"Easy," Lily sighed, dusting off her palms after the hard work she didn't do.
Not that Welf could've put them to sleep without her.
The mercs did the heavy lifting, to be honest, bless their greedy hearts.
Once she begged them to leave the food, they would stuff their faces with it until passing out.
Especially the sorcerers, appearing to be at the top of their food chain of these idiots.
None of the complications she had foreseen happened.
The mercenaries found nobody. Things turned out great—almost too well.
Which wouldn't give her a rest.
The future was always in motion, and that rarely helped with her plans. The more she prepared, the further things went off the rails. When everything was perfect—
"How?" Stella's muttering jolted her.
"How what, nya?" she asked, tucking her anxiety away.
Though the smirk she flashed didn't reach her eyes, she must've been adorable. She had thousands of years of experience and enough confidence for an entire crowd.
"Y-you knocked out an army," the tomboy pointed out the obvious.
"Yeah, kinda." She beamed, her cat ears twitching.
"A-are they dead?"
"Nah." Lily nudged a sellsword, who let out a sharp breath but didn't wake. "Asleep, see?"
"What about those?" Stella pointed at some lower-rank footmen. "You bashed their heads in."
"Only a little." The demoness pouted. "And even healed them. Their fault for not taking meow poison. You worried 'bout your Church buddies?"
"I'm not—they aren't—"
The protest stuck in her throat as Welf and Eyna appeared from the treeline.
Lily noticed them a while ago, but didn't expect Stella to recognize them.
She dared to forget about her demonic highness, and that made her mad.
"Liliske, for the spirits' sake," the blacksmith groaned.
"What? Meow's instructions were crystal clear," Lily greeted him. "Good job, by the way."
"I'm not talking about that," the redhead shot back, keeping his voice low. "You little—"
"We worried about you," Eyna took over, "and planned a counterattack to free you."
"Aww, cute," Lily snorted. "I'm the one freeing people, but I appreciate the sentiment. I only led them here, and bought you time to—where were you, anyway? I thought they'd find you."
"Remember the safe places we discussed earlier?" Welf rolled his eyes.
If there was such a discussion, and she was there, she must've slept through it. From the blacksmith's look, he thought so, too. She didn't even have to read his mind.
"What a mess," Eyna muttered, seeing the sleeping beauties. "And I almost canceled the feast—"
"Wha—why?" Welf asked, his mind more fickle than usual.
"The meat was starting to smell, and—"
The girl froze, her gaze stumbling on Stella. The tall Church lady hid behind Lily until that point, but now that they saw her, Welf's mood changed once again. He unsheathed his blade.
"You," the blacksmith yelled, then slapped his own mouth.
Not that the mercenaries would wake up to that—her poison was much stronger.
"Chill, she's done with his Inquisitor lover," Lily smirked. Stella's reaction was priceless, paling and blushing at the same time. The voices in her head must have been going crazy.
The demoness resisted the urge to listen in on them.
"She tortured your lover, though," Welf pointed out, pressing the word 'your' hard.
"Oh, I'd smack her for that, too, but that'd piss off the spirits. I can't hurt their new chosen one."
Her claim shocked everyone—who wasn't snoring—as expected.
"C-chosen? Me?!" Stella stuttered. "B-but I—the Church—"
"You left them, didn't you? Because of the voices," Lily said with a grin. "Or what did you think those were? I'm not saying that you're not crazy, but you aren't THAT crazy."
"She's a shaman?" Eyna's eyes widened, too. "Nimrod—no, Konrad's not going to believe it."
"Right, nya?" The demoness chuchked. "I can't wait to see him drop his jaw."
But now that she thought about him—what did she forget about?
***
Konrad's mouth hung open, watching the enormous yellow eyes behind the dark fissure.
All he said was that he didn't know earth magic. The dragon—ness? Dragon girl?—taught him everything with telepathy in an instant.
Runes, complete spells, with perfect syntax.
A magic type that he had never even tried before, but he understood everything right off the bat. All he had to do was to pour mana into the symbols.
It would've taken him a week to learn or practice something like this.
Not that he had anything to learn from. Lily knew a lot, but couldn't teach him actual spells.
This dragon—her warmth engulfing him—was foreign but nice.
'See? I'm a good, useful girl. I can teach you so much more. So please, do the spell.'
He had more than enough mana to cast it for sure, but he couldn't trust a stranger.
Heck, he didn't even trust the love of his—both—lives.
But then, if the dragon couldn't break out on her own, what danger would she be to him? He'd have plenty of mana left, not to mention the backup in his adamantite sword to deal with her.
'Oh, so you have an adamantite sword? And your armor is the same—impressive, adventurer.'
Shit. He had to stop thinking about stuff when he faced creatures with mind-reading powers. But, well, everyone around him these days was reading him like an open book.
The laughter inside his head was sweet, but also mocking him.
'Sorry, it's a bad habit—but I've been on the same leash for a hundred years. You know, most things alive down here couldn't speak, so I had to read their minds all the time.'
"A hundred years?!" Konrad yelled, drawing the captain's attention.
And another giggle.
'But your thoughts are by far the most interesting, adventurer. Better than worms, or even those goblins, for sure. I promise, once you set me free and I get my voice back, I'll stop.'
"What are you doing?" Vargas asked, hands shaking as the huge yellow eyes landed on him.
"She wants to get out," he explained, summoning the runes she taught him.
"You're not trying to help an ancient being, are you, kid?" The captain grabbed his shoulders.
'Ancient?! I'm only three hundred years young. Assuming I've only been here for a century.'
The voice was angry, but still soft in Konrad's head.
By the looks of it, Vargas wasn't that lucky, clutching his temple with both hands and falling to his knees. For someone who couldn't free herself or cast spells, she seemed rather powerful.
'Oh, I am—but he sealed my powers on this plane. In the astral world, though? I'm free.'
The astral plane was where thoughts and emotions lived.
It meant she could even take over their minds—which she already did, more or less.
Were the goblins in a trance she had induced, too?
'Yes, you caught me, but they were monsters, right? I wouldn't do the same to you, even if I could. And didn't want to hurt that old man—I'll be more gentle, I promise.'
This dragon wasn't only crimson, but she came with all kinds of red flags.
She'd beg so he would let her out, and not to hurt her, but seemed rather powerful herself.
Konrad had many questions—but the most important was, "Who even sealed you in here?"
'Ah, a trickster mage did, about a hundred years ago. You might've heard of him from your history books. Hmm, it has been some time—but he went by the name of the Green Mage.'