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Chapter 124
So Overpowered!
Although she was so, so nervous, Ann still braced herself and clenched her sweaty-yet-cold hands as she focused on using her pure water magic to sense the water/blood circulating in the Imparie tribe members’ bodies. Once she got the hang of their liquid composition, Ann focused on manipulating the liquid inside their bodies to have a sudden imbalance–especially the supply of liquid to their brains–and as expected, they all immediately lost their consciousness and dropped limply to the ground just like that.
At that time, Ann returned their circulation back, but slowly so that it’d take more time for them to recover after regaining their consciousness later. If she hadn’t been careful or quick, she might have accidentally killed some of them, that was why she was sweating so hard even while her limbs were freezing cold. When she noticed that she hadn’t accidentally killed any of them, she heaved a sigh of relief.
“Huh?!”
“What just happened?!”
“Why are they…?”
Meanwhile, Ann’s party members were so dumbfounded as the scene in front of them was so unbelievable.
“Now’s our chance! Let’s run!”
Ann quickly snapped all of them with her firm command, and luckily, all of them quickly snapped out of it and followed Ann’s command even though there were lots of unanswered questions in their minds.
While on the run, they did encounter some other guards. So, it wasn’t just one layer of defense. Apparently, they were very guarded and didn’t dare to look down on their opponents.
Mila, Fremont, Kiehl, Allen braced themselves to battle the guards although it’d risk a ruckus and chaos to ensue, but Ann quickly made the enemies faint again and yelled with a hushed voice, “Don’t! Battling them will just create a commotion and they will know we’re about to make a run. Eventually, they will send reinforcement and we’re doomed! Leave it to me!”
Ann thought that she would be the one doomed to die out of fatigue and lack of magical power for she’d definitely die out of mana exhaustion if she had to render all of the Imparie tribe people unconscious…
“…Just what the heck did you do?!” Mila was looking at her with a more guarded and distrusting face.
“I can’t tell as it’s really dangerous if people were to know–” Ann hadn’t completed her sentence when Mila stared daggers at her.
“Gosh, I will eventually tell the gist of it, but now’s not the time! And can you stop being so suspicious of me? I know you’re sus of me but think about it, if I am this powerful all along and indeed harboring bad intentions to you all… why should I go about pretending when I can just achieve stuff right away with my power?” Ann snapped.
Being doubted all the time would eventually wear down anyone! Even she had a limit to her patience! Ann then finally exploded.
“…True.”
Unexpectedly, Mila didn’t continue to question her and dropped it at that. Although it’d be hard to change her attitude and opinion towards Ann in an instant, it seemed like Mila won’t antagonize Ann as much as how she had been before.
They were focusing on their runaway and there was no more conversation after that, yet they managed to cooperate well to ensure their smooth runaway.
Although the most vital role went to Ann who focused on manipulating the liquids in the body of each member of the Imparie tribe that they encountered in the way.
Please just be unconscious, please don’t actually die, please Ann, don’t accidentally kill anyone at all…
By the time they escaped to the forest, Ann was so, so very tired that she wobbled the second she noticed they could take a bit of break. Ann was practically bathing in her own sweat by this moment.
Noticing this, Allen immediately supported her, afraid that she’d collapse and hit the ground.
“Are you alright?!” The usually calm and composed Allen asked in a voice that clearly expressed his concern and distress. He wasn’t sure what Ann did that caused her to be this tired and for the others facing them to fall unconscious in such a smooth and short moment.
“It’s alright… I just used too much mana…,” Ann took deep breaths in order to regulate her body to not succumb to her newly found fatigue as she secretly cursed in her heart.
Damn, all that playtime–ahem–practice with using magic isn’t enough to prepare me to use this kind of high-level water manipulation with ease, huh? Despite being a Pure Water magic user…
Everyone who had heard Ann’s explanations were stunned.
“…Is it dark magic?” Mila asked.
“No!” Ann quickly refuted.
“But what kind of magic could do something like that?” Prince Kiehl was deep in thoughts.
“Water magic,” Allen muttered.
“Allen, you knew?! If Reginald were to hear this, he would–” Fremont’s words were cut off by Allen.
“He already knew. Hasn’t got the time to talk with wife. Better prioritize this matter.”
“…”
His words were so curt, even more curt than normal, clearly showing that he was a bit upset. As to what he was upset at, one could only guess… Was it due to Ann’s reckless action? Or was it due to them questioning Ann who was fatigued?
Only then did Ann realize that the only people whom she had ever talked about this briefly were Allen, Faye, and Reginald, back when she was just rescued, and when she explained how she could make herself fall unconscious…
It was much easier making myself fall unconscious rather than the others… phew.
I… I hadn’t killed anyone, right?
“Water magic… Ah, I get it. Manipulating bodily liquid? Damn Ann, you’re OP!” Laura quickly understood as she was a person with modern world knowledge. She gave Ann two thumbs up in awe.
