Xenovia and Irina still ended up calling Griselda.
After reporting the situation, the two girls originally thought they would be recalled immediately. Instead, Griselda told them to remain in Kuoh Town for the time being.
"Why?"
"Don't we need to return and report in person?"
Faced with their questions, Griselda let out a soft sigh.
"That isn't my decision. After I reported the outcome to Lady Gabriel, she issued this order."
"As for the reason, Lady Gabriel revealed to me that because of what happened, the Fallen Angels have already begun private negotiations with Heaven. There may be a high-level meeting in the near future. For now, the two of you are to stay in Kuoh Town. You may be assigned as guards when the time comes."
"Understood."
The two of them were just about to hang up when Griselda added one more thing.
"While you're in Kuoh Town, you must listen to Rod. Don't go causing trouble recklessly, understood? Rod, if they do anything out of line, discipline them for me."
Griselda did not sound particularly polite.
But it mostly came from an elder's perspective.
And the one she worried about most was Xenovia. Her disciple hated evil with a passion, but Kuoh Town was formal devil territory.
On top of that, the coming high-level meeting already sent a very special signal.
Griselda felt it was necessary to give Xenovia a warning.
Though, if it were up to her, she would still much rather recall them both.
After the call ended, Xenovia looked rather resentful.
Since Griselda had spoken, she had no reason to refuse.
"Although Lady Griselda said you could manage us, if you try to order me to do anything impure, I have the right to refuse."
Rod couldn't be bothered to respond. He simply decided that tonight they could sleep in the storage room. There was no need to specially prepare bedrooms for them.
....
Late that night
"You're seriously making us sleep in a place like this?"
"What's wrong with it? At least it's better than sleeping out in the open, and there's even bedding on the floor. Besides, if you hadn't suddenly said that to Rod earlier, we wouldn't be staying here in the first place, okay?"
Irina was taking it quite well.
At the very least, Rod hadn't thrown them out.
"…Fine. My fault."
Xenovia realized where the problem lay and decided that when she got up tomorrow morning, she would apologize to Rod.
But after waking up the next day and going to look for him, she discovered that he wasn't home.
"Where did Rod go?"
She looked at the sleepy-eyed blonde witch, Lavinia, standing in front of her.
"No idea. But it's probably the same as before. At most, he'll be back within the day."
Lavinia had made the connection after waking up and finding the person beside her missing.
After all, there had already been several occasions where Rod suddenly disappeared and then suddenly reappeared.
...
Time rewound to five minutes earlier.
Rod, already awake, received a call from Jeanne.
"Heey, little Rod, how does it feel hearing big sister's voice again after so long?"
The moment the call connected, Jeanne's deliberately affected voice came through the receiver.
"Feeling excited? Having all kinds of wild thoughts? Though, for a boy like you, it's only natural to be captivated by big sister."
"After all, with charm like mine, it's perfectly normal for little boys to fall head over heels."
"Rod, are you even listening to big sister?"
Only after she finished did Rod finally raise the phone to his ear.
"So, what do you want?"
"Still so cold. If you keep this up, big sister is going to get hurt, you know~~~"
"I'm hanging up."
"Eh? Wait, wait. So impatient. I was just joking."
Jeanne sighed helplessly and returned to normal.
"If I'm calling this late, then naturally I have a reason. And it concerns our Hero Faction's future plans and strategic direction. After all, you already know that our Hero Faction is devoted to protecting humanity, upholding justice, and striving to become a shared destiny community for all mankind~~~"
What followed was another long string of self-praise about the Hero Faction's righteous stance.
Together with Jeanne's suddenly passionate tone and the faint sense of leadership she carried even through the phone, Rod felt that if he hadn't already known what kind of group the Hero Faction really was, he might actually have been brainwashed into becoming some fanatical supporter.
"Hey, hey, little Rod, are you listening?"
"Get to the point."
"Alright, alright. Actually, there really is something I need to tell you this time."
Knowing Rod's patience was nearly gone, Jeanne finally stopped rambling and explained why she had called.
"Our Hero Faction has been recruiting outstanding heroes from all over the world as part of our expansion. But not long ago, an organization called 'Khaos Brigade' suddenly sent us an invitation, hoping that we would join them."
Khaos Brigade?
That organization ran through almost the entire main plot of the anime.
And rather than being founded by one single faction, it was more like several organizations came together and jointly formed a loosely cooperative institution.
More or less the same idea as NATO or the Warsaw Pact.
"Khaos Brigade? Sounds like some kind of terrorist organization."
Rod said.
"The name does sound like that, but it's not really a terrorist organization, Rod. Honestly, you shouldn't always assume the worst about everything."
"You even said our Hero Faction was basically a pyramid scheme."
Even through the phone, Rod could imagine Jeanne's helpless expression.
"So what exactly is going on?"
"It's like this. Our Hero Faction has always admired like-minded companions, so we decided to accept the Khaos Brigade's invitation and pay a visit to their headquarters. Hehe, Rod, what I'm about to tell you next… don't be scared…"
Hearing that, Rod didn't even need to think to know what was coming.
After all, the most memorable thing about Khaos Brigade was never the organization itself, but its nominal leader,
Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God.
"It's said that the leader of Khaos Brigade is the strongest being in the world today, Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God!"
After saying that, Jeanne fell silent, seemingly leaving time for Rod to react.
About fifteen seconds later, her voice came through again.
"Well? Pretty shocked, right? Honestly, when I first heard the news, I reacted about the same way you are now."
"But of course, we didn't just immediately believe Khaos Brigade could really pull something like that off. So Cao Cao sent several of us, including me, to visit their headquarters and take a look. And of course, I immediately thought of you. After all, you've been with us this long, but aside from me, you still haven't met any of the others."
"Of course, according to our earlier agreement, if you don't want to come, you don't have to."
As soon as she finished speaking, the system prompt appeared.
[Jeanne has issued you a new mission]
[Mission: Go to Khaos Brigade Headquarters]
[Objective: "Confirm Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God"][Reward: Jeanne Affection +20, Random Reward ×1]
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