"He's invading Kasserlane?!" Konrad scowled, still in that lavish room, which—
Turned out to be his new office.
"Told you. We were in the middle of something," Lily noted, suppressing a yawn. "But since we defeated five of his attempts this morning, we should be fine until noon at least."
"Five? Until noon?!" he repeated in complete disbelief. "How long has it been like this?"
"Since you left," Gabby claimed, dark circles under her eyes evident. "And you sure took your sweet time, Dear Husband. Only to come back and irradiate the Heavens forever like this. Ugh."
Yeah. She wouldn't let him forget that, but—
Considering she could stop time at will and still looked so tired?
The situation back home must have been much tougher than he had expected.
"He's more like probing," Stella noted. "I wouldn't call it an invasion when I alone can stop it."
So she had been fighting, too?
It was only a few weeks, but even without mana sight, he could feel how much stronger she had grown. And Eyna—it seemed the purple-eyed beauty had already lived in this new office.
"What about the rest?" Konrad asked. "Maou Midori? Yuki-chan? Welf? The city?"
"Guess Meow's about to wrap up his own battle," Lily pondered, eyes half-lidded. "Oh, and if Yukicchi is not here, this must be her day off. Sigh. Hard to track when each day lasts a week."
"As for the city, it's doing much better than the Heavens," Gabrielle scoffed.
And there she went again.
"I'm taking care of most of the paperwork, Master," Eyna offered, her purple eyes shining. "But there's only so much I can do without your guidance. Not to mention—"
"Right," Lily yelled, stealing the show. "I was about to tell you."
It was hard to miss how she had stepped between him and the dark-skinned girl. And here he thought that if he went away for some time, they'd sort these things out with each other.
"Please, be good news," Konrad muttered, already feeling tired.
"Well, you got an invitation from the king," she said, pulling a scroll from who-knows-where.
Not what he had expected.
"The Silver Mage delivered it to us mid-battle the other day," Gabrielle noted, too. "It is to cement your status as the Duke of Halaima, etcetera, etcetera."
"So he's not about to behead me, after all?" Konrad sighed, a bit calmer now.
"You'll never know," the little ginger smirked. "But I'll be there to protect you as your first wife."
And as if to give weight to her words, she clung to his arm, too.
Poor Eyna only bowed and pulled back to settle at her desk again.
But she still didn't look as dejected as Dmitry, sitting in this lavish room on an ancient carpet.
He turned his head left and right, looking lost, but Konrad didn't even have the time to talk to him yet. Nor to address the elephant in the room: the still-unconscious Strelok.
"So what's the plan?" he asked. "When do we start this thing to trap Lucifer?"
And how long would it have taken in the first place?
What did he have to do? What would they do to him?
He had so many questions, and no idea where to start, but—
'About that thing, I'm curious, too,' Paula noted inside his head, sounding as if she were already rubbing her hands. 'If there's a way to fuck up Null's boss for good, I'm all for it.'
"I don't know," Lily hummed, rubbing her jaw. "It'd be risky to do it with so few people."
"And we have to get you ready for that meeting with the king as well," Gabby added, pondering.
"Plus, with these probing attacks? We can't exactly focus on something so big," the demoness claimed. "Right, Stella? These are pretty time-consuming, even when you guys help out."
The blonde ex-executor could only open her mouth and close it again.
She didn't seem to expect them to address her at all.
And to Konrad—
This all seemed fishy.
Like—they were making excuses to delay the inevitable.
Which was all too familiar, but come on.
They were about to defeat Lucifer at last.
"What do you mean, so few people?" he grumbled. "I'm here. Brought back Strelok, too. And then, we have Maou Midori, and—don't tell me the other two escaped?!"
"No, no," Lily protested, shaking her head. "I would have never allowed that."
"They were actually a great help," Stella joined in.
"We keep everything under control," Gabrielle claimed, avoiding his gaze.
But saying that with all those tired faces? Thick black circles under everyone's eyes?
Something was off.
"The most important thing, politics-wise," the angel said, "is to sort out that meeting with the king. After that, we won't have to worry about our neighbours as much, and—"
"Hold on," Konrad said, raising a hand. "You mean to tell me it's more important than—"
"Think about long-term, too," Lily interrupted.
Yes. The Lily who would do things for the heck of it and without putting in a single thought.
"Once we beat the big bad, you'll be here, leading half a nation, and, you know—"
"As far as I can tell, Eyna and Yuki took good care of everything," Konrad grunted. "I'll inspect the town later, but—we're talking about interdimensional invasions here."
That sure must have taken precedence.
"We're handling them," Stella offered, though she was the least convincing of the group.
'And the weakest, too,' Paula butted in. 'But she has a lot in common with my original.'
Which—Konrad had already suspected, but didn't want them to sidetrack him again.
"Oh, and you asked about that big, dumb blacksmith," Lily chirped. "Guess what? He's into the King's little sister now, and it's hilarious. They're both so awkward; you should see it, and—"
"Okay, what exactly is going on here?" Konrad demanded, silencing them all.
"Man. That's what I'd like to know, too," Dmitry muttered, shaking his head. "I only understand what that parallel brain translated for me so far, but damn. You sure are popular with women."
Ah. He didn't even think about it until now.
When Yuki-chan transferred with them—
She understood the local language because of her implanted memories.
The Captain had no such thing, but Paula seemed to be helping him somewhat.
Ugh. Wait.
Now he was sidetracking himself. That was the exact opposite of what he wanted.
"I'll explain everything," Konrad promised. "But first, I want to know why we're not acting as soon as we can? You guys complained that I've been taking too long, and yet—"
"Well," Gabrielle sighed. "Things have changed since you left."
Okay. He had already guessed as much.
But wasn't that all the more reason to act before they'd change even further?!
'No, she doesn't mean the invasions,' Paula offered to help. 'It's something with her boss. Or a council? It's hard to make out; she's blocking me out pretty well.'
Ah. And he wanted to get rid of the parallel brain as soon as he could.
Now that he thought about it—
They couldn't read his mind, either, right?
'No. Unless you want me to let them in?' she asked, but Konrad shook his head.
"It's their turn to talk," he said, crossing his arms. "And tell me what exactly changed."