13th floor of Orum Arx is an open plain with random elevations here and there. The only noticeable aspect of this floor is that the grass growing here is greyish in color. The grass is known to be a bit poisonous when ingested but strangely works well as an ointment for small wounds if you grind it while adding water. Well, that is not important for now. Liz and I are currently not too far from the teleportation circle to go up the floor.

“Liz, watch out.”

Liz responded by running to her 5 o’clock, then something hit the ground where she was a moment ago and left a small crater.

Liz is currently battling against a demon beast, Olzia, giant bird with wingspan reaching 7 meters, the floor boss. The one that made the crater was an air bullet, it’s capable to suck in air making its chest bulge and shot it in a compressed form. Its movements are rather fast and it spends most of its time airborne, rendering earth magic rather unusable so Liz is limited to her fire magic since she doesn’t have many non-elemental attack magic.

“What’s wrong, Liz? you’ve only been running the whole time.”

“B, but I can’t get any chance to concentrate!”

As she said so, she desperately jumped to her side, avoiding a sweeping flight attack from the Olzia.

I held my urge to help her since she still wears her I won’t give up face. Liz is fighting alone because she suddenly told me that she wanted to try fighting without my help. It was fine until now since after wearing the ring her magic attack raised and overpowered most of the demon beasts, killing them instantly. However the Olzia is the type to recklessly and relentlessly attack its enemies, it also moves quickly, Liz barely had any chance to use her magic and is forced to keep dodging. I’m kind of worried since her movements are not so quick but she managed to adjust her timing well enough to avoid the bird’s attacks perfectly.

But, because she is too focused on dodging she could barely use her magic. She was the first to attack with flame arrows but the Olzia charged right at the arrows and at Liz with a loud shriek, startling her, making the flame arrows lose some of their firepower. Since then Liz has been on defense.

She seemed to be calm enough if she could dodge the Olzia’s attack but you can see that she’s starting to be desperate for a chance to counter because she made some attempt but the Olzia always managed to get the upper hand due to its speed.

“Liz, calm down. Also, magic is not just for attacking.”

“Fue?”

Liz looked at me so I pointed at the Olzia to tell her that it’s going to attack her again. She had to do a sudden jump to dodge its air bullet which she, magnificently, landed face first.

I was going to go get her up and help but she stood up by herself, and looked at the Olzia with dirty face and only a bit teary eyes.

“Erik, is there anybody else besides us around?”

She asked me while focusing on the Olzia. So I sharpened my sense.

“There are a fight occuring on the other side of this floor but there’s nobody else close by. You’re free to use short incantations and any kind of spell”

The teleportation circle is close by but it will light up if somebody is using it so I will be able to do something when someone is going down here.

“Alright!”

The tenacious olzia is of course preparing another attack, judging by how much its chest is bulging the incoming attack would be stronger. It then shot a huge compressed air ball at Liz but Liz wasn’t moving, she seemed to be concentrating. I almost jumped to shield her but then I heard…

“En Ornis Augmn”

Liz chanted a spell while covering her face with both arms then I saw her body covered with reddish aura before the air bullet hit her. The blast blew the ground and scattered some rocks and created a cloud of dust, hiding Liz from my sight. Liz’s beret got blown away and fell down slowly close to me so I caught it. Then Liz suddenly jumped out of the dust cloud and ran approaching the Olzia with a speed you wouldn’t believe came from a little girl with a clumsy way of running.

Her clothes are in a mess but they seemed to be undamaged, Liz herself also looked to be fine but a red aura emanates from her.

“I see, non-elemental body enhancement spell, eh?”

Non elemental spell is the most versatile magic there is in this world with hundreds or even thousands of spells. However someone possessing non-elemental affinity is rather rare. Someone with non-elemental affinity would be able to get high position as court magician even if he or she does not possess another affinity. Rifst for example only have 15 non-elemental magic users from within around 6.000 magic users it has in the army. All 15 of them were also the ones who summoned me to this world and 5 of them were in the position akin to a general of the knights.

