Chapter 15: Great Deception

“They’re trying to kill us to silence us!”

The splint mail warrior, in a voice that sounded like a pig being slaughtered for a feast, shouted the exact words that were currently running through Gima’s own devious mind.

Only then did the other adventurers notice the six unconscious, groaning bodies lying at George’s feet. They immediately dispersed, fanning out to prevent the heavily armored knight from taking them all out in one fell swoop. Gima even saw a few particularly clever cowards stop in their tracks, standing far, far away from the action. If a bloody conflict broke out, they would immediately turn and run to report it.

How clever. More cunning than a devil… and twice as greedy, Gima sighed. She complained in a low voice to George, who had walked over to her side, “Looks like we’ll have to scurry back home with our tails between our legs. Your plan to ‘explain’ has failed spectacularly.”

“I will explain to them,” George said, ever the optimist. He sheathed his greatsword and tossed it to Gima, a grand gesture to show his sincerity and peaceful intentions.

The adventurers split into three groups and cautiously approached, their numerous greedy eyes fixed on their bulging, treasure-filled backpacks.

“What are you doing here?!” someone demanded.

“They just came out of Kima’s treasure vault!” the splint mail warrior immediately shouted, his voice a bubbly, bloody mess. “And they were trying to kill us to keep the treasure for themselves! Brothers, quick, go find the Great Good Master! We can all share the massive reward!”

The already restless adventurers drew their swords, the blades glinting menacingly under the firelight.

“They broke the rules,” someone suddenly declared, finding a righteous angle.

That’s right. In their minds, they weren’t common robbers; they were noble vigilantes, punishing those who had broken the unwritten rules of treasure hunting. As for the belongings of Gima and George, they would naturally be used to “subsidize the cost of law enforcement.” And the generous Good Master would surely give them an additional reward for their troubles.

If it weren’t for the six groaning bodies lying at George’s feet, the adventurers would have already rushed forward in a wave of righteous greed.

George swept a cold, disdainful gaze over them and said, enunciating each word with chilling clarity, “I did not kill them. They were trying to rob us.”

The words fell into their ears and sank deep into their hearts, leaving no room for doubt. Everyone subconsciously, instinctively believed George’s words. They immediately stopped in their tracks, and the adventurers, having lost their noble pretext, looked at each other in confusion and began to mutter amongst themselves.

“The people on the ground aren’t dead. It was just a simple brawl, then.”

As they discussed this new development, the adventurers began to lower their swords.

Gima knew this was George’s absurdly powerful supernatural ability. He could not lie, and his truths were inherently, magically believable. But this problem couldn’t be solved just by telling a simple truth.

The splint mail warrior grew anxious. “The blue light came from them!” he reminded everyone. “They must have just teleported out of the Demon Lord’s treasure vault! Everyone knows the vault is in a different dimension!”

The blue light was the tell-tale sign of high-level teleportation. That was why the adventurers had all flocked here like vultures to a fresh carcass the moment they saw it.

“We did not come from a vault,” George said.

It was the truth, but it wasn’t the whole truth.

“Brother, since you say you didn’t, why don’t you open your backpacks and let us have a little look-see?”

“Even if your backpacks are empty, can you explain the blue light?”

The adventurers pressed on, their greed reignited.

The splint mail warrior insisted, his voice rising in desperation, “Even if there’s nothing in their backpacks, they must have teleported out of the treasure vault! Why else would there be a blue light?!”

George was at a loss for words. If this continued, he would have to honestly say that they had teleported from the Holy Sanctuary, blowing their cover completely.

His silence was an admission of guilt. The atmosphere instantly dropped to a freezing point. The flames of avarice burned brightly in everyone’s hearts.

Considering that if they scurried back to the Holy Sanctuary now, her precious treasure vault would most likely fall into the greedy hands of the Great Good Master, Gima decided to step forward. She lifted her chin and looked down her nose at the gathered rabble with a magnificent, aristocratic contempt.

“What’s the matter? Does my master’s mercy towards you give you band of common robbers an excuse to be so impudent?”

