Meanwhile, in the Profen palace conference room…
Here, too, the walls and ceilings had collapsed, leaving the place mostly destroyed.
The sky was visible through the hole in the roof—as if an earthquake had brought the place down in mere seconds.
Eve had made Vritra go berserk, and his rampage had laid waste to more than just the conference room. Many an innocent servant had been in harm’s way, and the scene was swiftly becoming a makeshift field hospital.
“Is that all the injured?” Marie asked. She was using torn-up curtains in lieu of bandages.
“I think so,” Allan answered, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Colonel Choline rescued everyone hurt downstairs.”
He’d been helping tend to the wounded.
“Just gotta wait for those two to wake up.”
His eyes were on the father and daughter lying side by side on the carpet.
One was a gaunt man in a white lab coat—Vritra, once known as Ishikura.
The other was a delicate-looking girl—his daughter, Asako, until recently possessed by Eve.
This new world, and Eve, had put them both through the wringer.
“The power of Sir Lloyd and my love have freed them from the spell, and they shall soon awake!” Selen said, not one to break character in a crisis. Her words were perhaps more painful than the wound she was tending. No medicine here—or in all the world—could cure what ailed her.
Riho was casting healing spells, and Phyllo was helping with first aid—but neither let Selen’s gibberish pass without comment.
“Sure it did. I’m more worried about the rest of the kingdom. It’s gotta hurt to know your own ruler unleashed a demon lord on the populace.”
“……She was very popular. Her betrayal will cause chaos.”
Both had once been mercenaries and knew a thing or two about the lay of the land here. They were acutely aware of how bad the mop-up could get.
At this point a tanned man in a loincloth—Merthophan—stuck his oar in.
“That’s the least of our worries. We can leave that to King Sardin and the other visiting heads of state. It may take time, but they’re up to the task. Naturally, I’m willing to assist.”
“……In the fields?” Phyllo asked.
Azami’s agricultural adviser nodded, adjusting the loincloth’s wedgie. “That’s all I know!”
He seemed to mean that, and Phyllo looked askance.
Relieved to hear Profen was someone else’s problem, Marie allowed herself a sigh, then started worrying about Lloyd instead.
“So, uh…Lloyd went running off. Where’d he go?” she asked.
The girls all sprang into action.
“Good question!” Selen said. “I’ll go check.”
“I’m curious myself.”
“……Mm.”
They dashed to the side of the room Lloyd had left from.
Selen squinted in that direction. “He’s holding someone fallen… I’m honestly jealous.”
She wasn’t one to hide these things, and Riho looked exhausted already.
“Still committin’ to the bit, eh, Selen? I almost respect that.”
“……Consistency is!” Phyllo started to chime in but broke off in a gasp.
“What’s wrong, Phyllo?” Mena asked.
“……He’s coming back, but…look.”
“At what? Erk? Howww?”
Marie saw Shouma in Lloyd’s arms and could not conceal her shock. No one could.
“What happened to Shouma?!”
“You gotta be kidding me. He’s from Kunlun!”
“……And……one of their stronger fighters……”
Probably the strongest person here—so seeing him bloodied and beaten was horrifying indeed.
“Um, is Colonel Choline here?” Lloyd called. “Can you take a look at Shouma’s injuries real quick?”
Choline was a healing magic expert.
Marie quickly moved to accommodate Lloyd’s request. “I-I’ll get her! Put him down here!”
Selen took a closer look as Lloyd laid him down. “How awful,” she said. “Poor Shouma…”
“His legs and arms are broken. It’s a miracle he’s still breathing.”
“Shouma’s injured?!” Choline cried, running up. “That ain’t the half of it! Break off the legs of that chair so we can get some splints on him, stat!” She set to work.
Figuring Eve was the culprit here, Marie asked, “Where did Eve go? Was she still there?”
Lloyd shook his head. “By the time I arrived…”
“She beat Shouma? This badly?”
