Chapter 16: Her Favorability Toward Philly Has No Lower Limit

“At that moment, the dagger was this close to Miss’s back.”

Philly held up her fingers, leaving less than an inch of space between them.

“Luckily, I arrived in time.”

“With one turn, I pulled Miss safely into my arms~”

“Otherwise, Miss would’ve fallen victim to Mr. Shadow Demon~”

Philly even deliberately spun around while talking.

She moved beside Dolores and raised a hand behind her back, seemingly trying to reenact the hug from earlier.

“Excuse me, classmate, please stop getting handsy.”

Dolores sounded slightly dissatisfied.

She sidestepped and dodged Philly’s reaching hand.

This damned yuri addict.

Sneaking in a few touches while saving her was one thing.

Now she still wanted to take advantage of her?

Even -999 favorability was too high.

It needed to go even lower.

-9999 still wouldn’t be enough!

Her favorability toward Philly had no lower limit!

“Um… classmate, please don’t be angry. Philly didn’t mean it.”

Seeing Dolores react like this, Delina hurriedly stepped forward while waving her hands nervously.

Didn’t mean it?

She absolutely did mean it!

Dolores crossed her arms before her chest.

The two full mounds were slightly squeezed upward by her arms.

Suddenly, she felt a gaze fixed upon her body, making her extremely uncomfortable.

Opening her eyes slightly, she glanced toward Philly—

Only to discover Philly staring directly at her chest with eyes resembling someone admiring a delicious dessert.

???

You female playgirl, where are your eyes looking?!

Dolores immediately lowered her arms and turned her back toward Philly.

But seriously…

How big were they exactly?

Just now, she had actually felt like her arms couldn’t properly cross over them anymore.

Dolores secretly glanced at Delina for comparison.

After looking carefully, she realized they were probably on the same level.

“……”

These two things were such a hassle!

Not only were they inconvenient, they were also like magnets, constantly attracting a certain yuri addict’s gaze.

What were they even useful for?!

“This classmate, are you also out here on a commission?”

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Delina quickly changed the topic.

Dolores thought about it for a moment.

Right now, she was wearing Thorn Academy’s uniform.

Appearing in a place like this definitely required a reasonable explanation.

“Mm.”

She nodded.

Students from Thorn Academy frequently went on external commissions anyway.

Might as well admit it.

“My name is Delina Coleman.”

“And the person beside me is Philly Granwell.”

“We’re both first-year students.”

Delina placed one hand over her chest and slightly bowed.

Her behavior was extremely elegant.

At first glance, she looked exactly like a polite noble young lady.

Unlike certain people.

Dolores glanced sideways at Philly again and discovered that Philly was still smiling brightly while staring at her.

“May I ask if it’s convenient for you to tell us your name?”

Delina asked with a gentle smile.

“Dolores.”

“Eh? No surname?”

“I don’t have one. I’m just a commoner.”

Dolores only gave her first name.

The surname Castillo was far too eye-catching.

Anyone hearing it would immediately recognize it as the Silver Radiance Sword Maiden’s surname.

Saying it aloud would definitely attract unnecessary trouble.

Especially from Philly.

That would be the biggest trouble of all.

Dolores still remembered a classic scene from the game.

Philly standing before the Silver Radiance Sword Maiden’s statue.

Every passing teacher and student thought she was mourning a hero.

Mourning?

Oh, she was definitely “mourning.”

Absolutely mourning, alright!

Inside the dialogue box displaying Philly’s inner thoughts at the bottom of the game screen, the text was filled with things like:

“Sword Maiden-sama is sooo pretty~”

“She looks so soft, I really want to hug her~”

“If only I could deeply interact with Sword Maiden-sama~”

Just thinking about it felt absurd.

Was Philly’s entire brain made out of yuri or something?

Right now, Dolores was merely a student who resembled the Silver Radiance Sword Maiden.

That still allowed her to maintain some distance from Philly.

Once she transformed back and disappeared, no matter how hard Philly searched, she’d never find her.

