Seeing the flash of surprise on He Xi's face as he casually took it, Harvey was clearly a little slow to react.
"Th-That... is yours?"
"Hm? What else would it be?"
"But..." Harvey stared at the twisted, savage black head. "You... how did you even think of using something this evil as a spellcasting foc..."
"I gave it to him. Is there a problem?"
Before He Xi could explain, Fivik drifted over, lowering her head to look at the prey she had gone to some trouble to lure out back then.
"N-No problem."
Harvey immediately shook his head, his tone sincere.
"It's quite nice. The design... is full of imposing presence."
Only then did Fivik lower her head again.
Faint Magic Radiance seeped from her fingertips in threadlike strands, slowly winding across the Hag head's shriveled skin.
The glowing threads slipped into its mouth, earholes, and the depths of its eye sockets, then emerged again from the other side, weaving themselves into several Runes He Xi could not understand.
"Oh, right."
Unable to make heads or tails of it, He Xi suddenly remembered something and turned to the druid.
"What did you mean by that evil spellcaster you mentioned? Luring them in with Sweet Berries?"
"Uh... luring..." Cold sweat faintly seeped down Harvey's stiff, broad face. "Luring..."
He had not had the leisure to weigh his words when he had been venting his fury earlier, but recounting that torture word for word in front of two ladies seemed rather inappropriate.
At least, that was what Harvey told himself.
"Sweet Berries?"
Before he could think of how to make something up, Fivik, who had been engrossed in her examination, immediately raised her head as though she had heard some trigger command.
"Where are the Sweet Berries?"
"To draw your attention."
Harvey