"Oh my! Do you recognize me, sir? It is a problem since I haven't seen you before. Whatever shall I do now? I must eliminate you to ensure the news of my presence here does not spread."

Mary's voice was half joking and half serious, but how she clutched her weapon and stood before Layla showed that she was serious about protecting her.

This was both good news and bad news for Layla.

She leaped toward the noble in front of her, and her axe was raised high to end his life. But just as she was about to hit the man, Raziel stopped her by placing himself between his master and the maid attacking his master.

Raziel was young, but his divine power was already developed enough to form a barrier around his arms and protect himself.

The axe collided with his arm but left no impact because of this.

Mary looked stunned to see a kid defending against her before she hissed as the holy magic came in contact with her skin.

As a high-level demon, this level of holy magic and divine power was not enough to hurt her or leave permanent scars. But that did not mean she liked tinkering with it.

Especially since any exposure to this power burned her badly and made sure she had to be cautious when handling the kid in front of her.

"Y-You-! Hurry up and do something about this. You need to make sure I get out of here safely! Do you understand, boy? Your survival is directly linked to my well-being."

The noble yelled as he clutched Raziel's back tightly. His eyes looked at Mary as if he was seeing an agent of death, and he wanted to run away from her.

Mary's expression turned interested, but not because of the noble.

She was far more interested in this kid who had managed to stop her attack with his bare hands. Although he did not seem religious, he had an incredible affinity for divine power.

Such rare cases made Mary want to see how far she could push this kid before he snapped.

"Mary, don't hurt the kid. Just catch the noble and round up everyone involved before the temple's people show up. We want to take credit for this raid."

Layla acted like the voice of reason, causing Mary to pause before a smile spread across her face.

That sinister smile did nothing to invoke a feeling of peace in Layla's heart. If anything, it made her shiver because she had to deal with such a problem.

"Temple people? What temple people? I did not call for them."

Mary spoke confidently as she looked at Layla. Although her words were spoken in an innocent voice, their meaning was not innocent.

"Wait! You did not call for the temple people? Then, who did you call? You did call someone for help, right? There are too many people here for us to round up ourselves."

Mary could round all these people up alone, but that would be tough for her. (Mainly because she was posing to be a human right now)

Despite that, the smile on her face remained, making Layla feel awkward.

"Please don't make that face, miss! I am not as incompetent as I look! I did call people for help…the Duke's household, to be more exact! The soldiers will march here any second now."

Mary assured her with a smile and confidence, which made the noble she was trying to intimidate Flinch.

"Y-Y-You called for the Duke's soldiers? You bitch-! No! I cannot stay here any longer. Slave, get me out of here! I refuse to stay here any longer.

I cannot be caught here, or I will die-!"

The man yelled and made a scene as he looked at Layla and Mary.

His eyes were filled with fear, and he wondered what would happen to him next. Raziel quickly took his place before the noble and tried to force his way through Mary and Layla.

But Mary was a demon who did not know the taste of defeat. Besides that, she also had a keen interest in this kid and was not about to let him escape without entertaining her more.

"Mary, don't let these two escape until the duke's soldiers march in here."

Layla spoke before she felt it - the whole mansion they were in was shaking, almost as if someone was trying to get to the bottom of this place and find something.

The raid had already started, and people were running to escape.

Raziel tried to use this distraction to make his move on Mary and end her life. But the demoness had already expected this, and she was ready to counter him.

Dark magic collided with the skin hardened by divine power. The two powers canceled each other out, but Mary had a huge advantage over her opponent.

Not only was she colder, but she had more physical strength and stamina compared to Razil.

No matter how well the slave fought, he had only ever fought to save his life desperately. All his wins in the arena had been because he was too stubborn to die, and his opponents had been in a similar condition - powerless and tired of living.

But Mary was different.

She was well-trained, and she did not let off the offense. At this rate, he was going to die.

Raziel's defenses broke down quickly, and Mary raised her axe to end his life once and for all.

"Too bad, kid! I was genuinely interested to know how far you would go if I trained someone like you. But it looks like we will never find out, right-"

"Mary, don't kill him. I still have some use for him, so we will let him go. On the other hand, we need to dispose of that rude noble. The slave mark will disappear once the source of its castor is gone, right?

In that case, I would like to transfer that slave's ownership in my name and dispose of this noble."