[ Anorlon Times Building - Main Elevator ]

“Little Eden... just kissed my mother.”

Ever since coming down from the penthouse, Captain Tamaria had been repeatedly going through stages of denials, epiphanies, and existential crises. In fact, this was the fifth time that she murmured that phrase inside the elevator.

“Do you want… a kiss as well… Captain Tamaria?”

Eden, who noticed her occupied mind, made that harmless offer out of the blue. And in the small space of the metallic box, his voice gained a mysterious quality that made it sound like he was whispering into everyone’s ears. Making Captain Tamaria, Altarin, Ruby, and Vena all shuddered in response.

“Uh, um, t-that's—”

While Captain Tamaria was temporarily finding herself at a loss for words, Vena had already moved in to hug Eden from behind, protecting him like a hen protecting her eggs, albeit with a little more deadly radiating aura.

Seeing them like that, Captain Tamaria managed to collect herself and earnestly replied, “I’m afraid that would be really inappropriate, Eden...”

“I see…” Eden said softly, seemingly oblivious to the innately irresistible effect he had always had on people—or perhaps too used to it that their peculiar reactions became the norms for him.

One particular person, however, couldn’t take any of that as casually as he did.

“Eden, hic I’m sorry I couldn’t protect your lips from being stolen by that evil goddess hic I’ve failed you as your big sister~!” Vena who buried her face into Eden’s hair said while sobbing.

“Big Sister Vena… It was just a kiss… no?” Eden tried to calm her down.

“I’m so sorry…!” But Vena continued to sob while hugging him even tighter.

Altarin who couldn’t stand the atmosphere between them anymore spoke up. “Eden, we really need to have a conversation about your attitude toward this sort of thing… like really, really.”

Hearing that, Eden glanced at Vena who eventually calmed down and muttered, “Eden will… keep that in mind.”

Ding~!

When the door of the elevator slid open, the five of them were greeted by the absent-minded figure of the receptionist lady of House Fortuna, Gwin, who upon noticing the presence of Eden coming out of the elevator—immediately went into a state of panic.

“Greetings, have you finished your business with the lady? Um, Eden, sir?”

It was apparent that there was something wrong with her still.

“Just Eden… is fine.” 

“I see… So are you leaving now, E-Eden?”

“Um… goodbye... Gwin.”

“Goodbye Eden—and Young Lady Tamaria as well, of course!”

“Yes, see you later, Gwin.”

Listening to her own name being forgotten over and added at the end by the receptionist lady despite having known each other way back, captain Tamaria couldn’t help but turn to ask the twins in a low voice as they were walking out of the building.

“Does that happen a lot?”

““All the time,”” the twins replied instantaneously with utterly neutral expressions, making captain Tamaria even more speechless than before.

When they reached the side of the road, captain Tamaria gave them a heads up on the case of disappearance she was investigating, before excusing herself to go back to the Valkyrian guards’ station.

“Is there any reason we should be worried about this in particular?” Altarin asked for more information.

“The victims usually happened to be young, beautiful angels…” Captain Tamaria said with an awkward face.

“““Ah.””” Ruby, Vena, and Altarin all nodded in immediate understanding.

“More importantly. That blessing you got from my mother, Little Eden, please be careful with it.”

“Is it dangerous?” Ruby asked in place of Eden, showing care for his well-being.

“Not necessarily.” Captain Tamaria tilted her head a little. “But it can be a little too effective.”

“Too... effective?” Eden sounded curious, and also a little interested.

“Well, you’ll see soon enough…” Captain Tamaria only said while scratching her cheek uncomfortably. She then bid farewell to the four of them and blessed them good luck, and not even a full minute after she left.

“Ouch.”

Eden’s monotonous voice rang out as he tripped over something and fell down, followed by the alarmed voices of the other three.

“““Eden!”””

“Big sister Vena… Brother Altarin… Eden seemed to have tripped over.” Eden picked up something on the ground and opened it up. “This suitcase with stacks of cash in it.”

—That blessing really was way too effective!!

At that moment it fully dawned on all of them that despite how silly and off-kilter Fortuna appeared to be—it was absolutely undeniable that she was indeed the Goddess of Fortune.

They could almost picture her snickering with pride.

“What should we do… with this?” Eden calmly asked while presenting the suitcase to them.

“This can’t have appeared out of nowhere, can it? We should probably look around for the owner of this suitcase first? They couldn’t be that far off.” Receiving the suitcase with shaking hands, Altarin tried to stick to his rationality. 

“I see… That makes sense.” Eden nodded his head, and they started to search around the area.

Looking for the owner of the suitcase turned out to be quite an easy task with Ruby’s amicability coupled with Eden’s ability to befriend anyone in a matter of seconds. And eventually, a woman appeared claiming the suitcase to be hers.

After considering various ways to verify that she’s indeed the true owner, Altarin ultimately went with the ‘have Eden stares at them with his innocent eyes lie-detecting technique’ that had been proven in the past to have a consistent 99% reliability rate with both of them.

