Episode 48.4

Lecan was restless over the issue but calmed down once he arrived back at Vouka.

(Shira is undoubtedly old.)

(Should be more than 300 years since her country was destroyed.)

(She's probably around 350 or so now.)

(She might try to put on a bravado, but in reality she must be getting decrepit with age.)

(Not to mention solitude.)

(People she knew must have all passed on.)

(She's been living all alone as a non-human monster all while avoiding public eye.)

(Gotta treat her gentler.)

Lecan went to Shira's hideout at Rikonen District of Vouka. His <Life Detection> didn't catch Shira's presence but she's someone capable of evading <Life Detection> and <3D Perception> so this is normal.

He landed on the veranda and probed deeper with <3D Perception>.

There's someone inside. Raising <3D Perception> intensity further convinced him it was Shira.

Lecan sat down on a chair.

Shira has surely noticed Lecan's arrival.

He waited a bit before Shira showed up with her tea set.

"Hey there, welcome back."

"Yea."

"Stay still while I brew your tea now."

"Yea, sorry for the trouble."

Shira was going to pour hot water into the tea pot when her hand slipped.

The hot water splashed onto her left hand.

"Ouch, ouch."

Lecan was shocked.

He never witnessed Shira made one such a trivial mistake before.

(She's getting senile.)

The Shira seen through his bare eye looks aged. Same with the Shira shown in <3D Perception>. This matchless witch is slowly heading toward ruin.

Lecan's mood turned slightly somber.

"Oh my, my. I got scalded there. Would you look at this wound on my beautiful skin. Now that won't do, will it. <Purification (Fira)>."

Shira's right hand had a thin wand in it before Lecan realized. A pure white exquisite ball of light manifested at the tip of that wand and healed her scalded left hand.

It's nothing like Eda's <Purification>. Even compared to Skalabel's, hers is on a whole new height. That's probably the zenith of <Purification>.

Afterward, Shira brewed Lecan's tea, gave it to him and sat down on her chair like it was nothing.

Lecan thanked Shira for the tea, took the magic stone of <Chaotic Magic Wolf> from <Storage> and put it on the table.

"It's a gift from Guide Jiza Morfes of Palcimo."

This was when Lecan realized the oddity he just witnessed.

"<Purification>...?"

Lecan's right eye opened wide at Shira.

"You just used <Purification>."

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"I sure did."

"But it shouldn't be possible for you to cast <Purification>."

"Oh my, really now?"

"Being an Apparition, you'd get destroyed casting <Purification> on yourself. Thus, you couldn't have used it even once in the past 300 years."

"Actually I did this one time, see. Only a teensy little bit. Almost got myself erased there."

"Yet you used it just now. Probably the highest order of <Purification> that surpasses even Skalabel's. How. How come an Apparition like you cast <Purification>!"

"Sheesh, I can't think of many people who would be so rude before their teacher. Well, I guess that's part of your charm."

"Is this, an illusion? Are you showing me an illusion?"

"You really should trust your sense better. Then, how about this?"

Shira whispered a spell. Then Shira's dot of light showed up in Lecan's <Life Detection>. It's as humongous as ever. However, there exists a difference than previously.

It's red.

"It's, red? That, cannot be."

<Life Detection> shows humans as red dots. Animals and insects as green dots. And magic beasts' dots are blue colored. The reason why Lecan could see through Shira as a kind of powerful Apparition instead of ordinary human when they first met was because her light dot was colored blue.

Could it be that Shira has come up with a technique to deceive Lecan's <Life Detection>. But is that even possible?

(No.)

(Even if that is so.)

(It doesn't explain the thing with <Purification>.)

"Your tea is going to get cold, have a drink now."

"Y-yea."

Lecan sipped his tea. The warmth and rich flavor spreading in his mouth had a mysterious calming effect on his mind.

"Will you tell me just what in the world is going on here."

"Of course. It is something you, my savior, has the right to know."

"Savior?"

"Sure is."

Shira sipped her tea and sighed out.

"Now then. I'll start from the beginning."

"Yea."