Campione: Strongest Godslayer!
Chapter 352: Aoko, the Magical Maid

Chapter 352: Chapter 352: Aoko, the Magical Maid

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As the date drew closer to January, the chill of winter deepened.

Snow fell across Japan, a subtropical island nation, plunging the entire country into an arctic climate.

In this season, where a single breath could freeze, even the Japanese, who had been trained since childhood to withstand the cold, fell victim to the incurable disease known as ’oversleeping.’

Especially today, a Saturday, a public holiday, the disease was even more rampant.

And Aoko Aozaki was one of its victims. In fact, she was a prime example, a terminal case with no hope of recovery.

Aoko lay sprawled on her bed, her body curled into a ball. A thick, pink comforter with a cherry blossom pattern was wrapped tightly around her thin frame, a perfect demonstration of her stubborn refusal to face the winter cold.

"Hiss—! Strange, why does it feel like it’s getting colder?" Aoko burrowed her head under the covers, rubbing against the thin, yet exceptionally warm, wool mattress pad, her brow furrowed in confusion.

Ten minutes ago, she’d felt the temperature suddenly drop. Now, she felt as if she were standing alone in a piercingly cold wind, receiving a personal greeting from the winter solstice.

Whoosh—!

A cold wind howled by.

Aoko’s ear twitched. Hearing the howling wind, her teeth began to chatter. After a moment’s hesitation, she shakily poked her small head out from under the covers and opened her bleary eyes.

"What the hell is this!!!!!"

A desperate cry echoed.

Aoko stared at the towering snowdrifts around her, then at the Tohno mansion to her right, which, even covered in snow, still looked grand and imposing. Her face was a mask of bewilderment.

Crystalline snowflakes danced in the cold wind, spinning and twirling, landing on Aoko’s face, stealing her precious body heat.

"Why am I in the courtyard! And why am I still in bed?" Aoko said, her face a mask of bewilderment.

"Awake, are we, my magical maid?" A voice, tinged with a faint smile, reached Aoko’s ears.

"...Who, who’s talking!" Aoko’s pupils constricted. With a pained expression, she reached her slender arm out from under the covers, activated the Magic Crest on her arm, and surveyed her surroundings, preparing to attack.

"The second-floor hallway, on the left side of the mansion." A guiding voice reached her ears.

Aoko snapped her head around and saw Haru, standing in the second-floor hallway of the Tohno mansion, looking at her through a large glass window. Her lip twitched.

"Finally awake, my little maid?" Haru squinted, manipulating the atmosphere to carry his voice fifty meters away, to the snow-drenched Aoko, his tone filled with an indescribable, teasing quality.

"Achoo~"

The cold winter wind blew by, and Aoko sneezed violently. Though she was in a world of ice and snow, her heart was as hot as a volcano, as ’warm’ as lava.

"I couldn’t be more awake if I tried!!!!"

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Her right arm shot up, her magic circuits instantly activating.

A triple-layered magic circle appeared on her arm, and like a machine gun, azure magic bullets, fueled by the boundless rage in her heart, rained down on the second floor of the mansion.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle—!

When the magic bullets struck the mansion wall, they fizzled out like flames doused with water, hissing and then vanishing with a whimper, unable to even scorch the pristine white wall.

"Hah~~ hah~~ hah~~ hah~" Nearly forty magic bullets had drained all of Aoko’s magical power. A deep exhaustion spread from her nerves to her brain, the negative consequence of over-expending her magic.

The once-chilled young woman, after such violent exertion, was now covered in sweat, as if she’d just run a forty-kilometer marathon, the cold completely dispelled.

Haru’s gaze sharpened. The space instantly distorted, and Aoko, along with her bed, vanished from the snowy landscape without a trace.

————

Returning to her guest room, Aoko glared at Haru, who had appeared out of thin air beside her. If not for her lack of strength, she would have already twisted his head off.

"Honestly, even I, your master, have been up for two hours, and you’re still not moving? Do I have to come and wake you? As a maid, you’re completely failing," Haru said, his face stern, his tone severe as he addressed Aoko.

"This damn maid job, whoever wants it can have it! I’m not serving you anymore!!" Aoko gritted her teeth, her face filled with rage. She grabbed a pillow and, with all her might, hurled it at Haru’s face.

Thwack—!

The pillow hit its mark, slapping squarely against Haru’s face. It lingered for a second, then, under the pull of gravity, fell to the brown-tiled floor.

Aoko froze, a look of shock on her face. She hadn’t expected to actually hit him. But the next moment, a triumphant grin spread across her youthful, beautiful face.

"Haha, didn’t expect me to pull that move, did you!!!" Aoko said, looking at Haru’s somewhat dazed face, and slapping the bed, roaring with laughter.

"Violation of the ’no attacking the master’ clause. Punishment measures can now be implemented." Haru, his expression impassive, took out the contract and waved it in front of Aoko’s face.

Her smile froze. A look of terror appeared in her azure eyes. Aoko grabbed her hair and said, her voice filled with frustration.

"You didn’t dodge on purpose!!!!"

"Oh my, that attack was just too fast. Even with my mastery of space, I couldn’t dodge it. As expected of a True Magic User," Haru said, his voice filled with praise.

The next moment, he tossed a maid outfit onto Aoko’s face and said with a grin, "The punishment is to wear this special outfit whenever you’re in my presence. Duration: one week, effective immediately!"

"This... this... outfit!!!" Aoko silently picked up the maid outfit that had slid from her face, her gaze vacant.

Aoko was about to get up and run, but the brownish-yellow parchment suddenly glowed with an iridescent light. Under the contract’s power, she lost control of her own body.

With a look of utter despair, Aoko, in front of Haru, slowly unbuttoned her pajamas.

"I shouldn’t have signed it!!"

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