“You are…not Higan…right?”

“Yes!~ As expected of a fellow divine, you immediately noticed it!~”

“I already have a gist of what’s going on. I can safely assume that Higan is still there, alive and well, right?”

“Don’t worry! She is mentally tired so her consciousness is still at rest! She exhausted so much willpower from the battle earlier.”

I can hardly guess what happened here. Like Apollo who is inside Hibiscus and Artemis who is Casablanca, a Divine Being also resides inside Higan. I am already aware of it since Divine Ascension needs a medium to channel the divine energy.

But the problem, or what’s troubling me right now is that in front of us, a Diving Being or Goddess called Asteria emerges. What lies to my far stretched problem is that…her liveliness, her expression, and all of her gestures…greatly ruins Higan’s deadpan face.

It’s really uncomfortable.

Izuna looks a little perplexed so I gave her a reassuring nod. Suddenly acting like a complete stranger, she must be really worried. Her daughter who is on the verge of death a minute ago is now acting like a complete lunatic.

“No way…! To emerge without channeling a magic incantation or even so, with the help of my Ki, you were able to resurface on that child’s consciousness!”

Senya exclaimed with a pale countenance.

Previously, she was able to draw out Apollo and Artemis inside Hibiscus and Casablanca. Truthfully, I am little awed that she is capable of such feat, however, this situation right now calls for a deep contemplation for how.

We deemed that Apollo and Artemis mean no harm for their vassals, however, we can’t be so sure for Asteria who took over Higan’s body.

“Yeah, worry not! I bring no harm to this little fox girl too! In the first place, if she wakes up and found out that I am using her body, she’ll immediately kick me out of the control. That’s just how strong her willpower is.”

Another wave of change in the atmosphere occurred. Emby who is sitting atop me suddenly limps and fell. I catch him immediately and cradled the lifeless body of Emby in my arms.

When I took a turn behind me, Casablanca and Hibiscus are already standing side-by-side, glaring at Higan.

“Well, well, how are you, my dearest niece and nephew!?~”

“Aunt Asteria, how long have you been in this world?”

The one who spoke is not Hibiscus but the prideful Apollo that even though he called her aunt, his voice is tinged with his prided self. On the other hand, Artemis gave a light curtsy to Asteria as if she is showing modesty and respect.

“It’s a little uncomfortable to talk while I’m nude. You, the mother of this vassal I am occupying right now, could you please prepare a better reception?”

“Why do I have to obey your demands?! My daughter is…”

“Like I said, she is safe. Your worry is unjust at this point. Even if I vacant this consciousness now, she’ll likely to wake for in the next five days.”

“That long?”

“I would like to give everyone a rundown of what’s happening right now. I, Asteria, the Goddes of the Stars, has blessed your daughter, no, I was forced to bless her from the very beginning that the girl with white hair over there fueled us with Divine Energy. This’ll be a lengthy discussion so if you would.”

“Promise me one thing! As soon as you are done, please return that body to my daughter!”

“That goes without saying. And like what I said earlier, your daughter, Higanbana, has a nerve of steel and will as tough as a diamond. Angering her is the last thing I would like to happen.”

“…I’ll take those words to my heart.”

As such, Izuna stood up and walked up to several servants watching the scene. She immediately gave orders and have them prepared a lot of things for the reception for Asteria.

Incidentally, it seems it won’t take that long because they originally planned to prepare for Mimosa, however, things have taken a bad turn and this circumstance has entailed.

“Mimosa, are you okay?”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Senya…”

“But…”

“I’ll leave everything to you, Senya. I’ll take a little walk.”

Mimosa said as she steps out of the room…which…doesn’t resemble a room anymore but a tattered and broken veranda. As my eyes glance over Mimosa, our eyes met and she locked gazes with me.

She cocks her head like she is beckoning me out. She must have something to tell to me so I stand up from my place without hesitation.

“Alstroe, Topaz, and Mimi, please keep an eye on them.”

“Aye, if you order me, Master, I, Mimi, will do it!”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Only Mimi gave a cheerful response but Topaz replied with a courteous bow. Alstroe on the other hand only set her eyes straight to Asteria.

I wonder what’s she thinking right now.

Before I leave the room, I put Emby on Senya's lap. As I left the room, I saw Mimosa beckoning further outside.