At these shockingly arrogant words, the adventurers’ gazes all fell on Gima’s cute, doll-like face.

“Master, please allow me to introduce your noble name to these savage and ignorant brutes, lest your honorable hands be stained with their filthy blood.”

Fortunately, the helmet hid George’s face. His cheeks were twitching uncontrollably with embarrassment. All he could manage to say was, “...Alright.”

“My master is a noble knight from the great Kingdom of Barto, the undisputed champion of the Midsummer Festival, currently on a long and sacred journey in search of knowledge,” the little girl declared, her eyes full of a disdain so profound it was almost palpable.

“An errant knight?” some of the more experienced, and well-traveled, adventurers in the crowd reacted instantly.

“What’s Barto? And what the hell is an errant knight?” a less-educated brute asked.

“Quiet, you fool! The errant knights of the Kingdom of Barto, in order to prove their valor to their goddess, embark on epic journeys to fight people everywhere, like noble, heavily armored mad dogs. He wouldn’t mind chopping off your head and hanging it from his saddle as a trophy.”

The Kingdom of Barto, the legendary land of knights. They primarily worshipped the mysterious Lady of the Lake. In order to promote the ideals of chivalry and gain the goddess’s favor, the Kingdom of Barto sent out a large group of battle-hardened, fearless knights every year to find glorious fights all over the world.

The adventurers looked at George’s old-fashioned yet incredibly sturdy full plate armor. Then they looked at his servant, Gima, and the look of unshakeable disdain and arrogance on her face.

Only a true nobleman could afford such a beautiful and impossibly arrogant little maidservant, bringing her along on his travels to serve him and, incidentally, to warm his bed on the cold, lonely nights.

It fit their stereotype of a decadent nobleman perfectly. So, even though George didn’t have a horse, they were still thoroughly bluffed.

Someone cursed their bad luck and quietly, very quietly, slipped away from the back of the group.

Seeing that the adventurers were initially bluffed, Gima decided to press her advantage while the iron was hot.

“Because my master, in his youthful vigor, has taken far too many lives, the gods themselves have placed a punishment upon him. He is not allowed to speak much, limited to only 140 words a day. Therefore, although you have grievously tarnished my master’s honor, he is still willing to spare your worthless lives.”

“But you mistake this for weakness and force my master to use his precious, divinely-limited words to respond to your shameless, baseless accusations.” Gima sighed dramatically. “The last time my master ran out of words, he had to remain completely silent for a whole day. He was so bored he had to slaughter an entire den of bandits just to find some amusement.”

A few more of the adventurers shrank back, their bravado visibly deflating. But many of them were not so easily frightened.

The splint mail warrior was one of them. His mouth full of blood, he slurred, “That’s hilarious. A knight with no horse? What kind of bull are you trying to pull, little brat?”

“My master, this man questions your noble birth. Are you, or are you not, born of a noble house in the great Kingdom of Barto?”

George’s face twitched. He nodded and said truthfully, “Yes.”

The adventurers felt a jolt in their hearts. They completely, and utterly, accepted George’s truthful statement.

A tall, thin adventurer at the front forced a sycophantic, boot-licking smile. “I am so sorry, sir knight. We were just here to see what all the commotion was about. Since it’s all just a misunderstanding, I’ll be on my way.”

With that, he turned and practically sprinted away.

But many of the adventurers, driven by a stubborn, wishful greed, remained where they were.

The splint mail warrior’s face froze. He gave an awkward laugh, trying to appear neither servile nor overbearing, but his voice was unconsciously low and respectful.

“Now you know, Kimi’s treasure—”

“It’s Kima, you country bumpkin,” Gima interrupted with a sigh.

“What the hell does it matter if it’s Kima?!” the splint mail warrior roared, then immediately softened his tone and asked George with great respect, “Sir, have you perchance seen Kima’s treasure vault?”

“We did not come out of the Demon Lord’s treasure vault,” George said truthfully.

The adventurers were like a popped balloon. They began to murmur amongst themselves, heaping blame and scorn on the splint mail warrior.

“You liar!”

