Shurein and the others returned to the Elven Village, and after reporting their failure to Yutta, they went back to Amamiya Tower.
During that time, Wanri remained in her fox form and did not explain the detailed reason for what happened.
Shurein and the others figured that they had something to tell Kousuke and did not intentionally try to pry for details from Wanri.
Upon arriving at the management layer, Shurein immediately informed Kousuke of their failure to retrieve the divine tool.
“Hmm. I see,” Kousuke said, not saying anything further about the failure.
What was more important was the situation in which they failed.
“So, how were you able to escape this time?”
“Hmm. It would be best to ask Wanri for details about that.”
“Wanri?”
Not knowing why Wanri was being brought up, Kousuke tilted his head and looked at Wanri.
Wanri, who had returned to her human form, shrugged slightly at his gaze.
Seeing Wanri completely dejected, Shurein smiled slightly to reassure her.
“I told you over there that you don’t need to be so anxious, didn’t I? You just need to tell me what happened properly, so just tell me properly.”
“…Yes.”
Kousuke, having overheard their conversation, sensed that something had happened and did not try to interject.
He decided to wait patiently for Wanri to speak.
Under Kousuke’s gaze, Wanri began to recount what had happened when they cornered the divine tool, bit by bit.
As Wanri was originally a fox, she wasn’t particularly good at speaking.
However, since the other three supported her well, the story progressed smoothly, and Kousuke was able to imagine the situation of cornering the divine tool without much confusion.
Then, when Wanri finally reached the point where she stopped Floria, she paused her words once.
“…Wanri?”
Seeing Wanri with a troubled expression, Kousuke tilted his head, wondering what was wrong.
Looking at her face, Kousuke felt that it was more like she didn’t know how to speak rather than that she didn’t want to.
“You don’t need to try to speak eloquently, just tell me what you felt, and try to put it into words.”
When she faced the divine tool, Wanri was in her fox form.
In that state, she acted mostly on instinct rather than on words or logic.
Therefore, Wanri was not accustomed to explaining the meaning of her actions in words like this.
Prompted by Kousuke, Wanri’s expression became reminiscent of that time, and she began to speak.
“When Floria-nee-sama was about to attack with her sword, I felt something strange.”
“Strange feeling?”
“Yeah. Like, if I attacked like that, something bad might happen… or something might happen…?”
She seemed frustrated, perhaps finding her own words strange.
The three who were present at the scene at that time looked at each other and confirmed that they had not felt anything particularly unusual.
Kousuke, observing their reactions, had a thoughtful expression for a moment before asking Wanri further.
“Did that strange feeling come from the spirits? Or something else? Your own intuition?”
Kousuke’s question was unexpected for Wanri, and she blinked in surprise.
Her expression showed that she had been desperately trying to figure out what that feeling was, but hadn’t considered what had alerted her.
Wanri began to recall that time with a serious expression, but the answer came quickly.
“Spirits… yes. I felt something from the spirits.”
“Spirits, huh.”
Seeing Wanri say that, Kousuke decided to stop confirming further.
He felt that the spirits had undoubtedly informed Wanri of something.
From there, various deductions could be made, so there was no need to press Wanri further at that moment.
Kousuke, who had been pondering with his arms crossed, turned his gaze to Shurein and the others.
“Shurein and the others didn’t feel anything, right?”
“Mmm. I felt nothing.”
“Me neither.”
“Same here.”
“Well, that’s to be expected.”
Kousuke nodded at their predictable answers.
If Wanri had felt something from the spirits, it was natural that the three, who were not very sensitive to spirits, had felt nothing.
Even Shurein, who had some connection to spirits, had felt nothing, which indicated that it was a truly minor change.
“In that case, I can think of two possibilities at the moment.”
“Which are?”
As Floria asked for clarification, Kousuke shared the thoughts going through his mind.
“One is that the surrounding spirits sensed something and informed Wanri. The other is that the divine tool used the spirits to inform Wanri of something.”
Considering the situation, Floria thought Kousuke was right but soon noticed something odd about his words.
“Inform her? Not a warning, but something else?”
“Yeah. If it were just a warning, it would have been conveyed before the battle began.”
“Ah, I see. That’s right.”
What Wanri felt was during the midst of the battle.
If the divine tool had intended to warn them, it would have used the spirits to inform Wanri before the battle started.
Of course, if one were to argue that the battle started so suddenly that there was no time, it was still possible to convey the warning when Wanri approached.
If that were the case, there must have been a reason for not informing her until she was cornered.
However, this was only one of the two possibilities Kousuke had presented.
The other possibility was that the spirits had independently wanted to inform Wanri of something.
“In the case of spirits, it seems plausible that they sensed the divine tool was about to do something and informed her in advance…”
“Is something going to happen?”
“No, I was just wondering if spirits would go to such lengths.”
Generally, spirits rarely act on their own accord, existing as they flow with nature.
If Kousuke’s assumption was correct, it would mean that the spirits themselves moved to inform Wanri.
Shurein also frowned, letting out a “Hmm.”
“Indeed, that’s quite difficult to imagine. Or rather, when it comes to dealing with Wanri, it might be possible.”
It was possible that the title Wanri possessed had influenced the spirits.
Kousuke nodded in agreement with Shurein’s speculation.
“Yes. I think so too… but I can’t quite be certain. After all, it’s about spirits.”
Those gathered here were not particularly knowledgeable about spirits.
“Therefore, I intend to ask Colette about this. Do you have any objections?”
As expected, Colette was the most knowledgeable about spirits.
It was only natural for Kousuke to propose this.
Naturally, there were no objections to Kousuke’s proposal, and it was decided that Kousuke would go to speak with Colette.
The mystery of Wanri’s actions.
It was a result of the spirits intervening with Wanri.
The reason for this will be explained later.
