Heroine-Saving System: Reborn In A Third-Rate Manga As The Protagonist

Chapter 192: Two Kaedes

The dining room of Star Mansion had officially transformed into a battlefield, though the weapons of choice were premium pastries rather than swords.

Nami had outdone herself.

The long mahogany table was completely covered in a chaotic, colorful array of the Supercity’s expensive desserts.

There were towering strawberry shortcakes layered with impossibly white cream, delicate golden-crusted fruit tarts, macarons that sparkled with edible glitter, and the crown jewel: a massive box of extra-sweet dark chocolate truffles that Koya had explicitly requested.

Koya sat at the head of the table, entirely surrounded.

“Master! Over here! Open wide!”

Akemi didn’t just request his attention… she quite literally demanded it.

The orange-haired healer had practically launched herself out of her chair, leaning across the table with a perfectly round gold-dusted dark chocolate truffle pinched between her fingers.

Her bright eyes were sparkling with aggressive affection.

“Alright, alright,” Koya laughed, leaning forward and opening his mouth. “Ah.”

Akemi popped the rich chocolate into his mouth with her fingers deliberately lingering against his lips for a fraction of a second longer than necessary.

“Is it good, Master? Am I doing a good job feeding you?” she asked, puffing out her chest proudly.

“It’s great, Akemi,” Koya mumbled around the chocolate with the rich cocoa melting instantly on his tongue.

“M-Master…”

A soft, hesitant voice came from his left. Yuna was standing there, her black hair falling over her shoulders with her hands twitching nervously beside her.

Her face was flushed pink, but her eyes held a competitive glint as she held up a delicate silver fork carrying a large piece of strawberry shortcake.

“P-please try this one,” Yuna stammered with her hands trembling slightly as she lifted the fork toward his mouth. “I made sure to get the piece with the biggest strawberry for you.”

Koya smiled warmly, leaning over to accept the bite of cake.

The sweet cream and tart fruit blended perfectly. “Thanks, Yuna. That’s delicious.”

Yuna’s ears immediately perked up, standing straight at attention as a brilliant, triumphant smile broke across her face.

She shot Akemi a smug look out of the corner of her eye.

“HEY! No fair! My turn! Papa, my turn!”

Mable shoved her way between the two women, her small draconic wings fluttering with agitation.

She stood on her tiptoes, holding up a massive, chocolate-chip cookie with both hands like it was a sacred offering. “Papa! Eat the cookie! The evil dragon commands it!”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Koya chuckled, taking a massive bite out of the cookie Mable was holding. He patted her blond hair, making her giggle with delight but the peaceful feeding frenzy was suddenly interrupted by the sound of rapid light footsteps bounding down the grand staircase.

“Master~!”

A blur of black and white shot into the dining room.

Disguise Master… Kaede Hoshigaki sprinted over and immediately threw her arms around Koya from behind, burying her face into his neck.

She had abandoned her hospital gown and was now wearing a sleek, highly customized version of the Star Mansion maid uniform.

“I heard there was chocolate,” she practically purred into his ear, her brilliant purple eyes gleaming with mischief.

She reached over his shoulder, smoothly swiping one of the premium truffles from the box. “Let your most loyal, dedicated Maid Wife feed you too, Master!”

Koya sighed, entirely used to her sudden appearances and clingy behavior by now. “Sure, Kaede. Go ahead.”

Across the room, the temperature seemed to drop by ten degrees.

Standing near the doorway, holding a pristine silver teapot, was Miyuki’s personal maid. She was also named Kaede, and she had just frozen completely solid.

The Aozora maid slowly turned her head with her polite smile vanishing, replaced by an expression of blankness.

Disguise Master paused, the chocolate truffle hovering inches from Koya’s mouth. She locked eyes with the other maid.

The tension in the dining room spiked instantly.

It was a silent, intense standoff… On one side, Kaede who was the elite assassin of the Order and on the other, Kaede the impeccably trained, fiercely protective head maid of the Aozora main household.

Invisible lightning seemed to crackle through the air between them as their gazes clashed.

‘Huh… why are they suddenly looking like this?’

“Uh,” Koya said with his sharp combat instincts picking up on the sudden oppressive killing intent filling the room.

He looked between the two black-haired women. “Right. The name thing.”

Miyuki’s maid smoothly placed the silver teapot onto a coaster with her movements terrifyingly precise.

She bowed deeply. “Master Koya. Given the… unfortunate duplication of our given names, it may cause confusion in your daily life. Perhaps it would be best if you bestowed upon us special designations to tell us apart.”

