“Like I said, it’s suspicious!”

Within a large conference room, Aurelia Brightwind did her best to keep a stoic expression on her face as various members of her family continued to argue with each other.

“Why is it that upon her arrival in Regalia, Aurelia had her butler incarcerated and assigned a private therapist? No matter how you look at it, something must have happened during that banquet!” screamed one of her older cousins.

“How many times must it be repeated?” replied an aunt. “As Aurelia claimed, she learned of the butler’s traumatic history and the possibility that he was suffering from a mental illness, and took measures to ensure his safe recovery out of concern for him. Why is that so difficult for you to accept?”

“But isn’t that based on her own word?” countered someone else. “With only her as a witness, she could have lied as much as she wanted to, and we wouldn’t know the difference.”

“Even so,” an uncle she’d spoken to one or twice was the next to speak. “It would be a waste of time and resources to eke out the truth of what really may have been an uneventful evening, especially when neither Aurelia nor her butler were injured and no incidents seem to have arisen since their return.”

“Enough,” a calm, but powerful voice silenced the entire room with only a single word. Aurelia did not have to look up to know who it belonged to; her grandfather Achill, the patriarch of the Brightwind family. All at once, the entire room had been put on edge, and even Aurelia had to force her body not to shudder as many others did.

When the room grew silent and his eyes landed on her, she did it involuntarily. “Aurelia. I will ask you directly. Is what you said the truth?”

Aurelia flinched as she tried to meet his gaze, and took a moment to gather herself before answering. “...Yes. It is.”

“...” Her reply was left up in the air for a while, until Achill suddenly closed his eyes. “Then there is no further need for discussion. She has given us a clear and concise answer, and shows no intention of changing it, therefore we can only proceed from here. As long as the situation does not affect the reputation of the Brightwind family, the matter will be dropped.”

“Yes, Lord Achill.”

“Of course, my lord.”

“Then so it shall be.”

No one dared to speak out against him, and instead they all voiced their respectful agreements one by one and bowed their heads low. With a stern, unmoving gaze, Achill stood from his seat and used his walking stick to shuffle out of the room. Aurelia swallowed, and tried not to move from her own bowing position as he passed right by her chair.

Only once the door shut behind him did anyone move, raising their heads and standing from their seats to fall into their own conversations or leave themselves. Aurelia did so as well, and stared at her family members in silence before suddenly bowing her head once again.

“I will be returning to my room now, to rest after the long trip,” she announced. Without waiting for anyone’s response, she quickly exited.

The halls of the Brightwind estate were clean and well-decorated, but also as large and barren as she remembered. Occasionally she would run into a servant or another one of her family members, but the former would lower their heads upon seeing her, and the latter would simply exchange stark greetings before moving on.

She hated it.

Eventually, she arrived at her room, and was immediately beset upon by her four… or rather, three butlers/bodyguards.

“Greetings, Lady Aurelia,” said the first, Lore.

“I am glad to see you have returned from Westra with no problems,” said the second, Ulrich.

“You must be tired after the long trip, my lady. Please, come inside. We will prepare you for bed right away,” said the third, Tobias.

For a moment, she almost expected to hear Stefan’s voice as well, but the notion was quickly shot down with silence as her butlers opened her door and waited for her to step inside.

She did so, smothering her feelings along the way.

As she moved into the room, they set about removing her dress, undoing her pigtails, and putting on her pajamas. Then, as she sat down in a chair next to the window, Lore began brushing her hair while the others removed her shoes.

After a while of waiting in silence, Aurelia suddenly spoke as a question came to her. “...Hey. If I was ever in a situation where you all couldn’t protect me from an immediate threat—where only I, a support mage, was able-bodied, what do you think I should do?”

She looked up at the faces of her butlers, and watched as they exchanged glances before Lore answered. “Well, my lady, if such a situation were to occur it would be advisable for you to flee, abandoning us and any other allies in order to save yourself.”

“Yes,” Tobias agreed. “All who would go into battle alongside you understand their responsibility to keep you safe, my lady. Just as I am sure you understand your responsibility to preserve your own life.”

“...” Aurelia went silent after hearing their response. The three watched worriedly as her expression darkened, and Ulrich leaned forward to speak.

“My lady, are you alri-”

“...I would like to be alone now. Please leave.”

In response to her sudden order, the trio exchanged glances once again before politely excusing themselves and exiting the room, but not before pausing at the door.

“We shall always be at your beck and call should you need something from us, Lady Aurelia.”

“Yeah…” Aurelia responded vaguely as the door was shut.

Now alone, she stared out the window while getting lost in her own thoughts. Her mind flowed back to what happened in Halloway during the banquet only three weeks ago, and how she had no idea about Stefan’s feelings towards her for the entire time she’d known him. The revelation of his true thoughts, and the darkness in his eyes as he laughed at his own incompetence replayed itself in her mind over and over.

But soon her thoughts shifted to the strange girl she’d met named Micah, and how she’d finally made her first real friend since her birth seven years ago. From the joyful time they had talking with Lady Irene and Micah’s family, to the waltz the two of them shared, and even the times where Micah had annoyed her. They were all pleasant memories to her now, and she was grateful to have met the girl even if for a short time.

And yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something truly different about her as well. Watching her solve the mystery of the butler’s death, then revealing that Stefan was the murderer, and finally the way she saved her life not just once, but twice, and with magic that seemed too advanced for someone of her experience. It was all too fantastical for her to even believe it really happened at times.

Eventually, her thoughts lead her to the realization that she hadn’t contributed anything at all to the situation other than being a damsel to be saved. Once she lost her attack mage, she as a support mage became useless, only able to stand there while others did the fighting for her.

“Run away, huh…”

The idea made her remember a time when she was younger, being told by her grandfather that she was at the age to begin her training as a mage.

“However, unlike that sister of yours, you are forbidden from running off to join the military. The renown she brought our family name through her experience as a Hero was not worth breaking our long-held traditions. Your destiny is to become a Hero, a support mage—and nothing more.”

“Yes, Grandfather. I understand.”

Without a choice, she was put under the tutelage of instructors specializing in support magic in order to follow the tradition maintained by the Brightwind family that men become attack mages and women support mages.

It was something she had accepted readily at the time, as someone who bore a lot of pride for her family and the fact that she was a part of it. But now, the image of Micah and her actions at the banquet, including the way she defended her surfaced every time she thought about it, and she began to feel a cloudiness in her heart.

Why does someone like her get to confront the threat directly and save lives by being proactive, while I just have to watch from the sidelines and run away if things get too dangerous? Is that really what being a Hero is all about…?

She blinked suddenly, coming to her senses, and immediately shook the thoughts away.

No. My first duty is and always will be to my family. Nothing else matters.

“All who would go into battle alongside you understand their responsibility to keep you safe, my lady. Just as I am sure you understand your responsibility to preserve your own life.”

“...abandon us and any other allies in order to save yourself.”

“Flee.”

“Nothing… else…”

-----

When Sawatari Mikasa was ten years old, she received her first cell phone.

When Micah Stronoff was ten years old, she received a punch to the face.

