But Black Lotus wasn't lying.
Tina tried to focus her attention on observing Black Lotus's emotions and memories, confirming that Blood Lotus and Black Lotus had indeed hugged each other.
She didn't look at anything else.
“I thought the Lord Demon King would use a more violent method, like... directly replacing her heart, or something...?”
“Is that what you wanted me to do?” Tina asked back.
“Of course I did! After all, I want Blood Lotus to become a magical beast too~”
“...”
Tina was at a loss for words, though what she was doing right now wasn't really all that different.
“The Lord Demon King is truly too kind, always treating her companions in the gentlest way.”
“I think you've misunderstood.”
Meanwhile, Shetiel, who was sitting on the floor nearby without a care for the fireplace soot staining her small skirt, suddenly looked up at the two of them, like a little rabbit perking up its ears to listen.
“Anyway, I'll bring my sister along~”
“Shetiel.”
At that moment, Tina glanced at the magical beast lady sitting on the floor like a child, pulled her straight up, and said, “Sathya will be back in two hours. I hope she really did agree to let you wander around inside the room.”
“Of course she did~ Don't worry, Sister Tina! Actually, I didn't mean to, it's just that I feel more comfortable being near the Demon King. How should I put it... my sisters and I all feel that it's much easier to get along with our own kind.”
As she spoke, Shetiel looked at her sisters scattered around the room, who all nodded in agreement.
“...” Tina had no choice but to nod helplessly.
After watching Black Lotus leave, a third guest arrived at the palace.
Or rather, old friends.
They were Velrose and Krulu.
When the two of them walked through the main doors, Tina thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but she hadn't expected it to actually be them.
They were dressed in bishop robes... Yes, their appearance was similar in style to Elcalan, as well as Black Lotus and Blood Lotus. They wore white tights and gold ribbons, and the fabric clinging to their slender waists was adorned with beautiful gold-embroidered patterns, resembling the exquisite reliefs found on murals of mythological tales. The robes looked like skirts of radiant sunlight, making them look like theatrical actors in full costume on stage, but in reality, these were high-durability, magically defensive garments symbolizing “holiness.”
Tina had tried wearing them too, but things like her tail and horns made it incredibly inconvenient. She could only wear looser dresses, and even then, she had to cut a hole in the back of her clothes to let her tail through so she could stretch it out.
Velrose had several diamond-shaped pendant decorations in her orange hair, while Krulu's short, ice-blue hair had actually grown long enough to reach her waist following her transformation into a magical beast. Paired with her bishop attire, she looked as though she had transformed from a female knight into a holy mage.
After the two entered the room, Velrose in particular kept staring at Tina's tail.
Tina initially thought she was imagining things, so she flicked her tail to the left, only to find Velrose's eyes following it to the left. It was only when she hid her tail behind her back that Velrose finally looked up to meet Tina's gaze.
Seriously, that's a bit rude, isn't it?
The two sat down on the sofa originally prepared for Blood Lotus.
“What... brings you two here to see me?”
Seeing Shetiel pounce forward, Tina initially thought these two had also come just to join in on the fun.
However, to her surprise, their expressions were incredibly solemn.
She immediately began capturing their emotions, trying to read their memories.
...This didn't take long at all.
It was like watching a short story clip in an incredibly brief instant.
The fragments of what had happened quickly surfaced before her eyes, and then Tina had to ponder the meaning behind these scenes.
Before Tina could even begin to wonder what that earth-shattering, sky-falling weapon was, Velrose spoke up, “De—Tina, although Lady Sathya told us it would be best not to disturb you here, I still feel it's necessary to tell you about the situation we've encountered.”
“Edward?”
Before Velrose could say anything more, Tina uttered the name of the Master of the Tower of Stars.
But to Velrose's shock, they had only just found information on Edward, yet the Lord Demon King already knew about him?!
Krulu and Velrose exchanged glances, neither of them knowing what was going on. After all, Tina had been locked up in the palace all this time, playing who knew what kind of strange game with Sathya...
“Since you already know, that makes things easier. We brought Elcalan to the Northern Continent, but on the way, we ran into a formidable enemy from the Tower of Stars—Edward.”
“Yes.”
Tina began to process the images appearing in her mind, closing her eyes and leaning back against the sofa as if in meditation.
That weapon falling from the sky did not seem like the Master of the Tower of Stars' usual method of attack, nor was it a move Edward commonly used.
However, she had indeed seen the magic used to summon meteors and meteorites later on during the magical beast war, in a direct confrontation with the Heavenly Magical Beast.
That battle had directly reshaped a quarter of the Northern Continent's territory, splitting the entire continent in two. Certain corners were plunged into perpetual darkness, and for countless years to come, no human could ever draw near.
Edward was a key figure who shone brilliantly during that period.
He was a tenacious human.
He and Elcalan could be said to be two complete opposites.
His combat ability was not particularly strong; if well-prepared, a human at the Cardinal level could easily kill him.
However, to humanity, he was the most influential figure beneath the Saintess.
This man had once vanished into thin air after the start of the magical beast war.
After Cardinal Morgan was exiled by the Saintess, he had sacrificed tens of thousands of commoners to use as a weapon, only to be subsequently defeated by the joint forces of the Heavenly Magical Beast and the Deceptive Magical Beast.
At that time, the Northern Continent was split in two by the Heavenly Magical Beast, and the seas were occupied by numerous magical beasts, with schools of fish and giant whales transformed into rampaging thralls of magical beasts.
Edward suddenly appeared, successfully covering the Saintess as she led humanity's retreat toward the barren Southern Continent, becoming a beacon of hope for mankind.
Thus, to humans, he was a staunch conservative, but the same could not be said from the perspective of the magical beasts.
What induced an even greater sense of crisis was the new weapon designed by the Tower of Stars.
Honestly speaking.
This weapon was not particularly powerful, and perhaps could not even damage a single one of Tina's scales.
Yet the current Tower of Stars was actually beginning to design this kind of city-destroying weapon even before the outbreak of the magical beast war.
This meant the Tower of Stars had already realized the latent crisis within humanity, and Edward's appearance indicated that he was already fully prepared.
Perhaps.
His existence would threaten the Saintess, as well as the kingdom of magical beasts.
When Tina opened her eyes again, her previously somewhat playful attitude had suddenly transformed into pure killing intent.
“Take me to Elcalan.”
Rate on N.U.
