After having that moment, Nina took some time to control her emotions and gave a few suggestions regarding her room before deciding that it would be better to work on that when they didn’t have captured enemies to keep watch.

‘Yeah, I guess I got too excited about showing it to you.’ Elise agreed in embarrassment, then brought Nina back out of the mindscape (taking some extra time to make sure she would appear inside the armor).

‘Hmm… Looking at them again, I can’t help but feel that Nalia really is super strong.’ Nina said, referring to the downed enemies ‘It almost feels like… I’m not really needed.’ She spoke in a casual voice but Elise could tell that she had real concerns.

‘You know, she asked me something very similar when she saw how fast you were growing stronger.’ Elise replied with amusement in her voice ‘Honestly speaking, her success is mostly because she was a bad matchup for those enemies. Having someone that small and fast that can also hit that hard is not the sort of thing any of them could deal with. But if we were to fight the flame elf again now that she knows our abilities, it would be a tough fight, because the wide-range suppression of powerful fire magic is one of the things that can prevent Nalia from doing what she did here.

‘When fighting against that one, you would actually be my trump card. But I would prefer to give you some extra special training before we’re actually forced into that position.’

‘Special training?’ Nina asked.

‘Nalia can also use fire magic, so you can practice for that.’

‘I… See.’

The conversation went into lighter topics for a bit until Nalia woke up and went back outside. Nothing unusual had happened with their prisoners, so the fairy shaped some of the earth around into restraints for them before making them float as the group began moving back to the deer village.

They were halfway through when they met up with a deer that had been sent to check the situation (as they had taken a little too long) and the deer (who introduced herself as Imanara, someone Elise hadn’t yet met) had seemed relieved upon seeing that the Strangers had been taken down, but also looked at the contractor girl with a bit of fear in her eyes.

Still, she mostly felt respect for the powerful mercenary that had pretty much single-handledly (with the help of her partner fairy, but still) saved her tribe from that great calamity. Imanara touched the roots of a nearby tree and sent back a message informing the village of Elise’s victory and then the group headed back.

While on the way there, Elise took the time to explain to Imanara about the whole fight, from the skills of the Strangers to the overwhelming series of attacks that earned Nalia the ultimate victory. Mostly she did that so that the deer could inform the others about the injuries injuries the enemies had, as well as making it easier for them to figure out a good way to keep them restrained as prisoners.

Of course, the thing the drew the most interest was Nalia’s newest skill:

“So you were able to perform and keep maintaining two powerful continuous spells while still being able to use other magic and fight at the same time?” Imanara asked, her interest in magic overshadowing any reservations she had “I understand that you could create a simple command system to manipulate those spells without needing to alter their entire structure, but the level of multi-tasking necessary for doing that still seems ridiculous.

“But even more impressive is you having enough energy to be able to do all of that. From how you’ve described them, I would struggle to power even one of those spells so the amount of power you have must be monumental.” She concluded her thought.

“It was really tiring.” Nalia deadpanned back, causing the deer girl to laugh.

“We’ve trained a lot to get to this point.” Elise said “And we still have a lot further to go.”

“I can scarcely imagine how strong that would be.” Imanara replied.

They had fun talking like that until they finally reached their destination. Elise was able to see that the deer were already most of the way done with rebuilding the destroyed part of the wall. She was sure that this was only the preliminary work and it would take a lot more time and effort to truly restore everything to how it previously was, but she was still impressed.

A few deer soldiers came outside to receive them, so Nalia handed the prisoners (who still hadn’t regained consciousness) to them and let Imanara report what she had learned while another soldier asked Elise to follow, saying that the village chief wanted to see her.

Soon enough the trio was inside the chief’s office and he sent away the soldier, saying that the things they were about to discuss were confidential.

“So… We need to talk about the things you know about this village and this forest in general.” Helodorne started.

“Yes?” Elise replied.

“I need to make a report on what happened to the bosses of the alliance. I would rather not have to lie if possible, but you’ve saved my entire tribe, so I am willing to lie if necessary.” He spoke plainly.

