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Tafel swept her gaze over the fallen, groaning men. When her gaze finally landed on Mary, she raised an eyebrow. “Were these people plotting to kill me?” For some reason, there was a faint smile on Tafel’s lips. “Be honest.”

“They were,” Mary said and snorted. She stared at the keepers, who were now barely shrouded by the holy light.

“Madam Mary, why are you friends with a devil?” one of the keepers asked. “Aren’t you a descendant of the Blessed Virgin Mary? How can a creature like her be your best friend!?”

Mary blinked hard. “How can a virgin have any descendants?”

For a brief moment, the keepers were stunned, unable to think of a reply. It was Tafel who spoke next. “You know how descendants are made?” she asked with wide eyes, staring at Mary.

“Yes,” Mary said, giving Tafel a weird look. “Vur’s elementals and fairy were the ones who made me realize there wasn’t a stork.”

A tinge of pink crept onto Tafel’s face, and she cleared her throat. “Anyways,” she said and placed her hands on her hips. A bright smile split her lips. “I’m really glad these people tried to kill me.”

“Huh?” Mary tilted her head. “What do you mean glad?”

“It means I’m doing something right!” Tafel said. “If no one’s trying to kill you when you’re their ruler, then you’re doing something wrong. You see, they’d only want to kill you if they’re jealous of your position, and they’d only be jealous if your territory was doing well.”

Mary furrowed her brow. “No one tried to kill me before.”

Tafel cleared her throat. “Moving on. How have you been? Have you seen Prika or Vur? What have you been doing these past few months? How long were you actually in this world?”

“That’s a lot of questions,” Mary said. “It feels like you’re trying to distract me.” She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ve been bored, very, very bored. A few months ago, I fell from the sky and landed on a boat. The land over there was very nice, lots of tasty food. While trying to find the emperor, I somehow ended up at a church and became the pope.”

“Self-declared pope,” one of the keepers said in a low voice but loud enough for Tafel to hear.

“Afterwards, I received a mission to capture the witch that punched down this kingdom’s fortress,” Mary said, ignoring the interruption. “I thought it was either you or that little woman.”

“She has a name, you know,” Tafel said and rolled her eyes. “Well, it wasn’t me. I heard about her too, but apparently, she went back south to conquer this place called Rhodes. Last I heard, the force she’s working with is heading north again. It seems like such a hassle to head back and forth without being able to teleport.” Her eyes lit up. “Speaking of which, does your land-shrinking ability still work?”

Mary raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t it work?”

“Great!” Tafel gave Mary a necklace. “Here. If you insert some mana into this stone, I’ll be able to locate and open a portal next to you no matter where you are. You can walk around randomly until you find Vur, Prika, or something interesting. I know you probably haven’t been using it because you were afraid of getting lost, right?”

Mary nodded twice. “Wait a minute,” she said while inspecting the necklace. “If you had something like this, why didn’t you give it to us before we went inside that dragon’s portal?”

“I didn’t know how to make it back then,” Tafel said. “During my downtime, I’ve been inspecting the crystal Sung uses as a receiver. I copied a few of the runes on it, so now I have this.” She gestured at the necklace. “I’ve already found Mr. Skelly, and we know where Alice is located. We’ll be counting on you to find Prika and Vur since they don’t seem to be nearby. If they were, we’d definitely have heard of them by now.”

“You’re counting on me?” Mary asked, her eyes glittering. “I’ll do it. I’ll find Vur even if I don’t really like him, and I’ll find Prika too.” She nodded before glancing at the knights and keepers, who weren’t quite sure what to do. “But first, how should I teach them a lesson?”

“Wait, wait,” Tafel said. “You don’t have to teach them anything.”

Mary pursed her lips. “They misidentified you though.”

“Misidentified? What do you mean?”

“They called you a devil instead of a demon.”

Tafel rolled her eyes. “I’ve pretty much given up on trying to correct them,” she said. “Everyone I’ve met always says I’m a devil first. At first, I was pretty annoyed, but then, I changed my mindset and it doesn’t bother me anymore.”

“Changed your mindset?”

“Right.” Tafel nodded. “I just think of everyone here as children. You don’t get mad when children are wrong, do you?”

Mary stared at Louis II’s advisor. She pointed at him. “How old does he look?”

Tafel glanced at the man with a white beard. She cleared her throat. “Seven.”

Mary furrowed her brow. She gave Tafel a weird look. “Do you mean seven in dragon years?”

“Look, it’s not about the appearance, alright?” Tafel asked. “It’s—”

“How old are you?” Mary asked the advisor, interrupting Tafel.

“I’m fifty-seven.”

“You hear that?” Mary asked, nudging Tafel.

“No.” Tafel raised an eyebrow. “How can you speak Hungarian?”

Mary blinked. “With my sword.”

“Translating magic?” Tafel asked. “Interesting. It’s not really my field though.” Her brow furrowed. “What type of magic would that be classified as anyway? It’s not white, black, blue, red, or green. Nor is it time or blood.” She scratched her head. “Well, whatever. As long as it works, right?”

Mary shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.” She smiled at Tafel. “Well, I’ve told you how I’ve been. How about you? You became an empress?”

“Self-declared empress,” Louis II muttered. He had just woken up, having passed out when Mary slapped him with wind pressure using her sword. “The world’s gone mad. Even the keepers of the church are working with devils.”

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