It was Maia who was bewildered by Pline's words.
"Pline? What do you an? Do you know that guy by any chance?"
A man openly approaching while radiating a dangerous aura. He was definitely an archbishop of the Eternal Divine Church, possessing power stronger than the bishops they had faced so far.
No matter how capable Pline was, she couldn't have t an archbishop of an organization that had been secretly hidden until now, so it must have been their first eting. However, judging by Pline's reaction, she seed to know that archbishop very well.
That curiosity didn't last long. Because the archbishop called Phillis smiled brightly at Pline and greeted her.
"Yeah. Long ti no see. Sister."
"……!"
At the word "sister," the witch Maia's eyes widened enormously.
"Pline. Did you have family?"
"……."
Pline didn't answer. Right now, she didn't have the capacity to respond to the surrounding situation. Her younger brother, whom she thought had died decades ago, had suddenly appeared and with the power of an outer god dwelling in his body at that.
Pline simply couldn't accept that reality.
"Phillis. Is it really you?"
"Huh? Hahaha. You're stating the obvious. Of course it's . Since I look the sa as before, shouldn't it be easier to recognize ?"
Phillis smiled brightly, asking what she was talking about. His pale skin, delicate appearance, and sohow lancholic atmosphere. It was a look that didn't suit this terrible scene at all. That's why Phillis' appearance felt even more grotesque.
This isn't good. Just as Delford was getting quite tense from the threatening scent emanating from his opponent, he saw Basilio beside him trembling.
"Lord Basilio?"
"Philiiiis!!"
It was the first ti. The first ti Basilio had let out such an angry roar. At his sudden action, both Maia and Pline looked at him in surprise.
"What the hell! Why are you alive?! Why are you!"
Basilio's black cloak fluttered. Intense magical power began swirling around him as magic was completed.
A piercingly huge ice pillar created in midair shot toward Phillis like a cannon.
-Crack!
However, the ice pillar was swallowed by red mist during its flight and decomposed like powder on the spot.
Basilio raised his hand. Purple lightning swirled around his right arm. The end of the massive lightning transford into a dragon's head and opened its maw.
-Crackle!
Just as the lightning dragon was about to shoot toward Phillis.
"Why am I alive, you ask? You're stating the obvious. It's because I never died in the first place."
Before they knew it, Phillis was standing right in front of Basilio.
"……!"
When exactly? Just as Basilio was bewildered, Delford moved.
He pulled Basilio's cloak backward and launched wolf claws toward Phillis. Archbishop Phillis stood still in place even while watching this. It wasn't that he couldn't react and dodge, but that there was no need to.
-Slash!
Delford's claws, which could cut through even steel sharply, passed through Archbishop Phillis' body like a ghost. Delford's eyes widened in surprise at this sight. Because Phillis was standing there calmly as if nothing had happened.
What was that just now? There was definitely a feeling that the attack had connected, yet he was so calm?
"Hmm. I'd like to catch up on old tis since we're eting after so long, but if the reaction is like this, I get really hurt."
"Phillis! What's going on here! Why are you alive, and why are you with these heretics!"
Pline shouted with a tearful voice.
The locket of the necklace around her neck swayed accordingly. The photo of Phillis contained in the locket had appeared before her eyes, but she couldn't be happy at all.
"Isn't that obvious? I never died in the first place. No, I almost died but survived by taking their power."
Phillis' voice was as calm as if stating an insignificant fact.
"Of course it took ti to accept, but thanks to that, I was able to rise to a high position. Look at this body."
Phillis showed his smooth right hand.
"The gaunt, weak body of the past is nowhere to be found. There's no reason to live in the agony of death while suffering from illness either. Of course, the sa goes for youth. “
Phillis said while tapping his cheek with his hand.
At that mont, massive flas engulfed Phillis. Pline's body trembled at the sight. It was Basilio who had used fire magic.
"Ahahaha. This is hot. Isn't this too much even if you can't say hello happily after eting for so long?"
Phillis revealed himself from within the flas. He was completely unhard without a single wound despite being in the high-temperature flas.
