"Being a demon only means that I'm at odds with the Old Man. I'm not some ancient evil being, you k-meow," Lily said, jumping off the table. That could've been comforting, too, but—
"I'd say that's debatable," Gabrielle shot back, crossing her arms over her blue dress.
They still didn't like each other; that much was obvious.
And given how powerful they were, getting caught between them was troublesome.
"By old man, you mean a god?" Konrad asked, desperate to connect the dots. "How can you even be at odds with one?" It wasn't like grumbling against your boss.
"Not any god, but The God," Gabrielle scoffed. "The creator of your world, and many others."
That sounded even worse.
"I didn't like the way he ran things," Lily stated with a shrug. "And he doesn't take criticism—"
"You ruined human civilisation as a prank," the angel spat, sparks flying between them. "And you even had them blame it on God as if it were their punishment."
The demon smirked.
Those words didn't sound like praise, but she acted as if she took them as one.
"I gave them new means to express themselves; diverse languages," she chuckled.
Right, that's what the Tower of Babel was all about, now Konrad remembered, too.
"Besides, everyone bought into the thought that God was mad. It kinda tells you something that the Bible is full of his punishments," Lily added. "Bad parenting one-oh-one."
"Because they couldn't imagine anyone else powerful enough to do that," Gabrielle fumed.
"Or because he'd punish them more often than reward their prayers," Lily argued.
Konrad could not seek shelter fast enough against the storm gathering between them.
He had many questions, but screw them. Now, he only wanted to survive.
Celestial politics—if that was even a thing—scared him more than anything.
Especially when it involved Lily, who wasn't that cute little chunibyo he used to think.
He wondered about how Welf must have coped with that, or if he even knew?
This childish, petite catgirl was older than written history itself.
The perpetrator behind the famous Tower of Babel incident. An actual demon, not someone roleplaying as one. If anything, the cutesy catgirl act was the role she played.
To appeal to Konrad, but why?
And then, Gabrielle was almost her equal.
Sickly at first glance, fragile and pale, a noble's sweet, beautiful daughter.
Except she was an archangel with the power to stop time itself, including everyone in it.
And these two were shouting at each other. Their sensible arguments—if there were any in the first place—long forgotten. Konrad was listening, but most things went over his head.
It wouldn't have made a difference if they spoke in a foreign language.
Planning Halaima's invasion seemed trivial compared to this.
Now, he only wished that military planning was the worst he had to deal with.
"Wow, that's rude," Lily noted with a pout—because of course, as a bonus, they could also read his mind. Why not? "I'm not scary, okay? I did nothing that'd warrant those accusations."
It was strange that this was the one thing to offend her.
She even stopped her argument to call him out. Konrad shot back against his better judgment.
"You admitted five minutes ago that you ruined my life on purpose."
Gabrielle joined in before the demon could retort.
"That's how she is, not evil, but an idiot."
And it started everything all over again.
Lily was shouting, pointing fingers, or gesturing with them, using wide, intense movements.
Vulgar ones.
"If I'm stupid, who expected a mere dragon to kill her mortal enemy? Only because a cute, purple-eyed girl distracted him for a second. Delusional much?"
At least she forgot about Konrad's earlier words. No reprisals so far, but no answers, either.
It seemed more important for her to argue with his other haremette.
"By the way, Konny caught a stray dragon," the ginger noted with a grin. "A real one, not a cheap copy you tried to use. Guess what? Your target handed her ass to her."
Konrad almost missed that important detail, but—
"You mean the Green Mage," he said. "And Maple said she fell into a trap."
Both of them ignored his correction.
"I also planned an intricate trap," Gabrielle claimed, raising her nose. "But what do you know about plans? All you're good at is ruining them—"
"I had nothing to do with it," Lily scoffed. "Blame your little brother."
And now that she mentioned it, Konrad was also curious about how Lu fit into all this.
He couldn't have been further away from the control he desired on his deathbed. That was when he first saw his guardian angel—a rare guest in his dreams these days.
"If you didn't try to corrupt that guillable little idiot, none of this would've happened."
Whether Gabrielle's heated reply addressed him or Lucifer by that name, Konrad had no idea.
He dared not ask. He got no real answers from them anyway, being too busy bickering instead.
What little they let slip during their shouting match only birthed more questions.
And when and why did Gabrielle even show up in the first place? He sent her home about a week ago, and Aset wasn't exactly close to the Tribal Council's camping grounds.
The angel quieted down as if hearing his thoughts, which must have been the case.
She took a deep breath, clearing her throat, reluctant for the first time before speaking.
Lily crossed her arms, turning away, pouting, but didn't interrupt her.
"Anyway, I brought news," Gabby said, nodding at the map, now folded on the table. "Maou Midori has made his first move, and my agents far to the east saw him traveling this way."
Right, there was that guy, too. Shit.
"Isn't that earlier than expected?" Konrad asked, muddied with his own problems.
"No, I wouldn't say that," the angel replied. "It will take him a long time to travel this far. But yes, you should wrap your campaign up against the Inquisitor soon, and prepare."
That was easy for her to say—and before she showed up, he was working on that, anyway.
"I secured a promise from the saints of this world," Gabrielle added. "They won't intervene, and in their eyes, Otto Ostfeld is already excommunicated. But the spirits—"
"Oh, yeah, the girl," Lily joined in, her pout forgotten. "Tomboy Tomboyovich told me."
"Who?" he asked, close to losing the thread of their conversation again.
The ginger rolled her eyes, as if calling people by their real names caused her physical pain.
"The blondie. Stella—your torturer," she now overexplained it. "And that other child, the spirits favor these days. Odd that both would end up in the clutches of the Inquisitor."
"It is no coincidence," Gabrielle said. "And they were adamant that we have to rescue her, too."
"That will be fun," Lily scoffed. "If she wants that rescue as much as Stella did—"
"Rescue? I took her hostage when I escaped," Konrad interjected, struggling to keep up.
He wasn't stupid. He was the freaking Prodigy of Haiten. But they were on another level.
Not in their intellect—their heads were too high in the clouds for him to comprehend.
Both girls paused, sighing, giving him the look.
"Let's say, this angel isn't the only one who decided to use you for her plans," Lily claimed.
Well, whatever that meant, it didn't make him feel better.