The dangerous fight that took place at the Blue Moon Bar was now over. In this battle, Marlo's office had been completely destroyed, and the bar staff along with some gang members had gathered to see what had happened. I was still there with Helena.
Marlo came up to us and said,
"Look, the situation here isn't good. Whatever happened here today, any one of us could have lost our life."
I said,
"Yes, we know that too. Did you find out anything related to who that person was?"
Marlo replied,
"Which person?"
I was shocked, wondering what Marlo was saying.
Marlo continued,
"Actually, the one you are thinking was a man… was a woman."
Hearing this, both Helena and I were stunned—how could that be a woman? Marlo went on,
"Look, when you were fighting her, maybe you didn't realize it, but I could tell just from her movement style. But there's one thing I don't understand. That woman who came with the intention to kill me wouldn't just run away because two extra people showed up. That makes it clear that her intention was never really to kill me. Instead, she knew very well that if she killed me, the gangs would come after her relentlessly. So her plan was simply to attack me and send a warning—that we should not try to look for her, otherwise the consequences would be very bad."
After all this information, Helena and I left the bar. As soon as we stepped outside, I looked up at the sky, where evening had begun to fall. Helena and I sat back into our carriage. Misty was still showing concern for us.
I said,
"That's enough for today. Whatever investigation we have to do, we'll do it two days later."
Misty and Helena listened to me and agreed, because this case had now become even more dangerous. That deadly battle of today had deeply settled into my mind.
Then our carriage began taking us out of Patalpuri. Sitting inside the carriage, I kept thinking—today's fight… no one was fighting at full strength. That straw-hat person… oh sorry, that woman… if she had attacked all three of us at once, she would have been at least Sequence 3. But even then, she didn't use many Sequence 3 techniques. The ones she used could have been—"Shadow Clone," which we shot down, and that "Black-Grey-Blue Punch" that hit me. As far as I can tell, she barely used any real Sequence 3 techniques.
And as for Marlo, he is also a Thunder Nature Paragon like me. From the way he fought, it seemed certain that he was at least Sequence 2. But even then, he only used one or two of his powers. That might mean he didn't want to show us his full strength.
And as for Helena… I strongly suspect that despite being a Sequence 1 Paragon, her movement and attack power were equal to that of a Sequence 2. Helena definitely has some secret that she hasn't told me about. And honestly, why would she tell me about it anyway?
But now is not the time to think about all this. Right now, I have to go pick up Historia from the Royal Knight Headquarters. I had told her that I would return by evening and that she should wait for me.
After some time, Misty got down from the carriage at her stop. A little while later, Helena also got down and left. And after some time, I arrived in front of the Royal Knight Headquarters.
After getting down, I looked around, hoping that I might find Historia outside. But I didn't see her anywhere. So I went to the Royal Knight standing near the door and asked him if he could call out the girl who had gone inside in the morning.
The Royal Knight replied,
"Sorry, but the girl you're talking about left a little while ago."
Hearing this, I was shocked. I had told her to wait, yet she had already gone home?
After that, I sat back in the carriage and headed toward home. While sitting in the carriage, I suddenly noticed that Heater had returned from the underworld. Seeing him suddenly, I got a little scared.
Heater said,
"Master, why are you getting scared like this?"
I replied,
"Oh, nothing, I just got startled seeing you suddenly."
Then he started complaining about how I had summoned him and how much damage he had taken during the attack. Heater said,
"I really thought I was going to die today. But who was that person, and what kind of attack did they use?"
Just as I was about to reach home, I shifted my attention from Heater's words and noticed Historia some distance away, walking on foot along the side of the road toward home. Within moments, my carriage reached right beside her. I asked the carriage to stop. It stopped near her, and I got down to talk.
"Historia, you're here? I told you to wait, didn't I?"
Historia replied,
"Master, I was going to wait, but Madam Alisha told me to come back home before sunset. And I also need to prepare dinner after reaching home."
Hearing this, I started thinking—did Historia fail to join the Royal Knights? Because if she had joined, then the way she just said she needed to prepare dinner… if she had become a Royal Knight, she would have received Royal Knight privileges as well.
I asked her this directly,
"Did you not become a Royal Knight?"
Historia replied very calmly,
"No, no, Master, it's nothing like that. I've already received my Royal Knight uniform."
She raised her hand and showed me a bag, slightly larger than my leather bag, with the Royal Knight Headquarters symbol on it.
Then I asked her,
"Then why do you still have to work like a maid in my house?"
Historia replied,
"Master, I'll tell you everything. Let's head home first."
I said,
"Alright, come on, sit in the carriage. Let's go home."
But Historia interrupted,
"Let's do one thing—let's not take the carriage. The sun is slowly setting, and home isn't very far from here. We'll reach quickly if we walk."
I said,
"Alright, let's walk then."
The carriage left us there, and Historia and I started walking toward home. But suddenly, Historia pushed me to the side. I was a little shocked at her strange reaction. But her reaction wasn't strange—it was justified.
Because while walking beside me, she had seen a strange black figure, whose face was covered with blue cloth and from whose body blue-light particles were emanating.
It was Heater.
Heater had never been visible to Historia before. But now I saw that Historia could not only see Heater, she could also sense him.
Seeing this, even Heater got scared. How could an ordinary girl—who couldn't even see him until yesterday—now see him?
Historia had now moved in front of me, positioning herself to protect me from my own summoning spirit.