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Three days later, Misery and Rain arrived back in the Cardinal World. The instant they stepped through the portal, both looked more irritated than exhausted. Their detour to the Underworld had been straightforward until they made the mistake of visiting Testarossa.
They had gone to her after meeting Carrera, hoping the White Primordial might have more information on their brother. Instead, Testarossa had laughed in their faces and casually mentioned that Haru had left the moment he sensed their presence.
Misery had practically started smoking from the ears.
"So he's actually avoiding us!" she snapped at the time.
And now, standing in Guy Crimson's throne room, she still hadn't cooled down.
Inside the castle were Guy, seated comfortably at his throne; Velzard the Frost Dragon, leaning back against a column with arms loosely crossed, having returned just moments earlier; and the Primordial Angel, Dino, sprawled lazily on a couch as if it belonged to him.
Dino lifted his head lazily when Misery and Rain entered. "That was really fast, you two. Less than a week."
Rain scoffed immediately. "You're still here, Dino? When are you planning on leaving?"
Dino sat up with a dramatic sigh. "Come on, Rain. I try to give you a warm welcome and you instantly become cold to me."
"We don't need a freeloaders welcome Dino," Rain replied sharply. "We just need you to leave."
Dino shrugged. "What about Velzard-sama? She's a freeloader too, but you never say anything about her."
Velzard didn't even look at him. "Do not involve me in whatever scuffle you are having, Dino." Then she turned to Guy. "Guy, did you have them run errands or something?"
Guy sat back leisurely, chin resting on his fist. "I gave them a task. I'm waiting for their childish scuffle to end so I can get a report."
"Oh," Velzard said lightly. "You didn't tell me anything."
"That's because you weren't here, Velzard."
"I suppose that's fair."
Misery cleared her throat, dragging the room's attention back. "We did manage to get some information on him, Guy-sama."
Guy waved a hand. "Oh? Go onâ"
But Velzard raised a hand and cut in. "Wait, Guy. I need some context first."
Guy exhaled through his nose. "You weren't here when it happened, but it seems an Eighth Primordial Demon was born."
Velzard blinked. "Oh. Is that even possible?"
"It doesn't matter whether it's possible," Guy said flatly. "The fact is that it happened."
Velzard's brows knit together as she thought it over. "No⊠something is wrong here. My brother never mentioned anything about creating an Eighth Primordial."
Rain crossed her arms. "Could it be that maybe Veldanava-sama created an Eighth Primordial Demon but just forgot about it?"
Misery stared at her like she'd sprouted horns. "Are you an idiot, Rain?"
"What? I think my question makes sense." Rain argued.
Velzard shook her head. "That's not possible. Whoever this new Primordial is, he was not created by my brother."
Guy's fingers tapped the arm of his throne, clearly growing impatient. "Now is not the time to try and make sense of the situation. Misery, Rain. The mission report please."
"Oh, right. Sorry, Guy-sama." Misery straightened. "We went to the Underworld as instructed and we learned that the new Primordial is titled Bordeaux, representing the color Maroon."
Dino raised a brow. "Oh? He's got his own color lineage. Doesn't that make him a real Primordial then?"
"There are still things that don't make sense," Velzard admitted. "But him having his own lineage definitely confirms him as a Primordial."
Guy leaned forward. "What else did you find?"
Misery continued, "So we found out he only recently became a Primordial, but he was a Greater Demon just three years ago. Also⊠for some reason, he was trained by Noir."
Dino sat up straighter. "Trained? By the Black Primordial?"
Guy chuckled softly. "I spent a lot of time around Diablo before I fully manifested in this world. I can very clearly imagine Diablo finding Bordeaux interesting and deciding to train him just to get a closer look."
Velzard nodded slowly. "Well⊠he is the strangest of all the Primordials. It's not exactly surprising."
Guy waved the topic aside. "All the other details don't matter. What I'm concerned about is his strength, and whether he will become a problem for the balance of the world."
Misery adjusted herself. "About that, Guy-sama⊠we weren't able to find Bordeaux himself." Her eye twitched. "Because he was actively avoiding us."
Rain nodded. "But according to Juane, all Bordeaux really does is look for anything interesting and investigate it⊠and he really, really likes a good fight."
Guy leaned back again. "So as long as he's distracted, he won't cause trouble."
"Correct," Misery said. "Also, Blanc told us that Bordeaux is extremely soft. At least around her."
Dino blinked. "Huh? A soft demon? What is up with this Bordeaux guy?"
Rain smirked. "Well, one thing that's up with him is that he isn't a freeloader like you."
Dino groaned. "Don't start again, Rainâ"
But Rain inhaled deeply and began chanting:
"Freeloader. Freeloader. Freeloader. Freeloader."
Dino slapped a palm over his face. "Stop saying it like that."
Velzard let out a soft laugh⊠and then joined in.
"Freeloader. Freeloader. Freeloader."
Dino stared at her, horrified. "Velzard-sama, you too could be classified as a freeloader!"
Rain and Velzard ignored him entirely, moving closer just to emphasize the chant in his face.
Misery simply sighed and turned to Guy. "Guy-sama, that's all we have to report. May I be excused?"
Guy nodded. "Alright you may leave. Good work."
Misery bowed once and proceeded to exit the thrown room.
Guy then shifted his gaze toward the window. Outside, snow drifted lazily across the skies.
"In the endâŠ" he murmured softly to no one, "Veldanava⊠what is it did you do?"