In more concrete terms, it was an event that should’ve happened about three and a half years from now.
The Mobile Fortress Plan working better than expected, managing to turn Celestia into their puppet, was probably the main reason the schedule had been pushed up.
I’d never even considered the possibility that they’d bring that plan forward by years. And if that was the case, then the Jade Occupation Operation suddenly became the linchpin.
As I thought about stopping that operation, a whole swarm of worrying elements rose up in my mind: The lingering traces of mental pollution and ego intrusion from Joanne. Joanne’s own dangerous ideology. Alex’s carelessness and unfathomable depths. Stella’s magic and her past. Karatena’s transformation into an insect-person. My reputation among the believers. Whip and the Hidden Insect Corps. The strength of Gerugoroi’s Raid Unit. Jade’s defensive systems. Celestia’s brainwashing…
By the time I’d walked through all of it, a formless, heavy anxiety had settled over me.
There were simply too many unknowns. Was it really okay to just move forward like this?
It was a crucial gamble that would shape both my future and the entire balance of the world; of course, it would be a lie to say I didn’t feel at least a little uneasy. But this time, the emotion was different from every other time.
If I had to put it into words, it was like…
You’ve done everything you can. Now, live the way you want, so that even if you die tomorrow, you won’t have regrets.
That sort of voice, gently talking me down.
At this point, nothing I did would change the outcome.
I’d already laid my groundwork, setting up the mechanism to bring Stella down. I had the tools and intel to annihilate the Hidden Insect Corps and the Raid Unit. I’d done everything I possibly could.
Precisely because I’d gone that far, what I needed now was to live freely for a little while, clear my head, and be ready when the day came. That was how I chose to interpret this little piece of “divine guidance.”
Have some confidence. What I need right now is room to breathe.
Acting on impulse, I pulled Joanne into my arms. She stiffened in surprise for a second, then wordlessly wrapped her arms around my back and hugged me in return.
I decided to give Joanne a small, selfish request. “There’s one thing I’d like to do before the battle.”
“What’s that?”
“I’d like to cook something with you, Joanne-sama.”
“Huh? I’m crap at that sort of thing, you know. Never really done it.”
“I don’t mind.”
“If you’re gonna insist, I’ll go along with it. But what’s with you all of a sudden?”
“Honestly, no real reason. I just… feel like it’s something I should do.”
“Your line’s unusually fuzzy today. Well… more than usual, I guess.”
Right then, the door to the room banged open.
Noisy, I thought with a sigh as I turned, and there was Alex, walking in with a small animal corpse dangling from his right hand.
“Ah! Sorry, I’m totally interrupting, aren’t I?” he asked nervously.
“Not really. Just feels like one weird thing after another lately,” I said.
“Found this just outside the cave! Dropped it in one shot with my homemade slingshot.”
“You’re pretty good with your hands.”
“Nah, nowhere near you, senpai.”
I’d been wondering why he hadn’t come back after saying he was just dropping off some gear. It made sense now.
Alex set the carcass down on the table. It looked like a big rabbit, well-fed and meaty. Even at a glance, you could tell it was quality meat.
“I can’t cook at all, so could you guys handle that part for me?”
At his cheeky but perfectly timed request, Joanne and I glanced at each other… and then both burst out laughing.
I scooped Joanne up in my arms to head over and start prepping the food.
“Whoa! You’re light?”
“Hm?”
I slid my arms further under her armpits and lifted, and her body stretched upright like a startled cat with its paws thrown up in a victory pose. She was light enough to pass for a bundle of feathers.
“Hey. Have you been eating properly?” I asked.
“Perfectly normally,” she replied.
“Come on, there’s no way this is a healthy weight. You’re already skinny to begin with. Make sure you eat.”
“I don’t put on weight even when I eat.”
Pouting as I scolded her, Joanne let me carry her over to the bed. I set her down, then turned to glare at the high-quality meat Alex had brought back.
