'Why didn't she find it strange that I called her 'Sister'?'

Rina had referred to Baal as 'Sister Baal' because of her knowledge from her life on Earth. In Yggildos, however, there was no norm to call members of the temple 'Sister'. Or at least, Rina didn't know of any such thing. Furthermore, her assumption was supported by the fact that Rina had never heard other children calling the caretakers 'Brother' or 'Sister'.

So, after thinking about it for a while, she found it strange and highly suspicious that Baal had never reacted to it.

Unfortunately, before Rina could even reach a conclusion, she was pulled back by Fran's loud voice shouting her name.

“Rina! Rina!”

“Huee!? F-Fran? W-what's wrong?”

“No... that should be my question. What's the matter with you? You seem very distracted today.”

“I'm sorry... I was just thinking about something...”

“Well... it's not like anything bad has happened, but please remember that you and I are supposed to be on guard because of this thing.” Fran pointed to the sinister cloud hovering over the rubble. “You were so engrossed in your thoughts, that I don't think that you could have reacted if demons had crawled out of it.”

“I'm sorry...” Once again, knowing full well that her magic instructor was right, Rina couldn't do anything but apologise.

When the elf saw Rina looking down, she lost all her anger – if the emotion she felt could be even called as such – at the red-haired girl. So she exhaled loudly in irritation and scratched the back of her head as if trying to get the irritation out of her system.

Funnily enough, it wasn't Rina's recent absent-mindedness that annoyed her. Fran was upset with herself. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that she could become so soft like this just because of the girl sitting next to her. After all, Rina's inattentiveness and unresponsiveness were dangerous for the group and could very well cost one of their lives if a demon had spawned during that time.

“Haaaah... well... just try to be on your guard like you were earlier in front of the villagers, okay?”

“Yes!... Again, I'm sorry, and thank you!” Rina smiled, glad that the elf had forgiven her for her misstep.

When Fran heard Rina's reply and saw her blossom like a flower, she wanted to reach out and pat the twelve-year-old girl's head again. But she managed to hold back that urge when she felt the annoying gaze of the guard dog.

So, she cleared her throat and started the topic for which she had called out to Rina in the first place. “By the way, Rina, have you ever seen a demon before?”

“No...”

Hearing Rina deny her question, Fran sighed again. Then, she turned to face the red-haired girl and bowed her head slightly. “I'm sorry, Rina... I should have taught you better. I completely overlooked it”

Naturally, the apologised girl was confused by Fran's actions. After all, Rina had been deep in thought earlier and therefore hadn't heard the conversation between Fran and Marianne. So she just kept quiet and waited for Fran to continue.

“I taught you and Clara about magic in preparation for the demon invasion. But I forgot about the most important part, the demons... You two still don't know anything about them, do you?”

Only after hearing the elf's words did Rina notice that she had indeed never been told what the demons actually looked like and what kind of creatures they were. So, she waited patiently for the elf's explanation with a new-found curiosity, not forgetting to be on her guard this time.

Unexpectedly, Marianne intervened at that moment with a short, but loud chuckle as she leaned against Rina's shoulder. ”Fufu... you're quite scatterbrained, aren't you? Fran as your teacher forgetting to teach you about the demons, is one thing. But any other normal person would have asked her about them even without Fran having to remember to teach them about it... I mean, at least I would have asked about the demons... But well, it's also that trait of yours that I find so endearing ~~.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“... Ahahaha...” Hearing Marianne's words, Rina couldn't say anything in her defence other than to laugh wryly and avert her eyes from the brunette. There was no way she could say that she hadn't asked Fran about the demons because of the knowledge from her previous life. After all, because of her memories, Rina could more or less imagine what a demon might look like, regardless of whether her imagination was correct or not. In the end, she just wasn't that curious enough about the demons to care.

Fortunately, Marianne didn't really mean it. She just wanted to take every opportunity to flirt with her target of affection. It was just sad in her eyes, that her approach bounced off as usual.

Naturally, Fran saw through the brunette's ulterior motives. So, not wanting to give Marianne any more stage than she already had, Fran clapped her hands loudly to get both of their attention. “*Clap*... Alright, enough of the idle chitchat, I'd like to finally start explaining the beings that we call 'demons' to you.”

Having said that, she looked at both girls to ensure that she had their attention. Once that was confirmed, she took a deep breath and collected her thoughts. But just as she was about to begin, she was interrupted again.

The culprit this time was Rina, who suddenly jumped up and put her body between the unmoving Demon-Spawning-Cloud and the still-sitting Fran and Marianne. It was as if she was using her body to protect them.

