The Witch and the Doll Swear

There is always darkness in the mage's tower.

Because of the burning of the flames a moment ago, whether it was the fluorescent stone on the steps or the glass lampshade of the magic lamp on the wall, the dark scorched marks covered the light that was originally not very bright.

This made the atmosphere of this spiral corridor even more gloomy.

This impression did not change until I descended the last flight of stairs and stepped onto the marble floor painted with flames.

In this square space that is exactly the same as the first hall except for the height of the ceiling, the sulfur-smelling air billows scorchingly. There are two high doors on each of the other three walls, and those metal doors with complex patterns It shone with a lavender light.

Aside from the crystal chandeliers on the high ceilings, that's what makes the place so magically lit.

However, these are not the reasons why the girl opened her mouth wide because of the scene in front of her, and couldn't even exclaim in surprise.

"God is above... really, the devil..."

The flickering runes flew out from [Laplace], encircling the witch and Tina behind her. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to move forward.

Even the immortal witch is the same.

On the floor where Liliana's bare feet stepped, there was a raging fire made of marble textures——at this moment, in the center of this hall, the huge creature crawling on the ground was a creature like that gathered by such flames.

demon.

Beside it, there were scorched human corpses scattered around it, exuding the disgusting aura that it had smelled not too long ago.

That is the nomads who once entered the tower.

The elders of [San Torre] said that this tower was created by the evil power of the devil. It should be just a convenient description of the primitive religion, but it has become a reality astonishingly.

"...To be precise, it's the Balrog from the lower realm, and it's close relatives to the Balrog from the Demon Race."

Spiral horns that curve forward from the sides of the black goat's head.

Silhouette of broad wings behind.

And a muscular chest, shoulders, anti-jointed upper legs and waist.

Except for these locations that can be described as obsidian—or lava that has not been completely cooled, the rest of the creature is like fiery red viscous magma.

If it wasn't for the body being bound by the chains of light, Alice, who was wearing a tight leather jacket full of rivets and completely exposed her arms and thighs, stepped on her with long high-heeled leather boots and whipped her continuously with a bright whip. If so, this creature perfectly interprets the true meaning of the word.

No, even in such an embarrassing figure, it still has enough majesty that ordinary people can't dare to challenge it.

Now, Tingna is experiencing the reason why the author always spends a lot of space describing such a heavy and foreboding feeling when the protagonist in the novel is facing the devil.

The closer Tinna, who was being held by Liliana, got closer to the ferocious head, the more she felt out of breath.

Every step he took was like approaching the burning hell river Styx, and every breath let the almost burning air scorched the lungs.

Aware of this, the witch stopped a few meters away from the demon.

"Chalsperger, are you awake?"

"Ah, it sucks to wake up from [Blood Rage] every time, but before you listen to my complaints, in the name of the original fire, let your puppet stop whipping me, Then, I pulled out a few holy nails of annihilation, do you really want to kill me?"

Facing the witch's question, the lava-like sheep's head raised slightly, and what came out of its mouth was the standard Continental lingua franca, which was so standard that Ting Na was stunned.

"A lowly demon, it's really shameful to make so many demands. It's Alice's sake of her old friend's sake that she didn't use the majesty of God to crush you to ashes."

When the puppet heard its request, it curled its lips in disdain, and stepped into its burning eye sockets with the high heels that were like sharp cones.

Because of this brutal behavior, Ting Na couldn't help shrinking her neck when she thought of the cold gaze not long ago.

but,

Although she said that she was going to kill the dying Balrog in the next second, Alice still put away the long whip condensed by the light, and pulled out several barbs with ferocious barbs from the Balrog's body. thick cross nails. For a demon whose eyeballs are made of flames, the sharp high heels that go deep into the eye sockets don't seem to have caused any damage. .

"Don't pull too much, if I recover, I will fight you again."

"Shut your mouth, Alice has tortured more demons than you have ever seen, so you don't need to remind Alice."

After Alice inserted the shrunken cross nails back into the crossed belt around her waist and floated back to Liliana's right shoulder, the flames on Balrog's body became brighter.

This gigantic creature shook its head, and barely supported it. Just like that, it was taller than Ting Na.

