Looking at the motionless Zakum, Ichikawa reached out and tugged at the hem of Lin Ling's shirt.
“Hey, hey! Stop pouring mana into him!”
Even after Zakum had completely stopped moving, Lin Ling was still continuously pouring mana into his body.
It had gotten to the point where she was beginning to look like she might be consumed by the mana herself.
Ichikawa let go of her shirt, grabbed Lin Ling by the shoulders, and began to shake her violently.
“Hey! Stop pouring! The damage is already overflowing!”
Under Ichikawa's shaking, Lin Ling finally snapped out of her enraged state.
“Ah, ah! What happened?”
Regaining her senses, Lin Ling blinked at Ichikawa.
Seeing that Lin Ling had finally snapped out of it, Ichikawa let out a visible sigh of relief.
“Whew... If your health bar weren't so short, I would've had to perform a Personality Restoration Technique on you.”
Releasing his grip on Lin Ling's shoulders, Ichikawa took a few steps back to put some distance between them again.
Feeling the sensation of being stared down by an existential terror fade away, Ichikawa pointed at Zakum, who was still gripped by the magic arms.
“Let's deal with this guy first.”
Following the direction of Ichikawa's finger, Lin Ling noticed the now-stiff Zakum “figurine” still clutched in her manifested magic arms.
“Whoa! What is this thing?!”
Seeing Zakum clutched in her magic arms, Lin Ling threw him directly toward the wall.
“Wait, no. Can't pollute the environment.”
Watching Zakum fly toward the wall, Lin Ling swiped her hand, tracing a line of golden mana. A golden portal opened right on the wall he was heading toward.
Zakum sailed through the portal due to momentum, and the mana in Lin Ling's hands dispersed.
Turning back to Ichikawa, Lin Ling gave him a thumbs-up, her face full of satisfaction with how she had handled the situation.
“All done.”
But Ichikawa's face was a mask of pure shock. He gestured wildly with his hands.
“...You just casually teleported him away like that?”
“Well, if I smashed him against the wall, it would have made a horrific mess, wouldn't it?”
“But if you just teleported him away, isn't it even more terrifying if he lands right in front of someone else?!”
“Hmm...”
Hearing Ichikawa's words, Lin Ling rubbed her chin and began to picture the scenario.
The moment she imagined someone walking down the street only for a corpse to suddenly drop out of the sky right in front of them, Lin Ling's eyes went wide.
“Why didn't you say so earlier!”
That would literally scare someone to death! Terrified of the potential consequences, Lin Ling hurriedly began channeling magic in her hands.
Watching the golden mana swirl in Lin Ling's hands, Ichikawa's facial expression completely broke down.
“Does that even need to be said?! You literally didn't think of it at all, did you?!”
He truly hadn't expected this girl to be so incredibly unreliable. Frustrated, Ichikawa clawed at his hair.
But as Ichikawa was pulling at his hair, Lin Ling suddenly looked up, wearing an extremely awkward expression.
At the same time, her voice drifted over, sounding rather aggrieved.
“Wait, something's wrong.”
“What's wrong now?!”
Faced with Lin Ling's utter lack of reliability, Ichikawa sighed helplessly. He finally understood why Mr. Baroque sighed every time her name came up.
He felt like if things kept going this way, he'd be able to keep a straight face even if they blew up the capital tomorrow.
But Lin Ling only looked more aggrieved. She suddenly remembered that when she teleported those soldiers away earlier, she hadn't actually set a destination for them either. At the time, she had only been thinking about not killing anyone in front of the kids...
Did that mean they were all still stuck inside the teleportation channel she had constructed?!
Looking at the exasperated Ichikawa, Lin Ling burst into tears.
“Waaah! I forgot to set a destination for those guys!!”
Sure enough, she was as unreliable as ever.
Ichikawa couldn't help but facepalm. He was completely out of words to roast her anymore.
Watching Lin Ling hurriedly open a teleportation channel, Ichikawa recalled his earlier conversation with the sisters.
Since they had to go meet this so-called Baron Will next anyway, why not...
“Wait, I have an idea.”
Seeing that Lin Ling was almost finished setting up the destination for that group, Ichikawa stepped forward and grabbed her hand, stopping her spellcasting.
“What idea?”
Lin Ling was in no mood to listen to anything right now. She just wanted to dump these life-sized “figurines” out of the turbulent teleportation channel as quickly as possible.
Seeing that Lin Ling was completely tuning him out, Ichikawa leaned in close and began to whisper in her ear.
“We can do this, then that, and then...”
Listening to the devilish whispering, the magic swirling in Lin Ling's hands began to slow down. An excited glint—the kind that only appeared when she was up to no good—gradually lit up her eyes.
“Mm-hmm, yes, great idea!”
Seeing that Lin Ling was fully on board, Ichikawa continued detailing his plan. With every word he spoke, the expressions on their faces grew increasingly devious.
As expected, people possessed infinite motivation when they were plotting mischief.
Before long, the quiet room echoed with their sinister snickering.
Standing outside the door, the sisters, who had gathered there at some point, felt a chill run down their spines as they listened to the terrifying laughter echoing from inside.
The Hero hasn't even been away from the capital for that long, but has he already started to go a bit crazy...?
The laughter inside the room continued—
“Hehehehe...”
The two inside the room stared at the dispersing mana in their hands, their mischievous grins practically stretching from ear to ear.
The moment the last trace of mana faded away, both of them took a step forward and headed toward the door.
Click—
As they pushed the door open, their devious grins instantly froze. At some point, an entire row of sisters had lined up along the quiet corridor.
“Gah! So many people.”
Ichikawa immediately grabbed the edge of the doorframe and slammed the door shut.
Slam!
The instant the door shut, the two of them pressed themselves tightly against it, panting heavily.
Opening a door only to see a neat row of eyes staring right at you was truly a terrifying experience.
Even with the door shut now, their hearts were still pounding wildly.
Glancing at each other, their thoughts perfectly synchronized in that moment.
With a nod, a teleportation magic circle large enough for both of them to pass through materialized in front of them.
Just as they were about to step into the teleportation portal, an urgent knocking came from the door, accompanied by a sister's voice.
“Please, wait!”
The sisters realized that the person inside was a Hero, and Ichikawa had already used teleportation magic right in front of them earlier.
It took only a moment of thought to guess that the two of them were planning to slip away using teleportation magic.
The urgent knocking continued.
“Do you two know where Prince Kainster is? The Empire truly needs him to return. Please, we beg of you!”
Seeing that the door remained closed, the sister outside felt a pang of regret. How could she have forgotten that the Hero would always run away whenever there were too many people?
She could only shout through the door while clasping her hands in prayer, hoping that the two inside hadn't already teleported away.
Hearing the sister's shout from outside, they pulled their feet back from the teleportation portal. Lin Ling looked over at Ichikawa.
He nodded back at her.
Click—
The door opened once more, and two hands reached out from inside, dragging the sister standing at the front straight into the room.
“Please—eh?!”
The sister, who had still been praying with her eyes closed, felt a sudden pull.
When she hurriedly opened her eyes, the scene before her was not the dimly lit room at all.
In fact, it was clearly a tavern.
While the sister was still in shock, Ichikawa's voice sounded beside her: “There were too many people back there, so we brought you along to explain the situation on behalf of everyone.”
Ichikawa scratched his head and pointed toward a head of orange hair not far away in the tavern.
Rate on N.U.
