(∩ω)-*Biu~biu~biu~
"Arch-Archmage?!"
Übel's eyes widened once more, and her voice rose slightly with sheer surprise.
She felt as though she'd been shocked and caught off guard far too many times today.
After all, there were only a handful of people in the magical city of Äußerst who dared call themselves "Archmages." You could count them on one hand—or maybe even half a hand!
And almost every one of those Archmages was a figure of immense importance, someone who could shake the magical city—or even the Mage Association across the entire world—with a single stomp.
But now someone was telling her that this inconspicuous little girl before her was an Archmage too?
What kind of joke was this?
Since when had Archmages become so common? How had she managed to run into one just by stepping outside?
"..."
But despite her surprise, she didn't immediately doubt what the woman who called herself a witch rather than a mage—Elaina—had said.
She could tell that Elaina, Frieren, and Fern were all mages of considerable ability. And since they were all clearly showing respect toward that strange little girl, it proved that the girl was no ordinary child.
More importantly, Übel still couldn't sense even a trace of mana from that strange little girl!
Even an ordinary person—even an ordinary little girl—should have at least a little mana, shouldn't she?
And yet she couldn't sense any at all!
That left only two possibilities: either the girl really was an ordinary person, and the witch Elaina was simply joking with her; or the little girl's strength had reached some terrifying state of returning to the natural order, with her mana completely concealed and her power so far beyond Übel's ability to detect that she couldn't sense it at all.
Considering the magical interior of this