Terence looked at Osian with a somewhat dumbfounded gaze. Osian, not caring about Terence's stare, gulped down the iced americano placed in front of him.
After taking a sip and setting down the cup, the ice inside clinked. Terence's expression became that of someone who had witnessed something they shouldn't have.
"Does that taste good?"
"Mind your own business."
"No, I did hear from my little sister that you drink coffee strangely, but I didn't believe it. But to actually see it like this."
Ahem. A clearing of the throat sounded from the kitchen. Looking over, Ena was clenching her fist and making a gesture to Terence that he was doing well. It seemed that making this for Osian regularly had severely hurt her pride as a barista.
"Is that good?"
In contrast, Elise asked with curiosity.
"Rather than explaining, it would be better to try it yourself. Ena, one iced americano here."
So she doesn't even know the abbreviation for iced americano. Ena made a dumbfounded face and placed the coffee in front of Elise.
"If you don't think you can drink it, it's okay not to."
"You don't need to add that explanation."
"What are you saying? No one drinks this stuff except for Mr. Osian."
"You all just don't know what's trendy."
Decades from now, everyone will be drinking this like it's attached to them. Leading the trend but being so unappreciated, this must be why prophets get cursed at for no reason, he thought.
Elise looked at the iced coffee for a moment, then carefully picked up the cup.
"Ah, ah! Be careful!"
Terence cried out in surprise from beside her. Anyone watching would think she was drinking poison.
Elise hesitated for a moment, then carefully took a sip of the coffee.
She chewed with her mouth for a moment, then swallowed the coffee with a gulp.
"How is it?"
At Osian's question, Elise pondered for a moment before answering.
"It's somehow bland yet has a strange taste."
"Hmm."
"But it's okay. It wasn't bad."
At Elise's words, Terence's expression turned pale. He seemed to fall into deep anguish about whether he had to match even this bizarre taste of the woman he had a crush on.
Terence said to Ena after breaking into a cold sweat for a moment.
"For me too, the same thing, one cup."
"......"
Ena stared at Terence with a completely cold gaze. Eventually, with a sigh, the same cup was placed in front of him as well. Unlike Elise, Terence boldly gulped down the iced coffee.
"Urk!"
Terence stopped mid-drink and tried to spit out what was in his mouth. But there were many eyes watching around him. Especially Elise was right beside him. Terence suppressed the desire to spit out the coffee with desperate patience. He squeezed his eyes shut and forced the coffee in his mouth down his throat.
"Kheup. Sssss, whew."
Though it was just one sip, just drinking it seemed to have stolen about 3 years of his lifespan. Osian looked at him as if he were pathetic.
"Anyway, enough of these pointless jokes. What's the reason you're staying here?"
"What reason? Obviously because of the changes we experienced because of you."
Terence answered as if he had been waiting. Elise didn't answer, but she had the same purpose.
"Didn't I tell you? You need to develop further by handling your existing powers together."
"Right. You did. Amazingly, it worked, and the result was more powerful than we thought. We should be satisfied with this." Terence let out a small sigh.
"But seeing your reaction, it seems this still isn't enough."
So he noticed that. It seemed he had felt something beyond just being quick-witted.
"It seems you yourselves felt you were lacking."
Terence hesitated, then nodded. Elise continued sipping coffee from the side. She must have gotten used to it after drinking it.
"You've ascended to the next level, as I told you. You've become able to utilize your powers more naturally. But it's still not enough. Terence, you had a nosebleed in the middle, right?"
"That was because my head suddenly became too complicated."
"I'm not trying to blame you. You overexerted yourself doing that when you had just awakened. But from now on, you'll have to fix that. Now, there isn't much time left."
"What do you mean there isn't much time left? Are you saying even with our power, it's not enough?"
"There's a powerful being. So strong that I can't even gauge it. That thing is coming to this world."
Terence's expression hardened.
"In preparation for that time, Terence Progenen, I need your power. Elise Denarova. You too. Not wanting to or anything like that won't work. You have to. If you don't."
Osian deliberately didn't finish his sentence. The two people in front of him weren't stupid enough to need everything explained to them.
"Haa. Hearing such heavy talk makes my throat dry."
Terence instinctively reached for the drink in front of him out of thirst and drank it without thinking, then immediately spewed it out with a "pfft."
"......"
‘Or maybe not. Maybe he is stupid.’
Having already expected this, Osian used the power of the Sun Ring to evaporate all the coffee Terence spewed in mid-air. Terence seemed to have something caught in his throat as he coughed for a moment.
"Kheulk! Ahem. S-sorry."
"Whatever, how long do you think it will take to organize the newly awakened power?"
"......It won't be long. I've got the direction. I was inexperienced because it was the first time I used it then, but it'll be different after this."
Terence was indeed an excellent mage. Once he got past the parts he needed to understand instinctively, afterwards he could thoroughly analyze with the brain and reason characteristic of mages. Elise beside him would be the same. Unlike Terence, she seemed to have no major issues for having just awakened.
Perhaps that was just the trigger, and she had been preparing something similar from before. Whatever it was, having comrades who would fight together grow stronger quickly was a good sign.
"Right. Since we're done, won't you remove that ominous barrier outside that drives people away?"
Osian said to Elise. This time, as Osian solved the sea dragon incident, his fame rose even more. It was natural for people to flock to Violet Fox again.
But the outside visible through the window now was quiet. It was desolate beyond just being quiet. It was all thanks to Elise's black magic. She used ominous black magic as a barrier to keep people from approaching.
Elise asked as if she didn't understand.
"If it's quiet, isn't that good?"
