Chapter 8 - A Retired Knight's Annoyance with Pink-haired Brat(s)

A three-foot-tall, humanoid owl materialised. Its bulky, masculine body strapped on a silver breastplate, with black feathers peeking out from the slight gaps between the plates. The Predator's crimson eyes swept over Saria, her gauntlet's grip on the shield and sword loose and unbothered.

"< Rally >."

Immediately casting a buff, Mel's eyes swept over the gigantic owl knight. Intimidating? Maybe, if not for...

She frowned at the mismatched pink skirt wrapped around the silver grooves, the metallic shimmers in the sunlight reflecting the childish color. Is it just her, or did all residents in this World have the weirdest fashion sense? First, a sunglasses-wearing skeleton. Then, a karate-uniformed red panda. And now a giant armoured owl with a half-barbie cosplay.

"How bizarrely cute."

She observed how the Owl shuddered a little, the summon's thought still unreadable with the unmoving gaze.

With a pat on the back, the owl stomped and leaped for the Knight, her sword slashing down at the 'tiny' challenger.

"< Sacred Cleave >."

Saria wasted no time, the sword glowing with an otherworldly light as it clashed with the Owl's blade.

Clink!

A loud clank echoed, a hint of shock spread over Saria's face, as her sword's light was intercepted cleanly by the owl's normal strike.

Mel's golden eyes followed, as < Sacred Cleave> after < Sacred Cleave > was swung, each flood of Light kept at bay by the Owl Knight's shield. The air trembled, the grasses swaying with the roaring gusts in the exchange of blows. The Owl Knight's steps steadied as Saria's swings grew hastier and more aggressive.

She nodded approvingly. While < Summon > magic is not inherently special, most could afford only one summon at a time. Mel felt she could summon even more, and more importantly, the < Echo Magic> was way too powerful. One Apprentice-ranked buff on an Adept-ranked were enough to push back against an Expert-ranked .

"Other than that..."

She glanced as the < Owl Knight >'s shield blocked another desperate swing, her broad shoulders unyielding. A 's rank was decided freely depending on your mastreries, but that large body of the Owl Knight... did her class influence her 's strength as well?

[ Answering the Host's Question! The 's class allowed +500% potency on ! Your summons had thus significantly increased strength! ]

And mystery solved. As she guessed, her is the reason was able to hold against Saria so well without buffs. Mel mused at the exhausted Saria ducking against another blow. If not for Mel's secret order for pacifism, the would have been downed five times by now.

"Master."

"Oh. Nyxie."

The satisfied, slightly bored Witch turned to her maid, her expression carrying not a hint of tension. Emilia, behind, still slept soundly against the tree, unaware her friend was fighting her most desperate battles yet.

"So, did you interrogate Emilia for the information we need?"

The maid's ears twitched. "Yes... I'm sorry I moved without your orders."

The Witch smiled, patting the droopy cat ears. "I didn't order precisely because I trusted you. No harm done? Then no worries." Nyxie, again, was a natural talent at spywork. Interrogation utilising abilities gifted by her Master was a second nature to the catgirl, with or without harm.

Enjoying how the maid eased into her touch, she muttered. System, no reinforcement yet from the Church?

[ Zero, Host! ]

A buzzing confusion returned to Mel's head, her eyes squinting in contemplation. "Nyxie. What did Emilia tell you?"

The maid's brows knitted together, a seriousness returning in contrast to the earlier submission to her master's comfort. "Master. This stealth operation dared to capture you alive, ordered by the Saintess of Eternal Dawn, utilising a < Prophecy>."

The Saintess. Of course. Mel recalled the soft, unblemished smile that hid a million truths.

The Witch eyed the heaving Saria, kiting around the Owl Knight. "Expending an Expert ranked and for a stealth operation? This smells wrong."

No exaggeration, no praises, but from the original game, Mel knew the scheming Saintess was the only pillar that held the Church and the World together.

But in this battle? A with skillsets completely useless, a that barely matched up against her one summon, and no reinforcement whatsoever. With her Master ranked magic, it should have been easy for her to deduce that Mel would easily win this matchup.

"Was she so sure I won't enslave them with ? Or something else entirely...."

How off-putting. Mel knew full well the Saintess's had her limits, but this battle felt too calculated, too set up for her favour.

She asked the second-most-reliable informant. "System. Any idea what the Saintess was-"

Clink!

Her questioning was interrupted by a sharp shriek of metal, Saria's sword bouncing away with a strike. Disarmed, the Radiant Knight's fist immediately punched.

Plunk. The shield greeted the charge again, her flesh useless against the iron defense.

