Otherwise, you can find another savior.

Page 360

Like a hunter eyeing its prey, Bazett strode quickly toward Orange, who was catching up with Ryougi Shiki.

Noticing this, Shio-mi flashed and blocked her path.

“Shiomi…Mr.?” Bazett was also stunned.

That bewildered expression was similar to when Shiomi came to his door during the Fifth Holy Grail War.

"What, you received a mission from the Magic Association to capture my teacher, bring her back to the Magic Association, and have her sealed?" Shio asked with a hint of hostility.

Under normal circumstances, it would be incredibly easy for Orange to escape right under the nose of the designated executor of the seal.

However, this is now a singularity, which means that Orange has far fewer options to avoid sealing the designated executor.

"Don't be so nervous, Tianxi. I just heard from Shi that Miss Bazett is also one of the people invited to participate in the exorcism." Chengzi sat leisurely on the sofa and said to Xijian with a smile, "It's just that my seal is designated to be effective indefinitely, and an executor like her can decide whether to take action as soon as she sees her."

“That’s right. Please don’t make things difficult for me, Mr. Shiomi. Or do you want to make an enemy of the Mage Association?” Bazett said curtly.

"I won't stop you from doing it elsewhere, but not now," tide Jian reminded her again.

Bazett's brow twitched: "Then I'll have to be forceful—"

call out--

A gust of wind swept through the space beneath the wide corridor.

Bazett found his right shoulder being held down and his left wrist being tightly clamped.

It wasn't Shiomi, but Artoria and Scáthach who reacted almost simultaneously.

If a fight broke out here, even Shiomi would inevitably cause damage to the hotel, which is why they took action and subdued Bazett without suffering any losses.

Otherwise, the loss of the hot spring inn would be even greater for Shiomi and her companions.

"Do you understand, Miss Bazett? Even if you are strong as the designated executor of the seal, don't even think about bypassing me to attack Aozaki Touko here." Shiomi raised her finger and placed it on Bazett's forehead.

Bazett broke out in a cold sweat.

If Shio-mi were to use magic to pierce through her head at this moment, she wouldn't have time to react at all.

Even if the regeneration rune with the heart's filth engraved in advance is not hidden from the eyes of a magician who is equally proficient in runes.

After all, I was just traveling in Japan to do research, and I happened to hear about Kumano Onsen, so I thought I'd come here to do some odd jobs and earn some extra money.

Aozaki Touko's appearance at this hotel was quite unexpected for her.

“No wonder you seem more carefree than usual, Orange.” Ryougi Shiki chuckled knowingly.

Orange shrugged without a care, casually crossed her legs, and said to Bazett, "That's how it is. As you can see, Miss Enforcer, I have a bit more 'bodyguards' around me this time. If you want to exchange me for the bounty, maybe next time."

“…I understand.” Bazett slowly relaxed his body.

It wasn't an assigned task to begin with, so there's no reason for her to fight tooth and nail for it.

Artoria and Scáthach immediately let go, and Shiomi also withdrew her fingers that had been gathering magic.

Having regained his freedom, Bazett kept an eye on Aozaki Touko before turning around and sitting down on a nearby sofa.

Clearly, even if she gives up now, she will continue to keep an eye on the target designated by the seal.

As long as the boundaries aren't crossed and war breaks out, Shio chooses to turn a blind eye.

"I heard it was unusually lively here, so I came to check it out. It turns out that some unusual guests have appeared without my noticing, and some of them are even acquaintances of mine."

A slightly aloof and unsmiling voice rang out.

The air in the hall seemed to shift slightly with the sound of footsteps, taking on a strange and wonderful quality.

Although it was May and the weather in the mountains wasn't cold, the woman was dressed in a winter dress and felt hat. Beside her, a blue robin fluttered its wings and flew around, its magical aura suggesting that the robin was a familiar-like being.

Although it was the first time she had met this person, tide Jian felt as if she had heard of him somewhere before, and then she thought of the stories that Cheng Zi had told her.

"...Oh? So she's the legendary witch Misaki."

Before Shio could speak, Morgan walked over with his hands behind his back. He looked at the woman in winter clothes with interest and continued:

"The witches of this era are truly unique; it seems that everyone from top to bottom is emphasizing the fact that they are not ordinary people."

"Is it possible that you don't usually act like a witch?" tide Jian muttered under her breath.

Then, sure enough, Morgan twisted his lower back forcefully without making a sound, causing him to groan in pain.

Chapter Sixty-Four: The Witch's Test

As for what kind of behavior is more like that of a witch, Shiomi couldn't say.

He witnessed Morgan grow from an innocent little witch into a capable Queen of Winter; he also saw her disguise herself as the Great Witch of Pan-Human History in order to save him, and her slightly deliberate words and actions.