Come to think of it, the empire has more magic user than any other human countries, but the ones who used annihilation spell on us should be high level court magicians of the empire. That should make it easier to find them. I remember one with a luxurious black robe, that kind of guy shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Back to Liz, she shot 5 flame arrows from a close range, even the Olzia was surprised and dodged Liz’s flame arrows by flying upwards.

With both her physical and mental capabilities enhanced, Liz could cast her spells in a flash so without a pause she raised her hand and chanted another spell.

“Agis, Lietus Rakan”

Multiple volley ball sized flame spheres appeared around the Olzia, obstructing any large movements.

Liz made a fist with her raised hand and all the flame spheres moved slowly closing in on the Olzia which seemingly realized how dangerous the flames are and franctically tried to dodge them but as it barely dodged a sphere, Liz shouted “Fragur” and the sphere exploded.

The explosion was strong enough to blast the Olzia away, its sturdy and resistant feathers finally showed some hint of damage. The Olzia corrected its flying posture but another sphere is behind it and exploded even closer than the previous one, blasting it towards another sphere. Thus the Olzia was hurled back and forth by the explosions. After ten or so explosions, the Olzia finally fell down and crashed to the ground with a loud sound. Liz showed a relieved face and relaxed her body, the red aura also dissipated, but suddenly the wounded Olzia jumped and used a dive attack at Liz, clearly a last resort attempt.

“E, Eht Rumeris, Ecdurare!”

I already dashed to grab Liz, but she made 3 layered hardened earth shields in front of her, maybe reflexively.

The Olzia broke through the first one, breaking its beak and diving posture, then the second one crumbled after the Olzia slammed at it and fell down once again, ceasing any life sign.

“Ha…hauuu…”

Liz also fell down on her bottom, her face pale as day.

I approached her and gave her a praise.

“You did great, Liz. I didn’t have to help at all. Hm, what’s wrong?”

Liz is looking at me hesitantly.

“Can we rest here? I can’t muster any strength.”

“Well, the Olzia might have been scary eh? Alright, let’s have some rest. And if it was too much for you, we should cancel going to the 15th floor and come back another day.”

“I, it’s not that! I wasn’t scared! Thi, this is the side effect of Ornis Augmn spell! I can still continue… after some rest.”

“Hmm, I see.”

True, she looks exhausted. Her increased strength didn’t just come out from nowhere. But for now I guess I should do something for her messy face first so I took out a piece of cloth from my bag and poured some drinking water on it.

“Erik doesn’t believe me right? Like I said, I wasn’t scared… Hyauu!”

She squealed as I wiped her dirty face with the cloth.

“I, I can do this myself, I’m not a kid!”

Blushing, she grabbed the cloth and took it from my hand. She then started wiping by her own. What is this feeling? I couldn’t help smiling but it doesn’t really feel good. Big brother felt like his caring act was rejected by his growing up sister.

I tossed the thought away and handed back her beret after she finished cleaning her face which she wears right away.

Something else is now in my mind though. It’s her growth. Compared to most of this world’s resident her growth is indeed faster and better. However I’ll have to retract that she will reach Mira’s level in a few months. I overestimated her… no, I underestimated the heroes’ growth. Not only did we get a head start, what took people tens of years of training took us only a few weeks or months. I guess we were really cheaters in that sense. How long did it take for Orcus to be so strong that it took 5 heroes to defeat him?

As for Liz, she will still be stronger than a high ranking court magician in a few months. But my prediction is that with the same method as I did, alone, she could only reach the top of this tower after at least one year. Not to mention the low survival rate if she do it alone.

And, I guess there is also another thing.

“Liz, I guess we should really head back.”

“Eh, why? I, I’m still okay. Just give me a bit more time to rest.”

“No, it’s not much but you got some scratches on your face. We don’t want them to leave some scar on your cute face later so let’s go back and have someone treat them.”

“Fueee, c,cu,cute!?”

Well, this ‘another thing’ wasn’t the scratches but the old man’s letter. Hm? Why is Liz covering her face with both hands? The scratches weren’t so bad so I don’t think they hurt too much.

“Liz, does it hurt so much?”

