Backlund, the underground palace beneath Williams Street.
Edward arrived together with Lilith, lighting up the darkness around them.
After a brief moment of calm, the underground palace suddenly trembled violently. Dust surged, churned, and twisted in the air, repeatedly attempting to form lines of text—only to collapse and scatter each time.
Edward pulled a brass rod from his spatial pocket and tossed it before the bloodstained gate. Medici's astonished voice rang out at once:
"Lilith? You're Lilith? You…you actually didn't die? How could you possibly still be alive?!"
Lilith wrinkled her nose and snorted. "Are you disappointed that I'm not dead, Medici?!"
"No! I clearly saw you die with my own eyes…"
"At our Sequence, is it that strange to come back without dying completely? It's no different from how you aren't quite dead either." Lilith shook her head and stepped forward. "But it seems you're in even worse shape than I am. The former Red Angel—the manliest of men, who looked down on women so much—has now ended up fused with the souls of two women. Hmph! That's your karmic punishment for despising women!"
"When did I ever look down on women?!"
Medici snapped, "It was Cheek I looked down on, and that was purely because she was Cheek!"
"I told you again and again that she had problems, but you insisted on not believing me. Serves you right for being killed by her later!"
As soon as she finished, he added, "No—wait! I still don't believe Lilith is alive. Kid, is this girl some trick you're playing?"
Edward shook his head. "Given my current state, do you think I'm in the mood to play tricks on you, Lord Medici?"
"But…"
Medici hesitated, yet soon exclaimed again, shocked, "What happened to you?"
"I was cursed."
"Cursed again? Who did you provoke? Cheek?"
"Something like that."
Edward said, "Lord Medici, I'm about to enter a deep sleep to resist death. I came here specifically to say goodbye. The next time we meet might be a hundred years from now."
"…"
Medici was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Then…what about the Misery Contest?"
"There won't be another."
"Heh. So you were the Chairman! You were acting that whole time?"
"Yes."
Although Medici would nearly sabotage him in the future, he had been sealed inside Priscilla's body afterwards and essentially turned into an ally. Moreover, he had apparently been on good terms with Lilith in the past. As such, Edward didn't harbour any real ill will toward him.
"In roughly one hundred and ninety years, your seal will be undone and you'll be released. Just wait a little longer. Of course, if Lilith encounters some danger in the meantime, someone may come early to free you. I hope you can lend Lilith a hand when that happens."
Medici snorted. "Why must it be a hundred and ninety years? Why such a precise number? What exactly are you plotting, boy?" He paused. "Lilith…I'll assume you really are Lilith for now. You tell me—what's going on?"
Lilith shook her head. "You can think of it as fate."
"I don't believe that crap!"
"But some things happen whether you believe them or not. Just like how you warned me that Cheek had problems and I didn't listen; and how I warned you not to rush into advancing to Red Priest, and you clearly didn't listen either." Lilith pouted. "So we both ended up the way we are now."
Medici: "…"
"Otherwise, I would have become the Primordial Demoness, you would have become Red Priest, and after that we could've settled it with best two out of three—rock, paper, scissors—to decide who would ultimately become the Calamity of Destruction."
"Tch. I'm not playing rock–paper–scissors with you. You cheat every time!"
"Hehehe."
Lilith giggled. "Do you want to play again right now?"
"Oh? What are we betting on?"
"We bet on…who gets to ascend to Red Priest."
"???"
Medici froze, then erupted in fury. "Are you insane?! I helped you plenty back then, and now you want to steal Red Priest from me?!"
"But without advancing to Red Priest, I won't have enough strength to avenge myself against Cheek."
"I can avenge you just as well!"
Lilith blinked innocently. "But I'm a free woman now. And I have one hundred and ninety years more than you."
"F—…%…&…%&…&%"
Medici cursed furiously. "So this is the real reason you lot insist on waiting a hundred and ninety years before letting me out, isn't it?!"
"So," Lilith asked sweetly, "do you want to bet with me or not?"
"…"
After nearly three minutes of dead silence, Medici finally answered in a dark, heavy voice. "Fine. Bet!"
Lilith asked, "What are you putting out?"
Medici said coldly, "I'll put out something that looks like rock but can turn into scissors at any time…and become paper."
"…"
Lilith glanced at Edward. "He's stealing my lines."
Edward: "…"
Medici urged impatiently, "Your turn, Lilith!"