“I see. Well, I’m happy about your consideration, but you don’t need to worry. Just report everything truthfully.” Elise said “I’m interested in getting to the bottom of the events in this place, so it will be nice to have some support. I don’t think they would refuse to let me in on what they know, since I’m already aware of so much and it is clear that the Strangers also know about it, so it’s not like this is anything close to a complete secret.

“And if they decide to act stupid and try to silence me or something, I’ll just have to go rogue and fight against the Strangers on my own terms.”

“… Okay. I do think they’ll be rational about this, but know that this village will support you regardless.” Helodorne spoke seriously “So how about we work together to decide on the best way to convey the situation on my report?”

“That sounds good.” Elise decided, understanding his wish to help her as much as possible.

And so it was done, the conversation was mostly just between Elise and Helodorne, but Nalia piped up once in a while. Nina didn’t comment anything even through the bond, but that was understandable. Not long after the contractor girl left the room along with her partners, satisfied with the results.

+0+

The trio sat down below a tree close to Helodorne’s office building and waited for him to send the message and discuss things with the higher-ups while making light conversation. Elise was actually participating in two conversations at the same time (her multi-tasking skills had been getting quite a workout ever since making a contract with Nina). The first one, with Nalia, was actually about something they had discussed earlier:

“So you did that in the previous fight too? Seems like it was just what I thought, then.” Elise said after the fairy told her about having started declaring spell names while fighting the Strangers.

“So you know the reason for that?” Nalia asked.

“Simply put, it’s your aesthetic.”

“… Aesthetic?”

“Yes. Your aesthetic, meaning the way you choose to present yourself and interact with others and the world around you.” Elise replied.

“So it’s just like… An affectation?” Nalia asked.

“Saying it like that makes it sound like something that doesn’t matter, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.” Elise lectured “The path of power, of transcendence, is ultimately a path of the self. Your aesthetic may only be important to you, but it is actually because of that reason that it matters so much. It is a part of you just as much as everything else you are.”

“I see… I think I understand.” Nalia replied doubtfully “Did your sisters do things like that too?”

“Most of them to some extent.” Elise replied “Big Sis Manami is the main exception because she hardly ever interacted with others, but that was simply her own way to follow her path.” Then she smiled “Probably the biggest example is Big Sis Amanda. She’s a mage but she loved to act like a robot while fighting.”

“Act like a robot?” Nalia asked. She knew what robots were, but couldn’t really imagine what that would entail.

“When facing multiple enemies at once she would go ‘All Targets Locked. Initiating Tactical Mode’ or when she fought someone she really wanted to kill she would go ‘Initiating Annihilation Mode. Elimination of the Target Set to Maximum Priority. All Restraints Released’. She was saying all of that out loud too.”

“I imagine it must have been fairly intimidating.” Nalia replied with a smile.

“Yeah. And she was so dedicated to it that there were two times where people accused her of being some sort of software hijacking the body of a goblin.” Elise had an even bigger smile on her face.

Meanwhile, she was talking mentally to Nina, who had asked ‘You said that wide range suppression was “one of the things” that could prevent Nalia from just flying right next to someone and blasting them, right? What other kinds of things could do that?’

‘Barriers too strong for her to break through quickly are one example.’ Elise replied ‘Another example would be just having fast and accurate enough attacks to prevent her from getting close easily. Just being tough enough to endure her quick close-range spells is also an option, of course.’

‘There are options, but it still doesn’t seem like it would very common for people to be able to deal with her skills.’ Nina replied.

‘That’s mostly because we’re still fighting relatively weak opponents.’ Elise said ‘As we face stronger and stronger foes, it will become more and more common to find people who can handle that sort of thing. This is partially because having higher “base parameters” makes it easier to compensate for bad match-ups and partially because they’re more likely to have relevant experience and developed counters.’

‘Ohh… That makes sense.’ Nina said in a slightly wistful tone.

‘Yes, I will train you to be able to fight against any types of opponents, don’t worry.’ Elise replied, having understood the subtext.

After some time, their conversations were interrupted by Helodorne calling for them again. He went straight to the point when they got there:

“I believe they’re willing to give you a chance, but they require that you meet with an intermediary to hash out the exact details of how a closer collaboration would work.”