“What is OP?” Mila asked.
“It’s an abbreviation for overpowered!” Laura didn’t feel upset and casually answered. It seemed to Ann that Laura had gotten used to people asking her whenever she uttered something that only people with a modern world background could understand. As expected of someone who had been living more than a decade in this world!
Once this is over, I need to slowly adapt like Laura and ask her for tips.
Ann noted in her heart.
Then, Ann suddenly turned alert as she quickly turned around and peered into the distance.
Before she made a run, she also made sure to activate her ‘water detector’ magic that, in a way, could help her detect her surroundings based on their liquid composition.
And when she turned alert all of a sudden, it was because she noticed a presence that matched the liquid composition of a human being.
Ann stayed silent, ignoring the others’ questions and noticed that the other party didn’t seem to have noticed their presence there, so she stayed silent and let the person off.
But this made her realize one thing.
“Let’s save our topics for later, we need to address the situation at hand,” Ann said to the others, who responded either with a frown or with an inquiring look.
“Eh… I forgot to explain the plan, didn’t I?” Ann scratched her head and smiled awkwardly.
Unable to withstand the others’ stares, Ann coughed her throat carefully and began to explain, “I think if it’s really impossible to talk sense with the Imparie tribe, all that’s left to do is to reclaim my tasty bir–I mean my cutie pie Birdie and go far away from this place. We can look for other options or try to think up on ways to proceed with the said ritual. Since Birdie is basically the bird–”
Elder Matthias stared daggers at her.
“Ahem, I mean, since Birdie is basically the legendary Mythical Bird of Transcendence, perhaps she knows how to do it… I mean, isn’t that what their life mission is about? How could they not know? I can try asking…”
Ann then recalled her difficulty and doubts when she telepathically ‘conversed’ with Birdie before shaking her head and continued, “We can try figuring it out together with Birdie herself.”
“But wouldn’t that bring conflict between our kingdom and the Imparie tribe? I don’t believe they will just remain silent after we do that,” Mila asked.
“…If it comes to that, we can just threaten–I mean, I have a plan, so let’s just execute our plan, shall we?” Ann said with a determined expression.
Looking at her determined expression, everyone finally let it go and agreed to follow Ann. After all, they had no other idea. If it really developed into conflict between them, it seemed that this girl had a solution, just like how she managed to free them from the Imparie tribe’s prison, so why not believe in her and in her plan?
Ann then assumed the role of the leader immediately in this operation as everyone just followed her, who seemed like she knew where to go… thanks to her liquid detector magic that she devised herself.
Looking at this, the others’ belief strengthened. They believed in her and her plans!
…Actually, there’s no plan at all.
Ann could only maintain her confident acting as there was no other way left…
I lied, but this is a white lie so we can just proceed with our actions rather than sitting without knowing what to do… Well, if it really comes to that, let’s just figure something out…
I know!
I can just make all the Imparie tribe members fall unconscious, we can then take them and imprison them and threaten them to just let it go, and… fufufuu…
I-I am totally not a villainess!!
Eventually, they arrived at a cave hidden behind a waterfall and found Birdie with Rakiasha, as well as Nymnienna, who immediately noticed their presence.
“H-how did you manage to arrive here without notifying anyone?!” Nymnienna was taken aback.
“Chirp chirp chiiirppp!” Birdie was clearly happy to see Ann coming there for her, but she couldn’t fly to Ann’s side as she was trapped in the magical cage that the Imparie tribe had devised for the birds’ safety… Ironically, it could be used to keep them imprisoned like this.
“Give Birdie back!” Ann ignored Nymnienna and just locked eyes with Rakiasha and declared her intention immediately.
“You impudent!!” Nymnienna dashed at Ann, but Allen, Prince Kiehl, and Fremont rushed forward to take Nymnienna on.
Meanwhile, Mila was guarding Elder Matthias, his accompanying priests, Laura, and Ann.
“We won’t change our mind. We will be taking custody of Birdie and do what’s best for her,” Rakiasha coldly said.
“Who are you to decide that you know what’s best for her? How are you so sure that it’s the case? What if Birdie says otherwise? It doesn’t matter to you all, right? Birdie’s opinion and her thoughts…”
“She’s still a child. We will make sure that she won’t get lost.”
“…”
Ann breathed in and out, trying to calm herself down and suppressed the anger that was rising in her heart.
So, it has really come to this… huh?
I have no other choice, it seems.
Ann took a very deep breath before opening her eyes–they were as clear as the night sky and it was as if you could see a star burning so brightly in her eyes.
Then, she declared loudly with a fiery determination.
“I hereby request for a match with you! The one winning will gain custody of Birdie!!”
…and everyone present suddenly stopped what they were doing, for they were so stunned that they could only look at Ann who didn’t seem to waver even one bit.
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