"Don't feel bad about it, okay? You're not bothering me at all."
Kayla placed her hands over her nose while nodding in affirmation, after which Amelie heaved a small sigh before speaking.
"You came here to speak to Lady Artemisia, right? Hold on for a fe-Oh."
Before Kayla could even ask the Bishop why she paused her words, she felt a sudden sense of disconnect for a moment, followed by a slight pain in her head that made her reflexively hold it.
[The 'Eternal of Time and Destruction' exclaims in surprise as he gazes at the 'Great Lightning Spirit'; Kayla.']
[Shut up for a second.]
Hearing the all too familiar voice, Kayla looked up to meet eyes with the glowing pupils of golden-eyed Bishop, however, the young spirit instantly realised that it wasn't Amelie Harris that was looking at her.
[Big Sis?]
[Yes, it's Big Sis.]
Amelie, or rather, Artemisia in Amelie's body, hugged the young spirit in her arms while patting her head lightly.
She then snapped her fingers lightly and cast a spell to prevent any disturbances before turning her gaze towards the black cat who had made himself comfortable on the couch and sighing lightly.
'He's as laid back as ever.'
[The 'Eternal of Time and Destruction' questions why you are ignoring the fact that the young spirit in front of you reacted to the time stop.]
'Because it isn't important.'
Artemisia dismissed the notification in front of her, before switching off the entire indirect messaging service as a whole.
She then turned to Kayla who was shooing away the spirits who were flocking into the room after being drawn to the area by Artemisia's presence.
[None of you should come here!
That's an Order!]
Kayla spoke with her authority imbued into her voice, causing the spirits to dejectedly leave the area while casting side glances at Artemisia and Kuro.
[Don't get too worked up over it, they mean no harm.]
[I know, but now's NOT the best time for them to be here.]
The lightning spirit replied while folding her arms and pouting cutely, with her lips curling into a smile in the next moment as Artemisia resumed patting her head.
However, that smile disappeared in the next second when Artemisia voiced out a single question.
[So, mind telling me how much of your 'power' that you used?]
Kayla's body visibly flinched as she looked away and whistled suspiciously for a moment, throwing a small side glance at Artemisia as she replied.
[A teeny-weeny little bit.]
Sadly, the goddess didn't seem to believe her, turning her attention to the other spirit in the room and asking.
[How much did she use?]
[30 more seconds and her crown would have begun manifesting itself.]
Both Artemisia's and Kayla's eyebrows twitched simultaneously upon hearing Kuro's reply, with the young spirit instantly sensing danger and attempting to flee.
Sadly, this attempt failed miserably as Artemisia grabbed her by her braid and pulled her back before giving her a good scolding while the shadow spirit watched on in silence.
[You brought this on yourself, Lady Kayla.
If only you had just told Lady Artemisia about your decision before you ran off to go and see Master when he came out of that Dungeon.]
[B-but-!]
[No buts!
Do you have any idea how many problems you nearly caused?]
Kayla held her sore forehead and gazed at Artemisia dejectedly with small teardrops emerging from her eyes, however, her attempt to evoke sympathy from the goddess failed woefully and she received another forehead flick instead.
[But that was your fault, Big Sis.
Why did you tell Master about Sinclair?]
[Because you butting in wasn't part of her plans.]
Kuro answered on behalf of the half-annoyed goddess, prompting Kayla to turn towards him, however, the young spirit's words got held back in her tongue when she set eyes upon the appearance of her shadow spirit guardian.
Instead of the familiar black cat that she had grown used to seeing, there was now a young boy of about twelve years of age, with black hair and eyes sitting on the couch.
However, unlike regular humanoids, he had no ears on the sides of his head, with the hearing organs resting at the top of his head and looked very much like that of a cat.
Extended from his lower back was a black coloured tail that he held in one hand and brushed with the other.
[Kuro became bigger!]
Kayla jumped up as she spoke, rushing up to the boy and embracing him tightly in her arms.
[Hey, Kuro, why don't you remain like this?]
[I very much prefer my cat form, as such, I would continue to use that form.
Now then, can you go back to Lady Artemisia and have her reinforce your seal? Master's awake now and he might be calling for us anytime soon.]
[Ah!]
Kuro's words sent Kayla flying back to Artemisia, with the golden-eyed goddess heaving a sigh of exhaustion as she silently roused her magic power while gazing at the smiling lightning spirit sitting on her lap.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Don't you feel hot wearing all those layers?"
"Hot? Not in the slightest."
Evan replied to Eliza with a slight yawn as they got down from their horses, before turning his gaze towards the large mansion in front of them.
The young hero was wearing a light grey hooded jacket atop a pair of black trousers, all under a long black overcoat.
He bent down to tie up the laces of his sneakers before running a hand through his messily pushed-back black hair while yawning once more.
"I feel like sleeping for another ten hours."
The boy remarked casually as he walked up to the tall dark-haired man who was standing at the forefront of the rows of knights and servants that filed on both sides of the walkway to the large mansion's entrance.
"The Count of Falos greets the Young Duke of Eris."
"Good evening to you too, Count."
Evan shook the man and exchanged some pleasantries before moving into the mansion as he informed the Count of his 'reason' for abruptly coming over with thousands of troops.
"I believe you should already be aware of the operation that was carried out a few days ago, in relation to the undead that currently plagues the Duchy."
"Yes…I only came to know about it while it was underway."
The Count expressed mild surprise at how he was prevented from noticing the large mobilization of troops from the Bultom County that shared borders with his Falos county, with Evan nodding in affirmation as he spoke.
"Well…one of the Duke's orders before he returned to the Duchy's capital, was to make sure the operation was kept secret from the nobles."
"Huh? May I ask why that order was given?"
Evan looked around at the high-ranked knights and A-ranked adventurers around him before turning to the Count and replying.
"Let's have them settle in first, we'd talk in your study later."
"Oh, yes.
My apologies for the delay.
I'd have the servants show you to your rooms now."
As he watched the Count move further down the hallway, Evan shook his head slightly before turning around to follow the maid that was waiting in front of him.