Volume 3, Chapter 38 – An Unanswered Call

“…”

The scene was silent for about two seconds.

Only the faint sound of breathing remained in the hall.

Of course, there’s no response.

Fia couldn’t help but facepalm internally. She knew she was talking to a thoughtless crystal, yet she still tried to communicate with it. It was a good thing Lianne didn’t understand the language of the Human Alliance, otherwise, she would surely be laughing at her right now. The embarrassment would be so great that even crawling into a hole in the ground wouldn’t be enough to hide it.

“Lady Fia, what was that just now…? I have never heard that language before.”

Faced with Lianne’s confusion, Fia waved her hand.

“It’s nothing, don’t mind it.”

She couldn’t just say that she suspected the Witch’s Heart Core had a consciousness of its own. Lianne would surely think it was a ghost story. To have one’s soul stored in a conscious object was a thought unsettling enough to make one lose sleep.

Only Milu raised her eyebrows, her expression full of indignation.

“It’s just playing dead, afraid that we’ll discover it.”

“Discover it? I’ve been meaning to ask since just now… does Euphimilu mean to say that the Heart Core has a mind of its own?” Lianne furrowed her non-existent brows, a thoughtful tone in her voice.

“Indeed, there have been some witches in the past, including my predecessor, who said they felt the Heart Core had self-awareness. But there is no evidence to prove that it has a soul. For thousands of years, the Heart Core has remained the same, and the witch’s ritual has not changed in the slightest. The idea that it has self-awareness is just a misconception. Why do you say it has a consciousness, Euphimilu?”

“It created me.”

Milu’s serious answer made Lianne chuckle.

“Hehe, the Heart Core has always been in this sealed room. How could it possibly create life? Besides, to create life without relying on the union of a man and a woman, only the Holy Tree of the elf race can do that in the entire World Tree Continent. And then there are familiars, which are not considered true life. The Heart Core is just a container. How could it create life, especially since you are a Stellacryst? The body of a Stellacryst is much more complex than that of a human.”

Noticing the growing displeasure on Milu’s face, Lianne sighed lightly and changed her tune. ¹ yeh noisy noisy granma

“I understand your feelings. Because of the slave contract, you cannot leave Byrne City, so in your eagerness, when you see something similar to the ‘crystal’ in your memory, you say that it is your master.”

“But it is.”

“But this is the container where we witches place our souls. Neither you, Euphimilu, nor you, Lady Fia, have any evidence to prove that it has self-awareness. It’s hard to convince me like this, you know?”

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In Lianne’s view, “the Heart Core has self-awareness” was just a childish joke. Although this joke had helped her to discover in time that the Heart Core was in danger, a joke was ultimately a joke.

“But since we know it’s because of the slave contract that you can’t leave Byrne City, the next step is not difficult.”

“No… Milu never said that she can’t leave Byrne City because of the slave contract.”

“But besides this possibility, there are no others, are there? Where is there a saying that one would faint immediately upon leaving a certain place? It’s not like she’s an undead who would rot as soon as she leaves the aura of death. You can leave the slave contract to me. A contract is a type of magic. Any magic can be destroyed by a stronger magic, and contracts are the same. As long as you use a magic that destroys magic or a higher-level slave contract to override it, the old one will collapse and become invalid.”

“I am called the Constellation Witch. Besides being skilled in summoning meteorites to attack, I am also skilled in divination and astrology. Astrology includes arcane magic like contract arts. With a little time to study, I can transfer the master of the contract to you, Lady Fia.”

“Can’t you just make the contract disappear?”

The reason she had wanted to find Milu’s master, besides understanding why she fainted as soon as she left Byrne City, was to return her freedom. Milu would be returning to the Elf Kingdom with her anyway; it didn’t matter if she was a slave or not.

“If it were a magic researcher skilled in Law Magic, they could use a spell like [Contract Destruction] to dissolve a slave contract. But the Arcane Magic I’m skilled in can only transfer the contract’s subject. If you want to dissolve the contract, Lady Fia, you can find a magic researcher skilled in Law Magic after returning to the Elf Kingdom. Although both Arcane and Law Magic are outdated, since you have the status of an elf princess, you should be able to find a suitable person quickly. In any case, I will first transfer the master of the contract to you, and then you can find someone else after you return to your country. This will solve the problem of Euphimilu not being able to leave Byrne City.”

“Hmm… alright then.”

