Wizard: I crush legends with martial arts.

"Huh?" Alphonse was taken aback, staring at Linna, completely unaware of where he had given himself away.

Although the human body is different from that of the minotaur in many ways, such as having only four fingers on the hands, having horns, and having hooves that curve backwards below the calves, Linna had never made any physical contact with him. Moreover, he was enveloped by the illusion formed by the Transformation Orb, so how did Linna know that?

"Your reaction proves it." Linna gave a sly smile, as if to say, "I've got your tail between you."

"What are you talking about?" Alphonse, confident in his experience and composure, was not about to reveal his true feelings through his expression or tone of voice. He was not about to be easily tricked by a tigress.

"It's no use lying to me now," Linna chuckled. "Your scent is strange. Although this is the first time I've met you, you have the very strong scent of Chief Gangus of the Eris tribe. But you haven't had much contact with Chief Gangus. And considering that the fox tribe is the most skilled at changing their appearance, I can tell that you must be disguised as a minotaur."

"It's not like we've never had any contact at all. Yesterday, Leo brought us to Labyrinth Town with Chief Gangus, so we were traveling together," Alphonse interrupted.

Linna stared at Alphonse with a half-smile, a look that said, "Let's see how you try to deny it." After Alphonse finished speaking, she said leisurely, "Even male mountain minotaurs wouldn't be as short as you. You can explain that as a mutation, that you're special, but you still have a major flaw. Male minotaurs usually have their heads tilted slightly forward, which makes them look a bit hunchbacked. But I've observed you for a long time, and even when you're sitting, your posture is unusually upright. So, I can be sure that you're not a minotaur."

Alphonse was taken aback. It seemed pointless to dwell on this issue any further. Linna was much smarter than he had expected, no wonder she was able to serve as a priestess of the Minotaur tribe.

He simply admitted frankly, "Yes, I'm not. So, are you going to expose me?"

Linna shook her head. "There's no need for that. The situation is fine now. I guess you're not here for the Minotaur chieftain position. You probably need Leo's help, which is why you're participating in this tournament at her request. You probably won't stay in Labyrinth Town for too long."

She paused, then smiled gently. "Besides, I can tell that Leo made the decision to let you win on the spur of the moment. She didn't fight with all her might. For me, this is the best-case scenario. I don't have to see Leo clash with my father because of me, nor do I have to worry about my husband treating me badly. Once you leave Labyrinth Town, I'll just be an abandoned widow. There's no such thing as divorce and remarriage among the Minotaur priestesses."

From what Alphonse heard from Linna's words, it seemed that she was not simply resigned to her fate of being betrothed by the old patriarch, but rather that she had a plan to deal with it.

A sense of curiosity arose within me: "What if I hadn't come? Would I still have won?"

"I will stop Leo and prevent her from clashing with her father," Linna replied calmly.

"Aren't you worried about marrying a bad man?" Alphonse pressed again.

"It doesn't matter who I marry. No male I don't like can touch my body. After all, I'm a witch. I can still make my husband impotent by inflicting some curses." Linna laughed and with a flick of her wrist, a bone needle as thin as a cow's hair appeared in her hand.

The white needles even had some eerie blue light on them.

With another flick of his wrist, the bone needle disappeared once more.

Alphonse believed that Linna's methods were definitely not limited to these bone needles.

Linna continued, "By then, I will have already obeyed my father's orders to marry, and he won't be able to blame me anymore."

"Among the male minotaurs in your tribe, is there someone you like?" Alphonse asked.

"No." Linna sighed. "My body is too weak. Talking about love is a luxury for me. I can't give my lover any response. Even intimate contact feels like it would kill me. Since I know it's like this, I don't have any expectations."

After saying that, Linna patted the animal skin in front of her. "You don't need to stand there anymore. Come and sit down and rest for a while. Even if Leo is coming, it will take quite a while. I'm also quite curious, why did you come to Labyrinth Town? How can my sister help you?"

Alphonse sat down in front of Linna as instructed. "I came to Labyrinth Town to find my friend, the dwarf Tessie. Only Leo knows his whereabouts. I heard that you suppressed the demonic invasion for Tessie and were injured in the process."

Linna nodded. "That's true, but it doesn't matter much. For me, living a few more or a few less years doesn't make much difference. I'm satisfied if I can help him a little and make my sister happy."

"I can absorb the power of demons, perhaps I can absorb the aura of demons. Please give me your hand, I'll show you." Alphonse raised a hand, palm up, and extended it in front of Linna.

Although there was a wedding ceremony, everyone knew it was fake, so Alphonse couldn't just make a move and grope her breasts.

Moreover, Linna doesn't practice magic or fighting spirit; witchcraft is another kind of power, and the heart isn't necessarily the core.

Linna didn't hold back and gently placed her hand on Alphonse's palm.

Her skin was an unnaturally pale white, and the blood vessels under her skin were clearly visible.

"Don't be nervous. I'm going to use a technique called True Qi to enter your body and check on your condition. Just relax," Alphonse said.

Linna nodded silently.

Alphonse immediately placed his fingers on her pulse point and transferred his vital energy to her.

After spending some time and walking around, I had a general idea of ​​the situation.

The demonic invasion wasn't too severe; it was all forced into one place in the internal organs, which must be because Linna's witchcraft was able to suppress the demonic energy.

The main culprit is the one that caused Linna to be weak and sickly from childhood.

It's not difficult to explain. In traditional Chinese medicine, this condition is called qi stagnation and blood stasis, which means that the flow of qi and blood in the meridians is not smooth.

Qi stagnation and blood stasis are generally caused by internal injuries, depression, and obstruction of qi.

Linna, however, was born that way.

Alphonse carefully examined Linna's complexion. Although she was wearing lipstick, the red appeared dark underneath, suggesting that her normal lip color was more bluish-purple. (End of Chapter)