human
Oscar:  As Oscar was deliberating over the situation, a young woman piped up from behind him.
gpt
Lucrezia:  “I do wish you keep moving after asking me for a favor.”
human
Oscar:  “…Here’s just the person I was looking for,” Oscar said, turning around to find the Witch of the Forbidden Forest pouting.
gpt
Lucrezia:  Hands on her hips, Lucrezia glared at Oscar. “I went to look at all the towns and cities! It was a lot of trouble, you know!”
human
Oscar:  “Sorry. So what did you find?” Passing soldiers and commanders glanced over with interest at the beautiful lady having a hushed conversation with the king of Farsas. Oscar and Lucrezia continued undaunted, though.
gpt
Lucrezia:  “A bit of this, a bit of that,” she answered. “It certainly looks like our girl has done something extraordinary. While the citizens appear to have vanished, she’s actually just delayed their time to the extreme and placed them in a pseudo time-suspended state. On top of that, she’s put up a defensive barrier around them and taken away their sense of awareness. They aren’t gone. They’re all still there, even now. Perceptive humans should be able to sense them.”
human
Oscar:  “Ah, I see…,” Oscar said, remembering how Suzuto had reported the feeling that something was there. Now that Lucrezia had explained it, Oscar understood the cities were essentially full of invisible, intangible people. Tinasha had somehow managed this incredible feat across eight cities simultaneously. He was struck all over again by how fearsome the Witch of the Azure Moon was. Full of admiration for Tinasha, the king asked, “Can you undo it?”
gpt
Lucrezia:  “No way, that would be too much work. Besides, she’s arranged it so that it will wear off naturally with the passage of time. It’s due to expire in another hour, in fact,” Lucrezia explained.
human
Oscar:  “Seriously? !”
gpt
Lucrezia:  “Seriously. Okay, I’ll be going now.”
human
Oscar:  “Hold on a second.” Lucrezia lifted her arms to teleport away, but Oscar grabbed one.
gpt
Lucrezia:  She gave him a quizzical look.
human
Oscar:  “I’m sorry, but since you’re here, I’d like you to tell me if Tinasha has cast some sort of magic ahead.”
gpt
Lucrezia:  “Why me?”
human
Oscar:  “No one else can.” Only a fellow witch possessed the skill necessary to detect Tinasha’s spell craft.
gpt
Lucrezia:  Lucrezia retorted coolly, “No matter what’s out there, you can’t afford any detours. So it hardly makes a difference. Rest assured, it’s not anything that will kill you.” Then she stuck out her tongue. Evidently, she already knew what sort of spell lay waiting on their path.
human
Oscar:  Oscar sighed. “So there really is something. Nothing good comes of having Tinasha for an enemy.”
gpt
Lucrezia:  “If you really understood that, you wouldn’t have asked me for help. You’ve got enough on your plate just dealing with her. If she finds out I was involved, too, things will only get worse. Do you want to wring your own neck?”
human
Oscar:  “I’m not in a position that affords choosiness.