"Huh. You're completely right!" Liora said, removing her foot from the door.
The three of them stood in an uncertain balance, waiting for someone to make a move. Deciding he didn't care about this anymore, Linnie grabbed the doorknob and left the shop.
He glanced back at the shop and saw The Prince following close behind him. Liora was glaring at the noble boy in an... unintimidating fashion.
It worked on the feeble boy, though.
"What's taking you three so damn long?" Marielle spat.
"We couldn't get the door open," Linnie said.
She scowled, but simply turned away.
'Aw, and here I thought her mood was improving a little bit since we helped her fight those guys at the tavern. Her fortune definitely wasn't any good, from the looks of it. Oh, I bet Liora making her granny scream bloody murder didn't help, either...'
"Pssst. Do you think she'd kill me if she found out I was a Siaryn?" Liora whispered, suddenly appearing incredibly close to his ear.
"Uh... probably not. I don't know! Back up, damn!"
The siaryn crept beside Marielle, and leaned over to look her in the face as they walked.
"So, where are we going now, Mari?" Liora asked.
"I was thinking—excuse me?"
Liora tilted her head, confused.
"I never said you could call me that."
"Awwww, why not?"
"That's for... friends. You're not my friend, so stop acting like it. I don't even like you."
Liora frowned.
"Pleaaase? You know, Marielle's kind of a mouthful. Mari's so much cuter, too! Please, Mari? Pretty please with a—"
The sound of harsh slap echoed through the empty side street.
The four of them stopped walking, and Liora's face had a red, hand-shaped mark across her cheek. She stood there as silent as the rest of them.
Marielle's hand was trembling just a little bit, but her face was emotionless.
"You show up uninvited, to start. Then, you forcibly drag me out to have 'fun,' only for you to antagonize people you don't know and get us all into some childish fight. You make a mess out of my friend's tavern—a mess I will be paying for. And then... you do something to my grandmother, causing her to scream like someone stabbed her through the chest. I've never heard her sound that way. Ever! And... haaah... you think you're my friend? You're just a dumb—"
'This was hopeless from the start, wasn't it? You don't try and salvage a rotten apple, you just toss it away. Tsk tsk, I guess I'll have to do something.'
Linnie cleared his throat.
"Shut up already, you annooooying bitch."
'Oops, I didn't mean to go that far!' He laughed to himself.
"Wait, that's the second time I've said something like that, right?"
"Oh?" Marielle said, turning her head to the boy. "Yeah, it is. I think I remember promising myself that, if you ever did something like that again, I'd kill you."
"Really? Kill me? I'd like to see you try," he said with a smug grin.
The Prince's eyes went wide, and, in an act of supreme courage, he ran away. Oh, sorry, the courage was in grabbing Liora by the wrist and pulling her with him.
Linnie frowned at the sight, a little confused.
Well, at least until he saw Marielle running at him, arm in the air. Strangely, where her hand was supposed to be, only a rippling circle of air floated. It looked as if her hand was submerged in water... except, it was air, and it was vertically positioned like a mirror or something.
From that floating puddle of air, she pulled out a sword. A simple sword, which swung downwards through the air.
'Ah-ha. Oh, sh—'
Linnie, nearly breaking his back, ducked backwards. He lost his balance and fell onto the floor, the blade of the sword barely missing his chest.
He smiled awkwardly at Marielle, hoping for some grace. But there was no recognition in the lady's face. No, in that moment, she was but an executioner bringing out his sentence.
'The sentence she gave me!'
He pointed his finger at her, about ready to cast a fireball into her face, but then he decided against it. It'd be really bad if he accidentally burned her to a crisp.
She raised the sword and brought it down to his chest. Linnie rolled backwards, folding over himself. He jumped up from the ground and slid back, thinking of what to do.
Suddenly, the lady spoke.
"Go ahead, use your magic, cretin. Whatever you know wouldn't be enough to hurt me, anyway."
Linnie looked offended, but in the corner of his eye, The Prince was nodding furiously. It was the most impassioned he had seen him since they had met.
Which, to be fair, wasn't too long ago.
"Fine then! Don't get mad when you're forced to wear a wig for the next few years! FIREBALL!"
A fireball flew through the air, directly at her and far too fast to dodge. Linnie had put a great amount of force into the spell's release, rather than the actual firepower.
He hoped it would be enough to knock the young lady off her feet, while also being impossible for her to dodge.
That didn't happen.
Instead, she simply cleaved the fire in half with her sword.
'What!? How's that even possible!?'
Instantly, she appeared in front of him once again. Her sword slashed horizontally through the air, aiming to gut the boy on the spot.
Naturally nimble and gifted, he jumped, somersaulting over the blade and using it as leverage to wrap his legs around her neck.
'If I can't use magic, I'll just do what I'm best at and beat her with strength!'
Instead, she grabbed him by the hips and brought her own body down into the ground, slamming Linnie with all the force of both of their bodies into the hard stone brick road.
It would've been devastating—a loss, even—for anyone else. Thankfully, nothing could knock Linnie out of the fight. Well, as long as he was alive and a vital bone wasn't broken.
'She's good at fighting, too!? I thought nobles were all sheltered. That's how she seemed, at least! And where the hell did that sword come from, anyway!? I thought she didn't know magic yet!'
The sword sliced through the air, and Linnie barely avoided having his head completely severed.
'She's really trying to kill me! Seriously!?'