I teleported inside Lovers Mansion with Stella.
"Couldn't you have been a bit more delicate?"
"Sorry."
Because I was in a hurry, I ended up being quite rough, both with grabbing Stella and teleporting. Let's just say that our landing could have been better.
Regardless, here we are.
I don't know how the battle here is going or how long it'll take for Hirono and the others to get here, but it doesn't matter. I had already teleported where I needed to be.
We were in Lovers Mansion's basement, right in the middle of the land that is part of it. This is where the formula for the barrier is inscribed and maintained.
It's also where I was keeping the special barrier paper Hime gave to me during the Party. Well, it was Magician who made it, but he doesn't matter. I'll pretend it's 100% Hime.
The formula for that barrier is horrendous, but if you ignore that, it's something that should be simply impossible, but I guess the Magician Arcana does exactly what's on the label. Impossible and ugly as it was, I had the working formula on paper in front of me.
It was the formula for a magic barrier, but this barrier only allowed in what the caster wanted, and didn't allow anything else in. It's just absurd to think about. From the complexity of the formula to the constant connection with the caster's mind to the mana consumption. But Magician somehow made it work, and although the formula is ugly, it's not complex at all.
I suppose there could be the chance that it was a fake, so I shouldn't trust it so much. But it was Hime who gave it to me. Although I haven't known her for long, for some reason, I feel like I can trust her with my life.
So I activated the formula. Stella and I felt something, as if we had passed through some kind of membrane. That was probably the barrier.
I left the paper where I had been storing it. Stella and I left the basement to go check on things with the others.
It took us a few minutes, but we eventually found Lizel and Poran. They were taking care of Rebecca and Miyako. It doesn't seem like they were hurt, more like they had just woken up.
"Yuuto, did you use the barrier?"
"Yeah. Where's everyone else?"
"They were fighting over that way."
I nodded and then went in the direction Lizel pointed to. I had to check that everyone was safe. Stella stayed behind, she said she was going to go check on Rinne and the others who were hiding in the safe room.
It didn't take me long to reach them. Reina and Swordia were sitting down on the ground, clearly tired. Miyabi was shouting at the people on the other side of the barrier, Maki and Neith were a little behind her, trying to calm her down.
"Come back here! I haven't shown you my special move yet!"
"Miss Miyabi, maybe you should leave it for another chance."
"But it's a special move! It's supposed to be used in every fight after it's introduced!"
"I-is that how it works…?"
I guess I activated the barrier just in time to cut off Miyabi's fight. Though I guess she's more irritated about it than thankful.
On the other side of the barrier were two boys and a girl. I guess they're also Hierophant's Cards, though I don't know who they are.
"Is everyone fine?"
"Yuuto? Ah! So they didn't run away, you used the barrier."
It seems Miyabi finally understood that I activated the special barrier and that's why her fight was suddenly interrupted. She started to calm down.
Everyone said they were fine. During that time, Hirono, Hinata and the Ace arrived. They regrouped with the other Cards.
The Ace tried touching the barrier once she noticed it. She tried pushing and then punching it, but nothing happened.
Yeah, the barrier is also unbreakable. Again, just absurd. We don't even feel anything on the inside.
… Also, she really is naked. Hinata and the other girl are wearing some tight clothes, but the Ace is just straight up naked. I'm pretty sure she wasn't like this before, so did Stella rip off her clothes? What for?
Hirono and I stared at each other for a few seconds. It seems they eventually gave up and decided to retreat. I guess this marks the end of the fight for now.
"Let's go back as well. We have to make the most of this time we were able to buy."
And so me, Neith, Miyabi, Maki, Reina and Swordia made our way back to Lovers Mansion.
"That barrier, it wasn't the same one as before. Where did it come from?"
After Hierophant's team went back to the Hiraizumi mansion, and got Barbara something to wear, Hirono decided to have a meeting to discuss what happened during that battle.
Obviously, he knew no one would have the answer to the question he asked. But he still voiced it out.
After a few seconds of silence, he continued the conversation.
"We'll worry about it later. For now, let's hear what everyone was able to figure out."
The first one to get up to deliver his report was the Knight, Ken.
"Reina and Swordia were greater opponents that I expected. I was forced to use Root Return against them. Assuming they will prepare for the next battle, I'm not sure if I'll be able to win. Still, I plan to fight to the best of my abilities."
Ken was perfectly honest in his report. There was no anger or hate in his voice. In fact, as a swordsman, he was quite satisfied.
After Ken finished, Sol, Hierophant's Prince, was the one to say what he learned from this battle.
"There's no way I can beat Neith, I'll have to leave her for someone else. That said, Miyabi and the others were no problem, even if Miyako also gets involved. I'll just add that it seems like Rebecca and Maki also became Yuuto's Cards."
Yuuto's side wasn't the only one struggling with mistaken information. That said, in practical terms, it might as well be true.
"That's not unexpected, but it's good to have it confirmed. Next time, I'll leave you to handle Miyabi and whoever comes to help her. Once you're done, if Ken is struggling, help him. As for Neith…"
Neith was a big problem for Hirono. If Sol was admitting he couldn't defeat her even with his Root Return, then only Barbara could face her head-on.
As if guessing that, Barbara was the next one to speak.
"I'll fight anyone who wants a fight. But I don't think Stella will take today's beating while staying down. She'll surely prepare something for next time, so maybe it's better to prepare a backup plan."
