■ Water Knows the Answer □
Countess Sophia von Glorious had two disguised identities in the capital city of Oz.
During the day, she was Linda Kent, a freelance journalist.
At night, she was the mysterious thief, Papillon Noir, who raided the warehouses of nobles and demons who had accumulated wealth through illegal means.
However, her true identity was that of Sophia, the hero found by Prince Tipetarius after a long journey, who had received an oracle from the Goddess of Courage.
After inheriting all the assets and rights of the Glorious family from her adoptive father, Prince Tipetarius, she had been continuously training.
All sorts of magic, martial arts, weapon techniques, and physical skills.
With her genius intellect and talent, she absorbed the techniques of every school that could be bought with money in the capital.
Thus, she became the unprecedented double master.
Hero Sophia was both an Aura Master and a 6th-tier Grand Mage.
Unlike the previous hero, Arthurius, who had neglected his training and was only a Sword Expert by the time he reached the Demon King’s Castle, she did not waste the time given to her.
She simply stayed quietly in the basement of her mansion, continuing her battle with herself.
In any case, having reached such a level, Sophia did not act rashly.
No matter how much of a hero she was, she had only just reached adulthood.
Originally, she had lived in the mountains for nearly 18 years, so she knew nothing about the world.
That’s why she chose the profession of a journalist.
With the high noble status inherited from her adoptive father, Tip, she couldn’t approach the darkness that plagued the capital, Oz.
So, she worked as a journalist during the day and as a thief at night, collecting various information.
During the year and a half she spent secluded in the mansion’s basement for closed-door training, the political situation in Oz had changed significantly.
At first, the general citizens who had opposed the demon’s rule began to welcome their policies, while those who advocated for a return to a monarchy had become mere pretentious rebels.
The most useful knowledge she had learned from her adoptive father, Prince Tipetarius, was to view things from multiple perspectives.
On the surface, the royal restorationists seemed morally right, and as the hero, she should have supported them. But upon closer inspection, there was a foul stench.
What they advocated was a return to absolute monarchy, but their plans did not include Prince Tipetarius, a direct descendant of the royal bloodline.
It was merely a situation where those with even a drop of royal blood were vying to become king first.
Upon learning this, Sophia felt disillusioned with the nobles.
Not all rulers were intelligent, but she had expected at least some to be conscientious intellectuals.
However, the nobles, who had become thoroughly corrupt during King Oscar’s reign, all seemed distasteful to her, who possessed noble character.
So, she changed her initial plan and decided to observe the governance of Governor Ozma.
She thought there was no need for her, as the hero, to forcibly destroy a country that was functioning well.
She truly had a rational way of thinking.
And that was why the current Beautiful Girl Mask… no, Papillon Noir, had become a righteous thief who only punished corrupt officials who sucked the blood of the people.
Because Oz no longer needed a hero.
[[#]]”Majestic Storm!”
Originally, it was a pseudo-weather control magic synthesized from the 6th-tier spells Majestic Bearing and Clear Sky Thunder, but now, having long surpassed the 7th tier, it could be used quickly without the previous fuss.
The basic usage was the same, but now, by wrapping positive mana in the left hand and negative mana in the right, the incantation was somewhat simplified.
A stormy army, localized only to the ground, mercilessly swallowed the Beautiful Girl Mask.
This attack was merely a greeting to gauge the enemy’s level, so the amount of damage inflicted was not important.
Crack!
But suddenly, sparks flew in the air, and the Beautiful Girl Mask, who had been caught in the whirlwind, walked out unscathed.
To be precise, a blue aura had settled in her hands.
If my eyes weren’t deceiving me, it meant that the Beautiful Girl Mask was an Aura Master.
There already existed a being who had reached the level of a double master, which was only theoretically the strongest.
Ozma had to see this.
Because he was currently stuck and unable to move forward.
The Beautiful Girl Mask met my eyes and smiled mockingly.
Seeing that, I got angry and unleashed a flurry of wind attacks.
Countless compressed air punches flew towards her.
“Sssss…”
But the Beautiful Girl Mask shattered all the wind punches surrounding her with just one breath.
Then, with a leisurely flick of her finger, a dragon made of water streams was born from the water prison surrounding the mansion and flew towards me.
Normally, I would have dodged, but feeling something like a pride battle, I chose to face it head-on.
I educated the dragon, which had opened its mouth wide, with Majestic Bearing, and used the Whirlwind Blade to cut down the other one.
Seeing my actions, perhaps out of interest, the Beautiful Girl Mask approached with water armor on her arms.
It was undoubtedly an incantation armament.
“Let me learn from you.”
After I said that and took a stance, the Beautiful Girl Mask silently took out a whip from her waist.
Then, the water streams climbing up her arms also wrapped around the whip.
It looked as if the weapon had been enchanted.
I found it interesting because I had rarely seen incantation armaments used in such a way.
In the end, we found each other intriguing.
Thwack!
I took the first move.
Since she was holding a whip, and I was wearing Orichalcum gauntlets, my reach was relatively shorter.
It was a calculated ambush.
But the Beautiful Girl Mask, with a relaxed attitude, caught my punch and naturally redirected the force, as if she had learned judo.
This caused my body’s axis to shake momentarily, and in the moment of vulnerability—
The Beautiful Girl Mask, who had been waiting for an opportunity, struck my exposed abdomen with a punch.
“Ugh!”
I was momentarily shocked by the destructive force on my abdomen and widened my eyes.
Regardless, the Beautiful Girl Mask immediately followed up with a finishing move, aiming to leave a shoe mark on my forehead.
In the midst of the confusion caused by the pain I hadn’t felt in a long time, I hastily rolled my body to dodge.
Then, using my core strength, I sprang up and delivered a spinning kick to the careless Beautiful Girl Mask.
However, the water barrier that had formed between us made the counterattack meaningless, and I quickly changed the type of magic I was using.
“Wind Prison!”
Unlike other magics, Wind Prison is like a small time bomb.
It’s also a pressure bomb that compresses the energy of a storm.
As soon as the Wind Prison landed, the energy trapped inside burst out, eroding the surroundings.
Realizing that touching this, even as an Aura Master, would be suicidal, she canceled her attack instantly.
Instead, the Beautiful Girl Mask threw me to secure a safe distance, then spread a complex double magic circle on the ground and placed her hands on it.
Various animals made of water began to emerge from the magic circle.
Among them, the one that caught my attention the most was a unicorn.
The unicorn, growling, stomped its foot once, lowered its body, and charged at me with a fierce momentum, as if it had no regard for anything.
“Ugh!”
I accidentally grabbed the horn and stopped the unicorn’s charge, but realizing my body was lifted into the air, I hastily wrapped mana around my legs and cut off its head.
It wasn’t a living creature, just made of water, so there was nothing to hesitate about.
But thinking that taking down one unicorn wasn’t enough, various water animals attacked me one after another.
Although I had experienced this pattern before when fighting Baron Betendorf, being outnumbered was the same then as it was now.
Barely fending off the beasts’ fierce attacks, I launched an intangible blade towards the Beautiful Girl Mask, who had been watching leisurely.
But instead of dodging, she casually deflected the intangible blade with her aura-covered hand.
Boom!!
The ground flipped, and dust rose.
I looked at the Beautiful Girl Mask with a bewildered expression.
This girl, no matter how you look at it, is a martial artist like me.
Otherwise, her reflexes wouldn’t make sense.