'No. He's not unhard.'
Delford noticed that Phillis' skin was regenerating in real ti. It only appeared that he wasn't wounded because his regeneration speed was faster than the burning speed from Basilio's magic.
'My attack earlier wasn't deflected either. At an unimaginable speed, the area cut by my claws rapidly regenerated.'
The power to regenerate imdiately upon being cut. While the characteristics of the Eternal Church's corrupted ones were said to be specialized in regeneration, Archbishop Phillis' level was exceptional.
'If I got a little more serious here.'
Crack. Tendons rose like writhing snakes on Delford's hand. His claws beca longer and thicker than before. Delford soon abandoned the thought and suppressed his arm that was beginning to transform.
Even if he got serious, he wasn't confident he could kill that guy. Rather, the people around might get caught up in it. His family was also inside this space.
Whether Delford thought so or not, Archbishop Phillis looked at Basilio with an amused laugh.
"Hahaha. What's wrong? Why are you so angry? Brother Julius."
"Shut up!"
"No. Now you're using the alias Basilio instead of that na, right? While hiding both your face and identity. Did things get bad between you and sister?"
"I told you to shut up!"
-Whoosh!
Countless ice spears pierced through Phillis' body. But Phillis still didn't erase his smiling face. The embedded ice spears fell out on their own and dropped to the floor with a thud.
"Unexpected. I didn't think you two would end up separated like this."
"Phillis…… This is a joke, right? This isn't your will, right? So those heretics kidnapped you and made you like this, right?"
To Pline's desperate question, Phillis shook his head.
"Even sister, who's usually cold and rational, becos like this when family is involved. You're wrong, sister. I wasn't kidnapped, nor was I experinted on."
"What do you an…….?"
Pline's pupils trembled greatly at an answer completely different from the facts she knew.
The end of Phillis that she rembered was that he went to the battlefield with his sickly body, was kidnapped by the Eternal Church, and t his end as an experintal subject.
That's what she was told and the one who conveyed that fact was none other than Basilio.
Pline lived with her younger brother Phillis. The place where the two lived was a typical residential house in District 30 of Tirna City. It was narrow and unsanitary, but they couldn't complain about it.
It was the most decent place they could find with the money they had.
Pline didn't like such a life. That's why she devoted herself to studying. If she beca a civil servant of Tirna, if she rose to a higher position, she could live a much better life than this.
Fortunately, Pline had both the clever mind for it and sufficient motivation to work hard. Of course, her ability to focus on sothing to this extent was also for her one and only family.
"Cough. Cough. Sister, are you okay?"
Coughing dryly, her younger brother Phillis opened the door and ca out.
"Phillis. I told you to lie down."
"Even so, if I just lie down like this, I'm being a burden to sister."
"You're not at all, so just rest."
Pline supported Phillis and imdiately laid him down on the bed. The old cheap bed creaked, but it was better than having nothing.
"Sorry, sister. Because my body is like this."
"You don't need to be sorry at all."
Pline's younger brother Phillis had been sickly since childhood. He was smaller than children his age, his skin was pale, and his limbs were thin.
He had constant minor illnesses and also suffered from chronic conditions. Pline had devoted all her efforts to caring for such a brother since she was young. Her determination to sohow make money and succeed was to safely care for her one and only brother.
Pline stroked Phillis' forehead.
"See. You still have a fever."
"I'm fine."
"I'm not fine. Just lie down and get so sleep."
"I was lying down continuously until just now. It's actually getting tedious."
Phillis looked out the window with a distant gaze. Beyond the hazy, dirty window, people were moving around energetically. Of course, that wouldn't be entirely positive. Most people living in this area were busy just making ends et each day.
But Phillis still wanted to walk around outside with his own two feet.
"Phillis……."
Pline, who wasn't unaware of her brother's feelings, could only call his na wistfully. Because it was already difficult for her to arrange money for Phillis' dicine, and surgery was beyond her reach.
'I need to take the exam and pass quickly.'
