And then, Evileye felt Momon's gaze turning to her. That was not a mistake. The proof was that Momon had seemed to be on the verge of saying something, then stopping halfway, before starting up again and cutting himself off once more.
Evileye felt her unbeating heart pound in her chest.
If Momon asked her to become his companion, Evileye would definitely accept. It would be a betrayal of her comrades with whom she went through thick and thin, but even so, Evileye wanted to be true to her own heart.
As though confused, Momon continued starting and stopping several times before he finally exhaled and turned around. The crimson cape swirled with his movement.
Seeing his back slowly recede, Gagaran teased Evileye.
"You've been dumped."
"No, that's not right. He's just that kind of man."
Momon mounted the 「Floating Board」created by Raeven's magic caster and slowly floated up, but Evileye did not turn her eyes from him for a single moment.
"I wonder when we'll meet again?"
"It would be good if it was a simple and relaxed quest, instead of a big disturbance like this."
"That might be difficult."
"Exactly."
Blue Rose's members agreed on that.
If adamantite ranked adventurers met for a job, it would definitely be because of something big.
"Then a normal meeting should be fine, right? Evileye knows teleportation magic. Going to E-Rantel shouldn't be such a bad thing. Speaking of which, wouldn't going with Momon kill two birds with one stone? Being protected by him would also mean you wouldn't have to worry about danger when moving around."
Evileye was shocked speechless, staring at Gagaran. Although she was wearing her mask, her comical expression shone through from her attitude.
"Hey, didn't you realize it? Long-distance relationships don't end well... or are you two not going out yet?"
Gagaran looked to the sky, and Evileye's gaze turned to the heavens as well. In the distance, she saw the receding figure of Momon.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Evileye's wail of despair was like an angry cry, and Blue Rose laughed around her.
♦ ♦ ♦
Month of Descending Fire (9th Month), 10th Day, 18:45
This emergency meeting of the Eight Fingers had been unusual from the start. To begin with, not everyone was here. One of the missing people was Cocco Doll, but everyone knew he had already been arrested, so he was not a part of things. The problem was that the other missing person was Zero.
Everyone knew he was no traitor. That just made things worse.
From the information they had gathered, Zero's death had been confirmed. On the same day, the subordinates he had sent on the mission of "killing anyone and everyone who insulted us" had also been massacred.
The losses had been too great. Although the subordinates he dispatched had been expendable, the death of Zero, Eight Fingers’ strongest man and chief of security, was not one they could simply ignore.
Every department here competed with each other, but they still belonged to the same organization. This loss would have repercussions for all of them.
Debate sprang up among them.
What should they do about the vacancy left by Zero's death? What about Cocco Doll?
Under normal circumstances they would have simply recommended one of their people to that position, but there was a reason they could not do that.
That would be because of the demonic invasion of the capital. The fallout from that incident was not a pretty sight. While their hideouts had been attacked on the very same day, one loss stood heads and shoulders above all the others. It was a particular nightmare for the Smuggling Division's chief.
Many of their storehouses had been plundered, and after checking the remaining storehouses that had not been raided, more than half of their contraband had gone missing.
"In any case, until we manage to recover, we need to work together."
"Haven't we always been doing that so far?"
"Enough with that nonsense. This time, we really need to cooperate. I think we should shift our activities out of the capital. What say you?"
"No. On the contrary, I think now is when we should be working in the capital. Now is the time to get the new captain of the guard into our pocket. If we flee from here, that would mean we're giving up on the capital and the gains within."
"Mmm. That's certainly a possibility. However, with our security department— with our fighting strength in tatters, wouldn't it be dangerous to move around in the capital?"
The five division heads puzzled over the problem, then addressed the one head who had not said a single thing thus far.
"Hilma, what do you think?"
The woman's body shuddered.
This was a reaction she had never shown before in previous meetings.
The black circles under her eyes were impossible to hide with makeup, and she had the air of the walking dead about her.
"What's wrong? I heard your mansion was attacked too... but you managed to get away in your hidden escape tunnel, right? Did you see something that scared you?"
All the other section chiefs had their guards standing behind them, but Hilma had none.
"..."
"Well, what is it?"
As Hilma's mouth opened, so did the door to the meeting room.
"All right! That's enough for now!"
The cheery voice was followed by a dark elf boy entering the room, who was in turn followed by a nervous-looking dark elf girl.
Everyone present was stunned.
If they had been adults, perhaps they might have had a different reaction, but in front of their eyes were a pair of children who were totally out of place in a room like this. The leaders were still frantically trying to figure out if they were enemies.
"Then, all of you will now become our great Lord’s servants~"
From their silence, they probably didn't get what he was saying at all, so the boy repeated himself.
"My esteemed colleague has concluded that rather than taking control of the country's leadership, it would be more effective to simply take control of all of you. So we will forgive your various sins and allow you to become our servants... hm, slaves? Puppets? Ah well, who cares? In any case, congratulations!"