Chapter 230: A Foxian Tale of the Haunted 『 Part Five 』
「 Stelle continued her trash-talking, pointing mercilessly at Huohuo's nose and delivering a brutal humiliation: "The Ten-Lords Commission really isn't picky. To think a piece of trash like you could become a judge—it's enough to make anyone laugh their teeth out."
"Wuu-wuu…" Huohuo actually sounded like she was crying now.
Tail, floating beside her, couldn't listen to this anymore and glared fiercely at Stelle in defense: "Hey, hey, that's enough. The only ones allowed to lecture this guy are me… and those few judges. Got it?"
"…Tsk, something's wrong. I smell one of my own."
Realizing something was amiss, Tail suddenly laughed, then mercilessly switched to taunt mode: "It's you, Cirrus. Hiding inside a puppet's body, playing ventriloquist? That really fits the track record of a scumbag like you."
"Ha… Hahahaha! truly laughable! I thought you had escaped the fate of suffering in the Creation Furnace?"
Cirrus paid no mind to Tail's cynicism. She looked at Huohuo beside him and insulted her: "Who would have thought that the most belligerent fragment of the great heliobus Ignamar would be sealed inside a weeping little girl's body as a watchdog—ah, no, no, the current you doesn't even count as a dog! You're just a… tail~ Right? Tail, Tail, Tail!"
Tail felt like he was going to faint from anger. The critical issue was that right now, he really couldn't do anything to Cirrus. With the seal in place, his range of movement was limited to just a few meters around Huohuo, exactly like being trapped in a cage.
"…Damn it! You little coward, think of something, quick!"
Reminded by Tail, Huohuo finally realized what to do and slapped a human-shaped talisman onto Stelle. With the talisman's help, Stelle felt Cirrus's influence lessen significantly. 」
「 .....」
〜Frieren: Beyond Journey's End World〜
Clenched.
Fern's fist was clenched hard.
Although she maintained that calm and tranquil appearance on the surface, the veins popping on her forehead couldn't deceive anyone. With that aura, if Zoltraak could hit a heliobus directly through the light curtain… the screen would probably be shattered by her.
"Frieren-sama."
Fern slowly turned her head to look at her.
"I would like to see if there are any monster subjugation requests nearby… If there are monsters similar to ghosts, please notify me."
Before Frieren could answer, Fern tilted her head back and took a deep breath. That breath, filled with rage, seemed as if she were trying to inhale every monster in the world right in front of her.
Then, she stood up and walked quickly out of the tavern.
"Tsk, tsk. Fern still can't hide that killing intent…"
Watching Fern's retreating, Frieren sighed softly.
"You can't blame Fern. Mainly, Cirrus is just too punchable. No wonder she was sealed in this illusory maze; she wasn't wronged in the slightest… Just based on that mouth alone, she's at least a priority-level disaster on the Xianzhou."
Sein looked at Tail on the light curtain, who was half-dead from anger, and chuckled.
"Come to think of it, this is the first time we've seen Mr. Tail get suppressed in terms of aura during an argument. In a way, is this Cirrus actually Tail's natural counter? It's the first time I've seen Tail lose an argument and apply for assistance from Huohuo."
—
「 Although Cirrus's influence was temporarily suppressed, Huohuo had been driven somewhat into a shell by Cirrus's words and was silently squatting in the corner, heartbroken. Tail couldn't bear it either, so he pulled Stelle aside and whispered, discussing how she should go comfort her.
In the deserted corner, Huohuo was crying her eyes out. Facing Stelle's approach to comfort her, Huohuo shook her head; she couldn't refute a single word Cirrus had said.
From almost being eaten by Tail as a child, to henceforth having a tail with special flame effects and becoming an outlier in everyone's eyes. After entering the Ten-Lords Commission, she thought she had found a place to belong, only to unexpectedly have to fight all sorts of demons and monsters every day…
"I… I'm really not suited for this job. If I can make it back alive, I'll submit my resignation to the Ten-Lords Commission," Huohuo said weakly. "I'm truly sorry, I can't be of any help."
"But Huohuo, your paper dolls helped me a lot. They're still very useful," Stelle said sincerely.
"Really? That's wonderful."
Hearing this, Huohuo finally smiled through her tears. Tail also hurriedly added his own comfort from the side, completely lacking the fierce tone he had during their bickering earlier.
Cirrus lamented that Tail was not what he used to be. When speaking of the power he possessed back in the day, Cirrus appeared extremely proud, but Huohuo caught the key point: "Power back in the day?"
"Oh my, Mr. Tail, she knows absolutely nothing of your origins… Little sister, heliobi are supposed to entrench themselves where humans gather. Do you know why we are gathering in this desolate Fyxestroll Garden today?"
"…Team building?" Huohuo looked at her with a face full of confusion.
"…"
Cirrus felt like her CPU had just been fried. She had to explain that the Fyxestroll Garden beneath their feet was once, over a thousand years ago, the ancient battlefield of the great heliobus Ignamar and a certain Luofu General.
The Creation Furnace shattered, the heliobi escaped, and they gathered here to fulfill their long-cherished wish of crossing hands with the General once more. And when speaking of that great war, Cirrus was surging with emotion, her voice even rising a few octaves.
"That battle was truly earth-shattering, enough to make ghosts and gods weep! Ignamar transformed endlessly—floods and scorching fires, crumbling mountains and lightning strikes! He fought that General to a standstill, a complete fifty-fifty split!"
Stelle fought back the urge to stand up and salute, pressing the question: "Really… a fifty-fifty split?"
"Absolutely!" 」
「 .....」
〜KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World〜
"What?! Able… able to go back and forth with the General?!"
Kazuma's pupils quaked, and suddenly, even the way he looked at this little ball of ghostly fire changed.
Everyone had witnessed the General's strength. As an Emanator of The Hunt, his performance was nothing short of exaggerated. To be able to go fifty-fifty with a guy who received a blessing from a Star God, that means he must have at least half the strength of Phantylia, right?
"If the battle was that exaggerated, why doesn't there seem to be any record of it on the Xianzhou? Don't the Xianzhou natives love to turn these kinds of stories into storytelling scripts or operas to sing about?"
Yunyun suddenly asked.
"…Right,"
Kazuma suddenly remembered. There were plenty of legendary stories about the High-Cloud Quintet on the Xianzhou, and legends of previous Generals existed too, but this was the first time he had heard of this great heliobus, Ignamar.
"Hmph, do you even need to think about it? Of course, this Cirrus is bluffing."
Megumin crossed her arms, her face written with the confidence of someone who had seen through everything.
"From what we've seen so far, the Xianzhou people attach great importance to history. Anyone they take seriously and acknowledge must be a formidable enemy that cannot be underestimated."
"Conversely, if someone isn't taken seriously by them… or is even ignored, then exactly how much weight they carry goes without saying, doesn't it?"
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