There was no one to find fault with their appearance. The fact that the villagers were running for their lives or were unconscious was one reason, but the robes they wore was the real reason.
It was concealment armour. Unless it was an expert at spotting enemies, most would not be able to detect their presence unless they were right in front of the person. There was no way that a regular peasant from the countryside would be able to spot the person wearing this on the roof. In the past, they were able to penetrate the isolated villages of the elves, who were naturally good at hearing and detecting, without being noticed. If even the elves were unable to do so, then even if the St. Gallen army were to enter this village, none of them should be able to spot the two of them above the church.
One of the two opened her mouth as if being unable to stand it any longer.
"Hahahahahahaha! Look, look! Humans are running for cover like ants, aren't they? After all, all creatures that are poked in the nest react in a similar way, don't they?"
The voice of a woman who was both rejoicing innocently and mocking mercilessly. Her words were dizzyingly disproportionate to her tall body and the bulges that pushed her loose robes up from within.
But the other person didn’t seem to mind. It was as if she had already gotten used to human behaviour.
"Hmph. They're just a bunch of lowly hairless monkeys, the lowest of the low. I wouldn't be surprised if their intelligence is no better than that of insects."
What came out from behind the hood were words of unrelenting contempt for the villagers who had fled. She was convinced of her own superiority and hated the human species. The scornful gaze, a mixture of the two, was skin-tingling hot, and at the same time, blood-freezing cold.
After confirming that the villagers were far enough away from the village, they made a sign to each other and removed their hoods.
What appeared were beauties beyond human imagination.
Silver hair and brown skin. Her right eye was amber coloured and her left eye was covered with an eye patch. A dark elf woman with a seductive yet wild beauty.
Blonde hair and white. Sky-blue eyes shining with curiosity and sadistic tendencies. She was an elf girl, possessing a licentious beauty and an innocent yet cruel disposition.
Opus 03 Drei and Opus 06 Seis. These were the demons that reigned as the new rulers of the land, the "masterpieces" that he was proud of.
"Well, as the master instructed. I instilled fear of mountain monkeys in the minds of the regular monkeys and let them go. And what we have to do next… you know that right?"
She said, turning her gaze towards Seis. She was still unsure of the true potential of this new peer of hers. She could feel superior magical powers from her compared to her own. However, her usual behaviour was like that of a child, perhaps even less than that of a child who might start crying in the middle of nowhere after falling.
"This mission also serves as a performance test for you. You can't just stay in the lab forever helping master. You understand that, don't you?"
That's why Drei volunteered for this task in the village which would also serve as a test for Seis. She wondered what the value of Seis would be. Was she just one of her master's assistants or was she a force to be reckoned with?
In response to such an implied confirmation, Seis said.
"Yes, yes! So you're going to test my power, right? Wow, this is going to be fun!"
She spread her arms toward the sky, thrusting her ample breasts out, and displayed her pleasure with full innocence.
Drei was dumbfounded by her lackadaisical attitude. Then, she lowered her voice as if warning her.
"......You. I wouldn’t be angry at all if you just acted a little more nervous you know? You're being tested for your skills, remember?"
"Huh? But it's an experiment, an experiment! I'm going to use magic that I've never used before, and I'm going to make sure that they are perfect! I think it'll be fun, but I'm not really scared or annoyed..."
She put her finger on her jaw and said so without thinking too much of it.
Oh, that's the kind of person she is, Drei concluded. She was a manmade elf who had been trained to have a strong sense of curiosity. For her, experimentation was the best form of entertainment. If it was an opportunity for her to show off her abilities that she had been holding back until now, she would be more than happy.
"Mmm... Well, alright. If you are in such a mood, whatever. Let's get started."
"Yay! Well then, presenting to you Opus 06 Seis! Watch me closely!"
With a cheer, Seis took a step forward and looked out at the scene beneath her.
A village devoid of the liveliness it once had. The completely intact fields of wheat. She took in the entire scenery and projected her magic on it.
"......Fire Spirits of the Heavens, Fire Ghosts of the Earth. Unite here to bring forth purgatory."
Her eyes narrowed, while she chanted her spell fluently and clearly. A huge amount of magic power erupted from her feet, creating a whirlwind and making her clothes flutter. Unlike her usual childish demeanours, she now looked more like an elven priestess solemnly praying to the spirits.
Drei felt impressed.
(Huh. So you can do it if you try, can’t you?)
She thought Seis was just a kid with an enormous amount of magic power, but the speed of her chanting, the precision of her magic control, and the rank of the magic she was trying to activate were all top-notch. Drei could do the same if she wanted to, of course, but the fact that she could do it despite being less than a year old was astounding.
In the next moment.
"—......Eh, what goes next? Ah, so bothersome! I’m gonna skip the chant!"
"You idiot! You're trying to cause an explosion?"
Seis resorted to abbreviating most of the chant for her great magic.
Magic requires precise control during the activation phase. It is a sign of skillfulness for mages that can shorten their chanting or skip it altogether, but mages that omit chants must have planned to do so from the very beginning. Suddenly deciding to omit the chant on the spur of the moment was a surefire way to cause an explosion on oneself.
However.
"Activate! Inferno Storm!"
An incomplete technique that should have malfunctioned was forcibly completed by pouring a large amount of magic power into it. The impact of the magic took shape before their eyes.
Everything was engulfed in flames — the buildings, the plains, the forests, and the fields.
Scorching hot flames burned everything into ashes and then vanished. It was like a scene of hell. The only difference was that the flames were not purifying flames that cleansed sins, but simply a flame that extinguished all lifeforms.
The person responsible for the scorching hell was smiling broadly with a look of satisfaction.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! Amazing! Amazing! I can't believe how amazing my magic is! Everything I can see from here is on fire! It's all on fire! Kyahahahahaa!"
A carpet of flames licked up everything, painting the landscape of the village red. Nobody would believe the woman smiling so radiantly was actually an elf, a guardian of nature. Rather, she was either a pawn of the devil or the devil himself.
It was a humble village that had been built over many years by helpless and miserable humans who cleared the forest, built houses, and cultivated fields. A nest of pathetic, lowly, laboratory animals, reduced to ashes by her own magic. Of course she enjoyed every bit of the process. She felt a sense of exhilaration as if she had kicked down a sand castle that some unknown child had worked so hard to build. The pleasure of satisfying her sadistic pleasures impressed deeply onto her young brain. This might be her first time experiencing such a body-throbbing ecstasy since she was born.
Just as she was at the peak of her elation.
"Are you stupid?"
"Ahh!"
Drei swung down a fist on her as hard as she could.
As Seis was pulled back from the height of joy to reality with shock and pain, she saw the face of her angry senior.
"A difficult higher spell, and your first use of it, so don't just decide to omit the chant just like that! What were you thinking? Do you have a death wish? Did you want get me involved in your stupid self destruction? Or are you simply an idiot!?"
"I'm sorry! I forgot the full spell!"
In a full reversal, Seis shrunk down like a small animal and apologised fervently. However, Drei's anger did not subside, and she continued to squeeze Seis's temples.
