I didn’t expect Lucia to be so persistent about rescuing Softie. Luckily, I know all her vices to distract her. And once she temporarily forgets about something, she’ll take anywhere from five minutes to a month to remember. …I don’t know if I should feel happy or sad about that fact. As her weapon spirit, it pains me to have an incompetent master. But at the same time, it’s nice having someone I can manipulate. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that Ilya’s no longer with us. Lucia’s much easier to fool now.

After a few rounds of nighttime activities happening in the morning, and after Lucia finished eating her meal of immortal rice and some strange jellylike substance that she wouldn’t let me try, we went off to greet the barkeep’s parents. I had already met them last night while dragging in Lucia, but I’m going to meet them again to make sure Lucia doesn’t mess anything up. This isn’t a bad place to stay while we wait for the Slaughter God’s Tomb to open. I would’ve preferred going to the barkeep’s fiancée’s family because they were closer to the Slaughter Seeking Sect, but it was pretty clear that wasn’t going to be a relaxing place to stay after what I and Mrs. Feathers did to them.

“Good morning, Senior!”

When we arrived in the living room, three people, the barkeep and his parents, got on their knees and bowed towards Lucia as she walked in. They … didn’t treat me like this yesterday. Why does Lucia get special treatment? Not that I care. A weapon spirit is above worldly matters such as these.

“Senior? You’re the ones with grey hair! Why are you calling me the senior!?”

“It’s because you’re stronger than them, Boss.” Mrs. Feathers waddled off a chair and hopped while flapping her wings to reach Lucia. The phoenix really did look like a chicken in its shrunken form. No wonder it was mistaken for one so many times yesterday. It’s hard to believe it’s a quasi-immortal beast, especially when it rubs itself against Lucia’s leg like a cat. “Even a child is called a senior if they’re stronger.”

“Ah?” Lucia nodded. “There was supposed to be something like that, yeah. Mm. I knew that.” She looked around the room before glaring at the barkeep. “You lying barkeep! You said you were a miserable bastard, but look at how rich your family is! And to think I actually felt pity for you, hmph.”

The expression on the barkeep’s face was that of someone who just had a heart devil planted inside of them. I’ve seen it many, many times. But before the barkeep could say anything in his defense, his father coughed repeatedly and sat up. “Senior!” the father said and looked at me. “I’ve done what you asked and got the information for you!”

What? Already?

“It might not seem like it just by looking at my son, but my family is actually very influential! Finding out information is quite easy, even if it’s information from across the Immortal Continent.” The man patted his chest and jade slip appeared in his hand. Lucia trembled and took a small step back when he offered it to me. “Here you go.”

I took the slip and…, was Lucia’s tail stiff? Just how much does she fear knowledge being stuffed into her head forcefully? No, before that, how did Lucia even know I wanted to stuff this information into her head? “Are you suspecting me, Lucia?”

“Yes!” Lucia backed away from me while retrieving her hammer from her interspacial ring. “If you bring that thing any closer, I’m going to kill you! I’m really going to do it; don’t test me!”

Well, it’s a good thing I wasn’t planning on sticking this into her head until after I checked it out myself. This information I asked the barkeep’s family to gather is very important. I need to find out what happened to the Shadow Devil Sect of Kong County. Of course, this is completely because I care about Softie and not because if she’s safe, it’d be a great way to not have to distract Lucia anymore. Right. This is because I care about her and not because of convenience. Now, let’s see if there’s any good news.

The Shadow Devil Sect was attacked by three ancestors of the Righteous Buddha Sect and forced out of their sect grounds. Many elders and disciples died, but Vice-Sect Leader Soft Moonlight managed to honorably defeat the invaders after a month of conflict. Afterwards, the Shadow Devil Sect was attacked by the Thousand Sect Alliance, an alliance formed by the sects that the Shadow Devil Sect had robbed. Upon finding out Soft Moonlight was a sky-realm expert, the leader of the Thousand Sect Alliance, Clammy Clam, surrendered and the Shadow Devil Sect became the leader of the Thousand Sect Alliance. Almost immediately afterwards, the Rainbow Phoenix Sect launched an attack on the Shadow Devil Sect. Claw the Executioner reappeared for the first time in two years since he destroyed the ancient Leaf family of Hong Country. He aided the Shadow Devil Sect, and the Rainbow Phoenix Sect suffered a defeat with Claw the Executioner and Soft Moonlight defeating five sky-realm experts each. Coincidentally, a calamity ravaged the Rainbow Phoenix Sect’s sect grounds at the same time. There were reports of a purple-skinned girl playing a role in the Shadow Devil Sect’s victory, but we were unable to verify the accuracy of the claims. She seems to be an influential figure of Pill Valley, and Pill Valley never lets anyone gather information about them.

…We should’ve gone there. Why did Lucia have to forget Softie’s soul lantern? We could’ve fought thirteen sky-realm experts! Instead, all I got to do was fight a few weaklings of the Rainbow Phoenix Sect. Well, I did get to test some techniques on Mrs. Feathers, but Lucia interrupted that fight.

“Durandal? Is your head okay?”

“Yes, it’s fine, Lucia. I found—”

“That’s not fair! You’re as dumb as I am, so why don’t you feel any pain when learning!?”

…I’m not going to tell her Softie’s safe. Right. Anxiety builds character. Withholding such information is for Lucia’s sake and not for my own pettiness. As a weapon spirit, all I want is the best for my master.