“Aagh!” Micah cried as she gripped her nose with both hands. The force of the punch had sent her stumbling away from her attackers, and it was only through her enhanced reflexes gained from having [God’s Blessing] activated that she was able to dodge the subsequent sword strikes sent her way.

“Oh, still got some spunk, do we? You’re not half bad, kid,” the man said with a playful grin. He swished his dual sabers through the air, taunting her. “But from what I’m seeing so far, you’re still not good enough to beat us.”

“Stop playing around and take her down already. She might escape if we draw this out,” came the woman as she approached his flank. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as her other hand tightened its grip on her baton.

As the pain in her own nose began to subside ever so slightly, Micah forced herself to ignore the bleeding and instead focused on the two in front of her. “Hmph, like I’d run. I’m not going anywhere until I’ve killed both of you.”

“Oho~ It’s kind of scary hearing that from a cute kid like you. Well we’re not going anywhere pipsqueak, so give it your best shot.”

Micah crouched down and tensed her leg muscles in preparation to rush the two with everything she had.

But… just how did she end up in such a perilous situation? The answer lies at the start of that very same day…

-----

Stepping past the gates of the small town, two pairs of boots came to a stop just before a busy street. The duo, a man and a woman, took a moment to admire the scenery.

“...Huh. So this is Halloway, eh? A bit shoddier than I was expecting. Well, I guess that’s a small town for you, trade or not. But it’s still got nothing on the bigger towns in Eastra, huh Mariel?” The man grinned at his partner.

“Enough, Leo,” Mariel replied as she crossed her arms. “Let’s just get this job done and get back to Avarick.”

“‘Let’s just get this job done and get back to Avarick’,” Leo mocked. “Why do you have to be the most un-fun person in the entire Circle? Live a little, would ya?”

“I am living. The reason why we took this delivery job was to make money. Money that we will then use to buy food to eat. I’d consider that living in the highest sense. What isn’t is making stupid jokes that waste our time.”

“Haa, fine, fine… Talk about a buzzkill.”

With sagging shoulders and stern steps respectively, the pair set about their walk towards their destination, unaware that with every step, their fates were brought closer and closer to intertwining with those of a certain girl currently undergoing her usual morning routine on the other side of town.

-----

“...and with this prayer, hope that we may continue to hold kindness in our hearts, and that we may gain the courage to spread this kindness to all who will accept it.”

After saying the usual words, Bernadetta finished her prayer, and Micah and the nuns opened their eyes and separated their palms. Though it was part of their usual routine, one thing that was different was that Micah was wearing her nun outfit, something she hadn't been required to do much up until recently, when the Church of Nor’s popularity had risen to the point of receiving new applicants looking to join them.

Only a couple here and there had joined so far, but for the sake of the church’s reputation and Micah’s own age getting to the point where she could start helping out more, her nun outfit had become a uniform to be worn while at home.

Currently, Micah was ten years old. Thankfully (and a bit woefully from her perspective), things had remained relatively peaceful since the banquet she’d attended three years ago. The only major change would have to be the way the nuns treated her.

Henrietta in particular had become infinitely more strict towards her after learning that she’d been hiding her true intelligence. Her responsibilities had increased, and with the realization that there was very little Josefine could teach her, the blonde nun had taken over the task of tutoring her on more advanced subjects. It wasn’t particularly grueling, but it left her with quite a bit less free time than usual.

Josefine, thankfully, hadn’t changed much in terms of her behavior towards Micah. In fact, the 22-year-old often forgot about the truth she’d learned and continued to treat Micah as a young, innocent child. Micah herself honestly wasn’t sure if she should be appreciative or worried over her Big Sis’ memory, but she always had fun whenever the two of them were together.

Her relationship with Brunhilde was the same; that is to say, they were just as close as always. Naturally so, considering the old nun already knew more about her than what was revealed during the banquet. But she’d already been made aware of that evening’s events, and was more than compliant to Micah’s plea to keep everything she knew a secret.

That just left Bernadetta, who had surprisingly been the one to change the most since that evening’s events, if in a more subtle way. There didn’t seem to be any overt changes in her behavior or demeanor, but sometimes Micah would notice her acting strangely. She wasn’t an expert in body language or anything, but she got a weird suspicion that the woman was avoiding her for some reason. But since she had no proof of such a claim, she usually just ignored such suspicions.

More importantly, she was proud to say that she’d reached Lv. 16 in [God’s Blessing]. The experience she gained from solving the murder at the banquet and uncovering the culprit—as well as coming into contact with and befriending an important figure in Magi, which she was sure played a part as well—she’d gained a whole four levels; a climb she hadn’t experienced in quite some time.

Still, despite that progress, she’d failed to level up a single time since then. It was becoming more and more apparent to her that [God’s Blessing] leveled up faster whenever she experienced new things and overcame adversity, and that her normal training wouldn’t be enough anymore. Not to mention that she could barely find the time to even train anymore, considering her current responsibilities often left her exhausted and seeking rest by the end of the day.

Even so, she soldiered on with the understanding that—while it was nice and fulfilling in its own way—her ultimate goal of finding Yuu would not be realized if she continued to let her routine prevent her from seeking greater strength.

“Micah~!” The voice of a girl calling out to her snapped her out of her thoughts, and soon approached a familiar face. With hair braided into two hooped pigtails, hazel eyes and round, chubby cheeks, it was unmistakably the face of Gloria, one of the newcomer nuns to join the Kindness of Nor. Gloria was only eight years old, which put her close in age to herself and thus led to them becoming something like friends.

And “something like” was true, since their relationship was mostly built upon the girl clinging to Micah like a mentor and role model. She was sure that if they were in Japan, Gloria would be calling her “Senpai” over and over.

“Micah! Micah!” She could almost hear it now. “Miss Henrietta said it’s your turn to go shopping for groceries today.”

“Oh, was it? Thanks for letting me know.”

“Ehehe, no problem. Actually, I asked her if I could go with you, and she said it was okay as long as I listened to everything you said.”

“R-Really?” Micah couldn’t help but smile a little awkwardly at that.

E-Even now… I still can’t quite get used to how much responsibility she’s thrusting on a ten-year-old…

“Mhm! I already have the list here. Shall we get going?”

“Ah, sure thing. Let’s go.”

With Micah in the lead, the two girls made their way out of the church after exchanging farewells with some of the nuns on the way.

-----

“That seems to be everything. Thank you for delivering this.” The official bowed deeply in thanks.

“No, we were just doing the job that was asked of us,” Mariel responded as she returned the gesture. “We should be the ones thanking you for compensating our travel expenses.”

“Please, think nothing of it. I’m sure you must have come a long way from Eastra for this delivery. Take it as a small token of our appreciation.”

“Yes, we will. Thank you very much for your generosity.”

With one last smile, the official returned to his office, leaving the pair of Heroes with a rather hefty sack of coins. Mariel took a moment to enjoy its weight, reveling in the feeling of being in possession of so much money. To her, it made the several-weeks-long trip completely worth it, especially considering how lucky it was for Freelance Heroes like her and Leo to even get jobs like this in the first place.