“Sounds promising. Any idea when I’d be able to meet with this intermediary?” Elise asked.

“Very soon.” He sighed “The enemy frontline that had been blocking the advance of our forces began to retreat a short while ago, and it seems like they’re abandoning the area, so there is no reason for them to not come here as soon as they’re sure the enemy hasn’t left any traps behind.”

“The enemy is simply abandoning this area…? That can’t be good.” Nalia said.

“I feel the same way. They put so much into this invasion to try and gain control of this area, but that failed so now they’re retreating…” Elise spoke “But there’s no way they would have simply given up. The enemy will definitely try something else, and it will probably be something drastic since their original plans have failed.”

“That’s the general consensus among the alliance as well.” Helodorne confirmed.

“In that case, please tell the others that I’m going to be waiting here for the intermediary.” Elise asked him “Until then, we’re gonna be training and preparing.”

The deer chief nodded in response and dismissed them.

+0+

And so after eating and resting for a bit, the trio began to do what Elise had said, and the girl also decided that it was the perfect time to begin Nina’s ‘special training’, so the deerkin who were around the corner of the village they used as a training spot were treated to the view of the black armor enveloped in flames controlled by Nalia.

One person asked what the purpose of it was, and Elise replied that Nalia was training her magical control, which was actually true but wasn’t the only thing going on, of course.

‘Focus. Perceive your body and use your energy to counter the effects of the heat.’ Elise instructed.

Nina didn’t have the spare energy to give a proper reply, but a feeling of acknowledgment came through the bond. Nalia had slowly increased the intensity of the flames until the rabbit girl reached her limits, and then increased it further whenever she got used to it.

And the fairy wasn’t just helping with Nina’s training, but also training herself. Besides having to keep control of the flames, Nalia was also constantly manipulating two more spells of different elements. She had a lot of ideas about other ways to use her new Dual Wings Magic, but for that to go well would require more training in the basic elemental magic along with multi-tasking.

Speaking of multi-tasking, Elise also had to split her attention between helping Nina keep her focus and correcting Nalia whenever she got sloppy in the control of her secondary spells.

The group spent the next two days alternating between training, eating and resting, and they were mostly left in peace by the deerkin. But then one of them (Imanara, specifically) came to warn them that the intermediary had arrived.

+0+

They were guided to one of the private meeting rooms inside the village hall and Imanara told them to just go in, so Elise walked into the room with Nalia on her shoulder and Nina right behind.

And waiting for them inside the room was a familiar face: Amara the owl woman, along with one of the mole men who had been with her the first time they met.

‘You know, for a moment I thought Hiroka would be here.’ Nalia said jokingly.

‘I don’t think her position is high enough for this conversation.’ Elise replied.

“Welcome.” The woman greeted them.

“Hello, it’s nice to see you again.” Elise replied.

Some more light greetings were exchanged and Elise sat down at the meeting table facing Amara. Then the real conversation started:

“So from what I’ve heard, you want to know the full story behind the secrets of this forest, so that we can work together to prepare against the Strangers’ plans.” Amara said “That sort of thing wouldn’t usually be allowed, but since you apparently already know quite a lot about it, the higher-ups decided that it was worth going against our normal customs.”

“The higher-ups including you, right?” Elise asked.

There were a few seconds of silence before Amara sighed.

“I should have expected that you’d figure it out.” She didn’t bother denying it “What gave me away?”

“The way the commander deferred to you while we were planning the operation.” Elise replied “You must have ordered him to keep your identity a secret, but he was not a good enough actor to fully treat you like a peer instead of a superior.”

Elise had always been interested in people, and her skills in reading them had been honed with the support of her sisters, but it was only relatively recently that she had become able to actually make use of them, since Elise still ended up needing to spend some time with people other than the transcendents in order to begin understanding them better.

Those skills would definitely come in handy many times in the future.

“Oh well, I guess this means I don’t need to keep up the charade anymore.” Amara said “My name is Amara. Sage of the Mei tribe of owls and member of the Spirit Keepers.” She reintroduced herself.

And then she started to tell the secret history of the forest and the spirit within.