"So… any ideas?" Lyra asked.
"Wanna try killing someone early? Like… oh! Like Syriphis! If we kill the Demon Lord's Royal Scientist, she'll never turn Isobel Greaves into the Demon Queen. Then Meredith the Life Warden won't die to her, and we'll be able to work alongside her in the final battle!"
"We did that already. Run Eleven. We killed Syriphis, and the Demon Lord turned those demon triplet girls into Royal Scientists."
"Ah, right," I sighed, remembering just how badly that particular run had been. Sure, Isobel Greaves and her House of the Unblinking Eye weren't a problem, but in exchange for that, we had to deal with three Royal Scientists instead of one.
I wish I could say our evening had been more interesting than tossing ideas back and forth, but… it hadn't been. After I came back with the food – a tray of spiced meat, yeast rolls, and steamed vegetables –I took a shower and changed into decent nightclothes before eating dinner with Lyra. From that point to right now, we've done nothing but consider what our next steps were regarding our little Demon Lord problem. As you could've probably guessed, we've long since tried everything we possibly could. Still: no stone unturned, right?
"We could just infiltrate the Demon Lord's castle now? He won't be ready for us."
Lyra considered for a moment, brightened, then deflated. "I don't have enough mana gathered to send us back. If we failed, we'd be dead dead. No Clerics to revive us."
"Goddamn it…"
"Yeah. That would've been a fun one. Oh! What if we join our respective Orders? You join the Order of Paladins, and I join the Order of Sorcerers? That way we'll be legally recognized as Paladin and Sorcerer!"
"And what does that bring?"
Lyra shrugged. "Connections, maybe? The hardest part of the battle with the Demon Lord is facing him with just the two of us. Meredith the Life Warden is a good third option, but if she doesn't end up dying to Isobel Greaves, she ends up falling to the Life Warden inside of her. Maybe if we have status within the Orders, we could find more powerful adventurers to fight alongside us?"
"We don't need anyone fighting alongside us. We're a team – the two of us. Adding someone to our team would be a burden on us both."
Lyra didn't say anything for a long while, which indicated to me that she was serious about that particular point. I had a feeling I knew where she was going, and I wasn't sure whether I liked it. Surely she wouldn't suggest what I thought she would, would she?
Yes, she would.
"Lloyd," Lyra said. She'd turned away from the ceiling and was facing me now. I met her eyes, unsurprised to find them a mix of apprehensive and resolved. "We've been doing this alone for the past 600 years. We… we aren't enough. We need help. Maybe we don't need a whole group, but at the very least, a few strong adventurers we can fight alongside and bring into the fold. We already have a repertoire with Meredith the Life Warden, so if we find her somewhere out there, we can invite her to join us. We can find a Cleric to be our healer, and maybe a Ranger to be our information gatherer. I don't think that's too–"
"What happened to us being a team?" I asked, cutting her off before she could get too far into her delusion. "That's how it's always been. From the orphanage to the Wastelands to the Demon Lord's castle. It's been the two of us. I don't mind working with someone on a mission-to-mission basis, but joining us? That's a step too far for me."
Lyra sat up and moved to the edge of her bed, crossing her eyes as she looked down at me. "Listen, Lloyd. I understand what you mean. We are a team. You are literally all I have in this world, and I know it's the same for you." She squeezed the sheets of her bed, looking away from me with her lips pursed and brows furrowed. After a moment, she continued, her voice far more emotional than it'd just been. "But you have to face the facts, Lloyd! We haven't won against the Demon Lord! We're outnumbered and outgunned. Everything we've tried up to this point ends in loss! I promise, I'm trying my hardest to keep my head, but losing and watching all the people I've met and come to cherish die and be subjugated by a mad god is too much! Do you know how much it hurts sending us back this far with Time Manipulation? I promise, I want to do this with you, but we… we just can't! We aren't enough! This goes beyond your pride and ego. If we lose, Aspia is gone! We can't keep letting people die, Lloyd! We… we need help. I know you know that."
"...How long have you been thinking about that?"
Lyra looked away from me, deflating a bit. "A few runs ago. The run we killed Syriphis early, actually. Meredith was a handful to travel with, but she saved my life so many times that run. I missed having that safety net once she was gone, but I didn't want to disappoint you."
She was right. About everything. As she often was. We needed more than just a third member for our little group. We needed a team. The strongest force in Aspian history, not counting the Demon Lord and his forces, was the Aspian Quartet – a team of four hailing from Podros of all places. If we had a team like that, we'd likely defeat the Demon Lord in two or three runs after ironing out the kinks.
But doing that felt like admitting defeat. It was childish, I ultimately knew, but it was how I felt. Lyra was my first friend in the world. When no one wanted to adopt me, Lyra was there as my companion. When we both "graduated" out of our orphanage, she fought alongside me to become adventurers. I saw the world, met all sorts of people, tried all sorts of things, experienced all that Aspia had to offer, and lived a full life in spite of my childhood. And Lyra had been there with me every step of the way. She was my everything, and having someone come between that felt… wrong. What would happen to our bond? Would we spend less time together? Would… would she get closer to someone else?
"This goes beyond your pride and ego!"
Lyra's words echoed in my mind. I was terrified of losing Lyra, but I was even more scared of the Demon Lord destroying the Aspia that I loved. This was bigger than me. It was. But still…
I stood from my bed, walked to the dresser, and pulled out some clothes decent enough to go outside in. Lyra watched me do it, not saying a word until I finally spoke first.
"I'm gonna take a walk. I'll have my answer for you in the morning. Get some rest."
Lyra sighed, nodding before lying back down in her bed. "Alright. Good night, Lloyd. Don't venture off too far. Might run into monsters."
"I'm a 5-Star Adventurer. Monsters shouldn't venture too far unless they wanna run into me."
She laughed softly. "Yeah, yeah. Just think about what I said, okay?"
"I will. Promise."