What's even more exaggerated is that Tingna saw the broken weapon after it sat up. The rough stone hammer was several rounds thicker than Tingna's just by the hammer handle.

— Just falling on the ground would cause a small earthquake.

Thinking this way, Tina had to let go of the witch's hand because of the heat wave that even Liliana's magic could not resist, and retreated all the way to the edge of the stairs.

How many demons who have regained their spirits can spew out countless sparks just by opening their big mouths.

"Let's not mention this untouching reunion ceremony, it's been twenty years since I've seen you, [The Immortal Witch], [Illusory Doll]."

It said it in a nostalgic tone.

"...I went back to the City of Thousand Towers ten years ago, but I didn't come to visit Guoyi. Now I have a lot of questions to ask, but first put away your strength, Miss Tingna is just an ordinary person, and cannot Bear the heat of your Balrogs."

Liliana looked back at the girl with sweat dripping from her forehead, and responded calmly.

"oh?"

The fire in Chalisperger's eyes flickered for a moment, and he looked at the blond girl leaning against the wall with sweat sliding down her cheeks.

"Have the famous "Immortal Witch" and "Phantom Doll" who are always alone have found a traveling companion after 60 years?"

"...It has nothing to do with you. What happened to Guoyi. As a tower, you will come to the Ellon Prairie. Why are you on the highest alert as part of the defense system?"

Frowning, and slightly turning sideways to avoid the scorching red iron filings that fell on the ground, Liliana repeated the question.

"Hmph, that old man is fine for me. As for your question, there is someone who is more suitable than me to answer it. Hey, little guy, come out, they are people you also know, [The Immortal Witch]... Tsk, what is the name in humans?"

Halfway through the speech, the demon smacked his lips, then turned his flaming eyeballs to look at the witch.

"... Liliana Einsteins."

Following its gaze and looking towards a closed door on the left wall, Liliana said calmly.

"—Einstein's seventh seat! Is it Einstein's seventh seat?!"

As soon as the voice fell, the metal door was pulled open from the inside.

Ting Na by the wall saw a little girl wearing a very traditional mage robe rushing out of the study behind the door almost crying.

--Snapped.

Immediately, he bumped his head against the lavender light curtain.

The door has been opened, but the deep purple light is still condensed in the door frame, forming a transparent purple crystal wall. The golden curly hair that was not tied up before is scattered because of the close contact between the owner's nose and this layer of lavender light wall. In a ball, those emerald eyes filled with tears at once.

"Ah... the ancestors of the family, thank you for your blessings, it is really, the seventh seat of Einstein..."

But what exactly is the pain?

Or is it because of overwhelming joy and hope?

Gradually, even the words the girl wanted to say were overwhelmed by sobs.

The little girl covering her nose was blushing, before she even had time to wipe her tears, she got up from the ground and kept patting the light curtain that was harder and more solid than it seemed illusory.

What came out of her mouth was a title Tina had never heard before.

Across the lavender light curtain, Liliana and Alice didn't interrupt the girl's sobbing. They didn't ask the question again until the girl gradually calmed down.

"...Is it someone who knows me?"

"Yes, yes! I, I am Sephanny Flandia, the ancestors of the Flandia family hunted the crazy Hydera with you in the emerald sea, and the head of Hydera you generously donated is still there It is displayed in the family's collection room, and, ten years ago, when you were invited by my father to attend the banquet in the City of Thousand Towers, you should have seen me as a baby!"

"...I want to know what happened."

Goy Kewell, what happened to the owner of this tower.

Why is Sephanny here, and why does this tower appear in the distant prairie of Elrond.

Why did the defense system go berserk.

"Miss Liliana, although I understand that Miss Liliana wants to know what happened..."

Ting Na, who was standing beside them because the Balrog restrained the scorching flames, wanted to say that it was a bit too much for a girl with an immature face who had just stopped crying to answer such a series of questions at once.

"Well, well... Before that, I want to ask, is Einstein's seventh seat a friend of the previous owner of this tower? Where were you half a month ago?"

However, after wiping away her tears, the girl responded immediately.

"...It's okay to call me by my name. At that time, Miss Tina and Alice, I was traveling on this rare grassland...Is that right, at that time..."

"Yes. It's very regrettable... On that day, Mr. Guoyi seemed to have a premonition that the end was approaching, so he entered the laboratory of the tower early in the morning, and then, because of an experimental accident..."

