“Mmm… Was I asleep just now?”

Lonis blinked her eyes open, still groggy, and realized she was lying on the stone floor.

The fireball had warmed the floor, so it wasn’t cold, but Lonis still felt a little ashamed for falling asleep without meaning to… She was supposed to be looking after a patient. What if something had happened to Elucia?

But when she turned around, Lonis immediately felt relieved.

Elucia had fallen asleep too… Her breathing was steady, and she looked peaceful. That meant the black-haired girl was stable now and had made it past the danger point.

All the wounds on her body had healed completely. Her skin was smooth and unmarked, with no sign she’d ever suffered such serious injuries.

“What should I do now… Explore the area? Or find something to keep me busy…”

Lonis was curious about this unknown temple, but she didn’t plan to go far from Elucia… If any of the Kelu had survived and came after them, that’d be bad.

So Lonis simply picked up her storage ring and began rummaging through its contents.

“Oh, right. I’m starving. Maybe I should make something to eat?”

There were seventy-two chunks of beef in the ring, and the silver-haired girl was practically drooling as she looked at them~

She hadn’t forgotten how delicious that steak had been, roasted over the lava and mixed with the fresh, savory taste of fine snow… The outside was crisp when you bit into it, while the inside was tender and juicy.

But when Lonis took out the beef, she realized there was one crucial problem.

She had no way to cook it!

She didn’t know how to use her phone—the handheld, portable magic device—and the temple was underground, so there wasn’t even any grass or branches to be found.

The only thing she could use was…

“Oh, right! That fireball looks so big. Maybe I can cook with it? (*^▽^*)”

“I’ll cut up the beef and try holding it over the fire~ Then Elucia can eat something as soon as she wakes up.”

…

…

As she set about doing this, Lonis felt like an absolute genius!

The surface of the sphere of flame gave off just the right amount of heat to grill a steak. The fireball floated high in the air, but all she had to do was skewer the meat with her short sword.

From a distance, it even looked a little like Turkish kebab.

Before long, the whole temple was filled with a delicious aroma.

…

“Let’s see how it tastes… Oh, this is even better than Elucia’s cooking!

Now Lonis was sure she could give the black-haired little girl a huge surprise.

Hmph! That’s what you get for looking down on me and picking on me all the time.

But when it really mattered, I was the one who saved you, wasn’t I? That cherry mouth of yours, always picking on me, is going to have to eat the food I made~

A wave of satisfaction welled up in Lonis’s heart.

As if she’d caught the smell of grilled meat wafting through the air, Elucia slowly woke up too.

“Mmm… Did Lonis fall into the lava and get roasted? Why does it smell so good…”

“How could I have gotten roasted? Kelu’s the one who got roasted!”

“Huh… Oh?”

Only then did Elucia fully wake up.

She saw the silver-haired girl standing beside the fireball, stretching up on her tiptoes to grill meat, and stared in astonishment. “Lonis, what are you doing?”

“G-grilling meat?”

“H-how can you use the sacred Flame Abyss to grill… Never mind. The Flame Abyss has accepted you, after all.”

Elucia let out a long sigh. Her gaze toward Lonis held annoyance, envy, concern, surprise, and anger all at once.

“A-accepted me? What does that mean?”

“It means you can now draw on the Flame Abyss’s power openly and legitimately, just like I used to.”

Elucia worked the stiffness out of her joints and gathered the gothic dress beside her into her hands.

“Huh?”

“You still don’t understand? It wasn’t that the temple had fallen into disrepair. When you rammed the gate, your blood splattered across it… The Flame Abyss recognized your resolve, so it opened for you.”

“What?!!!!”

“Honestly, I have no idea what the Crimson Maiden Goddess was thinking…”

As she spoke, Elucia put on her clothes. “It makes sense that I was rejected after gaining the power of darkness. But you… isn’t your soul that of a boy? How did you get chosen too?”

“What’s so strange about a boy being chosen? I’m the Hero! Isn’t it only natural for weird powers to choose me~”

“You really are adorably foolish. If you knew the history of the Flame Abyss, you probably wouldn’t think that…”

Elucia had finished putting on her dress. She looked just as she had when she’d recovered—without a single wound left on her body.

“Its history? What do you mean?”

“Poor lamb. You still don’t understand the fate that awaits you… Heh, heh… But it makes no difference. The river of fate may split into a tangled web of streams, but in the end, they all flow into the sea of time.”

“Stop talking in riddles, Elucia! What does that mean?”

“What does it mean? Why should I explain it to you? Besides, I just realized… Ever since we came to the temple, you, my masochistic maid, have been awfully disrespectful to me, haven’t you?”

“Huh?”

“You’ve even started omitting honorifics now? Let me think, what shall we do next? Hmm... since we’re in the Flame Abyss Temple, perhaps a little ‘wax dripping’ game would be quite fitting? Lonis, you must be eager to be teased by me too, right?”

“Mistress Elucia!!!!”

…

…

…

“Good, good~ My little maid can be very obedient after all!”

“Mmm…”

“Now sit in front of me with your legs folded to one side and let me pat your head~”

“Mmm!”

Though she was terribly embarrassed, Lonis could only follow Elucia’s order and sit on the ground in that humiliating pose.

She was supposed to be a grown man (little girl), yet here she was, having her head patted by a little girl. It was a strange kind of humiliation.

(That awful Elucia. I saved her, and she’s still picking on me. Talk about repaying kindness with betrayal.)

Lonis was secretly “fuming,” but she didn’t dare show it. All she could do was speak gently, with a humble, pleading tone:

“Elucia, you said the Flame Abyss accepted me… Does that mean I can gain a new power?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Really?”

At that, Lonis’s eyes lit up.

More than becoming a girl, what upset her most was how weak and helpless she was… She couldn’t even cut through leather, and she was panting after just a few steps. She was practically a pretty little ornament~

If she had some special power, maybe she could rule the world, defeat Elucia, and find a way to turn back into a boy!

That was what Lonis thought. But Elucia immediately poured cold water over her hopes:

“Lonis, if you think gaining power will let you escape my control, you’re far too naive.”

“Huh?”

“You didn’t run away while I was unconscious just now. That means you’ll never get away~”

With a click, Elucia rose onto her tiptoes and fastened the metal chain to the collar around Lonis’s neck.

“E-Elucia, what are you doing?!”

“All right, I’ll take you to gain the ‘power’ of the Flame Abyss. You can see if you can escape… Heh heh~”