For a moment, Lillian did not know what to say.
The two of them left Sloth's hidden base. As they walked, Lillian said, "You made your employer personally come to provide support—do you still expect payment?"
"Of course," Elsa replied as if it were only natural.
Lillian looked at her and hesitated before asking, "Your constitution… does it really have no side effects?"
"I don't know."
"What about limits on how many times you can recover?"
"I don't know."
"…"
"What?" Elsa looked at him with a smile.
"Trying to learn everything so you can deal with your big sister later?"
Lillian shook his head. He was merely thinking that if there were truly no limits or side effects, then this vampire-like constitution was indeed extremely powerful. Of course, that also depended on the opponent. Against someone meticulous enough to crush their enemy to pieces after killing them, such an ability would be useless.
"By the way, you still haven't told me about that 'save point,'" Elsa continued. "You've been changing the subject since earlier, haven't you?"
"I can't tell you that right now," Lillian answered directly, without offering any excuse.
Elsa nodded. "Good. At least you didn't invent some foolish reason to deceive me." She seemed to recall something and smiled teasingly. "When you thought your big sister had died earlier, were you very sad?"
"Not 'very.' Just a little. After all, if you really had died, it would only have been because you chose to fight on your own."
"…"
"And don't think you did something good," Lillian continued. "In fact, your actions interfered with my plan. Originally, if we had quietly located their base, we could have found the right opportunity to wipe them out in one sweep. But now that they've been alarmed, they'll certainly move to a new location and hide even deeper. Finding them will become even more difficult. So what you did—"
He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Elsa pressing a hand to her forehead, looking rather troubled.
"Nothing," she said. "I was just wondering what a man so insensitive to a woman's feelings is supposed to do in the future."
"What do you mean, what am I supposed to do?"
Seeing her only smile in response, Lillian frowned and continued, "…In any case, you should go back and rest first. It would be best to find someone knowledgeable about possession or spirit contracts to examine you. There may still be aftereffects from that possession. Although it should be—why are you laughing?"
Elsa's careless attitude made Lillian somewhat dissatisfied. She looked up at the sky and yawned.
"Nothing. I'm just wondering—are you really going to lecture me, little brother?"
"…Forget it, then."
Lillian had not particularly wanted to say all that anyway. After thinking for a moment, he added, "You can ignore the rest, but regarding the Archbishop of Sloth—Petelgeuse—he isn't dead yet. No one knows which unlucky person he might have possessed by now, so be careful. In any case, don't come here again. I'll handle it myself."
He was considering the future. Once people from the royal capital arrived, they would certainly attack Elsa if they encountered her, and she would retaliate in turn. Such a situation would be troublesome, so it was best to avoid their meeting altogether.
"Then give me a different task," Elsa said, ignoring his suggestion. "Change it to 'kill all of them.' Being possessed by such a disgusting old man made me very uncomfortable."
"…You've already seen the power of the Unseen Hands, haven't you?"
"I only underestimated them at first," she said seriously, without a trace of joking. "If I meet him again, I'll rip out his intestines."
"Countering the Unseen Hands is easy enough," Lillian said, "but how will you deal with his possession? Judging from the power he displayed using your body, your body has very low affinity with spirits. You definitely can't form a contract with one. That means he can still possess you."
At this, Elsa looked at Lillian curiously. "Then why weren't you possessed just now?"
"I…"
The question left Lillian puzzled as well. He had never considered it before. If he had been possessed, everything would have been over. Perhaps he would only have revived afterward through his own ability.
It was impossible that Petelgeuse had never considered taking his body—he had clearly declared that Elsa's body was difficult to use. Why not switch to Lillian instead? He must have judged that Lillian was "impossible to possess." That made Lillian wonder—he had never formed a contract with any spirit, and he was completely free of such ties. So why couldn't he be possessed?
Seeing that he could not answer, Elsa nodded. "So you don't know either."
If he knew and wished to tell her, he would have said so; if he knew but did not wish to reveal it, he would have said "I can't tell you right now." Having already grasped Lillian's way of speaking, Elsa reached her conclusion.
"Let's not worry about that for now," Lillian said. "I still have things to do next. You should go back."
"What things?" Elsa asked. Before he could respond, she continued, "You can't tell me right now?"
"…"
Lillian looked at her speechlessly. "If you already know the answer, why ask?"
"I just wanted to see your expression."
"Are you satisfied?"
"Very." She showed a genuinely pleased smile. "I'll come find you in a few days. Don't wander off."
"…We'll see."
"Tch. Your big sister is leaving." She waved her hand in farewell and departed without another word.
Lillian watched her figure disappear into the distance. Then he turned to look at the base he had destroyed, now reduced to little more than broken walls and ruins. Petelgeuse would certainly have moved elsewhere by now; finding him again would not be easy. Rather than wasting time searching for him, it would be better to—
After a moment's thought, Lillian turned his gaze toward the distance. After all the turmoil, dawn was approaching. In the dim light he could see smoke slowly drifting from the chimney atop a distant towering roof.
Were they preparing breakfast?
He recalled what Kaitu had told him on the carriage: The notices have already been posted throughout the country… In the end, he found it troublesome and left early for an unknown destination.
That "he" referred to the border lord—Roswaal.
At this time, Roswaal was not at the mansion. Emilia and Subaru would only return tomorrow. The mansion should currently house only Ram, Rem, and… the twin-tailed great spirit, Betty.
"This is a good opportunity," Lillian murmured. "If they're not around… I might finally have a chance to speak with her."
The matter of the Sin Archbishop had not been resolved. Future troubles were inevitable. No matter what, Petelgeuse would never abandon his plan concerning Emilia's trial. And if events followed their expected course, the White Whale—one of the three great mabeast—would also appear.
He could no longer afford to waste time.
Without further hesitation, Lillian brushed the dust from his clothes and set off toward Roswaal's mansion.