The Heavenly Demon Cult’s Strongest Maid - Chapter 259

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 13

Fortunately, the three great witches seemed to remember my voice as the First Miss, stopping their movements just before launching their attack and turning to look at me.

“Step back three paces. Execute!”

When I gestured with my finger and gave the command, all three had bewildered expressions, but their lower bodies obediently followed my order.

“Stay there and wait quietly. You know what happens if you act rashly, right?”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Their eyes were still full of questions, but their responses were loud and clear.

“Axe Uncle!”

After disciplining the three great witches, I jumped down from my horse and greeted Axe Uncle warmly.

“Oh my, our niece Seolha! How long has it been!”

Only then did Axe Uncle lower his weapon and give me an enthusiastic welcome.

“U-Uncle?”

“The First Miss is your niece?”

“Oh right, the First Miss’s grandfather is Ho Jeon!”

At Im Cheong’s belated realization as she smacked her forehead, Jeon Hye-yun and Ma A-jin’s faces turned pale.

They only now realized they had acted rashly, fixated solely on making up for their mistake.

‘Those girls are going to be kicking themselves under the covers again tonight.’

When will I ever get to see Bongwang Fortress’s brilliant performance?

They say great expectations lead to great disappointments.

For now, let me just find them endearing.

“Niece Seolha, I have something to show you. This way!”

I tried to shake off my worries and followed Axe Uncle.

“How is it? Pretty amazing, right?”

The place Axe Uncle brought me to was some kind of mountain villa. However, it wasn’t quite large enough to be called a proper Nok-lim mountain stronghold.

Still, once I stepped inside, I could feel the warmth, making it feel like I’d arrived at a vacation villa.

“It’s cozy.”

“There’s no reason to build it big.”

Ah, are most branch strongholds like this?

But this place seems way too far from the main stronghold.

Where I was located was neither Jungwon nor the outskirts, but somewhere in between. It was a remote area among remote areas, with no inns or even civilian houses nearby.

There’s no way business could work in a place like this.

You need people passing through to have anyone to rob, don’t you?

“Axe Uncle, does this place actually get any business?”

“Business?”

“Yes.”

“Of course it doesn’t.”

“Huh?”

If it doesn’t get business, why did you build a branch stronghold?

My question must have been written on my face, because Axe Uncle pointed at me and said,

“Why else? It’s because of you, niece Seolha.”

“…Because of me?”

“One day, our Lord said he couldn’t bear to see his only granddaughter sleeping outdoors anymore.”

What’s wrong with sleeping outdoors?

It has its own romance.

“The location is perfect too, right? We carefully selected and built several of these along the route between Cheonsan and Sichuan. None of them have particularly good business prospects.”

So he was saying they built small mountain strongholds in every place where I’d have no choice but to sleep outdoors.

“That’s incredible!”

I’d exchanged many letters with Bandit Grandfather, but he’d never mentioned anything like this.

“Our grandfather’s scale is no joke.”

“…Scale?”

“Ah, I mean his spending. The leader of Nokrim Sibpalchae must have tons of money, right? Building things like this requires hiring workers and materials must cost quite a bit.”

“Why would we need workers?”

“Huh?”

“We’ve got plenty of guys with perfectly good limbs just sitting around doing nothing, don’t we? If we put those outside guys to work, something like this gets done in just a few days! And there are trees everywhere around here.”

Wow, what?

So it’s all self-sufficient?

That’s amazing.

“But how did you know I’d be coming?”

“Well, I’ve been camping out here waiting since last month. Our Lord said you’d probably be moving around this time and kept nagging me about it. Don’t even get me started. When I told him if that’s the case, he should go himself, he grumbled for days saying he didn’t have time because of the Five Leaders meeting.”

“I want to see Grandfather too.”

“Make sure to say that in front of our Lord. He’ll be absolutely delighted.”

“Yes, I should.”

A grandfather who builds mountain strongholds for his granddaughter.

This was truly touching.

The feeling of being at a villa from the moment I entered wasn’t an exaggeration at all.

I had properly found my own villa.

“Brother Axe, the meal is ready!”

While Axe Uncle was explaining the structure of the mountain stronghold, someone shouted from outside.

“Let’s go. This uncle prepared lots of delicious food because you were coming!”

“Really? I was getting hungry anyway!”

I followed Axe Uncle, pattering along toward the restaurant.

“Huh? I don’t see Grandmother and Gong Grandfather?”

“Miss Seolha, you’re here?”

Seo-ryeon, who had arrived first and was waiting, came over to explain.

“Lord Dang said he was tired and went in a little while ago. Gong Gakju went with him.”

“Is Grandmother very tired? Did she look okay?”

“She just seemed a bit sleep-deprived.”

“She was sleeping the whole way here, and again?”

Lately, our Shin Geum had been falling asleep at all hours.

At least she didn’t have morning sickness yet, which was fortunate.

“Come on, niece Seolha! You have to have a drink with uncle!”

With Grandmother and Gong Grandfather absent, the Ghost Spirit Hall warriors were nowhere to be seen either.

Somehow, only the bandit uncles and Bongwang Fortress were left in the restaurant.