Speaking of her partner, he stood a ways off to the side, idly picking his nose while passing his gaze over the rest of the spacious interior of Halloway’s town hall. The sight disgusted her enough to bring her marching over to him.

“Cut that out,” she hissed as she slapped his hand away from his face.

“What the-, ow!” Leo whined. “A simple ‘please stop’ never cross your mind?”

Mariel crossed her arms and closed her eyes to lecture him. “Leo, I’ve known you for well over long enough to know that pain is the only thing you understand. I would gladly beat the snot out of you if it got you to kick those dumb habits of yours and pay more attention to-” She peeked one eye open, then deadpanned as she caught his gaze following a trio of women who’d been sneaking glances at him and sharing not-so-subtle giggles as they headed for the exit.

She could feel a vein pop on her forehead as her eyes narrowed into a glare at the lecherous expression on his face. “Case in point…” In one motion, she smashed her boot onto his as hard as she could, eliciting a shrill cry from him as he hopped on his remaining leg to cradle his injury.

“Ow, ow ow ow, OW!!! Seriously, why is violence always the first thing you resort to?!”

“Because you never listen to me otherwise! Look, we’re wasting time here at this point. Since we finished the delivery and got our money, let’s go restock our supplies and get back on the road to Avarick. I want to be home before the end of the month at least.”

“Ughh… Fine.” Leo, looking very much unhappy, reluctantly followed along as Mariel led the way to the town hall’s door. But as they approached the entrance, his ear caught the tail end of a conversation happening nearby.

“...and I’ve heard some people say that it’s one of those nuns from the Kindness of Nor that’s behind the attacks.”

“Eh, really? They all seem pretty nice though. And I definitely don’t think any of them even know how to fight.”

“But didn’t you know? All of the incidents involving the anonymous individual have been related to that church in some way. There’s no way that’s a coincidence, right?”

“I suppose… you have a point.”

“Hm?” Leo raised an eyebrow at the strange things being said between the two men and one woman. Without a second thought, his feet were carrying him over and away from Mariel.

“Excuse me, but what’s this about an ‘anonymous individual’? And something about attacks too?”

The trio turned to face him, stunned at his sudden appearance and questioning look, and even more so at the dual sabers sheathed on his hips. Still, one of the two men eventually answered.

“You’re a Hero, aren’t you? Then you’re probably not from around here. Around eight years ago, there was an attack on the monastery of the Disciples of Circe here in Halloway. One young woman was killed, and two acolytes were injured as well. The suspect was never identified, even to this day.”

“But they struck again a couple of years after that,” added the other man. “See, there’s a church near the outskirts of town called the Church of Nor. Six years ago, the nuns there reported to the town guard that a robber had broken in and badly injured the owner’s daughter after she caught him in the act.”

“It’s awful to even think about. I mean, she was only four years old at the time… Poor Micah,” The woman lamented. “Thankfully she was rescued and the robber was chased off in the end.”

“And you think her rescuer is the same ‘anonymous individual’ from the previous incident?” Leo asked.

The three of them nodded, and the woman spoke next. “Not only us, it’s pretty much common knowledge here in Halloway. Actually, I work at a local tavern across town, and one of my coworkers lives in the church as a nun. She told me that the acolytes that were injured were also con artists that worked with the murdered woman to steal the property deed from the owner of the church. Since the deed was returned to the church after the anonymous individual attacked the monastery, some of us at the tavern have been calling them ‘Nor’s Angel’.”

“Nor’s Angel, huh…” Leo put a hand to his chin in thought after hearing their explanation. “And even to this day, they still haven’t been identified?”

“Nope,” one of the men answered. “But there have been rumors circulating that one or more of the nuns at the church are behind the attacks.”

“They’re just rumors though!” The woman quickly added. “Personally, I don’t think for a second that any of them are involved. They’re all such nice people, and they do a lot for the town.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re innocent though,” Leo countered. “For example, it’s possible that they created this ‘Nor’s Angel’ character as a fake enigma in order to garner attention. What’s the state of the church like these days? Is it popular?”

The woman opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly paused as a troubled look washed over her expression. “Th-That’s… um...”

One of the men eventually answered in her stead. “Actually, yes. I hear the Church of Nor’s reputation within town has increased in recent years, and they’ve been receiving donations and new members more and more as time goes on.”

“Then it’s just like I said, right?” Leo grinned. “It’s totally suspicious. Why hasn’t anyone investigated-mmph?!”

“I-I’m so sorry for him!” Mariel suddenly cut in, slapping a hand over Leo’s mouth. “He didn’t mean to accuse your friend, or anyone else for that matter. I’m sure they really are lovely people.”

“Mmff-, th-the hell I didn’t!” Leo yelled as he ripped her hand away. “You heard it too, right? Those nuns are definitely guilty of something! If the town guard hasn’t realized yet that they might be involved, don’t you think we should try and figure it out for ourselves?”

“No, I think we should get a move on as soon as possible,” Mariel argued, crossing her arms. “We’re not detectives, Leo. It’s not our problem to deal with the issues of a random town, especially if we’re not being rewarded for it.”

Without waiting for his response, she grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him away while apologizing once more to the trio. However, Leo cupped his remaining hand over his mouth as they neared the door once again.

“I swear on our pride as Heroes, Mariel and I will find this ‘Nor’s Angel’ and bring them to justice!”

“I’m sorry, but we won’t!”

“Yes we will!”

“Shut up already!”

Their bickering continued outside, and garnered stares from the moment they set foot out of the town hall, all the way to the market where they stopped to resupply food and other necessities for their journey back to Avarick.

“-and I’m telling you that you’re a moron. How do you even propose we find someone like that? They’ve remained anonymous for the better part of eight years,” Mariel said as they searched for an appropriate food vendor.

“But this clue about the Church of Nor is huge!” Leo replied. “And from what those guys were saying, it doesn’t seem like anyone else knows about it. Don’t you think it’s at least worth checking out? We might even be able to catch them in a single day!”

“You’re being ridiculous. The chances of us finding them in a single day is just-, ah, looks like that stall’s almost out of bread. We should grab the last loaf before someone else gets it.” Mariel quickly made her way over to the aforementioned stall and pointed at the loaf in question.

“Excuse me, could I buy this-”
“I’ll have this please-”

“Ah.”
“Ah.”

Mariel turned to see that a young girl in a nun’s outfit had approached the stall at the same time as her. The design of the scarf around her neck immediately caught her attention, but her green eyes were also rather eye-catching, as well as the surprisingly mature aura radiating from her otherwise adorable childlike features. She looked to have just reached the double digits in age, and yet her expression was equally as calculating as her own as she passed her gaze up Mariel’s form.

This girl, is she… sizing me up?

It may have just been her imagination, but the girl’s eyes seemed to linger on her baton currently strapped to her hip for a bit longer than normal. However, her expression quickly vanished into a cheerful smile.

“Oh, I’m sorry, miss! Please, go ahead and take it. I know a few other places that sell bread like this.”

“Ah, i-is that so? Sorry for stealing it from you…”

The girl waved off her concerns. “Don’t worry about it. You seem like you’re from outside, so it’d be mean of me to make you go search for another place when you don’t know your way around.”