“Fue? Ah, no, but, no… un, let’s head back.”

She stood quickly and walks unsteadily ahead.

“Hey, are you really okay? We can still rest here if you want.”

“I’m fine… let’s hurry. It’ll be bad if I have scars on my face r, right?”

“Well, yeah. Then, I’ll take care of the small fries on the way back.”

***

“Nnuuoooooh! Lizzy, what happened to you?”

As we were going to the guild’s infirmary somebody shouted and approached Liz at high speed. I knew who it was though.

“Y, Yusa… I uh, fell in the tower.”

“Humph, how could you let this happen to Lizzy’s cute face, you…

Yusa looked at me while puffing her cheeks but she stopped and looked away as I gave her a glare.

“Erik doesn’t have anything to do with this. I was just not careful enough.”

“H, hey there… Erik… and lil’ Lissa.”

Kaldor and Lloyd waved at me while walking closer.

“Sorry about that, Yusa is always like this.”

As Lloyd said that, he pulled Yusa’s ear.

“Lloyd, it hurts, it hurts!”

“Are the three of you going into the tower?”

I asked and Kaldor then answered.

“Well, yeah. We still need money for living and to pay Randall’s hospital fee. Since there’s only three of us we only planned to go as far as the fourth floor and gather even the lowest grade magic stones. We also took a quest to get some green bat fangs.”

“Better than nothing.”

Lloyd added.

“More importantly! We need to take care of Lizzy’s face so I’m going to the infirmary with her. The tower can wait.”

““Ehhh?””

Kaldor and Lloyd exclaimed in sync.

But wait, this is good.

I leaned and whispered at Liz who strangely blushed as I do so.

“Liz, let’s take her offer. But if anything happens don’t hesitate to use magic and shout my name.”

“I, if Erik says so.”

Thus, Yusa accompanied Liz to the infirmary while I approached Kaldor and Lloyd.

“I have some matter to take care of so I’ll leave Liz with you guys for a while. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten but if anything happens to her…”

I walked by Kaldor and grabbed his shoulder, giving a little force to it.

“D, don’t worry. Like I said before, we’re not going to put our savior in dangerous position.”

“Alright then. If you all going to the tower then tell Liz to wait for me at the receptionist”

I released my grab and left that place, I could hear Kaldor heaved a sigh of relief and Lloyd cheering him up from afar though.

***

I’m now in the third floor of the adventurer guild. This floor is only accessible by guild staff and executive. The people standing guard at the only door to get here let me in after I shown them the card I’m holding which were given to me along with the letter by the old man, a gold card which signifies a guild executive. The guards weren’t surprised that a young unknown adventurer had this card so they must have been informed about me.

I kept walking the hallway since my destination is located in the furthest area, the guild master’s room. Suddenly, I sensed someone ahead so I stopped walking. I don’t know how this person is doing it but this person was actually only using the shadow cast by the sunlight and the window to completely hide his or her presence. If it weren’t for my enhanced perception I would have probably just walked past this guy.

The one hiding seemed to be surprised that I noticed him, or her, and finally came out from the shadow.

It was a woman with guild formal attire, a grey long sleeved blouse with golden embroidery and a matching business styled skirt, her skin is pale white and her hair is of platinum color which somehow complements her skin perfectly, in contrast, her pupils are darker than a lightless night. However the things that caught my attention the most were her two horns protruding from both sides of her head which indicate that she is a high ranking demon race.

“We’ve been expecting you, please follow me.”

She smiled and gestured at me to follow her which I just do.

I couldn’t sense anything that is amiss but I still proceed with caution.

“Please don’t worry, we of the guild bear no ill will to you and your... sister.”

That was an obvious pause at the end.

“Maybe I’ll do that after I know whatever you guys are planning.”

“I see.”

We stopped in front of a dark brown wooden double door with guild emblem’s carving.

The woman opened the door without knocking first and stood by the door, holding it to let me in. I entered the room and I could see the old man sitting behind a working desk. He’s the one from this morning, The guild master of Arx Norr Branch Adventurers’ Guild.

