"How did we get here?"
Still immersed in the joy of recovering her lost sister, Mira hadn't even fully let her smile spread before she turned, ready to share that happiness—only to see Shane's expression shift several times.
She quickly restrained her smile and asked softly.
"About getting back to Earth Land…"
Shane rubbed his brow with a headache and honestly explained the problem he had overlooked.
"Can't we just follow the traces left by Anima and go back the same way?" Mira suggested.
"The problem is, we don't have Mystogan here to provide accurate spatial coordinates."
Shane sighed, then looked hopefully at Lisanna beside him.
"You've been living in this world for over a year. Do you have any clues?"
"Mm… I don't really understand this 'Anima' thing you're talking about."
Lisanna rubbed her forehead in distress and thought carefully for a while.
"But if you need to cast a really powerful spell, or find a place supported by enough magic… then in all of Edolas, the only place that can probably do it is the royal capital."
She paused, then explained, "All the magic from different places in this world is forcibly collected every year as 'tax' and continuously supplied to that evil dragon."
"But the royal capital is the sole exception. It has the richest magic reserves."
"So our next target is the royal capital?" Mira turned to Shane, her eyes full of drive.
"But the inspections at the royal capital are extremely strict. Even I've never gotten close to it."
Lisanna looked worried and pointed at Shane's face.
"With Shane-nii's current attention-grabbing face, he'd definitely be wanted across the whole city before even entering the gates!"
"Then what do we do?"
Both girls looked toward Shane at the same time, waiting for his decision.
Shane rubbed his chin and fell into thought.
If infiltration wouldn't work, then in the end they might only be able to rely on pure force.
That said, he didn't feel particularly burdened by that.
Now that Lisanna had been found safe, they really didn't need to be as restrained as before.
While Shane was silently calculating, two heads were peeking around the half-closed guest room door.
"Elfman-nii, look. One looks so happy right now," Lisanna Number Two whispered while clinging to the doorframe.
"But… she's about to leave with them, isn't she?" Elfman's bulky body leaned against the wall, his tone very low.
After spending this past year together, he had long since come to treat this lively girl from another world as real family.
"Ugh! What's with that expression? Your actual little sister is still standing right here, perfectly fine!"
Lisanna Number Two puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction and pretended to be angry as she punched her brother's arm.
"I-I didn't mean it like that…"
The clumsy-tongued Elfman immediately panicked and stammered, trying to explain.
And just as this warm, ordinary little moment was unfolding—
Bang, bang, bang!
A burst of frantic knocking, almost like someone was trying to smash the door down, suddenly rang out from outside the wooden house.
"Who is it?"
The siblings jumped in fright and quickly ran to open the door.
The hinges creaked, and standing outside was this world's Mira.
The gentle barmaid was now completely out of breath from running, loose strands of hair sticking messily to her sweaty forehead.
"Quick! Hurry and hide them! The Evil Dragon Hunter came to the guild!"
"What?"
The siblings' faces changed drastically. They no longer cared about manners and hurriedly rushed into the guest room.
"Come with us, quickly!"
They interrupted Shane and the others' conversation, grabbing their arms as if to drag them toward the depths of the mushroom forest behind the house.
"Evil Dragon Hunter?"
Shane didn't move an inch. Instead, he frowned.
"Is she that troublesome? Why are all of you so scared?"
"Extremely strong! The kingdom calls her their greatest fighting force, the person most likely to hunt down the evil dragon!"
Edolas Mira leaned against the doorway and explained quickly, her voice anxious.
"She just stormed into the guild, saying she had found traces of a second evil dragon far away in Rune City. She insisted that the newly appeared dragon was another conspiracy created by our guild…"
"In any case, if she sees your face, it will definitely cause a massive misunderstanding!"
She stepped forward. "I've already asked Levy to delay her at the guild as much as possible. Hurry and leave. Come back after the Hunter leaves the guild!"
"…"
Looking at this counterpart Mira's desperate anxiety, Shane and Earth Land Mira exchanged a glance and fell into a brief silence.
"Sorry. This trouble… might really have been caused by me."