“That’s very considerate of you,” Mariel found a smile forming at the girl’s kindness. “You must have been raised by good people, to be this generous.”

“Ahaha, I guess you could say that.” The girl chuckled slightly as she rubbed the back of her head.

“Haa… Haa…” Suddenly, another child wearing a matching nun’s outfit approached in a shaky jog, puffing out heavy pants as she held her knees in exhaustion. “Mi… Micah… You’re fast…!”

“Ah, sorry Gloria! I didn’t mean to leave you behind. You okay?” The first girl, apparently named Micah, turned to the other girl and reached out to touch her shoulders. The other girl, evidently Gloria, reached up to hold Micah’s wrists in turn as she caught her breath.

“I… I’m okay…”

“S-Sorry… Let’s go to Mr. Rupert’s stall to get bread, and then we’ll head back to the church together. I’ll stick with you this time, okay?”

“O-Okay…”

Micah turned back to Mariel and offered one last smile. “Bye-bye, Miss! I hope you enjoy your time in Halloway.”

“Ah, thank you very much. Have a good day,” she replied, watching as the two girls walked off hand-in-hand. Her gaze followed them for a while longer, lingering on Micah’s back until she disappeared into the crowd of the market. Longer still she stared, almost in a trance, until Leo’s voice snapped her out of it.

“What’s got you so distracted all of a sudden?” he asked from her side.

“Eh? Nothing, I just…” Mariel paused, shaking her head slightly as she returned to the task of paying for the bread. “I just noticed something weird about her scarf. It… had mana in it.”

“W-What?” Leo’s eyes widened. “You mean you sensed it with your Ability?”

“Yeah… I saw it right away when we bumped into each other, and I even caught a whiff of it when she turned away from me. There was definitely a mana pool there.”

Leo’s brows furrowed as he took a step towards her. “But-, but are you sure it was in her scarf? Mana only exists in living things, remember? That’s like, magic 101.”

“I know that already.” She sent him a small glare. “That’s why it confused me. But in the end, it has nothing to do with us, so there’s no reason to really pay much attention to it.”

“I don’t know about that.” Leo smirked at her. “Did you happen to catch her name?”

“Yeah. Micah, I think. Why?” She raised an eyebrow questioningly as he began to path after them.

“Uh, try the owner of the church’s daughter? I think we just found a ticket right to our ‘angel’.”

“Leo, no-” Her shout went ignored as he went into a jog to chase after the two. “Leo! Damn it…” Her eyes found the loaf of bread she’d just bought, and after a moment of consideration she reluctantly handed it back. “Can you hold this for us? We’ll be back for it, I promise.” Without even waiting for a reply, she set off after her partner.

Ugh, that colossal moron… He better not do anything stupid.

-----

Micah couldn’t stop the smile that tugged at her lips at the sight of Gloria gazing into their shopping bag with shimmering eyes on their way back to the church.

“Wow...!! I can’t believe we bought all of this by ourselves! I’ve never been shopping without my mom before! Ehehe… hehe…”

“Sounds like someone had fun,” Micah teased. Gloria didn’t seem to notice, and was all smiles as she responded cheerfully.

“Yep! I had lots of fun! Who knew spending money could be so exciting~?”

Y-Yikes… I hope that opinion changes by the time she gets older, or her future might be in trouble.

Micah kept that thought to herself though, and instead focused on other things.

All in all, it hadn’t taken that long to get their shopping done. Gloria had been wonderfully helpful, eager, and overall a pleasant shopping partner. While this wasn’t the first time she herself had gone shopping on her own even at her age (Again, Henrietta’s trust in her was astounding, but Micah couldn’t say it wasn’t well-earned on her part), this was the first time she’d had help while she was in charge, and she found it to be leagues more fun than doing it on her own.

Even at just ten years old, it felt like she was finally getting to feel more like her age again. And considering she’d been pretending to be a child for nearly her entire decade of life in this new world, and yet was currently twenty-seven years of age in her head, she couldn’t help but feel like this kind of situation could not have come any faster.

Still, with her steadily growing age, it also came with the realization that her date of departure was approaching. She still didn’t completely know when or how she would strike out on her own, or even where she would go yet, but she knew that once her body had developed enough and [God’s Blessing] had been nurtured to an appropriate level, she’d need to leave Halloway and finally begin her quest to find Yuu.

It was inevitable. It left her with mixed feelings towards the nuns, whom she’d developed a strong bond with since her rebirth, but she absolutely wouldn’t let her own feelings get in the way of her ultimate goal.

And at the same time, it was a nice thought that if she were able to find Yuu, she now had a place to bring him so they could live together in peace; a place to call home in this new world. He was such a sweet boy that Micah was sure he’d be popular among the nuns and the townspeople of Halloway.

Ehh… But if he got reincarnated here at the same time I did, wouldn’t that put him at the same age as me? And inside, he’d be about twenty-two…

“...” [← The realization that she’d already missed precious years of her baby brother’s life]

“EH?! Micah?! W-W-What’s with this depressed aura all of a sudden?!”

“N-No, it’s nothing…”

Th-That’s right… It’s fine. J-Just getting to see him is enough. Plus, there’s no guarantee that he even has his memories like I do, so I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up that things will be exactly like before.

Well, there was no use worrying about it now. Even if Yuu no longer knew who she was, she still wanted to meet with him. All she could do was work her hardest in order to see Yuu as fast as possible. And right now, there wasn’t much she could do other than wait until she got a little older while looking for opportunities to cultivate [God’s Blessing] further.

And speaking of such opportunities, Micah’s mind was brought back to the strange encounter she’d had in the market with the glasses-wearing woman. Almost as soon as they’d laid eyes on each other, Micah could tell that she was somehow different from the other citizens of Halloway she’d come to know. The weapon on her hip, which seemed to be some sort of collapsible baton, was the biggest giveaway, considering the only people who bore weapons in town were the guards.

No, she was probably a Hero.

It wasn’t exactly hard to identify Heroes at a glance, but at the same time it wasn’t as if Heroes were the only types of people to wear distinctive clothing and use weapons. Not that she’d met many—or any—Heroes in her life thus far to make that judgment, but that wasn’t the point. If someone with that kind of appearance shows up in a town like Halloway, nine times out of ten they were a Hero.

Well, there was also the fact that Micah had gotten a notification from [God’s Blessing] right away when meeting the woman.

[[God’s Blessing] has leveled up! It is now Lv. 17]

Three years of training with no results, and all it took was running into a person to level up. Is it because I met a Hero for the first time?

With all of that in mind, it was almost assured that she was indeed a Hero. And if that were the case, then Micah was sure that she’d get involved with her and the other guy that was with her sooner or later.

See, Micah was starting to notice a pattern. At first she’d live relatively normally for a while, before all of a sudden she’d get caught in some kind of crisis that ended with her leveling up [God’s Blessing]. Then a few years would go by before another crisis happened, usually preceded by a more positive occurrence, such as Mr. Stronoff arriving at the church or her and the nuns being invited to the banquet.

