This is about Multi-Tasking!

11 July 422

Perhaps I should have thought about this situation more instead of alluding myself that I would've entered the city without much of a problem, yet how was I supposed to foresee being grilled so much by a certain weary knight when I arrived at the gates.

Orestes had fought in the Demi-Human War, and I should've expected him to recognize the sleeping individual that had well nestled herself in my hold.

Panic, stress, and justified angers were all directed at the girl, the man almost ordering to seize the 'witch', but I was quick to dismiss such situation with some counter-orders.

Surprise was etched on his face back when I spoke against him, hurt was visible in his eyes as I mentioned that Sphinx was going to be my ward until further notice.

It was difficult already that I had little to no ideas with what I was supposed to do with the girl. With her mind being too far unstable to be treated with normal therapy, I knew that I would have to adopt the most cautious of approaches to avoid dealing with any massive fallouts.

A ticking bomb. A magical nuke that had given me the utmost trust to avoid anything bad to happen once more to her.

And while I was left to reach the Magical Hospital without any major obstacles, the grand concert of words began by the very second I had left the room reserved only for the pseudo-witch.

Sphinx had been put under a powerful sleeping spell by a couple of specialized healers, urging extreme attention to have it kept going until I was available to visit her room. A proper medical check-up ensued, with the girl being given a full diagnosis and some medicines to begin with her recovery.

The moment Orestes closed the door of the room behind himself, he began talking with quite the tense tone.

"Mayor Bukharin, you sure understand that what you're doing is incredibly dangerous," He pleaded nervously, almost urging me to listen carefully to his common sense. He was right to be hesitant with this predicament, but for the wrong reasons. "This witch- she was the one that caused the War just mere decades ago."

I blinked, showing him a serious look. "Incorrect."

... "What?"

"Sphinx isn't the prime perpetrator of the conflict. Her role was, in fact, secondary compared to the one of Libre Fermi," I started to explain with a calm tone, trying my best to not show any uncertainty and empower his current arguments. I really didn't need to deal with some Spanish Inquisition anytime soon. "And... she is not a witch."

He frowned at the comment, teeth greeting in a moment of annoyance at my 'uncaring' moment. "Sir, she was slaughtering men loyal to the kingdom for the rebels, she was there and doing this on her own accord and without anyone subduing her mind," Orestes rebutted with a strong voice. "And her magic was one tainted by the corruption only witches are capable of attaining."

"Perhaps you're actually the one missing some points, Ser Orestes," I muttered with a sigh, gesturing him to follow me as I began taking a couple of steps away from the busy halls of the hospital. "In fact, I can dare to say that Witches aren't the only ones capable of making use of that tainted magic."

"Authorities are the only way to achieve that degree of magical corruption," The knight replied with a somewhat more confused tone. "But you know something more? Please, don't indulge with this waiting."

I hummed quietly. "Do you know who was the Witch of Greed, Orestes?" I suddenly inquired, drawing a surprised frown from him.

"You speak of Echidna?" He asked back, causing me to nod. "She was one of the most dreadful beings, but she disappeared ages ago and..."

...

"Sphinx is connected to her," He wasn't asking, but I nodded back nonetheless.

"To be exact, Sphinx is one of her first experiments she had done with a poor young girl that decided to sell her own being for the sake of protecting a handful of Demi-humans," I started to explain. "Lewes Meyer was a simple girl born from a farm-based family. She didn't have much magic on herself, she was possibly one oft the staunchest supporter of equality and... she was also naive enough to believe the promise of a witch."

"How is she connected with-"

"The first experiment that Echidna decided to apply with Lewes' dormant form was... cloning," I interjected quickly, my words getting quite the shocked expression at the topic brought up. "While the girl lacked any 'proper' magical potential, her body still had enough vitality to allow the implementation of artificial magical Gates to allow anyone to bypass certain limits that Authorities have."

We turned one of the corners, the halls there lacked any other individuals that could've listened to our conversation. I really was starting to grew displeased with the discussion, but it was a must that I got it going and completed before even more unpleasant stuff started to happen.