Shane scratched his hair and admitted with a dry cough, "When I was in Rune City, I did cause a… small disturbance."
"You… you can turn into a dragon?!"
The three Edolas siblings froze instantly, staring wide-eyed at the black-haired boy in front of them.
"Well, more or less."
Shane smiled as if it were nothing.
"And if I just run away now, there's no guarantee that Hunter won't vent her anger on your guild."
He shook his head, rejecting the suggestion to flee.
"No, you don't have to worry about that."
Lisanna Number Two quickly waved her hands.
"She's different from the kingdom army in the capital. She doesn't really care about capturing wanted people like us. She's a battle maniac obsessed only with hunting evil dragons."
"Really?"
Hearing that, a spark of interest flashed through Shane's eyes.
He had been wondering how to enter the royal capital in a justified way while making a "reasonable" amount of noise.
And now, hadn't a perfect "guide" just delivered herself to the door?
"Oh, come on! Levy won't be able to stall her for long. Hurry and leave!"
The usually gentle counterpart Mira was now as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
Seeing that Shane still seemed unmoved, she couldn't help stepping forward and tugging hard on his cloak.
"It's already too late."
A cool, arrogant voice cut in from outside without warning.
"I was wondering what you were sneaking out of the guild to do. So you were hiding a surprise for me here."
The light outside the window suddenly dimmed.
Everyone instinctively turned their heads, only to see an enormous, cold vertical animal pupil pressed against the glass at some point.
It was a Legion's eye.
Then came a thunderous boom.
The entire roof of the mushroom house was roughly torn away by a giant beast's claws like paper.
Amid the violent sound of splintering wood, sunlight poured down.
A hideous Legion hovered in midair.
And on the broad back of the beast stood a slender yet oppressive figure.
Crimson hair whipped wildly in the wind.
She wore a fitted, thin knight-style dress armor in black and white, held a long spear, and looked down on everyone below from above with eyes as cold as if she were looking at corpses.
"E-Erza?"
The moment they saw that unmistakable scarlet hair, Shane and Mira almost instinctively called out at the same time.
No wonder they hadn't seen her in that upside-down version of the guild earlier. In this world, she was actually a high-ranking officer in the capital's army.
"Oh? You know me, and yet you still aren't running with your tails between your legs?"
"Erza" in midair raised a brow, her lips curling into a mocking sneer.
"Then again, you do have the same face as that monster. I suppose a little arrogance is barely understandable."
"How strong is she?"
Mira leaned close to Lisanna's ear and asked in a low voice.
As someone who had fought Erza tooth and nail for so many years, this was the question she cared about most right now.
"I don't know exactly how strong she is. I've only heard about her terrifying reputation from everyone in the guild."
Lisanna also whispered, "But no matter what, she's definitely not stronger than Shane-nii!"
Seeing the two women below whispering to each other right in front of her, without showing the fear prey ought to have, "Erza" in the sky frowned in displeasure.
Suppressing her irritation, she turned her wrist.
The long spear spun through the air in a sharp flourish, its tip pointing straight at Shane. Her eyes were full of eager battle intent.
"That evil dragon that fled like a rat outside Rune City earlier was another trick of yours, wasn't it? What's wrong? Facing me, you don't plan to turn into that form?"
"So you fight with a spear…"
Shane ignored her provocation. His gaze instead fell on the weapon in her hand, and he answered casually,
"I can't freely control that dragonized form right now."
His lazy lack of tension only made the red-haired hunter above even more irritated.
"Don't show me that weak expression. How ugly!"
Disgust shone plainly in Erza's eyes.
"Fine. Before I hunt the true evil dragon, I'll use you as a warm-up."
"Explosion Spear!"
Before the words had fully fallen, the spear in her hands suddenly changed shape, and dazzling fire burst from its tip.
The girl leapt from the Legion's broad back like a falling crimson meteor, bringing with her a sharp sonic boom as that destructive strike pierced straight toward Shane's face.
"So the source of her strength is that special magical weapon in her hands?"
Looking at the powerful attack, Shane saw through the truth instantly and couldn't help sighing inwardly.
