Mid-month again, asking for another monthly vote. The final arc has already begun; it would be inexcusable not to ask.

...

"Heaven holds a grudge, and the hearts of men are inscrutable. I was driven from my homeland and imprisoned in a dark void for ten thousand years. In the first hundred years, I swore that whoever rescued me, I would grant them one wish—but no one came. In the first thousand years, I swore again: whoever freed me, I would pledge myself to them—still, no one came. It was only after three thousand years that I swore one last time: whoever saves me, I will crush them to dust... Now, ten millennia have passed. Vita, do you realize you are courting death?!"

Lin Luo said this while glaring with fury, eyes wide, as he ate something, addressing the small girl in red opposite him.

Vita sat upright, looking at him with an expressionless face.

"Why aren't you speaking?" Lin Luo asked.

"What do you want me to say?" Vita replied coldly.

"Anything! Like, 'What the heck!' Or, 'It's only been ten years, not ten thousand!' Or maybe, if a sow rescued you, you'd still pledge yourself to it?" Lin Luo shrugged, muttering to himself in disappointed self-mockery, "You truly disappoint me. With so many hooks in my statement, you haven't said a word... I swear, you are the weakest little girl at bantering I have ever met—absolutely pathetic!"

"You're the little girl! Your whole family are little girls! Your entire clan are little girls!" Vita finally snapped, jumping up abruptly and slamming the table as she roared at Lin Luo.

Lin Luo remained composed, smiling, "Talking big is useless. If the two of us walked outside, absolutely no one would call me a little girl. But you... at least ninety-nine out of a hundred people would call you a little girl. The last one would probably call you an elementary schooler or a brat. Am I right?"

"Right your sister!" Vita forcibly suppressed the urge to lose control and sneered, "Hmph. If you insist I'm a little girl, then why, when we came here, did you refuse to leave my body even when death was knocking, and even... even... groped my strange places? You perverted loli-con!"

By the end of her outburst, she seemed embarrassed, her entire face flushing red.

"Mm, a very strong counterattack," Lin Luo nodded approvingly. "Does this count as you implicitly admitting that you are a little girl?"

"I never admitted that!"

"Then you believe you have strange places on your body?"

"How could I possibly have strange places on me!"

Lin Luo immediately spread his hands, looking utterly bewildered. "If that's the case, I'm a bit confused. You are neither a little girl, nor do you have strange places. That means... I wasn't fondling strange places on a little girl, so how did I become a perverted loli-con?"

"This..." Vita opened her mouth but couldn't speak. She always felt her mind wasn't sharp, though somewhat functional, but in front of this man, she felt like an idiot?

"Even if you aren't a loli-con, you're still a lecherous thief!" Vita yelled, unwilling to back down.

"There's an issue with that statement," Lin Luo shook his head, speaking calmly as if discussing casual domestic matters. "A lecherous thief, as the name implies, is a man who acts on lust and harbors improper intentions towards women. However... although I was straddling you and touching your chest earlier, I felt no difference from touching my own chest. So, putting aside the action, at the very least, I harbor absolutely no lust for you. How can you call me a lecherous thief then?"

"You!" Hearing this, Vita was both ashamed and enraged. Ashamed because Lin Luo had so brazenly admitted to straddling and groping her—if there had been a third party, how could she ever show her face again? Enraged because Lin Luo had clearly assaulted her chest and then said it felt no different than touching his own—was he indirectly calling her a washboard?

Too much! This was truly too much!

She was eighteen years old, yet she was still being called a little girl... Was having a small body her fault? Was growing up wrong? Was having no chest a crime? Was it wrong? Was it wrong?!

"Bastard, I shouldn't have saved you!" Unable to tolerate it any longer, Vita finally screamed out loud. She truly regretted it in that moment. If she had known that the one trapped in the dark void was such a shameless wretch, she would never have let him out!

