Goblin Village, One Month Later
"One, two, three! Up!"
"Thud!"
Looking at the statues of Zhong Chen and Rimuru that had just been placed by workers in front of the fountain in the center of the town square.
Hiding in a distant alley, peeking out with only their two heads, the pair felt like they would never be able to face anyone again.
"A Chen! This is so embarrassing! Why do they have to put up my statue?! It would have been fine with just Lord Chen's! Wuwuwu… I can't face anyone now!"
Zhong Chen, holding Rimuru, immediately knocked Rimuru's head in exasperation and said, "What do you mean, just mine would be fine?! If we're going to be embarrassed, we'll be embarrassed together. Besides, you're the leader, so if they're going to put up one, it should be yours!"
Rimuru, whose head was knocked, retorted indignantly, "What?! Lord Chen is also a leader!"
"Alright, alright, it's no use saying anything now! The statues have already been installed!"
Just as the two were secretly looking at the statues, planning to stealthily transform into Phantom Thief Kid in the middle of the night if necessary, a voice suddenly came from behind them:
"Lord Chen, Lord Rimuru! You two were hiding here! Your subordinate had quite a search for you!"
Hearing this voice, Zhong Chen and Rimuru both stiffened, then turned their heads stiffly to look at the figure and replied with an awkward laugh:
"Hehe! Sakuya! I wasn't trying to run away on purpose, it was all Rimuru, yes, she dragged me here!"
"Nani (What)! Lord Chen clearly dragged me here! Sakuya, don't listen to Lord Chen's nonsense, he dragged me here, that's right, it was all him!"
Looking at the two bickering, the silver-haired girl in a maid outfit couldn't help but put a hand to her forehead and said helplessly:
"You two abandoned your respective duties and ran off. Now Lord Yaozai is sending people to search everywhere for Lord Rimuru."
"Lord Kanae is also sending people to search for Lord Chen. Have you two thought about how you're going to explain this to them?"
Hearing that both sides were sending people to look for them, a cold sweat dripped down their foreheads, and they laughed awkwardly:
"Uh… this… this…"
Unable to think of anything to say, the two exchanged glances and immediately made a decision:
"Look! A plane!"
"A Chen! Run!"
Watching the two turn and run, the silver-haired girl pulled an antique pocket watch from her pocket and whispered:
"Time Stop!"
The two, who had been running wildly, suddenly stopped.
"Time stop again! *2"
Looking at the slowly approaching girl, the two completely gave up struggling. In fact, the girl's Time Stop couldn't control them.
But since they were the ones who ran off, leaving the girl alone to clean up their mess, they felt too embarrassed to break free again.
The silver-haired girl's full name is Izayoi Sakuya, a character from the Scarlet Devil Mansion in Gensokyo.
The girl has short silver hair, with sideburns tied into small braids, and wears a maid outfit. She has a free-spirited and rational personality, very detached, and is skilled in all household chores.
She possesses a pocket watch that can stop time, often using its ability for cleaning and cooking. She carries throwing knives, hidden somewhere on her person. Gensokyo players widely refer to her as the Perfect Head Maid.
As for how the girl appeared here, that goes back to a morning half a month ago.
Half a Month Ago
"System! Sign in!"
"Ding, congratulations to the Host for acquiring one Perfect Head Maid · Izayoi Sakuya Summoning Card (Gold)!"
"Holy crap! System, can you even sign in for characters here?"
"Yes, Host, and the characters obtained are 100% loyal to the Host!"
"Good, good, good! System, use the Summoning Card!"
A card with the image of a silver-haired maid appeared before Zhong Chen, then instantly shattered into many golden light particles.
As the light particles slowly converged, a silver-haired girl in a maid outfit, with her eyes closed, appeared before Zhong Chen.
As the girl slowly opened her red eyes and saw the young man standing before her, she clasped her hands gently over her lower abdomen, bowed slightly, and respectfully said:
"Greetings! Master! I am the maid Izayoi Sakuya! I am willing to dedicate everything to you!"
System: Different Eastern works have different pupil colors, some red, some brown. Here we'll go with red, after all, silver hair and red eyes are a special attack on Chinese people!
Looking at the silver-haired, red-eyed Head Maid before him, Zhong Chen couldn't help but give the system a thumbs up.
"Hmm, just call me A Chen from now on. Don't call me Master or anything like that!"
"Yes, Lord Chen!"
Looking at the stubborn girl before him, Zhong Chen said nothing more. Call him whatever she wanted, he was tired… Let it all be destroyed!
"System, open the attribute panel."
Zhong Chen
Gender: Male
Age: 23 years old
Realm: Peak Nascent Soul Stage
Cultivation Method: Basic Cultivation Method
Special Abilities: Eye of Identification, Dimensional Gate
Followers: Izayoi Sakuya
Items: Dimensional Gate Sub-gate * 1, leibi * 7… Overall Evaluation: You are already a visible big shot in the myriad worlds, though you might still be accidentally stepped on! ┓(´-`)┏!
"The Dimensional Gate has been reclassified under Special Abilities, and a Follower section has been added!"
Seeing the change in his attribute panel with the addition of the Follower section, Zhong Chen activated his Eye of Identification on the girl before him.
Izayoi Sakuya
Loyalty: 100
Affection: 100
Abilities: Time Stop Pocket Watch, Time Stop Throwing Knives, All-purpose Housekeeping… Overall Strength Evaluation: Special A-rank
Looking at the long list of abilities, Zhong Chen thought, as expected of the Perfect Head Maid, her strength actually reached Special A-rank.
This was already close to the strength of a Demon Lord Seed. Even the current Rimuru was only at this level of strength.
Timeline returns to the present
"Lord Rimuru! Lord Zhong Chen! The Garrison reports that human traces have been found in the forest!"
The two, who had been brought back by Izayoi Sakuya by their collars, were sitting obediently in the main seats of the conference room, listening to Riguru's report, while Izayoi Sakuya stood quietly behind them.
"Humans? Who found them?"
Zhong Chen looked at Riguru and asked.
"It was Gobuta's Storm Fang Wolf riders. They found them while on patrol!"
"How many people are there?"
"The report says two men and two women. They are expected to arrive here very soon!"
"Two men and two women? Could it be Ellen's trio and Shizue Izawa? The timing seems about right!"
"Hmm, continue to monitor them. If no hostility is detected, then leave them be. If they come to the town, bring them to see me!"
"Yes, Lord Zhong Chen!"
Watching Riguru turn and leave, Zhong Chen fell into thought. He was wondering whether or not to save Shizue Izawa's life, as in the original work, she seemed to have actively sought death.
"So annoying! Should I save her or not?! Forget it, I'll decide when the time comes!"
One Hour Later
"Huh! When did a town get built here?!"
Looking at the town that appeared before them, Ellen exclaimed in surprise.
"It really is. To actually build a town in the Great Jura Forest, it's incredible!"
"Who on earth built it?! It can't possibly be monsters, can it?!"
Compared to the surprised trio, Shizue Izawa was much more composed. After looking around, she slowly pointed her right index finger in one direction and said:
"It seems we don't need to guess. The masters of the town seem to have arrived!"
The trio followed Shizue Izawa's pointing finger and saw a team of Goblins riding Storm Fang Wolves rapidly approaching them…