After having passed the test and receiving the suitcase, the woman then offered half the money from it to them as a showcase of her gratitude. Eden and the others tried to refuse, but the woman insisted on giving it to them anyway.

—So, in the end, they still somehow got their hands on quite a considerable sum of money for absolutely nothing.

Staring at the money he had put in his bag, Eden eventually proposed, “Should we first go get something… to eat?” 

“Didn’t you want to immediately go to find the Undercity, Eden? Why the sudden change?” asked Ruby.

“Firstly… there’s a high probability… that Athena wouldn’t actually let Eden know where it is... Secondly… even if somehow she does tell Eden… there’s no guarantee that she would grant permission to go there… so it’s better to find out about it ourselves first… And thirdly,” Eden lowered his voice. “Eden’s a little angry with Athena… right now.”

Vena and Altarin both questioned their ears.

—Angry? Eden? With lady Athena? Will the sun be rising from the east? Is the Abyss Prince going to invade the Realm of Gods tomorrow!?

“O—kay?” Ruby, who didn’t realize any deeper meaning, clapped her hands and said with a gentle smile, “So, do you want to go to a supermarket or a restaurant?”

After a few seconds of silence...

“Both.”

—Was Eden’s answer.

.....

A couple of visits to the supermarkets and restaurants, and a few more attempts to convince the clerks and store owners to take payments later. Ruby, Eden, Vena, and Altarin found themselves sitting on a bench in front of a water fountain in a nearby park, surrounded by the chirpings of the spirit birds and the ambiance of the mingling crowd, eating ice cream and various other snacks happily.

“Eden, do you like these chocolate cookies?” Ruby cuddled up to Eden.

“Um…”

“These cookies are not better than what I’ve made for you at home. So, try this ice cream instead, Eden.” Vena also didn’t want to lose out.

“Okay…”

“That’s all well and good but…” As for Altarin.

“What is it... Brother Altarin?”

“Remind me again why I have to sit in this position?”

Altarin’s puzzlement stemmed from the fact that he was currently sitting on a bench with Vena and Ruby by his side, and Eden on his lap.

There were reasons for this, of course. Firstly the limited space on the bench made it so that not all four of them could sit together in a row. And secondly because Ruby and Vena themselves weren’t going to give up the opportunity to sit beside Eden, putting Altarin in the unwanted spot of—the third wheel—and while Altarin himself didn’t really mind it all that much…

“Because Eden doesn’t want… Brother Altarin to feel… Left out?”

How very considerate of him, Altarin thought, though somehow not considerate enough to notice that he was literally placing him between fire and ice.

““Eden. Ummmm~!””

Evidently neither Vena nor Ruby particularly cared for Altarin’s predicament or his existence, for they continued their friendly (on the surface) feud about who could better feed Eden by competing for his attention.

While that was going on, Eden surprisingly took notice of Altarin’s discomfort. And as a pure-hearted attempt to show apology, he actually offered Altarin the leftover part of his popsicle.

“Brother Altarin…Ummm.”

Seeing Eden’s action, Altarin had no reason to turn him down and didn’t think much of it.

“Ummm.”

So, he opened his mouth to receive the popsicle and finished it all in one go.

“It is… good?” 

“It’s delicious.”

But then suddenly, two drastically different shifts in temperature sent Altarin into a state of extreme trepidation. He looked to his sides. Both Vena and Ruby's faces were all smiles but the undercurrents of malice in both of their charming expressions—were striking.

—Altarin you must be feeling very lucky right now, aren’t you? Vena’s eyes appeared to be saying.

—I never thought you were a real pervert brother Altarin, even while knowing full well... Ruby’s smile seemed to imply.

—W-what did I do!? Altarin hopelessly wished for someone to tell him why he was being targeted by the girls suddenly.

But before that situation could reach its boiling point.

“Where did... all the people go?”

Eden spoke up. Alerting all three of them to the peculiar atmosphere that had enveloped them before they could realize it.

The chirpings of the birds and the ambiance of the mingling crowd had all disappeared, leaving only the sizzling droplets of the water fountain behind them. Aside from that, only silence remained.

Until a shuffling sound came out of the nearby tree.

“Heeeh~”

The corner of Altarin’s lips naturally raised into a sneer when a group of people in black cloaks began to reveal themselves from the nearby bushes and trees, eventually trapping them in a circle.

But despite there being the intimidating appearance of the cloaked figures approaching them. No one was scared, not Altarin, not Ruby, not Vena, not even Eden. They all simply observed the newly arrived with narrowed, cautious eyes.

“We are to bring you to our Master, resistance is inadvisable,” one of them spoke up, blade raised, and it was clear then that their intention wasn’t to come here to scout Eden to be a superstar.

So none of the four replied.

Perhaps thinking that he wasn’t receiving enough respect from them, the cloaked person stepped forward with his blade, threatening to attack—a decision which turned out to be one he wouldn’t even have a chance to regret.

Wooosh~!

