Volume 3, Chapter 40 – Improving Strength

In the hundred-square-meter conference hall, a huge crystal that would take several adults to encircle floated slowly in the center.

The long table that should have been in the middle of the hall had been removed earlier. Now, only a few chairs and a desk remained. The sparse furnishings, in contrast to the grand decor, made the room feel incredibly desolate.

Of course, not everyone thought so. For example, the Witch’s Heart Core, or rather, Laplace’s Demon, certainly did not feel that way at this moment.

Because it was currently deep in anxiety and tension.

The underground world had no change of day and night, so it did not know how much time had passed. But one thing was certain: every second it spent here was an unbearable torment—had the Knowledge-seeking Demon General betrayed it? Had that red-eyed test subject persuaded those witches? And that person who claimed to be from the Human Alliance, how could it contact her? All sorts of questions made Laplace’s Demon feel extremely anxious.

Earlier, when it saw the test subject it had created appear at the door of the room, it had already sensed that something was wrong. Most of the knowledge the test subject possessed had been instilled into her mind by it. Therefore, it was very likely that she knew it had self-awareness. And later, when she had spoken to it as if communicating with a person, Laplace’s Demon had thought that it had been exposed, that the witches knew it was a thing with self-awareness. Fortunately, the sword in the test subject’s hand had exposed her; a threat meant that she was not one hundred percent certain. The witches did not know it had a consciousness, so Laplace’s Demon had calmed down and remained motionless, no matter what the test subject did.

However, when that elf—the one who gave a sense of familiarity and warmth, even like that of seeing one’s own father—appeared, the heart that Laplace’s Demon had just put down was once again on edge.

First was the observation, then the use of a language that should not exist in this world, and even statements like “from the Human Alliance,” “the Shining Era,” and “the universe is about to become desolate.” Even though the language had a heavy accent, almost making it unrecognizable to Laplace’s Demon, these statements all pointed to one answer: that elf, like it, was from that star-encircled, lonely planet, Earth.

Meeting a fellow countryman in a foreign land, a strong sense of kinship and homesickness immediately welled up in its heart. Laplace’s Demon almost blurted out that it was also from Earth, and a super-intelligent being that had managed interstellar colonization. However, the words reached its lips, and it forcibly held them back.

It knew what it meant to speak. Once the witches knew that their souls were stored in a thing with self-awareness, they would surely become anxious. It was like waking up one day with a slave brand on your body, your life and death in the hands of a stranger. Anyone would be furious and try every means to regain their ownership.

If it, Laplace’s Demon, knew a way to transfer souls, it would be fine. Then it could leave the Witch’s Heart Core and live its own life. But it didn’t. Therefore, unless it was tired of living, it could not speak at that time.

As a price, it lost the opportunity to contact its fellow countryman.

During this time, it had been regretting why it had never thought before that it was not a special case, that there might be other people from its homeland on the World Tree Continent. On second thought, weren’t those people called Saints, who came from another world, its own kind?

Being immersed in its own world had caused it to miss too many things. What had happened to Earth? What had happened later? Had the “Human Alliance” become a reality? What was the deal with the Shining Era and the universe becoming desolate?

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Once it was clear that the answers to these questions were within its grasp, Laplace’s Demon’s curiosity could no longer be suppressed. Its urgency for these answers even briefly surpassed its fanaticism for the soul, to the point of being restless.

Unfortunately, it was just a crystal. It couldn’t grow legs and leave, not to mention that it was currently in a predicament. The sudden attack by the Darkborn had made Lianne extra cautious, and she had moved the Witch’s Heart Core to a position where she could see it at all times. To make matters worse, the only one who could help it, the Knowledge-seeking Demon General, had also been captured. Heaven knew when he would break under torture and expose its identity. Now, it could only pray that the witches would not believe his words, so that it could find an opportunity to contact its fellow countryman.

At this thought, Laplace’s Demon couldn’t help but let out a long sigh in its heart. Recalling how Lianne had respected that elf, perhaps that elf had some say among the witches. If it had summoned the courage to speak at that time, she might have been able to protect it for the time being.

But that was all in the past.

