Chapter 163

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Things the Villains Care About

Still unclear about the details, Ash could only comply with Regina’s instructions and pull out his card magazine to transform into Longya form.

Of course, no matter the situation, Ash wasn’t going to stand idly by, since changing Regina from someone he knew to being even more unreasonable at first sight was something Ash simply couldn’t bear.

On one occasion, late at night in the Selfish Organization’s base, Ash came back from buying coffee supplies when he noticed only the princess’s room was lit. Curious, he snuck up and peeked through the door crack to see what the princess was up to so late.

Not expecting anything sinister, Ash thought the princess stayed up just for leisure. Instead, he saw her struggling with gears from the Dark Squad under the lamplight.

Those gears Ash had given Regina to charge. As summoning tools made by imitating super squad’s mighty powers, charging these Dark Squad gears required immense darkness and intricate processes. Just the repair of a single adventurer’s gear had tired Regina out significantly.

Initially, Ash knew the gear charge wouldn’t be swift. With a mindset of helping as many as he could, he had entrusted them to Regina without much worry.

From the start, Ash never believed Regina could complete them all.

Unexpectedly, he saw Regina struggling in the dark past midnight. Even after several times of dozing off on the table, she wiped the drool away and continued working with the gears.

Until that day, as Regina finally collapsed for good and fell into deep sleep, Ash carefully moved her into bed and covered her with a blanket.

The next morning, Regina acted nonchalantly and returned the gears while saying she could handle more. Ash silently stashed the huge pile of gears elsewhere.

When he questioned Regina’s dedication, her reply was direct, “Since you’re my knight, as your princess, I naturally would pay close attention to you!”

Ash then no longer viewed this princess merely as an easy ATM.

“I am not good, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about people.”

“Regina, even if you are the daughter of the Selfish King, I know you aren’t entirely selfish.”

Thus, if he ever found the perpetrator behind the scenes…

He was determined to extract both kidneys from them!

“Mr. Ash…”

Facing the girl who wanted to say more, Ash made a cross gesture to stop her.

“This isn’t a situation resolved by words alone, right?”

The girls looked at each other and decided to transform first.

“PrecureLoveLink!”

Time urgent, skipping the naming phase, the four Pretty Cures placed Ai at the battle’s edge safely before confronting Ash in the art gallery.

“Sorry, I’ll honor our previous promise later. Right now, I hope you can cooperate with me slightly.”

Though someone told me agreements must be kept, there’s no rule that they need to be observed instantly. Hence, I’m not breaking any promises.

“Huh, can agreements be postponed? Wah—!”

Before love finished her sentence, Ash scared her into an exclamation, hastily crossing arms in defense.

Fortunately, through battles till now, these girls surpassed their old selves. Arisu and Rikka attacked from left and right, forcing Ash to abandon pursuit. Makoto took advantage, her purple glowing sword clashing with Longya’s head in a precise strike.

Reaching out to grab the wrist, Ash threw Makoto behind him, only to be stopped by Arisu. Rikka caught Makoto before she collided with nearby sculptures, preventing further harm.

Turning to look at Regina, noticing her gaze on himself, Ash had to muster effort.

Just like last time, Ash held onto Arisu’s wrist preparing to fling her, but she leaped and wrapped her strong leg around his arm, twisting violently like a crocodile rolling over prey, spinning Ash to the ground as a pivot point.

“Took my technique against me?”

“Ash-san, it’s part of your training results.”

Rolling far to create distance, the now numb-handed Ash laughed. Facing Six and Love’s simultaneous kicks, he didn’t fight back but rather grabbed Makoto’s hand sneaking from behind, pinning her forcefully.

“Defensive Descent!”

“What!?”

Makoto exclaimed in shock; the others reacted by redirecting, skidding uncontrollably in a heap.

Makoto struggled but her hand remained trapped, feeling the cold sweat on her forehead.

“How could you use me as a shield; that’s too unfair!”

“You made yourself flat; even Ultraman’s would look bigger!” Gazing at Manny’s chest pose stone sculpture, indeed it’s larger.

“A mere pose won’t hurt.”

Ash’s unexpected comment made Makoto blush, her anger increasing, stomping furiously.

“You pervert who always stares at girls’ chests!”

“There’s nothing to see worth looking at.”

Instantly, he felt a pain in his foot. Looking down, he saw Makoto stomping his toes with her high heels.

“Haha, stepping on toes – child’s play—”

Caught off guard, Ash flew back after a powerful kick from the other three enraged girls.

The battle was ongoing, every time Ash intended to attack either side, he’d counterattacked strongly by the remaining three. Gradually, the tide turned toward Pretty Cure.

“Hmm, somewhat teamwork.”

Bumping into obstacles doesn’t halt heroes but helps grow them. So, Ash felt his endeavors weren’t wasted.

Because it’s more interesting like this…oh, bad habit almost got the best of me. Almost forgot, today isn’t about fighting.

“Don’t underestimate Pretty Cure, Mr. Ash. Even though you’re strong, we are also getting stronger!”

Despite this being something that would make Ash happy normally, his current focus was not on them.

He glanced back toward the unusually state-regulated Regina, still clutching the royal gem desperately.

Should’ve disposed of that troublemaking thing earlier. Any methods to stir her awareness…Ah, Eureka!