Disguise Master’s purple eyes lit up immediately. “Ooh! Yes! Master, give me a special nickname! Something cute that only you call me!”

Koya rubbed the back of his neck, thinking for a second. It wasn’t exactly a complex problem.

“Alright,” Koya said easily, pointing over his shoulder at the clingy assassin. “You’re Hakai’s sister, and you’re always bouncing around, so I’ll call you Kae-chan.”

Disguise Master gasped, her face instantly turning a brilliant shade of crimson.

“Kae-chan…” she whispered reverently, clutching her chest as if she had just been shot through the heart with an arrow of pure sugar. “It’s so cute… Master named me…”

Koya turned to the Aozora maid, offering a respectful nod. “And since you’re so elegant and reliable, I’ll call you Kae-rin. Does that work for you?”

Miyuki’s Kaede visibly staggered backward. Her perfect composure shattered completely.

A massive, furious blush erupted across her pale cheeks, spreading all the way to the tips of her ears.

She covered her mouth with both white-gloved hands as her eyes went wide.

“Kae-rin… Yes, Master Koya. I am… deeply honored,” she managed to squeak out, her voice entirely losing its professional edge.

Koya nodded, satisfied that he had efficiently solved a minor logistical issue.

He was completely, utterly oblivious to the fact that he had just dealt a critical, system-level strike to both women’s hearts simultaneously but someone else noticed.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Koya felt a finger urgently poking his shoulder and he turned his head.

Miyuki was standing right next to him.

She had changed out of the massive pink princess gown and was now wearing a comfortable, oversized blue sweater and soft leggings but her face was puffed up in an adorable, incredibly jealous pout.

She held up a small golden fork bearing a piece of rich, dark chocolate cake.

“Koya-kun,” Miyuki demanded, her blue eyes narrowing as she glared at the two swooning maids. “My turn… Open your mouth…”

Koya chuckled, realizing his fiercely determined fiancée was not about to be outdone in her own home.

He opened his mouth, fully prepared to accept the dessert, and whatever consequences came with it.

“A– mmph!”

“Enjoy hehe~”

…

Far, far below the chaos of the dining room, the atmosphere was entirely different.

Deep beneath the foundation of Star Mansion lay an underground training facility.

It wasn’t a standard gym or training room… It was a massive subterranean arena roughly the size of three football fields, carved out of reinforced bedrock and lined with hundreds of layers of high-tier magical wards.

The walls glowed with pulsing blue magic circles designed to absorb kinetic impacts, disperse elemental shockwaves, and keep the mansion above from collapsing.

This room was built for powerful beings to clash.

Sitting safely behind a massive wall of magically reinforced, five-foot-thick transparent crystal in the observation deck was Victoria.

‘Fuck… I want to be with Koya-kun.’

Tori was currently adjusting the collar of her oversized sweater, pulling her knees up to her chest as she sat on the plush viewing sofa.

She had been called down here specifically to watch and learn.

Even though she was over a thousand years old, she had spent almost her entire life frozen in temporal stasis before she met Koya.

She needed to understand how the pinnacle-tier fighters moved, that was what her Sister had told her and looking down at the arena floor, she was about to get a masterclass.

On one side of the vast, empty expanse stood Tejilia Ravenieth.

The ancient Vampire Queen looked regal, terrifying, and utterly deadly.

Her silver hair cascaded down her back, and her brilliant crimson eyes burned with intense power. She was wearing a sleek, form-fitting black combat suit that allowed for maximum mobility.

However, if one looked very, very closely, they would notice that Tej’s pale legs were trembling slightly.

…Just a millimeter of a shake.

It was the physical aftermath of a brutal, non-stop “session” with Koya that had lasted from the dead of night until the sun came up.

The newly crowned Vampire King’s stamina was horrifyingly boundless… Tej was an immortal being with supreme regenerative abilities, and even she was feeling the ache in her bones…

‘As long as I get pregnant, I don’t really mind it that much.’ Tej thought. ‘B-but did Daddy really have to be that rough?’

On a normal day, Tej would have refused but her pride as the First Princess of the Vampire God Clan refused to let her back down.

She needed to prove herself… She needed to know exactly where she stood against the woman standing opposite her.

On the other side of the arena stood Amagi Hakai…

The First Wife of Star Mansion wasn’t wearing combat gear. She was dressed in her standard corporate attire… a pristine white button-down shirt, a black pencil skirt, and a sharp black tie.

The prominent, star-shaped Silver Crest on her face glowed with a chilling ethereal light.