"Yet experimenting with Gates tend to be quite a dangerous subject, especially if the starting point for the experiment lacks any Gates," I continued, glad that I had yet to be interrupted by the weary knight. "This is why Lewes was cloned and... Sphinx is the first one."

I stopped, looking at the man before sighing. "Cloning is a tough topic, a little less than artificial magical surgery, but still enough to give some issues to Echidna."

"The girl... is she flawed? Is that why she was set free?" The old man finally inquired and I nodded.

"Too dangerous, too volatile- Sphinx is... an incomplete version. A failure which saw the creation of a clone with half the required emotions to function as a proper human being," I replied grimly. "But there was something that Echidna did right... and that provide the clone with a large quantity of Gates cloned by her own body."

"The taint," He muttered quietly, connecting the dots over what I was referring about to the 'hint' that saw her labeled a witch.

"Correct," I quickly reinforced his correlation. "The girl has an absurd amount of mana within her body, but it's mostly corrupted by the essence of the witch."

"But then... why you still took her in?" Orestes inquired, his tone once more showing some uneasiness over the topic. "Sir, I understand that you're a benevolent man but-"

"It was either us or our newest neighbor. And I will say this more out of respect for her than anything foul directed at the woman, but I don't think it would be wise to keep Sphinx under Lady Barielle's control," I interrupted with a huff. "The woman is strong-headed, but terribly greedy before an immediate being of power she can manipulate."

"You're painting her as a vile individual," He pointed out, causing me to nod.

"Never said my respect was directed at her entirety, rather I see some points within her mind I can't help but agree wholeheartedly," I rebuked calmly. "But still... no, I can't have her keep Sphinx."

"And I assume there is also a reason for you not considering..." Orestes hesitated with the final bits of his query and I took over for him.

"Killing her?" I guessed, getting a swift nod from him. "That would be the worst decision I could take now even if I wanted."

"Sir-"

"All clones are connected by a faint bond, Orestes," I interjected quickly, noticing how unsure he looked over my certainty. "If she ends up dying under her care, we will have far worse to deal than just her."

The knight paused at that, looking at me with a quizzical look. "And that is?"

"Echidna... she is still alive," I revealed slowly, making Orestes tense up at the novelty.

"What? But that's-" He stopped, blinking uneasily at this development. "Sir, that's- it can't just be-"

"It's the truth and, before you ask, no, I can't alert the King or any other agent of the government to intervene with this situation," I smoothly tried to bring out this crucial explanation. "Not with someone more influential than me being the one that is keeping this a secret from the rest of the world."

"And... you can mention the name of this individual? And do you have proof of-"

"Roswaal A. Mathers was the first and most obsessed apprentice to the Witch of Greed," I interjected with a groan, knowing that I was opening quite the fugly kind of issues way too early. But I knew I could trust Orestes to keep some discretion over this sensible information.

Eyes going wide open at the news, the man didn't reply at first, losing some seconds to recover from the shock and ponder over what I had just told him.

"The Mathers- they have always been loyal to the kingdom-"

"Never said they weren't, Orestes," I interjected again, and I was starting to get annoyed of this circumstance myself. "But between the Kingdom and his master, Roswaal will always pick her."

"But the rest of the family shouldn't be loyal to her as their ancestor," The knight pleaded with some doubts. "Surely, there is no way that she had any sway on them without having ever came in contact with them."

...

I sighed, then I closed my eyes and... then I stared up at the dark-blue ceiling of the hallway.

"Don't you thinks it's odd that the name 'Roswaal Mathers' is the same and only a letter brings in the difference?" I asked quietly, gaining sudden silence from this musing. "There are traditions about names... but to this degree? Can I say that I find it odd that this rule exist?"

...

"Orestes... what do you know about possession?"

