The aftermath of the fight was a lot better than expected. Raon had a few broken bones, Wilharrow was perfectly fine since he just revived, and I sustained little to no injuries because of my healing magic. Fina and Leon were both mostly unhurt. Just a few minor scratches from when they wrestled over my teleportation crystal.
"Here, allow me." [Lapis]
She aimed a hand at Fina and Leon before creating a green magic circle beneath them. Within an instant, all the scratches vanished.
"You two should take care of your bodies more. A woman's greatest weapon is their looks, you know?" [Lapis]
"Um… Thank you, Miss?" [Fina]
"Call me Lapasia." [Lapis]
"Thank you, Ms. Lapasia." [Fina]
"Just Lapasia is fine." [Lapis]
I'm surprised she didn't allow Fina to call her by her nickname. Guess it's my little privilege.
"Leon, you should thank her too." [Fina]
Leon bowed her head.
"Thank you, Lapasia. You saved my meat. I am in your debt." [Leon]
Lapis ruffled Leon's hair.
"Aw, you're so silly and adorable." [Lapis]
I'm not sure if that was a compliment or an insult. Either way, Leon quickly went on her way to cook some dragon meat.
"Now, we should deal with the broken crystal problem." [Lapis]
With a snap of a finger, a new crystal appeared in front of me.
"You all can have one." [Lapis]
"You all?" [Solace]
Now that she mentioned it, I realized that a crystal appeared in front of everyone else.
"This is a teleportation crystal that will allow instantaneous transfer to my magic tower. I've improved it so that you can go back and forth." [Lapis]
I suddenly recalled the time she fired me out of a cannon. She must've designed the new back-and-forth teleportation after that.
"If any one of you need anything related to magic, just say |Elara| and you will come to my tower." [Lapis]
"Seriously?" [Wilharrow]
"Not for free though~." [Lapis]
"Ah, of course." [Wilharrow]
His expression stiffened. Did he think it was going to come with no cost? Regardless, I had another question to ask.
"Lapis, why did you send Jukhan away? Weren't you going to capture him?" [Solace]
"Hm? Oh, the bounty? I thought I would be able to overpower Jukhan's magic immunity with a higher grade magic, or physical means. Well, you saw how that turned out." [Lapis]
"So you've given up?" [Solace]
Lapis shrugged.
"It's the only choice I have. Jukhan's physical ability has far surpassed my expectations." [Lapis]
"So we're going to let him loose?" [Solace]
"You assume that there aren't any other people hunting him." [Lapis]
"Okay, but are they strong enough to catch him?" [Solace]
That made Lapis garner some thought.
"If we're lucky. It's not our problem though." [Lapis]
"Oh, okay." [Solace]
So she's the type to just throw things aside as long as it doesn't bother her directly.
"Great Sorcerer of the Moving Tower, why are you so willing to help us?" [Wilharrow]
Lapis gave him an impressed look.
"My full title? I'm flattered." [Lapis]
"I've heard of your tales spanning over five hundred years-" [Wilharrow]
"Ahem!" [Lapis]
Wilharrow's voice trailed off before he recollected himself.
"Your strength and wisdom is very well known within the Holy Temple." [Wilharrow]
"I know." [Lapis]
She said that with great confidence.
"What did you do for them to know you?" [Solace]
"A lot. There was this whole war and whatnot. The most recent one involved the Sword King, Vincent, the Templar Order, and a bunch of others." [Lapis]
"...You did something bad, didn't you?" [Solace]
"It's a matter of perspective." [Lapis]
Yep, she probably committed war crimes or something.
"The ascending siege." [Wilharrow]
"The what?" [Solace]
"The ascending siege. It's the most bloody event that Lapaesia is known for." [Wilharrow]
"Wait, she's the Violent Witch?!" [Raon]
With a precise turn of a finger, a small zap of electricity struck Raon.
"Ow!" [Raon]
"Mind your tongue." [Lapis]
("Huh. Fits the bill I guess.") [Solace]
"In any case, I believe it's time for me to leave." [Lapis]
"Already?" [Solace]
Lapis put on a playful smile.
"Don't tell me you're going to miss me?" [Lapis]
"Not… particularly?" [Solace]
I got zapped. Good thing I became resistant a while back.
"That much isn't enough to-" [Solace]
Within an instant, I was blown away. I was dragged against the ground and came to a stop with a surprised expression.
"Is that enough for you?" [Lapis]
I let out a strained cough.
"...Yep. You can leave now." [Solace]
"Hm. See you another time, fourth." [Lapis]
She also glanced at Wilharrow.
"And the Hero of Metus." [Lapis]
"How did you-?" [Wilharrow]
With that, she vanished alongside her tower. Though, I would expect her to still be there with the tower in invisibility mode.
"It's done!" [Leon]
With excitement I had never seen before, Leon started portioning the cooked dragon meat. We all looked at each other with a sense of "Can't be helped" and put aside all matters. In the end, we gathered around the little makeshift fire pit Leon had.
"Hold on. Is this stuff safe to eat?" [Solace]
The flesh of the dragon turned purple after being exposed to flame, which is strange considering its blood was originally red.
"Dunno." [Leon]
We all stared at her, now realizing that Leon had already taken a massive bite. For a moment, I could've sworn she was glowing.
"...Are you okay?" [Solace]
Leon tilted her head at me as if she didn't understand what I was saying.
"Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?" [Wilharrow]
Leon shook her head. This led to the rest of us giving each other hesitant glances.
"...Let's eat." [Wilharrow]