Chapter 76 Chapter 75 Ji Ma’s Will is Firm
Ji Ma felt as if countless needles were stabbing her face. She covered her hot face and hurriedly said:
“Stop talking! Stop talking!”
“As you wish,” Eve Frostleaf slightly bent down, “Demon Queen!”
The silver-threaded long legs were so annoying when they weren’t on the bed!
“Frostleaf!”
“Alright, alright.” George stepped out to mediate, “If you make a mistake, you need to make up for it. Ji Ma, you must apologize to the children and bring them out of the lie.”
The child Daggy looked anxiously at the “Demon Queen.” Ji Ma held back her resentment and forced a smile as she bowed to Daggy, saying:
“I’m sorry, I deceived you. I’m just a trickster demon who loves to lie. Everything I said was a lie. The reason you believed me so completely is just because of my abilities…”
Her words were sincere, but from the angle the children could see, she revealed a row of white teeth, baring her fangs.
The child Daggy’s heart raced, recalling Ji Ma’s previous threat: ‘…even if you tell her the whole truth, they will just take it as my nonsense, think I am joking, at most laugh at me, and embarrass me. The Lord doesn’t care.’
This made him even more panicked. Everything was just as she said; everyone was just taking it as a joke.
Look at this demon, baring her bright teeth, she must be threatening, promising to stuff their souls into maggots afterward and toss them into a cesspit.
He was so scared that he froze in place, unable to move.
“Wow!” His sister suddenly cried out, tears streaming down her face.
Ji Ma straightened up, looking helplessly, “I’ve already apologized.”
George comforted the two children, saying, “Don’t worry, I can tell lies apart. What she said is all true.”
But the two children were terrified and refused to believe anything, insisting Ji Ma was the Demon Queen, and how could a mortal discern her lies?
Ji Ma stood by, watching the joke, her mouth curling up in amusement.
George straightened up, “There’s no other way.”
“Yes, yes, no other way,” Ji Ma said gleefully, glancing at the quiet Eve Frostleaf who seemed to be a thousand miles away, standing far from the center of the incident, appearing like an outsider.
But Ji Ma knew this elven beauty had grown up in the cunning elf court, where she was influenced from a young age, was skilled in tactics, and enjoyed gathering gossip. She was indeed a significant threat to Ji Ma. While appearing harmless, she was lurking, ready to deliver a fatal blow.
One had to be cautious.
“Like this,” George said, “there’s no choice but to use this tactic.”
Ji Ma agreed, “Right, right, that’s correct.”
“It’ll just be a bit of an inconvenience for you, Ji Ma.”
“Mm, a bit of an inconvenience.”
“I plan to spank you as punishment.”
“Mm-hmm, punishment—wait!” Ji Ma was on guard against Eve Frostleaf, not expecting George to suddenly sneak a spank. She instinctively covered her backside: “Spank?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because this can break the influence of your lies,” George said, “Since you are the Demon Queen, you would never tolerate such humiliation.”
“There’s no logical connection,” Ji Ma retorted, “Who said a queen can’t endure humiliation? Maybe she’d find it exhilarating.”
“What you say doesn’t count.” George looked at the two children and asked, “Do you think what I said is reasonable?”
Ji Ma glanced at the children, trying hard with her eyes to force them to stay silent.
Daggy quickly nodded, “That makes sense.”
Saying that, he shrank behind George.
“You are insulting my character,” Ji Ma argued vigorously, “In front of so many people, humiliating your fiancée, are you even human?”
“I am prepared. You set up a barrier and surround the four of us. I just need to prove it to them.”
“You lecher, you just want to touch my tail and spank me. I will never submit,” Ji Ma said, then turned to flee.
No doubt, her tail was suddenly yanked straight and pinched, like a cat grabbed by the scruff of its neck.
Ji Ma stopped in her tracks, obediently opened the “Tranquil Hidden Barrier,” her eyes wide open as she said to George, “Could you be a little gentler? I’m almost a three-year-old succubus.”
“I will.”
With that, George easily scooped Ji Ma up at the waist and gave her rear a light tap.
Ji Ma felt only a light spank, not very painful, but that didn’t stop her from tilting her head back and making a pig-like squeal:
“Ow ow ow ow, it hurts me to death.”
Accompanied by her body language, she flailed her limbs, twisting her backside, as if George’s tap really hurt that much.
This performance moved the children. The sister tugged at her brother’s shirt and said, “Brother, it seems real.”
Daggy stared blankly, watching Ji Ma like a little dog being toyed with by George, and she looked as if she were in pain like a writhing maggot.
The image of the powerful and mysterious Demon Queen shattered into pieces. A hundred of George’s words couldn’t outweigh the ten seconds Ji Ma spent getting spanked.
Unable to resist, George set the wriggling Ji Ma down. She covered her backside, her eyes reddened and moist, completely losing her earlier confidence.
George whispered:
“Was it necessary?”
Ji Ma replied, “If I don’t exaggerate, how will they believe me?”
