It felt like returning to Themyscira—but the girls here in the organization were even younger, full of little lolis. Since awakened ones couldn't openly enter the organization, the awakened one dropped Liu A'dou off from afar. Then an agent escorted him inside.
The girls wore identical tight uniforms like the Claymores and swung around shortened versions of their greatswords that couldn't cut. They were training hard. Of course, they hadn't yet fused with the flesh of the Dragon's Descendants/Asarakam, so their hair still came in different colors, and their skin lacked the ghostly white of the Claymore girls.
Perverts. The organization had captured a bunch of lolis. Who knew how many would die from being unable to withstand the fusion. That meant even more single men popping up across the continent.
The agent kept glancing at Liu A'dou, but it was hard to tell what he was thinking since he couldn't see his face under the monocle. He just thought this guy gave off a weird, repressed vibe, dressed all in white with a flowing white cape.
The organization didn't look particularly secretive either. It was just a big castle—sunlight streaming in, not a single dark corner in sight. A lot of men stood guard inside holding long spears. They all came from the Warfire Continent.
People on the Experimental Continent had no idea what the Warfire Continent was like. Only those in the organization knew the details. They constantly monitored the battles on Warfire and believed more and more that their mission was incredibly heavy.
The enemy in their homeland was a powerful country of Dragon's Descendants, while all they had were awakened ones. But awakened ones couldn't control themselves. Even though they could fight Dragon's Descendants, they also caused terrible losses to their own people. That's why the organization was trying to create controllable warriors.
The loli trainees looked curiously at Liu A'dou, taking in his strange outfit. At their age, they should have been in school writing about youth and dreams. But their eyes were already filled with pain and hatred. Truly a chaotic world—lives like weeds, and these girls' youthful years already dimmed.
After they passed through the training grounds and entered the castle, Liu A'dou saw a few adult Claymores who had received the brand. Only two, actually. Once they grew up, Claymores all became cold beauties with full-on queenly vibes. Most of the others were post-fusion Claymores still training in non-combat skills. They were being trained in all sorts of things—including how to please men.
Liu A'dou was brought before Rimuto, the old man sitting on the stone chair of the Elders' Hall. A row of agents stood around him.
The contrast between black and white had never been more obvious.
Galatea silently watched Liu A'dou. She was full of curiosity about him and his origins.
Sunlight filtered in through the gaps between the stone columns and fell onto the floor, filling the entire hall with warmth. It was an evil organization, sure, but not the dark and damp kind people usually imagined.
"I'm Rimuto, head of the organization," the old man introduced himself. From his perspective, he was just a loyal scientist working for his homeland. Everything he'd done was justified by the war they were fighting.
As long as the war didn't end, even if the organization on this continent was wiped out, his homeland would just keep researching weapons to fight the Dragon's Descendants elsewhere.
"You can call me Kid," Liu A'dou said as he brushed the brim of his hat.
"Where are you and your companions from?" Clearly, Kid and the others weren't from the Warfire Continent. That place didn't have flying steel fortresses. Rimuto even thought if they had something like that, maybe they could actually win the war.
"We're from Earth."
Just like Eliza's report said—Earthlings. But where exactly was Earth? Rimuto had never heard of it. "Where is Earth?"
"At night, when you look up at the sky and see the countless Planets—Earth is among them," Liu A'dou said.
Of course, they wouldn't be able to see it. But that made it easier for Rimuto to understand.
"…"
The agents all looked at one another, unsure what to say. They got it—Earthlings came from the Planets. But how could people possibly live on Planets?
A'dou continued, "Actually, you're standing on a Planet too. It's just so huge that you think it's a continent."
"You mean every Planet is as big as the land we're on?" Rimuto Started to understand.
"You could say that, though not every Planet is habitable. Earth and the planet you're on—what we call 'Einstein Planet'—are among the rare few that can support life."
"Einstein Planet?" They had only ever called their land the Experimental Continent or Warfire Continent.
"That's right. That's what we call it. So you're Einstein Planet people, and we're Earthlings. We're both human, but since we're from different planets, we use different names—kind of like different countries having different names."
That much made sense.
Rimuto asked, "So what business brings you Earthlings here?"
"Just exploration. Of course, if necessary, we'll engage in friendly exchange with this planet's governing forces and share resources."
"Trade?" Rimuto hadn't expected them to cross galaxies just to do business.
"You could say that. But before trading, we want to understand what your planet has that we might need. We have no intention of upsetting the locals." Of course, that was just something Liu A'dou said. As far as he was concerned, the organization was already marked for elimination. He might look like a harmless man chatting politely with their leader, but in truth, he'd already signed their death warrant.
"I see." Rimuto thought to himself, 'I need to report this back to the homeland immediately.'
"Since we've reached an understanding, how about you clear out all the yoma stationed around our base? We'll just be conducting research there, nothing more."
"I can agree to that." Rimuto had already decided to first figure out the Earthlings' limits. If they turned out to be powerful, they'd trade. If not, they'd be captured and dissected. Who knows what kind of results would come from fusing them with flesh lumps?
"Thanks for understanding. Long live understanding!" Liu A'dou exaggerated the gesture.
"Would you need guards? You might not know this, but we've got things far worse than yoma here." Rimuto offered with a friendly tone. "Our organization's Claymores specialize in handling yoma. They could protect you."
Liu A'dou chuckled to himself. 'Weren't you just using yoma for control a moment ago? Now you're trotting out the Claymores like heroes. Shameless.' But seeing how naturally that old guy said it, he clearly didn't feel the least bit embarrassed.
"No need. I think we can take care of ourselves. Better leave the Claymores for someone who really needs them." Liu A'dou added, "Now that we've got a deal, I won't overstay my welcome. I've got another place to go, so if you don't mind, I'll be on my way."
The group of old men were stunned as Liu A'dou slowly lifted off the ground. Even the Claymores couldn't do that—Kid was flying.
"…"
Liu A'dou left in style, clearly used to showing off midair. He drifted calmly into the sunlight, then suddenly accelerated like a rocket—shooting past the castle, through the training grounds, and vanishing in an instant.
So fast! Galatea's senses couldn't keep up at all. For the first time, she thought Earthlings were kind of interesting.