「Hey, I don’t get this theory at all, what’s going on here?」

「It’s a little late asking you this but, how exactly are you able to use techniques that you don’t even understand the theory of?」

「Ask the heroic spirits」

「I seriously do want to ask them…」

A few minutes had passed after Merea had arrived at the library.

After Merea had entered the room, he had promptly told them, 『We’ll be having a dinner party today』 and immediately took a seat next to Lilium.

Lilium who had a strange wild pickiness saying that, if you’re reading in the library then, 「Sitting on the floor is best」, was sitting on the floor of the library flipping through the pages of a book. As if imitating that, Merea took a seat on the floor as well.

「Ah, Shaw really didn’t turn up here right?」

「Nope, he didn’t turn up」

「When I talked to him in town a little while back, he showed an insane obsession with money… I thought that might be what happened」

While seated on the ground, Merea floated a troubled smile as he spoke to Aiz. He scratched his head for a moment before he shrugged.

「Well, he might come after quickly finishing all his work related to money」

「Fufu. It’s probably, just as Merea-kun said, he might have something to do」

Aiz replied Merea with a smile. At those words, Merea breathed a sigh and once more shrugged in a dramatic manner.

「Merea, pay attention」

「Ah, yes」

Lilium called Merea back to his studies.

Aiz, who was about to take a seat on a chair, felt curiosity towards what the other two were doing and once more found herself approaching Lilium. Next to them, on the floor, a complicated pattern could be seen. It was a technique formation.

It was probably a technique that Merea had invoked.

「So this is the〈White Lightning of the Lightning God (Celestas Barca)〉...」

「That’s right」

「That’s scary. It’s hard to imagine a human like me has managed to knit such a technique. A white lightning that can be controlled at will, that sort of event itself is crazy in itself but what I find to be the most insane would be the fact that there are several variable formulas included inside that would adapt to the body. Seeing this, the white lightning was definitely designed with wrapping it around your body like you have as the final goal」

「Hee」

「It’s about a technique you use, you know?」

「Hee…」

When Lilium looked at Merea with a sharp gaze, Merea started nodding vigorously like a frightened puppy.

「So, you want to decipher this and be able to more finely manipulate it right?」

「That’s right. Amongst all the techniques of the heroic spirits, this one is the one I specialise in the most and I’m quite used to using it after all. I’ve also had quite a bit of hand-to-hand combat drilled into me so, when combined with that, it’s quite easy to use?」

「Hand-to-hand combat isn’t my speciality but as a concept, that would be so, right?」

「That’s why, compared to other――long winded techniques, I’ve come to rely a lot on Celesta’s technique. So I thought it might be good to add some diversity into that technique」

「That explanation itself is winded but I somehow understand what you’re trying to say」

「Also, lightning is really cool isn’t it?」

「Without that last sentence, things would have been so much better…!」

「Sorry…」

Lilium gave a hard nudge to Merea’s head. It was like an older sister admonishing her younger brother. In reality, Aiz wanted to try acting like that once as well.

In the study sessions of the two which had become a fairly common sight recently, Lilium who was quite knowledgeable in techniques naturally ended up as the teacher.

It seemed like Merea was having Lilium help him out with deciphering the techniques of the heroic spirits.

In other words, 『It was never said that getting help from someone else is forbidden! Haha! You naive fools!』, kind of a thing.

「I’ll put it bluntly but I don’t think we’ll make that much progress even if I do help you out you know? ...On account of this technique being that unique」

「B, but but, it’s definitely better than me trying to handle all of it alone! ――Could it be that they anticipated such a thing happening and still decided not to speak...? No, I can just picture the wind god (Van) bursting out laughing. While saying he wanted me to acquire his techniques, he did say something on the lines of, 『Having them acquired easily is also quite annoying』...」

「Aren’t there too many who hate to lose…?」, Merea grumbled as he held his head. In the meantime, Aiz’s thoughts continued on thinking about the same thing she had been since a while ago.

――The only others who nudge Merea’s head like that would be...Elma?

If people like Shaw from the male team were excluded then that would be it.

――....

She really wanted to try that gesture that was proof of being on good terms with someone.

――B, but, he’s, occupied right now...right?

Aiz desperately held down her urge to nudge him in the head. She decided to look for an opportunity to do it in the future.

「In any case, if I’m able to handle it better then it would definitely be useful for many things. Something like producing lightning just from the finger and using something like a covert electric shock would be nice」

「I don’t get what would be nice about it and I really can’t picture you doing anything covert but, in order to get used to detailed use, that sort of a method might just be right」

「Ehh!? A shock without being found out! It’s so cool! It’d be like being an elite spy!」

「Haa…」

Lilium couldn’t help but heave another sigh at Merea’s strange obsession. 「In any case, while reading up on the imperial armaments and demon lord genealogies, I’ll find some free time to help you out with your techniques as well. In the meantime, you copy it all onto a piece of paper or something」

「Ahh, got it. ――Haah, that’s so nostalgic, transcription of techniques. I once copied them to the point where I thought it might be better to just die so, I could probably handle it even if my eyes were crushed」

Seeing Merea suddenly looking off into the distance, Aiz felt slightly anxious.

「Ah, but if you try to write it all then a stupidly huge piece of paper would be needed so for now, do it part by part. Also, if you draw the entire thing then due to the size and complexity of it, I feel like I’ll have a nightmare at night so don’t do it」

「I had a nightmare」

「It’s fine as long as it’s only you who has a nightmare」

「Okay」

Saying that, Lilium proceeded to point out the portions that needed to be copied on the technique that had been invoked on the floor. Aiz stood on the sidelines, enjoying that scene.

