After Maria had finished with her rather short battle, she dusted her robe off and was about to continue her wait in silence when she noticed that a large commotion was happening in the area where she last saw the group of Fallen Angels players confronting those troublemakers from that black-robed wearing guild.
They were currently fighting against each other in full force now and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of her. She had attacked that guy earlier, which sparked their retaliation though it wasn’t her fault. Her actions hadn’t truly sparked the attack, since from the beginning, that’s what the troublemaker guild players were trying to do anyway. She just had the misfortune of being there at the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in it.
What she did do, however, was prevent her friends’ guild from being ambushed, so it wasn’t truly unfortunate for her since she got to help her friends out today. The battle continued for a while until finally, the Fallen Angels players routed their enemies. The surviving players tried to run but Maria turned towards Lilah and called out to her, “Lilah.”
“I know, Master.”
Lilah already knew what her Master wanted so she cast a [Slow]-inducing spell on the black-robed players that allowed the Fallen Angels players to clean them up without letting any escape. Now that she was keeping an eye out for those players who were part of that guild because they called her a name they shouldn’t have, Maria wasn’t going to just watch them run.
“Master, why aren’t you letting them run?”
“Why should I? They called me a ‘bitch’ earlier.”
“...Then why did you let those guys from earlier run away?”
“Eh? Well…” Maria thought for a moment before answering with a shrug, “I couldn’t be bothered to chase them…”
“...”
“H-However, those guys are different! They’ve got people who were willing to pursue them, so I just helped out!”
“Okay…but just in case. I left a marker on one of those people who ran away earlier. Should I send a team of soldiers to attack them?”
“Yeah, sure…but send the Undead Legion to attack them. Make it look like they were attacked and killed by wandering monsters.”
“Yes, Master.”
The Fallen Angels players turned towards the area where Maria was in but no one dared to approach her. They all saw what had happened earlier to those black-robed players. They were grateful to the ‘NPC’ who alerted them to the ambush from the troublemakers, but they weren’t willing to go over and thank her even though she had also graciously taken care of them. From what one of them noticed earlier, the troublemaker group of black-robed players from before only approached her and was suddenly attacked without seemingly any reason at all.
They didn’t know what triggered the attack, but if only approaching her was the trigger, then they didn’t want to risk offending her because some of them noticed how she had completely destroyed those players from before with such ease all on her own. She seemed like an important ‘NPC’, so they didn’t want to risk offending her. The power Maria displayed unfortunately caused them to misunderstand that she was an NPC and not a player.
In their minds, no player could display the kind of power she had done earlier and almost wipe out an entire group of players so easily. It was just impossible and they were right about that. Maria was only able to display that kind of boss-level NPC power because this was her continent.
If it was outside of her continent, then her powers would be greatly diminished. She would still be powerful though, but at least within the realm that was comprehensible to the players. What she did earlier was just beyond what a player could do, especially in a scenario where it was just one player versus a whole group. It was possible for a single player to fight against groups of players, but to decimate them with only a single skill was unheard of. Moreover, the skill that Maria used didn't even seem to be an ultimate skill.
Since the NPC was so fearsome, the players nearby decided to just keep watch over her and report her presence to their guild master, Lizzy. They didn't want to cause any trouble and potentially get themselves killed.
Maria was able to wait in silence because of their inaction, so she decided to just float in the air while ‘sitting down’ with Cali in her arms. Cali’s robe had been removed thanks to her transformation earlier and Maria didn’t bother putting a new one on her as she decided to just play with her until her friends arrived. Her daughter was just too cute and she didn’t notice that her friends had arrived until Lizzy called out to her.
“Uhh, Mary?”
Hearing her call out, Maria was shocked but with Lizzy being out of reach, she couldn’t hit her or else she would have. Instead, she just backed off and quickly changed Cali into her weapon form, ready to attack if the person who startled her was hostile.
“Yup, that is you alright.”
Unlike in real life where Lizzy was confident about taking one of Maria’s hits, she couldn’t say she was confident inside of the game. So, she called out to her easily startled friend from a distance where Maria couldn’t hit her to see her reaction.
When she saw the so-called NPC react like that, she immediately knew it was her best friend underneath that hood and robe. Only her best friend would respond with an immediate attack if someone startled her. Her friend did tell her that she was wearing a black robe and had her face covered, so Lizzy already had a feeling that the ‘NPC’ was her. She just needed to reassure her guild members who were still wary of Maria.
Her guild members didn’t want their guild master to meet the same fate as those unfortunate bastards from earlier who were on their way to cause trouble in their area, so they had been trying to prevent her from approaching Maria. Since they needed a little convincing, this is what Lizzy decided to do.
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“Lo and behold, I told you guys this would be her reaction! It’s not an NPC, it’s just Mary!”
“W-What the heck Liz! I could’ve killed you if you had been within striking range!” Maria yelled.
Lizzy scoffed and said, “Hmph, at best you would’ve hit me really hard to the point where it hurt like hell, but please, you wouldn’t be able to kill me with just your fist...or your axe.”