It had been three years since the banquet, and everything had been completely peaceful since then. And just like clockwork, some kind of new occurrence had taken place in the form of her chance encounter with her first Heroes since she arrived in Magi.

It wasn’t logical in the slightest, and honestly she might have become just a bit paranoid after ten years, but Micah had a feeling that her encounter with them wouldn’t be the last. That was why, after realizing who they were, she opted to leave as soon as possible. If some kind of big crazy fight was going to break out, she didn’t want it to be in a place where she’d be seen by witnesses. And of course, she needed to get rid of Gloria too.

“La, la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la~!” Speaking of the girl, she was happily swinging her arms carrying the groceries while singing to herself. It made Micah kind of jealous, that she could be so carefree as if she had no worries at all. When was the last time she’d been this innocent? As far as her memories stretched back, she was almost thirty now. And nearly every day of her rebirth as Micah was spent thinking and worrying about her brother, or something related to her ultimate quest to find him.

She found herself wanting to pick the brain of her friend for a bit. “Hey, Gloria. What are you singing?”

“Hm? It’s a folk song my daddy taught me. I forgot the words, but I like singing the melody whenever I’m super happy.”

“Do you like singing?”

“Yes! I love singing! I even asked Miss Henrietta if we could sing a song during morning prayer.”

“You did? What did she say?”

Gloria seemed to slouch a bit. “She said, ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Praying is annoying enough already, why would I want to sing a dumb song every day?’”

H-Henrietta, you’re being too harsh…

Whilst Micah silently reproached the blonde nun in her head, Gloria perked up once more. “Ah, but she said I could sing as much as I wanted outside of prayer as long as I didn’t bother anyone else and did my chores. Miss Henrietta’s so nice!”

Well, that’s about as nice as it gets with her, I suppose.

Still, Gloria’s smile was genuine, and almost too pure as she walked along. In fact, Micah noticed a slight bit of strain to her face as she hefted the bags of groceries.

“Ah, let me carry the bags from now on.”

“N-No, I got it!” Her reply was immediate, but Micah could clearly see some sweat forming on her face.

“Gloria, I know you said you wanted to carry the bags all the way back to the church, but you look like you’re gonna collapse soon and we’re not even halfway there yet,” Micah said, trying to reason with her.

“I… I’m fine though~...”

The pout on her face was cute, but Micah still wouldn’t let the girl strain herself needlessly. She activated [God’s Blessing] and reached over to take the bags. “Here.”

Gloria resisted somewhat, but ultimately relented and handed over the groceries. With her scarf’s Ability activated, the weight of the bags were like feathers to her, and she continued walking without issue. Sure it was a slight waste of mana, but getting her friend back to the church as soon as possible so that she could figure out what was going on with the Heroes was more important.

…??

But it was then that Micah suddenly heard a strange sound with her enhanced hearing. Amidst the sounds of Halloway’s streets, a distinct pair of footsteps were moving in their same direction; slower, at a distance, and seemingly in short bursts of movement.

...You’re kidding me.

“Geez, look at her go. Those bags look about twice her size, but she’s carrying them like they weigh less than half.”

“Enough with the commentary. If you’re going to approach them, you better do it fast or else they’ll reach the church.”

“But the plan was to wait until it looked like they needed the help. I thought I saw the chance when the Gloria girl was straining, but that Micah girl took them from her.”

I-I can hear you guys loud and clear you know...

But honestly, this was a problem. Why were the two of them being tailed all of a sudden, and by a pair of Heroes nonetheless? No matter how she thought about it, it couldn’t be for a good reason.

I mean, just what’s so remarkable about two little girls that someone would take enough interest to stalk us?

…

…

…OH NO. (やばい)

“Gloria,” Micah suddenly turned to her friend, still smiling innocently at her side. “Run away, quickly!”

“Eh?”

“Uh, we’re, uh…” Her mind scrambled for an appropriate excuse. “W-We’re playing a game! Right now!”

“EHH?! But what about the groceries?!”

“The uh, the winner of the game gets to carry the groceries back to the church. Okay?”

“Um… Okay!”

Thank Nor she’s this simple…

Micah let out a sigh of relief, but she knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet. “So here’s the rules of the game. Whoever holds the groceries is ‘it’ and has to run away to the church as fast as possible. The other person has to chase the one who’s ‘it’ and touch them on the shoulder. Once they do, the one who is currently ‘it’ will hand over the bags and the title of ‘it’ to the other person, and then the chase resumes. Okay?”

“Uh… um… C-Can you explain it again?”

The sudden crunch of boots alerted Micah to the fact that they were being approached, and her shoulders hitched. “N-No I won’t say it again! Basically, we’re just playing tag!” She quickly handed the bags over to Gloria and shoved her from behind. “And you’re ‘it’ now, so run away to the church fast!”

“E-Eh-, ah-, o-okay!” Flustered, Gloria complied with Micah’s order and began awkwardly running away. After a few seconds, she glanced over her shoulder worriedly. “B-But isn’t Micah really fast?! I’ll be caught for sure!”

“That’s why you should take different routes and use the crowds to lose me!” Micah called after her as she started a slow jog of pursuit. With [God’s Blessing] activated, it was the best she could do to not immediately catch up with the younger girl.

“Kya-haha~! Nooo, don’t chase mee~!” Soon Gloria’s panicked noises turned into squeals of joy as Micah pursued her through the town. She followed Micah’s advice and headed for areas filled with more people, navigating the crowds and using alternate roads. As she did so, Micah made sure to hang back, providing a constant target for the two Heroes to focus on while Gloria steadily got away.

With this, she should be able to make it back to the church with no issues. The only thing left is to escape…

With Gloria out of sight, Micah increased her speed, navigating the crowd with heightened awareness thanks to her enhanced senses. As she did so, she ran through possible destinations in her head.

Should I run to the guard house? After ten years, I was able to establish a pretty good relationship with many of the guards, so they’ll probably help me if I explain my circumstances to them.

...But will they go against Heroes for my sake? If it turned into a fight, they’d surely lose. On that note, I wonder what the protocol is for when a Hero acts violently in a town that can’t defeat them. Do they perhaps call another Hero? Even if it took a long time for them to come, they wouldn’t really have much choice with the limited travel technology of this world.

Anyway, I don’t want things to turn into a fight if possible. So maybe a place that seems less threatening would be better.

In that case, how about Henrietta’s workplace? She should be in the middle of her shift right about now, and I’m well known among her coworkers. They’d protect me for sure, and the situation would be less likely to turn into a fight since none of the girls there have formal training.

...Well, they’d probably get violent anyway if the Heroes are too insistent. And Henrietta’s not one to be messed with as one who regularly fights off perverts. Maybe I shouldn’t get them involved either.

But what does that leave me with? Altheon and Barnabel would hide me if I told them to, but they’re out of town for the next few weeks for a meeting with a foreign noble. What should I do…

As Micah fell deeper into thought, she suddenly became aware of the fact that she could no longer hear the footsteps of her pursuers. Looking back at the lip of the alleyway she’d been passing though, she could barely see anyone walking along the road actually. It seemed that, unconsciously, she’d gone to a more secluded part of town near the outskirts.

