"Caught you, didn't I?"
Laufen, who had already fled more than two thousand meters in the blink of an eye, wore a look of utter shock.
Because Fíliya, despite starting later, had arrived first, catching up to her. Laufen felt that hand patting her on the body.
In that instant, she was rendered completely immobile.
"Th... This is impossible. This is my family's magic. It has never been taught to outsiders... How are you able to use it!"
Seeing Fíliya effortlessly snatch the birdcage back from her hands, Laufen was naturally appalled. But compared to losing the Stille, it was clearly Fíliya's use of High-Speed Movement Magic (Jilgravala) that shocked her even more.
"Mm..."
Faced with Laufen's question, Fíliya also felt a bit awkward. She thought to herself, I can't exactly say I learned it from the System Shop, can I?
So, she simply placed the birdcage containing the Stille on the ground, and then used both hands to grab the two ox-horn buns on top of Miss Laufen's head, fiddling with them back and forth.
It looked like she was venting, but also like she was thinking.
One minute, two minutes... five minutes passed.
Fíliya just kept playing with Laufen's bun hairstyle for a full five minutes, until Miss Laufen couldn't take it anymore.
"Alright, alright! I won't ask anymore! You don't have to answer! Just stop messing with my hair!"
"Oh? You said that yourself, right? Isn't this a great deal? Out of the kindness of my heart, I'm letting you off the hook, so you stop obsessing over the magic stuff."
Fíliya finally revealed a satisfied smile.
But Miss Laufen's heart was far from calm.
The leakage of family magic was a major incident. Although she couldn't keep questioning this green-haired fellow right now, she had already decided that once she got back, she would definitely report this properly. They would need to strictly investigate every link within the family to see exactly where the possibility of the magic being leaked lay.
As for holding Fíliya accountable, that was definitely out of the question. While the leak of family magic was a serious matter, offending a powerful mage—and a powerful young mage at that—was even more unwise.
Immediately after, Fíliya upheld her end of the agreement very well. She really didn't continue to harass Miss Laufen. Instead, she sat cross-legged directly on the ground, picked up the birdcage, and observed it carefully for quite a while. Then, she closed her eyes, allowing a gentle mana to envelop both herself and the Stille.
Laufen didn't understand, but she was certain that the green-haired fellow before her was performing some operation she couldn't comprehend.
After a short while, Fíliya opened her eyes and even reached out to open the gate of the birdcage.
"Wait! What are you doing... If you do that, the Stille will fly away and vanish in an instant... Didn't you guys also spend a lot of effort to catch one?"
Laufen's tone was somewhat anxious.
After all, there was still some time before sunset. Although she had failed on her end, perhaps Old Man Denken might have some success? But if the Stille was released, catching it again would be extremely difficult.
"What are you rushing for?"
Fíliya looked at Laufen with a confused expression.
"Eh?"
Laufen was momentarily speechless, not knowing how to answer. After all, this indeed wasn't her Stille.
"Naturally, I want to have a deep exchange with this little thing, become friends or something. Look, isn't it very inappropriate to keep a 'friend' locked in a birdcage?"
Seeing Laufen's slightly awkward expression, Fíliya immediately smiled and offered an explanation.
...Laufen couldn't understand. Making friends with a Monster? It was simply an unheard-of operation.
Immediately after, Fíliya placed the Stille in the palm of her hand.
The Stille hopped around in Fíliya's palm, but indeed had no intention of flying away. It even locked eyes with Fíliya.
Fíliya's golden pupils also began to emit a faint, eerie blue light.
Now Laufen understood. That eerie blue light was a sign of Mental Magic.
So she spoke up again.
"It's a waste of effort... Monsters only possess basic 'intelligence,' not wisdom. Even if you use Mental Magic, communication is impossible."
Laufen advised with a very helpless tone, shaking her head.
"Mm, theoretically that is true, but who can say for sure without testing it in practice... Look, isn't this little guy behaving very peacefully in my hand right now? It has no intention of flying away at all... Ah... it flew away."
Fíliya was just looking at Laufen with an arrogant expression, but before she could be smug for even three seconds, the Stille made a flying dash. It completely disappeared from before the two of them, leaving behind only a massive sonic boom and the trace of air currents.
"Heh heh..."
Laufen only felt the corners of her mouth twitch slightly.
Now it was great; nobody had a Stille.
"Umu... Why is it that every time I want to show off a little, I inevitably get slapped in the face..."
Fíliya wore a bitter expression identical to Laufen's on her face, but her internal thoughts were worlds apart.
However, with that attempt just now, I've somewhat grasped the trick to it... Mm, the problem now is where to find another Stille... By the way, will Frieren blame me... Forget it, let's just go back first.
As Fíliya spoke, she stepped forward a tiny bit and squatted in front of Laufen.
"Little sister, if you promise me you won't run, I'll let you go. Otherwise, having two people who know High-Speed Movement Magic racing in this forest would be pretty boring, and it's a waste of mana."
Hearing this, Laufen hurriedly nodded. After all, she was also very worried about the battle situation on Old Man Denken's side.
Thus, Fíliya really did undo Miss Laufen's restraints. Then, the two used High-Speed Movement Magic together, sprinting all the way back in the direction they came from.
Soon, the two arrived at their destination.
"Whoa, they went overboard."
Fíliya looked at the high ground that had risen from the earth, recognizing at a glance that this was the masterpiece of Earth Manipulation Magic (Askeriehm).
And the powerful magical fluctuations permeating the area proved that a fierce battle had definitely taken place here earlier.
Immediately after, Fíliya saw the elderly aristocrat who had already been beaten to the ground. Mm... she remembered he was called Denken.
"Oh? Good work, good work. Fufu is always so decisive when she acts."
Fíliya slowly sidled up to Frieren's side, then placed her hands on Frieren's shoulders and began massaging her.
Hm?
Fíliya's attitude of being solicitous for no reason immediately aroused Frieren's vigilance.
She looked at Fíliya's empty hands, then looked at Fíliya's feet, seeing no sign of the Stille anywhere. And the birdcage held by the bun-haired girl Fíliya had dragged back was also empty.
"So, you let the Stille go, right?"
"Eh? I did not! It was that Miss Laufen. Seeing she was about to be caught by me, she wanted to go down in 'mutual destruction' and released the Stille. She even said something like 'If I can't have it, you can't have it either!'"
Laufen, standing to the side, widened her eyes instantly upon hearing this, thinking, How can there be such a brazenly shameless person?
"So, you let the Stille go, right?"
Frieren obviously didn't believe Fíliya's lie, so she weighed her tone slightly heavier and repeated her interrogation.
"Fine, it was me."
____
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