Chapter 14: This Is the End, and What Comes After (Patreon)

"Magic? The seal?" Hearing those two words, Regulus blinked several times in quick succession.

Honestly, he'd never really taken that sort of thing seriously.

"Never mind. If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do about it," Pandora sighed. "So — is there anything else?"

"Anything else... no, there isn't..." Regulus shook his head.

"Then—"

Just as Pandora was about to say something more—

"Wait! There is something!" Regulus suddenly blurted.

"Hm... what is it?" she asked, patient as ever.

"I need to go back and destroy that book right now! And I've got to notify those tasteless idiots too..."

He'd come here looking for Pandora in the first place, and now that she'd helped him settle such a major matter, he was willing to let the earlier trouble slide.

"Afterward, just have them gather at the church address on the mountain nearby. I'll go 'invite' them over myself."

"Alright then. Please, let me help you with that."

"Uh..."

"Archbishop Regulus has never once come here. Right now he ought to be at home, nose buried in his book..."

The instant those words left her mouth, Regulus's figure vanished from the spot — and even the forest that had been utterly flattened moments before was restored to its original state.

"There. Handled..."

Seeing this, Pandora let out a breath of relief.

Even with acting chops good enough to win an Oscar, weaving through all those twists and turns had still taken quite a bit of mental effort.

"Right, this way."

Then she started back along the now-restored path.

"Haah~ so tired..."

Even though her body couldn't grow fatigued, her mind still could. So she decided she'd better go back and get some sleep — and then pay Geuse another visit...

"Pandora..." Watching her approach from the crossroads, Fortuna and the assembled elves all held their breath. "How did it go?"

It seemed there were only two possibilities.

One: Regulus hadn't shown up yet, so they'd simply missed each other.

Two: it had succeeded.

Naturally, they were all hoping for the latter...

"Mm." Pandora, now standing before them all, nodded. "It's taken care of."

Just a small thing, really... ahem...

"As long as it's settled..." Hearing the news she'd been hoping for, Fortuna nodded, then turned to the crowd. "Alright, everyone — back to your business."

Once the crowd had scattered—

"Lady Pandora..." a yellow-haired girl suddenly called out.

"Roche, what is it?" Pandora, who'd been about to speak with Fortuna, stopped at the sound of her voice.

"This..." Roche drew her hands out from behind her back.

"Uh..." Pandora blinked, caught off guard by the pair of boots held out to her.

"I know... I know you don't really need to wear shoes..." — after all, Pandora had gone barefoot both yesterday and today, so it wasn't hard to draw that conclusion — "but..."

"Thank you. I'll take them." Without hesitation, she accepted the boots.

"Mm..." But the moment the boots left her hands, Roche covered her face, spun around, and dashed inside, slamming the door shut behind her.

"Pandora..." Watching this, Fortuna shook her head, helpless. "If my heart weren't already spoken for, I'd probably fall under your spell too..."

This woman was seriously a heartbreaker to men and women alike...

"Thanks..." Pandora had no idea how to respond to that, so she just settled for a word of thanks.

"You — never mind." Fortuna truly couldn't follow Pandora's logic; who responds to something like that with a simple thank-you? "Emilia's still waiting for you in her room. She said she made you promise to come back, and she means to hold you to it..."

Even Emilia had been "carried off" by Pandora at this point, honestly...

"Right." If Fortuna hadn't brought it up, Pandora would have nearly forgotten. "By the way — where's Geuse?"

Not long after—

[Creak]

"Sister Pandora!" Emilia, curled up under the blanket chatting with the Micro Spirits, heard the door open and shot straight up from the bed.

"I'm back." Sure enough, kids really were this adorable...

For some reason, she felt no interest whatsoever in this beyond that — she'd basically ended up raising the like a little sister!

Oh no, oh no — and here she was, a proud "cute supremacist"... ahem...

"What's that..." By the time Pandora had fully stepped through the doorway, Emilia had already spotted what she was carrying.

"These are boots Roche gave me, so I can't let you wear them, Emilia," Pandora said, shaking her head at the flicker of interest on the girl's face.

"Hmph, I didn't even want them anyway..." Emilia pouted and turned her head away.

"Alright, how did your chat with the Micro Spirits go?" Pandora asked, smiling at the points of light resting on the blanket.

Emilia nodded, unable to keep the grin off her face. "Really well! And they accepted the names I gave them!"

"Oh? Care to introduce them to me?"

"Of course! This is Little Blue, and this is Little Purple."

"Mm... very fitting names."

Named straight after their colors, of course!

"So — have you made a contract with them yet?"

"Not yet..."

"Fair enough. You've only just started working with them recently, after all."

"Mm..."

"Let me teach you, then. All you need to do is..."

...

"There, that should do it." Pandora nodded, watching Little Blue and Little Purple settle onto Emilia's palm.

"Mm-hmm!" Emilia answered, practically buzzing with excitement.

"Well then, Emilia — you should head back to Miss Fortuna's now." As she spoke, seeing the confusion on Emilia's face, Pandora reached out and patted her head. "I still have a few things to talk over with Geuse, so..."

"Then I can just wait here..." Emilia said, curling back into the blanket, cupping the Micro Spirits loosely in her hands.

"But..." Pandora started to object, then thought better of it. "...All right."

She set the boots down on the table, tore a sheet of paper from her notebook, wrote a few words on it, folded it small, and laid it atop the boots. Then she folded the map and tucked it into the front of her robe.

"I'm off, then." She reached the door and waved to Emilia.

"Mm-hm, I'll wait right here for you, sister..."

Emilia poked her little head out from the blanket to answer.

With that, Pandora shut the door behind her with a creak.

Looks like sleep isn't happening after all...