“Ah, Mimosa, what’s wrong?! What’s happening there?”

“Ah, metal boy, don’t worry about it. Higan is safe now thanks to the twins. Ah, but please, still refrain from entering.”

“Yeah…”

At the Manor’s entrance, Ichirou and Hasu briefly exchanged information of the situation inside. These two are strictly forbidden from entering after all.

As Mimosa walks away from them, I hurriedly walk behind her.

“Asagao, how are you?”

“Yeah…fine I guess…”

My conversation witch Ichirou is short. I don’t have anything to talk about with him and I also feel a little aloof around him.

I wonder if he noticed it already.

Shaking off those thoughts, I tagged along with Mimosa until we arrived somewhere far from the Mano, in a small forest where Alstroe and I first met Higan, the place with a small lake.

It was densely populated with trees and plants and most of all, the surround of the lake is now barred with a wooden fence to keep anyone from entering, however, since the lake is deeper inside the small forest, there’s no problem of it being seen by most travelers.

And so, Mimosa and I are in that said forest. She leans on a tree and heaved a deep sigh before giving me a serious look.

“Asagao, this is something I’d like to talk to you privately so I dragged you all the way here. It is something trivial for now. And also, about Senya…losing Excelsior.”

“You're making a scary face…”

“Sorry, but that’s just how it is troubling me.”

“I get it so please…stop making that face…”

With a heave, Mimosa loosened the expression on her face and face me once again with a slight smile. Mimosa is more cheerful, goofy, and comical than this. Right now, all I can sense from her is indignation or something along the line.

It’s like…something within her has awakened and it is making me anxious. Now that I have taken a closer look at her, her eyes are sharper now and the scales on her jaw have polished a new darker color.

Realizing my discomfort, Mimosa further loosens her expression and breaks out in a gentle smile that comes with a warm gaze.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. About me, that can come later. For now, I want to tell you about Senya.”

“Un…what is it with her? What did she mean when she lost Excelsior?”

“I don’t know if you are aware of it or not but, the Godly Artifact Excelsior is a blade with its own mind. The weapon itself chooses its wielder.”

“So…it found Senya unfit anymore?”

“That’s one of the speculations I can formulate. We can also assume that Excelsior found another wielder. Someone better and stronger than Senya, stronger in the sense of justice, righteousness, and even will.”

“So sudden…and how does it will even determine its new wielder?”

“I don’t know. While the Excelsior is sentient, it could not find a new owner on its own while someone else is still using it with the right qualifications. What I determined is that Senya has come in contact with someone eligible.”

That’s the case, huh?

In Astlan’s memory fragment, the Godly Artifact Excelsior left on its own volition from Astlan because it feared the new power of its wielder.

If the qualification is still met, the Excelsior will not leave. We can safely assume that, however, it made contact with a new potential owner, meaning, at some point, a certain person must have the same qualifications as Senya…or even better.

That’s what all I can assume for now, however, my guts is telling me that I am into something with this train of thoughts.

“Furthermore, the Excelsior left Senya with the power of True Longevity.”

“True…Longevity?”

“Unageing until death. Senya’s youth will neither wither nor falter and her health will always be in the best condition. She even started becoming more active in sex. Given that, why do you think she is still bounded by that wheelchair?”

“Mimosa…that’s…”

“Senya refuses to speak about her past. About her legs that seemingly can’t walk but perfectly healthy, I want to know. I’ve come to you, Asagao, because…I am hoping that you might know something.”

“Why did you think that?”

“You have deep ties with this world’s Gods and Goddesses. Also, you are Astlan Lionheart’s daughter who is the previous wielder of Excelsior. So I am just trying to search for something…just to help Senya.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I see…sorry for troubling you.”

I’m sorry.

I don’t want to tell you about it.

That Senya’s condition is deeply tied to her trauma. Izuna and Hinoki know about it too but, I don’t think I am in the position to actually tell something about Senya’s past.

I did poke on her past alongside Astlan’s Memory Fragment but…

“You are still a terrible liar as ever, but, I’m sorry for trying to force you.”

“Wha--?! That’s…I…”

“You can’t hide anything from me, someone who observed people for a hobby, keeping the greatest interest to whatever one holds.”

“Is that so…I’m really sorry.”

She just shrugs my apology.

“There’s nothing for you to really apologize about. I am not going to force you.”

