Hearing Tail suddenly speak to Stelle like that, Huohuo froze for a moment.
At that moment, she finally understood why Nero had said those words to Stelle, and why Stelle had said those things.
Ever since Nero introduced everyone and they started carrying out missions together, she had already thought of them as friends.
If those words had come from a trusted friend, it really would have hurt.
'Good thing it wasn't... good thing...'
Huohuo lowered her gaze and saw Nero holding her hand tightly. As she breathed a sigh of relief, she tightened her grip as well.
Although she hadn't fully calmed down yet, the misunderstanding had already been cleared up.
"Ha... hahahaahahaha!"
Stelle suddenly burst into laughter. More accurately, it was Cirrus laughing.
"Ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous! This is absolutely ridiculous! I thought you had escaped the fate of suffering inside the furnace.
"Who would've thought that the most battle-loving fragment of the Great Heliobus 'Blaze' would end up sealed inside the body of a crying little girl and turned into a watchdog...
"Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, that's not right. The current you isn't even a watchdog anymore! You're just a... 'Tail'~ Right, Tail? Tail, Tail, Tail!"
As Cirrus kept shouting, Tail's expression turned fierce.
"Getting full of yourself, aren't you? Get out of that girl's body. I'll swallow you right now!"
"Aaaah~ S-so scary...hehe, I was pretending!"
Cirrus grinned.
"Oh my, the current you can't even leave that judge's body anymore, can you?
"You can't completely swallow her, and you can't escape either. Hehe, Lord Tail, you're so pitiful now~"
Tail floated around in place, gritting his teeth.
"...Damn it! Little coward, think of something!"
Huohuo nodded and took out a talisman.
The talisman had been cut into the shape of a long-eared little figure. Besides the usual inscriptions, it even had a face drawn on it, making it look quite cute.
"Stelle, please take this talisman and keep it on you. A Heliobus can't completely control a person's body in a short time. This talisman can temporarily suppress its influence over you."
Huohuo handed over the talisman while sniffling.
For people, crying is a way to release emotions. Once someone starts sobbing, it's hard to stop immediately.
Huohuo was actually recovering quite quickly. The fact that she could respond so fast showed that her skills as a judge were more than adequate.
Tail narrowed his eyes. Seeing that Huohuo seemed fine, he turned to Nero.
"Hey, brat. Go comfort Huohuo. Her crying is even more annoying than the buzzing of a mosquito that won't stop."
Huohuo shook her head.
"Waaah... sniff... I'm fine. It's all because that bad guy is trying to drive a wedge between us. Waaah...
"I know someone as kind as Stelle wouldn't say such mean things. She must have become reckless with her words after being possessed by that monster...
"B-But I can't refute a single thing that guy said...
"I've always been timid and thin-skinned since I was little... Ever since Tail possessed me, my whole life has felt like a nightmare...
"When I was in school, people always asked me, 'Why is your tail on fire?'... Even walking through a crowd made me feel as noticeable as if I were standing under a spotlight."
"Oh? So it's my fault?" Tail spoke up. "If you'd just let me eat you back then, would you have had all these troubles?"
"Lord Tail, it's very easy for people to misunderstand concern when you express it like that," Nero said while looking at him.
"Who's concerned about her? Who's concerned!? She's just a little coward. She trapped me in here. Why would I care about her? I don't care. Anyone who wants to care can do it themselves!"
"Waaah...
"Later, when I joined the Ten-Lords Commission, everyone there was strange. I thought I'd finally found where I belonged. But the work there... is just too dangerous!"
"Every day you have to fight all kinds of monsters, ghosts, and unforgivable criminals..."
"I... I'm really not suited for this job. If I make it back alive, I think I'll submit my resignation to the Ten-Lords Commission."
"Making someone who's afraid of Heliobi use a Heliobus to subdue other Heliobi... no matter how I think about it, it doesn't seem right..."
"I'm really sorry. I can't help."
Stelle shook her head and smiled with a gentleness that didn't match her usual tone.
"It's okay. People always have things they can do and things they can't. Being able to do your best within your abilities is already difficult enough. Huohuo's paper figures are very useful. They helped me get my tongue back."
"...I'm glad I could help," Huohuo said.
Tail circled around Huohuo twice.
"Did you hear that? Stop crying. You're useful, and your paper figures are useful too."
After saying that, Tail sighed and muttered with a laugh, "I really can't stand this. If I ever regain my freedom, the first thing I'll do is swallow that piece of trash Cirrus. Then I'll take one bite and eat you too, you little crybaby coward."
"Ah... what a pity. Lord Tail isn't what he used to be anymore."
Cirrus spoke, "If we still had the power we had back then, forget breaking through this ghost-wall illusion...
"We could even swallow Huiyan, the one who created it, in a single bite."
Nero hadn't said anything the whole time. At this moment, he took several talismans from Huohuo and began examining them.
He really didn't know whether he could pull Cirrus out of Stelle's body normally.
But he figured he could probably do it with a slap. Stelle would just have to suffer a bit.
However, these talismans gave Nero a new idea.
These spells could suppress Heliobi.
To protect Stelle's face, perhaps they could be put to use.
Cirrus obviously had no idea what she was about to face.
She still had time to trade insults with Tail.
At the same time, Cirrus was starting to regret backing down earlier.
From her perspective, she had already controlled the gray-haired girl and made the fox judge cry, yet the white-haired kid hadn't done anything.
Clearly, he couldn't do anything to her.
Meanwhile, after hearing Cirrus mention "the power we had back then," Huohuo became confused.
"Oh my, Lord Tail. Looks like she knows absolutely nothing about your origins..."
The image formed by Cirrus floated beside Stelle. The pale green eyeball looked toward Huohuo.
"Little girl, Heliobi are supposed to gather where humans live. Yet now they're gathering in this deserted Garden of Repose. Do you know why?"
Huohuo looked at Cirrus and seriously thought about the question.
Recalling her own life experiences, she tried to come up with an answer.
"...Team-building?"
Cirrus, "..."
For a moment, Cirrus was completely speechless.
She genuinely didn't know what to say.
But from that answer, it was obvious that the Ten-Lords Commission's team-building activities had left a very deep impression on Huohuo, to the point that this was the answer she thought of first.
After a brief silence, Cirrus took a deep breath and began speaking...