"It's a disgrace for a magician to die in bed, isn't it? There really is an ending in his style, that idiot...is he already buried?"

"Yes, yes, on that day, according to my will, the ashes were thrown into an undirected portal, and buried with only clothes."

Crossing her legs on Liliana's shoulders, Alice frowned tightly, biting her blackened nails.

Although her eye circles were still red, Sephanny's voice was no longer crying.

Facing Liliana's questioning, her voice was calm and clear, and her answers were clear.

According to the will of the Master Summoner, his mage tower was bequeathed to his sons and daughters.

However, his descendants resented the father who alienated the family because he was obsessed with pursuing the unknown "truth". Determined to sell it.

"That idiot, tell him to worry about his family..."

"Alice."

Liliana stretched out her hand and gently pressed the puppet's mean lips with her fingers. Alice pursed her lips and put the witch's finger into her mouth. In this way, she fell into silence.

And from the beginning to the end, Liliana didn't have any expression on her face.

Even if it was the news of her old friend's departure, she just listened calmly.

As if it was so heavy.

And it seemed so insignificant.

Ting Na couldn't help but feel that indifference and peace as always.

Somewhat scary.

"...Then, in order to prove to the family that I am already a magician who can stand on my own, I persuaded my father, bought this tower, and moved in, but I didn't expect that a few days ago, a group of thieves targeted the tower. here."

Completely ignoring Tina, who had nothing to say, after the brief silence that Liliana and Alice fell into because of the departure of their old friend ended with the witch holding the doll in her arms, the girl began to tell her why The reason here.

It's almost as if the crying before was just an illusion, did you use the magic called [Mechanized Mind]? While listening to her answer, Tina judged with her shallow knowledge of magic.

"Probably, Ms. Liliana has also heard of it. They call themselves [Northern Wind Brigade], a group of thieves who specialize in targeting magicians. They are eyeing this magic tower where I live alone. By some means, it invaded while I was asleep, and triggered the tower's defensive spell."

The fact that the person living in this tower is only a young magic apprentice must be the information obtained long ago.

The evidence is that these thieves, who are also magicians, are not afraid at all even if they realize that they have triggered the alarm. Instead, they try to decipher the tower's defensive spell in reverse, and then manipulate the tower.

But what they didn't expect was that the girl who was also specialized in the study of summoning and wanted to copy Goy Kewell's step-by-step success path didn't treat the high school like other magicians when she lived in this tower. Tower defense spells are reset and replaced.

When they aggressively injected magic formulas into the magic structure of the tower, what awaited them was the extremely complex and strong wall of magic formulas left by the great summoner Guoyi.

It took less than 10 minutes from the time the first thief was thrown into the lava lake in the lower realm by the sudden opening of the portal until the last thief was torn to pieces by the big demon in the blood rage state.

But.

"It was in the study room, when I felt relieved after staying up late to study, I made a mistake."

When she said this, the composure and calmness on Sephanny's face cracked, and a look of remorse appeared on that young face.

"I forgot that I haven't carefully studied the system and logic of the defense technique. Moreover, the big explosion caused by the experiment accident also caused some malfunctions in the tower. I plan to study the manuscripts of Master Guoyi before I Repair—anyway."

The girl let out a deep breath, and her shoulders drooped.

"When the defense mechanism of the tower confirmed to me whether the state of alert could be lifted, I answered no like a fool, and then the defense mechanism of the tower went berserk, and even activated the final defense system, which is the overall transfer."

"...Then, are you stuck here?"

"Hmm... the defensive technique completely lost control, even the magic light barrier couldn't be closed, so I was locked in the study."

The girl sighed long, and looked at Liliana and Alice with red eyes.

"I've been relying on the [Mechanized Mind] for the past few days, if it wasn't, if it wasn't for the appearance of Ms. Liliana..."

Seeing that the girl was about to cry again, Ting Na quickly turned her head to look at the expressionless witch.

But Liliana and Alice didn't say anything, they just calmly watched the girl crying with a hoarse voice.

There was no other way, so Ting Na could only bend down and try her best to comfort the crying girl through a light curtain.

