"----!"
Shien forcefully raised his head and looked ahead.
The next moment, Shien saw her.
"Good evening. Is that what I should say?"
The one who spoke in that melodious voice with a faintly mocking tone was a young girl.
A girl wearing a formal dress that looked like a princess gown, with black hair and red eyes. She sat on a branch of a tree ahead as though on a swing, dangling her little feet while holding a dessert in both hands and taking small bites from it.
Shien had seen this girl before.
Just yesterday, in fact.
"You're that pretentious poser from yesterday?"
The words slipped straight out of Shien's mouth.
"Pretentious poser?" The girl froze, then frowned in displeasure. "You may call me Laisha, but although I do not know what 'pretentious poser' means, I can tell it is not a nice term. Could you please not call me that?"
At that, Shien raised his brows instead.
"Is that really okay?" Shien asked in the same faintly mocking tone Laisha had used earlier. "Didn't you say before that not just anyone was worthy of hearing your name?"
"That is true." Laisha looked at Shien, the displeasure between her brows gone and replaced by a trace of amusement. "But I do not want you to run away again like last time, so I shall obediently give you my name this time."
"Then, Lady Laisha, who obediently gave me her name, may I ask what you are doing in a place like this?" Shien said in an unusually aggressive tone. "Do not tell me it was a coincidence."
Perhaps because she had overheard his muttering just now, Shien's foul mood showed clearly in his tone and attitude.
Laisha, however, seemed not to care in the slightest.
"You may consider it a coincidence." Laisha replied in a lighthearted tone. "If it had not been a 'coincidence,' how could I have heard something so interesting?"
Sure enough, she had heard every word he said earlier.
"I was merely passing through Lamigium by chance while fleeing. I truly did not expect to encounter something like this." Laisha stared directly at Shien as if she wanted to see through every one of his secrets. "Still, thanks to that, it seems I may gain something unexpected this time."
With those words, she once again told Shien that she had indeed come for him.
Perhaps after their meeting yesterday, she had been keeping an eye on Shien all along—watching him closely enough to follow him to a place like this.
In other words—
"Have I been followed?"
Shien murmured.
Laisha gave no reaction. She merely smiled, and the look in her eyes as she watched Shien became difficult to read.
"Just like last time, you seem to be saying something quite interesting again," Laisha said with a smile. "What you said this time is true, though. This world no longer needs a Hero. Is that not sad?"
"Sad?" Shien narrowed his eyes, feigning confusion, though he genuinely meant it as well. "Why should I be sad?"
Strictly speaking, Shien was happy if anything.
If the world did not need a Hero, then he could cast aside that responsibility and live freely, could he not?
However—
"You are worried about being dragged into some whirlpool of conspiracy, are you not?" Laisha saw straight through Shien's thoughts. "You do not know why the God Race summoned you, nor do you know the current situation among the Three Races in this world. In short, you seriously lack information, so you do not know which side to trust."
"Am I wrong?"
"New Hero."
The instant Laisha's words fell, the air around them became incomparably heavy.
Shien completely gave up on wishful thinking as well.
Because the truth was already obvious.
His identity had been exposed.
"Will you not take the Holy Sword from the bundle on your shoulder?" Laisha said provocatively. "If you do not use the Holy Sword, your current level will not be enough to face me."
"Face you?" Shien met Laisha's gaze. "You came to deal with me?"
"What?" Laisha still smiled. "Is that strange?"
"Of course it is." Ignoring Laisha's provocation, Shien pointed out directly, "If you had truly come to deal with me, I would have noticed your presence long ago."
After all, Shien possessed a skill called Enemy Perception, which allowed him to detect anyone harboring hostility toward him.
Under such circumstances, if someone approached him with hostile intent, Shien would have discovered them long ago.
Yet Shien had not noticed Laisha's presence in time.
That proved she did not actually bear hostility toward Shien.
Of course—
"Are you not being a little too naive, my Hero?"
As though amused, Laisha's smile began to fade from her eyes.
"Indeed, I do not bear hostility toward you."
"But in this world, one does not only fight when one must be enemies."
"For example, if I merely wish to test your true abilities rather than make an enemy of you, do you not think that alone is sufficient reason to deal with you?"
As her words fell, magic power rose from Laisha's body like a black whirlwind.
That magic power whipped up a gale that swept through the surroundings, causing the trees around them to sway and rustle while fallen leaves scattered in every direction.
Shien's heart tightened, and he drew his weapon without hesitation.
The weapon he drew was not the Holy Sword, but the broad-bladed sword hanging at his waist.
The next second—
"Boom!"
The magic power rising from Laisha's body transformed into gravity. Like a force field, it shook the heavens and earth and bore down on Shien.
In an instant, all the fallen leaves dancing in the air were pressed down as if toward the ground. The surrounding trees likewise seemed crushed by an invisible force, creaking as they snapped apart inch by inch.
Shien also felt astonishing gravity pressing down on his entire body, forcing him toward the ground.
Ordinarily, that gravity should have been enough to pin Shien flat against the earth.
But whether Magic Resistance or Abnormal Status Resistance had taken effect, the gravity acting upon Shien abruptly weakened greatly before it could press him to the ground.
"Huh?"
Seeing this, Laisha voiced her surprise.
"You resisted my Gravity Magic without using the Holy Sword?"
Laisha had not expected that at all.
Unfortunately, by the time she was surprised, it was already too late.
"Limit Break (Evolve)!"
The instant the gravity weakened, Shien activated Limit Break with crisp decisiveness.
Magic power immediately surged through his body, causing his strength to rise drastically in an instant.
"Bang!"
With a muffled blast, Shien crushed the ground beneath his feet and, resisting the gravity, shot toward Laisha like a rocket.
Since she had already made her move, there was no need for him to hesitate.
That was the decisiveness born from Shien's powerful ability to adapt, as well as the ruthlessness he had honed during those ten days in the forest.
Rather than being alarmed, Laisha smiled.
"Things are starting to get interesting."
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