She was completely different from Earth Land's girl, who pursued the endless refinement of body and magic.
But that couldn't be helped. After all, she was bound by this world's lack of magic.
Seeing that familiar face look at him with such undisguised loathing, Shane not only didn't get angry, the corner of his mouth even lifted.
Being stared at by Erza like he was trash—this really was a brand-new experience.
Back in Earth Land, that serious knight of a girl would never look at him with that kind of expression.
"Move back first."
Shane softly reminded the others without turning his head.
The wide black dragon wings behind him suddenly spread, sweeping up a gentle current of air that pushed Mira and the others safely into a corner.
At the same time, he closed both hands around empty air, and Lancer's black-blue spear-swords appeared in his palms as if by magic.
Clang—!
Sparks flew everywhere.
The deafening clash of metal exploded through the ruined house.
Shane crossed his twin spears, and without even shifting his feet half an inch, he held firm like a mountain against the magic spear carrying explosive force.
"You really can use magic too!"
At such close range, the black eyes he knew so well were now blazing with the fanatic light of someone who had met a powerful opponent.
"Satisfied?"
During that deadlocked contest of strength, Shane raised his head slightly and arched a brow at the murderous red-haired girl in front of him.
"Not bad."
The girl's mouth curled into a grin, and she suddenly increased the force behind her spear.
"I, Erza Knightwalker, acknowledge that you have value as my prey!"
"Is that so?"
Rather than being intimidated by her killing intent, Shane casually threw out a question.
"Then, Hunter Lady, full of motivation, what do you plan to do with us after you successfully hunt me?"
"Beat you until you kneel, of course. Then I'll take you back to the capital and let His Majesty King Faust personally decide your fate!"
Knightwalker gave her cold verdict without hesitation.
"I see. How cold of you…"
Shane's gaze shifted slightly. Then he did something no one expected.
He suddenly drew back his twin spears.
Not only did he abandon every defensive posture, he even voluntarily stepped back.
"In that case, if I choose to surrender, can we skip the slightly violent part where you beat me until I kneel?"
Shane raised both hands above his head, blinked, and wore an expression of absolute sincerity.
"?"
The cold smile on Knightwalker's face froze instantly, her expression turning incredulous.
In their brief exchange just now, she had clearly felt that this fake evil dragon had considerable strength.
Someone with that level of power should at least have enough pride to fight to the death.
Why would he suddenly throw away every shred of a strong person's dignity and raise his hands in surrender so smoothly, without the slightest psychological resistance?
As a warrior, she could not understand such cowardice at all.
Watching the red-haired girl's eyes shift rapidly from shock to contempt, Shane shrugged indifferently.
"It's not that strange, is it? I admit you're strong. If we really fight, I'll suffer losses. This is just the optimal choice based on the current situation."
"Tch. You really are ugly, inside and out."
Knightwalker clicked her tongue in disgust, the fanatic light in her eyes fading completely into contempt.
She put away her spear and drew a length of rope from her waist, one that gave off a dim magical glow.
"I suggest you put away those pointless little schemes. Even if you aren't from this world, this magical tool can still bind your magic."
She warned coldly as she strode forward.
"Understood. Please do as you like. I've always been very good at reading the situation."
Shane cooperatively brought his hands together and stepped forward of his own accord, looking perfectly obedient and ready to be tied up.
"Wait! You're seriously letting yourself get captured just like that?"
The three Edolas siblings hiding in the corner had their eyes nearly popping out of their heads in disbelief.
One moment ago, everyone thought a huge battle was about to break out. In the next, this composed-looking man had just slid straight into surrender?
Unlike the shocked siblings, Mira and Lisanna beside them looked especially calm.
They knew Shane far too well.
Whenever this guy did something this abnormal, he had absolutely already cooked up some nasty plan in his stomach.
Most likely, he intended to go with the flow, use being captured as an excuse to infiltrate the royal capital, and meet the king.
"This Erza really doesn't seem to like you."
Mira looked at Knightwalker's undisguised disgust toward Shane and even had the leisure to tease him from the side.