No divines to test it out on in Erika’s domain, I suppose.
“So, you were thinking about me… Didn’t want me to worry about this device, since it isn’t a sure thing…”
Man…how considerate is that dark elf?
“Eve.”
“Hmph.”
“You had no guarantee that you’d make it through alive, did you?”
“Maybe I didn’t…”
“But you rushed to support us, even so.”
So, well…
“How’d I put this… Thanks?”
Eve returned her hands to her hips and gave me a self-satisfied smile.
“Don’t worry about it. This is a fight for the future of this world—a fight to protect the place where Lis is going to live. It’ll be a lot easier on her with Vicius gone. And hey, I’m still a veteran of the Lord of the Flies Brigade, you know?” There was fierce determination behind her eyes as Eve grinned at me. “If you’re going to march off to a showdown, you’re going to have to give your subordinates a cut of the glory.”
Now I remember. Maybe it’s because Eve’s one of the first members of the Lord of the Flies Brigade, but…
“Hmph? What is it, Too-ka?”
“You sure are easy to talk to.”
“I’m ready to go, Too-ka.”
“Sure.”
I poured mana into Eve’s changing bracelet. The light faded, and Eve was a leopardman again.
“I passed loads of humans on my way here…” said Eve, testing that her old muscles still worked. “I really stand out in this form, but being a human let me blend into the crowd. There were still some people who looked at me, the same way they did when the two of us walked together outside the White Citadel of Protection…but they weren’t the looks you’d give a leopardman.”
I bet they just thought you looked attractive by human standards.
“These clothes are a little uncomfortable when I’m in my true form,” Eve mumbled. “But now that I’m here, I imagine I can stay a leopardman. I’m sure you remember that I’m a little more athletic when I’m in this form. It doesn’t seem like I’ll need to hide the fact that I’m Eve Speed here, either.”
She went on to explain the functioning of the anti-Vicius magical device that she’d brought with her.
The Anti-Goddess Alliance were preparing to leave, but it would take another two hours before everyone was ready.
We still have time.
I called for Seras, for Slei, and for Lis’s familiar.
“—Eve!”
“Hmph… Long time no see, Seras.”
Slei happily trotted up to Eve and rose up on her hind legs. “Pakyureeh!”
“Heh heh, you’re as energetic as always, Slei.”
“Pakyuuhn! ♪”
“It really has been…too long.” Seras took Eve by the hands.
“I am glad to see you’re well…” Eve replied. “Not to mention that enchanting beauty of yours hasn’t faded a bit.”
“Pakyuu~hn… ♪” Slei nuzzled Eve’s leg with her nose.
“Heh heh, and you’re still a sweetheart. Lis, you did well to make it here.”
We went on to confirm a few more pieces of intel with Lis’s familiar, then I called for the Takao sisters to join us. Eve and the sisters were clearly very happy to see each other again—Itsuki especially so. I’d also gone ahead and invited the Wildly Beautiful Emperor to join us, since he was in command of our whole operation.
Cattlea, Makia, and the others—I guess they can wait until there’s time. There’s also no reason that I’d need to introduce Eve to Sogou and the other heroes really. I’ll make time later to have her meet Munin though.
There is one person… One that can’t wait to meet Eve…
I had called him too. He entered the tent, and when the brief introduction was over, Geo Shadowblade was staring straight at Eve.
“So… You’re of the Speed Clan, then,” he said slowly.
“Hmph,” she replied, looking back at him. “Too-ka told me about you. You’re the leader of the leopardmen in the Country at the End of the World? I’m Eve Speed, a leopardman, just like you.”
Geo just observed Eve in silence for a few moments, then gestured with his thumb to the entrance of the tent. “Do you mind if we talk alone?” he asked.
Eve looked at me.
“I think that should be fine. He can be snappish at times, but he’s got the good sense not to try anything,” I answered.
“Hmph… If you say so, Too-ka. I expect I will be okay.”
“Come find me if you do have any problems.”
“Understood,” said Eve, turning back to face Geo. “Well, then. Let’s go.”
Eve returned thirty minutes later. Our tent had been disassembled and was being packed up for the journey to come.
“How did it go?” I asked.
“I have no memory of hearing stories about the Shadowblade Clan from my parents… It is possible that my parents never knew such stories to begin with. Talk of the Shadowblades may have faded over the generations… Or perhaps they had their reasons for not passing on the tales.”
Did the stories fade over time, or was there a conscious choice made to stop talking about them? Given there are no written records, it might well be the latter. But nobody in this world can know for sure.
Eve looked back in the direction she had come.
“But it seems that his people did tell stories of the Speed Clan. They said that we were foolish… That things wouldn’t have ended the way they did for our people if we had just come with them to the Country at the End of the World.”
Eve growled softly, a sarcastic smile on her lips.
“And…he said the Country at the End of the World would welcome me. That the Speed Clan still lived on in me.”
“That sounds like him.”
Eve turned back to me.
“He is a good man. He cares so much for his wife. She’s currently with child.”
“He can be real blunt, but he’s a good guy.”
Eve fell suddenly silent. “I’m justifying this after the fact, of course, but…it was only because the Speed Clan chose to stay in the outside world that I was able to guide you to Erika. For that, well… I think maybe there was a reason to our clan’s decision to remain out here…”