Plimene had something she wanted to tell Basilio. How about we start over? Even if we can't return to the past, wouldn't it be okay to at least see each other's faces and have conversations?
But through Basilio's conversation, she realized that this was merely a personal wish.
Plimene nodded with a face that had become even more shadowed with sadness. She wasn't a fool either. Rather, because she knew too much, she quickly accepted this situation.
Basilio was pushing her away right now. It wasn't for personal reasons. It was because of altruism.
'You're going to such lengths for my sake until the very end.'
Basilio was a lich. Now that Red Eternity had disappeared, he was one of the few remaining limbs of the outer god left in this world. He himself might not want it, but would other people believe that?
Truth tends to be revealed eventually, even if hidden. Especially in cases like this where an incident that would draw everyone's attention had occurred, someone would surely take interest in Basilio and try to dig into him.
Although Basilio wouldn't carelessly show weakness, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't do so even a little bit. Basilio himself knew this.
That's why this man had drawn a line with Plimene, preparing for possible future situations.
She was no longer the passionate youth of the past.
She had seen all sorts of things in her life. Ordinary citizens being driven out due to redevelopment. Workers fired without protection from labor laws. Even people who mocked and oppressed them. She hadn't climbed to this position to see such things. But the higher she climbed, the more she came to see many things whether she wanted to or not.
Seeing these things, she sometimes acted emotionally. But it didn't bring good results. Rather, most of it worked against her.
The reason was simple. Because that's how the world originally is. Unreasonable, ruthless, and cruel.
So Plimene bowed her head to injustice and compromised with absurdity. It wasn't difficult to adapt to the world's coldness.
She had changed. Just because her heart was moved, she could no longer be drawn to it. Even making such choices was a luxury. She always had to be cool-headed and rational.
The reason she shouldn't get close to Basilio was also for such reasons.
'Still.'
Just once. Just once would be good. If they could become the kind of relationship where they could at least share jokes with each other, like before, even if they couldn't have passionate love again. Wouldn't that much be okay?
Plimene reached out her hand toward Basilio. Her delicate fingers grasped the hem of Basilio's black clothes.
"......Plimene. Let go."
Basilio looked down at Plimene's hand that was gripping his clothes.
"You know too. That we shouldn't do this."
"If you know......then you should push me away."
"......"
Basilio also knew. That her delicate touch was something he could easily push away if he set his mind to it. But he couldn't do so. What was this hand, that it gripped even his heart and wouldn't let go?
'No. I actually know.'
It wasn't that this hand couldn't let go of him. He wanted this hand not to let go, and that's why he wasn't pushing it away.
'I thought I had become a monster.'
He was a monster. An unforgivable existence. A lich born by defying death. So he had decided to live like a monster. A monster that kills other monsters.
But even such a Basilio had human feelings. He knew this was a weakness. But he couldn't help it. One's innate nature couldn't be changed.
"I am......"
Just as Basilio was about to say something.
Two presences were felt from far away. The moment they were felt, the distance quickly closed.
"Wait......!"
Maia, who had been watching the situation from afar, shouted something to stop them, but even her voice was too late.
Of the two who approached, the woman in the green robe embraced Plimene and quickly retreated.
'Ah.'
Basilio saw Plimene's hand that had been gripping his clothes moving away. The part where her hand had touched felt strangely cold and empty.
Plimene, who was being taken away, was also just staring blankly at this side.
Basilio's head turned to the side. A girl in a pure white ballgown was showing hostility toward him. He could see strong power dwelling in her bandaged fists. If hit, even he would surely not be unharmed.
Basilio immediately identified their identity.
'Witches belonging to the Witch Tea Party.'
It seemed some misunderstanding had occurred. But before he could resolve it, Cinderella throwing her punch was faster.
-Boom!
A hastily constructed shield made of geometric patterns blocked her punch. The air rippled for a moment and a loud noise burst out. Both Basilio and Cinderella were surprised.
"This level of power?"
"You blocked this?"
