Petra's eyes narrowed as her brows furrowed. Like she had done while riding the horse, she stuck out her little pink tongue and nibbled on it in concentration.
Hmmm—! She pulled back the bowstring…
The bow creaked ominously, producing a black haze.
Then—
BOOM! She released the string! The arrow 'enthusiastically' exploded forward and immediately—
Veered off course! Missing the target by an impressive amount and vanishing into the distant grass…
- Petra stared…
- Petra stared...
- Petra stared...…
"Hump!" She snorted in disdain! A mere mistake! Nothing more! Such things are forgivable!
She adjusted her 'stance', huffed once, and tried again!
Boom! Miss!
Again!
Boom! Miss—!
Boom! Boom-boom-boom-boom! Miss!
Her cheeks puffed out in frustration! Clearly, the targets were at fault, she had no doubt about that!
Sabotage! Yes! Definitely!
With a frustrated little grunt, Petra began grabbing arrows by the handful, then more, some more, and even more! She somehow managed to cram over twenty arrows onto one string, drew back the bow with slightly shaky arms, and released it in a dramatic flourish of green hair!
BOOM! Ten arrows exploded outwards, and—
Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-woosh!
—None of them hit the targets!
Petra froze.
The eyes of all the girls twitched in unison.
How awkward…
But! At the same time! Behind the target, in a place unseen by the world, things were a bit different. One of the arrows pierced cleanly through a bush, pinning an unfortunate 'Soul Worm' to a tree, while another tore through a 'snake-like talisman', its conjured curse dissipating on the spot. The third embedded itself perfectly between the eyes of a small and innocent creature that had definitely been 'minding its own business', pinning it to the 'deleted' crotch of a man wearing identical clothes to the assassin—kidnapper from last night!
Each arrow found something—
Just not the board…
Silence fell over the field.
Petra: "..."
-
Time passed.
Back at the makeshift range, Wind and Mell had started to compete in archery, trading shots one after another. Their arrows each struck near the center again and again, displaying a level of skill that far exceeded that of a normal person.
At the same time—
Nearby, Rose tried to teach Lira how to shoot, explaining the posture and breathing techniques of an archer. The little red cat listened for exactly three seconds, then casually took the bow, drew it back, and split the target in half, stunning the big red cat into shocked silence.
Rose stared, mouth agape.
Lira stared back, a smug smirk threatening to break out on her face.
A little farther down, the female butlers stood in a line, shooting in turns. They wore loose and relaxing clothes, all short-style black and white dresses, with small ribbons that allowed one to differentiate them from each other.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud! Every shot was clean and direct! These girls had clearly been taught!
-
Time continued like this until eventually—
Near the edge of the field, Petra finally snapped! Bang!
"God damn it!!"
She slammed the bow into the ground, creating a huge-small crater, stomped on it, then continued to jump up and down in a rage. The hightless hops caused her ponytails to flap, creating the strange image of a green bird jumping on one leg…
Her fists clenched, and her face scrunched, turning red, then she formed a pout! "It's stupid!" she shouted in a sharp voice. "This thing's stupid! Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid!! The targets are stupid! Archery is stupid! Ahhhhh!" Hop-hop-hop-hop—! Bop-bop-bop-bop—!
After she finally calmed down—
Bang! She kicked the bow one last time for some 'added emphasis', sending it flying into the distance!
"Ouch! FUCK!" It hurts! Her foot hurt! Her foot hurt a lot! This thing was way too hard!
Mm, Petra then proceeded to roll around on the ground, whaling…
The girls watched from the side in silence, slightly embarrassed.
After the little master finally finished her 'little episode', she limped back, crossed her arms, and continued to tremble in something that could either be suppressed fury or unspeakable pain—
Mm, yeah, it was definitely one of those…
She 'sat' down on the grass, landing with a hard thud, and started to sulk. Her eyes started to turn watery, her cheeks reddened, and she muttered an uncountable number of curses under her breath.
Also, at the same time—
Somewhere behind the target, another small animal fell over, dead, unknowingly struck by the bow.
Petra sniffled, unaware of this...
* * *
As Petra was busy sulking in the grass, rubbing her foot, and quietly hating the entire concept of archery, a sudden commotion broke out somewhere nearby.
A raised voice cut through the air, making Petra bristle like a cat.
Petra hissed internally. She pushed herself up, stretched lazily, and trotted toward the noise, already knowing who it was.
Near the entrance to the track, a small group of people had grouped together. Wind and Mell stood in the center, and unsurprisingly—
The brat from the Gallon Family was there, once again!