"It's foul magic, sir," The knight replied suddenly and then he paused. "That's- that's just-"

"A massive stretch. I know," I groaned on my right hand as I brought it to my lips. "But what I can say is that their habits are the same, their flamboyancy, their magical prowess, and their planned visits to see where Lewes Meyer's Sanctuary is."

... "You mean that he is aware of this too?"

"Roswaal J Mathers was part of the taskforce that fought against Sphinx and the rest of the rebels," I answered while nodding. "Her main objective was to either recover the clone for her own studies, or kill her before any connection with Echidna was discovered."

...

"That's a lot to digest, sir," Orestes had to admit with a somber tone. "This... this makes everything worth of doubt. Especially those that live close to the King and the prince."

I nodded slowly, knowing that doubt was fine, but paranoia just wouldn't help in this very predicament.

"Prime Minister Miklotov is trustworthy, that I can tell, and I know that he is keeping a vigilant eye over those that comes too close to what is left of the Royal Family."

"But what about the rest of the sages? What if they too are planning anything against the family."

"I..." I took a moment to sigh as I knew that this detail wasn't something known just yet. "Some of the sages are ambitious, but none is plotting to kill the king, not with what is going on... behind the scenes."

The old man frowned. "Mayor Bukharin?"

"Nothing I can tell just yet," I nervously muttered. "But the King, Fourier, and I have a solution to what is happening. And hopefully, things will work as planned... if not better."

"It doesn't sound convincing."

"Well, it is," I rebuked quickly, shaking my head as we both resumed to walk out of the building, this time the conversation diverting away from the complicated topics we had to face up until now. "And I've to ask, how are things going for Ms. Regret?"

Orestes tensed up, but this time it wasn't shock, but rather embarrassment to see him freezing up on the spot. "S-Sir?"

"Just asking," I added, trying to keep my mirthful tone down. "I mean, you're the one that has spent the most time around her. I'm sure you have more insight over her predicament than most of the occupants within the house."

"She seems... happy. She has grown accustomed to the life here in Erindor," He replied curtly, hoping that his face was showing none of the nervousness he was dealing with. I blinked, my small smile hinting at some smug as he continued. "Ms. Regret is doing a good job, I reckon... right?"

"She is experienced and fairly dutiful, I've no reason to lament her presence," I admitted with a nod, having no reason to hesitate over that truth. "I wonder if she has written to his son about you, good sir."

He blinked, looking even more uneasy at how the situation was devolving badly for him. "I suppose? He is a knight, I'm sure a young fellow like him would want to know about someone of my standing."

I snorted at that attempt to divert the teasing away, getting an annoyed frown back in response.

"Perhaps I should write him myself," I conceded with a bigger smile. "I know Felix would want to have some more details. He is quite the curious individual that wouldn't shy away from this kind of topics."

Finally, Orestes' stare moved away from me and onto the street we were in, with the two of us having left the hospital building just a while ago.

"S-Sir, there is also something that I've to tell you," The man sobered up pretty quickly soon after, making me almost frown in disappointment at the lack of more chances to tease him. "The four builders that you've assumed for the initiative of... renewing Erindor. They have asked for a meeting by tomorrow morning, and they were citing that it was about the latest orders you've issued."

I nodded, showing some surprise at this very concern as I hadn't expected this kind of reunion. At least, not this soon.

I gave him a nod, our conversation further derailing away from its initial serious undertone to accommodate some simple arguments, just enough to entertain the two of us until we were back at the mansion.

12 July 422

A brand new day and I was still having some trouble dealing with how I was supposed to solve the situation with Sphinx.

The girl was still sedated, sleeping heavily and soundly as I planned to visit her by the time I was done with this meeting with the builders.

Yesterday concluded with two somewhat construtive talks with both Satella and Edna, with the former showing some familiarity with the concept of cloning from Echidna.

The young woman mentioned how her former friend would usually brag about being able of replicate the liveliness of all beings with her refined spells, but the 'awe' that this novelty was supposed to bring up to those that listened ended up becoming actual horror at this discovery.

