The Next Day
Kojo pushed open the creaky door of the cozy cafe, the aroma of freshly baked bread and roasting meats enveloping him. His stomach growled in anticipation as he spotted his friends already seated at a large wooden table. Adriana, Sasha, Lin, Koniko, and Sharone chattered excitedly, while Eden stood attentively, his butler demeanor unwavering. They brought along Tye, the Chimera Rabbit, who sat on Sasha's lap and nibbled at a piece of cake as she stroked his fur.
"Kojo's here!" Adriana exclaimed, waving him over.
"Yo," Kojo said, taking a seat beside Sharone.
"Finally," Eden said, smiling as he stood behind the girls, waiting on them just like a proper butler, "we were starting to think you'd forgotten about us."
"I wish Rey had joined us instead of training," Adriana said, concern etched on her face.
"He just woke up from a coma."
(You just had an entire workout routine into Rey's head, didn't you?) Kojo thought back to their secret meeting, recalling the Info Manipulation he'd used to help Rey.
(You should've considered his... enthusiasm.)
Eden cleared his throat, drawing Kojo's attention, his expression solemn.
"Before everything else, I must apologize, Master Kojo," he said, bowing to the ground and slamming his head into the floor with a quick movement, startling the others.
"Duty's been keeping me busy. Moderating the Tower of Babel and dealing with... other matters is not a good enough excuse. Please deal with me as you see fit."
There were drawing curious glances from the other patrons of the café.
"It's not a problem at all. I was, after all, the one who asked you to go to the tower. There's no need for punishment. Besides, everything turned out okay. You can stand up now," Kojo said.
Eden looked up at him with grateful eyes as blood flowed down his forehead.
"Master," he said gratefully.
Kojo sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I spoke with King Gorges," he said, telling them about the conversation he had with the king before they stopped to discuss the implications.
"He said Billiam's involvement was evident, but he didn't come up with the scheme himself," Kojo said, taking a bite from some bread.
"Figures," Sasha said, rolling her eyes as she gently stroked Tye's fur.
"The king mentioned the Apostles of Doom, a cult behind the attack, but they don't know anything about them, not even their motive. I heard about a certain group which seemed to have no motivation yet moved with premeditated precision. Could they perhaps be the same organization?" Sharone asked, placing her hand on her chin.
"We don't know that for sure. The king did say that's the only lead they have, but no evidence to prove it or back up further digging," Sasha said.
"Maybe it's another organization which is only using the name Apostles Of Doom as a front to engage?" Lin suggested. "I mean, it's not that far-fetched if you think about it."
"You may be right, but it would be difficult for an organization to simply attack the capital of a nation as powerful as Archadia. Unless they have ties to other nations and their motive is conquest," Adriana said.
"But it would still be more complex than that. If it was simple conquest, they wouldn't have cleared out the royal treasury the way they did. They didn't need to since they would have essentially captured the heart of the kingdom with the most recent attack," Sasha said.
"That would be true, but the attack itself was too haphazard. And besides, using Maajin to conquer an enemy nation would have led to a full-blown war between the other nations," Koniko said.
"That also brings questions," Eden said.
"It's true that there have been Maajin acting up here and there in different parts of the world, especially on this continent of Apollonia, but how would an individual be able to capture and coordinate an attack? Doing it physically is hard enough, how much more remotely?"
"When we were talking, I asked Gorges, and he said to the best of his knowledge, no nation has attempted to use Maajin as weapons. They were the servants of demon lord Minatori, and being near one for extended periods can corrupt a person. Unless they were doing it secretly," Kojo said.
"But if they actually were grooming Maajin to be used in warfare, why did they launch a half-assed attack and blow their cover when they could have waited for the right moment to strike? Then there's also the question of which nation, 'cause the eleven nations of Tessaloni, the Beast nation of Granoa, and the Dwarven nation of Dvergast are all against the Maajin," Sasha said.
"The Badlands don't have a coordinated government, so there's no way it could have been from their end."
"And the Goblins wanna make our lives miserable," Adriana said with a sigh.
Sharone frowned. "It's frustrating. We're not making any progress. There are so many theories to consider."
"Don't worry about it, Sharone, we were able to beat them back. All that matters is that we're strong enough to do it again," Koniko said with her mouth full of food.
"You're right," Sharone said with a sigh.
"So what happened to the Prince?" she asked Kojo.
Kojo recalled the king's words: "Under normal circumstances, he should have been stripped of his right to the throne and either banished or executed for treason. However," The king said that executing Billiam would give the nobles leverage to rise against the royal family in the future.
