"Welcome to the magic show from the great magician~ Everyone in the audience, be sure to keep your eyes wide open~"
A stage set up by a single person—no, it could at best be called a street performance using the city square. Surrounded by a crowd, the star of this magic show was a wonderfully-built young woman in a leather-bound outfit.
One side of her hair was brownish-yellow, the other a deep green. This extremely contradictory, almost pieced-together color scheme, even in the Previous Era with its high degree of hair color freedom, could still be considered a striking sight.
This energetic young woman performed all sorts of novel magic tricks for the audience, her masterful illusions bringing gasps of surprise and novel experiences to the onlookers.
It wasn't until the magic show ended and the crowd dispersed, as the girl organized her magic props, that a sweet, pure, and cheerful voice reached her ears:
"Although the scale is nowhere near Eden's, it was indeed a splendid performance. I'm so happy I got to see such a show~"
Vill-V looked up to see an incredibly beautiful pink-haired girl in cool summer clothes.
The complimented magician's lips curved into a smile. She said quite naturally, "Of course~ My magic will one day amaze the whole world, earning applause no less than that superstar Eden."
"This beautiful young lady has been watching from the beginning. Could it be that you've been captivated by my exquisite magic?"
"Perhaps so? Oh my, what's the secret behind this handkerchief? How can it hide such a large object? I'm so curious~"
Approaching naturally, the pink-haired girl smiled noncommittally, her bright eyes fixed on the handkerchief in Vill-V's hand. The latter shrugged and politely declined:
"Unfortunately, a magician never reveals her secrets~"
"That's true. If the secret is known, the magic loses its original charm, right? Then it wouldn't be as fun anymore."
The rejected girl nodded in agreement, then gazed at the magician with a hint of deeper meaning.
Noticing this, Vill-V quickened her movements and laughed a few times:
"Haha, this lady knows quite a bit~ You're welcome to watch my next magic show."
"That won't do, will it? After all, I have no idea where you'll run off to next, Vill-V~"
The girl was clearly smiling, but her words made the magician subconsciously shrink her neck, chuckling nervously:
"Haha, I can't quite hear what you're saying, miss."
As her words fell, sensing something amiss, Vill-V was about to make a run for it when she felt a weight on her wrist.
Looking down, she saw a gleaming silver bracelet.
The next moment, she met the pink-haired girl's eyes. The latter smiled lightly and said:
"If I let you escape, it would be very troublesome to find you again~"
"Sigh."
Glancing at the silver bracelet on her hand, Vill-V sighed.
Yet, there wasn't a trace of worry in her heart.
Throughout her life, she had been captured countless times.
But—
"Hmm~ Thinking about how to escape?"
As if seeing through the magician's thoughts, the pink-haired girl smiled knowingly and nodded. "Indeed, there probably isn't a prison in this world that can hold you, Vill-V."
"Oh? Have you done your research on me? If so, why not just let me go? It would save me the trouble of escaping."
"That won't do~ I don't want to meet you in the interrogation room of Fire Moth later."
"That place is dark and cramped. It's really not a place for a beautiful girl to be~"
Shrugging, the magician's expression changed slightly.
Simply because—
The girl had uttered the words "Fire Moth".
"It seems you've already investigated quite a bit. It seems I'm not too late after all~"
"You're not with them?"
Hearing the girl's tone, Vill-V raised an eyebrow, abandoning her thoughts of escape.
After the Second Eruption, she had vaguely sensed the presence of this hidden organization.
But their secrecy measures were indeed excellent. Even a genius like Vill-V found it difficult to investigate any useful information on her own. She had originally planned to delve deeper after a while, but she never expected to hear the name of the organization from this girl.
She seemed to know something. Vill-V felt it necessary to take this opportunity to extract some information from her.
"How could that be? Hmm... If I had to say, I'm certainly not on the same side as some of them~"
The girl shook her head, sounding a bit uncertain. But the next moment, as if remembering something important, she revealed a slightly annoyed expression and patted her head:
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself~"
"I'm Elysia, a warrior of Fire Moth—as you can see, a girl as splendid as flying flowers!"
Still as natural as ever, unlike a certain useless Fat Woman. Jiang Qiao had become extremely natural in playing the role of Elysia.
Even if Elysia herself were here, she would probably, after a moment of annoyance, set a goal for herself: I must diligently practice my self-introduction to increase my Elysia-ness, and strive to be even more like Elysia than Jiang Qiao!
Vill-V couldn't see any flaws, only sensing something from her words, and chuckled:
"...It seems that your organization isn't so harmonious internally."
"It's normal. Where there are people, there will be conflict. This kind of thing is inevitable everywhere, isn't it?"
"Elysia" shrugged, sighed lightly, then looked at Vill-V, revealing her signature smile:
"Of course, I don't particularly enjoy these things. For my personal plan, I need to find you before them~"
The magician, not sensing any danger, pondered Jiang Qiao's words.
"For personal reasons? Meaning——"
"You need my power?"
"Of course. You, the genius Vill-V, possess outstanding engineering talent, enough to be called one of the pinnacles of human intellect. Would you doubt your own abilities, or underestimate others' desire for a genius like you?"
"Haha, of course—not!"
—As long as I'm willing, I can.
Vill-V had boundless pride in herself.
"Indeed, I have infinite confidence in myself, but what makes you think you can ask for my help?"
"Hmm... How about beauty? Just think of it as helping a beautiful girl like me, as splendid and colorful as a flower... A kind of mutual appreciation between beautiful girls, you see?"
Vill-V remained unmoved.
"Elysia" tilted her head with a smile, her tone playful:
"The above, of course, was a joke~"
"I want to save the world, so can you lend me your strength?"
The next moment, amidst the pink-haired girl's soft whisper, Vill-V's eyes widened abruptly.
"—In exchange, I will keep your secrets."