The Otherworldly Adventures of a Super Naive Girl

469: Melis

“She’s a commoner. What can she possibly help us with?” Pamela asked indifferently.

“Who knows when that day will come. And even if it doesn’t, what do we have to lose?” Algernon didn’t care about a mere commoner.

The two siblings knew conversations in the tent wouldn’t be recorded so they spoke freely. They never expected there to be a glitch in their assumption.

Unbeknownst to them, a tiny sapphire earring was hidden within the folds of one of the blankets.

Melis had the other earring in one ear as she talked to the other two guys following Algernon. They had no idea the shy and quiet girl in front of them was multitasking and eavesdropping on the siblings while holding a conversation with them.

The sapphires weren’t ordinary earrings, but were alchemically produced and had long-range capabilities.

Melis had chosen them during the team challenge because she thought they would be useful, unfortunately her team was weak and she didn’t get a chance to use them at all. Instead, the earrings were proving useful now in the individual challenge.

She was low-born daughter of a hunter. And in a place filled with nobles, her humble background was only marginally better than that of an orphan. When room assignments were made, she was assigned to a suite with three other noble girls.

All the girls were bossy and wanted to be in charge. Two of the girls knew each other, so they formed an alliance right away. The pressure forced Pamela to form an alliance with her, even though she was a low-born commoner. She had only agreed to team up because she knew it was impossible for her to stand alone; but the moment she did, Pamela started treating her like a servant and constantly vaunted her superiority, acting as though having Melis around was a form of charity. It was rich because it was Pamela who approached her for an alliance. She wasn’t the one who stuck to Pamela.

Pamela was willful and arrogant but also generous. Sometimes she would give Melis her discarded items, which were actually quite good.

Plus having Pamela as a supporter did make life a little easier for Melis.

Algernon, on the other hand, was a whole other story. She knew he wasn’t as kind and gentle as he presented himself to be. Pamela didn’t use her brain much, but Algernon did, and this made him the more terrifying of the two siblings. Algernon only associated with people he deemed useful.

She didn’t want to offend either of them, but she didn’t want to be their pawns either.

Overhearing their plan in the tent gave her some peace of mind. Growing up a commoner had taught her patience. Though it could take time, she would find a way to get out the of bondage the two siblings trapped her in.

Later that night, Feng Wu abruptly woke up from her dreams to the smell of blood in the wind. Something was wrong... She threw off her quilt, put on her clothes and rushed out of the tent to where Ink was standing on watch.

“Something is coming.”

Ink’s face sank. He didn’t doubt her words. As far as he was concerned, Feng Wu was a magical girl who rarely made mistakes. “How far away is it?”

“Not far,” replied Feng Wu expressionlessly.

“Pack and let’s get out of here.” Ink made an decisive decision instantly.

They put their tent away and warned Algernon’s people before leaving. They were not in conflict with each other and warning the other party could be considered an expression of school patriotism.

But unfortunately Ink’s kind intentions went unappreciated.

Though Algernon’s two subordinates didn’t take Ink’s warning to heart, they still reported it to Algernon.

When Algernon heard the news, he had to think about it for a moment. Should he listen to Ink? They were rivals and there was absolutely no reason for Ink to warn him of danger. Was it possible Ink was setting a trap?

Ink: . . .  You think too much.

That was the problem with smart people. The smarter they were, the more they thought about stuff. Their brains whirred with what-ifs. Algernon was undecided because there were too many possibilities to consider.

Pamela was a lot less ambiguous about the situation. “Brother, do you really believe what that guy said? What can he possibly know; he’s just a second year. I think he’s trying to trick us. We have to be careful!”

Pamela didn’t normally think much, but because Ink and Feng Wu refused to give her any face earlier, she was inclined to think badly of them.

While Algernon was waffling about what to do, Feng Wu and Ink had already hopped on Sister Alpaca’s back and were racing away from the area as fast as they could.

It was the first time Flower had let a guy ride on her back; she was a cute girl so how could she have a guy riding on top? But this was an emergency and time was of the essence, so Sister Alpaca made an exception and let the male, who she viewed as useless, ride on top. Without her help, it would have been hard for them to escape.

All the while, a large group of wolves moved closer to their camp site. The blood and murderous aura Feng Wu sensed came from them.

If it weren’t for Feng Wu’s childhood growing up in the mountains, she would not have been able to sense the change in the air.

Soon enough the wolf pack reached the camp site and surrounded Algernon’s group. Pamela was so frightened she nearly peed herself.

470: The Tragic Pamela

The siblings regretted not listening to Ink’s warning, but fortunately, though they didn’t leave, they had been on guard since, so when the wolves came, they noticed immediately.

