"Shade! I want another order!!"
"Ms. waitress, my friends are thirsty, they want wine!"
"Excuse me..." Shade's eyebrows twitched as she ran around like a headless rabbit, taking dozens of orders and trying her best to show a smile. Tried being the keyword.
She had tried to relax, but after seeing her somewhat revealing dress, the perverts had all called their friends and now the shop was filled to the brim with people who constantly either tried to grope her or get her attention. Therefore, instead of a good relaxing morning, Shade suffered through hell and back.
Shade felt thoroughly humiliated. She had never been particularly handsome or well-liked in her previous life, although that might have had something to do with her slaughtering everything that could breathe that she could get her claws and teeth on.
However, now that she was a woman, it seemed almost like people worshipped her. While her ego did enjoy the praise, her mind was seething in fury at the perversion people showed towards her.
She didn't really care that she had turned into a woman in the first place. However, whether man or woman, she hated the idea of being treated like a sexual object.
Thankfully, things quieted down after a while. Not because people realized they were harassing her, but because 4 heavily armored guards with the Crystal family's insignia entered and stared down at everyone.
Seeing them, people silently started leaving the shop, almost as if there was a unanimous agreement that nobles, and especially the Crystal family, were not something commoners like them could even look at.
Soon, the shop was for the most part empty, however, there were still a couple of people who stayed. Namely, the harem-making brat who was flirting with his girls along with an old man who had his eyes closed and didn't bother with anybody, not even Shade.
The guards had simply stood at the sides, making sure everything was perfect. Finally, half an hour later, the star of the show showed up.
The kid had decently long blonde hair and a feminine face. He wasn't tall, but he was still very handsome, although it was more of a feminine man kind of handsome.
Jeff, who had previously come down after preparing himself, instantly greeted the noble graciously, with a level of flattery that was borderline foot-licking.
The noble smiled and nodded before looking around. He made a small "Oooh" sound when he saw Shade, who was busy preparing a table for the noble.
Shade almost cursed. Images of the noble trying to either seduce her or harass her sexually instantly came to her mind, and she prepared herself for a fight to the death against her instincts to turn the man into a dinner of blood.
However, contrary to her expectations, he walked over to her and said: "Thank you, but I'm going to go over to my dear friends over there." He said, pointing at the perverted brat still flirting.
Suprised, Shade simply nodded and swept up everything she had set up and brought it over to the other table.
The group finally realized who had arrived, but again, everything went against Shade's expectations.
The oldest girl who had saved Shade beforehand simply nodded upon seeing the duke's son, while the other girls looked at him with sparkling eyes. The boy waved him over with a smile and shouted way too loudly, "Ryan! Come over here!"
Ryan, the noble brat, smiled awkwardly and whispered just enough for everyone to hear "I was planning to..."
Shade politely pulled back a chair for him and set down the most high-class wine they could find. Ryan looked at the wine, at the chair, and finally at Shade before flashing an embarrassed smile.
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"Sorry... I don't drink. My father forbids me to." He said. Shade looked at him with a poker face and nodded, taking away the alcohol and going into the kitchen to grab something else.
When she came back, the group had started chatting happily. Shade wordlessly set down a bottle of milk and one of orange juice before she turned to leave.
However, just as she was about to go do other things, Ryan said something to the boy brat. Shade's body froze and started trembling violently.
"I never imagined that you, the hero, would be so... friendly?" Ryan said with a smile and a red tinge to his cheeks.
"Haha... It's nothing. I just like talking with people, Ryan-san..." The 'hero' said.
Shade's trembling body finally arrived at the kitchen, where she shut the door before ramming her hands into her face. Her nails pierced through quite deeply as her indestructible teeth gnashed against each other.
She slumped down as she scratched her own face out of fury and confusion.
Inwardly, she was cursing the high heavens.
"THAT'S THE HERO?!? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? HE'S NOT THE HERO! THERE'S ONLY ONE FUCKING HERO IN THIS WORLD! THE ONLY MAN TO EVER BEAT ME!" She roared within her mind. She was so furious that one of her accidentally stabbed into her eyeball, blinding herself.
Of course, no kind of wound would ever be permanent. After a couple minutes, she calmed down slightly and stopped her masochistic act. The blood that had flowed out of her body smoothly flew back in, healing herself up in seconds.
"I need information..." She whispered, somewhat angry at herself for remaining in the dark for so long. ( puns ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )
She closed her eyes as she waved her hand around. After a couple seconds, a small shadow rose up from the ground and bowed to her.
"Masssterrr..." The shadow whispered, excited. "It's been... A long time..."
"It has, my subject. Go, call your friends. I want to know everything that has happened in the last 600 years. Why is a hero here? I thought that the only hero that existed was... him..." She said as her voice trembled a bit, just by thinking about that man.
She was still confused at her own reaction. Her wrath, jealousy, confusion, and refusal mixed up to form an extremely weird and new emotion to her. She didn't even know why she felt this way.
"Yessssss, my dark masterrrrr..." The shadow bowed and vanished. In the following minutes, hundreds of thousands of shadow rose up everywhere around the known world, some directly devouring information out of people's brains, leaving many dead. However, all those deaths were people who wouldn't be missed, as the shadows didn't want to make themselves known, nor their master.
20 minutes later, the shadow rose up in front of Shade again, who had been busy preparing some food. The boss had come in asking if she was okay, as he had noticed her momentary freeze-up. However, she had reassured him and quickly kicked him out of the kitchen.
The shadow presented a glowing, golden ball to Shade. She looked at it for a moment and revealed a smile as she swallowed the thing whole.
However, it got stuck in her throat for a moment. She choked a bit before shoving her hand into her throat and pushing the thing down.
"Fuck me... I forgot my body is smaller now..." She cursed angrily (and silently). After she was finished cursing the Manager, she turned towards the shadow and extended her hand toward it.
"You've been starving for too long. Come, feed yourself." She said. The shadow flickered, and although most wouldn't be able to tell its emotions, Shade could easily tell it was elated.
"Thank you, master!" The shadow said before jumping towards Shade. It's body expanded greatly, and with its newfound size, it engulfed Shade within its body.
A couple minutes later, the shadow retracted, leaving Shade, who didn't look any different from before. Although the amount required to feed the shadow was enough that even if 100 people got together, nothing of them would be left.
However, Shade could easily feed thousands of these shadows without a problem, and if she was willing to hurt herself, she could even feed hundreds of thousands of them, even if it would take a while to heal that.
As for the shadow itself, previously, it was somewhat bleak and weak. Now, it seemed full of dark energy and power. It bowed zealously to Shade and retreating back into whatever dimension it came from.
As for Shade, she hummed as she chopped up vegetables and meat for a soup. As she was doing that, she was sorting through the newfound information at a terrifying speed.
"What a disappointment. This world has gone back exactly to the way it was before I came around... Even worse. No, far worse. Is there truly no saving this world?" She sighed. Perhaps it truly was a waste to expect humans to better themselves.
"Whatever. I've done my part, and I healed my mental scars thanks to him. Although I still want to shove a shining sword through his heart, just to show him how painful it is..." She said to herself, knowing she would never have a chance to.
And even if she did, she probably wouldn't.
"Hmm... Damn it. Do I kill that hero before he can annoy me, or do I let him be? He's pathetically weak, and his potential seems quite low... Forget it. I'll repay my own hero by helping the new hero." She said as she silently put away the deadly poison she had made beforehand...