Chapter 53

The area covered by Zero had grown smaller and smaller.

It seemed that soon enough, the barrier maintained by Jeffriel’s residual magic would completely collapse.

Through the barrier, which could no longer fully block out sound, one could already hear the distant noise of the Human Alliance forces assembling and drawing near.

Belith knew that there was not much time left today.

She spread her five wings and approached Sheffy.

However, for every few steps she took forward, Sheffy retreated a few steps.

It was as though she was forever out of reach.

Who struck first?

Indeed…

Belith temporarily gave up on trying to quicken her pace and press forward.

Elder Sister had given her so many chances. It was her own failure to cherish them… Now that Elder Sister was avoiding her, whom could she blame?

“I… had Jeffriel cause such a commotion because I hoped that, if you were here, Elder Sister, you would show yourself.”

“You schemed against me?!”

“If that’s how you wish to see it… then so be it. I’ve always known that Elder Sister is very strong… but seeing those eight wings just now, I realized how narrow my own perspective has been. Hmm… perhaps this is why you left home…”

“No, no, no… more than half the reason I ran away from home was because of you, you know… Tsk. Since you’ve seen the eight wings, you’d better keep it a secret. Otherwise, I’ll beat you up.”

Sheffy raised her small fist in a cute gesture. Instead of intimidating Belith, it only made her want to pat her elder sister’s head.

But she knew that she did not have that right now.

“…Just seeing Elder Sister alive and well already makes me very content… Alright, since you’ve said so, I will help keep it a secret. Today, I should take my leave.”

The maintenance of the domain had reached its limit.

The sound of galloping hooves and shouts of “Protect His Majesty!” grew clearer and clearer. In less than a minute, the sky here would return to its natural state.

And just now… Elder Sister had already refused. She had said she was not ready to return home yet.

Belith raised all five of her wings, enhanced herself with acceleration magic, turned around to face the sky, and then looked back at Sheffy with a radiant smile.

“I will take my leave for today, Elder Sister… There are so many things I want to tell you… but it seems I will have to find another opportunity.”

“Oh? I really didn’t expect to hear such words from you. Have you really lost your mind?”

“Hehe… There will be more, many more things for Elder Sister to hear in the future. Very soon… we will meet again. And also…”

The purple magic particles of Belith’s acceleration magic had already covered her entire body.

Yet at that moment, she suddenly cast a sharp glare at Xiarette.

Just moments ago, while speaking with Sheffy, she had been gentle. But now, she looked a bit fierce, like a kitten guarding its food.

She spoke with polite and courteous words, but her tone was anything but mild.

“Hero… while Elder Sister is in the Royal Capital, I will entrust her care to you… I don’t know why Elder Sister relies on you so much… but sooner or later… sooner or later, I will…”

The acceleration magic had already been activated, and before she could finish her sentence, Belith’s words faded into echoes drifting in the air.

Or rather, she didn’t yet have the confidence to finish that sentence.

As Zero completely collapsed and dissipated,

it left behind only a gradually shrinking ring of pure magic energy suspended in midair.

Looking up, the sky had already returned to its star-studded state.

Before this happened, Sheffy had swiftly transformed her galaxy-like silver hair into the color of the night. Miss Shaya had once again blended back into this sky.

At that moment, Eclight finally broke free from his restraints.

The disappearance of the domain beneath his feet caused a sudden loss of footing, making him stagger briefly. Though he had yet to grasp the full situation, when Eclight saw Xiarette standing at the center of the magic ring, his heart was immediately at ease.

This father gave a reassuring nod and, stepping on some scattered magic particles, simultaneously cast a floating spell to quickly return to solid ground—where the royal family still required his protection.

Xiarette and Sheffy lingered a moment longer before departing.

Sheffy looked up at the direction where Belith had swiftly flown away, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

A young girl gazing at the stars, and another girl soaring through them—each with her own thoughts.

She had come quickly and left just as fast, leaving nothing behind…

Hm?

It seemed that she had not left nothing behind…?

Suspended in midair, a delicate pink pouch slowly drifted toward Sheffy.

Miss Shaya, puzzled, reached out and caught it.

When she saw what was inside the pouch…

her eyes suddenly sparkled with delight!

Wow…

It was a whole bag of strawberry donuts!

Belith, you’ve really grown up!

…………………………………….

Jeffriel’s domain, when suspended in the air, would drift like clouds.

Once the domain dissipated, the battlefield in the sky had already floated far away. Sheffy and Xiarette, unlike Eclight who had immediately flown toward the Grand Hall midair, descended vertically to the ground and still needed to walk a bit to return to the hall.

In fact, whether they returned or not didn’t really matter…

The Kingdom’s Knight Order and the Wright Family were already handling the coordination of the noble guests.

But since Xiarette was the Hero, after such a major battle, she ought to return and report the battle’s outcome to the King, right?

Moreover… today was her birthday banquet. Sheffy did not want the celebration to end just like that.

So, with the “crisis” resolved, the two of them, dressed in splendid gowns, walked shoulder to shoulder along the path back.

Moonlight shone in Miss Shaya’s eyes, reflecting the moon’s brilliance, while the sound of the wind blowing through the fields on either side seemed especially precious after the roaring tumult of the night.