Although Fia really wanted to say that she didn’t know if Milu’s inability to leave Byrne City was due to the slave contract, transferring the master of the contract to herself was something that had to be done in the future anyway. Doing it now made no difference. It was better than letting someone she didn’t even know the name of be Milu’s master.

When she was staying at the slave trader’s residence, Fia had heard what a slave contract was. Once a person was branded as a slave, they would first legally lose their status as a “citizen” and would no longer be protected by the law, becoming something akin to livestock. Second, both physically and mentally, they would be constantly bound by the slave brand. If a master ordered a slave to do something and the slave refused, they would be tormented by the brand and feel a pain worse than death. It was said that after experiencing it once, a slave would rather smash their head against a wall and die than experience it a second time.

Fortunately, Milu’s master had never given her any orders. She had only seen it once when she was born. Otherwise, if she had met Milu’s master, she probably would have couldn’t help but twist its head off.

But then again, Milu had just said, “it created me.” That should mean “manufactured,” not “born,” right? A crystal couldn’t possibly give birth to a child. She should ask her properly when they got back. The language of the Human Alliance, the creation of artificial life, and considering there was also a short-haired Milu, perhaps her master was trying to create life, and even each “Milu” had its own number, like Milu 001, Milu 002… it was very much in the naming style of the Human Alliance.

If it wasn’t an enemy, she really wanted to see how it had accomplished all this in a world without even a scientific basis—it must have something to do with magic.

“I wonder if that group of Darkborn will make a comeback.”

Her gaze wandering between the Heart Core and the Knowledge-seeking Demon General, who was held in a giant hand, Lianne’s black mist-like body held her chin in thought.

“I can’t touch anything with a physical form. I need someone to move the Heart Core to the surface. May I trouble you to go up and call some people down, Lady Fia? I need to stay here and guard the Heart Core and this Darkborn.”

“No problem. I’ll leave the matter of transferring Milu’s slave contract to you, Miss Lianne.”

“You are the Lady Guided One. Transferring a contract is no burden to me. You don’t have to mind it. Besides, if not for you, I might not have discovered the abnormality here. I should be the one thanking you.”

Lianne bowed slightly.

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It was clear that she really respected her.

Compared to the Guided One, Lianne is more concerned about my status as the First Princess of the elves, Fia had a gut feeling. Everyone said that the Elf Kingdom was the foremost power in the northern continent. As an elf princess, it would be strange if she weren’t respected.

In addition, perhaps it was Fia’s imagination, but she felt that Lianne had beast ears on her head. Not only that, but she also had several tails behind her. On the way here, Lianne had always been a cloud of black mist and had not shown a human form. It was only now when she bowed that Fia noticed that her body was rather petite, only a little taller than herself.

Fia asked almost subconsciously.

“Were you a beastman before, Lianne?”

“Y-you noticed?” Lianne’s voice was suddenly flustered, and she hastily changed her body back into a cloud of black mist. “I… I was indeed a beastman before. Because my Multi-tailed Fox Tribe has always been petite, I look like a child. In fact, before I became a witch, I was already twenty years old.”

Twenty years old.

She feels like a petite but mature big sister.

“From the Cold Night Alliance?”

“Yes.” At this, a distant look appeared in Lianne’s words. “The Multi-tailed Fox Tribe is skilled in divination and astrology and has always been the right-hand of the royal family of the Cold Night Alliance. However, at that time, the Lionfolk usurped the throne of the Tigerfolk, and we, who had long served as sages, also lost power.

Later, the twenty-third prince of the Lionfolk, seeing that I was somewhat attractive, tricked me into his tent. I realized his intentions and had no choice but to kill him.

Afterwards, to escape pursuit, I had no choice but to become a witch. That’s why I was so impolite to you when I first heard of your noble status. I was out of line. Please forgive me.”

“I didn’t mind it. Alright, I’ll go up and inform the witches. Please wait for me for a moment, Lianne.”

“Thank you, Lady Fia.”

Holding Milu’s hand, Fia left the room where the Witch’s Heart Core was stored.

Perhaps the Chaos had destroyed the no-fly ward in the shaft when it entered, because Fia could use [Flight] freely here.

Golden wings soon appeared on Fia’s back. However, Milu pursed her lips and lowered her head, a worried look on her face.

Although she knew that Milu’s mental age was older than her appearance, Fia couldn’t help but smile. She stopped flying, her ruby-like eyes widening slightly.

