"Where's Lily?" Konrad asked once they were all back on the road.
Or rather, in the comfort of the Schwertburg's carriage.
Never mind that the little ginger was there; it was clear to him that her soul was somewhere else. Gabrielle would keep an eye on the noble army's withdrawal as she answered.
"Earth," she said. "She'll bring Roach and Soap over soon."
"What the hell kind of name is Soap?!"
The angel chuckled, pulling the curtains closed before taking her place opposite him.
"Don't ask me. Lilith called 'em Ballsy and The Controller. But they had their own names."
That didn't answer his question.
"And who are they?" Konrad asked. "Wait—Ballsy? The guy with the steel balls?!"
He should've figured that out. Gabrielle nodded.
"Correct. And since he lived in the sewers, the other puppets called him Roach," she explained.
Which made a disgusting amount of sense, but—
"What about the other one? Controller? Soap?"
The angel sighed before explaining in detail how their encounter on Earth went.
"He died not that long ago in Kasserlane. His new vessel's only seven years old," she concluded after a few minutes. "But don't let that fool you, he's strong."
Konrad gulped.
"The guy who besieged our venue in the Underground Club?" he put the pieces together. "Then I guess he would've wiped the floor with us."
Gabrielle nodded, poking Lily's still unconscious body.
"Ours was a tough fight, too."
Was it all right to leave his first wife alone with them in that case?
The angel smirked, reading his mind without even hiding it.
"As soon as I enlightened them about Lucifer's game, Soap begged us to let him take revenge."
Well, that simplified things.
Konrad had enough problems as it was.
Meanwhile, the angel seemed more talkative than usual.
"Once we're back in Halaima, I'll set up a beacon, and the greater demon can teleport those two here. Then, she'll take over her usual vessel, don't you worry, Konny boy."
She poked at the ginger's face again, copying the way she talked.
Or, well, there was an attempt.
"A beacon?" Konrad asked, ignoring the rest. "Can't he use her own vessel to home in on it?"
Gabby shrugged.
"She could. But she wouldn't see where they'd end up," she explained. "That's why I'm here. To confirm the place, so we won't have to rescue them right away."
If that was a dig at him for how he handled their escape from Earth—
No, yeah. It had to be.
"And the plan is to gather all the puppets here now?"
He decided not to let her provoke him.
"Safer this way," the angel nodded, disappointed. "Earth is problematic because no mana. The heavens are unsafe until we banish that bastard from there. And Soap was from here anyway."
Konrad blinked.
"So all the puppets are from either here or Earth?"
Her response started with another shrug.
"Well, he's been in charge of your planet for a century now. It was only convenient."
"F-for a century?" he repeated, thinking of all the shit that went down since then.
Two world wars, plagues—
Wait.
"But didn't you say this world was taboo? And you were here to guard it, too. So how?"
The angel's face turned cold. Did he touch on a nerve?
She let out a long, annoyed sigh before answering.
"I don't know, okay?" she scoffed. "It drives me mad, but thank you for pointing it out."
Yep. Definitely a nerve.
And by the looks of it, she didn't like the taste of her own medicine, either.
"If I have to guess, it was easier for him to keep an eye on his puppets if they were all in one place. Or he'd pit them against each other to make things interesting. Why don't you ask him?!"
"I will," Konrad promised, his face turning serious, too. "Once we sealed him away for good."
But they'd need more reincarnates for that.
He was one. The Demon Lord was on his way. And the newcomers from Earth arrived at his temporary office the moment he set foot inside. Lily's limp body came to life right after.
And in case he weren't sure, her pouncing on him despite the circumstances was a clear sign.
"It's not fair, sweetheart," she started by accusing him. "Gabby told me you were super cool out there, and I missed it. Show me how you did it. No, let's go back in time, and—"
"No more time travel, please," Konrad pleaded, wrapping his arms around her waist.
She ignored the guests, although she brought them here, and sure, he would have, too.
If only his back weren't screaming in protest—
"Hey," Lily scolded him even as she got off. "Why didn't you tell me you were in pain?"
She missed no detail. Now. After she jumped.
"What happened?" the little ginger demanded as the kidnapped duo looked around in confusion. "Mana fatigue? Or did the heavenspawn's father do something nasty?!"
Konrad scoffed.
"You mean nastier than ordering a cavalry charge against women and children?"
But Lily didn't bite.
She'd cast healing on him, the familiar warmth washing over, but helping little with this pain.
"Midori-kun waited until you left," Konrad explained, pulling her hand away. "Then announced what his conditions were to help. One of them was to turn young again on my expense."
"That crafty son of a—" she seethed, but a sudden idea caught them both off guard.
"This healing," he asked, still holding her thin fingers. "You said once that you can't teach it to me. But if you were both Maple and Kaede—they did offer to help learn it at some point."
Lilith blushed. Not the response he expected.
"B-because I don't use the same spell I used to," she mumbled, not exactly convincing.
"Huh? But it feels the same," Konrad noted. "The same warmth, the same result—"
"Well, it is the same, but also not," Lily provided an explanation only she could. "Like, once I got more mana than I could ever spend, I, uh, kinda simplified my spells. Like, a lot."
Huh? That was her reasoning?
"Shouldn't that make it even easier to learn them?" he asked, confused.
The demoness was only humming and hemming.
"Um, yeah, but, like, it would be useless to you now," she claimed. "It takes me five hundred mana to heal a small bruise, but I can afford it. You could not."
"F-five hundred?!" Konrad repeated. "Holy smokes. So when you worked as the healer—"
How many injuries occurred during the tournament?
And even before that. When she had healed so many broken bones after his wargames.
He knew her mana pool was large, but that large?!
Wait.
"If it's still the same spell in principle, you could teach me its original form," he pointed out.
Only for her blushing to intensify.
"B-but I don't remember."
"You don't?" The mighty demoness was senile?!
Even if he didn't say the second half out loud, she still pouted a lot.
"When nine hundred years, you reach—look this good, you will not."
"What? You're not even—Was that a movie quote?!"
The only thing more confusing was her shit-eater grin.
"See?" Lily asked, but not from him. The angel. Hands on her hips, as if she had won. "This guy gets it. And you couldn't even guess my earlier one. Meaning you two will never be this close."
What an utter nonsense. Not that he could find a fault in her words.
But this meant no healing magic for him. Again.