Hakai let out a soft sigh, rolling her shoulders. She reached up and casually undid the silver cufflinks on her sleeves, rolling the crisp white fabric up to her elbows then, she reached up and loosely pulled at her black tie, letting it hang slack around her collar.

“Let’s make this quick, Tej,” Hakai said with her voice echoing across the vast distance of the arena.

It was entirely devoid of fear. “I have two hostile corporate takeovers to approve for Star Enterprises, a stack of paperwork to sign, and I have to go out with my hubby later in the evening. I’m on a schedule.”

Tej’s crimson eyes narrowed dangerously as the casual arrogance of this human woman was infuriating.

‘Master, do not let her casual demeanor fool you,’ a deep voice echoed urgently within Tej’s mind.

It was Bloom, the Blood Generator Familiar attached to her spine.

‘Keep your guard up at all times. That woman is not a standard combatant. She is an absolute anomaly. Her mana density defies logic…’

‘I know, Bloom,’ Tej thought back with her jaw tightening. ‘But I am the Queen. I will not be looked down upon by a human.’

Tej took a slow, deep breath, centering herself and her aura flared in an explosive suffocating wave of ancient bloodlust that made the very air in the arena grow heavy.

“If you’re in such a rush, Hakai…” Tej called back venomously. “then I suggest you defend yourself properly. I will not hold back.”

Hakai simply checked her expensive, diamond-encrusted wristwatch, tapped the face once, and lowered her arm.

“Begin whenever you’re ready,” Hakai said.

Tej moved.

She didn’t run… she simply ceased to exist in her starting position.

BOOM!

A sonic boom shattered the air where Tej had just been standing with the reinforced floor cracking under the raw force of her launch.

She crossed the massive distance of the arena in a fraction of a millisecond.

As she moved, Tej raised her right hand. Viscous, hyper-condensed crimson blood erupted from her palm, instantly crystallizing and elongating into a massive, wicked, razor-sharp Blood Blade.

The weapon practically glowed with lethal cutting power.

She appeared directly in front of Hakai, swinging the heavy crimson blade in a devastating, horizontal arc aimed straight at the First Wife’s neck.

Hakai didn’t flinch.

Without moving her feet, Hakai simply reached her right hand downward into her own shadow.

The darkness bubbled like boiling tar, and she effortlessly pulled out a jet-black blade made of pure hyper-condensed darkness.

It drank the light around it as it was a physical manifestation of the abyss. She raised the shadow blade in a one-handed, casual parry.

CLANG!

The collision between the crystallized Blood Blade and the condensed Shadow Blade was catastrophic.

BAM!

A massive, visible shockwave of red and black energy exploded outward from the point of impact.

The force of the clash blasted the air out of the arena, creating a vacuum that shrieked as the atmosphere rushed back in.

The reinforced, rune-covered floor beneath them instantly spider-webbed with deep fissures with the bedrock groaning under the pressure.

Up in the observation deck, Victoria gasped, gripping the edge of the sofa as the five-foot-thick magical glass rattled violently in its frame.

The power scaling was absurd!

Tej’s eyes widened in genuine shock.

She had put enough force into that swing to cut a mountain in half, and Hakai had stopped it dead with one hand with her posture perfectly relaxed but Tej was a veteran of the Apocalypse… She didn’t freeze…

Using the rebound of the clash, Tej twisted her body elegantly mid-air, using her momentum to spin into a rapid, relentless flurry of strikes.

CLANG! BAM! CRACK!

Sparks of red and black lightning rained across the arena as the two weapons met again and again.

Tej moved like a crimson dancer, her strikes coming from impossible angles, utilizing centuries of refined flawless swordsmanship.

She swept low, thrust high, and chained her attacks together in a seamless suffocating offensive meant to overwhelm any defense.

Hakai met every single strike but therelentless volume and technique of the ancient Vampire Queen was undeniable.

BAM!

Tej landed a brutal, heavy overhead smash with her Blood Blade. Hakai caught it on her shadow sword, but the physical force of the blow was too great.

Hakai was forced to slide backward.

Her black high heels carved two deep, smoking trenches through the runic floor as she skidded back several yards with the friction generating sparks of raw heat.

Tej landed gracefully, her Blood Blade humming at her side, breathing heavily but smiling triumphantly.

She had done it… She had physically pushed the immovable wall backward!

Hakai came to a halt, looking down at the smoking trenches she had just carved into her own floor with a look of mild annoyance.

“Impressive,” Hakai said with her voice sounding perfectly calm, there was not a hint of breathlessness in her tone.

She slowly raised her head with her purple eyes locking onto Tej, devoid of all light.

“My turn.”