I have to find a way to contact her—wait, there seems to be a spell in the witches’ memories called [Familiar Creation]. Its effect is to create something like a mouthpiece, to act as eyes, a mouth, and ears. If I can create a familiar to contact that elf, I can bypass Lianne…

As soon as the thought came, it immediately acted. While remaining wary of Lianne in the room, Laplace’s Demon began to search for the [Familiar Creation] spell in the sea of information.

◇

“Little Milu, you’re going in too deep! —[Fairy Fire]!”

The storm stirred up by the magic blew Liti’s purple hair. She quickly chanted in the elf language, and the staff in her hand shot out a fireball the size of a human head.

Although it was only a very small degree, it had to be admitted that the fireball Liti had launched was a little bigger than before.

Watching from a distance, Fia nodded lightly. In [Wind of Exploration], the color of Liti’s mana was already very close to the cyan that represented the Third Rank; she had touched its threshold.

Her fighting posture was also very beautiful.

The white, one-piece dress style magic robe, combined with her flowing purple hair, her straight posture, and her porcelain-white calves under the skirt, all exuded a sense of majesty, even though Liti only had the body of a child. This was probably the innate temperament of an elf princess, Fia thought. Liti was usually crotchety, but when it was time to show a polite side, her temperament would become extremely elegant, giving a sense of holiness and distance befitting a princess.

Thump.

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Less than a second later, the fireball landed behind a Fire-striped Frog that was attempting a sneak attack. The frog was sent flying as if hit by a huge rock.

“[Heavy Strike].”

Then, before the frog could fall face-first into the sand, its body was suddenly split in two, severed at the waist. Strangely, the scene of blood flying everywhere did not occur. The frog’s blood, as if absorbed by something, did not fall to the ground at all.

The one who had dealt with the frog was, of course, Milu. At this time, Milu had split her two-handed sword into two, one gray and one red. The one that had cut the frog was the red one. As for why she did not faint in the desert, the reason was that her range of action was just that large. Her range was not the standard size of Byrne City, but a little larger—after leaving the inn, Fia had tried to take her to the great desert.

“Thanks.”

Thanking Liti in a tone devoid of emotional fluctuation, Milu continued to engage in the almost one-sided slaughter. Her white hair danced on the yellow sand, and her crimson eyes flashed from time to time, a kind of cold and beautiful violence.

“They’re finally coordinating a little.”

Standing in the distance, Fia commented softly.

What was currently underway was a special training session for Liti and Milu. The mana of these two was too low, and in many cases, they needed Anastasia’s protection. To give them the ability to protect themselves in an emergency, increasing their mana capacity was a must.

“Her Highness Liti is too lacking in combat training… She’s almost at the Third Rank, yet the number of monsters she’s killed is not even as good as the First Rank Euphimilu. Although that sword is also a factor, the gap is too obvious.

Haah, but it’s already amazing that she is willing to train. Normally, her teacher always complains that she is skilled on paper but lacks practical experience, and she would only go out when His Majesty personally intervened. If not for your request, Your Highness, she would never have come here.”

Anastasia said with a wry smile, one hand on the hilt of her sword at her waist. In terms of blood, she was Liti’s older sister, but in terms of status, she was a sinner. Therefore, even if she felt that Liti should practice magic more in the royal palace, she could not just say so.

“I’m not forcing her. I just said that if she wants to leave Silvar in the future and doesn’t want to stay in the royal palace, she must improve her strength. This was her own choice. Well, as her older sister, I’m also very happy to see her raise her rank.”

Putting aside the part about sexually harassing her older sister, Liti was still a very cute younger sister.

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Regarding the great desert, as Lianne had said, there were still remaining Fire-striped Frogs. When Fia had used [Firestorm] to create a huge commotion, they had popped out from under the sand like mushrooms after a rain. This was exactly the result Fia had wanted. Having mana without monsters would not allow one to raise their rank.

Following Anastasia’s words, Fia’s gaze fell on Milu, who was charging at the front. At first, because she had never seen Milu fight, for safety, Fia had chosen to create a barrier with [Telekinesis], letting the frogs in one by one for her to fight one-on-one, just as she had done with Liti.

However, it turned out that Fia had underestimated Milu. She dealt with the frogs faster than Fia could let them in. The extremely long attack range of the two-handed sword meant that the frogs were cut in two before they could even get close to her. The process was even easier than slicing melons and vegetables.

