Well! Although her identity was indeed that of a princess of a country, according to the table manners here, her idea was indeed a bit out of place. After all, one should adapt to local customs!
"Because there are guests this time, Lord Ellie, please bear with it for a while longer." Chao Lu replied to Ellie.
Chao Lu's seemingly normal response made Ellie notice a detail: it was clear that Lord Bai Xia was also a person who was not particular about small details, just like herself.
Chao Lu said, "this time there are guests"... did that mean when there were no guests, she would just do whatever she wanted?
So, that meant Bai Xia wasn't someone who adhered to these table manners before, right?
Hmm! Another piece of information acquired. Although it seemed like irrelevant information, there might be an opportunity to interact with Lord Bai Xia in the future, so the more she knew, the better.
And... from Chao Lu's initial attitude towards her, plus that last remark, it strongly suggested that Chao Lu knew Bai Xia very well. That meant Chao Lu might be someone close to Bai Xia. In that case, she needed to be even more careful!
"It's a pity. It would be great if everyone could sit down and eat together." Ellie said, looking at Chao Lu.
Let's test her! Ellie thought. Ellie said this to see Chao Lu's reaction, how Chao Lu would respond, and then use Chao Lu's reply to further deduce Bai Xia's personality, so she could gain an advantage when they eventually met.
"..." This was the third time Ellie saw an expression on Chao Lu's face. She saw Chao Lu frown, and then instantly return to her emotionless state. This reaction was a bit unexpected for Ellie. Did she say something wrong? But what she just said didn't seem like it would offend anyone, right?
"Lord Ellie, you... surely haven't even forgotten my identity, have you?" Chao Lu, back in her emotionless mode, asked again without a hint of tone or emotion.
"This..." Ellie was immediately speechless. How did this turn into a discussion about identity? These two things were completely unrelated, right? This was bad. If she admitted she didn't know, then everything would be over, and she would have to use the excuse that she wasn't Bai Xia and they had misunderstood again.
"Yare yare daze (Translation: That's enough)" Chao Lu spread her hands expressionlessly, then turned her gaze to a pillar directly opposite her in the hall.
"Chao Lu Iron Fist..." Then, Chao Lu raised her left hand towards the pillar, aimed at it, and said this sentence without any emotion or tone.
The next second, Chao Lu's fist, like a missile on fire, flew out and smashed directly into the pillar, instantly creating a dent. This action stunned everyone present, including Ellie.
"I didn't expect Lord Ellie to even forget my true form! It seems the side effects of becoming a loli are quite significant. Lord Ellie should allocate more of the nutrients stored in her chest to her brain; that would be better."
Before everyone could recover, the launched fist whooshed back and reattached to her arm. Chao Lu, still in her emotionless tone, continued to mutter.
Chao Lu's true form is actually an automaton, just like Shizu? But Ellie remembered seeing Shizu eating in the Nazarick cafeteria, right? In that case, why Chao Lu brought up the identity issue just now became clear. Chao Lu's true form is something like Shizu's automaton, and she doesn't need to eat, or perhaps simply cannot eat, right?
"I understand... but you didn't have to demonstrate it yourself, did you?" Although Ellie understood what Chao Lu's true form probably was, couldn't she have just said it directly?
While seeing the facts directly might be more convincing, smashing one's own pillar was a bit excessive. Although she herself had often demolished Nazarick's buildings when practicing skills, such as a certain arena! The arena! And the arena, and so on.
But that was with permission. However, this was also good; it allowed Chao Lu to display her personality. She would have to be more careful from now on. But even after all this, Chao Lu still hadn't suspected that she wasn't Lord Bai Xia?!
"Thank you for your concern, Lord Ellie. I only used 1% of my power, so there's no problem at all." Chao Lu seemed to have misunderstood Ellie's meaning and extended her left hand, which she had just launched, towards Ellie for her to see. She probably thought Ellie was worried about her hand.
However, Ellie felt more sorry for the pillar. Since she misunderstood, let her misunderstand. It wasn't her own property anyway ~ just smash it... Ellie thought with considerable helplessness.
As for the others... they stared intently at Chao Lu, especially Ligurit. Seeing Ligurit's complex expression, it seemed she believed Chao Lu's statement about only using 1% of her power, right?
Whether it was 1% was debatable. If Chao Lu wasn't bluffing, what would the power of 100% output be like? The destructive power should be as strong as a max-level NPC, right? Then... let's assume Chao Lu is a max-level NPC.
Just as the afterglow of this 'Chao Lu Iron Fist' had not yet faded, with a bang, the side door was violently crashed open by something. Then, a black shadow, moving at a speed that even Ellie's specialized vision couldn't catch, darted out from the side door and pounced towards Ellie. Ellie didn't even have time to react.
Damn it, another one with no Aura! Are all these guys automatons?! Ellie complained inwardly while preparing to counter the attack. However, in an instant... Chao Lu flashed between Ellie and the black shadow, with a speed like teleportation. This further confirmed Ellie's belief that Chao Lu was a max-level NPC.
"Meow hahaha! Lord Bai Xia!!!" The black shadow plopped directly into Chao Lu's arms, and without even clearly seeing the person, it hugged Chao Lu tightly and called out Bai Xia's name.
"Yo! Stinky cat Snow Elf, welcome to my embrace." Chao Lu still spoke in her emotionless and unfeeling tone.
"Pah, pah, pah! You! Get out of the way!! No wonder you're as hard as a steel plate! I thought Lord Bai Xia had become like you, a piece of junk!" The black shadow, which had pounced into Chao Lu's arms, instantly flashed back several steps as if teleporting. Only then did Ellie clearly see the appearance of the Snow Elf that Chao Lu spoke of.
Holy cow! A second one!! This was Ellie's feeling at that moment.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"