George turned to Daggy, confirming the influence of the lies had been lifted before allowing Ji Ma to lift the barrier and also making her retract the “rumor.”
Now, Ji Ma was very reluctant.
She was worried that group of refugees would stubbornly resist. While she didn’t dislike the resistance itself, she hated being taken advantage of. She didn’t want to bring out the weapons from the Dream Palace again.
But glancing at George’s iron hand, she still complied, sucking dry that “rumor,” silently praying that the group of refugees would have second thoughts and forget about their stubborn resistance, all the while grumbling that the trolls outside were just foolish.
It had been so long, and they hadn’t found a refuge yet.
She witnessed several trolls lingering just three to four meters from the barrier, occasionally smashing the ground with sticks, but they refused to take a few steps forward. As long as they took just a few steps, they would discover that the snowy slope outside was fake, a “lie” effect.
Ten minutes later, heavy footsteps sounded from behind; it was George returning.
He said, “They decided not to escape; they want to take back their honor with swords.”
Ji Ma feigned ignorance: “That’s commendable.”
“So,” George said, “I’m requesting you open the armory and bring them shields and armor.”
Seeing the survivors who couldn’t fight against the trolls and fled from their hometown, Ji Ma didn’t like it.
Ji Ma shook her head: “No.”
“Why not?”
“Just no,” Ji Ma said, hands on her hips. “Consider it the fickle nature of women.”
“Ji Ma, there’s no way we can let them fight the trolls barehanded.”
“It’s them who want to fight; what’s that to me?”
“Why?” George said, “We need to have a good talk.”
“So annoying.” Ji Ma sighed, waved her hand, and reopened the Tranquil Hidden Barrier. Inside the barrier were the four of them, and she said, “I know you three are all good people, empathetic, unable to bear seeing the miserable die.
“But I am not. I have no desire or obligation to save them. Even if I know that saying it directly will annoy you all, I truly have had enough.
“It’s like coaxing children, getting them to the refuge, and then spending magical power to hide them. After hiding them, I still have to provide food and accommodation. The magic I use to help them is far more than what I would use for combat.
“And what’s the result? They aren’t worth a dime and have no guides.”
Jenna interjected, “Ji Ma, some things are priceless.”
“Not worth a cent, that’s what I said.” Ji Ma immediately countered, “Not only worthless, it’s a liability. Don’t try to educate me. Good deeds are only in stories, fabricated by authors for dramatic effect. In reality, doing such things is just a losing deal.
“What I detest is using my magic to take our food, our tents, our clothes. That’s not enough; I also have to provide them weapons to satisfy their need for self-esteem. What annoys me the most is that I can’t stop it. No matter how hard I try, in the end, I still have to obediently give them weapons for free.”
George reminded her: “The group will compensate you with gold coins.”
“That’s too much out of my league.”
Ji Ma was very clear that it was essentially a conflict of values. Even if George pulled out ten thousand gold coins as a reward for her, Ji Ma wouldn’t be pleased.
“Ji Ma, don’t you want to perform a good deed?” George asked, “Even if it’s compensated.”
“If we see our team as a whole, we’re engaging in a losing deal.” Ji Ma countered boldly. “Do you remember a bag of potatoes? That was the villagers’ reward for your life mentor. Of course, they are grateful and appreciative, but is that useful?”
“Ji Ma!”
“Today I want to be willful,” Ji Ma crossed her arms and said, “You know? I only have seventy percent of my magic left, and I’ve already drunk a few blue potions with no effect. All this for sheltering this group of weaklings.
“Now they want equipment again. By the time I open the Dream Palace and bring out the gear to arm two hundred people, I’ll have at most half my magic left.
“And when my magic drops to twenty percent, my soul wounds will flare up. At that point, I will also have to battle alongside them, and the magic consumption will be far more than the original plan of covering their retreat.”
George said: “Don’t worry, when your magic drops to a third you can rest.”
“Ha, can I rest?” Ji Ma retorted, “You suffer, and I just watch? Most importantly, don’t forget what our main goal is! It’s to obtain the fragments of the Demon King’s crown and not to do good deeds here.”
George said: “We risk our lives to obtain the fragments to spare all beings from the suffering of the demon race… This isn’t a dilemma. Choosing to preserve them doesn’t mean giving up the fragments of the Demon King’s crown.
“If you consider this a losing deal, don’t forget that the journey we embarked on is the biggest losing deal of all. As Jenna said, some things are priceless. That’s what we fight for.”
“Well said,” Ji Ma replied. “But I don’t acknowledge it. Today I want to be willful; no one can persuade me, not even if you make my backside sore.”
Saying this, she crossed her arms, turned her head away, adopting the stance of a do-gooder.
George was somewhat angry but more helpless. At that moment, Eve Frostleaf softly said, “I’ll discuss this privately with Ji Ma.”
Ji Ma glared at Eve Frostleaf with hostility, determined that no matter what Eve Frostleaf said, she wouldn’t yield!
Eve Frostleaf walked beside her and whispered in her ear: “Ace pilot…”
Ji Ma’s body tensed.
