"Hello~ it's unusual for you to call me, Charlie~ did something happen to the heroine by your side?"
Elena's cheerful and teasing voice sounded loudly from Charlie's phone speaker, breaking the silence inside the empty house where he had temporarily relocated.
"I see... That makes sense." Charlie murmured softly, ignoring that sweet greeting for a moment. "Even though the True God in Seirei Gensouki is far stronger compared to the gods in Danmachi, he is still far below the power of the Void Sanctuary versions of Gaia and Alaya."
"Huh? Why are you suddenly mentioning the names of those two bosses? Could it be that your brain has become useless from living with Shiina Mahiru for too long?"
Hearing the other party's words which she did not comprehend at all, Elena on the other end of the phone sounded extremely confused.
"There is indeed a bit of a problem here." Charlie admitted with a wry smile. "But don't worry, it's not a big deal. Anyway, just knowing that you still remember me clearly is more than enough for me."
"Geez... You're being so mysterious, Charlie." Elena let out a bitter sigh. "Whatever. Since you don't want to say, so be it."
"By the way, I am so jealous of you being able to relax over there, while I here have to constantly face the people sent by the Abyssal Devourer who are trying to kill the protagonist."
Charlie showed a guilty expression. "Sorry about that, Elena."
"You better be careful, Charlie." Elena's tone of voice suddenly turned very serious. "I have a strong hunch that the enemy side will make a big move very soon."
"Thanks for the warning. I will definitely stay alert at all times."
"Glad to hear it. Got to go now, this soap opera I'm watching is entering the most important part of the story."
BEEP!
Without waiting for a reply from Charlie, Elena ended the phone call unilaterally.
"She really is..." Charlie shook his head with a wry smile. "She says there's a huge threat lurking, but she herself seems so relaxed."
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Three days later, Charlie decided to visit Mahiru's residence again.
*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!*
He knocked on the wooden door of the house with a steady rhythm.
Before long, the sound of small footsteps was heard approaching from behind the door, followed by Mahiru's melodious voice asking in a polite yet highly wary tone.
"Who is it?"
"It's me. Charlie Avalon."
"Don't know you. Please leave."
"Mahiru—"
"Our relationship is not close enough for me to allow you to call me by my first name."
Even though Mahiru immediately cut him off coldly, Charlie did not feel angry at all.
On the contrary, the guarded attitude the girl showed toward an unfamiliar stranger was actually commendable.
At least, Mahiru was not foolish enough to blindly open the door for anyone—very different from the tragic fate of a purple-haired idol with star-shaped pupils who had a pair of twins, who ended up dead after being stabbed with a kitchen knife by her own fanatical fan.
"Shiina-san. You must be experiencing severe disorientation lately, right? I can answer everything that is confusing you right now." Charlie said calmly.
"Why should I trust you?" Mahiru asked from behind the wooden door that was still tightly shut.
"You don't have to trust me right now. You can determine for yourself whether I am worthy of trust or not after I present the evidence to you."
"..."
Silence.
Mahiru appeared to be weighing the offer from the strange man outside.
*CLICK!*
The door slowly opened.
Mahiru's figure appeared with an appearance that looked a little dull and lacking in energy, staring with a flat gaze.
In an isolated, remote place like Nagoro, she indeed felt there was no longer any need to trouble herself with maintaining her perfect 'angel' image in front of others.
"Come in. But don't try to pull any funny business, or I won't hesitate to shock you using a stun gun."
"..."
Charlie knew full well that the threat was merely a bluff to cover up her fear, but he chose not to call her out on it.
With a thin smile, he stepped into the house and followed Mahiru as she led him toward the living room.
Charlie and Mahiru were now sitting across from each other in the quiet living room, separated by a low wooden table partition.
"Speak. Tell me what you know." Mahiru spoke up, her gaze closely watching every movement of the youth in front of her.
"This might sound very difficult to believe. I hope you will listen to me until the end without interrupting, Shiina-san." Charlie said in a calm yet earnest tone.
"Mm."
Seeing Mahiru nod in agreement, Charlie began to speak.
He recounted a summary of his true identity, the purpose of his presence in this world, up to the entire sequence of events they had gone through together since the very beginning of their meeting.
Throughout the explanation, Mahiru was unable to hide her expression of shock.
The look in her eyes occasionally flashed with doubt and skepticism—as if she were being forced to listen to a teenager with chuunibyou syndrome chattering at length about their wild delusions.
Even so, she still chose to listen to Charlie's account in silence until the end.
Thirty minutes passed in silent tension.
"All of this does indeed sound completely absurd." Mahiru murmured slowly after a long silence. "However, no matter how beyond reason the story you just mentioned is, I... cannot deny it."
The main reason she said so was because in the middle of his explanation earlier, Charlie had directly demonstrated real magical power using Spirit Art right before her eyes.
Mahiru, who initially thought it was just a cheap magic trick, had even tried to expose the secret behind the demonstration skeptically.
But the result was nil; all the phenomena of element manipulation were completely real and just happened right in front of her.
"And your explanation... it answers the riddle of why I suddenly chose to move from the comfort of the city to this remote Nagoro Village far away from society."
"If it were my own decision, it feels highly impossible for me to act this far without a reason."
She bowed her head deeply. Her beautiful long blonde hair fell forward, covering most of her face as if she wanted to hide the expression of sadness that was welling up to the surface.
"My own mother even went as far as trying to kill me." Mahiru whispered in a trembling tone. "Even though my memories have forgotten who the figure was that saved me back then, I know myself."
"I am not as strong as many people imagine. I am fragile."
"I should have broken down in despair due to the murder attempt carried out by my own mother, instead of being capable of living a peaceful life in exile in this village."
As a highly intelligent girl, Mahiru had actually already felt anomaly after anomaly that did not sync up within her daily life since three days ago.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard she racked her brains to think, she always failed to find where exactly the anomaly lay.
That was the primary reason why her appearance over the past few days had looked so gloomy, withered, and dull.
The mental burden from the invisible riddle haunting her mind was slowly starting to be chipped away by the shocking facts brought by Charlie today.
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