"Just how many people know that Ishtar is attacking Freya Familia? There's only so much space around here, yet somehow we've got way too many spectators tonight."
Shiro shook his head as he looked at Ishtar laughing like an idiot in the distance, then shifted his attention toward the other observers scattered around the surrounding rooftops.
"Two people slipped in under invisibility from the east. Southwest is Ouranos, and the person beside him should be one of his private operatives."
He continued scanning the area.
"I don't recognize the woman in the fur coat to the northwest, but if she can stroll through the encirclement this openly, she's probably with Evilus."
"And not far from her is... tch."
Shiro narrowed his eyes.
"Even that masked bastard from the twenty-fourth floor who ran off with the Spirit Jewel came to watch."
The Guild represented order.
Evilus represented chaos.
And then there were the two invisible figures whose allegiance remained unknown.
Putting all of that together...
Shiro almost wanted to applaud.
Who exactly were those Amazons surrounding Folkvangr supposed to be keeping out?
Everyone who should and should not have been here had already slipped inside.
'Does Ishtar Familia secretly go by "the Winery" or something? Why does it feel like anyone can stroll in and become an undercover agent?'
Fortunately, not a single one of the spectators seemed interested in intervening.
If Ishtar's plan, which she had spent years preparing, were ruined by some random outsider, she would probably become so furious she would start smashing her head against a wall.
"Not that those Amazons can keep this up much longer even without anyone interfering."
Shiro folded his arms.
"And here I was kind enough to buff them so they wouldn't get one-shot like trash mobs."
The situation on the battlefield was actually quite easy to understand.
Thanks to their special magic and the Corrupted Spirit obtained from Evilus, Ishtar Familia had temporarily managed to fight Freya Familia on roughly even terms.
If the Corrupted Spirit successfully completed its magic, Ishtar Familia might even gain the upper hand.
But all of that depended on one condition.
They had to maintain their current combat strength.
A spell capable of level boosting seven or eight people simultaneously was absurdly powerful.
So how long could its caster possibly sustain it?
"Should we go down and help?"
Ryuu watched the battle between the two Familias and quietly asked for Shiro's opinion.
Compared with everyone else present, Ryuu did not have any particularly complicated motives.
Much like Hedin, she simply felt an instinctive disgust toward the Corrupted Spirit.
More importantly, Ishtar Familia had started this war.
Helping the victims of an unprovoked attack was the most natural thing in the world to an elf whose heart remained filled with a powerful sense of [Justice].
Still, judging from the scale of the battle below, this clearly was not something a single elf could casually interfere with.
And Ryuu had not forgotten what Shiro told her before they left.
Although she still could not understand how this conflict involving Freya Familia had anything to do with resurrecting Alise and the others, if her impulsiveness somehow interfered with their resurrection, she knew she would regret it for the rest of her life.
So even though every instinct driven by her sense of justice urged her to cut the Corrupted Spirit into pieces, Ryuu endured it and waited for Shiro's decision.
"You're right. We should help."
Shiro nodded with complete seriousness.
"At this rate, Ishtar Familia probably won't last much longer."
"Eh?"
Ryuu froze.
Help who?
Had she misunderstood something?
Wasn't Ishtar the one who allied with Evilus and invaded another Familia?
Why did Shiro suddenly sound like he intended to help them?
Could there actually be some hidden circumstances here?
Was Freya Familia secretly the villain?
Seeing the rarely displayed confusion on Ryuu's face, Shiro found it rather amusing.
"You don't seriously think Freya Familia, one of Orario's two ruling Familias, is only this strong, do you?"
He gently squeezed the girl's hand, snapping her out of her thoughts while bringing a faint blush to her cheeks.
"As far as I know, Ottar alone has one actively activated ability and one special magic, and he's Level 7."
Shiro nodded toward the battlefield.
"Does he really look like someone who's been pushed into a corner?"
Ryuu followed his gaze.
"In the name of the proxy, I command. The name granted unto me is Salamander, incarnation of flame, queen of fire—"
The monster's chant was still continuing.
An enormous amount of Magic, enough to turn the entire surrounding area into wasteland, continued gathering inside the magic circle beneath it.
Even as nothing more than a spectator, the sheer length and pressure of the chant made Ryuu's heart tighten.
This time, however, she stopped focusing on the monster preparing the catastrophic spell.
Instead, she carefully observed the adventurer standing across from it.
That small shift in attention allowed her to notice something strange.
"...Ottar is smiling?"
Ryuu spoke in disbelief.
Indeed.
Ottar was simultaneously guarding against the bull horns of the monster's lower body while looking for opportunities to interrupt the chant of the female torso above.
Most people trapped in such a situation would be overwhelmed.
Even if they remained composed, some urgency would be unavoidable.
Yet under Ryuu's careful observation, Ottar was not using either the ability or magic Shiro had mentioned.
He was fighting the monster with nothing more than his thoroughly trained body.
And on Ottar's face...
Ryuu could see a faint smile of excitement.
Every sign pointed toward the same conclusion.
Fighting the monster was nowhere near as difficult for Ottar as it appeared.
But then...
Why?
A new question emerged in Ryuu's mind.
If Ottar could fight it this comfortably without using his special abilities or magic, why not unleash them immediately, defeat the monster, and help the rest of his Familia?
"Because he's fishing."
Shiro answered as though reading the question from her expression.
"Evilus doesn't know Ottar is still holding something back."
He paused.
"When they see the battle stuck in a stalemate, I figured they'd be more than happy to come over and give Ishtar's side one extra push."
"But..."
"Yeah."
Shiro glanced toward the other rooftops again.
"So far, those people have shown absolutely no intention of intervening."
He gave a quiet sigh.
"Looks like Ishtar's position among Evilus is even lower than I expected."
"What do we do next?"
Ryuu quickly understood the problem.
"You originally planned to help Ishtar in order to gain their trust, didn't you?"
"That approach probably won't work anymore."
From the situation before them, Ishtar simply was not important enough to Evilus.
Even saving her might not earn much credibility in the eyes of people that ruthless.
"Then we move to plan two."
"Plan two?"
"Think about it."
Shiro smiled beneath his hood.
"Why does Evilus spend all its time hiding in the shadows?"
"Because they know that the moment they openly show themselves, the Guild will lead the rest of Orario in wiping them out."
His gaze settled on the hidden observers.
"So knowing that..."
"All we need to do is give them just a little more confidence."
Shiro stepped behind Ryuu.
"Block their view for me."
"What I'm about to do next can't be seen by those people."
Magic began to surge.
…