Chapter 186

She wore an apologetic expression on her face, hands clasped in front of her, and her smile was serene.

…………………………….

Fortunately, Livra’s vitality was resilient enough.

She hadn’t truly been crushed by the pressure, nor had she really been scared to death.

When she woke up again, she was already lying on the bed in the room she had slept in the night before.

Livra’s consciousness returned in a haze, and she looked toward the soft light streaming in through the windowsill beside the bed.

The silk curtains swayed gently with the wind, and her smile gradually relaxed.

“Ah… my head hurts. Am I dead…?”

“Nope, you’re perfectly alive. I carried you over. You’re not short, but you’re as light as a beanpole.”

“Miss Shaya?!”

Hearing that familiar, adorable voice tinged with a hint of complaint, Livra quickly propped herself up from the bed with both hands.

The intense headache that surged forth made Livra squint in pain, but she still forced herself to keep her gaze steady in front of her.

The first thing she saw was Sheffy, whose eyes of worry were gradually fading. Letting out a breath of relief, the healing magic in her hands also ceased at the same time.

Behind her, everyone was there.

Livra’s eyes shimmered with emotion, even welling up with tears.

“Everyone… thank you! I’m so useless… I must’ve been unconscious for a long time, and you’ve been here guarding me this whole time, I just…”

“Oh, not really. You just laid down less than two minutes ago. We were just about to head out.”

“……”

Livra lay back down on the bed with a smile, once more returning to a peaceful state.

Of course, she lay down not just because she couldn’t bask in everyone’s warmth and instead had to retreat under the covers for comfort.

—There was also the fact that she was really, really dizzy right now.

Livra was mostly fine. Sheffy had already explained that to everyone earlier.

There was no mirror here, so Livra couldn’t see what she looked like. That remark came from Xiarette, based on observation.

“Although Her Highness is alright, her complexion is still very pale, lacking any color. Sheffy, you said… that’s a symptom of magical depletion?”

“Right, due to overuse of magic.”

“Sheffy, hurry up and treat her,” Ailellek leaned against the doorframe, looking thoroughly annoyed, “If mana depletion reaches a certain point, it becomes life-threatening. I really don’t want to see a human princess die in the Demon Domain. If that really happened, my royal brother would probably cut me in half.”

“She’s fine now. Belith, is there any potion left from earlier?”

“Mm, Royal Sister, there’s still a little here. Take it.”

“Alright.”

The glass bottle in Belith’s hand contained a special magical potion produced in the Demon Domain, an effective remedy for magical depletion.

As expected of Livra.

Even when unconscious, she could still manage to drink the potion when it was brought to her lips.

So cooperative with treatment, so afraid of death—yep, that’s just like her!

Now that she was awake, Sheffy handed her the remaining potion. After a brief glance of instruction, Livra tilted her head back and slowly drank it down.

Only then did her complexion slightly improve.

“You should lie back down for now. There’s no quick cure for mana depletion, but as long as you drink the potion, you’ll be fine. A couple days of rest and you’ll recover. The problem is… how did you end up depleted in the first place?”

“Hm? This is what mana depletion feels like?”

“Didn’t we already say that just now…? You didn’t even ask before drinking the potion?!”

“Ugh… It’s because Miss Shaya told me to drink it! Since that’s the case, then it must be harmless!”

Alright, stop savoring the taste of the magic potion already—use your brain. I know it’s honey-flavored, it is pretty tasty.

Timani had just gone to confirm the state of the giant Wind Magic Dragon Fish—it had, indeed, been burned entirely to ash.

At the moment, she was hovering outside the window with her wings spread, reporting her observations to Sheffy.

“Sheffy, there are still quite a few magic fragments scattered around that fish. Just as you guessed, they’re all formed from highly concentrated magic. I’d say that’s the root of its enhanced state.”

“Got it.”

Sheffy curled her finger inward, motioning for Timani to come inside, signaling that she’d seen enough and didn’t need to continue the investigation.

And then…

They saw that stupid dragon retract her wings mid-air, grab onto the window ledge with both hands, and stubbornly start trying to squeeze herself through the round window!

“Eh…? I’m stuck… Hey! Give me a hand here!”

Why can’t you just use the door like a normal person?!

With that chest of yours, don’t go risking a window entrance! You’re almost guaranteed to get stuck!

Eventually, Sheffy and Xiarette had to work together to pull her inside.

Once Timani was in, Sheffy began analyzing the situation based on the intel.

Actually, there wasn’t much need for deep analysis. The root cause of the fish’s enhancement was clear as day.

Belith hadn’t seen what happened firsthand, but after hearing all this, her sharp mind had already formed a few conclusions.

“Royal Sister, magic doesn’t appear out of nowhere. There’s no way the magic fish could be enhanced without some kind of magical infusion.”

“Right. The reason for its mutation, and the magic that powered it, were probably both unintentionally caused by Livra. But how could 【Word Magic】 do something like that…? It’s not even an enhancement spell.”

With a bit of doubt and speculation, Sheffy finally turned her gaze toward Livra herself.

Rather than wild guessing, it was better to get hold of the most crucial piece of information.

“Livra, exactly what kind of directive did you transmit to that fish using 【Word Magic】?”

“I didn’t give it any directive…” Livra was just as lost, “I only tried to communicate with it… But it seemed like magical beasts are different from small animals—they didn’t respond at all.”

“No kidding… the reason magical beasts are called that is because they lack any sense of humanity. Their basic instincts are just to eat, sleep, and wreak havoc. I’m not asking whether it responded to you. I’m asking—what kind of ‘information’ did you send to it?”

