A Lady from Kaigansa

Swoosh! The arrow was set loose, and the demon was hit directly on the head. The demon immediately turned into a pool of blood that splattered on the two girls. Artie made a very disgusted noise as the black thing was rather nauseating and sticky. However, she was overjoyed by the accomplishment of the quest.

[You have succeeded in the random event! Rewards will now be sent to you!]

[You have obtained a weapon: Aristocracy! Type: Divine Bow. Make: Snow. There was a myth in Kaigansa that a god had picked up snow from Galacia to be gifted to a royal princess. However, as regular snow would melt, the god had pressed the snow with his hands and shaped it into a bow as a present. ATK: 20+(12% of Veneration)+(50% of Reverence)]

[Your new weapon is stronger than your current weapon. Would you like to swap your current weapon "Maiden's Bout" with the new weapon "Aristocracy"?]

Artie then released the weapon in her hand, but the bow stayed afloat. The elegant brown started to whiten as patches of snow seemed to cover it. The rare bow had become the divine bow in a few seconds. When Artie held it, she could feel the coldness coming from the bow itself. She then drew her fingers across it—from the arrow rest to the string, and an arrow with a snow blue color appeared in her hand.

Her eyes widened as she didn't need real arrows for a divine bow. However, the Aristocracy was not feasible to be held for a long time. The cold was numbing her hand, and it would affect her aim and stability if her bow hand froze. It's just that more demons started to attack them again. Artie set the snow arrow loose and hit the nearest demon from her. However, this time, the demon's body just froze and broke into shards.

"...! What the hell?!" Artie was taken aback. 'Does that mean that the Maiden's Bout was the one turning those things into puddles?!'

[You have discovered a new enemy: Shadow Puddle! Shadow puddles are the lowest among the demon race. They are small creatures created and used by scouts to inspect an area of invasion. They regress back into puddles when killed, but getting in contact with the remains of one another will give birth to a stronger being.]

"Oh, no..." Artie sighed as she had left a lot of puddles back there when she activated the Authority Burst. She then instinctively looked back when a faint howl echoed along the woodlands. "Oh, gosh..."

"Lady Shen!" Callum's voice echoed, and the archduchess stirred Lupina to circle around and slow down to let Callum catch up with her. The knight rode towards them, also having Marissa riding behind him. "Lady Shen! Demon scouts are gauging the area! We should… what is that on your face, Lady Shen?"

"Oh, do you know that demon scouts create shadow puddles to scout ahead for them?" Artie only laughed out. The more she rubbed this goo off of, the more it smeared on her skin. She then heard another howl from afar. "Erm, we might need to go now."

Callum wanted to check out what was making the noises, but he already found Artie. It was best to take them back to the resting stop first before heading out again. He then led the way for them, soon arriving at the resting stop to drop off the twins. That's right, Artie was not staying there after finding out that Larkin was out there. In the end, Callum could only take her with him.

…

Black lightning swung around, evaporating the Shadow Puddles so they wouldn't produce anything after dying. Larkin was holding out a hand and controlling almost a hundred streaks of black lightning to deal with the puddles. Moreover, a giant version of those things had appeared in front of him. Even if his lightning could harm the small ones, he could barely damage the giant one.

The hunts master and his men could only shoot bombs at it, but the small whistle bombs in their arrows could barely wiggle the creature. The giant version then howled and slammed the ground. The humans wobbled while the demon descendant was left to charge for his strong attack.

"Lord Ellis!" "Larkin!"

Larkin flicked his gaze in their direction, not surprised anymore that Artie was out here as well. He could only try to keep her out of trouble as much as possible. The angel eyed the archduke, and Larkin seemed to have received a message from her gaze. He quickly retreated and scattered a black mist all over the humans. Even Callum felt like he had gone dizzy all of a sudden.

Artie drew arrows across the Aristocracy, using her five fingers which produced five snow arrows. She shot out all of them, and the giant version wobbled terribly. Larkin then started whipping it with streaks of black lightning while Artie went around it, shooting snow arrows to gradually freeze it. The giant version couldn't do more anymore but explode after a powerful slap from the black lightning.

The angel diffused the bow and rode her horse towards Larkin who was dusting his robe from the shards of the giant version. She then giggled as she dusted his hair as well before dismounting her horse. "Hey, I have no idea those things grow bigger when left to just be puddles."

"Hm, now, you do so don't be so careless." Larkin reached out and used his hand to carefully peel the goo off of Artie's face. "Demon scouts are still in the area. I need to find them. Then again, I don't think they will proceed now that they detected you in here. That shockwave earlier was alarming. Did it hurt you?"

"Not at all. Let's just get these people out of here for now." Artie was surprised how Larkin could pick off the goo, but that wasn't important now. She turned to the people who suddenly grew dizzy because of Larkin's mist. Whether they knew what happened or not, that wasn't important either. "Is anyone hurt? You can place them on Sir Princeley's and my horses."

"What was that mist… and that light?" Callum was disoriented, but he was lucky he didn't fall off his horse. However, now that the army of walking goo seemed to have stopped coming, he dismounted and checked on the hunters. Only three of them had leg injuries, and they were transported using the two horses.

The knight looked behind them to find the archduchess and the archduke chatting quietly. He was sure that something must have happened as the giant thing died as soon as Artie had arrived. He didn't know what she did, but he knew that this archduchess was not as simple as being a lady from Kaigansa. All the more did he have reasons to make sure Clarissa and Marissa wouldn't anger her.

'She might be very gentle and kind on the surface, but I have a feeling that she's more powerful and ruthless than a demon descendant.' Callum hummed before walking to report for departure.

…

Clarissa and Marissa waited in the resting spot. The older twin was still shaking from encountering so many demons in one day, but she was more confused by Artie Shen's magic. She then turned to Marissa. "Marissa, do you think… what do you think Artie Shen is?"