Lin Luo shook his head again, "Your words have a flaw too. You didn't know someone was trapped in there at the time; it was mere curiosity. You didn't have the intention to save anyone, and even if you had done nothing, I wouldn't have died. So, it can hardly be called you saving me... Sigh, why did she run off?"

Lin Luo hadn't finished speaking when he realized Vita had run off crying.

"Tears flowing—a standard ending, indeed," Lin Luo sighed, then heartlessly continued eating the food the little girl, whom he had just made cry, had prepared for him. "But speaking of which, this little girl used to be quite domineering. How did she become so ineffective now? Like tofu—can't win an argument, so she runs off crying."

Although a long time had passed for Lin Luo himself, and he had witnessed too much, allowing him to store non-essential information in a reserve memory bank, only accessing it when necessary, this little girl—Vita, whom even an illicit encounter with wouldn't break any laws—certainly wouldn't be filed away. Furthermore, as one of Yagami Hayate's sworn knights, Vita had a rather strong presence.

After all, she was one of the few people in this world who had made the Tyrant suffer a great loss.

So, when he was freed from the dark void and saw this little girl Vita, he knew he was back in the world of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha once more.

Among the major worlds he had experienced since being possessed by the Book of Contracts, this one had been the most joyful and relaxed. It was also the only place where he had felt the panic of the Book of Contracts being unusable.

This time, Lin Luo believed that as long as Luo Tianyi didn't come to disturb him, he could enjoy a relatively peaceful period to adjust his mood. Although this world was vast, and its mystery and power levels were not low, it posed absolutely no threat to him, who was now a Half-Step Heavenly Rank cultivator. Moreover, unlike Gensokyo, this world didn't involve interfering with causality or people he needed to save.

As for the Proxy Gods, whom he had previously worried about—even the Heavenly Dao, one of the strongest among Proxy Gods, was annihilated, and the appearance of the True Heart, which even Yaoyao couldn't contend with, meant that the threat from the Proxy Gods was no longer a major concern.

At his current level, he could step into the True Heavenly Rank at any moment, and he might not be at a disadvantage even fighting a Proxy God one-on-one.

Therefore, the only one he still needed to worry about was Luo Tianyi!

"Forget it, let's put that aside for now." After thinking for a moment while seated, Lin Luo ultimately pushed Luo Tianyi's issue to the back of his mind. With his current strength, there was no point dwelling on a confrontation he couldn't win. Relaxing was far more useful.

"We are returning to the Administration Bureau," shortly after, Vita returned to the room. With a cold gaze directed at Lin Luo, she spoke mechanically, like a doll.

Lin Luo knew he had thoroughly broken her spirit, and he didn't care. He simply waved his hand, "Let's go, let's go. Ten years have passed. I'm eager to see Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate again... The little lolis from ten years ago should be graceful young women by now."

"Please disembark from the ship," Vita said again.

"Huh?" Lin Luo froze. "Why do I have to leave the ship?"

Vita answered righteously, "Because my mission this time was exploration only. Command did not instruct me to bring anyone back, so I have no obligation to take you to the Administration Bureau... Please disembark."

"...Are you kidding me?"

"Yes, I am kidding," Vita nodded calmly.

Damn it!

Lin Luo was momentarily speechless. It turned out the child had run off to recharge after he teased her to tears, and now she was turning the tables and teasing him. While her skills had indeed improved slightly...

Before Vita could flee again, Lin Luo shot forward in an instant. Amidst her gasp, he swiftly swept her up in his arms, pinning her tightly under his armpit, and smacked her behind sharply. "If you don't court death, you won't die! Why don't you ever understand?!"

"Bastard! Let me go, you pervert!" Vita's face was bright red, and she struggled frantically in Lin Luo's grasp. However, with her limited strength, it was ultimately futile.

Ignoring her cries and struggles, Lin Luo sat back down in the chair and placed her across his lap, chuckling sinisterly, "Since you call me a pervert, wouldn't it be rude if I didn't act