“Sir, we were all deceived by his venomous, lying tongue! It has nothing to do with us!”

Someone gave the splint mail warrior a vicious middle finger. “Thanks for disturbing everyone’s sleep, asshole!”

The splint mail warrior’s face flushed a deep, painful red. He felt his hard-earned reputation in the adventuring world had been utterly and completely ruined. “But the blue light and the horse—”

Gima interrupted him coldly. “My master received a revelation from his goddess and came to this deep forest to pray. What’s wrong with that? And who says a blue light has to be a sign of teleportation?”

“When adults are talking, children shouldn’t interrupt!”

“I did not bring a horse,” George said truthfully.

The splint mail warrior wanted to ask more, but Gima interrupted him again, her voice like ice. “That’s forty-eight words.”

“What?”

“My master has wasted forty-eight of his precious, divinely-allotted words to deal with your foolishness,” Gima sighed, shaking her head in pity. “Is this a test from the gods? Sending so many idiots our way.”

“You!” The splint mail warrior clenched his fists, his face turning purple.

“Boss, don’t say any more! Let it go!”

The splint mail warrior’s teammates quickly pulled him back, dragging him away. They smiled apologetically at George. “Sorry, sir, this was just a misunderstanding, a big misunderstanding. We’ve been looking for the treasure vault for four months straight. Everyone’s on edge, we’re not sleeping well, and we’re constantly being harassed by goblins.”

George remained silent, simply taking a small, menacing step forward.

The adventurers left even faster, some breaking into a full-on sprint like rabbits being chased by a particularly large, angry eagle. A few even came forward to offer their services, hoping to act as guides to Salem City for the noble knight, but they were summarily refused.

And so, the two of them walked away, watching the adventurers scatter like birds in a storm.

With the virgin’s truth-telling ability to back up my brilliant lies, it’s so ridiculously easy to mislead people. The virgin just has to admit a partial, out-of-context truth, and they’ll believe all the lies that came before it. And with my innate succubus talent for lying… we’re a match made in heaven—ah, no, I mean, the virgin is just a really, really useful tool.

Under her robe, Gima’s tail wagged happily from side to side.

“Gima, you performed very well just now,” George praised her, a hint of surprise in his voice.

“Of course I did.”

“You really don’t act like a little girl who’s less than a week old.”

“This old ma-old lady has inherited the succubi's ten thousand years worth of memories, you know.”

“Little children shouldn’t call themselves ‘old lady’,” George said patiently. “Be polite. It’s not polite.”

“...Okay.”

“Mm, now say that last sentence again.”

“I have inherited the succubi's ten thousand years worth of memories~.”

“Mm, that’s more like a cute, adorable little girl.”

Your whole family is cute! Gima gritted her teeth but said nothing. But the more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

“George, that was dangerous just now,” Gima said. “The mission was almost a complete failure, wouldn’t you agree?”

George thought for a moment. “Yes.”

Gima was pleased. In the tone of a seasoned, experienced elder, she began to lecture him. “So, you should have listened to me and decisively killed them all to silence them. They were clearly robbers. That wouldn’t have violated your precious principles of goodness.”

“But those are human lives. It’s not right to resort to killing so readily.”

“If our identities were exposed, you might have been able to escape, but I would probably have been done for,” Gima sighed with dramatic flair. “Is my life and my freedom less valuable than the lives of a few greedy, bad people?”

George was stunned for a moment, lost in thought.

Heh. This virgin still wants to lecture me? I’ve seen more storms and grand battles in my life than he’s had hot dinners.

Gima’s tail perked up happily, arching triumphantly under her robe.

George suddenly retorted, “That’s twisted logic. If I had killed them from the start, wouldn’t the second group of adventurers who arrived later have seen the bodies?”

Gima thought about it. He actually had a point. But she couldn’t lose the argument.

“But dead men tell no tales,” Gima said stubbornly. “We could have just framed them as robbers who killed each other—Ouch! Why did you hit my head?”

“You’ll copy and memorize ten more pages today.”

“Why?!” Gima’s head started to ache just thinking about it.