“…”

“Moving on, take a look at this.”

From her tattered pockets and bloodied clothes, Mimosa takes out a small glass flask. Inside the flask, a reddish fluid in small amount shakes in heavy viscosity. She then brought it in front of my eyes and shakes it lightly.

I just tilted my head in confusion. What is this liquid anyway? A new concoction of her? Does she want me to do an experiment now even when there’s something serious going on?

Since things played out in my head funnily, I gave Mimosa a funny look.

“This is blood.”

“Okay…what?!”

“This is Higanbana’s blood that I extracted earlier before all of you came.”

“Why would you do something like that?!”

“You know of my Arcana Magic, right?”

“Yes, I know! So, you are telling me that you took some of her blood to see her status or something, right? Did it helped you?”

“To be frank, no, it didn’t. That’s why I am so frustrated that I wasn’t able to help her. Senya requested to me that I protect her because a vision suddenly showed her something about Higanbana’s demise.”

“Demise…I should have asked this earlier but, what just happened? To Higan…and to you?”

“We fought one of the Order of the Arcana, Flow of the Arcana of Gluttony.”

From that alone, I couldn’t utter another word as my face pales.

“Higanbana was defeated in the end after she gave everything she has, even ending up getting her tails cut. It’s a good thing that Ichirou and Hasu arrived and deliver a final blow to him. Until now, I still haven’t figured out Flow’s intention.”

“We won’t get anywhere…let’s leave that aside. What about Higan’s blood?”

“I’ve seen something about Higanbana. Asagao, I’m going to temporarily share that vision of the status screen with you. For that, I need you to drink a bodily fluid from me.”

As Mimosa said that, she poked her finger in her mouth. I imagined that she is covering her finger with her saliva.

No, no, no!

“There must be some other way, you know! Like your blood, or yo--! Mmmph!”

Shit!

She immediately pokes her saliva-covered finger into my mouth. I can feel it mixing with my own saliva, I can feel it going down my throat, I can feel its warmth!

Actually, …it feels…

The way she moves her finger inside my mouth feels…

“Hey, Asagao…I love that suggestive gesture but this is not the time.”

“Ah!”

Before my mind drowns in something weird, Mimosa called out to me.

Crap…

Mimosa is even grinning from ear to ear as her breath becomes a little labored. What am I even doing? For goodness sake, my mind almost flew off somewhere…like it is…melting?

“Anyway, Asagao, I am going to use my ability. Because you consumed a fluid from me, the screen should also appear in your sight too.”

“Okay…”

As Mimosa said that, she opens the small flask and dips her finger in the blood and lips the tip of her finger that she used to dip into the blood.

This is the skill that Mimosa wanted to use on me. She said that she wouldn’t look at anyone else’s status unless she gets a consent.

If you think carefully, she is doing this without Higan’s consent by I guess this is for medical purposes.

CLICK

As I heard a clicking sound, something appeared in midair in front of me. The thing is like...exactly a status screen. At the very top of it is written as…

“Higanbana Lionheart…eh?!”

“Oh, you are seeing it now, right?”

“Yeah…but…”

“That’s not what I wanted you to see. Scroll it downwards. Just think that the status screen will scroll down by your mind. There, you will see something.”

“Okay…”

I got bewildered by what I saw about Higan’s name. Well, she is Astlan’s child too and he is our father. It only makes sense that both of us will have the same last name, however, it’s a little weird to call a fox girl with the name Lionheart.

Per Mimosa’s request, I scroll down the status screen. I am a little surprised that there’s really a floating status screen in front of me but…I guess this world is absurd to a certain extent…

That’s wrong…it’s already absurd right from the start.

As I was browsing through Higan’s status screen, I saw some things like numerical values such as for her overall physical and magical abilities as well as her future growths.

But…as soon as I arrived at the bottom of the status screen wherein Mimosa wanted me to check, my face pales and sweat started pouring from my forehead.

“Now…I want to ask you about that. I also want to ask you that…you, as her sister, to not take your eye off her.”

“This is…absurd! If…If Higan…”

“Yeah…it may be a great strength to have but…”

I have to ensure that Higan…will never ever get through something painful ever again.

And…I have to make sure that she will never ever get ahold of what Astlan Lionheart left in this world.

“Astlan’s Ira…compatibility…Nine hundred and ninety-nine …percent…”