"I'm worried that customers who really need to come won't come either."
Osian looked at Elise's cup. The cup was cleanly empty with only ice remaining. Hmm. Even if she's a dirty black mage, she does have some taste.
"If you scatter such an ominous energy outside like that, who would come? Even people who want to make requests would turn away in disgust."
Ding. Someone opened the door and entered.
"......"
A strange look was contained in Elise's transparent eyes directed at Osian but Osian cleared his throat and ignored her gaze, staring at the newly arrived customer.
The newcomer was, no, an elf. They wore a robe made of fresh green color. What stood out most was the staff floating beside them. A large staff reminiscent of a classic mage's staff. It even had a gem embedded at the end.
"You!"
The first to recognize them was Terence. An elf with a striking appearance. Even considering that most elves were like that, it was strange for Terence to show such an intense reaction.
"......!"
Elise was also surprised.
Osian intuited that the elf who just entered was not an ordinary elf.
"This is Violet Fox, right? There was some kind of black magic barrier from the entrance, so I wasn't sure."
The elf's gaze, which had been looking around the interior, turned to Osian.
"It seems I came to the right place after all."
"Who are you?"
Osian asked. At that domineering tone, Terence sprang up from his seat.
"You, you! Even if you're not interested in the world, still! Do you know who this person is!"
The elf calmed Terence, who was trying to get angry instead.
"Terence Progenen. Right?"
"Yes, yes yes. That's right."
"Indeed befitting the next head of the Progenen family. You have higher achievements than any mage I've seen. No, more than that. It's impressive."
"Th-thank you."
"And Elise Denarova? I've heard a lot about you. I thought the rumors were exaggerated, but rather they're underestimated."
"......Thank, you."
Elise used honorifics! Osian's eyes widened in surprise. Just what kind of elf was this that the great Elise would even use honorifics shyly?
"My introduction is late. I am Mowen Helianus. One of the mayors of Tirna."
Mowen, who introduced herself as a mayor, smiled faintly at Osian.
"And the reason I came here like this is, Osian, it’s because I wanted to meet you."
"The wolf is dead."
Humpty Dumpty said.
The one who was supposed to protect the sea dragon's egg in Tirna is dead, and the egg returned to the sea dragon intact.
"An absurdly huge failure."
Just the magical materials used to steal the sea dragon's egg were enormous. The plan was to drop the natural disaster of an enraged sea dragon onto Tirna.
The result was a huge failure. The sea dragon only swept the outside of Tirna and went back, though even that was enough to damage the city. But that wasn't the kind of damage Humpty Dumpty wanted.
At least one-third of Tirna should have been made unable to recover due to the typhoon.
At least that's how his calculations went.
The reason for this would be because of the interference, after all.
Osian. That bastard's doing it again. And this time, it wasn't just that bastard who interfered.
"Ahahaha! That wolf bastard. Serves him right!"
"Acting so high and mighty, only to end up dead and skinned. What a shame, what a shame."
The laughter of the familiars rejoicing at the wolf's death spread. Because of the wolf's usual bad behavior, no one mourned his death.
"Everyone be quiet. That's not what's important right now."
"Humpty Dumpty. Aren't you happy the wolf died? That guy kept looking down on you."
"Separate from being annoying, the wolf was useful. He was a familiar sufficient to advance Mother's plan. And such a guy was taken down without even being able to resist."
"Right, right. I even lent him a piece of my mirror, so that shouldn't have happened."
Another voice interjected. A high-toned female voice that made one feel good just hearing it.
With just her appearance, the familiars who had been chattering noisily shut their mouths.
Jack who had become a giant tree, the chatty siblings Hansel and Gretel, and the constantly clicking nutcracker doll too.
What appeared was a beautiful woman in a jet-black dress with skin pale enough to be white. She, who held both the charm of a young girl and a mature seductress, shook the mirror fragment she held in her hand and reflected her own face.
"Mirror, mirror. Who is the prettiest in the world?"
Like someone fallen into narcissism, she asked the mirror that. But the mirror didn't answer. It would have answered before, but after being broken in the fight with Snow White, the mirror's purpose had changed.
"Lady Grimhilde. What brings you here?"
"I heard the job failed. I also participated in this operation, so shouldn't I hear all the circumstances? And the children here should know too."
Humpty Dumpty bowed his short, squat body.
"Yes. Understood. Please, I ask of you."
"Fufu. What a good child who listens well. Now children, everyone gather and watch this."
Grimhilde threw the mirror fragment. The floating mirror fragment stopped in mid-air and transformed into the form of a proper full-length mirror. A scene was reflected beyond that full-length mirror.
It was what happened in the underground that day to Big Bad Wolf.
Big Bad Wolf can be seen hesitating. The opponents are two witches belonging to Tirna and one familiar.
"......A cat."
Diolan was approaching the wolf slowly in a semi-human, semi-beast form. Humpty Dumpty's expression hardened.
Just by taking steps, the summons the wolf had vomited out fled in terror and confusion. It was the first time even Humpty Dumpty had seen a cat in such a form. And what on earth is this ability?
"Who would have thought the cat was hiding such power?"
"Fufu. Indeed befitting a child our Goose put her heart and soul into creating."
Grimhilde laughed as if she knew about the cat. She released the ability. The large mirror transformed back into broken fragment pieces and was grasped in Grimhilde's hand.
"Little egg child. What do you plan to do now?"
Humpty Dumpty slowly closed his eyes and opened them.
"Now, it's only all-out war."
He had tried to somehow chip away at Tirna's forces, but now only one means remained. At his words, the familiars dwelling in the darkness stirred as if they had been waiting for this day.