At level one, the wolves would not have normally been a problem for Algernon. He could have killed them with a single slash of his sword. But he was currently an ordinary person with ordinary strength, and had no advantages over the wolves.

Wolves increased the difficulty of the arena as they appeared throughout the night hunting in groups and killing contestants from time to time.

“Hu... hu...” Melis gasped for air as she ran with her sword in hand.

She had been leading Pamela away in an escape just a moment ago when the other girl shoved her into the wolves. Luckily, the wolves weren’t as interested in her as they were in Pamela, who they converged on and devoured before the other girl could even take a step away.

Melis used a drug she picked from the team challenge to stun the wolves. It bought her just enough time to run away in the opposite direction. She didn’t dare stop. If it weren’t for the drug, she was sure she would have been bitten to death in the same way Pamela had been.

Melis felt relief at Pamela’s death. She had wanted to be rid of the siblings for a while, but was unable to do so because there was no way for her to defeat a tenth seat with her weak strength.

Pamela’s selfish act of shoving her into the wolves gave her a fair reason to part with them. So being pushed out as bait didn't end up being that bad. She had been careful to stay alive and had not suffered any losses yet.

She didn’t know how long she ran for, but she knew she succeeded when the first rays of light fell. She saw a cluster of large stones ahead. She needed a place to rest so she clenched her teeth and headed in.

Feng Wu and Ink, after escaping the wolves with the help of Sister Alpaca, were resting under a big rock.

Unexpectedly, a person arrived not long after they fell asleep.

Melis looked at Feng Wu and Ink, not sure what to say as she never expected to run into them again. She really wasn’t sure if Feng Wu would recognize her from having been on the same team for the entrance examinations.

She’d heard a lot of rumors about Feng Wu since starting school, most of which were negative. She would see Feng Wu walking around campus, usually with a friend or two, fearlessly facing head on those who pointed fingers at her, completely unaffected by everyone. Melis couldn’t help but admire her courage. She couldn’t imagine how she would bear it if she had been the one in Feng Wu’s situation.

There were times when she suffered regret and wished she was as strong.

They had been on a team together once, but other than that, she and Feng Wu weren’t familiar with each other, so there was no reason for her to approach Feng Wu and try to be friends.

She never expected to have anything to do with Feng Wu again, but here they were, face to face. She felt a little lost as it didn’t look like Feng We remembered her. It was to be expected; it had been a over a year after all. Yes, it was normal for Feng Wu to have forgotten. Melis understood, but she couldn’t help feeling disappointed anyway.

“Melis?” Feng Wu asked uncertainly.

Feng Wu thought the other girl looked familiar when she first saw her. After a night, Feng Wu finally remembered the girl was someone she had formed a team with in the virtual world.

It had been a while, so Feng Wu wasn’t sure she remembered correctly. In her memory, the Melis she knew was a restrained girl with low self-esteem. The girl standing in front of her now wasn’t bursting with confidence but she wasn’t carrying herself like she was inferior to everyone. She didn’t look perpetually ill at ease either. The change in temperament left Feng Wu uncertain.

“You remember me?!”

“We were in a team together.” Feng Wu nodded in the affirmative when asked.

Ink relaxed his guard since she wasn’t an enemy, but he was still on the alert. “You’re injured!” he said upon noticing the row of bite marks on her Melis’s arm. It looked like the injury was from a beast, which reminded him of the wolves that prowling around last night.

“It’s OK, just some skin damage.” Melis wasn’t a delicate girl and she didn’t give much thought to the superficial wound.

She dampened a kerchief with some water after finding a spot to sit down, then wiped her wounds clean before applying some medicine powder from her space storage. She didn’t make a sound despite breaking out in a cold sweat.

This kind of rare strength among women gave Ink a better impression of her.

While Melis escaped the wolves, Pamela was standing outside the arena in disbelief. She was depressed that she had failed and died. People were looking at her strangely as she stood in the resurrection area.

“It’s her. Yeah, she deserved it. To push a companion to the wolves like that, man. . .  Too vicious! Good thing she didn’t pass. Glad to see her fail.”

“Right?! She’s lucky she’s Algernon’s sister. Honestly, I don’t understand how such a kind person can have such a selfish and vicious sister.”

“I would cut off relations with her immediately if she was my sister, that way I can avoid being used by her in the future.”

“That’s Pamela all right. I don’t understand how such a black sheep could appear in our noble ranks.”

“I’ve seen that proud appearance of hers, and I always thought she had something good to brag about; never expected it would be this kind of thing. . . ”

“When I marry in the future, I will tell my family, I can not marry a woman like Pamela. I don’t want such a vicious wife. . . ”

Pamela’s face turned pale between all the talking and pointing people were doing. She knew the game was being transmitted live, but at the time she shoved Melis, she had forgotten.