❝DÉVOUEMENT❞ ; twst.

✦ chapter one hundred thirty seven.

ೃ༄ "excuse me, your highness."
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malleus sighed as he grabbed f/n's staff from the floor and made it disappear. he then wrapped an arm around her waist before looking back at the shocked crowd. trein let out a heavy sigh and said, "miss f/n, please do not let your temper cause a scene. it's a relief that you are still standing and well. now, how did you manage to make these flowers wilt, draconia, l/n?"

"i'm not really sure myself," replied malleus. "...perhaps mal and i released too much magical energy that it caused over-nutrition for these flowers," answered f/n, "i'm not sure if that's the case, but i believe it is."

epel then snapped his fingers and said, "wait...! n/n could be right. i have a vegetable seedling that wilted similarly. at first glance, it seemed like it was killed by frost, but when i inspected it further, it was actually fertilizer burn. over-fertilizing plants could cause their roots to rot, wrinkle, or suffer from other abnormalities..."

the pomefiore first year looked at the nearest wilted flower and plucked it out as he showed the black, crumbling roots of the crimson lotus, "see...! i believe the reason really could be over-nutrition." rook smiled and said, "très bien! what a wonderful deduction, dear epel! i am proud to call myself your dorm mate." epel laughed awkwardly as he sheepishly replied, "eheh... i was just backing up n/n's theory..."

"no, it was a smart deduction, epel..." said f/n, "well done." ruggie cheered and he exclaimed, "looks like we've found an easy way to get rid of these guys~! say we put malleus-sama and f/n-sama's magic to good use... maybe they can take care of all these flowers in one fell swoop~" grim nodded in agreement, "i second that!"

"that is unfortunately not possible on my part. i do not have much magical energy left due to my little scene earlier... in fact, the thunder and rain still haven't stopped," said f/n.

"...it is also not possible on my side. the flowers back at the lecture hall have absorbed quite a lot of my magical energy," added malleus, causing f/n and the rest to look at him wide-eyed before they all yelled in unison.

"WHAT?!"

"a-are you feeling unwell?!" exclaimed sebek. malleus shook his head in response, "not at all, but casting magic will take a bit longer than usual. i tried to use some magic to protect yuu as we were falling earlier, but... my spells didn't work as i wanted them to, and i couldn't support myself like i usually would either. it will take time for me to recover, sadly. my magical energy is not enough to rid the whole city of these flowers."

a disappointed sigh escaped f/n's lips as she breathed out, "oh, god... you could've told me earlier... alright, if mal can't handle it by himself, how about combining all of our magic to take care of this? aelyn's power alone will cover at least three magicians, so i'm sure it should be enough." f/n's little comment about her sister's power caused the rest to react, "THREE?!"