“Damn it… there’s no time…!”
Even though Alyssa had already raised a protective barrier, she was too late to shield Prinshitt and Ileil on the other side.
Alyssa could only watch as Ileil fearlessly stepped forward to meet the oncoming explosion, showing not the slightest intention of retreating.
Then—
The black-gold flames erupted like a tsunami. The savage energy instantly swallowed the entire wooden house. Walls twisted and shattered under the extreme heat.
The roof was ripped away, and burning planks rained down like meteors. Alyssa’s staff burst with blinding red light as a hemispherical barrier barely covered herself, Kaze, and Lily.
“Your Highness! Miss Ileil!!!”
Lily called out to the two of them, tears streaming down her face. She tried to rush out of the barrier toward the princess as if she had lost her mind, but Alyssa impatiently shoved her back.
“Don’t throw your life away, kid.”
“Cough, cough…” Kaze spat out a mouthful of blood and struggled to push himself upright. “Ileil… Her Highness… are they still…”
Kaze stared desperately in Ileil’s direction. In his mind, Ileil and the Aressto princess should have been burned to nothing in that sea of fire…
But reality was far from the despair he imagined.
“No way… that kid Ileil…”
Kaze’s eyes widened. Through the scorching flames, two silhouettes gradually appeared—
Ileil remained standing, shielding the half-kneeling Prinshitt behind her. What was astonishing was that the black-gold flames—which should have incinerated flesh and bone—receded from her body like a retreating tide, as if they feared something. The flames touched her skin yet left no burns, dissolving instead into wisps of black smoke that gradually dissipated.
“This…” Prinshitt trembled as she opened her eyes, staring at the scene before her in disbelief.
“I… I’m still alive?”
……
Alyssa’s barrier shattered with a crisp crack. She staggered and fell to her knees. Fine cracks spiderwebbed across the gem on her staff. Although seeing Ileil and the princess unharmed filled her with relief, more questions followed right on the heels of that joy. She had personally witnessed Ileil escape the witch’s flames without a scratch once before… and now the same thing had happened again right in front of her.
As an old member of the mercenary group, Alyssa knew Ileil’s current identity was that of a witch. Yet the doubts in her heart only grew stronger.
At first, Alyssa had conservatively assumed the witch who started the fire had simply spared a fellow witch like Ileil. But now she realized—the witch hiding in the shadows might not be able to harm Ileil at all.
Alyssa couldn’t help recalling the timing of last week’s black-gold flame outbreak. The flames on the living corpses had only spread into a sea of fire right when Ileil arrived on the scene… If Ileil shared some connection with that witch’s flames, could it be deduced that the witch who caused the fire had deliberately appeared for Ileil?
If so, then why had the witch chosen Ileil of all people? A witch with defective abilities who possessed no mastery of magic whatsoever?
Alyssa couldn’t figure out the answer to these questions for now.
Ileil slowly straightened up, equally puzzled as she stared down at her own hands. Embers of black flame lingered at her fingertips yet could not harm her in the slightest.
“These flames actually can’t hurt you…” The simple-minded Kaze didn’t sink into the same deep thoughts as Alyssa. He wrote his confusion plainly on his face:
“Why is that? Could it be that you…”
Kaze almost blurted out the words, but reflexively clapped a hand over his mouth. Like Alyssa and Gro, he knew Ileil was a witch now. At this critical moment, he had nearly let the secret slip.
Kaze sneaked a glance at Prinshitt. Fortunately, the princess’s attention wasn’t on him at all.
“I don’t know either… why I can resist these flames.”
Ileil murmured softly. Her golden eyes reflected the still-burning firelight. “As you can see, the witch’s flames simply cannot touch me.”
Prinshitt stared blankly at the silver-haired girl. Having survived the ordeal, she didn’t know what to say for a moment.
“Ileil… I…”
Prinshitt’s voice caught in her throat. Complex emotions filled her ruby-like eyes. She remembered the questions she had thrown at Ileil in her room a week ago, the hurtful words she had spoken in anger. Now they all turned into sharp shards stabbing her heart.
“You saved me… yet I thought you were a witch…”
“No need to say more… Your Highness.” Ileil calmly straightened the sleeves singed by the flames. Her silver hair drifted gently in the breeze carrying the lingering embers.
“As the princess of Aressto, you must always remain cautious.”
Lily trotted over with her staff raised, tears spilling from her amber eyes. “Waaah… Your Highness and Miss Ileil are safe… That’s so wonderful…”
Alyssa walked closer, leaning on her staff. The cracks on the ruby gleamed harshly in the firelight. She gave Ileil a meaningful look, then turned to Prinshitt—who had only suffered minor superficial injuries—and said,
“The game of chasing clues is over, Your Highness.”
“I understand…” Prinshitt’s expression darkened. She did not refute Alyssa’s mocking tone—she knew this crisis had been caused by her own misjudgment.
“Let’s return to the duke’s manor—it’s safer there. Then we can…”
Alyssa’s words cut off midway as she suddenly broke into violent coughing. Dark red blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
“Miss Alyssa… are you alright!” Lily hurriedly turned to her.
“I’m fine.” The female mage waved her hand and casually wiped the blood from her lips.
“Just a minor side effect of mana overload.” She jerked her chin toward Kaze, who was barely standing while leaning on his sword. “Look at someone else instead. For example, that brainless brute over there took far more black flame than we did.”
“Ugh…” Kaze gritted his teeth and groaned. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead; he didn’t even have the strength to argue. “This damn thing… hurts worse than downing three barrels of dwarf liquor…”
“Still thinking about drinking, you idiot?” Alyssa cursed with a gloomy face.
Kaze bared his teeth and moved his shoulder. The lingering burning pain from the black flames made him suck in cold breaths with every motion. Lily’s healing magic enveloped him, emerald light flowing over the charred wound.
“Endure it, uncle.” The cat-eared girl gently brushed her fingertips across the blackened injury. “The black flame’s corrosiveness is too strong. I can only temporarily ease the pain…”
Ileil walked forward silently, as if conducting an experiment. She lightly touched Kaze’s shoulder with her fingertip. The stubborn black-flame embers dissolved rapidly like frost meeting fire.
“Huh?” Kaze said in surprise. “When did you learn a healing art more effective than a priest’s?”
“This is not healing, Kaze.” Ileil answered calmly. “I simply happen to be able to dispel the witch’s power.”
Alyssa stared at Ileil’s profile illuminated by the firelight, looking as if she wanted to say something but ultimately remained silent.