“Killing them to silence them was not the best option. Yet you insisted on it, refusing to back down. It shows that you’re being negatively influenced by your evil nature, taking pleasure in the suffering of others. This is very dangerous. You need to read more scriptures to wash away the evil thoughts in your heart,” George said with a very serious, very paternal face.

“This is a personal vendetta against me!”

“Your nature will unconsciously influence your thinking, and you won’t even be able to perceive it yourself. The path to redemption is long and difficult. You need me to constantly warn you and guide you,” George said patiently. “It’s fine if you blame me for it.”

“Fine. I understand.”

Gima silently, fervently vowed in her heart that in the future, for her glorious revenge, she would definitely force George to copy the entire dictionary a thousand—no, ten thousand times! If he didn’t do it, she’d cut off his dick. Of course, she’d cut it off after he finished copying it too. Hehe, he’d be so wonderfully, beautifully desperate then.

“Fifteen pages.”

George continued.

“Huh? Why fifteen?!”

“Because you were just lying,” George said with a straight face. “I know you blame me. It’s fine if you blame me. Memorize five more pages to wash your soul clean.”

“Like hell I’ll copy…” Gima had just started to say when she felt as if a hot iron had been shoved into her brain. It was a small, painful punishment from the slave contract. She immediately changed her tune. “I’ll copy! I’ll memorize! I will definitely study hard and become a model citizen!”

The searing pain in her brain finally subsided.

George reached out and rubbed Gima’s sulking little head. “When you grow up, you’ll understand that I’m only doing this for your own good.”

Gima was about to explode with pure, unadulterated rage.

Just then, a group of adventurers came towards them from the forest. The orange-yellow light from the oil lamps on their chests fell on George’s bucket-helm.

“Hey, brother. What was that blue light up ahead?” a sneaky-looking halfling called out, his eyes darting around.

Gima was happy to finally see someone shorter than her. She puffed out her little chest, cleared her throat, and said with an air of great importance:

“I hear someone just came out of the Demon Lord Kima’s treasure vault.”

Instantly, the adventurers’ eyes lit up like stars.

“There was a small conflict just now. The adventurer who just teleported out of the vault got his teeth knocked out and wouldn’t say where the entrance was,” Gima said with a sad shake of her head. “Although he broke the rules and secretly trespassed on someone else’s land, my master and some other noble people were willing to let him go. So we just left.”

“In this line of work, there are very few people who value honor like your master,” the halfling said appreciatively, clearly indicating that they belonged to the much more practical, dishonorable type. “But is this really true? It’s a little different from what we just heard.”

“My master,” Gima turned her head and looked at George with wide, innocent eyes, “did the greedy guy just now get his teeth knocked out with a sword hilt?”

“Yes.”

A muffled, but undeniably truthful, male voice came from within the bucket-helm, carrying an unshakable, magical conviction.

“Thanks a lot!”

The halfling’s mouth was grinning from ear to ear. He thanked them profusely and quickly ran ahead with his teammates, as if a pile of gold had just fallen from the sky and would be snatched up if they were a second too late.

Gima watched their scurrying, greedy backs, a sense of profound satisfaction washing over her. As it turns out, tricking people really is one of life’s greatest joys.

“Gima, that wasn’t very nice.”

“I’m petty, I hold grudges, and I’m bad,” Gima said, kicking a small stone on the side of the road with a pout. “And this makes me happy.”

With that, she stared at George, waiting for the virgin’s inevitable scolding and punishment.

“Well… being in a good mood is conducive to studying.”

“Huh? As a Paladin, aren’t you supposed to be very angry with my wicked deception?”

“I can’t very well punish you for the actions of a group of greedy robbers, can I?” George looked at her strangely, as if she were the one being illogical.

“Oh.”

Gima shouldered her backpack and followed behind George.

After walking for ten minutes in silence, George spoke again.

“Gima.”

“What is it?”

“Do you happen to know where the nearest main road and village are?”

Gima stopped in her tracks, speechless. “…We’re lost?”

“Mm, yes.”