Flugel had been steel-minded over his opposition over such practice, causing one of the many rifts that would see both Witch of Greed and Grand Wizards at odds for years before his passing.

Satella was mostly unsure which side to pick... and that was until I brought up the situation regarding Sphinx. While she had doubted about her former friend's sanity and morality, believing that there was still a chance to redeem 'something' out of the fellow Witch, the fact that Echidna had gone so far to achieve a resurrection left the young woman fairly uneasy over the situation itself.

I ended up interrupting that very conversation the very moment I noticed her hyperventilating, deciding to switch the focus of that discussion elsewhere to avoid issues with the poor girl.

Edna proved to be a completely different eye-opener, with her 'illumination' being offered via her comments over my 'scent being different'.

It was 'familiar', almost 'nostalgic', but also 'saddening' and ' annoying'.

It didn't take me too much to connect the dots over the fact that the fragment of the Witch had somehow perceived the lingering 'sensation' left on my body by staying so close to Sphinx.

Obviously, Edna inquired without any restraint or filter, trying to get as many details as she could over the curious circumstance, turning into quite the pest to deal with over this matter and forcing me to deflect over certain sensible answers that could give out the existence of not only Sphinx, but also giving her clarity over her own identity.

The night came and passed, but soon I was granted some peace in the morning when there were no surprises by Priscilla.

I had expected the woman to sent some complaint, and I knew that apologies weren't something to be even bothering to hope about, especially with someone like her.

Without any issues rendering the day annoying, I ended up receiving the four men tasked with the construction of the city's projects without much stress on myself.

With the paperwork almost done, this was going to be the only serious thing I would have to face for the rest of the day, and then I would be finally free to take a proper rest away from drama, dilemmas and any other horrible escalations.

The master builders themselves looked pretty alright, no gloomy mood visible from their calm expressions as they entered my office by properly greeting me.

Once they were well seated by the available chairs, the closest one decided to speak after giving a proper look at the rest of his colleagues.

"Mayor Bukharin, we really hope that we haven't sound too much urgent with our requests but... we need to bring up a curious problem that had risen up just yesterday, quite early in the morning," The man started to explain with a polite nod. "You see, when we first announced a recruitment campaign to expand the company you've so kindly allowed us to form... we weren't expecting to deal with..."

There was a pause, and I frowned at this hesitation. "What is the problem?"

"There's too many recruits rushing to gain a job under the company," One of the others finally admitted, drawing a sigh and a shake of head at the lack of initiative from the previous speaker. "Some are young fellows within the city, but others are just coming from outside, from the nearby villages."

"They've heard about your deeds, and they got enticed by the promise of well-paid jobs," Another one of them added with a nervous tone. "While we were quite positive about this matter early on, I think it's proper of me to say that we are worried about this rushing out of our hands without some proper guidance."

"Which is why we're here to ask you for some assistance over the situation," The final one concluded with a nod. "Your capacity in dealing with complex situations isn't something we are unaware of and we request your help to find a mean to stabilize this case, lest the entire company comes crashing down on us all."

I nodded at their worry, finding some legitimacy over it as I had expected for many people to rush at new, safer and, most of it all, highly-paid job positions.

What I had failed to see was that the presence of so much Demand for Work, and that it was closing in with catching up on the limited Offer for Work.

Building as a focus can offer just so many positions before actually saturating and collapsing on itself, especially with how 'small' Erindor was compared to the current capacity of the building sector.

Which meant that I had to do something drastic to avoid the full default of this little project.

"Does any of you have some connection with people experienced in working with textile-based objects?" I inquired quietly, pausing for a moment as I noticed that my words were causing some confusion instead of much-needed responses. "Clothes. You know people that are experienced in making clothes and other cloth-based stuff?"

I saw all of them nod, a small smile forming on my face. "What about fishing?"

Only two nodded, my smile twitching in a brief scowl at this unpleasant development as I really needed to have a ton of experts if I wanted to advance the fishing sector.

