Ch 309: Raid on Border Town.

"What's this?" asked a guard, pointing toward the tree line six hundred meters from the completed wall.

"Huh?" replied another guard, squinting.

He, too, could see three people walking out of the forest.

"Witches?" asked the first guard. They were too far for him to distinguish any detail.

"…His Highness usually informs us when we are expecting Witches. I…" The guard turned to a third one who had been standing quietly.

"Go run to His Highness."

The guard nodded, took the short stone stairs down the hall, and broke into a run.

…

"I think we would be ready to welcome more witches by the end of the month." said Prince Roland with a smile, watching the new dorms being built behind the mansion. The three stories building would provide individual rooms and communal areas for close to a hundred witches.

More dorms would be built later if needed.

"So can we soon go meet your sister?" asked Chisato with a smile.

"You seem quite eager." snorted Roland.

"Yes. From what you and Noah told us, she's very cute and intelligent! I'm sure we'll get along great!"

"I don't doubt it." nodded Roland with a somewhat bitter smile. "But I'm afraid I didn't leave her a great impression last time we met. I was a horrible bully to her."

"But that's the old you, right?"

"Of course. If she gives me a chance, I'll crawl on glass to get back into her good graces. I can only hope she will."

"You can count on me to vouch for your character, your Highness." grinned Chisato. "I'll hound her until she agrees!"

"Please don't. She can be quite stubborn when she wants to. This matter aside, is the witch we recovered still unconscious?"

"Yeah. I checked on her earlier again, and there's nothing wrong with her body. She is just very, very tired. She had exhausted all of her mana to put herself in hibernation, it seems, and used whatever she was regenerating since then to maintain it. She'll wake up eventually. We could kickstart her system, but I see no urgent reason to."

"I'm not in a hurry either, as long as there is someone present when she wakes up, to reassure her." nodded Roland.

He was about to add something when he saw a guard come running at him.

"Your Highness!"

"Yes?"

"Three people have been seen exiting the forest on the demon side of the wall. They were walking toward us when I left. They were too far for us to identify them."

"Oh? Some of your companions, Chisato?"

"Not that I'm aware off." frowned Chisato. In the distance, she could see Takina train with Anna, Wendy and Kanne. Takina created balloons, and Wendy used her wind manipulation to try to get them past Anna and Kanne, who tried to shoot them down with fireballs and ice spikes.

Da Vinci was working in her study, and Ciel and Caren, who had been on night duty, were sleeping.

"I'll go check this out. Would you mind accompanying me?"

"Well, it's not like I'm very busy these days…" smiled Chisato, standing. "I'll get Takina as well, just in case."

Takina had seen the soldier run to the prince and was already looking in their direction when Chisato gestured for her to come.

After exchanging a few words with Anna, Wendy and Kanne, Takina used Shunpo to join Chisato and the Prince as they walked out of the mansion's backyard and headed for the wall.

"What is it?" asked Takina.

"Three people have emerged from the forest west of the wall and are heading toward Border Town." shrugged Chisato.

"…Strange."

When they reached the wall and took a good look at the three people in question, they had crossed most of the distance and were less than two hundred meters away.

"A girl and two men? Their clothes make them look like a noble and his attendants, but there's something on their heads I can't see clearly." frowned Roland.

"Horns." said Chisato, her usual friendly expression leaving place to concentration and focus. "Those are high-level Demons."

Her words spread consternation among the nearby soldiers, and their grips tightened on their spears.

"Your highness, please send someone to run to the estate and warn everyone." said Takina. "Chisato and I will meet them to ascertain their intentions. Until then, you should stay under cover. They may have some method to snipe you."

"That is a sensible idea." nodded Roland before gesturing to a guard, who ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

As Roland backed into the stairs, remaining just barely high enough to peek at the approaching Demons through the parapet, Chisato and Takina flew over the wall, landing fifteen meters from them.

Their hands were empty, as they didn't want to provoke a fight until they knew about the Demons' motives.

"Hi there! Who might you be, and why did you come to Border Town?" asked Chisato with a welcoming smile.

"More witches able to fly. That is a strange coincidence." frowned the one with the most luxurious outfit. He had long flaxen hair and black eyes, and his horns were significantly bigger than those of the other two.

"I am Lügner, Duke of Taquila. You witches have stolen something from my territory. I will have it returned, and reparations paid."

Chisato exchanged a glance with Takina, who asked.

"Can you describe the thing we supposedly have stolen?"

"A bloc of ice, containing the body of a witch."

"I understand." nodded Takina. "We indeed have recovered her. But since she is alive, we consider her a person, not a possession, and as such, we can only dispute your claim over her."

"Well, since you mentioned reparations, maybe we can provide you compensation for her?" suggested Chisato. "What would be of use to you? Gold? Iron?"

"Witches' bodies." smiled Lügner. "That is the only valuable thing your settlement has to offer for us Demons. And we intend to collect them all."