Since they had the guts to show their faces, it was unlikely that the 'assassin' from last night had come from them. Looking forward, this time, they had even brought an extra.
Petra hummed, scanning the man.
This was a tall silver-haired man with elf ears and a funny little goatee. From his posture and possessions, it was not difficult to discern that he was a 'Talisman Master'. He stood slightly forward, guarding in front of the Gallon family members, his robes layered with seals and charms, and his expression was tight, irritated, and seemingly displeased.
He spoke sharply, directing every word at Wind like a sharp, condescending spear.
"You're being unreasonable!" he snapped. "Why won't you return to your home! They clearly care about you! Is this how you repay them? After everything they've done for you!?"
Petra paused, pondering how this person was prepared to parlay. He didn't seem any better than the previous idiot, so perhaps he had some special identity that made his words more commanding? But…
Petra literally had no idea who he was!
"I already answered you," Wind replied coldly.
She also had no idea who this middle-aged man was…
"You heard her," Mell added, her voice flat and emotionless.
Neither did she…
The talisman master scoffed. "This farce has gone on long enough, don't you think! You've grown up now, so why don't you understand?" He gestured angrily. "You'd rather stay with a villain than return to your family? Are you insane!? Do you even understand what kind of forces are looking for her? You'll die! There's no chance of survival! Why can't you understand that!?"
The man continued to scream.
It seemed that he believed his identity was a given, so as he proceeded to screech like a shrew, all the girls just looked at him with an increasingly confused gaze.
To the side—
Petra stopped a short distance away…
She watched without blinking… like a little creep, then sighed.
Slowly, no, languidly, she walked closer, stretching her arms as she approached. Her face was completely flat as she came in from the side. She approached from an angle that prevented the young master of the gallon family from seeing her, but—
The talisman master, who had noticed her, noticed her presence just a second too late…! By the time he was ready to point her out, she was already standing beside the man who had been lingering off to the side, the one wearing a smug, self-satisfied smile, yes, the same idiot from the previous night!
Petra looked him up and down, scanning him with narrowed eyes…
Then—
She placed a foot against his side, not touching him, and adjusted her stance like she was lining up a bat.
Hmm…?
The talisman master opened his mouth to shout, but—
It was too late!
BOOM! With a movement that was somehow small and yet catastrophically excessive, Petra delivered a devastating kick that could only be described as 'deeply unnecessary'.
PETRA KICKED HIM TO THE SIDE (Gallon Ga-ga-ga-gun!) Boom—! And—————GONE! Swoosh!
The man, for the second time, flew sideways! He slammed into the dirt, loudly scraped against the earth, rolled, and stopped in a pitiful sprawl in a split of piercing pain.
The talisman master froze on the spot.
He was shocked, not expecting the little girl to release the equivalent of a magic cannon into the side of his employer! Then… he screamed and spun back around towards Petra—
Only for a small blue head to poke out from her hat and spit a cloud of shimmering blue mist directly into his face, knocking him unconscious.
Thud!
He collapsed on the ground…
Petra dusted off her foot.
She hopped over to the fallen talisman master, tilted her head, and clapped twice. A black-clad butler appeared instantly, picked up the unconscious man, and vanished in a zapping zig of electricity.
Petra turned to the remaining cannon fodder, who were already trembling in fear.
She rolled her eyes.
"You can go help him…"
Silence—
Then, they scrambled to drag their kicked companion away.
Petra turned back to Wind. "…Are you good?"
"Mm!"
Wind nodded.
She waved as she walked back toward the field. "Ok! Who's up for another lap? I liked riding the horse's way more!" Petra wandered off, completely unaware that this short incident had created a small opening for fate to flicker.
-
A short distance away—
Noah stood face to face with Merlin.
* * *
The rain had eased, but the atmosphere was heavier than ever.
The dark clouds overhead seemed to thicken as the unending drizzle thinned into a steady stream, like heavenly tears soaking the grass and dulling the distant sounds.
A faint fog formed, concealing the two figures in a thin haze.
Noah stood a ways away from the track, concealed and isolated by the twisting environment.
Her back was straight, and her hands were clenched.
He—She stood there, unmoving.
Across from him was another youth, Merlin...
At a glance, he looked unremarkable, just a young man with pale blue hair tied loosely in the back. His robes were simple and unadorned, like those of a students, and he held a posture that was upright and carefully corrected. He appeared as one who paid close attention to manors, but something about him felt wrong, as if there was an unseen pressure beneath the skin, no, it was an unfulfilled fate, a 'deviation' in the 'trench' so deep that it began to manifest as an aura.
