4

“You dull-witted fool. You seem awfully composed for someone who has entered my domain.”

It truly happened in an instant.

Just as Lydia had moved from the bed to the wine cellar, it was a momentary event.

Lizelotte, who had been sitting leisurely in her chair, stood before Lydia in the next instant, closing her fan and drawing it back.

“!?”

Lizelotte struck Lydia’s cheek with the fan.

There was some response, but it was not a complete hit.

The instant Lydia felt the impact on her cheek, she had moved.

This time, Lydia moved onto the table, knocking over everything on it.

“…Fool.”

However, at the same time as Lydia moved, Lizelotte was already in front of Lydia, her fan drawn back.

“What the hell!?”

Lydia could not hide her surprise at Lizelotte’s movement, which followed her as if she had read where Lydia would go.

Lydia’s movement was instantaneous. In addition, Lydia herself decided where she would move.

And yet Lizelotte’s movement was the same as Lydia’s.

The same sorcery as hers? No, that cannot be. The sorcery that blocked the needle attack was not her sorcery.

Then what was it?

While wondering that, Lydia continued moving.

No matter how many times she leapt, Lizelotte followed her perfectly.

As Lydia leapt, she simultaneously threw several sharp-tipped needles around her.

In the next instant, they multiplied into countless needles and attacked Lizelotte from every direction.

However, Lizelotte crushed every one of them.

Lydia could never gain the initiative.

“Chasing a mouse around before crushing it underfoot is surprisingly amusing.”

With an expression full of sarcasm, Lizelotte continued grazing Lydia’s body with her fan.

“…Tch.”

“What is wrong? Where did that vigor from earlier go, when you were acting so proud after toying with weaklings?”

Their movements could not be followed by the eyes of those outside the battle.

“…Amazing.”

Watching the two from the edge of the room together with Mireine, Kirishiya naturally let the word slip out.

Just when Lizelotte and Lydia seemed to show themselves for an instant, they immediately disappeared and moved somewhere else.

Every movement happened in an instant.

They moved in flashes so brief that their movements could not be followed at all.

And yet the room remained quiet. From time to time, the sound of Lizelotte striking Lydia’s body with her fan could be heard, but there was nothing else.

If they were moving that quickly, the wind generated should have been considerable. However, nothing in the room was being violently disturbed.

The movement of the two was not ordinary speed as Kirishiya knew it.

“That too is sorcery…”

Sorcery different from Ains’s. Sorcery different from Darius’s. And it also felt somewhat different from the sorcery Lizelotte had shown before. That latter impression Kirishiya held was merely because Lizelotte was manifesting her sorcery in yet another direction.

However, that was a realm impossible for ordinary people who were not sorcerers to understand.

And whether one was an excellent swordsman or an excellent mage, the difference in power was so great that they could not hope to compete against it. That was what sorcerers were, and the abnormal situation before Kirishiya’s eyes was that two such sorcerers were clashing.

The two continued leaping around Lizelotte’s spacious room and attacking each other, but the situation showed no sign of changing. Lizelotte remained superior, and wounds continued appearing on Lydia’s body.

“Damn it, I see now. Apparently, my sorcery has bad compatibility against the witch’s sorcery. I’ve been forced onto the back foot this whole time, and before I knew it, I ended up like this. That stings.”

Lizelotte had not completely understood Lydia’s sorcery. She was simply clashing her own sorcery against the effects Lydia’s sorcery manifested.

Against Lydia, who moved as though teleporting under some kind of restriction, Lizelotte was doing two things.

Lizelotte’s sorcery interfered with the law known as time. In time with Lydia’s use of sorcery, she applied “Stagnation” to the entirety of Lizelotte’s room, including Lydia. And to Lizelotte herself, she applied “Acceleration” to her whole body, including her speed of thought and action.

By layering those two effects, Lizelotte was completely keeping up with Lydia’s movements.

However, to Lydia, who did not understand Lizelotte’s peculiar sorcery, it was simply eerie. Because of that, judging that things would go nowhere at this rate, Lydia took a different action.

While leaping, the needles Lydia threw were aimed not at Lizelotte, but at Kirishiya, who had been watching from the outside.

“Hmph, child.”

Until moments ago, Lizelotte had been following Lydia’s movements perfectly, but after confirming where the needles were headed, she chose to break away from Lydia.

“Eh!?”

Countless needles suddenly attacked right in front of Kirishiya. Overcome by fear, she closed her eyes once, but no impact came afterward.

When Kirishiya fearfully opened her eyes, Lizelotte stood elegantly before her with fan in hand. Around her lay the scattered remains of decayed needles.

“…Heh. The witch showed no attachment at all regarding the king’s head, yet she protects that princess with her own body?”

Lydia, who had finally managed to put some distance between them and catch her breath, leaned forward at the sight.

“Do not make such worthless assumptions.”

“No, it’s not an assumption. I feel like I’ve sort of seen the witch’s guiding principle, and also something like her weakness.”

Saying that, Lydia turned her eyes toward Kirishiya.

When Kirishiya hid behind Lizelotte in fear, Lydia shrugged and let out a smile.

“…A sorcerer like me has no weakness besides restrictions. Well, whatever you may think is none of my concern.”

Even after Lizelotte had easily blocked Lydia’s attack aimed at Kirishiya, she showed no sign of pursuing Lydia further.

Lydia let out a breath and dropped her combat stance.

Seeing that, Lizelotte let out a sigh at the state of the room, now dirtied by needle fragments and Mireine’s blood, and at the wine Lydia had opened without permission.

“Are you satisfied now? If you are, I would like you to leave at once…”

Through the previous battle, Lizelotte and Lydia had both understood the difference in ability between them. Lizelotte could have finished Lydia off here, but if Lydia was also a sorcerer, Lizelotte understood perfectly well that such an act would be meaningless.

“No, no. Greeting the witch was one of my two purposes. There is one more, and that other purpose connects to what you people were talking about earlier.”