The Duke used his sharp nails to open the palm of his left hand, and red blood gushed out.

Far too much blood, considering the nature and location of the wound inflicted, and the blood didn't drop to the ground. Instead, it formed gnarly tentacles or vines that shot at high speed toward Chisato and Takina.

The two girls evaded without difficulty, taking some distance.

"Well, we tried, at least." sighed Chisato, jumping away again. She had to materialize her magic gun and shoot the blood vines as they seemed to have unlimited range and were homing on her and Takina.

At least, her shots were effective at breaking the blood vines, and the severed parts fell to the ground, already starting to turn into dust.

She was about to shoot Lügner when her instincts made her look at what one of the two other Demon was doing. The pink-haired girl had a gun identical to Chisato's in her hand and was aiming at her. Chisato saw her depress the trigger and evaded the shot, then aimed her own gun at the girl, and she instantly started evading in the same manner Chisato had just performed.

She was like a mirror.

Chisato frowned, realizing that this girl might prove more troublesome to deal with than Lügner.

…

Takina fired a few Gandr to break the blood vines coming at her, but Lügner simply extracted more from his injured palm, and formed a thick blood shell in front of him to act as a shield. He seemed to have an infinite supply of blood.

The other attendant, a male with short, dull green hair, was moving to her side, positioning himself to take her flank. He was trying to hide it, be Takina could feel his mana leave his hands forming thin threads at the ends of his fingers.

Takina didn't want to wait to find out what those threads did and fired a huge Gandr at him. As he didn't stand a chance of evading it, he lifted his arms to try to defend himself, but this only resulted in him losing them as the magic blast last carved a hole in his chest large enough for someone to put their arm through.

As he collapsed, Takina returned her attention to Lügner himself and kept evading his blood vines.

Wanting to finish this fight, she used Shunpo to appear behind Lügner, manifested a Light sword, and slashed on an upward diagonal, cutting his body in half.

She still had to retreat in a hurry as Lügner tried to take her down with him, and fired a final Gandr at his head, splattering his brain on the ground.

As she turned to see how Chisato was doing, she found herself staring in amazement.

The Demon girl Chisato was fighting was armed with a gun and a Light Sword, used Shunpo and manifested Light Shields, and was fighting with a skill and agility that reminded her of Chisato.

It was clear that the Demon couldn't imitate Chisato's strength or speed, but she somehow managed to imitate perfectly her skills and fighting style.

"Takina, let's capture that girl!" laughed Chisato, thrilled to be at the receiving end of her own fighting style. "Once we train her and boost her specs, she'll be a great sparring partner!"

Takina wasn't opposed to the idea. Although, until she signed a Soul Contract with Noah, this Demon Girl would lack the stamina to keep up with this style of intense fighting for long. She was already breathing hard, and was starting to sweat.

After another minute, the demon girl slowed down significantly and stopped using Shunpo. That was what Chisato was waiting for, and she took from her spatial ring a long chain whose links were engraved with Stop Runes. This was an item she had decided to replicate after she heard from Mash how effective it was at shutting down opponents that shouldn't be approached carelessly.

The Demon girl escaped the chain a few times, but eventually, she failed to evade it completely and her ankle was caught in it. Before she could uncoil the chain, Chisato was on her, pinning her arms and engraving a Stop rune directly on her skin.

The girl looked confused for a moment as Chisato cuffed her hands behind her back.

"Why are you not killing me? I am your enemy." asked the girl.

"Didn't you hear earlier?" grinned Chisato. "You impressed us with your capabilities, so we'll make you our comrade. Of course, we'll need to train you properly first before we unseal your powers."

"…I understand." nodded the girl.

"So, what is your name? I'm Chisato, and this is Takina."

"…Linie."

…

"…Is her name Linie?" asked Noah on the phone after Chisato described the morning's events."

"So you know her as well! Isn't she cute? And her ability to copy a technique or fighting skill after only seeing it a few times at most if so great I'm feeling jealous!"

"Yeah. Chisato, are you alone right now?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Linie is indeed a Demon I know, but from a different fiction. The world you're in includes elements from more than one source of inspiration, it seems."

"I understand. So what you told us isn't necessarily correct."

"Yes, there is that, but I also need to warn you about something. In that other fiction Linie is part of, Demons are abandoned at birth and left to fend for themselves. As a result, to them, words like 'mother' or 'father' are only things they can say at the right moment to elicit sympathy from their opponents. They have zero understanding of many emotions we humans take for granted."

"It also made them intensely selfish. So be vigilant with her. Your ability to detect lies will prove invaluable, and do not restore her powers before you made her sign a strict contract with Akeno. To convince her to behave, I would emphasize the advantages she could gain on our side and appeal to her self-interest."

"I see." nodded Chisato. "She'll be a tough cookie to crack, but I love challenges! I'll slowly teach her the advantages of having a family such as ours!"

"Yes. I'm counting on you, Chisato." smiled Noah.