We needed to eat something good before the battle.
And I wanted to put a little more meat on Joanne’s bones.
“I’ll go grab some tools from the kitchen,” I said. “There’re some edible weeds and nuts around here. Let’s throw those in with the meat and turn it into a decent soup.”
“Oh, that sounds great! Make the seasoning on the strong side, yeah?”
Alex whistled and sat cross-legged on a chair. With his clearly defined dark circles and scrawny, shaved-headed frame, he looked… worryingly unhealthy, now that I really took him in.
Guess I’ll fatten him up, too, while I’m at it.
Come to think of it, the whole cult had this sickly air about it. The only ones who clearly had some meat on them were Fuankilo, Karatena, Whip, and Aros. I wasn’t even sure I should be counting the ones with parasites inside them.
I slipped into the kitchen, which was silent now that everyone else was asleep, and helped myself to the cooking tools without hesitation.
On the way back, I ran into Whip.
“What’s up with the pot and knife combo, Oakley-chan?” she asked.
I answered honestly that I was going to cook.
I’d braced myself for a lecture, something about how food should be shared with everyone, but Whip didn’t stop me.
When I asked why, she told me it was because she was trying to be considerate of my situation with Karatena.
“You get that your position’s pretty shaky right now, yeah? If you suddenly went, ‘Hey everyone, I made food!’ it’d just turn into a weird mess.”
“Fair point,” I murmured.
“The rumors all started with Karatena-chan, right? I feel like I’m partly to blame for not stopping her, so… sorry.”
“So you don’t suspect me at all, then?”
“I’m pretty sure you didn’t do it. But, y’know… from my perspective, this whole situation’s also kind of a chance.”
“A chance?”
“Yep! If Oakley-chan gets pushed out, my chances of getting picked as an executive shoot way up and— Ahaha, forget I said that!”
This one’s got her own brand of crazy coming out of her mouth.
So the Aros Temple Cult wasn’t exactly a united front after all.
As we were parting, Whip thrust a frilly women’s apron at me.
“I’ll lend you this! The size might be off in, like, several ways, but it’s fine, right?” she said with a smirk.
“How many outfits do you own, exactly?” I asked.
“I’m a top-class spy, obviously! Okay, see you later!”
With metal scraping sounds ticking faintly beneath her laughter, Whip disappeared around the bend in the corridor.
Come to think of it, she’d shoved some mysterious Chinese dress onto Joanne once, too.
Earlier, she’d claimed it was for spy disguises, but… I personally suspect it’s her hobby to dress Stella up like a doll. Otherwise, there was no explaining why so many of her outfits were weirdly small compared to Whip’s own build.
She’s clearly a dangerous woman in several directions. Not that this wasn’t obvious from the start.
I went back to the room and immediately slipped the apron onto Joanne and pressed a knife into her hands.
The moment it came to cooking, Joanne turned as meek as a borrowed cat. Standing stiff as a board while I tied the strange scrap of cloth around her and shoved a blade at her, the girl lifted her brows and looked between Alex and me with a distinctly uneasy expression.
Seeing Joanne in an apron, looking oddly unsure, almost like she didn’t know where to put herself, I couldn’t help the words of praise that slipped out.
“That’s an amazing view, Joanne-sama.”
The gap from the usual, utterly self-confident Joanne was lethal. Left to her own quiet, she was beautiful enough to seem almost unearthly.
Put an apron on her, and every trace of blood-soaked menace vanished. Like this, she was just a pretty girl, enough that I found myself reminiscing about nonexistent memories of spending time with her in modern Japan.
I lifted her arms into a T-pose and spun her around like I was turning a potter’s wheel, just for fun. Alex clapped his hands and cheered in a rather childlike manner.
“I-I don’t get it. How can you two get that excited just because I put on a piece of cloth?”
Smiling at how completely off-balance she’d been ever since all this started, I finally turned to the actual prep work for the meal.