The Villainess Blooms Chapter 40

Hakurei The top floor of the tallest building in Beirut. The room was ruled by darkness, despite the sun being at its apex.

And in that room, one pale white girl shined as if to contest the darkness around her.

Meditating and entrusting herself to that darkness, she is one of the foremost leaders of the rebel army, ‘Hakurei’.

Hakurei’s magic stretched across the rebel-occupied territory like a spider’s web, and she was fully aware of everyone who found themselves caught in it.

Her eyebrows twitched, and she opened her eyes.

This reaction, perhaps a dozen? And judging by the movement speed, they are travelling by carriage?

However, there are four distinctly powerful magical signatures amongst them.

Furthermore, one of those people exists outside of the bounds of normal humanity.

Hakurei beat the marble floor with her toenail, and the sound it made was like a ringing bell. Then, ripples spread from her toe, and those ripples then formed into a water like surface.

These were Hakurei’s singular sorcery, ‘Eight Curses’, this one being ‘Hex Propagation’.

As she activated the magic, a brilliant light appeared in the room.

“What’s up?”

The voice that came from the light belonged to Misha.

Hakurei ran a pale finger in the dark, and traces her response.

“Enemy intruders have been detected. They should be eliminated immediately.”

“Enemies, huh? Eyepatch ain’t here right now, so I guess I have to go? Haa… And I only just got back, too.”

Hakurei closed her eyes and hesitated for a moment, but then shook her head.

“You won’t be able to win alone.”

As usual, she didn’t speak, she simply traced the letters with magic in the air.

“The magical reactions of everyone in that group are at least knight class. Four of them are absolutely exceptional, and one of them is extraordinary. It is beyond human.”

“Wait a minute. A dragon, maybe?”

“Unknown. However, purely in terms of magical energy, it is equal to an ‘outsider’. It’s very troublesome.”

“…Hakurei. For now, just make confirm who these guys are. I’ll be ready to activate ‘Heaven’s Area’ just in case.”

She nodded her understanding, then touched the floor again to add more ripples to the shimmering surface. And, two automatons emerged.

With the body of a child and sporting feathering wings, these automatons were a product of another spell from her ‘Eight Curses’, this one being called ‘Bewitched Puppet’.

Hakurei traced the word “Go”, and used transmission to move the automatons somewhere else.

“Misha, I shall keep you informed.”

“Mm, then, if ya would.”

After receiving a wordless nod from Hakurei, Misha terminated the communication magic.

“…Ha. Despite what it seems, I’m really the battling type, you know. But, not much for it, if we lost all this ground we’ve gained it would be a big blow.”

Sighing to herself, Misha wonders what to do. First things first, she should call back that one-eyed woman.

A woman mounted on a horse turns away from watching the horizon to raise her one good eye to the sky.

This reaction, Misha, huh?

The one-eyed woman picks up on her ally’s magical power and joins their magic. As soon as she did, a voice in her head said: “Oi, Eyepatch, you need to come back right now.”

“Did something happen, Misha?”

“It’s less that something’s happened, and more like something’s gonna happen.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m still sketchy on the details, but Hakurei mentioned that some really powerful ‘enemies’ are on their way. So, you gotta come back right now.”

“Powerful enemies… I’m currently handling something in the field, do you really need me to come back? Besides, if you two aren’t able to deal with it, I’m not sure what help I will be.”

Against those two that were in Beirut, not even an army led by nobles would be able to defeat them.

And if it wasn’t something like that, it should have been taken care of quickly.

In fact, the one-eyed woman had fought and slain a number of nobles herself, but none of them could compare to Misha back in Beirut.

Of course, there were certainly people in existence stronger than Misha. Veena, who once thwarted their attack on the Kingdom’s capital, is one such example.

But even she wouldn’t be able to defeat Misha in the fortress they’ve established in Beirut. Though as she thinks it, she shakes her head.

“No, I shouldn’t underestimate her. It could be possible for a monster from that family. In the first place, Misha’s speciality isn’t ‘battle’…)

But, regardless, it’s hard to imagine many enemies who could threaten Beirut.

“As a partner, Hakurei ain’t a great fit for me. And unlike Hakurei, I can’t use detection magic to get a good read on their abilities, so I was hoping to build up some fighting strength here just in case there’s an emergency.”

Emergency… A dragon?

The one-eyed woman sighed and decided to suspend the other mission, pulling on the reigns of her horse.

“I understand. I’ll return to Beirut to prepare for an emergency.”

As she said that, she plotted a course for home.

Racing to a red light.\n