"My body~" Adela replies causing Lu's lips to curl into a smirk.
"Hoo~ I'll take you up on that then, but there has to be more than just that," Lu plays along with Adela but drops her guard in front of her and her two accomplices. One thing that Lu isn't playing though is her genuine smile and interest to Adela.
Though the Cerulean Witch finds Lu's sudden change of heart towards the three of them concerning, she uses it to get closer to the archdemon.
"What more do you want then? I'll do what's in my power to meet your conditions~ Only if it's within my jurisdiction though~" Adela says hoping to guarantee their alliance with the archdemon using the least amount of effort. She's like Tidge in a sense, haggling to get the best result possible.
It didn't take Lucifia any time at all to respond to Adela as she immediately holds up four of her fingers to her.
"One, if you're going to ally with me then that would mean you're allied to the people with me. That means you can't hurt any of them and that you have to guarantee their safety.
Two, I'll only listen to the one who calls the shots and I'll oppose any order that's given that won't benefit me.
Three, you can only be honest in answering questions you're asked to and you have to make your intentions clear.
Lastly four, I want you to keep what you know about Drew a secret to him." Lucifia lets out a sigh as she puts her hand down.
Adela is amazed by the conditions Lu's trying to set for her, she's even thinking that the archdemon had already planned for this and how she'll make the best use of an alliance with her. Though, the fourth condition does greatly amuse Adela that her smile couldn't help but grow wider.
"That's quite the tall order~ But I can promise you that I'll treat your conditions as law~ If you can't take my word for it, would you like to make it into an official contract?" Adela says laughing mischievously as she draws a magic circle in the air.
"I'll trust that you'll listen to my conditions~ so no, the contract isn't necessary," Lu says and as she looks at Adela in the eye, she sees that Adela is blushing while looking more astonished than ever.
Lu's slack-jawed at the Cerulean Witch who suddenly cups her own blushing cheeks to hide her flustered expression.
"Y, -You would trust me? The Cerulean Witch? Ahhn!~ I, -I'm falling in love again! Please don't toy with a maiden's heart like this!" Adela cries out.
"Unfortunately~ my heart is already set for someone else so give it up~ But you can be a part of my harem instead~" Lu suggests which made Adela gasp and hold her chest in anguish.
"N, -No! impossible! How could I have fallen for someone with a harem?! Will I just become another asset to you among the group of women you have? Scoundrel!" Adela dramatically plays out their skit, almost losing herself in it.
Just as Lu's about to break into a giggle with Adela, the murderer that she has in tow is now in front of the archdemon. Lu's smile stops midway as she sees the murderous intent in the man's yellow eyes, and it's either she didn't notice or did not bother to notice, but the man has his sword raised and ready to cleave Lu in two.
Without saying a word, the man swings his sword down at Lu and she responds by holding her hand out and flicking her finger at the blade, snapping it in two, creating a crisp sound of shattering metal.
Lu turns her gaze on Adela who's none too pleased by the action of her accomplice.
"Can I?" Lu asks politely.
"You can," Adela responds.
The accomplice glares at Lu but what he sees in front of him is her finger that flicks him off back to Adela who picks him up and puts him back up on his feet. Now with a clear view, Lu can see that he's a battle-scarred easterner with short black hair and sharp yellow eyes.
"I'm sorry about his attitude~ Shin here is quite the battle-hungry mutt. I'll be sure to put him on a tighter leash after this~" Adela apologizes which Lu waves off, not minding what happened.
"It's alright~ now, what do you want me to do?" Lu asks crossing her legs and putting her hands on her lap.
Adela glances at the manor to see if her skit with Lu was heard by anyone, and thankfully it seems that no one did. She turns her attention back to Lu and warmly smiles at the archdemon.
"You're already aware that in three days a company of knights led by the famous Sir Sigmund Morganach is coming to Aspen, right?
And Leiger plans to use that company of knights, particularly Sigurd as a means to put you out of the picture."
