Lucia was stripping in front of me! Why!? We’re out in public on top of a deck; anyone can see if they come upstairs! “W-what are you doing, Lucia?”

“Sticking Durandal into my panties, that’s what!” Lucia was practically growling as she retrieved the bright-red orb that held Durandal and kicked aside the pair of pants that was spread out around her feet on the floorboards. She pressed the spirit seed against her pink cotton panties and there was a brilliant flash of red light. When I could see again, Lucia was still holding the spirit seed, and it didn’t seem like anything happened. “It didn’t work? Then I’ll try again!”

The light flashed again with no results. “Um, Lucia. The grade of your spirit seed it too high for the item you’re trying to plant it in.” Spirit seeds have grades just like items do. Most of the spirits seeds that I’ve seen are in the mortal realm, but Durandal absorbed a phoenix egg which should’ve promoted him to the earth realm, or at the very least, the peak of saint realm. I’ve never seen anyone try to make a spirit out of undergarments, but unless Lucia’s underwear is an earth-realm-ranked object, it won’t work.

Lucia stopped trying to press Durandal’s spirit seed into her underwear. She put the red orb away and slipped into her pants, reaching behind and tying a knot above her tail. Oh, that’s how she did it. I always wondered how she managed to fit into pants with a giant tail like hers. Lucia dusted off her hands and nodded at me. “Then what you’re saying is I have to upgrade my panties?”

“If that’s the conclusion you want to draw….” I’m not sure how Lucia’s mind works. Every time I think I figure out how she works, she always does something inexplicable that throws me off. Like her plan to escalate her crimes so she’ll have progressively stronger people to rob? That’s pure insanity. Should I land the boat? But I don’t want to go against Lucia’s wishes…. My grandfather did tell me to listen to whatever Lucia told me. Then it can’t be helped—I’m following the sect leader’s wishes.

Lucia’s eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. She sat down on her mattress that she hadn’t stowed away and harrumphed. “Fine, Durandal. I know you can hear me! You better hope I find a sky-realm-ranked sword before I find a pair of panties that can house you. But I won’t forget that you didn’t tell me you were sterile!” Lucia sighed and grumbled as she flopped onto her side, “Now I have to find a way to make Durandal virile. I’ll ask Ilya!” She sat up and disappeared, presumably into Ilya’s room.

Seriously, I’m jealous of Lucia’s personality. It must be nice to be as carefree as her. Despite all the trouble she’s provoked, she doesn’t seem to suffer from any stress or burdens. Breaking the law and assaulting imperial soldiers…, robbing and offending everyone who gets in her way…, completely destroying the Red Phoenix Sect which has a huge backer…, there are just too many crimes to list. I’m surprised the Rainbow Phoenix Sect hasn’t sent someone after her yet. But the Rainbow Phoenix Sect isn’t the only one she has to worry about. A lot of those sects in Kong County were branch sects—even if they were outcasts or expelled from their main sects—and Lucia basically created enmity with all of them.

Ding, ding.

A message? It must be from my grandfather or grandmother; they’re the only ones in my messenger’s contacts list except for Lucia.

To Little Moon,

Have you been well? I hope your journey has been proceeding without issue. Unfortunately, I have some bad news involving Junior Lucia. You see…, she’s not actually a foxkin. Emperor Yi contacted me and told me she was a squirrelkin. Yes, that’s right. A squirrelkin. She’s inherited the blood of the mythical sky-realm beasts from the ancient legends that rivaled phoenixes and dragons, the fearsome squirrel. Emperor Yi told me a few powers outside of Kang Country have contacted him about the aura of a squirrel briefly appearing in his lands, which he suspected was the manifestation of Junior Lucia’s sin. Tell Junior Lucia to lay low and do her best to not attract any attention. It’s possible that even immortals may seek her out. Don’t let anyone else know. Junior Lucia must have a reason to keep this a secret from us, but for your safety, you should distance yourself from her as much as possible.

Love,

Grandpa

A squirrelkin…? Lucia? That’s … highly possible given her high natural talent. But squirrels were a monstrous evil purged aeons ago! Lucia … might be a monstrous evil, but her evil isn’t malicious. She just happens to do evil things without intending on doing them. I’m not sure which one is worse. Is it possible that the squirrels escaped to a pocket realm during their persecution? That certainly seems to be the case if Lucia is actually a squirrelkin. But, Grandfather, it’s already too late to lay low! And I can’t distance myself from Lucia now—I promised myself I’d stick by her no matter what happens. E-even if I die while following Lucia, I won’t regret it. Wait, actually…, I really would prefer it if I didn’t die. I didn’t raise any death flags, did I?

“Flying is prohibited in this region! Land immediately or face the consequences!”

Trouble has sought us out already. I walked over to the edge of the boat and peered over. We were already a good hundred feet or so off the ground, but I could make out the figures of a group of soldiers standing on top of a building. Did one of them shout that loudly? What were the consequences that we would face if we didn’t land? Wouldn’t they have to fly up here to stop us? Unless there was a formation in the sky, but I don’t think that’s the case. The amount of energy required to maintain a formation over a whole county is immense.

“Oh! My plan worked. See?” Lucia suddenly appeared beside me. Then she leaned over and shouted with Emperor Yi’s qi-infused screaming technique, “Try and stop me, you army dogs!”