“…”
In an instant, Lian rushed toward the two Demon Race girls.
Seeing them try to flee, Lian reached out to grab the wrist of the Daughter of the Demon King.
However, without the reinforcement of Magic Power, she was ultimately a step too slow.
The jet-black girl gave her a complicated look before vanishing into the shadows along with her companion.
“They got away again…!” Lian knelt on one knee and struck the ground in frustration.
Behind her, the gunner slowly approached.
“Don’t worry about that for now. Are you alright?”
“Yeah… I’m fine. Thank you—”
The gunner—Iyue—placed a hand on Lian’s shoulder.
Lian turned her head to thank her and met those emerald green eyes head-on.
“I-Iyue?”
Lian was stunned. The Elf woman before her wore a wide-brimmed hat and a brown linen scarf around her neck.
She spun her revolver with a flashy motion before sliding it back into the cowhide holster at her waist—she looked exactly like a cowboy from the Western movies Lian had seen in the past.
This attire was a far cry from the Fairy Ranger in Lian’s memory, who carried a longbow and quiver and loved climbing tall trees or haystacks to play a leaf whistle.
But that beautiful, gold-like hair and those eyes, clearer than emeralds, were things she could never mistake.
Iyue looked a bit puzzled. She withdrew her hand from Lian’s shoulder and began to examine Lian’s features.
She already knew from the conversation between those two Demon Race girls that this kidnapped girl was the Hero who had defeated the Magus during the attack on the Grand Festival… but she never believed the nonsense about an illegitimate daughter.
“How can this be… You really do look a bit like that guy?”
After scrutinizing her for a while, Iyue’s eyes shook with shock.
She took two shaky steps back, repeatedly comparing Lian’s appearance with the man in her memory before lowering her head and muttering to herself.
‘No way. Even though Lian En was indeed a bit flighty, he shouldn’t be such a scumbag, right? But this child looks seventy or eighty percent like him…’
“Hey! Don’t let your thoughts go in that direction! I’m tired of explaining!”
Seeing her about to misunderstand in that predictable way, Lian quickly snapped her fingers in front of her to regain her attention.
“I am Lian En! I didn’t have an affair, and there is no illegitimate daughter—”
“Don’t be a brat. An adult is thinking here.”
Iyue gave Lian a helpless look, patted her head like she was soothing a child, and then continued to lean her head on her hand in thought.
“…You forced my hand.” Seeing her drifting off into her own world, Lian cleared her throat and shouted loudly, “Listen to me! You loveless old woman—eep?!”
Before Lian could finish, a bullet grazed her hair, taking a lock with it.
“Sorry about that. I fired out of habit. What did you call me just now, little girl…?”
Just as Lian wanted, Iyue’s full attention was now on her. Iyue looked at Lian with a smile, then blew on the smoking muzzle of her gun.
Gulp.
Looking into those eyes that held no trace of a smile, Lian swallowed hard.
……
“So I pretended to sleep in the sack, waiting for them to take me to the so-called contact… That’s pretty much what happened.”
The rain hadn’t stopped, but the campfire outside the tent had been relit, and a new awning had been set up.
Lian sat in the tent, telling Iyue everything she had experienced in the week since her return.
“Listen…”
But Iyue just held her hat, looking at her with a dazed expression.
“Iyue, are you listening?”
Her behavior made Lian worry if she was actually taking anything in.
“I mostly understand the situation. But you have to give me some time to digest it.”
At first, Iyue had treated Lian as a poor child who admired her father so much that she maintained a childhood fantasy.
But as Lian explained the sequence of events, she had to admit that the girl before her was indeed the long-lost Lian En.
The details she provided weren’t things that could be dismissed as a child’s delusions.
Iyue rubbed her aching temples and began to organize her thoughts.
“Feiyin is actually a Magus…? I saw her playing with Milin when she was little.”
“I didn’t believe it at first either. But since she’s the Shadow Demon Lord, it should be easy for her to disguise herself as a Human… Actually, if she hadn’t exposed herself, no one would have discovered her true identity. That child was also deeply hurt by this.”
Thinking of Milin, Lian’s expression darkened.
After that birthday, she had locked herself in her room, refusing to answer no matter who knocked.
“I rushed over after hearing news of the attack. But since you were stuffed in a sack, you probably haven’t heard the rumors about your daughter going missing, have you?”
“I haven’t. I heard people talking when they stopped in town… but I thought it was just baseless rumors. After all, Vera and Sephy are with her. In these times, they wouldn’t let her run around wildly…”
“Sigh… You don’t know your daughter at all.” Iyue gave her a helpless look.
“The news of her disappearance is most likely true. The more things get like this, the more she’ll run out. If I had to guess, she probably wants to find Feiyin to get an explanation—Meliya likely wouldn’t even be able to stop her.”
“How… How can you be so sure?”
“I was that child’s nanny for over a year—she’s been like this since she was little.”
“Then… Then I have to go find her right away…!”
Iyue’s words sent a wave of panic through Lian.
She immediately threw the matter of the two Demon Race girls to the back of her mind and turned to crawl out of the tent—
“Where are you going? Get back here.” Iyue yanked her back to her original spot.
“You’re still the same as before, losing your cool as soon as something like this happens. It’s a full day’s journey to Cyrus from here… and you can’t use Magic Power right now. Do you plan to run back on your own two feet?”
“But…”
“Alright, calm down. Why have even your emotions become like a little girl’s?”
Seeing the shimmering tears in Lian’s eyes, Iyue smiled and rubbed her head.
“I know you’re worried, but Meliya, Sephy, and Vera are there, right? They wouldn’t just do nothing.”
“You’re right… but Feiyin is really dangerous! I have to prevent that child from being exposed to that risk again!”
“Well, I have a different take on that. You can’t entirely trust the strange things Feiyin said to you… but I suspect she holds no ill will toward Meliya and little Milin.”
“But she handed me over to those two Demons! If she’s backed by the Demon King’s Remnants who have been targeting us since the war—”
“Then she would have made her move long ago; she wouldn’t have waited until today. Besides, you didn’t hear any news related to the Duke’s Household this morning other than the rumor about little Milin, right? If something big had happened there, the Northland would be in chaos by now.”
Iyue’s analysis calmed the heated Lian down slightly.
She hung her head, taking deep breaths to settle her emotions.
As always, Iyue, the Scout, was able to remain calm in complex situations, organizing information to plan everyone’s next move.
Not just Lian, but the entire Brigade relied on her heavily.
“Thank you, Iyue. But I still want to get back as soon as possible. I’m worried about them…”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t let you go. I’ll go back to Cyrus with you… but things must be done one by one. And now, the first thing we should do is clear—”
“What is it…?”
Seeing Iyue’s solemn expression, Lian focused intently on her eyes, waiting for her expert advice.
“Sleep.”
With that, Iyue covered her face with her hat and lay down on the prepared sleeping mat.