"Wow, Peach Blossom, you're going that far?"

Rafael spoke with horror on behalf of his terrified friend, trembling in fear.

"Knowing full well how much your brother hates and fears these things, you still go ahead with it..."

Draco sympathized with his friend for having such a cruel sister.

"Well, why did you have to be so stubborn in the first place!"

Peach Blossom felt slightly guilty but still firmly held the wriggling creature in her hand, determined to get the truth out of her brother about Lord Chang.

"Earthworms... really!"

Aden looked at the small earthworm in Peach Blossom's hand and then at Siegfried, who sat pale-faced not far away, in disbelief.

"Yes! My brother is deathly afraid of earthworms.... Now, come on, Sieg, tell us once and for all how you knew Master Chang is a woman,"

Peach Blossom sweetly said, swinging the earthworm closer to her brother, who quickly moved Rafael in front to shield himself.

Finally, Siegfried reluctantly recounted the entire story, from his walk in the deserted part of town to hearing cries for help, and then accidentally falling onto Chang Long and unintentionally kissing her. Additionally, both his hands ended up on her chest. Luckily, Changlong was unconscious and unaware of the incident. However, the young man kept secret about encountering the night roses and spending the night there with Chang Long, as she requested to keep it a secret (only the part about the night roses).

"...Chime..." Peach Blossom was so shocked she had to go ring a bell again to regain her composure.

"Our friend is wicked!"

Draco teased after Siegfried finished his story.

"Hehe, how could you do that, man? The girl was unconscious,"

Rafael joined in the teasing, while Aden just smiled, not commenting.

"It was an accident, damn it! I didn't mean for it to happen!"

Siegfried yelled back at his two friends, his face flushing to his ears, causing his close friends to burst into laughter at his reaction.

"What's wrong with Peach Blossom now?"

Draco turned to see Peach Blossom sitting with her mouth agape, eyes wide open, still clutching the earthworm tightly, and asked with concern.

"She must be in shock,"

Aden commented, approaching to check on Peach Blossom's condition.

"See! You made me say it yourself,"

Siegfried looked at his sister, annoyed, and then made a move to leave the room.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Rafael asked as he saw Siegfried heading towards the door.

"I'm going to cool off! I'm really pissed off right now,"

Siegfried declared sharply before storming out.

"Sieg is really mad, isn't he? We might have gone too far this time,"

Draco admitted with a sense of guilt.

"Let him be. Let's focus on Peach Blossom for now. See how shocked she is,"

Rafael joked, looking at his friend's sister.

"She must be really shocked, suddenly finding out that the person she likes is actually a woman..."

Aden looked at Peach Blossom, half amused, half sympathetic.

"Let's leave her be for now. I'm hungry,"

Draco shrugged.

"Yeah, she'll get over it. This happens too often,"

Rafael agreed.

"Eh...Is it really okay?"

Aden questioned, unsure.

"Of course! Just watch, when we come back from eating, Peach Blossom will have turned back to normal,"

Draco said nonchalantly, familiar with his friend's sister's temperament. He dragged concerned Aden out of Siegfried's room, leaving the poor girl to face the harsh reality alone.

...

Chang Long was blissfully unaware of the tense guild meeting involving the five Pendragon members. At the moment, she was entirely focused on her imaginary joyful journey toward Fairy Forest, imagining the ancient woods filled with wonder.

"Fairy Forest is an ancient forest, right? It must be home to all sorts of fantastical creatures just like those in fairy tales,"

Chang Long murmured cheerfully as she moved swiftly.

"I'm not sure, master,"

Kitsune replied thoughtfully. He wondered if the "fantastical creatures" his master mentioned included him, a three-tailed fox.

"It doesn't matter if we don't know yet. We'll see for ourselves soon enough,"

Chang Long said excitedly, anticipating sightings of giant trees, the size of that three to five people, and possibly even elves or dryads, and various fantastical beings.

Before long, a human, a fox in human form, and the spirit of a former pirate king stood at the edge of Fairy Forest. Chang Long was on the verge of tears seeing how foreboding Fairy Forest appeared; the giant trees were withered, leaves brown and fluttering in the wind, the ground covered in dense, brown grass, creating a gloomy and eerie atmosphere, occasionally broken by mournful cries from within.

"M-Master..."

Kitsune called out to his master with a tremble in his voice.

"…It's nothing like how I imagined,"

Chang Long stared into Fairy Forest, her dreams of a fairy-tale land crumbling to dust.

"What will you do now? Go back to training?"

Davy-chan asked, his gaze not leaving the forest, sensing the danger lurking within the ancient woods.

"I don't know... I don't feel like going back to town right now either,"

Chang Long sat down dejectedly, looking into Fairy Forest, unsure of what to do next. Kitsune sat beside his master and offered a water bottle.

Ahh!

A scream from the forest made Chang Long look up. She saw a small child in white falling into the grass, injured, with a horde of grotesque beasts, heavily armed chasing after.

"This child!!"

Chang Long exclaimed, preparing to run and help the little one.

"Wait, missy! What are you planning to do?!"

Davy-chan's shout made Chang Long halt and look back at him irritably.

"To help that child, what else do you think?!"

Chang Long replied, annoyed at being interrupted.

"And how will you help? Those monsters are all above level 35,"

Davy-chan reminded Chang Long, who was about to dash into Fairy Forest again.

"How did you know that Davy-chan!"

Chang Long stopped again, turning to look at Davy-chan in disbelief.

"I have a skill that allows me to assess the enemies' level. If they are not above level one hundred, I can assess them all."

"There are many of them. What should we do? If we delay, that child will surely be killed,"

Kitsune voiced his concern, worried.

"No matter what, I'm going to save that child... Davy-chan, Spirit Possession!"

