As the morning sun shined its rays onto the land, Holl City, the capital of the Gryffin Kingdom, also woke up from its slumber.
Around 5 a.m., a blinding white light that could be seen even from a distance had appeared in the city's most luxurious mansion district. However, as most people had yet to wake up at this hour, not many people had actually noticed it. As for the few who did notice the light, they failed to understand the meaning behind this light.
As a result, by the time the city's reporters learned of the incident and came running to the source of the light, they failed to gather any useful information. The only thing that greeted them was a ruined mansion. Even the large volume of residue light and dark mana had already been collected and taken away by the royal guards. The peculiarity surrounding this incident would probably get it passed down and exaggerated until it eventually became something like an urban legend.
However, this was none of Alice's concerns. She, who was now in cahoots with the former Demon King, was in the midst of carrying out inhumane brainwashing on the royal guards present in the hospital.
"This person plans to disobey orders and anonymously report what happened earlier this morning to the local newspaper in exchange for money," Luna said as she crouched beside a male royal guard, her hands placed on his temples.
The pink-striped panties Luna brought for Alice didn't belong to the Loli Goddess, so it was only an Artifact-grade weapon. The active skill had also changed from "Soul Strike" to "Mental Strike." Even so, a taboo-level mental attack was already far beyond what any of these royal guards could withstand. So, when Alice activated Mental Strike, the royal guards, doctors, nurses, and patients on this floor immediately lost consciousness.
Of course, Alice made sure to have Luna verify that there was no ongoing surgery beforehand to avoid harming other people.
"Good, I'll note it down," Alice said, gnashing her teeth as she wrote down the male royal guard's name in a notepad she had swiped from a doctor's office. She naturally needed to teach a lesson to dishonest people. "Does he have any secrets he doesn't want others to know?"
"He is having an affair. He used his identity as a royal guard to hook up with two high school girls from the March Royal Academy of Magic," Luna answered, revealing the royal guard's secrets without hesitation. "He has a phone that he uses specifically for contacting those two high schoolers hidden in his wardrobe. The screen unlock code is 7289."
"Good. I'll tell this to his wife later on."
By the time Alice finished writing down some basic information about this royal guard, she had also reached the end of the notepad. In total, seven people harbored dishonest thoughts. Most of them did not think that what happened at dawn was a state secret, so they planned to spread the word for profit one way or another.
For these people who didn't know how to respect other people's privacy, Alice would teach them a beautiful lesson.
"That's the last one, right?"
After working continuously for around half an hour, Alice and Luna had finally checked all of the people on this floor and ensured they didn't let anybody slip past them. Meanwhile, following Alice's instructions, Luna replaced the strange scene they saw with a scene where both of them were clothed. Naturally, the detail where Alice was holding onto a pair of panties was removed. This, in turn, created a much more normal scene.
"Yes, this is the last one," Luna answered as she stood up and looked at Alice. Although her voice sounded indifferent, there were hints of cuteness hidden in it. "Is there anything else you want me to do?"
"Well… Actually, there is."
While scratching the back of her head, Alice asked the question that had been plaguing her all this time:
"Why did you suddenly become so obedient? Don't you hate me for hurting you like that?"
"I am Alice's maid, so whatever you do to me is proper," Luna said as she bowed to Alice. Although her current attire was a hospital gown, she still gave off a very professional maid aura. "So, I naturally wouldn't question your actions."
Bullshit. That's not what you said when you held that spiked club against me.
Luna's explanation didn't explain anything at all. On the contrary, Alice had grown even more confused after listening to it.
However, Alice noticed a clue after thinking about the situation more carefully. Luna's change in behavior had taken place immediately after the maid had found out that she was the Hero. Moreover, when Luna noticed that her weapon was the Hero's Sword, the maid had even respectfully referred to her as "Lord Hero."
Most importantly, after Luna uttered that title, the Demon King's Power had immediately escaped out of her body. It was as if Luna had dropped all of her hatred for humanity after learning that Alice was the Hero.
Whatever. I guess this is fine as well…
Alice sighed as she came to this conclusion. Although she had initially thought that it would be great if Luna was nothing but an ordinary maid, she didn't think that her thoughts would suddenly come true.
While her identity as the Hero seemed to have played an important role in Luna's attitude change, Alice felt that it wasn't a bad thing if it meant that she could use this opportunity to have Luna right her ways. Not to mention, Luna hadn't done any major wrongdoings during her short term as the Demon King…probably.
After all, Luna had managed to become a crucial member of the Gryffin Kingdom's intelligence department. If she had a record of committing heinous crimes, the intelligence department would've known about them, and the Gryffin Kingdom wouldn't have dared to make use of her.
Just when Alice was thinking of asking why Luna held such a respectful attitude toward the Hero, hurried footsteps suddenly came from the staircase.
Immediately, Alice narrowed her eyes and looked at the staircase. When she had knocked out the people on this floor, she had already guessed that people from other floors might come here. So, she had long since thought up of an appropriate countermeasure:
"Luna!"
"Understood."
Luna immediately understood Alice's intentions and materialized a large club in her hand. Then, she made her way to the staircase's entrance, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
Then, the instant a figure of a person appeared at the staircase entrance, Luna immediately raised her club and smashed down, ensuring that she would knock the other party unconscious with one hit.
Bang!
The sound of a long black stick hitting a person's head echoed throughout the corridor, which was quickly followed by a cacophony of shrieks:
"Your Majesty?! What happened, Your Majesty?!"
"Assassin! There's an assassin!!!"