Though Pline was only in her mid-teens, she maturely and calmly decided what she needed to do. Then the bell rang with a ding-dong sound.
Pline was startled for a mont. She wondered if it might be the landlord nagging about rent.
But with Phillis here now, she couldn't ignore such a doorbell.
When she steeled herself and opened the front door, a bouquet of flowers was suddenly thrust toward her.
As she stared at this with a blank expression, the young man holding the bouquet peeked his head out to the side.
"Strange. I heard that girls usually like it when you give them flowers."
He was a tall, handso man with distinct features. He seed quite bewildered that the expected reaction didn't co. Pline let out a hollow laugh at this sight.
"Julius. Stop fooling around. You startled coming without any notice."
"Fooling around! This is my sincerity!"
"And why did you bring flowers? We don't even have space to put them."
"I didn't buy them. I just casually snatched them from the laboratory."
Julius was a promising mage. And he was also Pline's lover.
"Anyway, no flowers. They'll wilt soon."
"Oh my. More importantly, how is our Phillis doing?"
"Julius!"
Pline couldn't stop Julius from entering on his own. Julius with the bouquet headed toward Phillis' room as if it were natural.
"Phillis. How have you been?"
"Ah. Brother Julius. Long ti no see. But what are those flowers?"
"Pretty, right? I improved the breed so they sll good too. If you keep these around, you'll feel good." Chapters first released on n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟
When Julius handed over the bouquet, Phillis received it and slled the fragrance. Phillis' complexion improved considerably with the gentle fragrance that pushed away the stuffy air in the room.
Julius spoke quietly to Pline, who was watching from the doorway, so only she could hear.
"It's a flower improved with magic. It emits a fragrance that calms the mind and also has the effect of purifying the surrounding air. You can keep it in Phillis' room."
"You……."
‘Did you do this on purpose for Phillis?’
As Pline couldn't say anything, Julius found her expression quite cute and chuckled, poking the tip of Pline's nose with his index finger.
"There's that expression again. Pline, your smiling face is the prettiest, you know?"
"……Even if you complint like that, I'm not particularly happy about it."
Despite saying that, the corners of Pline's mouth were gradually rising.
"Still, since you're a guest who ca all this way, I can't turn you away at the door. Rest for a while."
"Ooh. Can I eat food made by you for once? I missed it."
"If you missed it, co often. Don't just hole up in that magic workshop for days on end."
"Huh? Don't tell you're saying that because you were lonely? Ah, I didn't realize that. Ow! Wh-why are you stepping on my foot!"
"Oh my, sorry."
Julius and Pline chuckled and chatted with each other. For Pline, such tis with Julius were one of the few happy monts that made her temporarily forget this exhausting reality.
But as conversations usually ca to an end, she would once again recognize the gloomy, gray-filled reality and beco even more depressed.
Julius, who noticed her expression, asked.
"Is Phillis' physical condition still bad?"
"Yes. We're managing with dicine sohow, but the chronic illness is the problem."
"Don't worry about surgery costs. I can pay for them. Did you forget? I'm a mage."
"Do you think I don't know that you don't have much money either? Even if you're a promising mage, you're still in the learning stage now."
"Ahem. Since I'm a genius, I can rise quickly anyti. I can make money quickly too."
"I'm doing that too. So I don't want to be a burden."
Pline was stubborn about such things. Though it was sotis frustrating, Julius knew that he had fallen head over heels for this side of her.
"Just don't overdo it."
In the end, that was all the advice he could give her.
It would probably be okay. Since Phillis' condition wasn't worsening, if ti just passed sohow like this, they would be able to treat his illness.
"But why is it so noisy outside?"
Julius looked down below the window.
"Extra! Extra!"
A young boy was scattering newspapers from his arms in all directions while shouting sothing. People who picked up the newspapers began murmuring among themselves after reading them. A sowhat ominous atmosphere flowed through the air.
"What's happening?"
To Pline's question, Julius opened the window and used wind magic to bring over a newspaper into his hand. His expression hardened as he read the article on the front page.
"It's war."
Neighboring countries had declared war on Tirna.
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