[V5C14] True Identity

The blonde woman called Veronica aimed two handguns at Melissa and pulled the triggers.

Melissa used the vine-entwined chairs and desk as shields to block the gunfire. Fortunately, the bullets didn’t seem powerful enough to penetrate furniture.

However, Melissa felt a sense of discomfort.

(…Her guns aren’t making any sound? And I don’t smell gunpowder…)

Meanwhile, Veronica continued firing. Her bullets crashed into the chairs and desk with loud crunches, yet the guns themselves remained almost completely silent.

Melissa suddenly noticed transparent pellets rolling on the floor near her feet. They resembled candy, but upon closer inspection, they were slowly melting, leaving stains on the floor… Pellets of ice.

(So those guns are magical tools for firing ice bullets.)

While distracted by the ice bullets, Melissa found herself under attack by the moving chairs again.

Apparently, Throth was only controlling the furniture, without using any attack magic or offensive magical tools. He probably lacked affinity for other schools of magic, and therefore specialized in imbuement magic.

(Their only offensive magical tools are Veronica’s guns… Well, that makes sense. It’s not easy to make tools for attacking.)

Out of all magical tools, creating offensive ones was particularly challenging. It required money, time, and talent. Very few people in Ridill possessed the ability to make one.

Melissa took another rose ornament from her hair, infused it with magic, and a large rose blossomed from the extending vines.

By controlling the vines like whips, Melissa backed Veronica into a corner and, in the opening, sent another vine slithering forth like a snake.

“Futile.”

Veronica shot through the rose with ice bullets. However, the rose’s petals split apart, spreading a fragrance around Veronica.

Melissa had imbued the petals with a paralyzing effect. Since this was a slightly stronger dose than usual, it would be more than enough to incapacitate Veronica… or so Melissa thought.

“Wait, why isn’t it working!?”

Ignoring Melissa’s scream, Veronica continued shooting. Unlike regular guns, her ice guns showed no sign of running out of ammo.

(Wait, something’s wrong! Offensive magical tools should have a limited number of uses, right!? I’ve never heard of one that can shoot so many times! And on top of that, my paralysis isn’t working! What the heck is going on!?)

Although the ice bullets were not particularly powerful, they had a high rate of fire.

The flustered Melissa found herself getting slowly pushed back.

Setting aside Throth, there was something clearly off about this Veronica woman.

Unable to grasp the meaning of the discomfort she felt, Melissa gritted her teeth. The desk she used as a shield finally cracked. With this, she had no means of blocking the gunfire.

“Crap…”

Melissa hastily gathered vines around herself, but there weren’t enough to form a wall.

Ice bullets slipped through the thorn gaps and pierced Melissa’s body… or at least they should have.

(…Huh? It doesn’t hurt?)

Melissa cautiously lowered the arm she had raised to guard her face.

All the ice bullets had fallen at Melissa’s feet. A defensive barrier had been cast around her, completely blocking all of the pellets.

As Melissa wondered who could have done this, she turned her gaze and saw two figures running towards her from the end of the corridor.

“Ah, it really is my big sis.”

Leading the way was a man with rose-colored curly hair: Raul, Melissa’s younger brother.

Following him at a much slower pace was Monica, who she had left on the first floor.

Though Melissa wanted to interrogate Raul about why he was here, she first needed to do something about a civilian like Monica wandering into this battle.

“You idiot, Raul! Why did you bring the Little One with you!”

Trying to protect the obviously clumsy Monica while fighting would make things incredibly challenging.

Melissa glared at Raul, who spoke with a serious expression after finally reaching his sister.

“Sis, I think using magic in a lover’s spat is a bit much.”

“I’m changing your title to ‘Blind Witch’ starting today.”

To her foolish and blind brother, her current situation looked like a catfight between Melissa and Veronica, competing for Throth’s attention.

It was such a moronic misunderstanding that Melissa couldn’t help but want to slap some sense into his empty head.

“I’m just here to punish the idiot who messed with the product I sold. That seedy guy over there is the idiot, and the blonde woman over there is the idiot’s lackey. Got it?”

“…Um, so, what does that mean?” Raul asked.

Melissa glared at her foolish brother and pointed alternately at Throth and Veronica.

“Those two are enemies! Therefore, we beat them up! Keep an eye out for the woman’s gun-shaped magical tools. The man is just small fry, so you can leave him be for now. I’ll deal with him later.”

Veronica opened fire again.

Before Melissa had the chance to block with her vines, a defensive barrier appeared before her to deflect all the ice bullets.

This was the same defensive barrier she had seen earlier. Who could be casting it? Raul lacked the ability to use defensive barriers, and casting a barrier without an incantation was impossible in the first place.

In the midst of Melissa’s confusion, Monica finally arrived and tried to catch her breath.

“Onee-san…!”

“Little One! Why did you come here? I told you to wait downstairs…!”

“That is no… magical tool.”

Melissa grimaced and looked down at Monica.

“Little One?”

“…You’ll see once you use a detection spell. That thing is no magical tool. Not even a gun. It’s just a prop.”

Upon hearing Monica’s explanation, Melissa was bewildered.

The gun was a prop? Then how was Veronica shooting ice bullets? She wasn’t performing any incantations.

…Then Melissa realized it. The existence of an entity who can manipulate mana without incantations…

“No way, she’s…!”

Melissa hastily channeled mana into her vines and sent them towards Veronica.

The vines whipped out, scratching Veronica’s cheek… but no blood flowed from the scratch. Instead, only white particles of light came out.

“She’s… a greater spirit!”

Melissa hastily scanned Throth’s entire body.

Prominently displayed on Throth’s wrist was a silver bracelet adorned with a violet-colored gem——his spirit contract stone.

Throth grinned and raised the arm with the bracelet.

“You noticed? Yeah, that’s right. Veronica is my contracted spirit. Now that we’ve been exposed… there’s no need to hide it anymore, right? Veronica, time to get serious.”

“…Got it.”

Veronica returned the fake guns to their holsters, extending both hands forward. Then, pale blue particles of light began floating around her.

These lights, adorned with glimmers of ice, gradually began to take shape.

They turned into bird feathers——beautiful feathers made of ice, as if each delicate feather of a real bird had been meticulously reproduced.

——Approximately a hundred of them floated around Veronica.

“With this, it’s over.”

Veronica waved her hands, and the ice feathers showered down upon Melissa and the others all at once.

These ice feathers weren’t just beautiful masterpieces; the mana infused in each far exceeded that of the bullets.

Melissa hastily gathered her remaining vines, but it was impossible to fully defend against them. Those ice feathers would likely cut them all down. Spirits possessed stores of mana on a completely different scale than humans.

Few humans would stand a chance against a greater spirit in a direct confrontation, yet…

“…Huh?”

Melissa widened her eyes.

Sparks of flame were floating around Melissa’s vines. All of them gathered into a single shape, forming a gigantic fiery serpent that was large enough to swallow a human whole.

It swirled around them and smacked down every single ice feather.

“…What is this?”

Humans cast spells and exercise mana in the form of magecraft. Therefore, using magic without incantations was deemed impossible.

…However, there was one exception. There was one genius who made the impossible possible.

Approximately four years ago, a 15-year-old girl was chosen as one of the Seven Sages. Her name was…

“Moni-Moni… Try introducing yourself again.”

“Erm…”

Monica initially quivered her lips and mumbled a bit, the same as when they first met. Then, she looked up and slapped her own cheeks, having recalled being given an unfortunate nickname because of her stammering.

Monica exhaled sharply, and confidently introduced herself with a firmer expression than usual.

“The Silent Witch, Monica Everesh.”

But she still bit her tongue.

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