Despite the bloody, revolting scene, the tiny woman was spotless, without so much as a speck of blood on her. Now that she had wrapped herself in a robe, she looked more normal.
Ruger frowned, studying her.
His fierce gaze made the tiny woman uneasy.
"I-I can't give you two the gifts of thanks and compensation I promised just yet," the tiny woman said, fiddling with her handkerchief robe as she lowered her head and sniffled. "I hope you'll stop preparing that spell... My emotions are easily affected right now. Worry is a heavy burden too, a state I can't control..."
"Hmm?"
At the prospect of losing his compensation, Ruger voiced a menacing challenge.
The tiny woman, who had only just begun to recover, started sniffling again.
Mona rolled her eyes beside him.
"You can sense me casting a spell?" Ruger demanded fiercely.
"I-I'm a Wizard too..." the tiny woman sobbed. "A normal human Wizard, taller than you..."
"Hmm?"
Ruger glared again and made another displeased sound.
The tiny woman burst into tears once more.
"Then why did you turn into this?" Ruger seized the opportunity to ask.
"It was to escape danger, a means of saving my life. It takes years of cultivation before it can be used once," the tiny woman sobbed. "I probably died already. It can only activate at the moment of death. Once it succeeds, I regrow inside my skull. You can think of it as a special seed. I modified my skull too, so it can block certain detection spells and Mental Power scans, and won't easily burn or shatter. There's also a silent period during the early stages of germination... But there's a problem too..."
The tiny woman blinked, looking at Ruger, then at the smiling Mona standing half a step behind him.