Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 131

Soliel chuckled and continued, “This is my first time working with spirit power, so I’ve given it some thought, and it seems to me that spirit power and magic are fundamentally the same.”

“Spirit power and magic?”

“Yes. Both reshape the laws of the world according to the user’s will, don’t they? In that sense, they are quite similar.”

“I see.”

“So this is a method often used by novice wizards. I’ll give you a magic circuit auxiliary tool.”

“But spirit power isn’t magic power,” Lilliana said.

Soliel waved her hand. “It’s called a magic circuit auxiliary tool because of its purpose, but its accurate name is ‘natural law modifier.'”

She then took out a silver ring with a blue magic stone the size of a fingernail embedded in it and placed it on the tea table. As Lilliana stared at it, Soliel pushed the ring towards her with her finger.

Lilliana put the ring on her right index finger with a dubious look.

“Will this work? I don’t know much about magic.”

“Spirit power is simpler than magic. So even a simple magic tool like this will be enough to utilize your power. I told you, spirit power is similar to magic. Do you know what the first thing wizards do when casting a spell is?”

Lilliana shook her head, and Soliel tapped her own head with her index finger.

“They imagine. They imagine how their magic will manifest. And then the magic…”

Soliel opened and closed her fist, and a ball of fire the size of her fist appeared in her hand.

“It manifests as I imagined!”

The ball of fire flickered and then transformed into a butterfly made of fire, fluttering up into the sky. Lilliana stared at the butterfly with wide eyes.

The butterfly flapped its wings, flying back and forth between Lilliana and Soliel before disappearing.

Lilliana’s heart pounded at the sight. She smiled and kissed her ring.

***

“Hey, Damian.”

“What?”

“Does Lily have a secret from me?”

Casey looked a bit gloomy as he spoke.

“Is this what they call a rebellious phase?”

“What do you think Lilliana is? Even the closest of people have things they don’t talk about. It’s the same for Lilliana. And you also have many things you don’t tell Lilliana.”

Casey grumbled, feeling like it was a case of “If I do it, it’s romance; if someone else does it, it’s an affair.”

“I don’t like it when Lily has secrets from me. I didn’t even know she had someone she liked. How can she have secrets when she promised to be on my side forever?”

Just then, Lilliana emerged from the shop. She seemed quite excited as she ran towards Casey and Damian.

“Damian! Brother!”

“Did things go well?”

“Yes, yes!”

“What did you ask Soliel for? Tell me.”

At Casey’s nagging, Lilliana grinned mischievously, her cheekbones rising. She hid both hands behind her back and said, “Want to see something amazing?”

“Something amazing?”

Lilliana took a few steps away from Casey and Damian. Then, she raised her right hand. Flames erupted from her hand, forming a round sphere the size of a child’s head.

It happened so quickly that Damian and Casey were too stunned to process the situation.

Lilliana could barely create a flame the size of an adult’s fist, so creating a flame of this size was something they couldn’t have imagined.

Before Damian and Casey could say anything, Lilliana threw it towards the empty space. And then…

Boom!

An explosion erupted as if a grenade had detonated. Damian and Casey stared blankly, then were showered with debris from the explosion. They slowly turned their heads to look at Lilliana with bewildered expressions.

Lilliana puffed out her chest with a proud look.

“How was it? How was it?”

“W-what did you just do?” Damian stammered, quite startled.

“Soliel helped me use my spirit power more effectively.”

Lilliana showed Damian the ring on her right index finger.

“I can’t wield power as great as a true spirit, but I can handle this much now. With this power, I won’t be so powerless anymore. How is it? Isn’t it amazing? With an explosion like that, I could take out one or two people!”

She put her hands on her hips and laughed triumphantly.

“This is Lilliana Carnell, the sharpshooter with skills rivaling the Spirit King!”

Damian stared at her with a complicated expression. Casey, who had been silently observing Lilliana’s actions, finally spoke.

“That’s pathetic.”

“What did you say?”

Lilliana glared at Casey, but he didn’t seem to want to back down.

“I said it’s pathetic. That kind of thing is nothing special.”

Lilliana, shocked by his words, argued back, “With this much power, I can at least protect myself!”

“No! It’s pathetic compared to my power! You don’t need to do this kind of thing; I can protect you!”

“Of course it’s weaker than yours! I might be pathetic compared to you, brother, but compared to ordinary people, I have strong power now! This will lessen Damian’s burden too!”

“Lilliana, if you’re thinking this because of me, I want to say it was an unnecessary thought…”

“You be quiet.”

“Yes.”

Damian tried to take Casey’s side and argue against Lilliana using him as an excuse, but he ended up backing down.

“Brother, this will make me less of a burden, so isn’t it a good thing?” Lilliana pressed.

Casey nodded, then shook his head.

“I can protect Lily.”

“Brother!”

“Lily doesn’t have to do anything!”

As Casey stubbornly shook his head, Lilliana’s small body moved swiftly. She kicked Casey’s shin with all her might.

Whack!

Something cracked, but it definitely wasn’t Lilliana’s foot.

Even if his spirit content was higher than his human content, he was still a being born with a human body. That meant Casey could also be hurt and injured like any other person.

Casey crumpled to the ground, clutching his leg. He groaned, tears welling up in his eyes, and yelled at Lilliana, “That hurts!”

“I kicked you because I wanted it to hurt!”

“Why?!”

“Why?! Whyyyy?!”

Whack!

Lilliana’s foot, clad in a short-necked boot, struck Casey’s shin again.

“Ouch!”

Lilliana looked down at Casey, who was rolling on the ground, with a haughty expression and her chin held high.

“Listen carefully, brother. I’m not a weak and helpless princess who can’t do anything, like you and Aunt Pascal think.”

“No, Lily is weak…”

As Casey tried to argue back with Lilliana while sitting on the ground, she raised her foot again. Casey gritted his teeth and shut his mouth.

When he finally became quiet, Lilliana continued, “Neither you nor Aunt Pascal have the right to take away my right to choose. Do you understand this much?”

Casey narrowed his eyes but nodded nonetheless.

“I want to know what’s happening to me, and I want to be prepared. It’s not that I don’t like you or Damian helping me. I just want to have as many options as possible. And that’s what this power is. Do you understand this too?”

Casey pouted and looked away.

Damian thought the siblings had a similar way of pouting when they were displeased.

“Did you understand, brother?”

Lilliana threatened him with her foot again, and Casey reluctantly replied, “I understand.”

“Then don’t keep secrets from me anymore.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Casey Carnell!”

—————

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