Because Anton wasn't here and Phaga and Ellen couldn't coordinate, Grace ended up repairing Greta's legs all by herself—which was quite a hassle. Luckily, Ellen had only damaged the excavator's two legs—not all four, like what happened with the grappler last time—so Grace saved a lot of time.
"Phew—done!"
Grace wiped sweat from her brow. After more than an hour, she'd finally finished.
Clutching her growling stomach, she glanced up at the sky, then called back loudly, "Proxy, and the two from Victoria Housekeeping—why not head back and grab a quick meal?"
Phaga didn't much care about lunch, so he turned his head to look at Ellen.
Ellen nodded slightly and murmured, "I don't have many lollipops left. I'll just eat one for now."
"All right, then. Let's go see what the site stew tastes like."
Phaga gave a small nod and asked softly to Eous in his arms, "So, what about our master? What AC voltage does Bangboo prefer?"
"Ah, no need for that."
Eous scratched the back of his head and grinned. "When I lead you out of the Hollow I'll cut the power and put Eous on standby. Just call me when you're ready to head out."
Everyone nodded, and under Eous's guidance they started back. The return was faster than the trip in, and they didn't encounter a single Ethereal along the way.
Grace stepped out of the Hollow and, looking back, couldn't believe they'd come out so quickly without a fierce fight. Covering her mouth, she exclaimed:
"As expected of the Legendary Proxy — not a single fight! Next time I'll talk with Koleda and Big Ben; we should just set up a [Long-Term Agreement]! From now on, all major Hollow jobs go to Phaethon!"
"Oh, don't flatter me—you'll make me embarrassed!"
Eous fidgeted shyly. Grace's verbal promise of a [Long-Term Agreement] made the bell-shaped heart on Eous's back practically burst with joy.
Two sides connecting, long-term cooperation, no shepherd skimming a cut...
Woohoo! That means more dennies!
"Then..."
Eous looked up and smiled at Phaga. "My brother's almost finished with dinner. If anything comes up, contact me."
"Mm. Wishing Master a peaceful midday."
Phaga returned the smile; his eye beneath the monocle narrowed to a slit.
"Okay, remember to protect Eous for me."
With that, the bell fully severed the connection and Eous went completely limp. To save power, the bell also shut off Eous's power supply.
"Victoria Housekeeping will not let Master down."
Phaga murmured, then looked at Grace and asked quietly, "By the way, do you have a laptop at your site? I'd like to borrow it."
Grace blinked in confusion.
...
Not long after, Phaga and Ellen were back at the pickup they'd arrived in. Ellen took the driver's seat; Phaga sat passenger-side. He set Eous upright in the backseat and even buckled him in to keep him safe.
Ellen sighed at the sight. "You really..."
"What is it?"
"Nothing. Here—your boxed meal."
She handed Phaga a bowl from the boxed lunches she'd brought, ordered from Belobog Heavy Industries. He hadn't tried it yet.
"Thanks, but I've got business—I'll eat later."
Phaga politely declined, then opened the laptop borrowed from Belobog Heavy Industries and plugged in the USB drive Wise had given him. The surveillance footage he'd asked for was on it.
He opened the file, dragged the timeline, and squinted through the dense frames to find when their pickup appeared. Persistence paid off—he found it.
On the footage, their pickup was driving toward the camera. On the opposite lane, a small car sped past the camera, smashed cleanly through the guardrail, and launched into the air. If Phaga hadn't yanked the wheel then, it would have landed directly on top of their pickup.
"Huh!"
Phaga let out a small exclamation. Watching the clip in slow motion, something snapped into place.
"Something wrong?"
Ellen, hearing Phaga's reaction, leaned over; her tail wagged so hard it nearly smacked Phaga in the face.
"Hey, pay attention!" Phaga warned, flicking Ellen's tail away.
Ellen pouted, grabbed a mouthful of rice with her chopsticks and mumbled, "I still need to eat! I'm far from full… anyway, you've got room over there, hold me."
Phaga sighed and tucked her tail into his lap.
Ellen brightened and leaned closer, shoving a big piece of meat into her mouth. "So, what were you just watching?"
"Here."
Phaga set the mouse and pad on the shark-tail cushion and slid the footage left. He also pulled back the left seat buckle a bit to avoid hitting Ellen's waist.
"Look—"
He pointed at the small car's underside. "See? Before it hit us, the chassis was already on fire. We didn't notice in the panic."
Ellen's eyes widened. "This..."
"Murder—plain and simple!"
Phaga narrowed his eyes, replaying who Victoria Housekeeping might've angered. He dragged the timeline forward again and soon found what he was after, then dialed a number.
"Hello, Rina."
"Mm, Phaga? Sorry, it's a bit noisy—I'm trying to get Corin to take her medicine, but she won't drink it."
"Corin and Mr. Lycaon are awake?"
"Yes, they woke shortly after you left. The doctor says after some more recovery we can arrange discharge. But they refuse to eat what I make and won't take the medicine I prepared. So rude, after I took the trouble to brew it."
"Heh heh..."
Phaga felt a little awkward and forced a smile. "Maybe leave that to the doctors—they're professionals."
"By the way, Rina, I'll send you the plate number. Can you look into it?"
"Sure. I actually have two kids with me—Drusilla and Anastella."
"Huh?"
"You mean the two little Bangboos that always follow me? How could Phaga forget their names? They'd be so upset!"
"Right, we'd be so sad—we'd cry."
"Crying, crying."
Phaga could hear other faint voices in the background and smiled.
"Rina, say hi to those two cuties for me. I'll surprise them one day."
"Hehe, no need to go that far—" Rina laughed.
Voices in the background chimed in: "It's a treat!"
Shortly after, Rina's voice returned more softly.
"By the way, that's a fake plate, Phaga. I checked online—the vehicle with that fake plate was in an accident this morning. Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine..."
Phaga opened his mouth, but Ellen snatched the phone and glared at him.
"That car almost murdered us this morning." she blurted.
"Oh? So that's why you called out of the blue. Looks like we'll need to dig deeper into this."
"But one more thing, Phaga—don't be harsh on Ellen later!"
"Your matters are our matters. Members of Victoria Housekeeping can't let themselves be bullied."
"When things here are settled and Lord Lycaon and Little Corin are fully recovered, we'll fight our way back!"
"And you're not allowed to get bullied by outsiders without telling us!"