"This has nothing to do with me."
As she spoke, the Beast-Eared Witch took out a small box with a metallic sheen.
"I'm not interested in that thing, nor am I interested in sharing your spoils. But you fed me to a monster." The Beast-Eared Witch paused. "Since this is an exchange, I think your lives can be exchanged for an end to my anger. Wizards don't advance by feeding their companions to monsters."
A breeze swept past, and a strangely shaped mushroom beneath the tree burst, sending up a little cloud of dust.
"Let me correct you again. We did not feed it, madam. This is the true meaning of exchange. Anger, ability, a vigilant heart, an intelligent mind-everything works this way. They failed, so they exchanged their lives to buy us an opportunity to make better preparations. We never forced anyone." The last man to reveal himself smiled.
But Ruger was no longer paying attention to him. His eyes were fixed on the little metal box.
Click!
The round lid was twisted open.
The inside was pitch-black, but Ruger stared intently at it.
He watched the Beast-Eared Witch reach into the little box and take out a single hair, a silver one.
Her actions left all of them, Ruger included, baffled.
But spell fluctuations suddenly surged. They did not know exactly what she was doing, but her intentions were clear. The smiling man attacked first, immediately followed by the two across from her. The difference was that one of those two aimed his spell straight into the tree.
Ruger raised an eyebrow. Apparently, he was involved too.
But things did not seem to unfold as they had expected. The silver hair gave off a faint glow.
Thump! Thump!
His heart beat, and as he dodged, a scale-shaped spell