newbies that we've brought up in the past, that's all."

Shien fell silent.

Truth be told, wasn't he the exact same?

When he met Vivian's party at the start, he even considered the party to be a source of troubles, so he didn't want to get close to them at all.

At the time, both sides made the agreement to just part amicably. None of them never imagined that things would end up developing to this point.

Even Vivian was the same at the start. Although she was gentle and warm toward Shien, that's just how Vivian's personality is.

The Vivian from back then only treated Shien like a newbie that Leili asked her to look after. At most, she just hoped to help him as much as she could, encourage his growth, and in the future, have him leave the party and go independent. She never considered keeping him in the party.

Who would have thought though that Shien's origins would be so out of ordinary, making it so that Vivian could not leave him on his own. While this is happening, they also slowly got used to the situation as they got to know each other, and things eventually developed to the way they are now.

It wasn't just Vivian either.

"Everyone in the party has already accepted you, you know." Vivian spoke, gratified, "If it was before, I really wouldn't have believed that everyone could act so unguarded against someone of the opposite gender."

Remember, due to Vivian's party's special circumstances, they've had a lot of troubles from men in the past.

Given all that, other than Vivian who have maintained her heart and attitude from start to end, the rest of them had long since put up a wall in their hearts against those of the opposite gender.

In the beginning, weren't Diere, Lumia and Melika so guarded against Shien that they didn't even dare to speak to him?

Now though, that situation had completely changed.

"Diere obviously doesn't bear talking about, but Melika seems to have slowly changed her attitude toward you as well. Have you noticed? Mr. Shien?"

Vivian spoke such teasing words at Shien like she's having fun.

Shien just felt embarrassed though.

There's no way that he wouldn't have noticed Melika's change in attitude.

That girl might not be obvious about it, not being nearly as direct and bold as Diere, but her gazes at Shien have slowly become hotter and hotter. Her attitude was completely different from how it was before. It's just that she didn't dare to make contact with Shien out of her own initiative due to her own embarrassment and nervousness. Plus, every time she end up meeting eyes with Shien, she'd end up overreacting and blushing up a storm, so she'd run away anytime that Shien tries to find her as well. Thus, nothing really could be done.

Truth be told, Shien really doesn't know just what's up with that girl.

No, it doesn't mean that Shien couldn't notice Melika's change in attitude toward him.

The fact that Melika likes him is already very obvious. Shien isn't one of those dense protagonists from the novels after all, so he naturally noticed.

Only, Shien just doesn't understand why the girl in question suddenly had such a change in attitude toward him.

It's no like he had that much contact with Melika, right?

At most is that he helped her out once before with the young master Markray.

It was just the once though. Could that really be enough to get the girl of what is reputed to be the most beautiful, pure, kind, and holy elven race to fall for him?

Isn't that a bit far-fetched?

Shien at least thinks it's pretty strange, so he doesn't know what to do about it at all. Thus, he just went with the flow.

Thus, Shien simply spread his hands helplessly and spoke, "That's just Diere and Melika though. Isn't Lumia the same as always?"

True enough, while Dier and Melika both completely changed their attitude toward Shein, it's the shy beastman girl who still keeps Shein at a distance.

"Lumia's just shy is all." Vivian naturally knew the situation with everyone in her party, so she just smiled, "If you try and get to know her, you'll find that that child is actually quite adorable you know."

"Perhaps." Shien spoke without much thought, "What I'm afraid of is that she'll end up running away the moment I try to approach her."

"How would you know if you don't try?" Vivian was actually egging him on, "Give it a try. She's the only one left after all."

"What do you mean by the only one left?" Shien didn't know if he should laugh or cry at that.

The way she's putting it, why does it sound like she's encouraging him to conquer Lumia?

Isn't that a betrayal or something?

Didn't she even say before that the goal behind creating the party being to protect those girls? Why's she trying to push them into a pit?

No, wait. Why does he have to be the pit?

It's not like he's harming them or anything!

Shien suddenly realized that.

"Alright, enough playing around for now."

Seeing the complicated look on Shien's face, Vivian finally stopped joking around.

"Actually, the main reason I came to find you is to give this to you."

As she said that, Vivian handed a certain item to Shien.

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