For a split second, time itself seemed to slow down as the blade was thrust toward Eden’s neck. Immediately, Vena sprung into action.

With a single forceful kick, not only was she able to redirect the blade’s trajectory, but also shatter it completely into metallic bits with the pressure of her black boot.

Then without any evocation of any kind. Frost instantly covered the broken handle of the blade and spread like corruption up to its wielder’s arm. It was fast and unstoppable, taking merely a millisecond to freeze his entire body and even his clothes, turning them crystalized blue. And with a roundhouse kick right to the head—the mysterious cloaked person's entire body also shattered into glittering shards of snowflakes.

—Intercepted, disarmed, and executed.

For the first time, Vena revealed her true nature as a remorseless killing machine. There was nothing reflecting in her cold gaze, any hint of sympathy, compassion, or mercy had been traded off for calculated efficiency and fetal precision. Her technique was swift, elegant, deadly, and—

“Keeeevvvviiiiiinnnnnn~~~! Nooooooo~~!”

...One of the nearby cloaked figures cries out. They rushed forward and desperately tried to catch the fragments of ice that flew into the air. And falling onto their knees when they realized it was hopeless.

“He was my best friend!”

“...” Ruby.

“...” Altarin.

“...” Vena, with her foot still in the air.

“We went to high school together!” the cloaked figure continued to weep miserably. “He even has a family!”  

Looking at that pitiful state, Eden couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the cloaked person.

“Big sister Vena maybe… you should apologize?”

“Eh?!”

That line from Eden was enough to completely crush Vena’s remorseless killing machine mask, making her instantly feel unspeakable guilt.

“A-Altarin, take Eden away! I’ll figure out what’s going on with these guys! ”

Without even waiting for a reply, Vena evoked [Hydromancy] on the fountain behind them. Bursting forth chilly clouds to cover their escape, and to maybe hide from Eden’s eyes.

“I don’t think I need to tell you to be careful, but don’t go overboard, alright?” Altarin said, hugging Eden tightly and spreading his wings to escape the encirclement by shooting up into the sky.

Seeing that Eden was gone, Vena exhaled in relief and turned back to the group of cloaked people with the same emotionless eyes as before. Only perhaps with a bit more color in them that was the result of Eden’s influence.

“Who sent you?”

Her cold voice made all of them flinch, but none responded. Seeing that they weren’t going to be cooperative with her, Vena clapped her hands, then separated them to form a beautiful frost javelin.

“Then I’ll have to go one by one.”

Vena hurled the frost javelin flying to the cloaked person kneeling on the ground—who just also happened to be the same target as a random flying fireball.

The two elements clashed, canceling each other out into a burst of white cloud.

“...?”

In confusion, Vena looked behind her and saw none other than Ruby who had apparently decided to stay behind for reasons she couldn’t fathom.

“Sorry... I did, I didn’t mean it.”

Ruby apologized with questionable sincerity, which irritates Vena even more.

At their moment of distraction, one of the cloaked people charged at Ruby with a sword. Ruby reacted to this by evoking her [Pyromancy Tome] and sent a blast of heat to fend off her attacker—only to be interrupted by a small bit of frost that flew into her eyes.

“Ah—!”

Of course, that wasn’t enough to actually render her defenseless and she was able to blast the attacker away, but when she looked back at the perpetrator of that little distraction...

Vena shrugged. “I didn’t mean it either.”

—But you obviously did!

They stared at each other, perhaps while even thinking of the same thing. About their deep-seated, mutual hatred of each other.

Most of the time, the similarities between Vena and Ruby were so apparent that if they weren’t so dead set on getting in each other's way, maybe there was a possibility that they would become rather good friends. Or at least friendly acquaintances who cared for one another.

—But alas, that was not the timeline they were living in.

“You know I’ve gotten a lot better than the last time we did this, you crazy woman! So you can’t say I didn’t warn you!” Ruby smiled ferociously and spread her flame wings, clearly not intending on going all out, not at the cloaked person at least.

“A certain red-eyed thief truly is getting a bit too arrogant after all? Perhaps I would have the pleasure to put it in its place? For the second time?” Vena’s gaze turned deadly, spreading her wings that shined silvery light—her focus totally shifted away from the cloaked people.

Ruby opened by shooting winds of flame at Vena who froze those winds right out of the air and sent them flying back at Ruby, who then vaporized them.

That was how the second round of their fight started, and there was also no Eden to diffuse the situation this time.

One of the cloaked people who had been completely forgotten by the two girls tapped on the shoulder of the kneeling figure. “Boss, maybe we should just let them fight?”

“B-but Kevin!” The kneeling cloaked person, who also happened to be their Boss, was still saddened by their truly unfortunate loss.

“Our mission comes first, Boss, and besides...” the subordinate reminded.

“*Sniff* fine… I understand, let’s go after the other two.“ Boss wiped away their tears and gave a command, the cloaked people all quietly crawled away, leaving the furiously clashing fireworks of ice and fire behind them.

—————……….