“So you’re Teobaldur, the one who was said to be one of the 7 human within the three nations capable to fight on the same level as the demon generals.”

The old man smiled.

“Nah, that was years ago. I’m too old and rusty right now.”

“Hooo. Well, actually I couldn’t care less about that. Let’s get to the point. What does this mean?”

I took out the paper he gave me and shove it onto his table. The sentence ‘The little lady is in danger, come see me at the guild later if you want to know the details’ is written in it.

“… It is as written in there. The little lady is in danger.”

“How?”

“Let’s say that some people in the guild and the alliance of three nations were informed that a running away demon princess, daughter of Demon Lord Orcus might be in Arx Norr. The alliance also requested the guild to confirm the information which I personally just did this morning.”

Kaldor and his group? No, even if he did report Liz, there is no way the news would reach the three nations that quickly.

As I was in thought, Teobaldur continued.

“Well, it was like this. a week ago the kingdom’s spy got an information about her being in the vicinity and is likely to reach Arx Norr soon. The information also included her name and physical characteristics, it was too detailed so it is likely fake, or something happened over there and it was purposely leaked. Plus there is this report about a little girl who defeated a floor boss with her magic that piqued my interest.”

Kaldor’s report did has some influence then... I should have had Kaldor write that I was the one who killed the floor boss… I didn’t want to take Liz’s accomplishment though.

However, a week ago, it’s around the time we left the cottage, also, I think I gotta agree that it was purposely leaked. Well, I killed the assassins so somehow or another their boss would realize that they’re gone and suspected that something just happened.

“Most likely Berudis, or somebody else who is aiming for the throne…”

Teobaldur’s eyebrows twitched as I said that, well it’s not like I could hide this any longer.

“Also, although small in number, a joint force from Rifst and Zagrant is coming here just in case. They will reach this town in two days. I assume that if they confirmed the information to be true, they will capture the little lady and work out a way or two to use her in the war.”

“So, what are you going to do to Liz then?”

I raised my voice and released a bit of my killing intent. Teobaldur does not react however, the one that reacted was the woman behind me, she dashed at me while taking out a knife from who knows where.

I swiftly moved to the side and as she got close I grabbed her wrist, twisting it to her back. I seized her knife, pointed it at her neck, and so I kind of took a pose like taking her as a hostage.

“Rau’urdanvis”

She chanted and her body suddenly got covered in whirlwind. The wind pushed me back and she took the chance to jump away from me. However, I dashed through the dissipating wind and got in front of the woman in no time, making her calm demeanor crumble into a panic.

I don’t have any intention to kill but I’m thinking to scare her. As I raised my hand to grab her at the neck, suddenly another hand appeared from the side and tried to grab mine which I responded by stopping and retreating a few steps back.

“Stop it right there both of you… and didn’t I tell you to not do anything no matter what, Martlea?”

It was Teobaldur, he stood next to the woman, Martlea, while giving her a few light smacks on the forehead.

“But, guild master… he might have done something to you if I didn’t move first.”

“Can’t you see that he wasn’t even serious? Well, he might just become so, depending on my answer though.”

“Wasn’t serious? Surely you jest, that was real bloodlust! Enough to scare even me.”

Teobaldur squinted his eyes at me and said,

“And if he was serious, not even I could get away unscathed.”

Martlea showed a clear disbelief on her face but it seems she could sense how serious Teobaldur was when he said that then she looked at me as well.

We kept watching each other for a while until Teobaldur be the first to break the ice.

“First, as I said earlier this morning, we of the guild wish to stay neutral we don’t care about war fugitive as long as they don’t do any crime here. Then, the two of you are registered as official adventurers, that means the guild will protect the two of you. The town is both Rifst and the guild’s territory, but this building and the tower are both under the guild’s jurisdiction. Although we have to obey the alliance’s order as not to let anyone to leave this town, there is still some procedure to be done before the investigators can begin their activity here.”

He stopped talking and seemed to be assessing me for a few seconds. I was trying to be as expressionless as possible to hide any sign of both trust and doubt, I can’t show him any opening.

