"You found a way to protect the town?"
After discussing the right of leadership over the Leonardo knights, Evelyn brought Hannah to the edge of the town where the protective wall was standing. It was built all around Stonewall to keep the town safe from danger, which had been proven not to be the case.
"Mother, are you aware of the Divine Firmament spell?"
"Of course. It's one of the Holy Arts finest protective barrier spell." said Hannah. "It is used to create a strong barrier that protects a large city from demons."
"What if I say we can cast that spell for Stonewall?"
"That's impossible. Only an S-rank mage could cast such spell. And even if we have an S-rank mage, we'd need a high-class artifact that could preserve the spell since the mage would've run out of mana and the shield will be down when that happens."
"Indeed. Even if we have one hundred gargoyle remains, we still won't be able to afford the necessary artifact just to power a barrier for a small town like Stonewall." said Evelyn.
The young Leonardo then summoned the Leonardo Grimoire to her hand.
"But thanks to the Leonardo Grimoire, we can now mimic the Divine Firmament spell without fulfilling its overbearing cost."
"How so?"
"Allow me to demonstrate."
Evelyn extended her hand and summoned the Lucerna.
She flew atop the town's wall and pointed the staff on it.
The magical staff glowed and a shining magical rune appeared on the wall. It was a combination of dark brown and bright golden symbols. With the golden overlying the brown runes.
Hannah flew to the wall and inspected the rune.
"I recognize this brown rune. It's a rune used for the Bara Arts finest barrier spell, Gaia Shield. But I'm not familiar about the golden one."
Evelyn then flew around all parts of the wall surrounding Stonewall, covering the entire installation with the brown-gold magical rune.
Once she circled back to where she began. Evelyn casted her spell.
[Fusion Spell, Bara-Primordial Arts, Fortified Gaia Shield]
A translucent golden dome barrier suddenly covered Stonewall. Illuminating the night with its golden radiance.
Hannah, the soldiers, townspeople, and villagers from neighboring village were all surprised and amazed by this sight.
The baroness flew over to her daughter to ask the young lady what just happened.
"Is this what you said by mimicking the Divine Firmament spell?"
"Yes. Gaia Shield is a great physical barrier, but it could be breached by certain demons from all ranks." said Evelyn. "The Leonardo Grimoire provided a way to incorporate the magical formula of the Primordial Arts to existing magic spells. It's similar in method in how I fortified the weapons and armors of the Leonardo knights using the Primordial Arts."
"And because of that, the Gaia Shield barrier you just created has the same capability as the Divine Firmament?"
"Thanks to the fortification from the Primordial Arts which specialized in countering demons, the Gaia Shield can now prevent all attacks from F to C rank demons. It will also prevent entry for all demons of and between that rank. Just the same as how the Divine Firmament Spell works."
"F to C rank. What kind of demons are those?" asked Hannah.
"Well, the demonic wolves, the gargoyles and the giant three-headed dogs, both in alive and undead form, are E rank. Wyverns, both in alive and undead form, are D rank. Lichs are C rank."
"O Einsof, there're other demons more powerful than those?"
"There are, mother! Based on my studies, the Primordial Arts spell I used during the pilgrimage could only eradicate C-rank demons and below. Which is why the barrier could only protect the town up to that rank." explained Evelyn.
She stared down at the gargoyles corpses below.
"Unlike the demons that raided Stonewall, B-rank demons and above are creatures on a league of their own. Some of them could even disguise as humans and walk freely in the society without anyone noticing."
"How terrifying."
"Indeed. But we have to be pleased with this barrier for now." said Evelyn.
Hannah then raised her eyebrow as she just remembered something.
"Is this barrier permanent or do we need to do something to preserve it?"
"We still need to do something to preserve it, but not in the same way as the Divine Firmament which needs to be constantly supplied with an astronomical amount of mana." answered Evelyn.
She pointed her mother to the golden magic runes on the wall.
"The Primordial Arts rune I wrote on top of the Gaia Shield rune absorbs magic from the environment autonomously. As such, we don't need to supply the barrier with mana."
"Then what's demanding us for preserving it?"
"We'll need a mage who could maintain the runes. As you know as a mage yourself, left as they are, all runes fades overtime. It will be the mage's job to maintain the rune so the barrier holds." said Evelyn.
The Leonardo heiress looked at the people down below. Going back and forth, working hard.