She didn’t know if it was better or worse that there were fewer potential witnesses around, but it was definitely dangerous for her to be here, since the Church of Nor was also located on the outskirts of Halloway.

Straining her ears, she listened intently for any sign that either of the two Heroes were nearby, but heard nothing.

...I guess they gave up? I wasn’t really paying attention to how fast I was moving. In that case, I should head home. If Gloria made it back already, the others will start to get worried for me.

Like that, Micah headed back towards the church while being wary of her surroundings. But all the way until she made it up the steps to the church and opened the front door there were no incidents.

That is, until she peeked inside.

“Ah, there she is.”

The voice did not belong to any of the nuns, nor any of the new recruits they’d picked up. And yet it was immediately familiar. It belonged to one of the two Heroes, the guy specifically, that she’d heard whispering while stalking her and Gloria just before.

And as she stepped into the chapel, her fears were confirmed. With a relaxed posture, he was sitting on one of the church benches along with Bernadetta and the other Hero—the woman she’d bumped into at the market, while the other nuns went about their chores in the background.

Looking to the side, she noticed that the kitchen door was open, and Gloria was working with some of the nuns to ferry the things they’d bought into the kitchen. When the two made eye contact, Gloria showed her a bright smile and waved.

Micah awkwardly raised her hand to wave back before Gloria disappeared back into the kitchen, then headed for where the group of three were while deactivating [God’s Blessing].

“Mom, what’s going on?” she asked Bernadetta as she got close. The woman spared her a glance, and Micah once again noticed a strange faraway look in her gaze. For a moment, it felt like Bernadetta was looking at her like one might regard a stranger that had just approached them, but it was gone just as quickly as it appeared.

“These… Heroes arrived here with Gloria after helping her carry the groceries. They were curious about the church, so I was just answering their questions.”

E-Eh?! You mean that they not only got past me somehow, but even caught up to Gloria?! Scary! Heroes are definitely not to be underestimated!

Micah had a face like she just received a huge shock as the man started to speak.

“I’m Leo. This here’s my partner Mariel.”

“Hello.” Mariel placed both hands in her lap and bowed respectfully, while Leo just carried a charming smile while he leaned back on the bench.

With the way the conversation was going, Micah felt it was probably best to speak as well, and returned Mariel’s bow. “Ah, I’m Micah. Bernadetta is my mother. Pleased to meet you.”

“Actually, we were just talking about you before you arrived,” Leo continued. “Well, things kind of went silent right as you walked up, but before I offered to go and find you since we figured you might have gotten lost during your little game with Gloria.”

“Oh… is that so?” Micah answered neutrally.

She found his explanation extremely suspicious. After all, they would have definitely seen her and Gloria run away suddenly while approaching, so they should know that the real reason why they fled was to escape the two of them.

So in order to hide his failed assault attempt, this Leo guy is putting on airs. What a scumbag.

Micah ran over the possible consequences of exposing Leo’s true intentions, but found that it would be rather difficult to explain how she heard their whispering and how she was able to escape them. In the end it would be nothing more than an accusation with little-to-no evidence to back it up, and she’d be looked at strangely as the two of them denied the claims under the pretense of a misunderstanding on Micah’s part.

In the end, she decided to keep quiet for the time being. She didn’t know what the two of them were planning, and she wasn’t confident that she could take them in a fight or even escape them in the worst case scenario, so a knot of anxiety began to form in her stomach against her will.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something,” Leo continued, and the knot tightened. “I heard you were attacked by a robber some years back. Is that true?”

Micah blinked in confusion at the man’s strange question. A robber? When had she ever been attacked by a-

...Ah. That’s right. When I fought Mr. Stronoff that time, Brunhilde explained it away as an attack from a robber. The nuns reported it to the guards, and that’s what the official story became. But how did they hear about something that happened so long ago?

Her gaze found Bernadetta in that moment, but the nun looked just as surprised as her to hear Leo’s question.

She decided to answer neutrally. “Uh… Yes, I was. It happened when I was really young, so I can’t really remember it clearly.”

“Ah, that makes sense. My condolences.” For whatever it was worth, Leo did have something of a sympathetic expression as he nodded gently along with her words. It didn’t mean Micah trusted him any more for it though. “The reason I ask is because Mariel and I are looking for someone. A… companion of ours.”

“A companion?”

“Yeah, our old friend to be exact. When you were attacked, do you remember who it was that rescued you?”

“...”

Micah didn’t respond. She couldn’t respond.

Because she’d finally figured out what was going on.

Is that it? They heard about the anonymous individual protecting the Church of Nor and are trying to bring them in?

Obviously Micah was no old friend of these two, so Leo’s words were clearly a bold-faced lie told with a completely straight face. But if they were truly looking for the anonymous individual known to some by the nickname “Nor’s Angel”, then why lie about their relationship? Well, if their intentions were to arrest the Angel, then obviously the nuns who are being helped by them would not want to give them up.

But the Angel is a criminal who committed murder, so it makes sense that Heroes would want to find them if they hear about such a thing. Well, that criminal is me in the end. In other words, I should definitely consider these two my enemies. If they discover that I’m the Angel, my identity will be exposed for sure.

With that in mind, her next step was clear. She needed to get these two out of town as soon as possible. “No, that kind of thing… Like I said, I don’t really remember much. I’m sorry.”

“Hey now, don’t sweat it. I should be the one apologizing for making you remember something bad like that.” Leo turned to glance at Mariel, who nodded once, then suddenly spoke again. “Well, it was worth a try. We need to be heading out soon, so I guess we’ll have to give up for now. There is one more thing though, if you don’t mind.”

She minded very much actually, but kept it to herself. “Sure, I don’t mind. What is it-”

“You’re a mage, aren’t you.”

“E-Eh? How did you kno-?!”

Micah flinched as Leo’s eyes narrowed until they resembled a fox’s. Her own eyes widened in the next moment as she realized her mistake.

No, it was a bluff…!

Micah’s heart rate went into overdrive as Leo suddenly stood up and walked past her. “Sorry, I was just curious. We’ll be going now, right Mariel?”

“...That’s right.” Mariel, who’d been silent since her greeting, stood as well to follow her partner.

Leo waited for her to catch up, then put a hand to his hip as he glanced back towards Micah with a slight smirk. “Actually, do you think we could get an escort to the town gates? Since we’re this far away, the two of us are likely to get lost if we go on our own. You know, first time here and everything.”

Micah wanted to reject the idea with every fiber of her being, but quickly realized that his question was aimed at Bernadetta and not her. Bernadetta herself still looked extremely confused at the strange turn of events, but nodded anyway. “Y-Yes, I suppose that would be fine. Micah, would you…?”

No no no, I would very much not!

But unfortunately she could not run from this situation. They knew. Or at least it was quite likely that they knew, and that meant that she needed to confront them and see if they would be willing to keep her identity secret.

“Sure, I’ll go.” Micah put on a false smile to let her mother know everything was alright, then turned to lead the way out of the church for the two Heroes, who shared another glance as they followed behind her.