Teobaldur then continued.

“Obviously, I won’t report that I confirmed she is here. Then, given the sheer number of adventurers here, I don’t think they can check each and all registered adventurer. The dispatched team will most likely check all who recently came in and left this town, including the new adventurers registered in the guild. So, even supposing you are capable of getting to the unexplored floor of the tower, since you are already registered I don’t think we can hide you there.”

“How about altering the registry?”

“I think that would be useless, I’m sure you have been in contact with quite a few people, and both of you are already famous as someone who brought a rare magic crystal and saved Kaldor’s team. So even if we alter it, eventually they will still find out about you two. Not to mention that the little lady’s physical characteristics are mentioned in the information.”

Martlea was the one who answered me.

“Huh? I understand getting famous because of the magic crystal, but how would saving that guy’s team make us famous?”

Martlea answered me again.

“A certain woman from a recently formed but bright futured team, well, Kaldor’s team, was bragging about how an amazing cute little girl saved her team to everyone in the bar just yesterday night. And there is only a very small number of little girls registered as adventurer here.”

Okay, let’s give her some hell after this.

“Oh, and I have to remind you that not even everyone in the guild share our belief so you still need to be careful with your secret out there.”

“So, any suggestions on what to do?”

I thought about using force against the investigators if something happens but it is stupid to gain attention of the three nations at this early stage.

Teobaldur approached me and took out a small box from his vest’s inner pocket.

“Simple, just normally participate in everything they wanted us to do without making them realize that the girl is not human.”

“How is that possible, her horns and ears are friggin obvious.”

“Do you know why the existence of our non-human employees isn’t really that known to many?”

Teobaldur opened the box and in it is a necklace with a small golden sphere surrounded by 2 crisscrossing golden rings

“This is an artifact used by spies from the demon race to alter their appearance and blend in with the humans. In short, it contains an ancient unique magic of transformation. Only a handful of people know of its existence. I got some from my connections over that side.”

Ancient magic is a magic that currently no one can use. Modern magic are limited to fire, water, wind, earth, and non-elemental, then nature magic unique to elves, and spirit summoning unique to beastmen. But the ancients can also use lightning, ice, light, darkness, and unique magics which are close to non-elemental but no one can imitate with some exception that still need some special ritual or medium to perform. At least that was what I heard from Mira, the only one from our group who diligently studied magic.

Maybe to prove it, Martlea took out a similar necklace and wear it on. She then seemed to be concentrated in imagining something, and right after she chanted “Artefr” her horns literally popped into smoke. Wait, that figure… isn’t she the apathetic guild official who was our guide when I was a hero? The one whom Surya tried hitting on many times only to have his not so innocent heart broken with sharp devastating words? She never even told us her name.

“You just need to wear the necklace and imagine yourself as something you want to become then chant the magic word, although full body transformation is not recommended since we don’t know if a mishap may occur. Also, it drains mana continuously albeit small in quantity. Imagine your normal self and chant RiArtefr to undo the transformation, taking it off right away will also do but it may cause some unwanted things to happen. ”

Martlea explained.

I reached for the necklace but stopped midway.

“I doubt you have this artifact in high quantity, is this a loan?”

Teobaldur smiled and spoke.

“We are currently in possession of only 3 of this rare artifact, but I intend to give this one to you since you might need this in the future as well. Also, feel free to keep your gold card. ”

“Is that so? Or perhaps you’re also expecting something from me, or from both me and Liz?”

Teobaldur kept silent so I added.

“In the future?”

He smiled once again in response.

“I’ll take that as yes. Alright, I’ll take the necklace and let’s just say I owe you one if nothing bad happens, although when I say ‘bad’ it meant bad for the investigators if you know what I mean.”

“Well, let’s hope that it won’t happen then.”

***

A young woman and a little girl, no, perhaps she is already in her early teens, were sitting face to face in a large room that appears to be an infirmary. The room is large enough to have ten beds arranged by two groups of five on two sides of the room. The little girl is sitting on the third bed from the door while the woman is sitting on the chair right in front of the little girl.

