Hearing Tail suddenly speak to Stelle that way, Huohuo froze for a moment.
At that moment, she finally understood why Little Fish had said those things to Stelle, and why Stelle had said what she had.
Ever since Little Fish had introduced everyone and they had gone on missions together, she had already considered them friends.
Hearing those things from a trusted friend really hurt.
Thank goodness that wasn't the case... thank goodness...
Huohuo lowered her gaze and saw Little Fish holding her hand tightly. As she breathed a sigh of relief, she tightened her grip a little too.
Although she had yet to fully recover emotionally, the misunderstanding had been cleared up.
"Ha... hahahahahaha!" Stelle suddenly burst into wild laughter. More precisely, it was Cirrus laughing. "Ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous! And here I thought you'd escaped the fate of suffering in the furnace!
"Who would've thought that the most belligerent fragment of the great Heliobus, the Flint Emperor, would end up sealed inside a sniveling little girl, serving as her watchdog-
"Ah, no, no, no, no, no! You don't even qualify as a watchdog now! You're nothing but a... 'tail'~ Isn't that right, Tail, Tail, Tail!"
As he listened to Cirrus's taunts, Tail's expression turned vicious, and he roared, "You're really pushing your luck, aren't you? Get out of that girl's body! I'll swallow you right now!"
"Ahhh~ I'm so, so scared-heehee, just kidding!" Cirrus began grinning impudently. "Oh dear, you can't even leave that Judge's body anymore, can you?
"You can neither devour her completely nor escape. Heehee, Mr. Tail, you're so pitiful now~"
Tail swayed back and forth where he was, gritting his teeth. "...Damn it! Little coward, think of something!"
Huohuo nodded, then took out a paper talisman. It had been cut into the shape