The atmosphere was naturally far from harmonious.

They might act like gentle lambs in front of me, Bandit Grandfather’s granddaughter, but these were the Nokrim Sibpalchae of Sado-ryeon, bandits with nationwide notoriety.

From Bongwang Fortress’s perspective, they naturally had to be on guard.

“Is this… safe to drink?”

Ma A-jin crossed her arms and glared at the wine cup placed in front of her. Her eyes toward the wine cup were full of suspicion.

“You think they might have poisoned it?”

In contrast, Jeon Hye-yun acted like what’s so scary about this little thing and grabbed her wine cup, downing it in one gulp.

But just before swallowing it down her throat.

“They might have.”

At Im Cheong’s words, she spat the wine back out.

“Cough, cough!”

“Poison can be put not just in wine but in food too.”

Im Cheong picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks, brought it close to her face, and examined it carefully.

“Shouldn’t we take out a silver needle at times like this?”

“I didn’t bring any.”

At Im Cheong’s answer, Ma A-jin and Jeon Hye-yun rolled their eyes.

“Wow! This is so delicious!”

Yang Ha-rin exclaimed as she took a big bite of the seasoned chicken leg.

“…Is it really that good?”

“Yeah!”

When Ma A-jin asked, Yang Ha-rin nodded while chewing. Not only was the seasoning good, but the juicy meat was moist and incredibly tender.

“You don’t have any symptoms like shortness of breath or numbness in your hands and feet?”

“Nope.”

“…Seems like there’s no poison in it.”

“What kind of thoughts are you having?”

When Yang Ha-rin looked at them incredulously, Im Cheong whispered quietly.

“They’re from Seopa.”

“And they’re from Nok-lim too.”

Ma A-jin chimed in.

“Don’t you know what the character ‘sa’ in Seopa means? You were originally from Jeongpa, weren’t you?”

“Excuse me, sisters.”

Yang Ha-rin waved her chopsticks in front of the witches sitting side by side.

“What?”

“Hm?”

“Yeah?”

“Try some of this.”

As if launching a surprise attack, Yang Ha-rin stuffed food into the mouths of the three witches.

“Mmph!”

“What do you think you’re doing!”

“Eek!”

The witches’ eyes narrowed at Yang Ha-rin’s sudden action.

But their mouths instinctively chewed the food.

“…It’s delicious?”

“The seasoning is just right.”

“Why is it so tasty?”

“Well, it’s because you’re hungry.”

If they really believed it was poisoned, they would have spat it out immediately.

What the three witches needed wasn’t courage, but someone’s encouragement.

“Come on, there’s no guarantee when we’ll have such an abundant feast again. So seize the opportunity when it comes.”

From then on, Yang Ha-rin began bringing food to the witches’ mouths like a mother bird feeding her chicks.

“Oh my, these foolish smarty-pants.”

Seo-ryeon, who had been watching the disciples in case they caused trouble, shook her head and sighed.

Then Yu-un, who was beside her, defended them.

“Everything is unfamiliar to those new to the martial arts world. They’ll adapt quickly after this.”

“Aren’t those over there also newcomers?”

Seo-ryeon’s gaze turned to where the male disciples were gathered.

Song Mu-hyeon, Yun Ha-ram, and Baek Jin-seo were eating enthusiastically without a trace of suspicion, unlike the women.

The problem, in Seo-ryeon’s eyes, was that they seemed thoughtless rather than bold.

“Hey, young heroes! The food seems to suit your taste?”

“The flavor is absolutely amazing!”

“How did you cook this meat?”

“Hehe, would you like some alcohol too?”

“Of course!”

“Please give us some!”

Seeing them freely sharing drinks with the bandits, Seo-ryeon couldn’t tell if this was fortunate or not.

“That’s how men are, you know.”

Only Yu-un, being a man himself, just smiled calmly.

“Niece Seolha, your subordinates are quite unique, aren’t they? You’ll never have a dull moment.”

Axe Uncle chuckled as he poured me some alcohol.

“Are you making fun of me?”

“No. I just think it would be really entertaining.”

When I pouted, Axe Uncle pointed at his subordinates.

“Look at those guys. They’re just ugly. Not one of them looks decent. All they talk about is dirty jokes… Oh, right!”

As if remembering something, Axe Uncle stopped mid-sentence and slammed the table.

“Niece Seolha, does Maegyo happen to have a third prince?”

“Why do you ask about the third prince?”

“Well, a few days ago, one of the guests we caught kept insisting he was Maegyo’s third prince.”

“A guest?”

“Even though business is poor in this area, we don’t have zero customers.”

Ah, that kind of guest.

“Anyway, he kept spouting nonsense, so we locked him up for now. Could you take a look, just in case?”

“Sure, why not. It’s not difficult.”

I was curious about what kind of lunatic was going around pretending to be Maegyo’s third prince.

“Go bring that guy here.”

Shortly after, a boy in beggar’s clothes was dragged over, grabbed by the scruff of his neck.

“S-Sister!”

And he was actually Eok Hwi-gyeom, the real third prince of Maegyo.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————