“Oh, you wanna bet?!” Maria replied with a challenging tone.
“How about you let me hit you a few times first. As payback for all the times you smacked or punched me in real life, eh?”
“...Never mind. I can’t believe you’re still holding a grudge.”
“Says the girl who is habitually grudgeful of others!”
“H-Hmph!”
Maria removed her hoodie and revealed her face. Everyone in Lizzy’s guild, new or old, was already aware of Lizzy and Maria being IRL friends and that she was a former member of the Fallen Angels guild. The guild was even named after her race since it sounded cool. Seeing that there were no bad guys around, Cali quickly changed back into her humanoid form and Maria held her arms out and caught her daughter.
Lizzy was immediately taken aback by the child who had suddenly appeared out of thin air with a flash that looked incredibly similar to her best friend. Similar wouldn’t even cut it, the child was practically a mini-Maria.
“M-Mary! W-Who is this cute child?!” Lizzy asked as she quickly approached Cali. "She looks exactly like you!"
Cali saw the stranger approaching and quickly hid her face away in her mother’s chest as she hugged her tightly.
“Isn’t she just the cutest?" Maria exclaimed happily before dropping the bomb. "This is my daughter, Cali!”
“Ohh, she’s your daughter, huh? No wonder she’s so cute~”
“I know right! I guess this makes you an auntie~!”
“Yup~ C-Can I hold her?”
“Maybe when you get to know her a little more. She doesn’t take to strangers that well.”
“Aww, okay…”
Lizzy was deflated when she heard that. She was the type of person who was really good with children and she once wanted to become a kindergarten teacher at one point. She really wanted to hold the adorable mini-Maria that was in front of her and just coddle because she was just so precious.
While Lizzy was feeling dejected that she couldn't hold her friend's daughter, everyone around her had astonished looks on their faces when they heard Maria say that Cali was her daughter. Now this was the proper reaction that one should have when hearing this piece of information, only Lizzy didn’t say anything about it and it actually took her a few minutes before realizing it and giving the same reaction as her friends and guildmates.
“Wait a second, Mary…Did you just say that Cali was your daughter?”
“Yeah~” Maria nodded in reply before happily rubbing her face against her daughter's cheeks. Cali giggled delightfully in response and kissed her mother on the cheek. Looking at the two of them like this, they really did look exactly the same.
“Hold up…” Lizzy paused for a moment to process what she just heard before suddenly yelling at the top of her lungs, “YOUR DAUGHTER?! ARE YOU ******* KIDDING ME?”
“W-Woah!”
“Who's the father, huh? Tell me?! I’m going to beat that bastard’s ass into the ground! What kind of sick bastard impregnates a teenager who is barely of legal age?!”
Maria’s face turned red from embarrassment as she quickly explained, “Lizzy, what the heck! T-There is no father! I…I just gave birth to her spontaneously, alright?! I mean, if you can even call it a birth...”
“What? Mary, don’t kid yourself. Your name may be Maria, but you’re not the Virgin Mary, you dolt!”
“Of course I’m not her! Just let me explain first!"
“Wait until your brothers hear about this! They’ll be so infuriated,” Lizzy opened up her [Chat] window and was about to message Maria’s older brothers but her friend quickly stopped her by tackling her to the ground.
She left Cali in Lilah's arms, but the poor little fairy was struggling to even hold onto the child. She was just too small compared to Cali, so she honestly didn't have the strength to even hold her up.
“Just listen to me, will you? Let me explain!”
“Explain yourself to your brothers!” Even though she was pinned to the ground, Lizzy still tried to message Maria's brothers, Gerald and Mikael.
“Just stop it before I really hit you! Besides, you’re frightening Cali right now!”
Maria quickly got up and took Cali into her arms after seeing Lilah struggling to keep hold of her. The little fairy's face was practically red at this point. Her master had suddenly passed the Princess to her, so she had no other choice but to hold onto her the best she could.
'Urgh, if only I was bigger...' Lilah tiredly thought. 'My arms feel like jelly...'
Lilah landed on Maria's shoulders to rest herself. Meanwhile, Cali, who was now back in her mother's embrace, quickly stuffed her head into Maria’s chest and started clinging tightly to her with a scared expression on her face. From her reaction, Lizzy could see that she was frightened and who else could’ve frightened her besides herself? Judging from Cali's age, she was at the age where she could understand what others were saying and Lizzy had basically been putting her mother on the spot earlier with her tirade.
“Ugh…Sorry about that...”
“Just let me explain, alright? It’s the system’s doing! I did technically give ‘birth’ to Cali and so I am her mother, but it's not that kind of birth so it's not what you think!”
“...Fine then, I’ll listen to you, but I’m still reporting this to your brothers. It's better if they find out now rather then later when you drop it on them like you did with me. Look how I reacted! And I know that you know that their reactions will be much harsher than mine!”
“Fine, fine, but listen first, okay? Don’t you go around spreading misinformation that could get me in trouble!”
“Okay.”