“Eeek!”

“Wha, what happened?”

The woman named Yusa suddenly shrieked while she was applying some medicine to quicken healing and prevent scar onto the little girl, Liz’s face.

“No, nothing, somehow I felt a chill on my back and the word ‘hell’ just crossed my mind’.”

“Huh?”

“Well, let’s just forget it, there…. all done.”

‘T, thanks. Uuu, that stung a bit.”

Yusa finished treating Liz’s face, she tidied up the medicines and gave it back to the nurse in charge before returning to where Liz is.

“Okay, Lizzy. Let’s continue our talk from before.”

“E, eh? From before…?”

Yusa grinned.

“It’s about your relationship with Erik bro.”

‘Aaah, I want to get away from here’ is how anyone would interpret Liz’s expression right now.

“So tell me, what are you to each other?”

“Right off the bat? Umm, Erik… is my…eh?”

The last time she couldn’t answer since Erik came at the worst or maybe good timing. However this time as well Liz didn’t continue, no, she couldn’t say anything. She knew that he is an irreplaceable existence to her. However, now that she was asked she started to think, what is she to him then? Erik always act indifferent to most people, no, to everyone else but her. And why is that? What are they to each other?

“Your what? Don’t tell me… Lover? No! you’re too young for him… wait, how old is he anyway?”

“……Fueeee? L, l, lo, lover? No! we’re not!”

Liz objected but she realized that she has some affection towards him. She did not think that it was ‘love’ but she is starting to come to that conclusion now. However, once again, how about him then? She knows next to nothing about him before they met. What if he actually had, or has a lover somewhere waiting for him to return? She remembered that Erik said something about him losing everything important to him… but it is still possible that someone else who think of him as someone special is out there somewhere. If they were to see each other again, what about Liz herself then? Will she be cast aside even by him? Even if he won’t cast her aside, surely he will still drift further and further away out of her reach.

Unknown to herself, tears started to moisten her eyes.

“L, Lizzy? Eh? I, is it about him? something about him makes you sad? Could it be that you’re with him because he is forcing you? Well, he is scary so…”

Yusa’s panicked words brought Liz back.

“No! It’s not that! I, I know that Erik could be scary at times, but he is always nice to me. Erik is… very important to me! Yes… he is very… important.”

Liz is silent again and shifted her gaze downwards with teary eyes.

“Ah… so, sorry.”

Yusa is confused now but she was the one who started the topic so she wants to at least dispel the gloomy atmosphere.

Right before Yusa was going to forcefully make a joke to dispel the atmosphere Liz spoke again in a very low, almost inaudible voice with tears tracing her cheeks down.

“But… I don’t know what I am to Erik…”

That sentence gave Yusa the hint.

“Well, I can guess that.”

“Huh?”

“Trust me, you’re also very important to him.”

Yusa smiled.

“Un, I know…”

“I heard this from Kaldor, Erik bro said to Kaldor that he won’t hesitate to do anything to protect you. So, I’m sure that you mean a lot to him.”

Actually it should be ‘If you put her in danger, I won’t hesitate to finish you guys off’ but Yusa purposely altered it. And Yusa doesn’t care even if she had to lie as long as the girl in front of her won’t be sad anymore, that is how Yusa genuinely feels right now. And it paid off.

“Un.”

Light has returned to Liz’s eyes. Liz still look unconvinced but she smiled with the cutest smile Yusa has ever seen. Anybody will agree that Yusa did well if Yusa didn’t show a perverted face in response to Liz’s smile which of course disappeared again after she saw Yusa’s face.

However, even now Liz’s worry lingers still in her mind, other people might not be able to see it but she knew that for some reasons Erik still distanced himself from her, being careful as not to get too close with her. But she chose to believe in Erik, and herself, that she is surely not insignificant to him. If Erik is keeping the distance, then she will try to close that distance herself.

***

“Erik.”

Liz approached me as I reached the guild hall near the receptionist. I could see Kaldor and his group there watching us with warm smile, especially from Yusa.

Did something just happened? Somehow Liz’s eyes are rather red. Did she cry?

