"Funny."

Elanes tilted her head to one side, folding her arms across her chest.

Then she lowered her eyes and spoke.

"If that's true, it's impressive. Innate talent is one thing, but it means you can assess a situation just as quickly."

"Assess the situation?"

"Yes. If, a month and a half ago, your magic core opened and you suddenly were able to use shadow magic, honestly, that should have thrown you for a loop."

Elanes lifted the corner of her mouth.

"But instead of panicking, you calmly thought about what to do with that power, and even formed a mercenary squad. That's really impressive."

And that mercenary squad is already ranked thirty-ninth.

"An optimal choice in every sense. Honestly, it all fell together way too conveniently. Almost suspicious."

Of course, Elanes was mocking the King of the Dead.

"Even a staged performance must be done in moderation."

Basically, everything the King of the Dead had just said was almost certainly a pure lie.

What? Her magic core opened a month and a half ago?

And in such a short time ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) she honed her magic and even created a mercenary squad?

Elanes could accept that the King of the Dead deliberately walked around in the guise of a child.

The world was huge, and there were plenty of people craving attention.

But to say that the magic core had opened only a month and a half ago was stretching things into a fabrication.

"Honestly, it sounds like an outright lie, doesn't it?"

With the expression of someone who had just landed a precise strike, Elanes shrugged.

The King of the Dead's face, however, looked odd.

"Hehe... tank you..."

The King of the Dead blushed in embarrassment.

"Everyone says that Tie is very cool, hyukhyuk."

She even twisted her whole body while saying it.

Elanes only began to frown when suddenly—

"Enough, Elanes."

Riper, who was sitting beside her, gave her a light poke on the arm.

He looked at her with clear displeasure.

"Even if it's rivalry, this is over the top. Why pick at a colleague who just survived?"

"W-what are you talking about?!"

Elanes coughed and hurriedly looked at the King of the Dead.

She seemed to understand nothing and shifted her gaze between Riper and Elanes.

"If she's treating it like a joke, let it go. Don't blow it up."

Elanes stared at Riper in astonishment.

Riper looked as if he was deadly tired of everything that had happened today.

He downed the water in the glass before him in one gulp and turned his gaze to Astie.

"For someone who came out of subspace, you look surprisingly well. Glad to see it."

Unlike Elanes, Riper was sincere.

Honestly, he had been somewhat impressed by the moment when the King of the Dead tore through the subspace and emerged.

"They say that in Krazar's subspace, a person faces what they fear most. If you break there — that's the end."

Astie rolled her eyes.

Turning her head, she saw Basto sitting silently beside her.

In fact, originally only Riper, Elanes, and Astie had been invited to the upper meeting hall.

But Astie had stubbornly insisted she wanted to come with Basto.

In case she accidentally said the wrong thing or something unexpected happened.

"As of now."

Noticing her look, Basto quietly patted Tie's hand under the table.

It meant everything was all right and she could continue the conversation.

Gathering courage, Tie nodded to Riper.

"Neh. I almos' died."

More precisely, Berugon had almost died.

Come to think of it, in the subspace Berugon had indeed been on the brink of death several times.

Tie had tied his legs with a vacuum cleaner cord, he hit his head on the floor, then because of Puppu he was out of it... in short. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"But we still survived!"

she added.

Riper nodded.

For a while an awkward silence hung in the reception room.

The three waited for Berugon to come back, who had gone off for urgent wound treatment.

Elanes and Riper absolutely had to check on his condition.

In addition, at the Association's request they still had to find out where Krazar's core was located.

So for now it was more a stage of mutual probing before a serious conversation.

"And we'll wait until the head of the smiths arrives."

Riper looked at Astie again.

"Valentis Luminel. Have you ever met him?"

Tie, who had just been thinking about Valentis Luminel, flinched and looked at Riper.

Then she shook her head.

"No. Not even once."

Riper nodded as if he had expected that answer.

"He's one of the high leaders of the order. It's not easy to meet him. They say, after the recent military reform his post changed too. Have you heard?"

Military reform? A post?

Tie tilted her head in confusion, and Riper laughed.

"Seems mages everywhere are equally bad at keeping up with the news. He's the Valentis who used to be called the Supreme Commander."

Supreme Commander Valentis.

The name sounded imposing, and Tie fell silent.

But it didn't end there.

"A military reform was held recently and they introduced a post above Supreme Commander. Now they call him the Supreme Marshal."

"The Supreme... Marshal?"

"Exactly. Supreme Marshal Luminel."

Tie involuntarily swallowed.

Honestly, she had already felt the limit of her strength for some time.

Too many events had happened since morning, and her concentration was starting to dip.

But the moment she heard the words "Supreme Marshal Valentis", she snapped back to attention.

"...A little scary."

More than anything in the world she wanted to meet a holy knight who might know her father.

But when she imagined meeting the strongest holy knight of the Empire, her heart began to pound.

It seemed Riper noticed the tension on her face and smirked.

"Unexpected. Don't worry so much. Yes, he's an aristocrat through and through and a knight of impeccable standing, but..."

"..."

"One can't say he looks down on mercenaries like many holy knights do. I met him once long ago — he was much politer and gentler than expected."

Tie nodded automatically.

Meanwhile Riper, having finished his glass, leaned back in his chair.

"When the head of the smiths comes and we find out where the core is, he'll probably leave immediately."

Core.

Hearing the word again, Tie asked cautiously.

"But... the core might disappear... right?"

Riper turned his gaze to Tie.

Elanes, who had been silent until then, leaned forward over the table.

"If it's a small magical beast, that's possible."

Tie opened her eyes wide and looked at her.

Elanes continued calmly, meeting her gaze.

"I've seen small beasts where even the core vanished several times. Especially after magical attacks."

In the mercenary squad Elanes, a Scream of Silvar mage, there were seven mages.

So she knew better than most what happened to beasts struck by magic.

"As you know, magical attacks, while powerful, are less precise. Not as sharp as a sword strike."

"Uh-huh... neh..."

"That's why when our mages attack a magic stone, sometimes the beasts vanish along with the core. It's a pity, of course."

Understood.

A small hope flared in Tie's heart.

If that's the case, maybe she could say that in the subspace she destroyed Krazar along with its core...

"But with a giant like Krazar, it's different."

At that moment the plan that had just been forming in Tie's head collapsed.

"For a beast like Krazar, for its core to vanish — that's impossible. Unless it's still alive somewhere hiding."

Elanes squinted, thought for a moment, and spoke again.

"By the way, I wanted to ask for a while. The head of the smiths said you personally destroyed Krazar."

"..."

"The core. Didn't you see it?"