Lu inadvertently interrupts Adela with the sound of her nails digging into the picnic table, but rather than having a scowl on her face, Lu instead looks like she's about to burst into a fit of manic laughter.
"One exceptionally talented knight won't be enough to kill me~," Lu tells Adela while still wearing that fake ecstatic grin on her face.
In reality, Lu doesn't want to fight Sigmund as she fears that it would only cause suffering for Drew, but she's also thinking that Drew himself shouldn't fight Sigurd because of how uncertain she is of the outcome.
"Maybe not Sigmund, but if you were to kill the capital's second strongest knight you would garner the attention of the person we least want to have as our enemy, Fafnir.
If you were to do as you please, you'd be playing into Leiger's hands and giving him the strongest piece.
So, I have a proposition. I want you to lose to Sigmund and let the little witches you have and their uncle to get captured with you. It's already been set that all of you will be executed and Leiger would show himself, leaving him vulnerable to getting captured.
And before any of you are killed in the execution, I'll save you all with the help of Ms. Hemlin here and this flea-infested mutt~"
The Cerulean Witch points to her right where Hemlin is silently in standby. The vermin witch, as Adela lovingly calls her, wears a lime-green woolen dress and a crochet cowl that she has pulled down right now, showing her orange hair. Adela then half-introduces Shin as he and Lu have already acquainted themselves.
After introducing her two accomplices, Adela crosses her arms and her fingers while waiting for Lu's reply. She's giving Lu quite the stare because she's trying to figure out what's on the archdemon's mind, and whether or not she'll be inclined to gamble the lives of others by putting them at risk of death.
"Do you think I trust you that much that I'd agree?" Lu says to Adela with a half-smile.
"You did say that you do trust me~" Adela cheekily replies to the archdemon with confidence.
It may not be her most desired way of wanting to handle the problem at hand, but Lu has no other option on the table and if she can take Adela's word, not only would Melissa, Aranea, and Hagurd's safety be guaranteed, but if Leiger is captured she would have something for Andrew to redeem himself on.
'Uncovering the vile mysteries of a doctor, not bad.' Lu's half-smile becomes a full one. "I'll look past the fact you used Hemlin to put me here, that still bothers me, but you know what? I'll trust you."
Hearing that from Lu, Adela smiles back at her.
"Splendid~ but can I ask? What's driving you to do all this?" Adela already knows the answer to her question. It's quite obvious to her why Lu is doing all this, But she still wants to hear it from Lu herself.
Being put on the spot is one of the things Lu doesn't appreciate, especially when it comes to difficult subjects like her motivation that drives her to do what she does. She wants to explain that it's because she wants to help Drew because he helped her and that the friends he has are now her friends as well that she values.
"Because I love him, I guess." Lu finds explaining all that too difficult so she settles with an easy answer that she hopes Adela would understand.
Adela does not understand.
"My turn to ask. Are you and that flute witch responsible for me being in Aspen?" Lu asks Adela and the question alarms Hemlin that she turns to Adela in fear that she might get mauled by Lu.
"Don't worry. You two can leave now." Adela snaps her fingers, making Shin and Hemlin leave the two of them alone to talk. "Yes. I saw you in the forest and thought that once you come to you'd be the perfect person to team up with against Leiger~ My turn, Did you prepare for this alliance to happen?"
As Adela smiles, so does Lu.
"I did when Andrew mentioned you to me. But I wasn't going to actively look for you and have this deal, I waited for you to come here yourself and because of that I'm able to make the demands," Lu says snickering.
"Keep that up, and I may really fall in love." Adela's impressed at how cunning the archdemon turns out to be.
"I would like to keep talking, but I'm afraid we're out of time," Adela says as Lu then hears Melissa crying out her name. The archdemon glances at the front porch of the manor, but quickly back at Adela who has disappeared already.
Lu lets out a disgruntled sigh. She wanted to ask Adela about Andrew, but now it's a little too late.
"Lucifia!" Melissa calls out to her again.
"What is it, I'm coming!"