If there was anything in this world more terrifying than facing the Judgment Knights of the Holy Church of Radiance, for Kuma, it was definitely being strung up from the rafters and whipped like a spinning top.
The dizzying, world-spinning sensation felt as though her very soul was being violently flung from her petite beastkin body, tracing a series of rather inelegant parabolas through the air.
Half an hour later.
"Ugh... the world... is spinning..."
Kuma lay sprawled on the cabin floor, her eyes swirling like mosquito coils. Her once perky ears now drooped limply atop her head, and her tail lay motionless behind her, looking like a salted fish that had given up on its dreams.
Felsy sat upright in the slightly worn wooden chair, still cradling the cup of water that had long since stopped boiling.
Her expression had returned to its usual icy calm, as if the tyrant who had just been laying waste to everything with a magic whip was someone else entirely. She took an elegant sip of water, her purple eyes sweeping indifferently over the lump of non-combustible trash on the floor.
"Are you wide awake now, Agent Kuma?"
"A-Awake! Very awake!"
Like a triggered spring, Kuma shot up from the floor and snapped to attention. Although her body was still swaying slightly out of control, she forced her eyes to project a will of iron.
"Awaiting your orders, Lady Witch! Whether it is assassinating the Emperor of the Empire or poisoning the Church's wells, your humble servant will not hesitate!"
Felsy set down her cup. Her fingertips tapped lightly against the tabletop, the rhythmic thudding causing Kuma's heartbeat to involuntarily speed up.
"There is no need for such tedious tasks," Felsy said slowly. "Our primary objective right now is to remain hidden. Since you are here, you can help me solve a household financial issue."
"Household... financial issue?"
Kuma blinked her large eyes, feeling that this phrase was severely out of character for the World-Ending Witch.
Felsy ignored her confusion. Instead, she tilted her head slightly, her gaze drifting through the window toward the rolling mountain ranges in the distance.
"That man... Lynch. He is going deep into the mountains today to gather herbs."
"To prepare for the approaching harsh winter, he needs to stock up on a large amount of medicinal herbs. However, the monsters in the mountains have been restless lately. With his feeble combat skills, even if he encounters just a low-level Wind Wolf, he will likely end up as its lunch."
Although Felsy's voice was flat, Kuma acutely caught a faint, almost imperceptible trace of... worry?
Alarm bells blared in Kuma's mind.
Something was wrong! Was Lady Witch actually worried about that human who had nothing going for him but a pretty face?
No, no, no, it must be my imagination. Lady Witch only needs that man for cover right now. If her landlord dies, she would have to go through the trouble of finding a new place to move. Yes, that must be it! This is purely a consideration for strategic stability!
"Therefore," Felsy withdrew her gaze and looked back at Kuma, "you will go."
"Go and kill him?" Kuma made a throat-slitting gesture.
"..." Felsy fell silent for two seconds, and the surrounding temperature instantly plummeted by five degrees. "You will go act as his bodyguard. Protect him and make sure he doesn't die."
"Understood! Protecting the target is my specialty!" Kuma let out a sigh of relief, but then looked slightly puzzled. "But My Lady, since you are worried about his safety, why not just cast a high-tier protection spell on him? Or have me protect him from the shadows? Why do it openly..."
"Because of money."
Felsy replied, her words concise and to the point.
"Money?"
"Lynch plans to spend money to hire an adventurer as a guard for this mountain trip." Felsy frowned slightly, seemingly quite displeased with the matter. "According to the market rate, hiring a qualified guard costs at least five silver coins. If they encounter danger, it costs extra."
At this point, Felsy paused. Her tone turned serious, as if she were discussing a matter concerning the survival of the world:
"My husb... No, that foolish human said that we must budget carefully to make a living. Five silver coins are enough to buy ten sacks of flour, or twenty pounds of premium pork belly, or even a new set of winter quilts for the house."
"Rather than letting this massive sum of money line an outsider's pockets, it is better for you to earn it."
Felsy stared at Kuma, her gaze sharpening into the look of a capitalist eyeing free labor:
"You will go apply to be his guard. Once the job is done, you must hand over the entire payment he gives you to me. This will serve as your rent as a tenant. Do you understand?"
Kuma's mouth fell wide open, her jaw nearly hitting the floor.
What did she just hear?
Just a moment ago, did Lady Witch blurt out the word husband? Even though she corrected herself quickly, forcefully changing it to foolish human, what was with that subconscious term of endearment?!
Furthermore...
A high-ranking executive of the Scorched Earth Vanguard, the terrifying Mad Beast Kuma who struck fear into the hearts of her enemies, actually had to act as a bodyguard for a village bumpkin for a mere five silver coins? And she had to hand over her wages on top of that?!
If word of this got out, the Scorched Earth Vanguard would be utterly humiliated!
"Do you have a problem with that?" Felsy narrowed her eyes, her fingers beginning to trace runes in the air once again.
"No! Absolutely not!"
Kuma shuddered violently and instantly swallowed all her internal complaints.
"What a... profoundly far-sighted plan!" Kuma forced a look of pure adoration onto her face. "Through this method, you not only protect the safety of the key figure (the landlord) but also achieve an internal circulation of funds, preventing the outflow of resources! As expected of Lady Witch, you are even a master of financial management! Your humble servant is in utter awe!"
"Mm, go then." Felsy nodded in satisfaction. "Remember, do not expose your identity. You are now an ordinary beastkin postal worker who just happens to be a little stronger than average. If you mess this up..."
"Your servant will bring you my own head!"
Kuma saluted, turned around, and bolted out of the cabin as if fleeing for her life.
It wasn't until she had run out of the yard and stood on the village path that Kuma dared to gasp for air. She glanced back at the seemingly peaceful residential house, unable to stop herself from muttering internally:
"I can't help but feel that Lady Witch... is really becoming more and more like a human wife. That aura of not a single penny of the household money can be wasted is exactly the same as the human auntie next door..."
"Terrifying, absolutely terrifying. Is this the curse known as marriage? To think that even the World-Ending Witch couldn't escape it..."
Kuma shook her head, tossing these treasonous thoughts from her mind. Adjusting her expression, she headed toward the tavern at the village entrance.
...
The Adventurer's Guild branch office in Buena Village was, in fact, just that small tavern reeking of alcohol.
Lynch sat bored out of his mind at a window seat, absentmindedly toying with a slightly worn copper coin in his hand.
Half an hour had already passed. Aside from that drunk old dwarven miner, Barton, not a single reliable adventurer had walked through the door.
"Looks like the market is pretty bleak today." Lynch sighed. "Everyone knows the mountains haven't been peaceful lately, so is no one willing to take on such a low-paying escort mission?"
In truth, the five silver coins he offered were already considered a huge sum in the village. But in the eyes of adventurers who traded their lives for money, this meager amount was clearly not enough to catch their eye.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