With a reddened knuckle, she clicked her tongue and lept away, scanning the Owl Knight and the Witch, then to her sword, which the Cat Maid had already retrieved. An anti-climactic finish, and Saria is no fool.

She raised her hands. "I surrender."

Negotiation must start with her submission. She had to leverage something, starting by not wasting her opponent's time.

The Witch of Lust's eyes widened in surprise. "So soon?"

"You have no intention to harm us anyway." Saria relaxed her stance as much as she could against a Witch of Calamity.

Mel held her chin, her lips curling up to a foxy smile. "Not afraid of any scheme? You know how my can be related to Brainwashing, correct?"

"If that's your plan, you would've done so at the start." Saria's eyes squinted when the Owl Knight circled her. "Instead, you're testing how much of your power should be restrained not to kill us, right? I can tell the Owl is not serious from the very start."

"As expected from an Expert-ranked." Mel complimented. "And yet, it would be remiss of me to let you all go without a scratch, wouldn't I?"

Saria gulped, her gaze lingering downwards. "A-anything but..."

"Oh, you're welcome to, but I'm not talking about the pads." The Witch chuckled at the scowling Saria. "Tell me what you heard from the Saintess. And I will promise no harm to your village and comrade."

The Knight cast a scornful gaze, the hostility dampened but not subsided. "The Saintess merely told us to capture you here. That's all I know."

"You're withholding information." Mel pressed her finger to her cheek. "From what I recall, Emilia just arrived to meet you yesterday, correct?"

The Witch noticed the Knight's shudder hidden behind her stoic expression. As Mel Sakura, of course, she is aware of this information, but Saria probably made a different assumption in her Witch form.

So, like usual, she crafted a half-truth. "As a Witch, I'm not exactly liked here. Having an eye on a little bit of everything is basic."

The Witch examined how Saria's expression scrunched up, her fist clenched in frustration. Her claim merely implied the existence of a 'spy' for Saria, and for her to be kept on the back foot.

[ The Knight Saria thought about how much danger a certain pink-haired brat might face in the future. Speak carefully, host! ]

Wow. Thank you, Sis. Careful not to stretch her smile into an involuntary smug, the Witch's eyes curved. "You were not the type to take on a stealth operation, clearly not meant for you. What else has the Saintess relayed?"

Saria was not an idiot. Compared to her peers, she was the first batch of soldiers dispatched against the Witch of Pride's armies. She knew how dangerous a Witch is, yet she dared to confront her with only an Expert-ranked .

Meaning? The Saintess's order was not a simple 'capture' operation. Or...

"She..."

Saria frowned as she studied the Witch's casual demeanor. No sign of aggression, no sign of cowardice either. Just a graceful demand for an answer. Worse, even with her skills that might involve Brainwashing, she waited patiently for her honesty rather than forcing it.

And for that, she could give the minimum respect. Who knows if it might diminish the moment she refused to talk? She had a village and a brat to protect.

"She has ordered explicitly not to let the Church know. And how we will not receive any harm from this operation. That is all."

Mel nodded as if she anticipated it, yet her insides stormed at the revelation. Not letting the Church know? Has the Saintess lost her mind?

From Mel's perspective, the Church was incompetent, but not corrupted, during the original apocalypse timeline. So, with no risks of leaking her existence to the Witch's cult or the Witch of Pride's familiars, not allowing more reinforcements is a nonsensical detriment.

But she must acknowledge that she was 20 years ago. Even if she read all the extra materials and all the background characters' excerpts as an avid player, there still is a limit to how much she could know from a timeline that only reoccurred in some flashbacks.

She will talk with the System again sometime after this. Ordering her maid to plop the sword on the grass, Mel summoned and buffed a again for the village.

"Oh, right." She glanced at Saria, muttering. "."

A hum of the Witch's enchantment seeped into the air, imprinting Saria's soul with a newfound vigor. Saria clutched her chest for this weird sensation, her body unable to reject the Witch's magic as it healed her exhaustion, along with a gift of something familiar, yet familiar at the same time.

The Witch turned her back, waving sheepishly as she stepped into the portal with her maid, who was weirdly carrying a particular skeleton. "Take care and stay safe, Saria."

As the Witch disappeared with her summons, the Knight's hand loosened, her knees buckling onto the grass with the most enormous sigh she had let out since that pink-haired brat incessantly begged to take her to the village 10 years ago.

"Really." She glanced at the clearing devoid of a calamity. "How humiliating."

To feel a mixed awe and relief that her village will be safe...is a Knight's disgrace.

She should probably cook the brat dinner again tonight. She suddenly felt she deserved a break again, away from her duties; she had retired long ago.