Whatever the case, resolving the misunderstanding was the priority.
"Wait. There seems to be some misunderstanding."
"What misunderstanding? While emanating such ominous power?"
Cinderella let Basilio's words go in one ear and out the other. Light arose in her right hand and glass slippers were generated.
Basilio tried to block her punch again with a shield made of geometric patterns.
-Crash!
The glass slippers and geometric patterns collided with each other. The shield that he thought could block like the first time cracked. Basilio narrowed his eyes within his helmet.
Although he hadn't used full power, it wasn't something that should be penetrated so easily. It meant that the witch before his eyes was that powerful.
'So this is what it means to be a witch. She's using troublesome witchcraft.'
Basilio tried to step back. Giving distance to a close-combat fighter was foolish. He was a mage. To prepare for the minimum, he needed to be far away from his opponent.
Before he knew it, green powder was thickly spread around. The green powder that seemed to sparkle with a bit of gold mixed in made Basilio's body unable to move at all.
'I can't move.'
Basilio's gaze turned toward the witch in the green robe who had taken Plimene to safety. Seeing her extending her hand toward this side, it was clearly her doing.
At that moment, Cinderella's fist with glass slippers flew toward Basilio's face. The way she squeezed through space looked like teleportation.
'Damn!'
Being too complacent about resolving the misunderstanding had become poison. Basilio raised his arms to at least protect his mask.
Just before the glass slippers crushed his forearm.
"What are you doing right now?"
Martinez grabbed Cinderella's forearm. His eyes glowed brightly with divine power.
'You're grabbing my fist?'
Looking closely, Martinez was wearing golden gauntlets on his hands. They contained tremendous divine power.
'Someone from the Petra Order? Such tremendous divine power. He looks younger than me, how does he have this level of power?'
Cinderella felt her pride hurt. Not only did he grab her wrist, treating her like a child, but he was even looking down at her with eyes that seemed to want to lecture her. Most of all, the fact that her punch had been caught sparked her competitive spirit.
A smile formed on Cinderella's lips. It was certainly beautiful, but somehow felt eerie.
'Oh no!'
Her fellow witch, Bell, sighed inwardly. Cinderella's switch had been turned on. When Cinderella became like this, she was nearly impossible to stop.
"Interesting. You, what's your name?"
"It's Ash-covered."
Martinez hid his name. He wasn't a paladin officially dispatched to this place. He didn't want to cause problems between the city and the order by revealing his name unnecessarily. The name he made up ended up rubbing Cinderella the wrong way.
"You're talking about being ash-covered in front of me? Should I take this as a provocation?"
"What do you mean......?"
Before Martinez could say anything, the sound of breaking through air rang out.
Martinez's head jerked backward. Cinderella's left hook grazed past the tip of his nose. His skin stung from the power felt through the air. His skin hurt even though it hadn't even grazed him. It was an impossible level of physical ability.
'And that glass weapon on top of that.'
Martinez stared at the glass slippers. Since they were made with witchcraft, they were clearly imbued with unique power beyond simply being hard. Not an easy opponent. Especially if he had to subdue her.
"I've been curious for a while now. You've been indiscriminately branding our kind as heretics and killing them outside, right? How about it? There's a heretic here, so try burning me to death too."
Cinderella pointed out what the Petra Order was doing outside Tirna.
Martinez couldn't answer because it was he who had voluntarily gone around killing heretics more than anyone else before coming to Tirna.
Cinderella didn't know Martinez's identity when she said this, but she had hit right on target.
"Why? I'm telling you to try it once."
"Please step back. If you continue to be uncooperative......"
"Continue and what!"
Cinderella charged forward. She lowered her body and took a stance aiming for the lower body. Martinez immediately grasped a mace. Since there was no compression process, the mace's size was huge like a pillar.
Martinez judged that if he swung this, she would naturally be scared and step back. But he was underestimating Cinderella's madness.
"Haha!"
