Where Black Mask’s hand and the Ice Pillar met, a pale instance of light rose, imitating smoke.
And it kept puffing, raising into the sky, dispersing without traces.
That light was—
「Ether…!」
It was the first time Inglis had seen another person manipulating Ether.
Then, is this man a Divine Knight too?
However, a blessing from the Gods is indispensable in the baptism to become a Divine Knight.
If so, then Gods still exist somewhere in this world?
Inglis couldn’t feel the presence of the Gods in this world after her reincarnation, she had tried to find them for a long time now.
The Goddess that had baptized Inglis to become a Divine Knight and gave her the chance to live her second life was Alistair, yet, Inglis couldn’t feel her or the other Gods anymore.
Divine Knights were demigods. When they focused their mind, they could feel the presence of the Gods, watching over the world with affection, but now, that presence was gone.
Have they permitted the people to live independently, or have they chosen to forsake us?
Inglis hadn’t an answer to that question, but with the existence of another Divine Knight in front of her, she knew that there was some ordeal outside of her knowledge. That was one definite answer she had.
In addition, Black Mask’s manipulation of Ether was completely foreign to her. It only spoke of the finesse of his mastery over Ether.
「By disassembling the Ether that made up its body without disturbing the composition ratio, just like so, its shape will be preserved, and… 」
As he finished speaking, the fume of pale Ether light suddenly increased explosively.
Afterward, a change was happening to the frozen Cyrene.
Just like what he said, the ice pillar’s shape was maintained while its size kept getting smaller.
「Wah! Wah! She became so small!」
「…! Incredible!」
It was a method of Ether manipulation that Inglis herself couldn’t begin to imagine.
Instead of manipulating one’s own Ether, he reduced the amount of Ether that dwelled in other objects, like the Magic Stone Beast and the Ice Pillar that encased it.
It wasn’t something he could half-a̲s̲s̲ either, this required a rather delicate operation that would maintain their original shape to the T. It was a formidable feat that couldn’t be done unless one was adept in the complex composition of Ether in living beings.
Eventually, all that was left was a palm-sized block of ice near Black Mask’s feet, and the transformed Cyrene that was trapped in it.
Black Mask picked it up then approached Inglis to pass it on.
「This should make it easier to carry. What I did was disperse the Ether that made up its body, so reverting to its previous size would be nigh impossible. Meaning that it won’t somehow revert back and go on a rampage.」
「…Forgive me if I’m being presumptuous, but to be honest, I am surprised. I never thought that Ether could be used that way.」
「It is hard to accomplish unless the target’s Ether stopped, being completely still. It’s all because you encased it in a pillar of ice.」
「…How vexing. The current me could never do such a thing.」
「The difference lies in the quality of our power. You are gifted with overwhelming strength, I am with my techniques. I’m not a powerhouse like you.」
「I want to hone both my power and my techniques all the same!」
「Fufu. How very obstinate. Off you go, then. I bet you didn’t expect a guerilla organization would hold up their end of a promise, did you?」
「…But the people in the castle and the residents—」
「Be at ease, we won’t hurt them. We will make sure to protect them. Our enemies are Highlanders alone.」
「Understood.」
「Well, then. Let us meet again.」
「As opponents, gladly.」
Inglis shot a sharp glance towards Black Mask.
「For a girl with the appearance of an angel, she is fearsome…」
As expected, even Black Mask was perplexed by Inglis.
「Let’s go, Rani? We have to melt the ice soon.」
「Yeah! G-, goodbye…!」
Rafinha gave a small bow towards Black Mask and Cystia before she ran after Inglis.
These people made Cyrene drink Prism Powder in the first place, Rafinha shouldn’t have any reason to give them any courtesy.
It only showed how relieved Rafinha was since Cyrene was ultimately not killed, albeit even if that meant becoming an icicle.
◆◇◆
After that…
After leaving the town Nova behind them, Inglis and Rafinha continued their journey towards the capital.
By now, they were just a few hours away from the town of Arlman, the town where the carcass of a Prisma was encased in ice.
splash—— splash——
Raindrops fell on the tip of Inglis’ nose while she was sitting on the coach’s seat.
「Ah, it’s raining.」
Fortunately, it wasn’t Prism Flow, just regular rain.
However, nobody could tell when the rain would turn into Prism Flow.
As such, it was best to seek shelter as soon as rain fell.
「Sure is! Let’s take shelter, Glis!」
「Yeah. Let’s move under that tree.」
Inglis led the wagon towards the shelter of a large tree.
「An obstacle so soon… Even though I want to reach Arlman as fast as possible.」
「There’s no other way. Let’s take our time. There’s still time until the Knighting School’s entrance ceremony, after all.」
Rafinha sprawled her body out on the coach’s seat.
「Why don’t we get in and put on some blankets? You’ll get a cold otherwise.」
Just after saying that, some squirming movements were evident from Inglis’ clothes in her chest area.
The one that popped out from her cleavage was the small figure of Cyrene, a mini Magic Stone Beast.
Cyrene, after being shrunk by Black Mask, was mobile as soon as the ice was thawed.
She was adorable in her palm-sized figure, but she was still a Magic Stone Beast.
She couldn’t talk and her temperament was fundamentally aggressive, but she gradually got used to her new circumstances, as she seemed to recognize both Inglis and Rafinha. 1 After traveling together for some time, she had now become something akin to a pet to them.
The two called her Rene, taken from the last two syllables of Cyrene’s name. 2
Although, the only troublesome part of the whole ordeal was that Rene’s favorite spot was Inglis’ cleavage.
Rafinha’s chest was too modest for Rene’s taste, so she would always snuggle in Inglis’ whenever she wanted to be enveloped by cleavages. 3
「R-, Rene. Don’t move around so much, you’re tickling me…」
After showing an adorable gesture of tilting her neck in confusion, Rene dived in again.
And then—
Squirm squirm squirm squirm!
She rustled around even more than before!
「Hyaah!? Ah, I said you can’t, Rene…! Hey Rani, stop Rene for me!」
「Hmm? I wouldn’t mind letting her do it to me instead, but mine aren’t enough, you see. Well, hang in there, Glis.」
「How cruel!」
Rafinha just squinted away, watching the development. After a while, Rafinha let out a big sigh when Rene finally held still.
「What’s wrong, Rani?」
「Hey, Glis. Rene, you see, she’s a really good person when she was Lady Cyrene, right?」
「You’re right.」
「But the Highland’s big shots wanted to make that town fly in the sky, right?」
「Yeah. Lady Cyrene wanted to stop them, however.」
「And, you see, the Ironblood Chain Brigade people also said that they did what they did to protect the townspeople, didn’t they?」
「You’re right, they said they would destroy the 『Levitation Magic Formation』 too… 」
「In the end, I don’t know what is right or wrong. It’s, like, things don’t make sense in my heart…」
「Rani, you’re in puberty, aren’t you? 4」
「No, can you say this is puberty? I feel like it’s not… Glis, you don’t feel bothered by it?」
「Yeah. I’m not thinking about it, after all. Since all I have in my mind is how to make myself stronger, such a thing doesn’t bother me, you know? Why don’t you try the same, Rani?」
「Ahahaha… that’s very you, Glis. I’ll have to decline.」
「Think a lot, worry a lot. I’ll always be by your side.」
As Rafinha threw herself down on the wagon’s floor, Inglis ran her hand through her hair and caressed it.
「Yeah. Thank you.」
As their sober moment sheltering from the rain let up, Inglis and her group reached the town of Arlman.
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