"See? Easy."
"Don't underestimate me. Letting a little seal like this try to stop me—isn't that looking down on me a bit too much?"
With a casual flick of her hand, Lisa shattered the seal the Abyss Mage had placed.
She then turned back and looked at Rowan with a bright, expectant smile.
Clearly, she was waiting for praise.
Rowan gave her a thumbs-up.
"As expected of you, Lady Rose Witch."
"Seriously impressive."
Lisa really was something.
She'd been the most talented scholar the Sumeru Akademiya had seen in three hundred years.
If not for returning to her homeland of Mondstadt, she might have become the youngest Sage in the Akademiya's history—stronger even than Tighnari in that regard.
In the game, Lisa might only be a four-star character.
But in reality, her combat power surpassed quite a few so-called five-stars.
Within the Knights of Favonius, she was easily the most underestimated one of them all.
People tended to forget—Lisa was a witch.
Even though she wasn't a formal member of the Hexenzirkel, just being a witch was enough for her to receive guidance from certain people.
And everyone knew what kind of organization the Hexenzirkel was.
Every member was a legend in her own right.
The most famous was the witch represented by the initial "R": Rhinedottir, also a member of the Hexenzirkel.
Then there was the "A" witch, Lady Alice, Klee's mother.
"B" stood for Barbeloth, Mona's master.
"N" was Nicole.
"M" was Andersdotter, the author of The Boar Princess.
"J" was Ivanovna, the only witch to ever leave the Hexenzirkel, choosing instead to spend the rest of her life with the one she loved.
And finally, "O" was Oktavia, creator of the Thousand Stars' Domain.
Eight witches in total, each terrifyingly powerful in her own specialty.
Just Rhinedottir and Alice alone were enough to show how extraordinary they were.
Looking down on a witch was basically asking for death.
Back to the matter at hand.
After Rowan's compliment, Lisa's smile never left her face.
She was clearly in a great mood.
She took Rowan by the hand and strode into the ruin.
Every monster they encountered along the way failed to survive even a single round against her.
They were all electrocuted into smoking ash before they could do anything.
Before long, the two of them reached the innermost chamber.
There was only a single monster here: a Cryo Abyss Mage.
The book's lingering traces were on his body.
Lisa didn't bother with pleasantries.
Without a word, she gave him a full round of "electrotherapy."
Even with a shield, it didn't help at all.
He held out for about five seconds before the shield shattered.
Lisa then spent a little while "educating" him with lightning before finally dropping him down, planning to see where he'd hidden the book.
She hadn't forgotten why they'd come here.
"How… did you find this place?"
"I clearly went out of my way to hide it!"
The Abyss Mage couldn't understand how Lisa and Rowan had managed to track him down.
They'd been as cautious as possible, even hiding inside a ruin.
How could they still be found?
Ever since the Knights of Favonius had begun a massive recruitment drive, all the knights who passed the assessments had been dragged out into the wild for live-combat training.
The result was that half the monsters in the wilds around Mondstadt had been wiped out.
Add in the patrol squads clearing monsters near the roads to build better routes, and anything too close to a path had basically been obliterated.
Monsters who didn't want to die—or had at least some intelligence—had all gone into hiding.
Especially Abyss Mages, who'd straight-up burrowed into ruins like this one.
And yet they'd still been found.
Did the laws of the world mean nothing anymore?
"I don't care why you're hiding here. I'm only here to take back the book."
"You had the time to set up a hideout and lay down a seal, but not to go through the proper borrowing procedures?"
Of course, that last line was a joke.
Even if this Abyss Mage had come to the library to "borrow" the book properly, Lisa would have blasted him on the spot without hesitation.
The Abyss Mage swayed slightly as realization finally hit him.
"So it was… that book…"
"I didn't expect that in a place like Mondstadt… there would be someone who could comprehend its contents."
"Who exactly are you?"
Lisa was getting a little impatient.
She frowned, crossed her arms, and said irritably,
"The librarian. Now kindly hand the book back."
"This is your final warning. I don't want to say it a second time."
The Abyss Mage's thought process, however, was clearly not normal.
In his mind, anyone who could fully comprehend the contents of that book couldn't possibly be a simple librarian.
There was no way he'd believe that.
Impossible.
He snorted coldly.
"Still trying to hide your identity? In that case, I definitely can't return the book to you."
"After all, it concerns… that secret."
"Oh?"
Hearing that he had absolutely no intention of returning the book, Lisa didn't waste any more words.
Raging currents of electricity erupted around her, wrapping him in a cocoon of lightning and giving him another full-body electrotherapy session.
The Abyss Mage screamed miserably until he finally let out one last shout and passed out.
Even Rowan felt the hairs on his arms stand on end just watching it.
Tsk, tsk.
Serves him right.
Once she'd zapped the Abyss Mage unconscious, Lisa couldn't be bothered to wait for him to wake up again.
"Since he won't talk, we'll just find it ourselves."
"It should be in this room somewhere."
Sure enough, it didn't take long before Rowan found the book stuffed into a dusty corner.
He handed it to Lisa, and only when she saw that it hadn't been damaged at all did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Then she frowned in confusion.
"There's no dangerous magic or ritual recorded in this book. That's the only reason it was even allowed to be lent out to ordinary citizens."
"Apart from my mark, there isn't any elemental fluctuation in it at all. So why would he steal this book?"
A moment later, Lisa decided she didn't really care.
Her job as librarian was already done.
Whatever came next had nothing to do with her.
"Let's go. Work for today ends here."
"Time to head back."
Rowan nodded and followed Lisa out of the ruin.
"Little cutie, thanks for your help today."
"You've really made me like you even more, you know."
"I wonder… how do you feel about me?"
Back at the library, after putting the book away, Lisa leaned in close to Rowan again.
With a playful smile, she brought her lips near his ear and whispered,
"What do you say?"
(End of Chapter)
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