"Good, then the solution to this issue shall be an outright expansion of the company," I finally explained with a nod, drawing some surprised looks from the group. "We will include experts in clothes-making and fishing within the board and move divide our workers between the three focuses."

One of the issues with this plan was still the fact that the abnormal wave of new workers will eventually cease to be in a matter of a couple of months. The only way I could see this being development to be softened is the ever-present predicament of people emigrating from Gusteko.

With racism and slavery running rampant up in the north, I wouldn't be surprised to see huge amounts of people rushing through the border, risking their lives against the guards stationed there just for the sake of living the best of lives, away from the dreadful situation back home.

"But sir," Nervous guy hummed nervously. "While the arrival of so many workers is causing so many issues with our current state, how would expand the company benefit us all?"

"The real issue of so many people working in building new constructs is that the sector itself tends to have a limit imposed by the size of the city and the demand of building within the city," I replied with a calm tone. "By diverting workers away from occupying way too many roles within the building section, and moving them to deal with two modest-sized sectors that can only improve with a bigger amount of workers-"

"Our worries would never come to happen, mostly because the rest of the influx will be divided between the two other sectors," The deadpanned one muttered with some understanding voice. "But what about the company itself? I thought it was just going to be limited to us builders, yet you're proposing this offer that would see it expand beyond just that."

I nodded. "That's correct," I hummed happily as I started to elaborate on this very topic. "This was something I had planned, admittedly I would've liked for this eventuality to have it happen a little later than now but... it's here and there's nothing much to do about it except to push forward with our current instance."

I took a moment to ponder over the next words, but then I continued. "The contract, the one that I've reserved to you all, will be the same," I assured with a nod. "Your work will not change much, except that now you will be able to work properly with more people and be allowed to create joint projects among each others."

"You're giving us more means to expand our own business," The one that spoke first pointed out, a greedy smile playing by his lips. "I don't see why we should be worried about-"

"The new members of the company will have different contracts than ours," One of the colleagues interrupted. "I hope it will be based upon the normal differences between the sectors, nothing else."

I nodded. "I don't plan to make favoritism with the contracts, I will treat you all equally as partners within the same group," I assured again, gaining some nods in return. "The main objective for this company is to bring prosperity to everyone, from the rich ones to the needy, from the bureaucrats to the simple cadets."

"It will be an impressive hardwork," One of the builders admitted. "One that will probably engrave our names in history."

And yet I couldn't still get hold to remember any of you. The horrible irony...

"It will be a colossal burden with the highest of rewards, pride and money."

"It will be glorious!" One of them also admitted with a pleased sigh and I nodded in response to that multitude of comments over the success waiting around the corner.

Risks were still there to keep everyone on their tip-toes but hopefully it wasn't going to be as horrible as I could only think sparsely about.

Once we were done with this reunion, I found myself quickly moving to reach the hospital, a healer waiting already by the entrance and leading me through the various corridors to reach the room where Sphinx was in.

The girl was still sleeping, but I could already see from just half-a-day of healing that her skin color had regained some warm shade. Her hair seemed a shade darker than I remember from the day before, a sign that her magic was slowly restoring her vitality.

Her bandages had been removed to gauge the full damage on her face, and the diagnosis turned out quite kind as there was just a small magical-induced scar that ran along her left cheek, interrupting right below her eye.

I took one of the chairs within the room and set in right by her bedside, taking a seat there as I waited for the doctor assigned to remove the sleeping spell off from her to do his job.

It was quite quick, but the girl needed a little more time to break free from the 'shackles' of tiredness keeping her in that partial slumber.

With the healer leaving, I was left alone in that room with just the pseudo-witch, knowing full-well that introducing her to someone else now would be counter-productive.

Soon she started to stir, her arms growing tense as she stretched a little and... I blinked as she let out quite the big yawn.

It was still cute-pitched, enough to make my heart quiver in a brief moment of pseudo-diabetes, but I managed to survive that onslaught as I noticed her realizing that she was resting on a warm bed.