"No, don't cry, Miss Liliana and Miss Alice are here now, and they will definitely help you."

But the girl couldn't even finish her comforting words. Alice flew directly in front of Tina, covered her lips with her palm, and shook her head at the bewildered girl.

The girl's cry this time was longer than the previous one, with the joy of remaining alive after the catastrophe, tears completely wet the cuffs of her robe.

After the young girl finally calmed down, Liliana spoke again.

"...Have you found the reason for the failure of the defensive spell?"

"Well, I found it. It is undoubtedly related to the experimental accident when Mr. Guoyi died. There was a problem with the detection technique and the judgment technique, which caused a misjudgment. Just go to the core control room of the tower, close the entire technique, and then Just turn it back on.”

"Can't Chalisperger be of any help?"

"[Phantom doll], don't make trouble, I'm just a gear at the end of the tower's defense system, have you ever seen a magic engineering mechanism whose core components are directed by the end gear? I can't even get close to it It turns out that if the protective light wall of the warehouse is not broken, this little girl will die of thirst."

Still prostrate on the ground, the Balrog, who was bound by the holy cross and barbed chains, responded to Alice's provocation with a muffled voice.

"And, no matter what you want to do, I suggest sending me back to the lower realm first. I am a part of the defense system that is running amok. My duty is to kill all the intruders in the tower. Although I am weak now, I can I've fooled those inflexible spells, but I'm not sure when the next [Blood Rage] will be released on me."

"... Tsk, not only can't help at all, but will it slow you down? Sure enough, I'll send you to accompany Guoyi, anyway, you were picked up by him from the lower realm to live until now, and die with him There will be no complaints."

"Why should I be buried with that grumpy old man after guarding him for almost a hundred years? Don't be kidding!"

"Please don't hurt Mr. Chilisperger!"

The Balrog's roar sounded together with the girl's voice.

The girl who was talking with Liliana about how to repair the tower pleaded louder than before to the witch and the doll.

"Please don't hurt Mr. Demon! If it wasn't for Mr. Demon, I would have collapsed and committed suicide long ago because I couldn't see a hopeful future. It was it who kept saying...some obscene and strange words to encourage me, so I could maintain my sanity... "

Even Tina could hear some strange emotion mingled in the words.

Alice glanced at the girl whose face was flushed at the beginning, and now even the ears exposed by the curly hair were completely red, and looked down at the huge sheep's head with even colder eyes.

Snapped!

The long whip of light fell fiercely on the Balrog's face.

"Sure enough, with the mercy of God, let you disappear forever..."

"...Alice, stop making trouble."

Shaking her head slightly, staring at the girl whose face was flushed because of the bad adjective, the witch turned her head and walked in front of the Balrog.

"...You said something to this child, wait until later, what needs to be solved now is the problem of this tower."

As she spoke, Liliana turned the pages of the book, and the iridescent magic light drew a huge circle on the floor.

"...Because of [Space Anchor], I can't send you back to another world, so I'll let you be frozen for a while, so I don't have to worry about you attacking us again, and."

The witch whose pupils glowed with incandescent light turned her head and looked at Tina who was standing next to Sephanny.

"In this way, we can fool the tower's defensive countermeasure deployment formula and prevent other defensive forces from being activated here. Miss Tina is waiting here, is that okay? The defensive measures of this tower are not a threat to me and Alice, But it’s not necessarily the case for Miss Tina, we’ll be right back after we’re done.”

"Huh? Uh, uh!"

"For your safety, Miss Tingna, don't walk around, don't touch, this is advice."

In Alice's voice, there was no room for refusal or discussion, no matter where.

Ting Na was also surprised to find that she had no intention of following up at all.

I always feel more or less understandable.

Even if it has changed hands, this is Liliana and Alice's, the residence of friends.

The huge sheep's head nodded slightly, and the pure white freezing air immediately froze the huge Balrog. After doing this, Liliana and Alice walked past the girl and disappeared at the entrance of the stairs.

The hall connecting the study and several other rooms that Tina didn't know the purpose of was quiet like this

Only the hills of ice crystals on the floor made the room temperature of the Balrog even colder after being frozen.

Silent because of the cold, or cold because of the silence.

On the other side of the light curtain, the girl with red eyes stood up and walked towards the desk.