Merthophan had fought the boy himself once (in a loincloth, armed with farming artifacts) and was so astounded, he accidentally tugged his loincloth too far up his crack.
The demon lord duo of Satan and Surtr were equally astonished.
Satan was scratching his mop top, unsure what move to make; meanwhile, Surtr was stuck in turtle form and couldn’t do much aside from stretching his neck out.
“Director Ishikura said Eve was not yet at full strength. Yet she trounced him this easily?”
“Holy moly! Eva—Eve has power like this?”
Casting a healing spell on him, Choline looked lost. “Uh-oh,” she said.
“Wh-what’s wrong, Colonel Choline?” Lloyd asked. “Is his condition deteriorating?”
“Nah,” she said, but she wasn’t sure how to explain it. “The healing spell ain’t doing anything; it’s like something’s blocking it.”
Satan frowned.
“Kunlun villagers all have super healing to begin with— Why isn’t that kicking in?”
“R-right…even I can heal a broken bone in a day! And everyone else can heal them instantly.”
Lloyd’s standards for normal were still a bit off, but at this point, everyone just smiled awkwardly. It was a running joke.
“But I don’t get why he’d be repelling healing spells,” Merthophan said. “Choline’s are the best in the world—hm?” He broke off, eyes snapping to the sky.
“What, is something incoming?” Allan asked.
Phyllo braced herself. “……Something bad.”
“Not Eve herself?!”
“Pure malice…it’s here!”
Schiiiing!
Something rocketed into the Profen conference room, like a comet. And when the dust cleared, there stood—
“Pretty Alka is here!”
—the white-robed chief of Kunlun, the kid grandma herself—Alka.
“Ch-Chief?!”
“Yo, Lloyd! It’s been too long! Can I get a kiss and hug?”
It was quite a request to follow her surprise arrival, and it really ruined the serious vibe. Quite a few eyes widened. Some may have rolled back in their heads.
“Who said I was malicious?!”
“I insist that term is largely accurate.”
“……A malicious meteor.”
Our three girls resorted to snark.
Lloyd dodged the ill-timed embrace, spluttering questions. “Chief? Why aren’t you in Kunlun? I thought you stayed back to watch over Sou’s sleep and protect the village treasures!”
Alka took the hint and broke off her attempt at a hug.
“Mm, but then Sou woke up!” she said, suddenly serious. “Said he thought Shouma was calling to him. He’s looking after Kunlun for me.” Alka looked around. “So I popped on over to whoop President Eva’s butt, but…I don’t see anyone who looks like her… Wait, Shouma?!”
She finally spotted Shouma lying battered on the ground, and she nearly leapt out of her robes.
“Wh-what the… I can’t believe my eyes! Ngk… Director Ishikura?! Asako?!”
The subsequent shock knocked her to the ground, until she sat back up.
“Satan? Marie? Merthophan?! Explain!”
“Uh, Master—”
Satan and Marie quickly filled her in on Vritra’s rampage, the truth behind Eve’s identity, and how Eve had left Asako for her new body and flown away.
Once Alka was all caught up, the pieces fell into place.
“That explains it! I wondered why I couldn’t find Asako anywhere in a hundred years. Right under my nose…and I never noticed. Did the poor girl wrong.”
Alka flinched guiltily. Back in her lab days, she and the girl had been close and had often talked together.
“Chief Alka,” Merthophan said, redirecting her attention. “Can you take a look at Shouma’s injuries? We’re pretty sure Eve did something to him, but it’s weird.”
“Sorry, I’m throwing in the towel,” Choline said.
“Don’t sweat it,” Alka said, taking over. “Hm?”
Not even she could heal him.
“Ch-Chief? Is Shouma gonna be okay?” Lloyd asked nervously.
Alka frowned, tilting her head.
“Um…the recovery rune can heal anyone not dead…so what does this mean?”
She got to her feet, staring at nothing.
“I gotta assume Eve had some ace up her sleeve and used it on him,” she muttered. “Fastest approach would be to ask her. Where’d she go…? That way!”