Chapter 36
Natalie had barely left when a familiar voice emerged from behind a large tree beside Lisbeth.
Lisbeth turned her gaze towards the sound, finding a young woman standing there, clad in a white robe, her long hair the color of sky-blue.
Lisbeth’s pupils constricted sharply.
She instinctively pointed a finger at the person before her.
“Olivia, why are you here!?”
Indeed, standing before Lisbeth was Olivia, one of Chris’s personal maids and the very person who had created Lisbeth’s current body.
For Lisbeth, Olivia had once been a rather amiable figure.
However, that sentiment had only lasted until a few days prior.
Upon discovering that Olivia had concealed the fact that her magic capacity wasn’t restricted, Lisbeth now harbored deep suspicions about Olivia’s true identity.
After all, Lisbeth had once been humanity’s Hero.
For Olivia, a stranger, to unilaterally hide such a crucial detail left Lisbeth utterly bewildered.
“Oh, hello there~ What’s wrong? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Nothing, merely curious as to why you’re here.”
Despite Lisbeth’s underlying suspicion, Olivia offered a cheerful smile, then pushed up her glasses.
“Is that so? Your curiosity is certainly understandable. But beyond that, don’t you have something even more pressing to wonder about?”
“Indeed, I have many questions. Would you be willing to answer them?”
Though Olivia hadn’t explicitly stated the matter, Lisbeth knew she was referring to the magic restriction.
Given that Olivia had brought it up herself, Lisbeth believed she had no intention of concealing it any longer.
Just as Lisbeth anticipated, Olivia merely smiled again, then waved her hand dismissively.
“As you already know, I didn’t impose any restrictions on your body. On the contrary, I granted you physical abilities comparable to those of a Demon General. Of course, even with that, it still can’t compare to your original body.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that. But what I truly want to know is why you did it? Why are you here at this moment? And most crucially, how did you evade Natalie’s Thunder Emperor Domain?”
More than the first two questions, Lisbeth was desperate to understand how Olivia had bypassed the Thunder Emperor Domain’s detection.
Olivia had been standing even closer to Natalie than Lisbeth herself, yet had perfectly evaded detection.
In response to Lisbeth’s barrage of questions, Olivia simply raised a single finger and wagged it playfully at her.
“Lisbeth, it’s usually better to ask questions one at a time, don’t you think? It’s quite difficult for me to answer so many at once~”
“Is that so? Then please answer them one by one, and tell me just how much you know.”
Though Lisbeth’s tone remained calm, she had already retreated two steps.
Should Olivia utter anything amiss, Lisbeth would instantly retrieve the longsword she had hidden behind the large tree where she’d been concealing herself.
In stark contrast to the wary Lisbeth, Olivia merely chuckled with an air of ease.
She casually sat down beside a large tree, still smiling.
“Alright, I’ll humor you with a few answers. Let’s start with your third question: evading the Thunder Emperor Domain is actually quite simple. If you automatically generate lightning elements with the same wavelength as her domain, she won’t be able to detect you. See? How simple is that?”
“Heh… how truly simple…”
Lisbeth’s mouth twitched involuntarily.
She knew that while Olivia made it sound easy, accomplishing such a feat was incredibly difficult.
However, she also acknowledged that Olivia would become a world-renowned Archmage two hundred years in the future, so her ability to do this wasn’t surprising.
With this thought, Lisbeth nodded.
“Very well, I understand that point. Now, would you please answer my first two questions?”
“Hmm, that’s not entirely out of the question, but I can’t answer your first question just yet~”
“Then when can you?”
Olivia’s sudden refusal plunged Lisbeth back into confusion.
However, Olivia didn’t directly answer, merely smiling once more.
“Oh, don’t be so impatient. These things take time, you know. I’ll tell you many things eventually. But my presence here today is simply to convey one specific matter to you~”
“One matter?”
It seemed Olivia was here at this precise moment specifically to deliver a message to Lisbeth.
Seeing Lisbeth’s renewed confusion, Olivia took a deep breath.
“If I’m not mistaken, Staros must have invited you to sneak into my laboratory with her, hoping to get your hands on a breast enlargement potion, correct?”
“That’s right, that did happen. But how do you know?”
“The reason is quite simple: the Demon Lord herself ordered her to do it.”
“Hm?”
If Lisbeth had previously thought Staros merely wanted the potion for herself, she now caught a whiff of something far more sinister.
“First, you must understand that as humanity’s Hero, it’s impossible for you to gain our trust so easily. Yet, your recent actions have been utterly flawless.”
“The Demon Lord, frankly, has been troubled, wondering about your true purpose in the Demon Lord’s Castle. Thus, she intends to use my laboratory as a testing ground for you.”
“Is that so? So that’s how it is.”
Upon hearing Olivia’s explanation, Lisbeth finally understood the entire situation.
It was clear Chris wouldn’t abandon her surveillance so quickly; instead, she planned to use a ‘fishing’ method to lure Lisbeth into a trap.
If Lisbeth’s suspicions were correct, Staros’s sudden invitation to infiltrate Olivia’s laboratory was purely under Chris’s orders.
Concurrently, Olivia would deliberately place several seemingly crucial items within the laboratory.
This was purely to test Lisbeth’s loyalty.
If Lisbeth took anything she shouldn’t during the infiltration, it would definitively prove she harbored ulterior motives.
In such a scenario, even if resources were severely depleted, Chris would undoubtedly maintain her surveillance on Lisbeth.
Having pieced everything together, Lisbeth then turned to Olivia, asking with renewed confusion: “Then, Olivia, why are you telling me all this? From concealing my magic capacity to now deliberately relaying such vital information, what exactly is your intention?”
“Hmm, allow me to keep that a secret for now~”
“Is that so? Still, thank you for telling me this much.”
“You’re very welcome~ Well, it’s getting late. After I convey one last thing, I should probably be on my way.”
As Olivia finished speaking, she rose from the ground, dusting off her clothes.
“After you’ve concluded the Demon Lord’s test, I’d like you to visit my laboratory again that night. I have some things I wish to discuss with you privately then. Of course, if you don’t trust me, you’re free to choose not to come. It’s entirely your decision.”
“I understand. I’ll be there that night.”
Upon seeing Lisbeth’s nod, Olivia promptly departed the forest.
As Lisbeth watched her retreating figure, Clotilde, the sword in her hand, spoke up.
“Alex, do you truly believe what she just said?”
“Hmm, how to put it? While I still harbor doubts, what she said certainly sounded logical and well-reasoned. However, the greatest possibility is that this, too, is part of Chris’s test.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
At this, Clotilde immediately sounded perplexed.
She continued, asking Lisbeth, “I don’t see how this could be a test. What kind of test reveals the entire plan upfront?”
“No, the ‘test’ I refer to isn’t superficial; it’s far more profound. For instance, Chris might deliberately use this situation to have Olivia gain my trust, then seize the opportunity to extract valuable information from me.”
“While it seems overly elaborate just to win my trust, it’s not entirely impossible.”
“Ah, now that you put it that way, that actually seems plausible. Ugh, this is so troublesome! Why must you still engage in such intricate schemes even after returning to your ‘homeland’?”
Upon hearing Lisbeth’s words, even without seeing Clotilde’s expression, Lisbeth knew her companion was growing agitated.
Lisbeth, however, simply smiled and shook her head.
“Little Sword, I understand you must be quite confused right now. But I hope you realize that the Demon Lord’s Castle, at this moment, is absolutely not my homeland. It is merely my battlefield.”