The group fell silent, lost in thought.
Sharone thought about what her next course of action should be. She wanted to support Kojo as much as she could, but things had gotten complicated. Kojo, too, was lost in thought. He'd thought he'd live a normal otherworldly life where all he had to do was fight, not get dragged into some political drama. As he thought about it, he noticed Yuki move past the café accompanied by some knights. She didn't have her armor on and was instead dressed in a robe that, though modest, still enhanced her beauty and figure.
(Pervert.)
"It's not like that. I wanted to ask her a few questions concerning the incident," Kojo thought.
(But you did have a perverted thought, didn't you?)
"Yes. I mean, no."
"Excuse me," Sharone said, standing up. She had made up her mind and communicated to the others. If they were going to support Kojo, they needed more information about the situation. Kojo looked at them as they stood up, wondering what was going on. Tye jumped from Sasha's arms into Kojo's.
"We're going shopping. I recently spotted a new shop that I wanna try out. What color underwear would you want me to buy?"
Kojo's face turned red at the question. He could feel the glances of the other people at the Cafe.
"Why are they staring at me like that?"
(Stop asking questions and answer.)
"Blue," Kojo whispered.
"What was that?" Sharone asked.
"Red," Eden said.
"No, I said blue," Kojo said out loud. Sharone smiled at him.
Kojo couldn't take it anymore and ran out of the building.
The girls then went out and, accompanied by Eden, headed towards Sol's shop.
Kojo found Yuki and decided to follow her from a distance, waiting for the right moment to approach when the knights accompanying her were absent. They ended up roaming around the entire city, visiting people and giving them almost everything from the bags the knights were carrying. Kojo ended up following her for hours until they had cleared out the bags the knights were carrying. Yuki suddenly stopped and asked the knights to return. They enquired about her, but she stated that she had to attend to something first. The knights bowed and left. Yuki then turned and walked, not walking until she reached a secluded part of the city. It was a broken-down building that was under construction, but the workers had already left for the day as it was getting late.
As Kojo approached, his senses warned him that something was amiss. Before he could react, he was frozen in place. It wasn't only him, but the buildings and even the dust particles seemed to have stopped. Sysia provided him with the statistics and began to explain.
(This has happened once before when you had first met Yuki and were suddenly falling from the sky. I don't understand it fully, but I can surmise that we are currently in a Timeless World within stopped time. The only difference between then and now was that you are able to perceive manipulated time.)
"What good is perception if I can't do anything?" Kojo questioned.
Before Sysia could answer, Yuki appeared, grinning mischievously.
"If you wanted to follow, you should've done it right."
"I wasn't trying to hide," Kojo replied mentally.
"I see. If you weren't trying to hide, then why did you follow me here?" Yukio asked.
Kojo was surprised.
"Surprised I can hear you?"
Kojo was very surprised. If Yuki could read minds all this time, does that mean she knew about what he'd been thinking about?
"Ew, no," she said, eyeing him with a frown.
"Now I see why Sysia always calls you a pervert."
(Wait, how does she know about me?) Sysia questioned.
"I've always known about you. We're having this conversation right now because I'm able to interact with the information particles or Psions."
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about," Kojo thought.
(Processing...) Sysia tried to come up with an explanation by searching through her archives.
"Anyway," Yuki pulled out Ascalon, the time-rending sword. "Let's have a duel."
"Are you being serious right now?" Kojo thought.
Then suddenly, Tye jumped in front of Kojo defensively. Both of them were stunned.
"How the hell is a rabbit able to move in a time stop while I'm here not able to move a muscle?"
(Must be due to Tye being a Chimera Rabbit. He is a forbidden beast, after all.)
"You don't say," Yukio said. Her eyes gave a golden glow as she analyzed Tye. Tye did the same.
"Huh, well what do you know," Yuki said as her sword dematerialized and she canceled her Timeless World ability.
"Just for the record, I'm not going to fight you. Life's good. Why throw it away?"
"You shouldn't be so modest," Yuki said.
(You're not even trying. What's wrong with you?)
Yukio chuckled.
"It's now been confirmed."
"What's been confirmed?" Kojo asked.
Yukio smiled. "I'm from your world, Kojo. And I can equally hear Sysia."
Kojo's mind reeled as his face went blank. What did Yukio mean? Yuki's grin grew wider. "Surprised?"
"Understatement," Kojo replied, stunned.
Yuki's eyes sparkled with amusement. "Let's talk," she said as she walked away. Kojo nodded and followed, intrigued.