Eventually, Philly would move on to flirting with other heroines and gradually give up.

But if Philly learned her surname and concluded she was a descendant of the Silver Radiance Sword Maiden…

Dolores didn’t even dare imagine it.

Philly would probably dig through the entire world to find her.

And afterward cling to her endlessly without ever letting go.

Ugh~

Just imagining it was terrifying.

“So your name is Dolores?”

“It’s very nice to meet you.”

Delina smiled and nodded.

“Mm, I’m also very happy to meet you, Delina.”

Dolores politely replied.

“Oh my~ Dolores.”

“That’s a very beautiful name~”

At some point, Philly had already leaned close again, startling Dolores so badly she unconsciously took half a step backward.

No matter what the name is, you’d say it sounds beautiful anyway, right?

“By the way, what kind of commission are you two on? Why did you come to this canyon?”

Dolores decisively returned the conversation to the main topic, refusing to give Philly any opportunity to flirt.

“Actually, there were originally three of us, including one male student.”

“After finishing the commission, we were returning to the academy when an accident suddenly occurred.”

“We encountered a transfer magic array that tried to teleport us away.”

“Philly and I managed to escape in time, but our companion didn’t make it out and got transferred away…”

As Delina spoke, her expression gradually darkened.

“We came here to find him.”

Dolores froze for a moment.

They really came looking for her?

Though, considering Delina’s personality, there was no way she’d abandon a companion.

Dolores had thought only Philly came specifically to hunt her down.

“Have you seen him, Dolores?”

Delina asked anxiously.

“His name is Xia.”

“He has black hair and blue eyes, and he’s about this tall.”

Delina gestured in the air.

Dolores followed her hand with her eyes and realized the height perfectly matched the level of Philly’s ahoge.

“He looks very thin, his complexion is pale, and he wears the same academy uniform as us.”

“There are also lots of stitched patches on his uniform. Around the sleeves here, and also here…”

Delina lifted her own sleeve while demonstrating where the stitched repairs were located.

Huh?!

How do you know what I look like better than I do?!

And how do you even remember the locations of the patches that clearly?!

Startled, Dolores quickly glanced down at the female academy uniform she currently wore.

Thankfully, the stitched patches hadn’t transformed together with the clothes.

Otherwise, that would’ve been extremely awkward.

“Haven’t seen him.”

Originally, Dolores planned to casually point them toward some random direction to send them away.

But after thinking about it more carefully, she realized she still intended to transform back later and find a chance to regroup with them.

They had already wasted far too much time inside this canyon.

If she made them continue searching around for half the day, they might miss tomorrow’s deadline for submitting the commission.

If Philly failed the entrance assessment because of that and got kicked out of the elite class, completely losing her chance to properly grow stronger…

Then who else could Dolores rely on to defeat the Demon King and save the world?

She remembered that around noon, a passing carriage would appear near the canyon exit.

In the game’s Flame Demon route, Philly and Delina only barely made the submission deadline because they boarded that carriage.

“However, I did hear some strange noises from over there earlier.”

“You can try checking that direction.”

Dolores pointed toward one side of the canyon.

Not far in that direction was a cliff wall.

After discovering nobody there, they would naturally leave without wasting too much time.

Delina might still insist on continuing the search.

But Philly definitely understood how important the entrance assessment was and would find a way to persuade Delina to leave.

Afterward, once Dolores transformed back into Xia, she could regroup with them at the canyon exit.

“I’ve mostly recovered already, so I’ll head out first.”

After walking a few steps, Dolores stopped.

Afraid they might truly continue searching endlessly, she deliberately turned back to remind them:

“You should hurry too.”

“Don’t delay the commission submission.”

“This place is very far from the nearest city with a teleportation array.”

“Mm, goodbye, Dolores.”

Delina politely waved.

Dolores nodded before turning around to leave.

“See you at the academy~ Dolores~”

Philly’s flirtatious voice came from behind, making Dolores feel goosebumps all over.

“Goodbye.”

After saying that, Dolores walked away without looking back.

Never see you again!