"Ha... ha... Sister Lumina... ha... ha... Sister Lumina..."
"...Sister Lumina, I... I was wrong... I was wrong..."
It was obvious that an Emanator of Erudition, skilled in mental prowess, stood no chance against an Emanator of Abundance, whose vitality was boundless, stamina inexhaustible, and endurance infinite.
The battle to determine the sisterly bond between them ultimately concluded with Lumina's victory.
Lumina gazed down triumphantly at Madam Herta, who knelt on the floor, legs splayed, her face flushed, panting heavily, and hair slightly disheveled. Standing tall with her arms crossed, she chuckled softly, saying:
"Sister Herta, I quite liked what you said earlier."
"Once a younger sister, always a younger sister."
Herta: ...
"Ha... ha... ha..."
Herta ignored Lumina, steadied her breathing, and waited for the flush on her cheeks to subside before slowly rising from the ground. She brushed off non-existent dust from her clothes, adjusted her pointed witch's hat, and with a flick of her small hand, invoked the power of her Path to magically clean up the mess that littered the area.
Hmm... After clearing away the pastries that had splattered across the floor, she cast a reproachful glance at Lumina, as if to say:
You asked me to make pastries, I did, and I even came all the way to Penacony to deliver them to you. And this is how you treat me?
It was only because Lumina was the recipient of this culinary disaster that Herta managed to refrain from summoning her Staff and storming off in a huff.
Seeing this, Lumina felt a twinge of awkwardness.
After all, she had been relentlessly begging Herta on her phone to make her pastries. Back then, watching T H E H E R T A'S M A G I C K I T C H E N, she had assumed the worst-case scenario would be slightly burnt edges.
But she never imagined... Herta's pastries weren't just burnt—they were completely inedible.
"Hmph, I'm angry! If you call me 'Big Sister Herta' in a sweet voice, I might forgive you," Herta huffed, turning her head with an air of haughty defiance.
Though Herta offered her a way out, Lumina refused to budge on the "Big sister" versus "Little sister" title. She shook her head, rejecting Herta's olive branch.
"Herta, dear sister, let's try another condition."
"As the elder sister, how could I possibly call my younger sister 'Big Sister'?"
"It just doesn't make sense."
To outsiders, this might seem like a trivial matter—a mere title that signifies nothing. But to Lumina, "Big sister" and "Little sister" would serve as proof of their true relationship.
"Heh..." Herta chuckled coldly, swinging her key-shaped staff at Lumina's head.
Bang! Boom!
The next moment, a resounding crash echoed as the staff slammed into Lumina's skull. The force sent her flying backward like a rag doll.
With a resounding boom, Lumina's body was slammed against the wall of the Radiant Feldspar.
"..."
"Are you alright?!"
Stunned by what she had just witnessed, Herta froze, utterly shocked that her attack had actually landed squarely on Lumina's head.
Herta took a few tentative steps forward, wanting to check on Lumina's condition. But before she could move more than a few steps, she abruptly stopped. The anxious, worried expression vanished from her face, replaced by a calm, detached gaze as she crossed her arms and observed Lumina lying motionless on the floor, her fate uncertain.
"Has anyone ever told you your acting is superb?" Herta remarked. "If you became an actress, you'd undoubtedly become a legendary star, renowned throughout the Cosmos."
"..."
Lumina remained silent, stubbornly playing dead on the floor.
Seeing this, Herta paused to consider her options. Her gaze flickered to the pristine floor she had just cleared. Her eyes lit up, and a sly smile tugged at her lips—she seemed to have hatched a brilliant idea.
With a flick of her wrist, Herta turned her palm upward, and a glob of black, unidentified matter floated above her palm.
Without a doubt, this was the "snack" from earlier.
"Sister Lumina, didn't you want to try the snack your little sister made?"
"Here, have some."
Tap, tap, tap...
Herta, in her high heels, strode to where Lumina lay feigning death on the floor.
Gazing at Lumina, who now looked as peaceful as Sleeping Beauty, Herta chuckled softly. With a flick of her wrist, she flung the floating black mass directly onto Lumina's face.
"!"
"Sister Herta, are you trying to murder your own sister?"
Clearly, the lure of the snack had broken Lumina's resolve. She sprang to her feet, narrowly dodging the attack.
Glaring at the pitch-black blob on the floor, Lumina gritted her teeth and shot Herta a venomous look.
Lumina had known Herta would easily see through her feigned death, and she had even anticipated some of Herta's actions while she was pretending to be dead.
Either she'd ignore me, too lazy to care.
She expected Herta to either ignore her or resort to physical contact, indulging in self-pleasure.
But she never imagined this woman would be so malevolent as to try to kill her with a poisoned dessert!
"How could you think that, my dear sister? I simply wanted you to enjoy a treat I made myself. Nothing more."
Seeing Lumina's expression, Herta suddenly turned coy, covering her mouth and giggling behind her hand.
"Heh." Lumina flicked a finger, and a green glow erupted from her fingertip, enveloping the dark, gooey mass. As the green glow shrank and dissipated, the black blob vanished from the floor.
After cleaning up the mess, Lumina confidently flipped her white hair back and addressed Herta:
"My dear little sister, in due time, you shall savor my culinary skills."
"You can cook?" Herta's smile froze, replaced by an incredulous stare.
Though no one knew what Lumina had experienced before her Cosmos-wide Medical Practice, no one had ever personally witnessed her cook during the time she dedicated herself to healing the Cosmos—not even until the present day.
Therefore, Herta found it highly improbable that someone of Lumina's stature would even know how to cook.
"Absolutely! I'll nail it!" Lumina declared, patting her chest confidently.
Though Lumina had never personally stepped into a kitchen, she reminded herself of the old saying: Haven't eaten pork, but I've seen a pig run, haven't I?
A mere kitchen? This is child's play for an Immaculate Saintess like me!
"Alright... fine," Herta relented, though skepticism still flickered in her eyes despite Lumina's assurances.
Yet, seeing Lumina's unwavering confidence, her earnestness, and her emphatic assurance, Herta reluctantly nodded in agreement, deciding to trust her.
"Come to my place then. My kitchen is fully equipped."
After a moment's hesitation, seeing Lumina's unwavering confidence, Herta finally extended the invitation...