"I estimated the runes will need maintenance ideally twice per day, or at the very least, once every two days. Judging from the complexity of the runes, we'll need at least C-rank mage with good rune-writing skills for that task."
"It will cost money to hire such mage to work on a daily basis like that. But since we'll be selling the gargoyle remains, I believe we can afford to hire one, several even." said Hannah.
The baroness's face suddenly brightened up. "Can't we cast the same barrier to other towns and villages in our domain?"
Evelyn smiled at her mother's proposition. It was exactly what she was thinking as well.
"It is possible. After today, I plan to travel around our domain to cast the barrier in our towns and villages." said Evelyn.
"Why can't we hire another mage to cast them for you? Or how about the two of us split the effort?"
"At the moment, I'm the only one who could create the runes for the Fortified Gaia Shield Spell. The rune implementation of the Primordial Arts is so advanced that you'd need to be a veteran A-rank Mage to be able to formulate them from scratch." said Evelyn. "The mages we'll be hiring to maintain the runes will only be replicating the runes I've already created for them."
"But don't you think we should teach this spell to other people? After all, it is your duty to spread the Great Wisdom to the world."
"All in due time, mother. At the moment I'm still studying the fusion spell itself. Even I am still experimenting with this barrier."
Evelyn put her hand on her mother's shoulder to ease the woman's inquiry.
"Once I've completed my research, I intended to submit the formula to the church and the Magic Tower so all mages in the continent could learn it."
"I understand. I'll notify the settlements in our domain of your upcoming visit and I'll send a request to the Adventurer Guild for the mages we'll need to maintain the barriers."
"Thank you, mother."
A sound of a cry interrupted Evelyn and Hannah.
They looked down and searched for the one who raised the sad tune.
The Leonardo women glanced over the chapel and discovered the source.
A girl was crying over her parents' burial in front of the chapel. The poor girl's parents were two of the victims of the gargoyles attack.
At the moment, town chief Gavin with the help of the Leonardo knights were laying the victims to rest as all the remaining townspeople had returned and were informed of the deaths.
Hannah and Evelyn flew over to the burial site and witnessed the procession.
Could not help but feel sorry for the girl, Hannah went over to the crying orphan and hugged her tightly in her warm embrace.
Evelyn's face darkened at the sight of this terrible scene.
She turned her head and walked away. Hannah who saw her daughter leaving didn't stop the young lady and kept hugging the orphan.
On the other hand, Giselle who was around the chapel to help the soldiers caught sight of Evelyn's depressed look. Since she was the noble lady's attendant, Giselle went over to the Leonardo heiress.
"My lady, can I do something for you?"
"You can keep helping the soldiers and the townspeople as you have been doing till now, Giselle."
"Frankly, my lady, I believe now it'd be best if I offer my support to you."
"And why is that?" asked Evelyn.
"You looked distressed. Right after seeing that crying orphan."
Evelyn stopped on her track and smiled.
"You really are a dedicated servant, aren't you, Giselle?"
"What I am is of no importance if I couldn't aid you, my lady."
Evelyn chuckled of Giselle's persistence.
"If you want to help me, then I do have some errands that you could do."
"On your command, my lady!"
"Tell the town chief to instruct his people to not leave town, at least until tomorrow morning. And if the villagers from the neighboring village insisted on returning to their home tonight, have my mother send several soldiers to escort them back." ordered Evelyn.
Giselle was confused by Evelyn's errand. These are the things Evelyn could have do herself as long as she is around.
"My lady, are you perhaps intended to turn in for the night? Shall I draw you a bath?"
"Hmm? What made you say that?"
"I assumed you asked me to relay all of those instruction because you'll now retire to your chamber and will not be available for the rest of the evening."
Evelyn laughed at Giselle's comment and raised the Lucerna to the sky.
"I didn't tell you to convey those orders because I wanted to rest. But you were correct that I won't be available for the rest of the night."
A magic circle formed beneath Evelyn. Giselle was struck with confusion by what her lady was going to do.
"I'll be back before dawn, Giselle. Tell my mother I said goodnight."
[Bara Arts, Teleportation]
"My lady, where are you going? WAIT!"
A bright light engulfed Evelyn and she suddenly disappeared into thin air.
Giselle could only sigh at her master's disappearance.
"Oh my lady..."