Leonard was both excited and worried about meeting the Demoness codenamed "Empress of Pentacles."
His excitement naturally had nothing to do with anything as ridiculous as "the Tarot Club handing out Demonesses." Rather, after the Old Man had repeatedly discouraged him from training his own subordinates, leaving him unable to have a Minor Arcana Brand of his own, meeting another Tarot Club member's Minor Arcana gave him the peculiar feeling that "if someone else has one, that means I have one too."
As for his concern, that was naturally because this was not their first meeting, and their previous encounter had ended rather badly. While tracking her, Leonard had stumbled into a trap laid by a higher-ranking Demoness. He had nearly smashed his head to death in the sewers and even taken a beating from his own cane, which possessed a living characteristic. The other party had also barely escaped with her life and might still harbor some resentment.
Anyway, I've already advanced to Spirit Warlock, and with the Old Man's help, I've captured several useful spirit bodies. Even if I run into that other Demoness who was hiding behind the scenes that day, I can put up a fight... He pressed a hand against the Word of the Sea cane concealed beneath his coat, and his worries slowly faded.
Just then, the spirit body patrolling overhead issued a warning. Something was quietly approaching from the other end of the alley.
Leonard immediately turned to look. Apart from the occasional passerby on the street beyond the alley, he saw nothing unusual.
Probably invisibility. Hmph, I saw that plenty of times back in Tingen... Muttering to himself, he straightened his coat, exposed his hands, and took two steps forward before saying:
"Are you Miss Empress of Pentacles?"
He did not waste