“What’s wrong? You look so worried.”

Being asked by Fia, Milu’s waist-length white hair trembled slightly. She looked up and asked worriedly.

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“Do you not like me, master?”

“Why do you say that?”

“You want to dissolve the contract…”

So that’s it. Fia had a sudden realization. No wonder Milu had been quiet since then. She explained with a smile.

“I just want to return your freedom, Milu. I don’t mean to abandon you. You look a lot like someone I know. I bet she’ll really like you.”

Hearing the first half of the sentence, Milu had a look of relief, and even the white feathered wings by her ears relaxed. But by the second half, her relaxation quickly disappeared. She reached out her small hand and held Fia’s, her crimson cat’s eyes fixed on Fia’s face as if to see through to her heart.

“Is it that woman named Claire?”

“Yes.”

Fia squeezed Milu’s hand back.

Considering that just holding Milu’s hand while ascending would be painful for her, Fia wrapped her arm around her waist and slowly flapped her wings to ascend. At this time, the Chaos in the shaft had disappeared, leaving only the cracks all over the walls to prove that they had been there. In addition, chaotic sounds came from above, clearly the witches had also noticed the commotion at the bottom of the shaft and were preparing to come down to support.

But that had nothing to do with Milu. She just looked up at Fia’s face as if to confirm something.

“Do you like Claire a lot, master?”

“I do.”

After all, they were already in a relationship. There was nothing wrong with admitting it openly.

A thoughtful look on her face, Milu withdrew her gaze from Fia. But in return, she wrapped her arms around Fia’s waist, and as if to listen to her heartbeat, she pressed her cheek against Fia’s chest, hugging her back.

“I want to hear the story of you and Claire.”

Is this a lost child seeking warmth from me?

Although she was slightly surprised by Milu’s initiative, Fia did not show any resistance. After all, Milu was a child about the same size as Liti, like her own younger sister. Fia answered with a smile.

“No problem. I was just about to tell you about her. If Claire sees you, she should be very happy.”

“Happy? Shouldn’t she be angry?”

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Still not looking at Fia, Milu just contentedly pressed herself against her, feeling her warmth and softness.

“Why would she be angry…”

Fia couldn’t help but find it amusing.

If Milu were a young lady like Estelle, Claire might have misunderstood that she had fallen for someone else. But Milu was a child even smaller than Liti; it was impossible for Claire to have negative thoughts.

More than that, Fia felt that Claire would sigh with the thought that “there is someone in the world who is similar to me,” and then be happy that she had brought back this little girl who resembled her. She had found a “kindred spirit” for Claire.

Claire would probably treat Milu like a younger sister.

She was really looking forward to when the two of them would meet.

But before that, she had to properly introduce Claire to Milu.

Thinking about such things, Fia soon arrived at the top of the shaft under the exaggerated, wide-eyed expressions of the witches. It was only later that she learned that the no-fly ward had not disappeared. The witches were shocked at how someone could use [Flight] in the shaft.

◇

The next day.

Byrne City was even noisier today than yesterday.

Due to time constraints, Baron Khesa had not been able to present many things on the first day, such as the play reenacting Thanatos’s defeat of the Flame King, high-quality barbecue and ale, and a magic performance troupe invited from elsewhere.

And today, these things have been supplemented. Bards on parade floats sang of the Flame King’s death. Countless farmers and hunters who had rushed from the villages outside the city also finally understood why the surrounding environment had changed so drastically and happily joined the week-long carnival, so much so that there were seas of people everywhere, and the city was filled with a joyous atmosphere.

However, only Liti and Anastasia had experienced the carnival yesterday. Fia and Milu had missed the scene of Baron Khesa standing on the bell tower, praising Thanatos, because they were dealing with the commotion caused by the Darkborn in the Witch Hall.

Whether it was a coincidence that she had missed it, or a deliberate avoidance of this embarrassing play, only Fia herself knew.

In any case, Fia was now sitting in the City Lord’s Manor as Thanatos. In front of her was the primly seated Baron Khesa—a man of medium build in his thirties, with a white turban and a full beard, a style reminiscent of the Middle East. It was worth mentioning that Fia had not said that she wanted a secret meeting, but the baron had still dismissed all the servants, with a solemn expression as if discussing a major matter.

It wasn’t that major of a matter.

Fia, hidden under the mask, stuck out her tongue.