Chapter 281: A Tempest in a Teapot

It didn’t take long before Emilia returned to the treasure vault accompanied by the others.

The girls filed in one after another, following Emilia while they scanned the vault expecting to find their Master waiting for them.

But that wasn’t the case.

Because, to everyone’s confusion, when they arrived there wasn’t a single trace of him anywhere.

"So... where’s the Master?" Ely asked, somewhat confused.

"I could have sworn you said he’d be waiting for us here, Emilia," Aria murmured, moving further in and peeking between the display cases.

"He’s supposed to be here..." Emilia replied, frowning.

Ely turned toward Emilia with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, are you sure you brought us to the right place? Because this palace has like forty identical rooms full of shiny junk."

"I’ve lived here my whole life, Ely..."

"Just saying maybe you got confused."

"...No."

The six of them stayed quiet for a moment, taking in the empty vault.

And then, as was to be expected, the theories began.

"Maybe he went to the bathroom," Alice suggested calmly.

"I think maybe he went to look for us," Rose said, tilting her head, then sliding her gaze, with full intent, toward Ely. "Considering how long it took us to get here because of a certain little scene in the dressing room..."

Ely caught the hint instantly.

"Hey, I already apologized for that," she protested, frowning. "Besides, everything would have gone much faster if a certain someone had let herself be dressed instead of resisting like a cat in water..."

She shot an accusing look at Yuki, who up until then had stayed silent with her usual unshakeable expression.

"You groped my chest," the assassin said coldly, slowly turning her head toward her.

"I already told you that was an accident!"

"It didn’t seem that way..."

"You were moving so much!" Ely defended herself, raising her hands. "Every time I tried to adjust the top you kept squirming around like a worm!"

And then, instead of leaving it there, she made the mistake of continuing to talk.

"I also don’t get why you’re so worked up about it... Honestly, there wasn’t much to grab in the first place," she said, looking at Yuki’s chest. "You’re flatter than a table."

"..."

Aria held her breath. Alice, very discreetly, took a step back.

Hearing her, Yuki’s expression didn’t change. Not a single muscle. She simply fixed Ely with a look so cold it seemed to lower the temperature of the entire vault.

"Say that again," she said quietly.

"What thing, the part about you being fla—?" Ely stopped herself just in time seeing the assassin’s expression, swallowing hard. "No... actually, on second thought, never mind."

"Wise decision," Rose murmured under her breath.

"I’ll only say this once... touch me without permission again or mention the size of my chest again," Yuki continued, not looking away from her for a second. "And I swear I will cut off both your arms."

"...Understood," Ely said quietly.

"Good."

"Though, for the record, I still think if you’d just held still—" Ely added, unable to keep her mouth shut even with her life on the line.

"What do you think, Aria?" Alice cut in quickly, pushing Ely to finally make her shut up.

But Aria was no longer following the conversation.

"What if something happened to the Master?" she said, eyes going wide.

"Something like what?" Alice asked.

"I don’t know! Something!" Aria continued. "We left him completely alone. What if he touched something he shouldn’t have? What if some object had a trap on it? What if it teleported him to another continent?"

"Aria—" Rose said, rubbing her eyes.

"OR WORSE!" Aria cut her off, already agitated. "What if the Demon Lord’s subordinates came back for him?! That skeleton had a vengeful look on him! They took him while we weren’t looking, I’m sure of it!"

"Aria’s right!" Ely burst out, completely forgetting her small argument with Yuki. "If anyone laid a finger on the Master, I swear I’ll raze the entire continent!"

"We need to search the palace top to bottom!" Alice added, joining the chaos. "Every room, every hallway, every closet! We won’t leave a single stone unturned!"

"I’ll take the east wing!"

"I’ll interrogate the guards!"

"Interrogate them hard!"

And within just a few seconds, the three had gone from confusion to organizing a full search and rescue operation.

Rose let out a heavy sigh hearing the pile of nonsense her companions were spouting.

"Could you all please stop being so incredibly dramatic?" she said, somewhat exasperated.

"Rose is right, you’re blowing this so out of proportion it’s embarrassing," Emilia seconded, trying to bring some sanity to the situation. "He most likely just—"

"You’re all acting like idiots," Yuki interrupted bluntly. "All of you."

"We’re not being idiots, we’re being cautious!" Aria shot back, annoyed. "Better safe than sorry."

"You’re drowning in a teacup..." Rose added, looking at her companions.

But Ely and Alice weren’t listening anymore.

They were arguing over where to start the search, while Aria tried to decide which of the Demon Lord’s subordinates to blame first.

It was then, in the middle of all that commotion, that a laugh suddenly echoed among the group.

It was deep, relaxed... and above all, far too familiar.

The moment they heard it, all six of them went completely still.

The air, barely a couple of meters from where they were arguing, seemed to ripple.

And then, emerging out of nowhere as if materializing from the void itself, Mark appeared before them, pulling back the hood of a dark robe he hadn’t been wearing a moment ago.

Mark had been there the entire time.

"Well, seems like this thing works wonderfully," he said, finishing uncovering his head, not bothering to hold back his laughter. "What do you think, Vorax?"

"Quite effective, Master," the small slime replied, perched on Mark’s shoulder. "Not even Miss Yuki was able to detect your presence."

For a few seconds, none of them could say a single word. The shock had left them completely speechless.

"...How long were you there?" Aria asked, still in shock.

"Since the beginning," Mark replied, amused at his wives’ reactions.

Yuki quickly recovered her composure and tried not to look surprised in the slightest.

"I always knew he was there," she lied, letting out a fake cough.

"No, you didn’t," he replied with a teasing smile.

"Well... I suspected it."