"Ah...that..."

He stopped because of the girl's greeting.

"Well, Miss Sephanny... what are you going to do now?"

Although she stopped the girl who seemed to be going back to the desk, Tingna didn't know what to say at all.

It is not impossible to directly ask your own question, but facing a strange girl, the girl is not familiar enough to do that.

"Excuse me for being rude, Miss Tina."

However, if you don't want to talk, the same goes for young girls.

"I was trained as a tower magician, and I haven't learned the etiquette of talking and dealing with people other than magicians. Please bear with me if I offend you."

——I don't think it is necessary to talk to you who are not a magician, even if you have the position of being a lifesaver.

The subtext, which can be understood even without careful thought, is quite rude, as the girl herself said.

But considering that she really didn't play any role in helping her and instead held back Liliana and Alice, Tingna didn't think she had a position to be angry.

"One, you can see it at a glance, it's really amazing."

Even so, there is nothing to do if the conversation is interrupted.

So, as if looking for something to say, Tina forced herself to ignore the bad feeling of wet pants, smiled, and continued the conversation.

This idea seems to have been conveyed.

"...for a magician who remains calm even in the most distressing situations, crying is a rare and rare outlet, and no magician will prevent another from doing so when it is neither urgent nor dangerous. A magician howled."

The cloaked girl turned around again and sighed.

"Miss Tingna, do you have a bottle of clean drinking water in your space storage ring?"

"Eh? Ah, are you thirsty?"

"No, I want to... take a shower."

"Eh?"

The girl, who was relieved by the girl's willingness to talk, froze when she heard the request.

Of course she has stored bottled water, which was ordered by Alice before starting the trip, and was purchased in Maixing City.

Together with the emergency food, the amount almost occupies all the remaining space of the space storage ring. With that amount, even if it is used for a bath, it is no problem...

"Of course I will give something in return."

The girl's sluggish reaction made the girl's eyebrows slightly raised, urging.

"Return or something, no need, it's not worth much anyway, but it's all cold water, no problem? During the trip, Miss Liliana used magic to directly attract hot water or find hot springs from the water elemental plane. ..."

Ting Na quickly took out a bottle of 500ml bottled water and handed it over.

Even though he is a child, he speaks like an adult, honestly, it's kind of cute.

"It's not worth much...well, these days, this thing that I don't usually look at is my lifeline."

However, after receiving the water bottle that the girl handed in from the fist-sized round hole that appeared on the lavender light curtain, which was held in a cheap soft plastic bottle, the girl's expression did not relax because of the girl's smile.

"Because of the space anchor, although the space storage ring can still be used normally, all the summoning techniques I know are invalid. Even if I eat and drink less, my body will still metabolize, this kind of thing."

She looked at the soft plastic body of the bottle.

"After being used as a container for drinking water, it is also used as a toilet for defecation. In order to prevent the excrement from staining the study, it must be stuffed in and then taken out. Please use the flame to burn it to ashes and dispose of it. , I don’t know how to heal magic, so the tear on my buttocks is still hurting. Even so, if the light curtain in the warehouse hadn’t failed, Mr. Chalisperger couldn’t even bring this to me, if it wasn’t The failure is not that complete, and I can't even make a hole of this size."

Calmly looking at Tina who was speechless after hearing the unexpected words, Sephanny continued to speak.

"Since it is the ultimate means of defense, it will definitely not allow people to find the specific coordinates of teleportation, and it is in the wilderness outside civilization. The space anchor makes all my summoning skills unusable...Because I am a magician, I immediately Judge what kind of desperate situation this is.”

As if talking about something unrelated to her, this tone was very familiar to Tina.

But the girl's indifference was obviously not up to Miss Witch's level, and her voice was trembling, revealing that trace of fear.

"Although Mr. Chalisperger used words such as 'It's too pitiful to die without enjoying the happiness of being a woman', 'If you really want to die, it's better to open the hole in the light wall to make me feel better' and so on. The joke diverted the attention of me who wanted to commit suicide, but neither I nor it could leave the tower, once the food or water stored in the warehouse ran out, we would surely die."

— Not to mention, bathing.

The girl untied the cloak, took off the clothes inside one by one, and put them aside.

Then, she unscrewed the bottle cap and poured ice-cold water over her blonde curls.