This time the question was perfectly clear.

Holding her aching head, Livra racked her brain, trying hard to recall the details from earlier.

She had tried saying a lot to that Wind Magic Dragon Fish. She had no idea which line Miss Shaya would consider the key.

“I told it… ‘Hello, Mr. Fish.’ ‘Why are you so hard to catch? Are you the Dragon King of Wind Magic Fish?’ ‘Your name has the word wind in it, does that mean you can fly? If you can fly, could you show me?’ And also, I said to it…”

“Wait.”

“Eh?”

“Did you just say… ‘fly’?”

Magic was not only a means for defense or attack—it was also deeply connected to the user’s mental strength. Forcing her to continue communicating while in a nearly depleted state of mana was somewhat unreasonable.

Sheffy led everyone out of the room, gently and quietly pulling the door to Livra’s resting room shut…

— Bang!

The doorframe fell right off when tugged.

The entire door slammed to the ground with a heavy crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“What kind of crappy door is this?!”

“Calm down, Royal Sister… most of the doors in the Demon King’s Castle have long been in disrepair. Nothing we can do,” Belith shrugged helplessly. “Look, the castle’s huge. Usually, it’s just the two of us and Father and Mother living here. Most of the stuff’s been aging beyond recognition. The maids only did a quick clean-up yesterday and didn’t have time to reinforce everything. Honestly, it’s already impressive the frame held up until now.”

“Huff… True. Luckily Livra’s a deep sleeper, or that would’ve woken her up. Uh… wait a minute—you said things are deteriorated… It’s not just the doors, right? What about that bed…?”

— Crash!

“……”

The bed had also collapsed.

But please, don’t underestimate how peacefully Livra slept. Even after crashing from mid-air into a pile of splintered bedboards, she grimaced in pain for a second, then rolled over muttering dream-talk and went right back to snoring—mumbling something like “uphold justice and vanquish evil.”

With sleep quality like that, it was hard to say whether she was sleeping soundly… or just plain dead.

After returning to the room to confirm Livra was still fine, Sheffy used what could only be described as a miraculous restoration spell to return the doorframe and bed to their original condition. At long last, the Demon King’s Castle, untouched by repairs for decades, received a barely passable reinforcement.

Livra, just keep sleeping. If the walls come down, try to react a little—I’ll come patch them up again.

……………………………..

“You pervert—this kind of magic I mentioned just now, has it ever appeared a thousand years ago?”

“Lady Sheffy, pet my head and I’ll tell youuu~”

In a certain sense, the scene before them was delightful and envy-inducing.

Sheffy sat casually in the center of the Demon King’s Castle audience hall. Sitting on her lap was Sylatrella, who was just a bit shorter than her, swinging her bare feet while Sheffy gently stroked her head with one hand.

Even if the technique was a bit rough, Sylatrella still smiled happily.

Loli-on-loli was double the cuteness.

But…

Timani quietly scooted further into the obsidian chair in the corner.

This massive, empty Demon Clan audience hall suddenly felt way too cramped.

The air was thick with feminine jealousy and sourness—there wasn’t a peaceful spot left in the whole hall!

What was with the Hero and Princess Belith all of a sudden?! Why did they both look like they were ready to charge into battle? Was there some war about to break out?!

Timani didn’t know, but she understood the value of staying out of trouble—so she kept her mouth shut.

Everyone had gathered in the temporarily-unused, dignified audience hall of the Demon Clan’s Council Chamber—mainly for the convenience of discussing the issue regarding the recently deceased Wind Magic Dragon Fish… ahem, rather, to discuss the nature of Livra’s magic power.

It wasn’t an especially solemn matter, and technically they could’ve talked elsewhere. But in the Demon King’s Castle, this was the only place really suited for discussion. Sheffy’s bedroom had a collapsed bed, a shattered window, and no place to sit—honestly, it was a bit embarrassing.

And besides, with a setup this grand and no outsiders around right now, why let it go to waste?

Incidentally, Aunt Ailellek had already left, heading to the Third Army’s garrison. She was certainly curious about what had just happened, but she had little interest in sitting around discussing it with a bunch of kids. She only told Sheffy that once they reached a conclusion, they could send her a letter via carrier pigeon to satisfy her curiosity.

Very well then. Once we reach a conclusion, we shall not tell you.

Sylatrella had claimed the “special seat” of Sheffy’s lap because she had the advantage of deep knowledge reserves.

Whenever an unfamiliar form of magic appeared, they always had to consult this little Holy Sword who had existed for over a thousand years. She might look unreliable, but she really did have a wealth of experience.

Fearless under the pressure sweeping through the room, Sylatrella thoroughly enjoyed the head-pats from Sheffy and then…

The Little Holy Sword raised both hands high, preparing to share her opinion.

“Feeling satisfied now!”

“Oh, oh…! Finally ready to do some work? Hurry up and tell us—has there ever been a 【Word Magic user】 like Livra a thousand years ago?”

“Nope! Absolutely not! I only wanted to score some free head-pats from Lady Sheffy—in truth, I’m completely clueless!”

“I oughta knock you out!”

A heavy fist came crashing down on Sylatrella’s empty little head. Despite the firm impact, her expression was somehow even more joyful than when she was being petted. Even her little bare feet stretched straight, and the full-body shiver that jolted through her and into Sheffy left the Demon Princess thoroughly irritated.

No good. If I beat her to death, she’d just consider that a win.

The slightly-taller loli lifted the smaller loli by the armpits and set her down on a vacant obsidian chair nearby.

Since sitting down a moment ago, Xiarette hadn’t just been sulking out of jealousy—she had been thinking too.

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