-----

During the walk through town, Micah gained another level in [God’s Blessing], putting her at Lv. 18. It made her happy to see such progress in her Ability, but it also served as a reminder of the danger she was in just by being near these two Heroes. Without having to look behind her, she could feel their gazes on her as she led them.

No one had said a word since leaving the church. She simply walked and they simply followed. Micah decided to use that fact to get them alone, and headed for the same secluded alleyway from before.

Luckily, the entire street was just as barren as before, but just in case Micah activated [God’s Blessing] and scanned her surroundings, finding no one in the immediate vicinity that could potentially interfere.

With one last sigh, she turned around to face the two, who looked at her expectantly. “What do you intend to do?” she asked, not bothering to beat around the bush about it.

Leo seemed unwilling to abandon the charade though, and replied coyly. “Oh? Intend to do about what? You can’t just suddenly introduce a topic with context, you know-, ow!” He flinched as Mariel punched him on the shoulder, then stepped forward to address Micah.

“So, you know we know? That you’re the ‘Nor’s Angel’.”

“More or less. I don’t know exactly how or when you figured it out, but the end result is more important.”

“Huh. You’re surprisingly calm for someone who killed in cold blood,” Leo answered, suddenly taking on a more serious disposition. “And considering that incident apparently happened eight years ago, it’s frightening to think you even knew what killing was back then.”

“You’ve probably guessed it already, but I’m not a normal child. That’s why I’ll ask you once to keep it a secret. Despite what I’ve done in the past, I’m actually the type who prefers to end things peacefully.”

Mariel looked at her warily, and Micah could see one hand going for her baton. “...And if we refuse?”

“Then I’m sorry, but I’ll have to kill you both. It’s still too early for me to leave this town, so I can’t afford to have my identity exposed after all of this time. Not to mention that I can’t complete my goals if I’m in prison.”

“And just what are your ‘goals’ anyway?” Leo asked as he stepped forward.

Micah weighed the idea of telling the two about her quest to find Yuu, but immediately rejected it. Even if she omitted things like being from another world, it was highly unlikely that they would pardon her crimes for any reason. Not to mention that her goal of searching for Yuu had nothing to do with the murder of Miriam anyway; and even if she were to lie, she’d already admitted to killing her in the first place so she’d still be brought in for questioning at the very least.

No matter how she thought about it, a fight was unavoidable at this point. “I have no reason to tell you that. Rather, should I accept that as your refusal?”

The two of them shared a glance, then simultaneously drew their weapons. “Sorry, but as Heroes we can’t just ignore a criminal right in front of us,” Mariel said. “But if you come quietly, we won’t have to hurt y-”

“Shouldn’t you already know it’s too late for that?”

The two Heroes’ eyes shot open as Micah’s scarf ends suddenly raced forward, rushing at them with surprising speed. Micah watched as the two flipped and hopped backwards to evade each attack, then ran across each others’ paths into a sprint in her direction.

Leo raised the dual sabers in his hands and pushed ahead while Mariel extended the collapsed baton and remained on his flank.

As I thought, the offensive power really has gotten better.

Just then, Micah used her scarf ends in a stabbing motion, and was surprised to see them penetrate the ground a little with each attack. It seemed that, with the recent increases in levels, [God’s Blessing] had reached a stage where the scarf ends could act similarly to blades.

Even so, that doesn’t mean they can stand up to a real sword just yet. It doesn’t look like they penetrated more than a few centimeters into the dirt, so I should keep to using them for support tactics instead.

“Be careful, the mana in the scarf is somehow reacting with the mana in her body,” she heard Mariel say. “It seems like her physical abilities have increased, and she should be able to use magic as well.”

“Tsk. What a troublesome Ability. It looks just like [Telekinesis], but it’s actually more complicated than that,” Leo responded in kind.

Eh? Wait, how did she know all of that? Just from looking at me?

But she didn’t have time to really think about it, as Leo suddenly swiped his swords through the air. Amazingly, the blades extended like whips and pierced the ground in front of him, then came bursting out of the walls. Like that, they continued moving like snakes through the walls and ground on their way to her.

If it wasn’t for [God’s Blessing] increasing her reaction time, Micah would have had no way of dodging the first stab that came piercing through the wall directly to her right. But even as she ducked and flipped back to evade it, the attacks kept coming from unpredictable directions. It took most of her attention just to keep herself from being hit, and so she couldn’t retaliate even as Leo suddenly leapt into the air and brought his leg down in an axe kick above her head.

But her body was also physically stronger too, so she merely put up her arms to block the kick. Leo looked surprised at her strength, but recovered quickly and started slashing at her with his swords that had retracted back to normal length.

At first it was easy to dodge the strikes, but soon his speed increased as if to match hers, and soon Micah saw absolutely no opportunities to retaliate. Without much effort on his part, he was keeping her purely on the defensive.

It was at that moment that her senses reacted to another threat from the side. Her head turned to see Mariel pointing her baton in her direction, and a large ball of water floating in front of it.

Ah, it must be ‘that’ right? [Water Ball].

Through her continued training and studying of magic over the years, Micah learned more about how magic spells were classified in Magi. There were three basic ranks of spells: elementary, intermediate, and advanced, and the classification of each spell is decided based upon factors such as its difficulty in casting, preparation time, effectiveness, etc.

[Water Ball] is an elementary-to-intermediate ranked water spell; which basically meant that its overall rank was somewhere between the two. While making a small ball of water was actually rather simple and would easily put it in the elementary rank, it took a decent amount of precision and control to maintain the ball’s shape and keep it stable. And when it came to creating bigger balls or weaponizing them against enemies, that was when the spell reached into the intermediate rank.

The ball Mariel constructed looked to be closer to intermediate-to-advanced rank, as it was easily over half of Micah’s size. Seeing the stern look of concentration on the woman’s face, Micah finally understood that Mariel was a mage, and that her baton wasn’t a weapon to fight with, but worked more like a conduit for her magic. In other words, a wand.

So it’s like that. He’s the Tank, while she supports him with attack spells and probably healing magic too. I guess that would make them both the DPS? Probably whomever’s in a better position to attack at any given moment.

With a wave of her baton, the water ball shot at Micah in a blur, and with Leo keeping her in place there was no hope of dodging that sort of thing. So instead, she turned her whole body to face the projectile while using her scarf ends to defend against Leo’s attacks. While measuring the distance and speed, she brought her fist down and smashed her knuckles into the ball with perfect timing, destroying it with only minimal damage to her hand.

…

…

...No, it really hurt. It felt like she’d just punched a boulder traveling at the speed of a car. It was only thanks to her increased durability that her hand didn’t break, probably.

But as expected, fighting two on one was too much to expect for someone who’d only been in a single serious fight since being born in this world—and a fight where she got her ass kicked at that. Just as the water finished splashing to the ground, Micah became aware of the fact that Leo had stepped around the guard of her scarf ends and turned just in time to see his fist wrapped around the hilt of one of his swords filling her view.

When Sawatari Mikasa was ten years old, she received her first cell phone.

When Micah Stronoff was ten years old, she received a punch to the face.

