Chapter 24
“Suri! Attack!”
ㅡSwaaaash!
Thud ㅡ !!
The lizardman colony crumbled in an instant under the combined assault of Ophilia, Suri, and Minyum.
There had been at least thirty of them, but they were completely smashed in less than ten minutes.
And there were even two elite ones; when Ophilia waved her hand back and forth, they were neatly cut down.
“Wow... Ophilia's strong....”
“She definitely looks A-rank.”
“Tsk, the team leader's got his eye on her.”
Nova has been aggressively recruiting personnel lately. The reason is the unknown high-rank entrance-type Gate that appeared near the West Sea.
Because there's apparently a lot of useful stuff inside, they're locked in a dispute over ownership with one of China's hunter guilds, so they're desperate to recruit hunters.
“If my sister saw this, she'd go crazy.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
The Gate took longer than expected, so we only spent about an hour going through it, but the haul was greater than expected too. That was thanks in part to Suri's mobility and long-range scouting ability.
Because Ophilia wiped out every lizardman group she found, we ended up clearing about 100 in just an hour. If you think about it as more than one per minute, that's an absurd result.
“I don't think there's any need to split the proceeds. Let's let Eve take these.”
“W-what!? Is that really okay..?”
“Well, Ophilia did almost all of it.”
“Thank you for the consideration.”
Eight low-grade magic stones, totaling about 2.2 kg. Compared to the top-grade magic stone that went into Ophilia at the same weight, the performance difference is about a thousandfold.
Even this much is incredible.
* * * * *
“Does Ophilia eat, too?”
“I can replenish some mana through the act of eating.”
“Even though you're a robot?”
“Because I'm not an ordinary machine.”
So Ophilia can eat after all.
I wonder how she's built on the inside for food to be digested. And I had no idea she needed mana, either.
“Though I do move using the princess's mana, eating is one way to lessen your burden.”
“I had no idea you were using mana.”
“I consume very little mana.”
“An A-rank that uses so little mana—amazing.”
According to Ophilia, Suri, Minyum, and Dangdang all use even less mana than Ophilia does, but mana is still being supplied to them continuously.
But even when you add all four together, it's still less than my natural mana recovery.
“Then Eve is incredible.”
“Because you're the princess's vessel.”
“A-hem....”
I felt my shoulders lift. We ate at the Nova Guild hotel. We arrived around 6, and Jongho had already made a reservation.
“Heh, nice. Eve, let's take a photo together.”
“Huh, a photo..?”
“Yeah. You don't hate taking a photo with unnie, do you?”
Chaea-unnie is the type who absolutely has to take photos whenever there's food in front of her, so after taking a ton of food pictures, she took my picture too....
“Y-you can't upload this anywhere else....”
“Why not? Then what's the point of taking a picture~!”
“W-well... I...”
I quietly gauged Ophilia's reaction. Was I someone whose face could be posted everywhere?
Isn't a princess's entire route supposed to be state secrets and all that?
“Are you uploading it to a social media account?”
“I was going to. Is that not okay?”
If she just uploads it to Instagram or something, it could be dangerous. Ophilia definitely wouldn't want that...?”
“I just created the princess's account. Please tag it.”
“Oh my, really? Don't worry, hehe.”
“O-Ophilia..?”
Ophilia looked at me and nodded. No, you keep calling me a princess. Is it okay for my face to be spread around this cheaply?
“I'll explain the reason later, Princess. For now, please eat.”
“Ah, yes...”
“Ophilia. Should we take a picture with Ophilia too?”
“Do you mean me?”
“Ophilia is pretty too, so I think a picture would be nice. No, actually, let's film Ophilia eating instead.”
Kim Chaea went wild beside us, going on and on about how Ophilia eats like a noble.
Honestly, it did seem that way to me too. I mean, she uses the fork and knife in such a professional manner.
“Hehe. If I post this to my story, it'll be amazing. Ophilia, don't you want to make an account?”
“My account is fine. It's the princess's account that is needed.”
“Ah, I see.”
Well, Ophilia isn't the kind of person to make a judgment without thinking. I'll trust her for now....
“Ophilia, how's the food?”
“Indeed, this is the food of the finest hotel in Korea.”
Ophilia's first meal out was at the Shilla Hotel. I don't know whether she'll be able to make an objective judgment... I wonder if her standards will get so high she'll faint somewhere else.
“Eve, you remember Hunter Yoo Chaerin, right?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“She says she'd like to come by for a bit and show her face. Is that inconvenient?”
“Ah, no. It's fine.”
As Jongho said, Yoo Chaerin arrived in the middle of the meal.