Miss Shaya raised her hands high to hold the little pouch, aligning the donuts inside perfectly with the moon in her view.

“Ah… Xiarette, did you see the Demon Clan writing on it?”

“I can read a little… let me try: Demon Domain… limited supply, extra-thick strawberry dessert donuts?”

“Yes, yes! These donuts—only ten sets are sold each year in the Demon Domain. They’re very hard to get. Belith, well done!”

But right after praising her, Sheffy immediately furrowed her cute brows with worry.

“Uh… wait, I should check first. What if she poisoned them? Could she be trying to poison me?!”

“Pfft… is this really how you two sisters interact—so life and death serious?”

“I call this caution! She hates me, and her behavior today was so abnormal—something’s definitely fishy!”

She hung the Holy Sword Sylatrella at her gown’s waist.

Xiarette shook her golden hair draped behind her.

Patting off the dust that had settled on her gown during the battle, Xiarette thought back to what had happened in the sky, and found herself unsure how to even describe this farce.

She had already heard Sheffy explain the general situation.

It seemed that Jeffriel’s appearance had been orchestrated by Belith, whose goal had been to draw Sheffy out—hence the deliberate commotion to confirm Sheffy’s presence.

From the looks of it, since Belith had met Sheffy, her goal could be considered achieved.

As they walked along,

their steps, both aimed forward, slightly leaned toward the center. The slightly taller shoulder naturally edged a bit closer to the petite one.

“No need to dwell on it too much, Sheffy. Your sister seemed very sincere to me. Maybe it’s because I’m the Hero of the Human Alliance… but she seemed to have a lot of opinions about me.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, you can only say such naive things because you don’t understand that brat’s personality. But my eyes that see through falsehood… didn’t detect her lying. However, however! My experiences are very real!”

Sheffy suddenly stopped, turned around, and waved her hands, her expression full of grievance.

“You have no idea. Back when I used to sleep in late in the mornings, she actually threw me—bed and all—straight into the lake! That’s practically attempted murder of her own sister! She’s a devil! And you expect me to believe anything that kind of person says?!”

“That really is… uh, wait a moment, Sheffy, just in case, let me ask… why did she do that?”

This might be a bit hard to understand.

To put it another way.

Based on what I know of Sheffy…

Was it really Belith who started it first?!

True Knight

Little Bit of Luck

Xiarette could confidently say that the well-mannered Miss Belith they had just seen probably wouldn’t do such devilish things.

After all, such devilish deeds are usually done by actual devils.

“It was because I wanted to cheer her up…”

In all things, there are those who rejoice and those who lament.

As Sheffy said this, she couldn’t help looking aggrieved again.

Look—Livra, upon seeing the Hero’s triumphant return, had of course been overjoyed. She ran all the way back to the hall to tell her father the good news!

Sheffy had meant well, but Belith never appreciated it.

But a certain proud and talented young lady who had just been strutting about in the hall… was quite a different story.

“I had spent the entire night fishing… stayed up till dawn, ended up with dark circles under my eyes, and even dozed off into the lake before finally catching those beautifully shaped big fish…”

Nona Wright had both her arms fractured by Jeffriel.

“And then?”

At that moment, both of her arms were wrapped in thick white bandages. From the front, she looked just like a big white bear of the wilderness, curled up alone before a makeshift campfire, unable to sit still.

“I stuffed all the big fish into her bed in the middle of the night.”

It wasn’t until she heard the soldiers cheering, “The Hero has returned victorious!” that she suddenly looked up, gazing toward the end of the road.

“……”

Then she quickly bowed her head in shame.

What had Xiarette said again?!

Seeing Xiarette and the subordinate young knight she had ridiculed earlier… Nona Wright suddenly felt utterly humiliated. She wished she could find a hole to crawl into. The number of mistakes she had made today was truly too many.

“I thought that when she woke up, she’d surely feel the surprise and joy of life, so she wouldn’t always go around with such a stern face. But what happened…! The first thing she did after waking up wasn’t to admire the beauty of the big fish but to storm into my room, throw me—bed and all—into the lake! And she even shouted, ‘Since you like big fish so much, go live with them!’ The things she yelled were so mean! Ugh… I feel so wronged!”

In the end, someone gently patted her uninjured shoulder to remind her, which finally made Nona Wright snap out of it and look up.

“She should be mortal enemies with you after that! What kind of devilish behavior is that, you idiot Sheffy!”

Yet now, the arrogance in her once proud gaze had mostly faded.

“Ugh!”

“Karl…”

A hard head took a soft punch.

“Go.” Karl Wright, as her older brother, hoped this would help her grow. His tone was as gentle as possible. “When it’s time to apologize, you should apologize. When it’s time to be humble, be humble. I think you now understand why Cousin Xiarette could become the Hero… She can do the things we cannot…”

After delivering the punch, Xiarette let out a soft sigh and opened her fist into a palm.

“Karl… I… I understand now. I will apologize.”

She then gently placed her hand on Sheffy’s head.

“That’s the right way. Pull yourself together, alright?”

Things were definitely not as simple as Sheffy had said.

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