After taking the unconscious Lumine from Nemesis, I brought her back to the dormitory and left the rest to Laila.
When I simply told her that Lumine had been through a bit of a scare, Laila nodded deeply in silent understanding and carried her into the room.
Having gotten caught up in the incident, Lumine was taking a few days off. I had been checking in on her through Laila, and the girl herself was surprisingly cheerful; the shock of what happened didn't seem nearly as bad as I had feared.
If there was one issue, however, it was the matter of that carved wooden cat doll transforming.
"‘Fallen Divinity,’ was it? A Gift that forces a powerful spiritual lifeform—one even hailed as a god—through the cycle of transmigration, dropping it into this world to manifest. Quite the flashy Gift, isn't it?"
According to Asta's report, the ordeal had awakened Lumine's previously unknown Gift, triggering the transformation of the wooden cat carving.
In the process, an otherworldly spiritual lifeform named Susanoo had apparently been subjected to a forced Incarnation into that wooden cat. In a way, my condolences went out to the poor creature.
"‘A flashy Gift,’ Master? Do you truly comprehend the sheer absurdity of this phenomenon? It is tantamount to a mortal giving birth to a god!"
To Asta, who made his case with utter exasperation, I replied,
"A mortal creating a god, huh? Sounds like a bit of an exaggeration to me."
In the first place, gods didn't exist in this world. At the end of the day, wasn't it just a powerful entity undergoing Incarnation in this realm? That was something those insolent fools in the Heavenly Army and the Evil Army did all the time. The only difference was whether it was forced or done of their own free will. In fact, every single spiritual lifeform that had undergone Incarnation so far had turned out to be complete and utter small fry. Calling it an absurd phenomenon carried zero weight with me.
"Indeed, to you, Master—standing as you do beyond the bounds of reason—perhaps everything appears much the same. But to the people of this world, by the common sense of this realm, it is undeniably an unimaginable miracle."
It seemed Asta and I were on completely different wavelengths. He had a bit of a tendency to look down on this world, which probably explained it.
"Let's just leave it at that. So, how are things looking regarding the Lawless City Induram?"
"The plan is proceeding smoothly without a hitch, sir!"
Girimehkala gave an immediate report, clearly struggling to contain his excitement. To him, this operation was on a whole other level compared to the usual fare. No doubt Azazel was the reason. The one who had wronged Azazel was involved in this mess. No, that wasn't quite right. Judging by Azazel's demeanor, it probably wasn't so simple. It had to be something striking at the very core of who Azazel was. From the moment we first met, he had always seemed burdened by heavy shackles unlike anyone else. Ten to one, that was what this was about.
If this incident could bring Azazel Release in the truest sense, I had no intention of holding back my support.
"Understood. I'll leave this to you all. Do as you see fit."
"Yes, sir! I am deeply honored by your benevolence!"
Girimehkala clasped his hands together, tears streaming down his face. As suffocatingly dramatic as ever.
Regardless, the members of the Girimehkala Faction possessed an exceptionally fierce sense of camaraderie. They were insane enough to dabble in any taboo for Azazel's sake. I couldn't imagine the current Girimehkala ever allowing Azazel to come to harm. Leaving it in their hands would surely yield the best possible outcome for him. Above all, when my people were moving for the sake of a comrade, I didn't want to hold them back.
Well then, it was about time for school. We'd better get moving.
"Rose, let's head out!"
I called over to Rose, who had been lost in thought instead of joining our conversation.
"Yes, of course. Let us be on our way."
Rose nodded, picking up her bag and turning toward the front door.
"Faf is coming too!"
"Mew is coming too!"
"Me too!"
Faf and Mew threw their arms around me as they chimed in, while Fen, perched atop my head, raised a tiny front paw in declaration.
"Are you sure you can behave yourselves with Inea?"
Following the recent scandal, the administration at Babel had stepped up its intervention in Ouboro Academy.
One result of that was Inea's assignment to the academy as a dedicated magic instructor. Though she didn't hold an official executive post, she had been granted a fairly spacious office. Inea had proposed using that space as a makeshift daycare for Faf and Mew.
"Yes, absolutely!"
"Mm-hmm!"
"I'll be good!"
With the three of them each offering their own spirited replies, I finally stepped out and set off for school with the little group in tow.