At Chang Long's command, Davy-chan's spirit immediately merged with her. Chang Long's form seemed to be overlaid with a slightly larger dark shadow. She felt a tremendous power coursing through her body because Davy-chan was at level 100.

"Let's go, Kitsune!"

Chang Long ordered and sprinted towards the child in the grass with incredible speed. Chang Long's voice, as she was possessed by Davy-chan, sounded overlaid with another, making Kitsune startled at how much deeper her voice sounded.

The two reached the child just seconds before the grotesque beasts could. They growled at Chang Long and Kitsune who stood in their way, ready to eliminate the intruders.

Clash!

Chang Long raised the Sovereign Sword up in time to parry, her reaction was significantly faster after merging with Davy-chan's spirit. Her reaction speed increased so much that even Kitsune was astonished. She effortlessly repelled the leading level 35 hunter goblin beasts, sending three of them flying with little effort.

"Kitsune, check on the child's condition!"

Chang Long commanded without looking back, as warrior goblins rushed in after the hunter goblins were repelled.

"At once, master!"

Kitsune complied immediately, moving to the severely injured and unconscious child. He quickly carried the child away from the fray. The sight of Kitsune's action prompted the goblin beasts to chase after him, making it clear to Chang Long that they were indeed hunting the child.

"Kitsune, get the child out of Fairy Forest now!"

Chang Long shouted, then charged to block the path of the pursuing goblins. This action enraged all eleven of them, who glared angrily at Chang Long before aggressively attacking her.

The eleven goblins consisted of 3 level 35 hunters, 5 level 38 warriors, 2 level 35 archers, and 1 Level 50 chieftain. The archers, separated from the group, attacked Chang Long with arrows larger than themselves relentlessly. Chang Long's ability to dodge all the arrows only fueled their rage further.

Seeing that their archery had no effect, five armed warriors and three hunters surrounded Chang Long, while the archers chased after Kitsune, who was carrying the mysterious child away from the forest.

Chang Long glared menacingly at the chieftain goblin, who returned her stare with a defiant smirk. His action infuriated Chang Long. The chieftain commanded his minions to attack Chang Long from all sides. Chang Long leapt into the air, causing the five warriors and three hunters to halt their charge, as they nearly attacked each other instead of her.

Kitsune had to hide the unconscious mysterious child in a bush and confronted two goblin archers begrudgingly for daring to damage the clothes his master had bought for him. Flames emanated from his body, and a long sword made of fire appeared in his hand. He swiftly charged at his foes. The archers were easily overpowered by Kitsune's close range, shocked by the fiery aura enveloping him. Not only did they feel the heat, but their clothes also caught fire.

The goblin archers cried out in shock as the flames spread across their clothes, forcing the goblins to strip them off but still suffering burns on their skin. They glared at Kitsune, discarding their bows for the swords hung at their waists. Kitsune smirked at the archers' actions, raising his flame-forged sword and charging at them. Despite narrowly dodging the sword's edge, they could not escape the intense flames emanating from it, resulting in long burn wounds across their abdomens.

Chang Long dodged the warriors' and hunters' blades and immediately charged at their leader, the chieftain goblin. She aimed to cleave him in two with the high swing of her sword. However, a chieftain of his level easily sidestepped her attack, even throwing back a taunting smile. To his surprise, Changlong did not show anger at her missed attack but instead responded with a chilling smile.

"Reaper Soul Harvest..."

Chang Long softly invoked a skill that came with her Reaper title, lunging again at the chieftain goblin. To the chieftain's eyes, it was not Chang Long who thrust the sword but a fearsome white skeleton in a tattered black cloak, towering like a giant, extending its bony hand towards him. The surrounding air turned icy in an instant.

The cheiftain goblin could not look away or move as a white, bony hand grabbed him, another hand pulling his head off forcefully. What came out was not his head, but his spirit, yanked from his body. The chieftain howled in agony as his spirit was sucked into the skeleton's mouth in the cloak and vanished.

His minions, witnessing the scene, looked at Chang Long with paralyzed fear. After the Reaper absorbed the goblin chieftain's soul and disappeared as the chieftain's head dropped to the ground, cut by Changlong's sword. Beasts slain by this skill would not have their souls ascend as usual. Chang Long turned her gaze towards the remaining warriors and hunters. With their leader dead, they began to falter, hesitating to confront Chang Long.

"No need to squabble among yourselves. You're all going to die just as you wished!"

 Chang Long's voice was cold as she pointed the Sovereign Sword at the remaining goblins, causing them to pale and tremble in fear.

Kitsune, engaging in combat with two archers, found their speed nearly matched his own, making the battle quite challenging. Fortunately, there were only two of them; otherwise, despite being eight levels higher, he might not have been able to overcome them.

The swift archer goblins dared not attack Kitsune directly due to the fiery aura enveloping him, which was too intense for them. They preferred darkness and despised bright light and intense heat almost universally, giving Kitsune an advantage in this regard.

"All you do is jump around to avoid me. If you're so confident, come at me! You dared to damage the precious outfit my master bought for me, you'll have to pay with your lives!"

Kitsune declared defiantly at the archers, but they remained stationary, unwilling to charge.

"Refusing to attack? Fine! I'll come to you myself."

With that, Kitsune moved at his highest speed towards one of the archers. The intense heat from his fiery aura made it obvious where Kitsune would attack from, allowing the archer goblin to easily dodge while smirking mockingly at him.

"You can dodge again, huh? Well then... let's see you can dodge this,"

Kitsune said, and then moved at high speed again. However, this time, he did not attack the goblins directly. Instead, he circled around them, breathing out intense flames from his mouth, creating a large ring of fire around himself and the goblin archers.

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