Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but be stunned. Just as she was about to reply, they had already arrived at the entrance of the white castle. There, Kotoko Iwanaga, who had changed into a new light pink dress, with a pink neck ring around her neck, and a petite, cute appearance, was already standing to welcome them.
"Yuuki-san, Asagiri-san, please come in."
Hearing Kotoko Iwanaga address Asagiri Utsunomiya in such an intimate, first-name basis, Asuna Yuuki felt a surge of jealousy again. Even she, at this stage, only addressed Asagiri Utsunomiya politely with his surname.
'You, aren't you a bit too familiar?'
Just then, Kotoko Iwanaga noticed Asagiri Utsunomiya's right hand, which had formed a gesture as if holding a gun. She immediately reacted and then smiled at the leading maid, saying, "Thank you for your hard work, you can leave now."
"Yes, young lady."
After the maid turned and walked away, Kotoko Iwanaga looked at Asagiri Utsunomiya, showed a sweet and gentle smile, and said, "I know you can't fully trust me yet, but I assure you, everyone in this house has been temporarily asked to leave. Now, there are only the three of us. I haven't set up any ambushes for you, please rest assured, you and Yuuki-san."
"Everyone has been asked to leave, but..." Asagiri Utsunomiya returned the smile and asked in return. "What about those so-called specters and yokai?"
Kotoko Iwanaga was stunned for a moment, then as if amused, she laughed lightly and waved her hand, explaining, "You've completely misunderstood. Although I am the God of Wisdom for them and they respectfully call me Princess, the things I can order them to do are just sending messages, gathering information, and so on.
"Making them kill people? More than ninety-five percent of specters and yukai don't have the ability to harm people. The remaining small portion either can't understand my commands at all and will even attack me, being only monsters of pure malice, or, even if they can understand, they will refuse to carry out harmful commands.
"After all, the fundamental reason they support me as the God of Wisdom is to maintain order between oddities and human society, and this is also my duty. If I issue commands that contradict this goal, it means I am not qualified to be their Princess."
"Moreover..." Kotoko Iwanaga paused, raised her cane and tapped her left leg, making a clear sound, and continued speaking with a smile: "A frail girl with a physical disability like me, both Yuuki-san and you, can instantly kill me at such a close distance, right? If I had really set up an ambush, I definitely wouldn't appear before you myself, and so close to you."
After saying that, Kotoko Iwanaga turned around, pushed open the mansion door, and then made a gesture of invitation, saying with a smile.
"Please come in."
◆—⊰✧⊱—◆
They entered the mansion and arrived at the living room. After Asuna Yuuki and Asagiri Utsunomiya sat on the sofa, Kotoko Iwanaga pointed to the brewed black tea on the coffee table and the exquisite small pastries, saying, "Sorry, because I had to ask everyone to leave early, the tea might be a bit cold."
Asuna Yuuki quickly waved her hand, saying somewhat reservedly, "It's okay."
"Alright, as long as you don't mind. Now, let's talk about the main business."
Kotoko Iwanaga didn't say another word of courtesy. She directly took out her phone, opened the app with the eye icon, and handed it to Asagiri Utsunomiya and Asuna Yuuki.
"This is the clear rewards I received."
Asuna Yuuki looked at the phone screen. She saw that the evaluation Kotoko Iwanaga received was almost identical to hers, the difference being that she received an S+ rating, while Kotoko Iwanaga only received an A- rating.
[Congratulations, Player: Kotoko Iwanaga, for clearing the dungeon.
[Rating: A-
[Reward:
[1. Job: Warlock
[2. Skill: Gaze of Curses
[3. Mental power slightly increased]
[Job Name: Warlock
[Job Information: A basic combat and support job that deals mental damage to enemies by consuming mental power to cast skills.]
[Skill Name: Gaze of Curses
[Skill Information: This skill can be activated by consuming a certain amount of mental power when making eye contact with a target. If the Player's mental strength is higher than the target's, the target will experience dizziness, vomiting, or even fall into coma. The specific effect depends on the difference in mental strength between both parties. If the Player's mental strength is lower than the opponent's, the skill activation fails, and the user will suffer a backlash of 50% skill effect.]
"These... these rewards..."
Asuna Yuuki looked like she wanted to say something but hesitated. She wanted to say that these rewards seemed even worse than the ones she got when clearing the novice dungeon, but she was afraid of being too direct and rubbing salt in Kotoko Iwanaga's wound.
Ultimately, she could only force a smile and say, "Um... these rewards are quite suitable for you..."
"These rewards are really garbage."
Before Asuna Yuuki could finish her comforting words, Asagiri Utsunomiya had already spoke bluntly.
"However, an A- rating indeed only deserves this level of reward."
"You're right."
Upon hearing this, Kotoko Iwanaga didn't show any displeasure. She just agreed.
"However, this was somewhat expected. After all, to be frank, even without me, you two could have cleared this dungeon in the same way. And I didn't actually participate in the combat like Yuuki-san did, so the app's judgment that my help in clearing the dungeon was too small, and giving only this level of evaluation and reward, is quite reasonable."
After saying that, Kotoko Iwanaga held a saucer in one hand and picked up the tea cup on it with the other, taking a small sip of black tea. Her movements were full of elegance and composure.
After that, she looked at Asagiri Utsunomiya and said with a smile, "Although I fell in love with you at first sight, if I show such sincerity and you still don't trust me, my heart as a pure maiden will be very hurt."
Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but retort, "You? Pure maiden? Please, I've never heard of a pure maiden actively asking a guy to do... to do that..."
"Oh, are you referring to me wanting Asagiri-san to help me promote the development of certain body parts?" There wasn't the slightest trace of shyness on Kotoko Iwanaga's face. Instead, she spoke very confidently, "I wasn't asking just any guy to help me. I specifically requested that Asagiri-san help me. Isn't that pure?"