◆

「Well, then, the dinner party will be at the usual time」

「Got it. By the way, who’s cooking?」

「I can smell it. Salman’s probably the one who’s in the kitchen right now」

「Your nose is as keen as ever, I see」

「My natural ability keeps evolving day by day thanks to the〈Evolving Genes of the Dragon God (Karel Nusa)〉」

「There you go, coming up with another thing I couldn’t possibly understand」

「I’ll talk about it in the future when we have time. For now, I’ll just say that the reason for me being able to speak the dragon language is because of this」

「Okay, okay」

Merea had turned around just as he was about to leave and spoke to Lilium and Aiz one last time.

「If you try to stuff my head with any more information then even my head would end up blowing up」, grumbled Lilium as she chased Merea away with her hand.

「Well then Aiz as well, see you later」

「Yeah, later, during dinner」

In the end, Merea turned his gaze towards Aiz and waved at her with a bright smile on his face. Aiz waved back and Merea finally left the library.

「Moving around all over the place, I don’t know if he’s doing it intentionally but if he is――then he really is paying a lot of attention to everyone isn’t he?」

Lilium whispered softly after Merea exited the room.

「Yeah. He is everyone’s, lord after all」

「――That’s true」

Lilium and Aiz laughed softly and returned to reading their books till the dinner party started.

◆

「Saru! Salt!」 「Saru! Salt!」

「I just know! That’s sugar isn’t it?!」

「How’d you know?!」 「He knew!」

「You’ve used the same trick too many times! You idiots! ――Just because you like it doesn’t mean that you can put it into everything! Fools! Who the hell wants to eat a sweet roasted chicken!」

「I don’t want to eat that either!」

「If you have time to be shouting then help out! Merea!」

The first floor of the star tree castle.

Once you walk past that garishly decorated main hall, a short distance inside would bring you to the kitchen.

In that main hall, there are passageways that lead to the second floor and there are also passageways that lead to special rooms like the kitchen or dining hall. The decorations of those passageways slowly turn into the less obnoxious white stone.

Merea walked through those passages and made his way past the dining hall and into the kitchen.

In that kitchen, the first thing that came into view was the figure of the〈Fist Emperor〉Salman, wearing a white apron and near him you could see the figures of the bluish silver haired twins, the〈Water King〉and〈Ice King〉twins――Lina and Mina with their bodies wrapped in a similar apron.

「No well, this is pretty impressive on it’s on」

「Impressive!」 「Impressive―!」

The twins repeated Merea’s words like they always did.

One of the twins held the glass jar in her hand tightly and approached the roast chicken in Salman’s hand while the other one hugged him around the waist to try and stop his movements.

「You really look like a mother huh, Salman」

「I’ll definitely punch you later!」

With his sand colored hair waving, he somehow managed to sidestep the boisterous twins and menacingly approached Merea. Merea just stood there with a grin on his face as he watched the situation unfurl.

「Got it! I’ll give you some candy later! From that tender confectionary shop at the back of the castle, that purple tender!」

「Th, that is…!」 「The candy that’s had its sales rising a lot recently!」

The look on the twins faces changed suddenly. Merea felt like their eyes were shining like that of an appraiser. ――Those were the eyes of a connoisseur.

「I guess I have no choice」 「I guess I have no choice」

「What? What’s with this? Why are they so informed about candy? But well, I’ve also been getting familiar with the candy situation inside Lemuse lately though」

「Three pieces」 「Three pieces each!」

「That candy is bloody expensive! So only two!」

「Ehh―」 「If I have to」

It seemed like the negotiation had succeeded.

Having watched up till that point, Merea finally entered into the kitchen from his spot at the entrance. 「My small allowance is going to go down again...Borrowing any more from the money-grubber doesn’t seem like a good idea either…」, grumbled Salman. Merea approached him and placed his hand on Salman’s shoulder.

「――Don’t mind」

「If you had stepped in and helped me out earlier then the situation wouldn’t have ended up here…!」

「Sorry, I knew it would turn out like this and still decided to watch」

Merea had his eyebrows droop and showed a dramatically pitying smile which made Salman ball his right hand into a fist. He aimed towards Merea’s flank with a swift punch.

「!! Fu, fuhaha, my defense won’t crumble with just that much!」 「Damn it! I’ve never been more annoyed at your strength」

Merea stopped that fist with his palm and somehow managed to hold it down.

「Haa…, well whatever. I’ll get back to cooking for now」

「Yeah, handle it carefully」

「You seem quite free. Help out」

「I’m a man who can even fail at roasting nuts」

「On second thoughts, just sit there quietly」

「Okay」

Merea sat down on one of the chairs in the kitchen and watched Salman handle one of the iron frying pans sitting on a stove.

There was a dish different from the roast chicken from earlier on that pan. Though he had never seen a meat of that color but,

――Is that possibly the meat of that snake that Elma hunted?

While having such a bad premonition, Merea suddenly felt one of the twins fly onto his lap so he looked down.

「Merea―」

「Hm?」

「I wonder which one I am, me or my older sister! If you get it wrong then one piece of purple tender!」

She spoke with a spoiled voice with her long hair, which easily went past her waist, tickling Merea’s feet.

Merea looked at her with a bitter smile as he spoke,

「I can’t let my guard down with you can I, you guys come up with bets like this at any time or place. ――But, you’re naive! You, yourself said, 『me or my older sister』! So you’re obviously the younger sister! You’re Mina!」

「Hauu!」

「You’re an idiot right?」 Salman said with a sigh as he continued to his cooking.