Barbara said something sensible, which was not a common occurrence. If Stella hadn't given up, it meant she either planned to come back with reinforcements next time, or she would find some way to fight.
If it was the first case and those reinforcements happened to be Neith, then it would be good. But if not, then Hirono needed a backup plan to keep Neith busy. Neith might be a problem, but Stella is an even bigger one, so there's no choice but to let Barbara handle her.
"Then, Nana, dealing with Neith will be your job."
"E-eh? B-but I don't have any confidence that I can win."
"You used your magic to analyze everyone in the mansion, including Neith, right? Knowing what you know, and taking your Root Return into consideration, can you really say that?"
"... M-maybe, if it's just buying some time."
Similarly to Neith, Nana, Hierophant's Princess, was quite timid and lacked self confidence. But Hirono wasn't betting on some distant hope. Knowing her abilities, he trusted her with this job.
She didn't fight this time because Hirono already expected that the fight wouldn't end today. That's why Nana's job was to use her magic to learn as much about Lovers' side as possible. But next time, she will be joining the fight.
"We'll talk about what you learned soon. Before that, Hinata, I need to ask, why didn't you shoot Yuuto?"
Although Hirono expected the fight to continue, there was a moment today where it could have ended. If, instead of shouting, Hinata had shot Yuuto on the head, he could have been killed.
Sure, it was a 50% chance at best, likely worse in reality, considering how much King Killer had adapted to Yuuto, but it was still a chance. And one Hinata threw away.
"... I'm sorry."
She didn't say anything in her defense. She knew there was nothing she could say.
Well, Hirono knew she'd never have the courage to take a life herself. He only hoped that she used this chance to reflect on things.
"Then, let's begin discussing what we learned, and how we can win next time."
"So that's basically it. Hierophant's Ace, Barbara, is the daughter of Devil King Barbatos."
Stella had just finished telling us, me, Lizel and Hisoka, about her fight. It seems like Barbara is the Devil King's daughter. I didn't know he had biological children.
I didn't know about it, but it seems that there was a rumor that the Hiraizumi family took in the blood of the Devil Kings. Going from Stella and the others' stories, it seems to be true.
"... But why was she naked?"
"Is that seriously what you want to know? Haah, I guess you are Lovers. When you use magic to defend yourself, a little bit works to protect the stuff that's near you, like your clothes. But Barbara is simply tough, that's why her clothes were destroyed but she herself was fine."
Huh, so it wasn't that Stella ripped her clothes in some fit of rage. Good thing I didn't voice out my theory.
With this, I had just finished hearing about everyone's battles.
What can I say about it? We're not lacking strength, but the fact that the enemy knew about us, and we didn't know about them, really tripped us over. We need to prepare better for the next round.
"E-everyone, good work. I-I'll do my best to come up with a strategy for next time."
Hisoka said. Since she was basically forced into the strategist position by Lizel, she had also been hearing everything.
"Well, there's only so much that we can do. Yuuto, you said that this barrier should last about 2 weeks, right?"
"Yeah."
I answered Lizel. It was Hime who told me this, but the barrier did what she said it would, so there's no point in doubting her now. Not that I ever did.
This means that we have 2 weeks to prepare whatever we are going to prepare. Well, technically speaking, we could leave at any time, but there's no reason to not use all the time we have, so we decided to hole up in the mansion for those two weeks.
We've got plenty of food and water, so there's no problem on that end. The only bad part is that we won't know what Hierophant is up to, but they also won't know our side.
"Then, I believe we should just do as we usually do. We're not lacking in strength, but there's no changing that the enemy knows more about us then we do about them. In that case, we'll cover that difference with more strength. Of course, I mean Healing Lovers."
Ah, I missed that… no, wait, no I didn't. We already do it everyday anyway.
"I-is it really fine?"
Hisoka asked Lizel, who then continued her explanation.
"It's not like there's much else we can do. Hisoka and I will try to come up with a plan, both to fight Hierophant and to get the Hiraizumi family out of our tail, but there's only so much we can do with limited information. We'll simply have to rely on overwhelming strength … other than Rinne, only those who will be fighting will do Healing Lovers during this period, that way we can make sure that no time is being wasted. While they're not doing Healing Lovers, everyone can train however they prefer, we'll just have to fix a schedule for Yuuto to also have some time."
That seems reasonable, there's nothing to complain about with that plan. Though I did notice Lizel seemed less than happy when she said that only Rinne, the healer, and those who will be fighting will be doing Healing Lovers. Meaning Lizel herself won't be joining us.
It seems that, during this time, Lizel and Hisoka will be working with the information we got to try and come up with a battle strategy. My job was to just make sure everyone was stocked up on Healing Lovers.
"We settled on that? Good, then I'm going first. Next time, I'm going to show her who's boss, and I don't care whose daughter she is."
Stella grabbed my arm and started pulling me. Thankfully, all the shots I took were already long healed, otherwise it would be really painful right now.
"Hey, wait a second, we haven't decided on a schedule yet."
"I'm going first so that we don't waste time. While we're doing that, you fix your schedule or whatever. But I only plan to let Yuuto go tomorrow."
"There's no way I can allow that. We need to optimize the time as much as possible. You can't just keep Yuuto for yourself for as long as you want."
Lizel wasn't letting Stella have me. It seems we already have a bit of a scheduling conflict.
Well, regardless of how we got there, it seems that the next 2 weeks are going to be really pleasurable. I'll make sure everyone is ready to fight when the time comes, and then we'll make it through this together.
