Grip of the Present
That same afternoon, Cornflower and Nina met in the fortifications area south of Luen Nore.
Because the front line of the battle Kingdom Army and the Interrealm Army was located south of Luen Nore, and advancing north through Luen Nore would bring one closer to the Royal City, a fairly complete defensive fortification had already been built on the south side of the city long before the city's City Defense Army were reorganized. This included large-scale combined defensive Spell Formula, a full complement of annihilation-type Spell Formula launchers, multiple reinforced medium and small fortresses, and large areas of trigger-activated minefields.
Cornflower and Nina needed to check and record was the integrity of the minefield and the flow of magic within it.
The main purpose of these "landmines" is to stop those mindless, head-on charging Aberrant Beast, which are therefore extremely lethal. The power of a single mine is enough to destroy the Pupa Shell of a pupa-level Aberrant Beast. If a large number of mines are detonated, even Half-Molt will find it difficult to escape unscathed.
Although it would be almost impossible to detonate the landmines while flying in the air, the two people who came to inspect them still flew cautiously in mid-air, while slowing down the activity of their magic power, just in case.
"Hey, I'm telling you, Ink Lotus."
After the inspection was about a third complete, Cornflower, who had gradually gotten used to the pace, broke the silence and said, "Lately, have you been avoiding me? Did I do something to upset you?"
"Huh? Eh, no... I, I didn't..."
Nina, whose codename had been suddenly mentioned, looked at the other person with a blank expression, then protested in a slightly flustered manner, "I... I didn't mean that. How could I possibly have a problem with the captain?"
"Really? It doesn't seem like it."
Cornflower scrutinized Nina's expression for a moment, then raised an eyebrow. "If you have no problem with me, why do you always avoid me? I've seen you turn around on the spot when you see me from a distance several times. This can't be a coincidence, can it?"
"Uh, this is, it is..."
Clearly, Nina herself didn't know how to explain her behavior, so she stammered as soon as she opened her mouth.
"What is this?" Cornflower wasn't in a hurry, but asked in return, waiting for the other party to continue.
"It's because of my own problem."
After stammering for a while, Nina finally answered haltingly, "I failed to complete the task assigned by the captain, and I didn't guide Nim well, so..."
"No proper guidance? Is that true?"
The other party's answer caught Cornflower off guard, "I think it's great. Haven't you taught me everything you were supposed to?"
"However, I haven't been able to explain all this knowledge clearly, so Nim still has to ask you for guidance... Now, it's even a matter of troubling you, Captain, to personally instruct her," Nina continued to explain in a low voice.
"Oh, so you're jealous? You feel like I'm taking up too much of your sister's time?" Cornflower curiously.
"No, that's definitely not the reason!"
Nina's voice suddenly rose a half-tone. "The important part isn't the second half, it's the first half. I feel I've let the captain down and failed to fulfill my promise!"
After she shouted that, neither of them immediately responded.
Cornflower tilted her head, looking at Nina in front of her with a bit of a daze. After a moment of changing expressions, she stammered, "Um, Ink Lotus, I'm not saying this to be mean, but sometimes aren't you a little too hard on yourself?"
"Although the incident with the legion commander gave me a similar feeling before, it seems you really like to take all the blame upon yourself and then start criticizing yourself."
As she said this, she pointed to herself. "But is it possible that others haven't actually blamed you yet?"
"I'm sorry," Ink Lotus apologized.
"You see, even now, I haven't expressed any dissatisfaction."
Cornflower sighed, "But you have to understand, if you presume to know other people's attitudes, and then always think things in a negative direction and deal with them with a negative attitude, things might really turn out the worst way they could."
"Like this matter between you and me, if I didn't ask you, were you really planning to hide from me forever, until we went to war with the enemy?"
"We are a small team, and in war, we are the most closely connected unit. If you don't contact me at all in peacetime, and we have no coordination or tactics in wartime, that would be terrible."
"And following your line of thinking, when that time comes, you'll continue to wallow in self-pity, feeling like you didn't do well, and you'll become even less willing to face your teammates, and your teamwork might get even worse... If it really comes to that, you might die."
Although she didn't want to intimidate him, Cornflower felt she should use a scare tactic when necessary. "You want to take care of your sister, right? Do you really want things to turn out that way?"
"I don't want to," Nina replied sullenly. "... I'm sorry."
"If you don't want to, the first thing to do is stop apologizing, or at least not just apologize all the time."
Cornflower resumed its flight. "An apology is something you do after things have really gone wrong. Before you're completely sure things are over, it's good to say a few more honest things. Tell the other person what you're thinking and what you plan to do next."
"Like right now."
She continued to use her Mana Perception her surroundings, and noticed a minefield where magic was leaking. She pointed in that direction and said, "There, time to get to work. Watch out for Explosion."
"Ah, oh, yes."
Nina noticed the direction Larkspur was pointing, so she raised her hand and transformed her wand into Magic Armament. The scattered magical particles adhered to her right hand, and then the light faded, turning into sharp finger guards embedded in her five fingers.
"Grip of the Present."
She whispered the name of her Magic Armament, opened her right hand, and clenched it in the distance towards the landmine that could be detonated at any moment due to external interference.
Then, the magic that had been somewhat restless around the landmine became completely docile.
Cornflower also unleashed her Magic Armament, using threads to drag the buried landmines out of the ground. Nina, meanwhile, kept her right hand clenched, waiting for Larkspur to seal it in a special container before letting go.
"Done, well done."
Cornflower dispersed the threads around her, not forgetting to praise, "Your Magic Armament ability is indeed very convenient."
"Th-thank you," Nina replied softly.
Her Magic Armament, the Grip of the Present, which consists of these finger cots, is most commonly used to render a specified object "absolutely still."
Her right hand grasps the object, which is how she selects it. As long as she maintains this grip, the selected object will remain still and will never change.
The price to pay is that once she lets go, previously stationary objects will be subjected to a state of "doubled speed of change." A burning candle, when held and then released, will burn twice as fast; a glass of water, when held and then released, will fall to the ground at twice the speed.
As for the duration of this state, it is the same as the time it takes to be held and still.
To be honest, when Cornflower saw Ink Lotus's Magic Armament abilities in the data, she had a feeling that these were abilities specifically designed for the battlefield.
On the ever-changing battlefield, the ability to completely freeze something—whether it's Spell Formula about to Explosion, munitions flying through the air, a movement of an enemy in front of you, or the wounds on a wounded comrade—is something most soldiers would dream of.
Moreover, its subsequent side effects, or secondary effects, such as the ability to "Accelerated Change," also have their uses, often allowing for surprise attacks.
It was precisely because of this ability that Nina was assigned the task of inspecting minefields during the shift schedule.