After all, nothing was more effective than this method.
So Lan Qingyou didn't hold back.
She opened with an "elbow strike," knocking the mountain-sized Steel Wool unconscious.
As for what exactly that "elbow strike" in quotation marks was...
There was no need to elaborate.
All that mattered was whether it had knocked Steel Wool out.
"Squeak, squeak-"
Just as Lan Qingyou grimaced and sighed...
A little creature emerged from Steel Wool's enormous feathers and climbed up Lan Qingyou's leg.
It finally settled on Lan Qingyou's shoulder.
This... was a treasure seeking mouse.
It was Little Spoon, Lan Qingyou's familiar, who had gone missing just like Steel Wool.
"Oh! So you were tagging along too, little one?"
Seeing that it was actually Little Spoon, Lan Qingyou raised an eyebrow.
She reached out and scratched Little Spoon under the chin.
Little Spoon narrowed its eyes and lifted its chin, looking utterly content.
Seeing Little Spoon like that, Lan Qingyou shook her head with a chuckle.
To be honest...
After returning and discovering that she had traveled more than a hundred years through time...
She had prepared herself for the possibility that both Little Spoon and Steel Wool had died.
After all, even familiars were living creatures.
And living creatures had finite lifespans.
Even a Familiar Contract signed with Lan Qingyou, an Origin Witch...
Couldn't free them from the limits of their lifespans.
Yet now, not only were both little creatures alive and well...
Their strength had even increased many times over.
It had to be called luck-the sort of luck even Lan Qingyou couldn't comprehend-for them to have come this far.
She understood that perfectly well.
It wasn't a matter of strength or anything else.
It was simply luck, or rather, a chain of miracles, that could produce a result like this.