I glared at Kaldor and his group and they were startled, Yusa especially, she hid behind Kaldor and Lloyd.

“Hey, did you do something to Liz?”

I put the scariest expression I could and the three shrieked in sync.

“Hiiiiiigh”

However they all shook their head.

Liz nudged at my sleeve and shook her head as well.

“No, Erik. It’s not like that.”

“Huh?”

“The medicine stings a lot so I cried, a little, that’s all.”

Doesn’t sound convincing but… She looked desperate so I don’t think I should pry any further.

“If you say so, Liz. Let’s get back to the inn, I got something to talk about.”

I noticed Kaldor and co. heaved sigh of relief. Yusa also stopped hiding behind Kaldor and Lloyd then said

“Lizzy, see? You saw how Erik bro was like, right? There’s nothing to worry about.”

Liz just looked back at Yusa, smiled and let out a soft “Un.”

Just what happened between them anyway?

“Before I forget, Yusa.”

“Y, yes?”

Yusa straightened her posture reflexively to my words.

“I heard a woman just bragged about being saved by an amazing little girl in the tower… Is the woman perhaps… you?“

“I, I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Hahaha, is that cold sweat or am I seeing things?”

“Hahaahaaa… Kaldor! Lloyd! What are we doing here? Let’s get to the tower already!”

Yusa made a run for her life, leaving the dazed Kaldor and Lloyd behind who later followed her in an unmotivated manner.

***

Liz and I sat face to face on each our own beds.

“First, put this on.”

I gave Liz the artefact I got from Teobaldur which I named as necklace of transformation for convenience’s sake. Liz just accepted and put it on right away without hesitation.

“I, is this a present?”

Liz is smiling while holding the golden sphere part with her thumb and index finger

“Sorry, it’s not.”

“Eh?”

I told Liz all the content of my talk with Teobaldur.

Liz kept looking down after I mentioned about the possibility that information about her might have been purposely leaked from that side.

“Liz? Is something in your mind.”

“Un, I might cause trouble to the people in this town… and more importantly, to Erik as well…”

“That’s why I gave you the necklace, we’re going to avoid making trouble.”

“Un…”

“Anyway, let’s try it. Just imagine yourself with human ears and without the horns and wings. Also, since we’re supposed to be siblings, maybe you should match your hair colour with mine. Let’s just tell anyone who asked about it that you stopped dyeing your hair.”

“Okay.”

Liz closed her eyes for a while then after she chanted the keyword, firstly her hair colour gradually changes to black, then her most striking feature, the horns, just smoked away. She touched her head at where the horns were and made a slightly surprised expression.

“How about your ears and wings?”

She held her side hair up and touched her ears, then she turned her back at me while lifting her mini cape. The wings aren’t there.

“Perfect, is there any uncomfortable feeling? I heard that it also drains your mana.”

“No, I don’t particularly feel anything uncomfortable. I could sense my mana depleting very slowly, but I think my mana regeneration rate is higher than the amount decreasing.”

“Hooo, then maybe you should wear it as much as possible especially anytime we’re outside.”

“Un… Erik… can I ask you something a little strange?”

“Huh? Well, why not?”

“Do you prefer the usual me, or the me without horns?”

“Prefer you ask? Hmm… I think you look good either way.”

“Uuu, I wanted you to choose… but it’s okay…”

“Huh?”

After that we went downstairs to have dinner. As expected, some people who’ve seen us before noticed her sudden change so I took the initiative to tell them that she just washed her hair and that we run out of her hair dye. Fortunately, hair dyeing is not rare in this world. Liz could also safely take her beret off now.

After dinner and some small talk about what to do next at dinner table, we decided to call it a day and returned to our room. Liz approached me as I lied on my bed and closed my eyes, I thought she was going to sneak in again but she just stood there without doing anything so I opened my eyes and asked her “what’s wrong?” which she responded by shaking her head, blushing, and said “N, nothing! Good night.” Then she literally jumped into her own bed.

I don’t know why or how, but lately I get the feeling that she is changing, rapidly and, uh… randomly.