"Communication is the ladder of human progress."
At this moment, Allen held those words as gospel truth.
Even though the current situation was more than a little awkward, the conversation had gone surprisingly well, at least after he got kicked out.
Some time passed before Annie finally stepped out, took the bag from Allen's hands, and went back inside without saying a word, leaving only her back in view.
It took about half a day before the situation inside finally settled down. And in that short time, Allen had somehow become the accused party.
That's right, Annie had betrayed the revolution and defected to the enemy side.
Well… to be fair, Allen had kind of become the evil one in this story. After all, "moe is justice," and the girl he'd dragged out of the water had apparently passed that sacred threshold.
What could he do? Annie claimed she could tell whether the girl, who had introduced herself as a mountain sprite, was lying. According to the girl, she had only put Tibbers into a state of deep sleep using flowing magic because he was exhausted and injured from standing on the night watch. She simply wanted him to recover faster. Annie even confirmed the truth of this claim.
So that left one villain in the story: the guy who stood at someone's doorstep about to pee, Allen.
He felt utterly defeated. What the hell is going on? Where did this airheaded girl even come from?
Who in their right mind puts the night guard to sleep as a friendly gesture?! Where's your common sense?! Another few steps and Allen might've attacked her outright!
You see, Allen had secretly strung up some wires with bells around their camp. If she'd gotten just a little closer, he was sure the girl would be dead by now.
Unfortunately, she really did seem like an idiot. Probably because of her fondness for Tibbers, she extended that same goodwill to Annie and trusted her completely. She didn't even hesitate. Within minutes, she spilled everything, why she was there, her background, her abilities, as if beans were pouring from a broken jar.
Wow, Allen thought, watching the tall mountain sprite girl wrapped in his cloak, clinging to Annie like a puppy finally reunited with its owner after months apart. You're way too trusting. Someone's going to sell you someday, you know.
This newly acquired human-shaped cling-wrap had introduced herself with the talents of: "I can be cute, I'm warm, please take care of me!"
Er… wrong script.
Her real story was that she had grown up in the forest, living among animals. When she saw how hard Tibbers was working despite his injuries, she cast a recovery spell to help him rest. As for why she was even in the area, it wasn't some spontaneous "find myself" journey. She was here because the land was heavily polluted.
This wasn't a place for Muggles. It was a wild region under wizard jurisdiction where magical plants grew. As Allen already knew, thick mists often blanketed the area, mists that erased even magical traces.
In fact, if not for his top-tier tracking skills, sharpened by a certain Widowmaker, Allen never would have found the cave at all. His obsessive pursuit had allowed him to follow the faint clues the mountain sprite had left behind and bypass the forest's natural magical mazes.
According to her, she called herself Miss, the land had already been severely polluted when she first arrived. The mist not only erased magical traces, it also absorbed mana, turning what should have been a vibrant forest into a desolate wasteland, both in vegetation and magical energy.
She spent most of her days submerged in the water, using her powers to stabilize the water source and slow its destruction of the land. Without her, the area would've become a desert long ago. But even with her efforts, she had been trapped in this forest for nearly a century.
Okay, Allen thought after hearing her long and frankly boring story, you're pretty. Let's be friends.
No, seriously. He really wanted to ask how she kept her skin so perfect after all these years.
Still, you had to lead with the friend request, otherwise it just looked like a pickup line disguised as a question.
As for her problem? Allen had no solution. He wasn't a magic encyclopedia. Why was everyone expecting him to have all the answers?
But since he was already here, checking things out wouldn't hurt. Who knows, there might be some treasure down there. Whether he could fix anything or not, well, that wasn't his problem.
And so, under the stunned gazes of both Annie and Miss, Allen strode forward, raised his hand, and, duang!
Yup. He knocked her out. No mercy.
Since he'd decided to go investigate, there was no way he was leaving someone behind who could block his escape route.
Just to be sure, Allen looked at his hand, then cast another stunning spell on her for good measure, two layers of safety never hurt.
"Annie, let's go check it out. Who knows, we might find something valuable down there."
Allen waved casually, like he'd just said hello to a passing neighbor.
For a moment, Annie didn't react. Allen was just about to explain his actions when, unexpectedly, Annie pulled out her wand. Several magical cords floated out and tightly bound the unconscious girl on the ground.
Once she finished, Annie nodded in satisfaction and smiled at him.
"Let's go. Now I feel better."
For some reason, Allen felt a chill down his spine.
Probably just my imagination.
Allen took the lead, and Annie followed. With both of them under a Bubble-Head Charm, they stepped into the water.
The pond was deeper than they expected, but it wasn't a big issue. The only problem was,
The Bubble-Head Charm was draining far faster than expected.
The mysterious magic in the pond was causing external spells to consume mana at a much higher rate. Halfway through their swim, Allen had to turn back with Annie, worried the spell would collapse at any moment.
Looking at the unconscious girl still lying on the ground, Allen fell into thought.
What now?
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