But no matter what, Morgan was never able to erase his kind and gentle nature.

Of course, as a great witch, Morgan had some interest in this contemporary witch in front of her, which is why she came over to take a look.

The appearance of the winter-clad witch caused the hotel owner to become slightly more obsequious.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry to have disturbed you, teacher. But I was just about to invite you over," the shopkeeper said, rubbing his hands. "The number of people participating in the exorcism has increased, and I was planning to send them to the Hell Hall to test their abilities."

In reality, there was no need for any probing.

The unpredictable speed and agility of Artoria and Scáthach alone demonstrate that "the helpers Shiomi invited" are no ordinary people.

So, all they're doing is trying to maintain a facade of respecting the rules.

"So you're the one in charge of all the exorcisms at this hotel, Kuonji Arisu?" Touko said the witch's name and glanced at her younger sister, who had a paper bag over her head and was standing near the front desk like a suspect.

When Qingzi and Youzhu greet each other is their private matter, and Chengzi will not interfere.

“That’s right. Although I don’t know which wind is blowing, even you came all the way from afar because of the smell…” Yuzhu responded indifferently to Orange’s question, “But these are all minor details. Since the boss has given permission, I don’t need to be picky. After all, magicians who are not good enough will naturally fail the exam.”

Morgan then turned to the boss and said, "Although it's supposed to be an exorcism, is it necessary for everyone to go? Putting aside my husband and the people he invited, I'm a little tired and want to take the children back to the room to rest first. If they fail, I will automatically lose my eligibility, and vice versa, how about that?"

"It all depends on the teacher." The boss's attitude was straightforward, entrusting the decision-making power to Kuonji Yuju.

However, before Yuzhu could speak, Shiomi started tugging at Morgan.

"Hey... this isn't a good idea, we all came together..." tide Jian asked, scratching her head.

“I think it’s quite suitable, after all, one introducer is enough.” Morgan casually straightened Shiomi’s clothes and naturally leaned close to his ear to whisper, “I’ll go to the room with Sakura and the others first. The whereabouts of ‘You and Me in 2001’ are unknown, and it’s necessary to investigate its belongings.”

tide Jian understood, slowly nodded in response, then gently pushed Morgan away and took her arm.

"That's right, you've worked hard too, and you've been gone for several days. The children must have been very worried. Let's take them back to their rooms and get some rest."

Morgan then turned around with a smile and greeted the children: "Sakura, Karen, Rin, shall we go back to our rooms to rest? Or would you like to stay outside a little longer?"

“Dad and these guests have some very important things to deal with next, right?” Sakura ran over and grabbed Morgan’s hand, asking this question.

"So it's not very convenient outside." Karen nodded in agreement.

"Where's Rin?" Morgan asked, taking the opportunity to confirm Rin's thoughts.

Rin looked away, slightly embarrassed. "To be honest, I wanted to look around outside a bit more, but Sakura's already gone back to her room, and it's not much fun being alone. I guess I'll pass, hehehe..."

“You don’t have to accommodate Sakura in everything.” Shiomi raised a finger. “You are you, and Sakura is Sakura. You just need to be responsible for your own choices.”

"Yes, yes, you always like to say things like that." Rin flicked her hair, looking like she was tired of hearing it, but she didn't refute it.

Morgan then took Karen and Sakura's hands, and Karen took Sakura's hand as they took the elevator in the new hotel building to their room on the seventh floor.

"Well then, since we're going to have to take this so-called test anyway, I'll just count the number of people first... Even though we've been walking all day, I'd like to rest first." Shiomi stretched and looked at the others who had gathered around her. "Master, Artoria, Skadi, Touko—"

Orange looked at Aoko, who had finally walked over, and said, "And then..."

"Ritsuka Shuse." Aoko, with a paper bag on her head, gave a stiff pseudonym.

"...Are you serious?" Orange was stunned, because she couldn't even laugh anymore because of the name Qingzi used.

"I can't say much more, that's all." Qingzi's tone was stiff, like someone who had lost the ability to speak.

Everyone knows this reaction is abstract, but no one complained.

The only reaction from the boss was, "So this is a psychic."

“Mr. Shiomi, you’ve brought an interesting companion,” said Yuzukuji. “I’ll conduct her test myself; the rest of you can go to Hell Hall.”

“…Hmm.” Aoko nodded silently, clearly understanding the hidden meaning in Yuzhu’s words.

Then Yu-joo turned to look at the young man who had been sitting in the hall, observing everything with a gentle expression but without saying a word.

He was a young man who looked to be in his late twenties and exuded an extremely ordinary air.

"Jingxi-kun, could you please come over here for a moment? I need your help," Yuzhu said again.

"Hmm..." This time, Aoko's voice sounded as if she was thinking.