Eve didn't know it, but Yoo Chaerin had already received the full drone-cam footage of Ophilia's battle report, since it was meant for negotiations with Eve, Ophilia included.
“You must be Ophilia. Nice to meet you.”
After rapidly skimming the internet, Ophilia finished identifying Yoo Chaerin and answered.
“I am Princess Eve's personal maid, Ophilia.”
“I'm glad Eve has a guardian she can trust. Lately, there have been frequent issues that could threaten the safety of civilian Awakened.”
“You are worried about the princess's safety.”
“Eve may be a precious treasure to Korea.”
At Yoo Chaerin's words, Ophilia slowly nodded.
“As expected, you're as capable and wise as your reputation suggests.”
“I'm glad I made a good impression on you, Ms. Ophilia.”
The two of them continued a very businesslike conversation, while Han Dohee shook her head beside them.
Kim Chaea had seen Yoo Chaerin a few times, so she didn't react all that strongly.
“Then... I'll arrange a meeting later. Please contact me at a convenient time.”
After chatting a little ways away from our table, Ophilia took Yoo Chaerin's business card and that was that. Ophilia nodded and returned to her seat to continue eating....
‘What on earth did they talk about...’
* * * * *
“Ophilia, you really worked hard today.”
“Thank you. However, unfortunately, my body isn't made for battle, so there are still quite a few shortcomings.”
“Is that so..? I thought you fought incredibly well...”
Ophilia definitely seemed to have A-rank combat power. She had practically been cutting through the lizardman swamp like it was child's play.
According to Ophilia, Minyum has the highest combat potential. But since Minyum still lacks the necessary materials, Ophilia is a bit stronger for now. We need to make money and buy Minyum all sorts of things...
“Ophilia, do you happen to know anything about stocks..?”
“You mean stocks? I'm doing that already.”
“R-really!?”
Come to think of it, I hadn't checked the account since Ophilia was created. I never imagined Ophilia would be making money too.
“S-so how much money do we have right now..?”
“About 28 million won.”
“Gasp.”
An amount I'd never once held in my hands in my entire life. Even getting to have ten million won was something that happened only a few days ago. And yet she'd earned nearly 30 million won.
Is it because there's so much seed money that it's growing so fast?
“Then... should we buy Minyum something?”
Minyum, who'd been listening from the side, hurried over the moment its name was called and nodded.
“Indeed, Minyum has high investment value. There is one alternative method; would you like to hear it?”
“An alternative method?”
“At this point, we don't have the room to spend large sums of money. The top priority is moving the residence the princess will use.”
“Ah, the house..?”
Come to think of it, the house is a bit old... Minyum, Suri, and Dangdang weren't that big, so it was fine, but once Ophilia moved in, it definitely felt cramped.
It's a bit much for two people to live in a studio apartment, isn't it? I don't have much stuff, but in many ways, it's also a rather run-down place.
“Right now I'm gathering real-estate information online and looking for a place that will become the princess's residence, so it's not the right time to spend money carelessly.”
“I see... so what kind of house are you planning to get...?”
“Nothing has been finalized yet. Price fluctuations are severe, and this isn't something that can be decided overnight.”
“Hmm....”
That's how moving is. It's not like we'll live there for one or two years, and if it's a house Ophilia is looking at, it'll probably be absurdly expensive. Still, it'd be nice if she didn't end up saying we need to buy a princess-worthy house and then go buy some castle overseas or something.
“Unfortunately, we do not plan to move overseas.”
“That's a relief.”
“For that reason, there is one way to raise Minyum's combat power without spending much money.”
“What's that?”
“I recommend exchanging some of the rare metal that makes up my body for the hair dryer used when creating Minyum. I judged that to be better, since I'm the one who should dry the princess's hair.”
“Ah, I see.”
So even that was possible. Come to think of it, if something made into a golem could be changed back, could parts of it be changed too?
“I will set my goal as exchanging the roughly 1 kg of rare metal I have for Minyum's hair dryer.”
“Should we try it right now?”
“It will probably be difficult because the princess's skill rank is low.”
“Then... what do we do..?”
“It might be possible by tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow?”
* * * * *
Around 3 a.m.
The time when Eve was sound asleep, so soundly asleep that even if someone carried her off she wouldn't know.
ㅡDing!
[Some of the princess's majesty has been restored. Command Issuance rank has increased. Command Issuance: F+ -> E]
Without Eve, who was asleep, even noticing, the Command Issuance rank had increased.
[chaE._Vely_]
The cute little one I recently met, zz @_Princess_Eve
#ShillaHotel
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“Just as planned.”
Ophilia slowly nodded.