The girl blinked, then again, finally her left hand reached up to her face as she started to verify the now bandage-free area.

Sphinx tensed momentarily as she felt the little scar, but then she reached her eye and noticed that it was working perfectly.

"Good morning," I hummed quietly and slowly, her attention suddenly shifting away from herself and right at me.

"U-Uh?" Her throat sounded as if it was aching just a little bit, perhaps the sudden magical recharge had shocked some parts of her body in a state of temporary tiredness.

"Do you remember me?" I inquired carefully, hoping that there wasn't any memory loss within the unknown effects behind her slumber.

Thankfully, she gave a slow nod, her eyes glinting at some recognition and I smiled. "Good."

From there, Sphinx' stares darted away from me and around the room, curiosity and anxiety filling her expression.

"I brought you to a safe place, like I've promised you," I mentioned with a sigh, her attention once more back at me. "Right now you're supposed to stay there for at least five more days as your body has yet to recover from what happened to you."

She frowned at this, but before she had the chance to even try to say something, we both paused at the distinct sound of a stomach rumbling.

The girl tensed up, her eyes widening in a moment of odd mortification as her hands shot to press at her belly.

"Are you hungry?" I asked politely, yet smiling as I grasped a little more at the wooden box in my hold, giving it a minuscule shake to attract the pseudo-Witch's attention.

I stood up and placed the container right by her lap, opening its upper section and revealing what was inside it.

Surprise adorned her face as she studied quietly the odd dish before her eyes, her hands carefully taking one of the many flat and soft baked goods making a tower above the small plate well deep in that box.

Giving a quick sniff, realization struck as her eyes glowed eagerly at the fragrance coming from the 'flat food'.

Sphinx brought it to her lips, nibbling at the edge and testing the first bite.

The nibbling then became an outright big bite when she was done with her first one, the petite girl getting endeared by the taste as she started to devour the delicious dish with her barehands... ignoring the small fork and knife I had left inside the box for her to use.

Sighing at the surprisingly amusing scene, I waited patiently for her to be done and... she blinked, staring down with a saddened look at the lack of more food to eat.

"Sorry, but that was already a large portion for a simple breakfast," I half-apologized, the girl giving me a brief pout. "If I gave you more, you would feel sick."

She sighed. "Okay."

I gave a slow nod at that sudden reply, and as I retracted the now lighter box, I proceeded to offer her a small book.

Sphinx looked perplexed, her blue eyes scanning down at the title written over the first page.

"Fairy... tales?"

"Stories that are written with some light-hearted content," I replied with a small smile. "Since you're going to spend some time there, I wanted to give you something so you don't get bored."

She nodded, opening the first two pages and giving a brief reading. "Thank... you."

"You're welcome."

And in that serene scene, away from Paper, Ink, worries, dramas, intrigues and other messes of that kind, I ended up finally easing up while around someone so dangerous and yet so dangerous. How odd.

Afterthoughts: This chapter was written in the midst of a Macroeconomics exam. The question is legitimate: 'What the heck are you doing?' and the answer is that the start was delayed, there was a mess of people talking online because there were 70+ students connected at the same time with webcams and microphones, and there was a lot of cheating.

And now, lets go to the second part of this four-parts crossover Omake!

Omake EX 1: Visitors from Beyond the Sea (2/4)

Fomore looked quite modest for such a barely-known seaside town, yet the imposing fort built within the center of its settlement was what truly made it an important part within the Kingdom of Lugnica.

Manned by numerous soldiers armed with the best training and equipment, the main objective of this garrison was the prevention of any pirate-led attacks against the rich ports of this safe haven for many ships sailing from many of the countries bordering the nation.

While I would've been more delighted to study a little more the extent of the city that was technically under my control too, but led by a governor that was my official subordinate because of some decentralizing reform, I had much more to be worried about.

As Ser Orestes tried his best to attempt to describe the situation with what little he was aware about to the two inquisitive fox-eared twins asking him endless questions, I was well immersed in my own thoughts over what I was supposed to tell to the children myself.