Knowing that the three had a past, Orange took the initiative to pull Shiomi's hand and gestured, "Since Ao... Ritsuka needs to be handled by Miss Kuonji herself, let's leave her alone for now and go?"

“Okay.” tide Jian also felt it didn’t matter.

He just wanted to end the so-called test as soon as possible so they could stay at the hot spring hotel here.

But just as they set off for Hell's Hall, Scáthach suddenly and rather boldly hooked her arm around Shiomi's neck: "Why don't you explain it to me on the way, my beloved student?"

"explain?"

"I am clearly your master, so why did you call Orange 'teacher' just now?" Scáthach's tone was unusually unfriendly, as if Shiomi would suffer her strangulation if she said the wrong thing.

“That’s true. Does Tianxi have other teachers?” Artoria asked.

“That’s not true. Just in terms of rune magic, he’s more like my teacher.” Orange kept laughing. “That was just something he lied to the Clock Tower to cover up his origins.”

tide Jian was both amused and exasperated: "So stop asking so many questions here, Master... what if it turns out that Orange isn't my teacher—"

“It’s nothing, is it? Once the singularity is restored, all the memories here will be corrected, and we’ll forget what happened here,” Scáthach said. “I am your only master, understand?”

"understand!"

Shio, who was sweating profusely, hurriedly agreed.

Chapter Sixty-Five: Testing

The so-called Hell Hall refers to the cave located in the mountains behind the Kumano Onsen Ryokan.

It is said that this cave was originally a place for worshipping mountain spirits, but it has gradually fallen into disrepair over time. The group of Shiomi who were required to undergo the test were faced with nothing more than a large number of mountain spirits.

A legendary monster associated with echoes.

For ordinary people, even a single one would be extremely dangerous, but for Shiomi, it was just a weed used to add rust to her gun.

After confirming that the cave only contained a large number of mountain peacocks, Shio-mi told her master and the others to look around outside the cave while she went in alone to manage the situation.

After all, the cave is dark, damp, and narrow, making it easy for dirt to accumulate.

When they transferred their spirit energy this time, they specially changed into clean, neat and beautiful everyday clothes, trying to minimize unnecessary battles so as not to get their clothes dirty and spoil their mood.

At least that's what Shiomi thought—

"It was quite lively inside for a while, so I came in to check on things because I was a little worried. What happened?" Orange went back into the cave and asked Shiomi, who was dealing with the monster Yamahiko.

Shiomi swung the vermilion spear as casually as cutting weeds, and Yamahiko was cut in two and disappeared without any resistance under the sharp blade of the vermilion spear.

"It went very smoothly, but there was a lot of work involved, just as troublesome as clearing weeds from the yard." Shio snapped her fingers, and the runes she had set up transformed into slender needles of light that pierced through the nearby mountains. "It wasn't difficult, just time-consuming... After all, we can't just use a hypothetical Noble Phantasm to blow this place up all at once, as that could very likely cause a landslide."

Orange leisurely exhaled smoke, casually using the remaining half of his cigarette to write runes in the air. The completed runes then transformed into fireballs and rushed towards Yamahiko, who was approaching him.

"Shall I lend a hand? After all, we can't leave you behind. Let's go back and rest first," Orange said with a smile.

"Whatever. Anyway, dealing with the remaining Yamahiko is only a matter of time. Although I don't know what the other people who participated in the exorcism think, after the cleanup, we'll use runes to protect it, and at least no monsters will appear for the next fifty years," Shiomi said.

Orange was immediately amused: "In a place like this, Yin-Yang magic would be more appropriate than rune magic."

“I don’t know any Onmyojutsu.” Shiomi tapped Yamahiko on the head with her crimson spear like she was cracking a walnut. “Speaking of which, among the alien apostles, there’s a servant who calls himself Caster Limbo, and his magic system is Onmyojutsu and shikigami—”

Because it was so relaxing, and to kill time, Shio naturally started chatting with Touko and expanded on the topic.

But he stopped talking abruptly and stepped back to Orange's side.

There was the sound of water droplets falling onto the surface of the pool, creating ripples.

The ornament, made of cat's eye stone and glass, landed on the uneven stone, but instead of breaking, it blended into the stone.

The sound of dripping water comes from this.

The ornament blends seamlessly into the camouflage, creating shimmering ripples from which magical energy emanates.

"Although the boss didn't explain the rules in detail, winning and losing are actually quite simple. Which side earns more points is really too trivial. After all—if there are no competitors, the remaining side is naturally the winner, right?"

Kuonji Yuzu emerged from the shadows, followed by Aozaki Aoko, but judging from Aoko's expression, the two did not seem to agree.

The magic power gathered inside the cave changed in an instant, creating something that resembled an inherent barrier.