But as endearing as this scene might appear, to an outsider it couldn't have looked any more comical than it already was. After all, from their perspective, Rina just jumped up and took a protective stance, with no immediate danger, not even from the Demon-Spawning-Cloud.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, it didn't take long for the person herself, Rina, to notice it. After jumping up and seeing that the Demon-Spawning-Cloud was in the same state as before, she wordlessly sat down again, with a bright red face, if one might add.

“”...”” Naturally, the other two didn't know how to react to Rina's behaviour. After all, Fran and even the non-combatant Marianne were paying attention to their surroundings. And since they hadn't noticed anything, they somewhat doubted that Rina's sudden actions moments earlier were appropriate.

Still, they nonetheless scanned their surroundings to make sure that it was indeed just a false alarm. After confirming that, they both turned their attention back to the still-blushing girl again, with Fran speaking up, “Rina... what was that all about?”

When Rina heard this, she realised, that neither of them was making fun of her, but taking her seriously. This, on the one hand, made her feel happy inside, as she felt respected and, above all, trusted. On the other hand, this trust meant, that she had to be more careful not to do anything rash or reckless.

Of course, Rina didn't want to betray the trust. So, with that in mind, it didn't take long for her to recover from her initial embarrassment. When the red colour on her face was successfully pushed back, she turned to the elf sitting to her right to answer the question. “The sinister feeling I'm getting from the cloud suddenly started to get rapidly stronger. Well... I don't know if it's just my hallucination or not, but that feeling overwhelmed me so much that I acted out of reflex... I'm sorry for startling you.”

After saying that, Rina bowed slightly to Fran, turned to her right where Marianne was sitting, and repeated the gesture to show that the brunette was included in her apology. But when she turned back to Fran to continue her explanation, she halted because the elf was staring at her with wide eyes.

“H-have I said something wrong?”

“... I wanted to ask you earlier when we were still standing in front of the inn... but you can sense Demon-Spawning-Clouds?”

Confused as to why Fran even asked the question in the first place Rina nodded timidly. “You can't?”

“No! Nobody can! I mean...” Fran's voice was loud, almost shouting as she heard her student's statement. But when she noticed that Rina flinched quite visibly at her raised voice volume, she managed to calm down almost immediately. “... I mean, you never told me about it...”

“I'm sorry... I thought it was normal, so I didn't mention it...” Rina bowed her head again. Somehow, she had the feeling that she had made many, too many mistakes lately and therefore had to apologise too often. That was also why she couldn't help but fear, that those close to her might start to get annoyed with her.

Usually, Fran would be able to tell when Rina was drowning herself in self-deprecating thoughts, but not this time, as her own mind was too preoccupied with what she had just learned. Therefore, she sighed loudly, which, of course, didn't help Rina in clearing those negative thoughts. “Haaah... well, we need to talk after this.” She then looked at the black mist above the rubble. “Is that sinister feeling still growing?”

Prompted by the elf's question, Rina also turned her attention to the cloud. After observing it for a few seconds, she nodded her head. “Yes, it's still growing... though the rate slowed down quite a bit. Still... it's an unsettling feeling.”

“I see.” Fran thought in silence for a while, before she spoke up again. “You see, those clouds are Mana, that have taken on a physical form. As far as I know at the moment, this Mana is being used to create demons.”

“”...”” Marianne and Rina were looking at Fran intently, waiting for her to continue.

“From my experience, I can tell you that the Mana, amassed in front of us, is not yet enough to create a strong demon. That is why I think that we still have time... That's why...” Fran grabbed Rina's shoulders and looked deep into her eyes to make sure that the redhead understood the seriousness of her next words. “... if the bad feeling gets stronger again, please tell us.”

“So you believe me?”

Fran smiled softly at the red-haired girl and patted her on the head. “Of course, you're my precious pupil. So don't hold back and tell me everything that's on your mind... your instincts could be the key to our victory over the demons!”

“Okay~ Hehe ~~”

Seeing the sweet smile in front of her, Fran almost reflexively took Rina in her arms and placed the girl on her lap, a position they had been in countless during lessons times in the past. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, the seriousness of their situation and the pair of dark eyes glaring at her prevented her from doing so.

Instead, Fran shook her head to get rid of her inner turmoil and scolded Rina. “Now wipe that goofy smile off your face and concentrate on the cloud.”

Hearing Fran's tense tone, Rina dropped her current expression and became serious as well. “Um... I have an idea regarding the cloud...”

“Hmm? Let me hear it.”

“Should I place some of my gravity traps around it?”