Ting Na handed over the second bottle, and the girl used it up immediately. Maybe it was because the time of being trapped was not too long, and the immature body couldn't see any dirty places, probably because of being watched. Zhang blushed, but even so, she was meticulous, enduring the temperature of the skin taken away by the cold water, and scrubbing her body with her palms.

"It doesn't matter if it's ice water now, I want to take a bath, and then go to see Einstein's seventh seat with a clean and odor-free body... Then, even though I am a woman, I will still be shy, please don't Can you just watch it?"

"……sorry."

Tina turned around and apologized softly to the girl who was much younger than herself.

Sephanny's tone was not pretending to be an adult.

It was a girl who was forced to realize that her death was imminent and powerless at this age, after coming out of collapse and despair, after being forced to grow up, the girl naturally had a tone.

She couldn't imagine what kind of suffering this girl had gone through before she, Liliana, and Alice appeared. The things she said calmly were reprimands to herself who knew nothing but rushed to find out.

"……It doesn't matter."

Bottle after bottle, bottle after bottle.

After the fourteenth bottle of water was used up by the girl, her fair and tender skin had already turned blue from the cold, and her teeth were constantly chattering. At this moment, as if she was finally satisfied, Sephanny turned to Tina, "Okay, Thank you very much." In this way, he said tremblingly.

"Hurry up and use the [Drying Technique] to dry your body and put on your clothes. If you continue like this, you will catch a cold..."

Putting the water bottle back into the space storage ring, Tingna urged the drenched girl.

"My space storage ring is placed in the bedroom... Now, there are no materials for casting spells in my hands..."

But the girl who was clenching her teeth and shrunk into a ball in the cold said such words.

"Hey?!"

Tina froze.

A magician can't use magic without spell-casting materials. Tingna already knows this level of common sense, but she never thought that this girl would take a bath in cold water when she couldn't use magic to dry her body immediately. !

Even though I saw that the fireplace in the study was not lit, I was also responsible for ignoring the provision of cold water without thinking, but now is not the time to care about it!

"Quick, dry your body and put on your clothes!"

"I know this kind of thing, I know..."

Staggering, Sephanny walked to the cloak that was thrown not far away, as if planning to use it as a towel. But when she bent down, the girl staggered and almost fell.

It was only at this time that Ting Na noticed that the girl's face was still flushed even though she had taken a cold shower and the skin on other parts of her body was a little blue due to the cold.

It's probably not the shyness that comes from being seen naked by the same sex.

A bad premonition made Tina yell.

"Could it be that Miss Sephanny has been having a fever?"

"Just, just, just a low-grade fever, nothing more, no, it's not a big deal."

The girl who wiped her body with the dark cloak as a towel confirmed this terrible premonition, and when she walked to the side of the dress she had taken off and wanted to bend down to pick it up, she seemed to finally be unable to support herself and fell to her knees on the ground.

Just then, the lavender light curtain disappeared.

"Miss Sephanny!"

Ting Na immediately ran to her side, picked up the girl, and reached out to touch the girl's forehead.

"It's hot!"

Then he couldn't help but exclaimed.

The temperature almost burns the palm, but the girl's hands, feet and body are as cold as ice crystals that seal the Balrog.

How did this girl talk to Liliana so clearly under such a high fever?

Or did it deteriorate rapidly after taking a cold shower because of being brave?

"Miss Sephanny, please cheer up!"

In short, when Liliana and Alice returned to the hall where the highest alert had been lifted, they saw a girl who was holding a naked girl with wet hair, and shouted anxiously at herself.

"Miss Liliana, Miss Alice, what should I do, Miss Sephanny, she has a high fever—"

"Fever caused by excessive stress and mental tension, well, there is also a less serious anal tear, Lily, it is not a very serious condition."

Alice, who had changed into another dress that looked like a magician, floated over from Liliana's shoulders. After quickly examining the girl with a fever, she said so without feeling nervous at all.

"...Really? In that case, it's just right."

After listening to Miss Doll's examination, Liliana, who rarely showed a tired expression, blinked her eyes that were still glowing with incandescent light, and nodded calmly.

"...just go and relax now."

He said something that had nothing to do with the situation at hand, and there was no sense of tension.