After losing the point, Diego immediately dove under the table, leaving only a dinosaur tail still resting on the tabletop.
"I'm not playing anymore. You guys cheated."
Sui caught the hidden meaning in Diego's words. In her impression, Diego was not the type to be a sore loser who liked to talk tough.
"Cheated? What's going on?"
Sui slowly turned to look at Mabel, her gaze unfriendly.
Mabel, who had been covering her mouth and snickering, instantly froze.
"Ma~bel~?" Sui directly reached out and pinched Mabel's nose, deliberately drawing out her words. "Be honest. What did you do?"
Mabel hurriedly raised both hands in front of her chest and surrendered on the spot. "Nooo————! I didn't do anything~~!"
Poke poke...
A small hand poked Sui from behind.
Sui turned around. Frieren was standing behind her, picking up the fallen tie from the floor and handing it to her.
"Elga, your robe tie."
Although Frieren didn't say anything, it felt like she had said everything.
The tie?
And it was mine?
Then during the game just now, didn't that mean...
Sui's movements clearly paused for a moment.
A blush spread across her cheeks. She used both hands to pull her robe closed and spoke haltingly. "Wait, let me tie the sash first..."
Mabel!!!
You super invincible big idiot!!!
"So scary————"
Under the pressure of Sui's terrifying gaze, Mabel's hands involuntarily rose higher. She tightly covered her mouth and copied Diego by trying to crawl under the table.
"You too!" Seeing this, Sui changed her tone and pointed at the tail Diego had left exposed. "Since you noticed, then say it properly!"
"..."
Diego: I don't even want to acknowledge you.
Did he really have to say in front of so many people that he lost because he couldn't suppress his "gun"?!
Diego had no desire to pick up that thread of conversation. Once his XP was discovered, that guy Sui would definitely find some way to use it against him.
So he came up with a good plan.
Memory Spirit, activate!
"Dio-oniichan, can you come over for a second?"
Jolyne's voice came from outside the room. Diego immediately responded loudly, "Oh——! Coming right away!"
Time to make my escape!
With a click, the room door was shut.
"That idiot Dio..." Sui raised her hand and carefully examined the ring on the ring finger of her left hand. The corners of her lips curved slightly upward as she murmured, "In another world he actually became this popular. It really makes me miss the time when he could only rely on us a little..."
The ring...
Frieren tilted her head, somewhat puzzled. "Do you all always wear it? The ring."
"Hmm? What else would we do?"
Sui nodded matter-of-factly.
"Because it's very precious, I always keep it in my suitcase."
Frieren explained, then brought over her small suitcase and began rummaging through it.
"Let me see..."
She started pulling out various "treasures."
Things like potions that could dissolve clothes, legendary magic bought from a mysterious old grandma, junk picked up in labyrinths and red mirror dragon nests, and so on.
"Ah, found it, found it!" Frieren proudly held up the ring. "See, I kept the ring very well. It wasn't stolen or robbed, and it didn't get damaged in battle either!"
Sui suddenly understood. "Aah... So that's what you were worried about. It's completely fine. When the time comes, just..."
She extended her hand. A rift tore open in the space behind her, glowing with light that connected to the Cosmic Stone Ring and sucked it inside.
"Equipping and unequipping equipment—this is the practical use of gap storage magic!"
"Ooh! I see."
Sui smiled and dragged Mabel out from under the table. She hooked her finger on the collar of Mabel's clothes and pulled downward. "Compared to Mabel, hiding the ring in your chest is more..."
Mabel frantically raised both hands, letting Sui do as she pleased. However, there was no ring in her impressive cleavage like Sui had expected.
"Huh?" The unexpected result made Sui's gaze waver for a moment. "It's not there?"
"...Where did you hide it?"
"Shhh~~" Mabel's eyes darted away. She pursed her lips and whistled, showing no intention of confessing.
Sui's gaze kept moving downward. She asked in disbelief, "You didn't hide it in..."
"No, Elga, what are you doing?!"
"Behave! Let me check!"
Sui directly began a full-body search on Mabel, who was lying on the floor.
"Yaaah~~!" Seeing that Sui was about to pull down her panties, Mabel could no longer endure it. She tightly grabbed Sui's hands and honestly confessed, "It's... It's inside the Freeze God Sword! I hid the ring inside the Freeze God Sword!"
Only then did Sui stop. She crawled over to the Freeze God Sword on all fours. The Cosmic Stone Ring was indeed sealed together with the blade inside a block of ice.
"…I see." Sui stared with dead fish eyes. "I'm impressed you could even put it in there…"
"B-Because the ice in my heart isn't something that melts so easily..." Mabel lay on the floor in disarray, replying with a trembling voice.
Alicia clasped her hands together and smiled gently. "That's right. You have to find the one in your heart before..."
Before she could finish speaking, the door was pushed open.
"Yo, what are you all doing? Jolyne said she left the cookies she made for ko no Dio here and asked me to come get them!"
Diego walked in with half-lidded eyes and a grin, only to witness the scene of Mabel putting her clothes back on while topless.
"Ah.."
"Mm..."
The two made eye contact. Seeing that it was Diego, Mabel continued putting on her clothes as if nothing had happened.
"Ah————?!" Sui heard Diego's voice and whipped her head around. She subconsciously grabbed the Freeze God Sword and accurately smashed it into Diego's nose. "What are you peeping at?! You perverted evil lower-body-thinking beastman!!"
Smack!
Diego covered his face and squatted down, pretending to be in pain.
"Eh, are you okay?" Sui stood up in a panic.
At this moment, Mabel finally finished putting on her clothes at a leisurely pace. She pressed down on her hair and swept it upward, defending Diego. "Ehh, you can't blame Dio. We were being too loud and didn't notice..."
"...?" Sui's movements stopped.
This was Mabel?
I don't care who you are—get out of Mabel right now!
Mabel closed one eye and chuckled in a mature tone. "Fufu, we're not children anymore~~ If Dio wants to look, there's no need for him to sneak around..."
Whoosh whoosh...
?!
Sui turned to look at the Freeze God Sword.
The Cosmic Stone Ring was shining with light. The ice sealing the Freeze God Sword instantly melted into water and began dripping down continuously.
"..." Sui's eyelids drooped. Black lines covered her forehead. The corners of her mouth curved into a helpless and disgusted arc.
She maintained this expression and turned to look at Mabel again.
Mabel still wore that nonchalant expression and asked in a relaxed tone, "Hmm? What? What's wrong, Elga..."
Sui crawled over and extended a finger toward Mabel's nose.
Poke!
"Buqi————!? Stop it————"
Crack!
Mabel broke character in one second. The Freeze God Sword was once again sealed in ice.
Today's victory or defeat: Alicia, sole winner!
(She really did hide the Cosmic Stone Ring in her chest)