Therefore, after that, Fia gradually increased the number of frogs she let in, and under Anastasia’s suggestion that “the difficulty should be increased for the sake of real combat,” she tried not to interfere in their fight as much as possible, letting in fifteen frogs at a time for them to fight in coordination.

As a result, it had been two hours since Fia’s group had arrived in the great desert. In the meantime, Milu had replenished her mana no less than ten times, and Liti six times. Apart from the beginning when their coordination was poor and their attacks would occasionally land on the same frog, causing Milu to become the target of magic, there had been no other dangerous situations.

“Anastasia, are all Stellacrysts like this? I mean, with frighteningly strong stamina.”

After two hours, even Liti, who only needed to stand at the back and chant, was showing signs of inattention and fatigue. But Milu, as a warrior who needed to constantly swing her sword and remain vigilant, showed no signs of exhaustion at all.

“Not at all. The stamina and mana of Stellacrysts are indeed superior to humans, and their stamina is even stronger than that of beastmen. But at only the First Rank, two hours should have been the limit long ago. However, I suspect that Euphimilu has probably sensed that she is about to break through to the Second Rank after killing so many Fire-striped Frogs, and with that strange sword, that’s why she has been able to last so long.”

“After all, it’s normally difficult to find so many monsters of a suitable rank, and with an infinite supply of magic potions behind her, the gains from these two hours are greater than several weeks or even months of normal training. If she doesn’t seize this opportunity, it will be difficult to encounter it again. Most people don’t spend all their time hunting monsters; most of the time, they have to work for a living.”

“I see.”

Fia nodded thoughtfully.

She had practically watched the color of Milu’s mana lighten bit by bit. Anastasia’s explanation had dispelled her question of “since there’s no difficulty in getting from the First to the Second Rank, why do so many adventurers and soldiers not even have Second Rank strength.”

If one had to spend their time on living, then it was indeed difficult to raise one’s level. For example, the preparation time might be one or two months, but the actual fighting time would be less than an hour.

“I just didn’t expect that the weapon Euphimilu chose would turn out to be a Crimson Gold-rank. Even Lady Erin Slate, as the Commander of the Royal Guard, only uses a weapon of that rank. This child’s eye for things is much better than mine. From my observation, that red sword should be able to absorb the enemy’s blood and convert it into stamina. But as for the gray sword, I haven’t figured out its effect yet.”

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“The gray sword is called ‘The Undead Princess’s Hatred.’ It can break simple magic defenses.”

This was the content displayed by [Beginner’s Appraisal]. In addition, both swords had an additional spell called [Chain Thrust], but that seemed to have a usage threshold. Fia had never seen Milu use it.

At this point, Anastasia tilted her head slightly and looked at Fia’s profile, her expression full of seriousness and thought.

“Since you intend to keep Euphimilu by your side, and she is a warrior who uses a sword, can you let me teach her? Her posture when she swings her sword is too clumsy, and the way she uses her mana is also wrong. Her whole body is full of openings.

The Fire-striped Frogs are weak, so she can defeat them just by swinging her sword normally. However, a real battle will not always be this one-sided. When she encounters a slightly stronger opponent, she will be at a disadvantage. She needs someone to guide her to become a qualified warrior.”

Fia was a layman when it came to magic melee combat and couldn’t teach Milu anything. Anastasia’s volunteering to teach could just make up for her own shortcomings—while Anastasia was teaching Milu, she could also watch from the side and “steal” some techniques.

Fia nodded readily.

“Yes, no problem. I’ll tell her when she gets back. That’s all for today. There’s still some time before sunset. Let’s find a shady place to rest for a while, and then go to the Witch Hall.”

“Go to the Witch Hall? Does Your Highness intend to accept the identity of the Guided One?”

Anastasia’s lively blue eyes widened, her expression surprised. It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard Fia talk about the Darkborn attacking the Witch Hall, but in her opinion, that was their own business and had nothing to do with Fia.

Fia gave a wry smile.

“It’s not that I’m accepting the identity of the Guided One. I just feel sorry for Friede and the others and want to help them out, and also give them some gifts.”

The lives of those young witches seemed to be very difficult. Fia planned to go to the street to buy some candy and cakes to improve their living conditions. Furthermore, since Baron Khesa was clearly moved by what she had said and would surely go to find Friede later, Fia had to tell Friede in advance to think of a name for her organization and get ready.