“Aagh!” Micah cried as she gripped her nose with both hands. The force of the punch had sent her stumbling away from her attackers, and it was only through her enhanced reflexes gained from having [God’s Blessing] activated that she was able to dodge the subsequent sword strikes sent her way.

“Oh, still got some spunk, do we? You’re not half bad, kid,” Leo said with a playful grin. He swished his dual sabers through the air, taunting her. “But from what I’m seeing so far, you’re still not good enough to beat us.”

“Stop playing around and take her down already. She might escape if we draw this out,” came Mariel as she approached his flank. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as her other hand tightened its grip on her baton.

As the pain in her own nose began to subside ever so slightly, Micah forced herself to ignore the bleeding and instead focused on the two in front of her. “Hmph, like I’d run. I’m not going anywhere until I’ve killed both of you.”

“Oho~ It’s kind of scary hearing that from a cute kid like you. Well we’re not going anywhere pipsqueak, so give it your best shot.”

Micah crouched down and tensed her leg muscles in preparation to rush the two with everything she had. From the looks of things, Mariel had determined that she wasn’t a threat that needed to be dealt with using their full power and moved up to cover Leo directly, so it was likely that their intent was to crush her with relentless attacks until she was too tired to resist being captured.

While that wouldn’t be an issue for normal opponents, these Heroes were no joke. Their goal was to capture her, so it was natural for them to hold back a little with their attacks. But even though she’d been fighting with the intent to kill, Micah couldn’t land a single hit on them and was even forced to exert herself on the defensive just to keep up.

All in all, it was a mismatch. Micah wasn’t entirely out of their league, but their experience and skills were beyond hers. Adding onto that the fact that they outnumbered her, and it was most certainly smarter to run away in this situation.

But these two wouldn’t simply let her go, and would likely alert the town guard and her own family about her crimes in order to ensure that she couldn’t live peacefully in this town anymore. That is, if they didn’t simply catch up and beat her to a pulp while she tried to flee.

In other words, her only choices were to persuade them (which failed), or kill them with all of her power.

Luckily for her, that “power” was still pretty impressive in its own right:

[Otherworldly Scarf]
[A scarf brought over from another world. Grants the wearer unique powers.]

[Ability - God’s Blessing Lv. 18]
[An Ability imbued into the scarf by [God]. The scarf grows through experience and the more it is used. After a set amount of experience is gained, this ability will level up.]
[Leveling up will increase its potential and capabilities.]
[Every ten levels, the wearer can select a new Ability.]

{Default Abilities}
[The wearer’s physical capabilities, reflexes, and senses are enhanced. These traits will increase further as [God’s Blessing] levels up.]
[The scarf acts as a translator, allowing the wearer to understand foreign languages, both verbally and visually.]

{Added Abilities}
[The scarf can be manipulated according to the wearer’s will. Its potential length, as well as its offensive and defensive power, will increase as [God’s Blessing] levels up.]
[The wearer can draw from a mana pool contained within the scarf. The size of the pool will increase as [God’s Blessing] levels up.]
[Unlocked at Lv. 20]
[Unlocked at Lv. 30]
[Unlocked at Lv. 40]
[Unlocked at Lv. 50]

Due to the increase in levels in the three years since the Ability’s creation, the mana pool inside of the scarf had grown a significant amount. It was to the point where Micah knew she could fire off a few elementary-ranked magic spells or around 1-2 elementary-to-intermediate ranked spells before getting tired. In other words, she would need to end this with only that much.

First, she held both hands up, palms forward, and did just as she’d practiced numerous times.

Imagine your mana moving like the wind, focus that feeling into your hands… and then-!

“Watch out!” Mariel barely had time to shout before a huge blast of wind barreled down the alleyway. Leo quickly smothered her with his body right as the blast collided with them, sending dirt and dust flying in all directions.

It was the wind spell [Gust], amplified to elementary-to-intermediate rank.

By the time the two Heroes had recovered from the blast, Micah had vanished. Again, it was Mariel who’d sensed her and looked up to see the girl falling in their direction, but she couldn’t even get a word out before Micah’s scarf ends pressed into Leo’s shoulders, forcing him down against the ground. Mariel’s surprise gave Micah the opportunity she needed, and her foot met the woman’s temple in a mid-air roundhouse kick.

Micah twirled, and the scarf ends swung around to smash against Mariel’s side and force her against the wall with enough force to create a small crater in it. Before she could even take a step to follow up, however, Leo had gotten an arm around her and she suddenly found herself in a sleeper hold.

But Mariel had dropped her baton from the recent attack, and Micah scooped it up with a scarf end and angled it towards herself. With no hesitation, she thrust it over her shoulder and heard Leo scream as he released her. Without missing a beat, she rolled forward while preparing another spell.

Just as Mariel had recovered from being slammed into the wall, Micah threw her hand out and a path of rocks appeared around her, trapping her entire midsection against it.

It was the basic earth spell [Harden].

Good. That’s one down.

Micah huffed out a few breaths as her body suddenly experienced a strong fatigue. Casting [Gust] like she did had taken nearly all of the mana in her scarf in one go, and the subsequent [Harden] had used up the rest of it, plus a little of her body’s natural mana to cast. Within only a few moments, she’d already pushed herself to the limit and was nearing the point of Mana Depletion.

With [God’s Blessing] activated, I probably have less than a minute before I collapse. I need to end this now!

She turned back towards Leo to see him rip the baton out of his shoulder, then look at her with a hateful gaze. Gripping both swords tightly, he rushed at her.

Micah smiled, and sent her scarf ends out to meet his attack. But at the last moment they dove down and pushed his legs out from under him. Leo’s eyes widened just before his chin crashed into the ground similarly to how Miriam’s had so long ago, and Micah used the opportunity to leap onto his back and straddle him from behind.

She held his shoulders down with her hands while using the rest of her body to keep him still with enhanced strength. Though he tried to resist, Micah managed to hold him successfully.

But I can’t keep this up for long. Even if my mana wasn’t depleting rapidly, it’s taking all of my strength to hold him down. Have to kill him…!

Her scarf ends whipped forward, wrapping around his throat from behind and squeezing hard to strangle him. Leo choked out a few gurgled cries, but couldn’t resist as his circulation was cut off.

Micah shut her eyes and squeezed the scarf ends even harder, hoping to crush his trachea and end it quickly. But just as she felt something start to give-

*Psssheeewww!!!*

“Eh-” Her eyes shot back open, and she looked forward to see a brilliant light rising into the sky, then watched as it burst into flames and fizzled out as it spread.

A... firework…?

Her gaze then lowered to Mariel, who’d managed to get an arm free from the earth restraints. That same arm was currently raised up, evidently having fired off some kind of fire spell that produced a loud noise and bright light.

No, it’s a signal flare! She’s calling for help!

But even with that realization, it was too late. The momentary distraction had allowed Leo to rise up, throwing Micah off of him. She tried to roll with the fall and quickly recover, but Leo’s foot met her stomach immediately, sending a shock through her body as she was sent flying right out of the alleyway and into the street.

Mana… Depletion… No…

As her body began to lose all of its strength, the last thing Micah registered in her fading vision was the appearance of several guards that spotted her and rushed to her in a panic.

Then everything went black.