Chapter 21 : Let’s start a game!

“Don’t you dare… touch Xiao Ya…”

Inside the bottle, little Luko lowered her head and muttered.

A faint orange-red glow began to radiate from the tiny dragon girl’s body. Fire-attribute mana leaked out like tiny sparks.

“? What’s going on?”

Pandora felt the bottle growing slightly hot and frowned.

Just as she was about to check—

“Now (˃ ⌑ ˂ഃ )”

Qianya suddenly sprang up and lunged for the bottle in Pandora’s arms!

Her surrender earlier had been an act. She had planned to pretend to give in, distract Pandora, and snatch the bottle the moment the woman let her guard down.

“Too bad, you didn’t manage to grab it in one go~”

Pandora was an experienced bounty hunter after all. The instant Qianya moved, she twisted aside and easily dodged.

“Urgh X﹏X”

Qianya missed and crashed hard onto the ground. Her knees and shins scraped across the rough pavement, instantly tearing the skin. Blood seeped out, staining her white knee-high socks red.

“Hss— it hurts, it hurts (๑˃ಐ˂৭)”

Qianya sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.

Qianya: Damn it… if I still had my old strength QAQ

“Overestimating yourself, little one. Bye-bye~”

Pandora gave her a cold smirk, turned, and started to leave with the bottle.

But—

“How about you look behind you ( ᗜ ˰ ᗜ )”

Pandora: ?!

She had barely taken two steps when a black figure suddenly appeared at her back.

Pandora instinctively dodged sideways, but the black shadow was already in front of her—moving so fast it left an afterimage.

Before Pandora could react, her wrist was seized in a crushing grip. Intense pain shot through her arm, and the bottle containing Luko was forcibly ripped away.

“Who the hell (╬◣д◢)” Pandora snarled in shock and fury.

She looked up— a black-haired, long-straight catgirl stood a short distance away. Her black cat ears were slightly raised, pale blue eyes completely emotionless.

It was Zero!

“Eh? You…?” Qianya, still on the ground, stared in shock at the sudden arrival.

“Heh, so there’s backup?”

Pandora cast a spell. Several sharp ice lances materialized out of thin air and shot toward Zero.

Zero didn’t even flinch. She lightly tapped the ground and turned into a black phantom, effortlessly weaving past every ice lance.

In the gaps between dodges, she reached out, caught the last ice lance aimed at her, and hurled it right back at Pandora.

“Aaah—”

The ice lance struck Pandora’s shoulder dead-on. She groaned in pain, clutching the wound and staggering back several steps.

Qianya: As expected of Zero (*ﾟﾛﾟ)

Back when they were saving up to open the café, they had been an adventuring party.

Zero had been the team’s assassin—specializing in dark magic and agility… uh, anyway, that’s a story for another time.

“Hmph.”

After repelling Pandora, Zero walked over to Qianya, crouched down, and gently unscrewed the bottle containing Luko.

A flash of light— Luko returned to normal size. The moment she was free, she grabbed Qianya’s hand.

“Xiao Ya! Are you okay?”

“Your leg is bleeding QAQ!”

Luko looked terribly worried.

“I’m fine, I’m fine (´-﹏-`；)” Qianya hugged Luko and gently patted her back to comfort her.

It wasn’t a serious injury. Right now, Pandora was the bigger problem.

Luko lifted her head from Qianya’s arms, saw Pandora still standing, and hurriedly shouted to Zero:

“Zero-nee, be careful of her transformation magic— ngh?!”

Before she could finish, Qianya clapped a hand over her mouth.

“You idiot QAQ!”

Qianya visibly panicked.

You can’t just blurt out Zero’s name like that (angry)

But it was already too late.

“Hehehehe… I heard that loud and clear.”

Pandora’s eyes lit up the moment she heard the name “Zero.”

Enduring the sharp pain in her shoulder, she pulled out a brand-new magic bottle from her robes and aimed it at Zero.

“Zero!”

…

In that moment, Qianya, Luko, and even Pandora herself all thought Zero would be sucked into the bottle just like Luko had been.

But the next second—

BANG!!!

“Aaah X﹏X”

Instead of producing suction, the bottle exploded with a loud boom. Shards flew everywhere. Pandora was thrown to the ground by the blast, her face and hands cut by fragments—looking utterly wretched.

“Wha…?!” Pandora lay on the ground, staring at Zero in disbelief.

There was only one reason a bottle would react like this…

“That’s not your real name?!”

“…”

Zero didn’t answer. She simply stared coldly, slowly walking toward Pandora. A glint of killing intent flashed in her pale blue eyes.

Pandora felt fear creep in as Zero approached.

She knew she was no match. Hurriedly, she pulled out a black magic cloak, flung it over herself, and vanished completely in the next second.

“Tch.”

Zero snorted, stopped walking, and didn’t pursue.

Compared to the fleeing Pandora, the injured Qianya and Luko were more important.

She turned back, walked to Qianya, bent down to examine the wounds on her legs, and frowned slightly.

“You need proper treatment.”

“Mm…” Qianya nodded and tried to stand on her own.

Qianya: But my legs hurt so much QAQ

Seeing that, Zero simply leaned down and carefully picked Qianya up in her arms.

“E-Eh? Zero (〃д〃)” Qianya was startled by the sudden princess carry, her cheeks turning pink. She instinctively squirmed.

“Don’t move ( ᗜ ˰ ᗜ )” Zero’s voice was soft.

But the tone made Qianya freeze obediently.

Luko followed behind Zero the whole way, anxiously watching Qianya’s legs with teary, red eyes.

♡♡♡

Back at the café…

Luko originally wanted to help take care of Qianya.

But Zero said it wasn’t necessary, then carried Qianya straight to her own room.

She gently placed Qianya on the bed, carefully rolled down the blood-stained white socks, and exposed the scraped wounds.

“If it hurts, say so.” Zero said while fetching medicine.

“Really?” Qianya asked.

“Mm.” Zero took out healing potion and cotton, gently wiping the skin around the wounds.

The moment it touched—

“It hurts like hell ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅!” Qianya yelled at the top of her lungs without holding back.

“…No need to be that loud.” Zero frowned.

“It really hurts (╥﹏╥)”

Seriously…

This girl body was way too fragile.

Qianya didn’t like being a beautiful girl one bit ≧﹏≦

…

A few minutes later, the medicine was finally applied.

Thanks to the healing magic, the wounds would be good as new in about ten minutes.

“Zero, why were you in the slums today?” Qianya asked.

“I sometimes visit Cat Cat Patisserie… That place means a lot to me. You know that.”

Zero put away the potion and answered softly.

Even after all this time, Zero hadn’t forgotten that place…

Hearing this, a complicated feeling welled up in Qianya’s heart.

Zero probably still didn’t know… that everything Qianya had done back then was just to enslave her…

Qianya: Better not tell her (“▔□▔)

Otherwise there’d be one more person zapping her (sad)

But no matter what, thanks to Zero, both she and Luko were safe.

“Zero, thank you so much for today.” Qianya looked at her sincerely.

Zero didn’t reply and kept tidying the drawer.

Qianya blinked, then continued, “Um… Zero, is there anything you need help with lately?”

“Anything?” Zero’s cat ears twitched. She looked up, pale blue eyes locking onto Qianya’s.

“Uh… anything I can do.” Qianya nodded.

Why did she have a bad feeling about this ( )

Zero slowly walked closer.

“Then let’s have a round ( ᗜ ˰ ᗜ )”

Qianya: “…Eh (°ー°〃)?”