With a cheerful laugh, Cinderella actually accelerated even more. Her slender legs stretched out. No matter how much of a fighter she was, if she put her foot against a sacred alchemy mace, her shinbone would be crushed to powder.
[Glass Slippers - Upper Sweep]
Clang!
Glass shin guards were equipped on Cinderella's legs. The mace that collided with the shin guards cracked all over. Cinderella swung her right fist and shattered the cracked mace to pieces.
Martinez's expression hardened. She was stronger than expected. And her competitive spirit was no joke either. She wasn't someone who could be handled with words.
'I'll subdue her with the resolve to cause major injuries.'
Otherwise, he would be the one to get hurt. If he were in peak condition it might be different, but given how exhausted he was now, that possibility was high.
Whoosh! Divine power burst like flames from Martinez's pupils. Soon a halo appeared behind his head. Sacred fire flickered along with brilliant light.
Cinderella also drew up her power. Glass slippers were equipped on both her fists and both her legs. Though called slippers, they were actually closer to protective gear for fists and feet.
Cinderella's ballgown fluttered and a sparkling dress reminiscent of glass crafts was manifested around her body.
[Glass Dress of the Ballroom]
The atmosphere heated up. The tension that seemed like one of the two would have to die to end it gripped the space. Martinez created a compressed quarterstaff. There was still hesitation, but that didn't mean he intended to just take the beating.
Just as a member of the 13 Inquisitors and a combat witch from the Witch Tea Party were about to clash.
"It was noisy so I came to see, but what in the world is this about?"
A pure white knight appeared between the two.
"Brother Ossian!"
Martinez called out that name as if delighted. In contrast, Cinderella frowned.
'Ossian? What is that?'
If it were her usual self, she would have expressed anger at the man who interfered with the upcoming fight. But Cinderella didn't do that. She just quietly, calmly gazed at Ossian with settled eyes. That was because of instinct.
It was a completely different appearance from when she had charged at Martinez and Basilio like a battle maniac. The one who was rather flustered by that scene was her colleague Bell.
'Cinderella became docile?'
Bell had known Cinderella for a long time, but her showing such behavior was so rare it could be counted on one hand. And usually in such cases, there was the common factor that the opponent was truly an overwhelmingly strong person. Cinderella was born with a ghostly sense for such things.
'Could that knight really be at that level?'
Whether Bell was surprised or not, Cinderella stared at Ossian with an even more serious expression. No openings were visible. More than that, the moment she faced that knight, her skin crawled and goosebumps wouldn't subside.
'......What the hell is that?'
Cinderella, who was naturally talented in combat, was a rare close-combat type among witches. No, it would be fair to say she was unique. Despite her delicate and beautiful appearance, she tended to act according to her instincts. Her being docile now was also due to instinctual judgment.
'A colleague?'
Seeing that Petra Order person greet him warmly, they were clearly acquainted. But since no divine power was felt, he didn't seem to be a paladin.
'Should I test him once?'
Suddenly curiosity arose. Cinderella took a stance. It was to confirm just how strong this white knight who had suddenly appeared would be.
Just as she was about to load her fist and throw it, Cinderella's eyes met with Osian's.
"......!"
Soon she felt as if electric current was flowing through her entire body.
Cinderella hurriedly leaped backward and landed beside Bell. It was a movement like watching a cat that had encountered a wild predator bristling all its fur.
"Cinderella. Suddenly what......"
Bell was shocked again by the fact that Cinderella had actually retreated. It was the first time she had retreated as if fleeing, beyond just becoming docile. Cinderella had very strong pride regarding combat. It was common for her to pick fights even knowing she would lose. She who hated retreating more than dying had retreated for the first time.
"Haa. Haa."
Cinderella panted and stared at Osian while Bell hurriedly checked Cinderella's condition.
"Cinderella! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere......!"
"I'm not hurt. I'm fine, Bell."
"You, your expression?"
Bell's eyes widened. Because Cinderella's expression was heated up stickily like that of someone excited somewhere.
"I think......I found it."
"What, what?"
"My destined opponent."