This was—
Merlin [?], the 'Future' Sage & Next Tower Lord of the World Tower!
Standing opposite him was—
Noah [?], The—or what should have been, if not for the 'anomaly', the 'Future' 'Human God' of Pillomal!
-
Ka-Ka-Kacha-BOOM! Lightning flashed on the distant horizon!
Merlin was the first to speak.
"What really happened to you?" he demanded in a low and cold voice. His eyes held a seriousness that was impossible to describe.
"Is the reason you look like that, really because of 'her'…?"
Noah frowned. "You don't need to worry about this." She hated others, even if it was Merlin, interfering in her own matters…
"It's not funny!" Merlin snapped.
His eyes swept over Noah. "…And that's not right, no-no, this isn't right! I can feel it! There's something wrong with you!" His words were obviously directed at her gender, but Noah felt as if he meant something else…
Although Merlin was still very far from reaching 'it', some instincts, regardless of where you were in the River of Time, would be a constant! He could instinctively feel that something was wrong, but he was incapable of discerning what it was. This caused him significant mental distress, like he was losing something in the depths of a fog, and no matter how far he reached, he was incapable of grasping it!
This was the source of his current unreasonable attitude!
In his heart, this gap was continuing to expand, even accelerating to a certain extent!
Noah's brows furrowed.
-
Noah didn't like people telling her what to do or how to act…
Although Petra and her servants seemed to be an exception, this feeling, no, this 'personal rule' didn't go away for others. Instead, it seemed to have magnified, making Noah almost unconsciously look down on 'normal people', treating them no differently than 'background characters'.
Recently, Noah had been surrounded by so many monstrous geniuses, and his—her innate pride had been trampled so many times, that she had started to warp her general perception of the world! To her, the concept of 'normal people' seemed to have almost 'changed' in an imperceptible way…
It was difficult to put it into words.
She wasn't completely looking down on them in the traditional sense, but she felt as if she was standing on a different stage, one that had far exceeded the realm of 'normal dependent'. This distance had far surpassed merely being above someone, like a king or an emperor, and had started to step into the realm of transcendence, reaching a stage where the two couldn't interact at all. In other words, Noah felt that the more time she spent under Petra, the further away she stood from 'humanity'.
In the same way the people relied on an emperor, the emperor relied on his people. This relationship created an unseen thread that entangled these two concepts, the 'ruler' and 'follower'.
It was the same for the 'Gods.'
And it was exactly this thread that was dissolving before it could solidify, unknowingly releasing Noah from an unavoidable 'duty'. It was also this 'unseen phenomenon' that Merlin could detect. For some reason, the fate that should have deeply entangled these two brothers was unwinding, and the future sage could feel it despite still being too young.
In the past year, Noah's mindset had changed so much that even the idea of revenge had started to fade. To the current her, she stood before such a massive mountain that the small hill was no longer worth mentioning.
Soon, she might even forget about it altogether, that was how great the change was…
-
Merlin took a sharp breath. "Arthur told me about her! (Petra). He also told me why you chose her in the end! Why would you rather follow her instead of a real hero!!" His voice rose despite himself…
Arthur, like the others, could not understand Petra. He knew that Noah 'should' have come with him, but Petra's mere existence had changed this outcome! He had made multiple predictions, but all of them resulted in terrifying assumptions.
As for what Merlin 'believed', he was clearly not thinking straight…
"A wanted criminal, a walking calamity, someone who shouldn't exist! There is no good name for her! 'things' like her will always be 'corrected by the world!' There is no avoiding that! She is…" He was manic! He spoke in a blur, but even he didn't realize that he was speaking of things he had yet to learn.
Bang! He stepped closer!
"And this—" Merlin gestured sharply at Noah's chest.
"This body! Your 'condition'! It's wrong, yes, but it can be 'fixed!' I'm sure of it! You need to trust me!"
Noah stared at him, silently standing.
It was impossible to tell what she was thinking…
"Arthur will know how," Merlin insisted. "He always does! You just need to come back with me! Leave her, this is a mistake, and you already know that, right?"
Silence stretched through the air…
Then, after a long pause, Noah spoke in a quiet voice—
"…I don't need to be fixed." These words, although spoken clearly, took far more strength than one could imagine.
Merlin froze. "What… do you mean?" He genuinely couldn't comprehend why Noah would not want to be returned to 'normal!'
"I didn't ask for a cure," Noah repeated herself. "…And I didn't ask for your help."
Merlin's composure cracked completely.
The wind blew…