I was well-aware of the kind of 'foreigners' we were dealing with, but my true concern wasn't about the morality of this group. I knew that 'Team A' was full-fledged Paragon, with only a little Rogue having some doubts over their situation with the rest of the team.

No, my issue was... how the heck was I supposed to interact with the 'leader' of this group.

Trace Legacy, former Grand Master of the Templar Order. He went through a Darth Vader phase after his wife was killed in a raid against the village they were staying for the holidays, couped the only human kingdom within the continent, and literally tried his hand at necromancy.

Literal godly intervention then saw him lose most of his memories, and literally thrown in quite the exciting adventure with some of the odds individuals one could ask for.

Problem? He had some powerful magic that could get triggered if someone dumb enough tried to attack any of his friends with lethal force.

Bigger problem? There was someone else that cared a lot about him and was way beyond most of the strongest people within the world of Re:Zero.

Hopefully, she will not come anywhere close to this... world?

"Papa," I felt Fritz tugging at my sleeve, making me blink back to reality and look at him. "Why are the newcomers not called Demi-humans? Aren't they like us?"

The boy gestured at himself and his younger brother, making me sigh calmly and shrug.

"There are some differences that differentiate a Demi-human from a Keidran-"

"Keidran, sir?" Orestes interrupted quickly, curiosity filling his words.

"Indeed, that's the correct term to address part of our diplomatic guests," I replied quickly. "These people are quite... primitive. Mostly so. They tend to live in tribes."

"And?" Hans pressed on and I sighed.

"And they do have a limited lifespan compared to Demi-humans," I answered truthfully, drawing a perplexed look by the knight listening to the description. "They start either like little kittens or puppies, and then they reach adulthood by the time they are 9."

"That's quite a small lifespan, sir," Orestes admitted grimly. "But if they are as intelligent as other living beings, why are they enslaved?"

"The humans from the other side of the 'curtain' have established slavery of Keidrans because of how tribalistic this race is," I explained with a huff. "Not only that, but there's also the reason that Keidrans are best attuned with Magic."

"That's still horrendous and..." He frowned, pausing for just a second. "Why this isn't applied with the rest of the guest? Those that advanced diplomatic insignias and documents."

"Basitins are... quite different from Keidrans," I muttered quietly. "Generally a jingoistic race, their physical prowess are well beyond the two other races. Albeit quite short, they are still born in a warrior society that cultivates the whole 'the strongest is meant to rule'."

"That sounds... bad?" Fritz said with a hint of uncertainty and I patted his head, scratching a little behind his fox-ears.

"Just a little bit. In fact, there are quite some troublesome elements that make their whole civilization quite silly to study about," I confirmed with a brief snort. "Part of their legs need to be covered as they considered that spot... inappropriate. And their doctors work with their eyes covered so that they can't stare at their patients' bodies."

... "I don't... why are these even considered good traditions?"

"I really want to know myself," I admitted with a sigh. "But I guess we will be able to ask about it now that we're... here."

The carriage came to a full stop, and soon we started to disembark it. We were greeted with a handful of soldiers, the leader of the garrison of the fort, and the governor of Fomore.

"Mayor Bukharin, it's an honor to have you here to visit our humble city," The governor bowed briefly. "And we're glad to know that our request of your presence was taken so well under your best consideration."

I frowned at the overly-sugarish words being used by the man, but I sighed and nodded. "I should be the one thanking you for alerting me of this situation. Right now, I can say for sure that the group that reached Fomore is an authentic diplomatic mission."

The man's eyes widened with some surprise. "Is that so? Then I'm glad that I allowed them the guests' treatment," He mentioned with a small smile. "We were quick to provide them with resources for the time being, but they have to stay within their ship until you arrived to commence any diplomatic approach."

I nodded again, this time returning the smile. "Then this gets a double praise from me, Governor. I hope it wasn't straining for your men to provide the execution of this situation."

