Fifteen minutes later, at the courtyard outside the witch's castle.

Axel stood before a team of fifteen witches, all dressed in black, wearing pointy hats, and holding long staves of various designs. They were uniform. Even their expressions were roughly the same—a mix of distrust and doubt, along with a hint of fear.

Of course, the faces were quite familiar to him. After all, just as he requested, they were all the women whom he saw inside the bathhouse.

Apart from them, there were also a few members borrowed from Rosaria's team, filling in the gaps.

And also…

"You are…?"

Axel turned to the only unfamiliar face within the group.

A woman who looked just like Teruria, if you stretched her vertically until she was as tall as Axel, and preserved the overall volume. A tighter figure, with no excess "fat" or "meat" anywhere at all.

Of course, that was just a nice way to say she had fewer curves than the loli witch.

"Greetings, Sir Axel."

The woman spoke with a gallant voice. Militaristic and noble, but with hints of a childish tone.

She quickly introduced herself while pulling the edges of her skirt up in a light curtsey.

"I'm Ethernina Hallbach, Second Princess of the Hallbach Queendom. However, please don't mind my position and just call me Nina, Sir."

"Second Princess?" Axel raised a brow. "Then you're Ria's older sister?"

"If you mean Teruria, then yes. I'm her half-sister, Sir."

"Half…"

Axel paused after hearing that curious word. However, he quickly recalled that Witcheria was matriarchal. It wouldn't be weird for the Queen herself to have multiple partners.

"I see," Axel nodded. "Although you're Ria's sister, sorry, but I won't show any bias or preference. You're here as my guard, so I'll treat you as such."

"Of course, Sir. Please give me any order."

"Good. Then let's do a briefing first."

Axel quickly took out a map that Mimika gave him and placed it on top of a simple table nearby. The map not only showed landmarks, but also marked a red zone—the area where the Demons had invaded up to at present.

And without any suspense, all three fortresses were deep inside the red zone.

"As you can see, the closest fortress is about 500 kilometers north of here, or 150 kilometers from the furthest available fortress," he explained while pointing at the map.

"I'm sure you're more familiar with the situation than I am. So I want your blunt opinion… do you think it's possible to reach this fortress with our current forces?"

"…"

All the witches looked at each other, hesitating.

Only after the silence started getting awkward did Nina speak.

"Even with just the fifteen of us, given our strength, it's entirely possible," she nodded. "However, we can't promise to keep you safe indefinitely. We need time to recover our Life Energy, so… thirty minutes. That's how long we can ensure your safety inside the red zone."

"Half an hour, huh…"

Axel estimated it would take him an hour to fix a fortress. That meant they'd run out of energy halfway through.

"Then what if you can recover your mana while out there?" Axel asked. "What do you think about that?"

"Recover…? You mean potions?" she asked, confused. "Although it'd be nice to have mana potions, they're too expensive. We can't afford to buy them in bulk."

Their basic consumables, the Voodoo Doll, cost almost the same as a weak mana potion, after all. And that was already after considering that the doll's price was inflated due to a lack of market supply.

However, such matters didn't bother Axel at all.

"Here. Have these. They're level 8 potions."

Axel withdrew a few bottles from his inventory and placed them on the table. They were, of course, Greater Mana Potions Lv. 8.

Although he could afford to give them max-level potions, he refrained from doing so. First, that would be overkill. Second, showing too many of his cards wouldn't be good.

"T-This is…!"

"No way. This must be fake!"

"Level 8? That legendary…?!"

Even so, it was enough to send the witches into disarray.

Axel frowned, glaring at the girls who openly doubted him.

"Real or not, they're legitimate potions, so they should still help," he declared flatly.

"Each of you gets five bottles. Use them sparingly. If you have leftovers after the expedition, you don't need to return them. However, intentionally not using them is a different matter. If that happens, I'll collect the potions again."

"…"

Despite his generosity, doubt remained.

Rather, they wondered if the "potions" were spiked. Their mistrust of Axel ran deep. Realizing this, he glanced at Nina.

"You—do you have an appraisal tool or something? Bring it here and show them. Once that's done, and you're ready to depart, call me."

After saying that, Axel walked away, heading toward the idle magic circle ahead—a teleportation formation that would send them to the frontline fortress closest to their objective.

Seeing Axel's attitude toward a princess, some witches looked ready to throw fists. However, the princess herself stopped them.

"Did you forget what the Queen said? Don't pick a fight with him."

Of course, she, too, was doubtful of Axel.

Being given a chance to verify the items was a godsend.

After leaving for a few minutes, she returned holding a monocle—an appraisal item usually kept in the treasury, gathering dust.

"Let's see…"

With a casual motion, expecting the items not to match his words—

<Greater Mana Potion Lv. 8>

<Recovers up to 8,000 points of Mana.>

<Parameters: Mana +8 (64 hours) (stackable)>

<Crafter: Axel Walker>

<Item's Age: 1 day>

"…!"

The result went far beyond her imagination.

Not only was it a real level 8 mana potion, it even had an additional property upon consumption—Mana +8! That was like gaining a 20% boost for 64 hours, and it was stackable!

Furthermore, the item's age was just one day. It was newly made—by Axel, no less.

"It's… real…" she stuttered, both in shock and awe.

"No way! Princess, please let me see too…!"

"Me too! A level 8 potion is far too precious to exist in such quantities!"

Even a princess's words couldn't fully remove their doubt.

As they say, seeing is believing.

Once they appraised the potions themselves, everyone began looking at Axel in a different light.

Axel expected this result and merely shrugged, ignoring the glowing eyes focused on him.

"If you're done, let's depart," he said. "My time's too precious to waste."

A man who could make level 8 potions—of course, his time was precious.

"Everyone! Let's go!"

Knowing they couldn't afford to "pay" for the time they wasted, Nina commanded the entire team.

They surrounded Axel and stood within the magic circle before activating it.

And then, a bright flash of light swallowed them whole.

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