"Earlier when you were talking about me being an asset to your cause. Except you said 'our' cause instead. So who else is there?"
"Ah. That would be the previous Demon Lord and I. I believe they too were reborn. I do not know whose body they inhabit now, but we swore to defeat that accursed 'God' in this life together."
"...Right. And where did you learn that?"
Antenora tilted her head to the side in a gesture of confused inquiry.
"The bow you just did. That's not a traditional custom of the eastern tribes, is it?"
"No, it is not. Recall when I spoke of people like you being 'bringers of chaos.' It is from the previous Demon Lord that I learned that gesture of apology. He told me that it would come in handy one day, but I did not see how at the time. I still do not."
"Huh? Whaddya mean?"
"You have yet to accept my apology."
"Aaaah..." I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. "I mean, I thought that was a given. It'd be pretty spiteful of me not to after that display."
Antenora smiled. It was one of her bright and brimming smiles, not the usual—and very literal—lip service that she gave as a matter of courtesy.
"I thank you, Ryuuko."
"Yeah, uh, no prob. So tell me more about this previous Demon Lord. They were a Transmigrator, yeah?"
"Indeed they were. However, to simply 'tell you more' about them would take several days, if not weeks. Their story is lengthy, as is mine when intertwined with theirs. I would be glad to divulge such tales to you now that I've placed my trust in you, but unfortunately, we do not have the time."
"The hell d'you mean? We've got plenty—"
I was interrupted by Antenora gesturing toward the horizon. Even through the forest canopy, I could see that the first light of dawn had passed long since.
It was nearing the middle of the morning now, and the sun was already halfway above the treetops.
I clicked my tongue in annoyance. I'd been so absorbed in getting information out of Antenora and trying to figure out just why the hell she'd been bullshitting me that I didn't even notice how much time had passed.
"Lucrezia and Priya should be waking up by now. You mind packing our stuff up while I go wake them up?"
Antenora nodded and acquiesced to my request while I trudged off toward Priya's tent. There were still so many questions in my mind that were left unanswered, but that was something I'd just have to deal with for now.
Another day had already passed, and Aurelia was still being held by the Black Constellation. We didn't even have any idea what the hell they were doing to her.
Since she was Lucrezia's sister, I imagine they needed her for the ritual involving the offering vessel. That much was evident, seeing as they were united in Antenora's previous loops after Lucrezia had undergone the ritual I'd stopped this time.
But now that the Black Constellation had failed to affect Lucrezia with their wackass bullshit this time, I shuddered to think of what they'd be doing to Aurelia right now.
Perhaps it was more horrifying than whatever would've happened to Lucrezia, or perhaps they were just using her as bait since they couldn't proceed without the offering vessel.
I didn't know. Hell, I didn't even manage to ask Antenora what exactly the 'offering vessel' was. I had a feeling that it was important, but it just happened to slip my mind every time the opportunity to ask came up.
Next time, I'll make that shit clear. I need to know what I'm dealing with after all.
I arrived at the front of Priya's tent and undid the knot that shut the frontal flaps of her tent closed.
"Sleep well, Priya?" I asked after shaking her awake.
"Mmn... Lil' tired, buh it'll do." Priya let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes. Her freshly-awakened speech was quite cute and I felt my heart almost skip a beat.
Almost. It was a sign that I was at least improving.
I repeated the same process with Lucrezia, waking her up before helping her pack up her tent and other travel supplies. Honestly, I kind of admired her adaptivity.
As far as I knew, she never really complained about our living conditions even though she was a princess. It had only recently occurred to me that this was probably her first time ever traveling in such an uncouth fashion.
Before we set out, I pulled Priya to the side with me.
I was planning on using [Warrior's Trappings] in order to powerlevel myself during our rest stops and whenever we would encounter trash mobs on the road. During this time, my stats would be forced to the level of an average human for eight hours.
Although it wouldn't affect my skills, it meant that my ridiculously high constitution that I was using to tank through attacks would be completely gone. I'd be just as squishy as I was on Earth.
As a result, I asked Priya to look out for me and have my back. She promptly agreed, swearing that she'd protect me even if it cost her life.
It wasn't as if I disliked her conviction, but I sure as hell didn't want Priya sacrificing her life just because I was trying to get stronger.
I refrained from telling the others since I didn't want to bother Lucrezia with my bullshit. She was already worrying about her contributions and I didn't want the threat of my momentary weakness hanging over her head.
Worst case scenario, she would completely neglect her own training and focus on supporting me. While it would probably be touching, she'd gain nothing from helping me defeat trash mobs, especially when I didn't exactly need the help.
As for Antenora, she was still a massive question mark. Our recent conversations helped me understand her a lot more than before, but I still couldn't bring myself to fully trust her. Especially not when she could probably oneshot my bitchass while I had [Warrior's Trappings] activated.
I mean, I don't think she would, but she could and that was still a risk I wasn't willing to take.
Not only that, but Antenora had to keep an eye on Liandra, and I didn't want her dividing her attention between me and the librarian.
Bound or not, Liandra still posed quite the threat as a caster and I definitely didn't want her to pick up on the fact that something about me had changed.
In the end, Priya had been the only choice. She'd sworn her loyalty to me and looked out for me when it counted.
Even though I'd only known her briefly, I wanted to place my trust in her right now.
It was the only way I could get stronger.
We're coming for you, Aurelia. Just wait!