"Not at all, no," He replied curtly, then he started to lead us right to where the ship had been anchored and I prepared for the kind of meeting I was supposed to deal with.

Just as I reached the small bridge that connected the ship to the dockyard, I paused for a moment to address a couple of points with the twins.

"I want the best behavior from both of you," I mentioned calmly. "I understand that there will be some interesting sights, but I need you both to keep close and never leave my side until I tell you that you can... okay?"

They both nodded, making me sigh in relief.

"Okay then, let's go."

I spearheaded the small group up into the deck of the ship, and I was soon greeted with the full group deployed.

Pausing for a moment to take a full hold over the sight bestowed in front of me, I couldn't help but hum at what was going to be quite the odd situation to face like this.

Trace was keeping quite close to Flora, Tiger Keidran and her life partner. They both looked quite fascinated by our arrival, but the young woman's attention was swiftly taken away from me the moment she noticed the twins standing behind me.

Keith looked... quite curious himself, but also restrained and guarded, with Natani standing just a step behind him and studying our group.

Eric was looking at the scene with an intrigued look, yet his eyes seemed to be darting between me and... twins.

Like hell, I'm going to let him make portraits with my kids!

But just as I looked ready to stop at Eric, I felt my focus captured by some fake coughing.

Lynn had a calm smile on his face as he took out a familiar piece of paper from his pouch and-

"You should be, Mayor John Bukharin," He greeted with a quick bow, displaying the document a little closer. "I assume you've been informed that we are Basitin Ambassadors on a peaceful mission to-"

"Mainland Mekkan," I interrupted him quickly, drawing a smile as I nodded at his surprise. "Yes, I'm aware of your diplomatic mission, Personal Advisor Lynn."

He puffed his chest with a hint of pride. "I suppose I've been mentioned by the message sent to you."

"I'm actually aware from you and the rest of this fun group a little earlier than this assignment," I rebuked with a sigh, causing him to frown, but I looked at Keith.

"And you're Keith Keiser, the head of this diplomatic mission," I greeted with a nod, with the Basitin returning the favor with a slower one.

"Mayor Bukharin," He replied curtly.

"I could say much more about you all," I admitted while looking around. "We got Natani..."

The Keidran tensed up at being the example of this little 'game' of mine, perhaps expecting me to mention his time as an Assassin of the Black Market Magic Guild.

"The... smartest sibling of the 'Magi Brothers'," I continued with a big smile, making his jaw drops in surprise at that derail. "I've heard that you and your brother Zen are quite the impressive hard-workers."

"I- That's..." He blinked, his heterochromic (brown and gray) eyes showing some shock at that kind of praise. "Y-Yeah, that's correct."

I nodded at that and then turned to stare at the blond bespectacled young man. "Eric Vaughan, owner of the Vaughan Trading Company."

He nodded, keeping quiet as I finally moved to stare at the protagonists of TwoKinds.

"Trace Legacy and Flora," I said with a somewhat excited tone, drawing some confusion from both as I bowed a little lower. "First thing first... congratulations."

At first they failed to understand what I was congratulating them for and... then their face sported some bright blushes as they realized what I was referring to.

"That's... that's odd, I don't remember telling to anyone else other than..." Trace tried to mention, but then stopping as he thought well about it and frowned. "H-How do you know about this?"

I shrugged. "I just know and-"

Just as I thought that from there the situation would have shifted to the diplomatic/bureaucratic bits of this encounter, I felt giggles approaching and... a shadow moving over my head.

"I win~!" I could feel my jaws dropping as my eyes caught the petite form of a certain Basitin trying to escape from the deck while being pursued by-

"Eeep!"

Something soft crashed on my face and body, making me trip on the floor.

I blinked, recoiling at the pain caused by the fall as I tried to understand what had just happened when I found myself staring in two unexpected pools of light blue.

"U-Uh," The keidran stood sitting on my chest for a while, keeping her stare fairly close to my own brown eyes. "H-Hello?"

I gulped nervously.

"H-Hello there… Kat."