Lilith thought for a moment. "Then I'll put out something that becomes paper when you're rock, becomes rock when you're scissors, and becomes scissors when you're paper."
"…I—%…&…%&…&%—!"
"Then I win."
Hands on her hips, Lilith laughed. "Red Priest is mine."
Edward rubbed her head and said, "Lord Medici, regarding the Red Priest matter, I'm on your side. After all, I don't want Lilith turning into a man."
"So I'll try my best to prevent her from advancing to Red Priest. You can consider that your payment for helping keep an eye on Lilith."
Medici snorted. "Heh. Empty promises. Worthless!"
"Farewell, Lord Medici."
Edward waved and retrieved the brass rod, then pressed his right hand to his chest and bowed slightly toward the bloodstained gate. "See you in a hundred and ninety years."
The two figures vanished from the underground palace.
After a long stretch of silence, Medici's voice broke through the seal, faint and intermittent, "Lilith…was that…really…you? Have you…truly…come back to life?"
———
Edward found Pallez lounging in the courtyard exactly as usual, basking in the sun on a rocking chair like an ordinary old man.
The evil spirits brought out from Groselle's Travels were nowhere to be seen.
"Lord Pallez."
"You finally came. After that day, you completely vanished. I had no idea what happened to you afterwards," Pallez grumbled. "You don't know how terrifying it was when Zaratul tried to kill us. This old man only has the status of Sequence 1—Zaratul almost crippled me…"
As he said this, he noticed Lilith standing beside Edward. "Hm? And she is…?"
Pallez abruptly sat upright and stared at Lilith in astonishment. "You're…"
"Forgotten me already? Lil' Pallez?"
"…"
Pallez—who had been an ancestor for thousands of years—felt his luck had been terrible lately. He kept running into people with an even "higher seniority." First those three—Elf, Giant, and Ascetic—and now this one. Fortunately, those three had already gone off to Sonia Island; otherwise he would feel even more ill at ease.
"Oh…Lady Lilith."
He had heard a rough account of her situation from Krismona, but seeing her alive and standing before him still filled him with surprise.
To be honest, he and Lilith barely counted as acquaintances—let alone friends—so apart from astonishment, he felt little else.
"Old sir, I came today first to thank you for your help last time, and second to say goodbye."
Pallez blinked and looked closely at Edward. "Hm? You…"
"That's right. My condition is excellent—I'm about to die."
This time, Edward said it first. "Which is why I need to enter sleep to resist 'Death.'"
"In about a hundred and eighty years, you can go to Tingen City and look for a man named Leonard. He's a Nighthawk of the Church of the Evernight. Making him your host might benefit you."
Pallez frowned. "Parasitise a Nighthawk?"
"Don't worry—the Goddess has given tacit permission."
"…Understood."
Edward continued, "While I'm asleep, if Lilith encounters trouble and it falls within your capabilities, I hope you can lend her a hand."
Pallez sighed and shook his head. "Knew there was something waiting for this old man. Fine, fine."
At this moment, Lilith tugged on Edward's clothes. "Edward, I get it now. You're not saying goodbye to anyone—you're just…"
"It's the same thing."
Lilith pursed her lips. "So where next? Big Lilith? Amanises? Someone else?"
"Nope."
Edward pinched her cheek. "I'm not important enough to persuade gods to help. Besides, your relationships with them are much better than mine."
"But my relationship with Will and Medici is better than yours too."
"That's called double insurance."
Lilith mumbled, "Twisted logic."
"Alright. Next…I've got some personal business to take care of."
———
Trier, the luxurious Roselle family villa.
A full day had passed since he had heard his daughter say, "Old man, we're aura farming today."
Roselle was still doubting—still hesitating.
The phrase was unmistakably from his "homeland," yet it had come from the mouth of Klein Sparrow's daughter. He didn't know whether she had picked it up somewhere and said it casually, or if she had said it deliberately to have Bernadette pass it on to him for some purpose.
And so Roselle hesitated over whether he should seek out the girl—who was most likely a transmigrator—and speak with her face to face.
Of course, he had already prayed to the Chairman above the grey fog as soon as possible. But unlike the quick responses he had received before, this time the Chairman gave no reply at all.
Roselle then took out the silver plate again, wondering whether he should inject spirituality into it and attempt to travel actively to the grey fog to find the Chairman.
"Doo—dee dee—doo—dee dee—doo."
At that moment, a shrill alarm suddenly sounded.
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.