"It seems our negotiations went quite smoothly. That really is the best possible outcome, considering I may have more chances to deal with you again in the future. Wouldn't you agree, Ms. Minamiya...?"
Azazel spoke entirely at his own pace, completely failing to notice Natsuki Minamiya's slightly darkened expression. Or perhaps he had noticed and simply did not care.
"If possible, I hope I never have to deal with you again."
Natsuki Minamiya let out a deep breath, gathered the documents on the desk, and shot Azazel a rather disdainful glance. Then she used spatial teleportation to move all the documents in her hand away.
"Well, I feel the same way, but I also have a feeling we'll definitely run into each other again."
"Hmph. How unlucky. I wonder what kind of ability you used to convince the Gigafloat Management Corporation to let them go. Weren't you Fallen Angels supposedly so broke you could barely pay salaries anymore? Or was that just a rumor?"
With a cold laugh, she rose as if to leave, only to pause as if remembering something. Natsuki Minamiya looked at Azazel, who was sitting on the office sofa and leisurely drinking tea, then rested her crossed hands under her chin and silently stared at the Fallen Angel Governor General in front of her.
"Ah, no, that part isn't a rumor..."
Having his embarrassing situation brought up, Azazel's expression turned a little awkward, but he still answered honestly. After all, he was the one asking for a favor, and she had the right to know.
"The main reason is that Vali wasn't the only one arrested this time. People from other major factions were arrested too. Otherwise, with the Fallen Angels' current finances, we might genuinely not have been able to take Vali back."
"Hmph. So what you mean is, if I had only caught Vali this time, you wouldn't have come here to ransom him?"
Faced with Natsuki Minamiya's clearly mocking words, Azazel merely kept smiling.
"You're all birds of a feather..."
Muttering that under her breath, Natsuki Minamiya signed the document that had just been teleported into her hand, then sent it through space to Azazel.
"According to procedure, you may take Vali's group from the Calamity Group with you. However, because I had already issued the order to confine them in the Prison Barrier, it will probably take a while before you can take them away. You may visit them first, though."
Azazel picked up the visitation approval in front of him and glanced over it a few times. Then he smiled and looked at Natsuki Minamiya, who had raised a cup of black tea to sip from.
"The famous Prison Barrier. The deal made between the Witch of the Void and that Contract Demon, using herself as the key to an illusory prison stored in another dimension in exchange for tremendous power, correct?"
"There is no need for you to explain the origins of the Prison Barrier to me. The deal I made with the Contract Demon and the information surrounding it are not exactly top secret. Telling me this serves no purpose."
Natsuki Minamiya set down her black tea and looked calmly at Azazel as he spoke at length, cutting him off.
"That's true. I'm just curious about one thing..."
"Mm? Ask."
Natsuki Minamiya gave a small hum, not quite understanding what Azazel was trying to do. If he had come to take people away, then now that she had already agreed, why was he still asking so much?
"Although spending some time inside to reflect would be rather good for Vali and the others, according to the rules of Itogami Island's Prison Barrier, if you wanted to lock Vali's group inside, you should have notified us first. Choosing to throw them in directly like this..."
They were hard to kill, and hard to release. In situations like that, they would be confined in the Prison Barrier, the illusory prison in another space for which Natsuki Minamiya served as the key. But Natsuki Minamiya had not even asked first. She had simply rushed to lock them in the Prison Barrier, which was somewhat...
"They are terrorists from the Calamity Group. I was afraid they would cause trouble, so I wanted to put them in prison as soon as possible. Fallen Angel Governor General, do you have some objection to my decision?"
Natsuki Minamiya spoke in a low voice, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Azazel and stood up. Was her original intention not obvious enough? Why ask such a question? Why expose her so directly and embarrass her? What exactly was he trying to do?
If he had come here holding a grudge and looking for trouble, then she would not hesitate because of who he was. With her advanced spatial magic and the Guardian behind her, so what if he was the Fallen Angel Governor General? She would take him down all the same.
Just as the atmosphere between them began to grow heavy, Azazel smiled and voluntarily took a step back.
"No, I only wanted to remind Ms. Minamiya that Cao Cao's Hero Faction of the Calamity Group has some connection to Indra, the war god and Heavenly Emperor of Hindu mythology."
"The reason I was able to arrive so quickly is mainly because I happen to be on this island for business right now. That is why I got here so fast. But Cao Cao's side may not be the same. So if Ms. Minamiya intends to deal with them, you should do it quickly."
The crisis seemed to pass. The atmosphere that had felt ready to erupt into violence disappeared, and Natsuki Minamiya sat back down, continuing to sip her tea.
"This is an internal matter of the Island Guard. There is no need for Your Excellency the Governor General to worry. If there is nothing else, please leave. Of course, you may also go visit Vali of the Calamity Group first."
Natsuki Minamiya spoke irritably. Right now, she only wanted to get rid of the man in front of her as quickly as possible. As expected of a Fallen Angel, he really knew how to mess with people's heads.
"...Actually, there is one more question."
Azazel had been casually flipping through the incident report Natsuki Minamiya had handed him earlier, but his brow suddenly twitched, and the movement he had made to leave came to a stop.
"What question?"
Seeing Azazel's reaction, Natsuki Minamiya did not pay it much attention. She only glanced at him before looking away.
"The survivor mentioned in this incident report, Cid-kun, who unfortunately got dragged into the situation. He seems a little strange..."
Pointing to the survivor section of the report, Azazel keenly sensed that something was off.
"If I remember correctly, he had already shown quite a close relationship with Vali's group before this. Yet now he appears at the scene and claims he was merely an unlucky survivor who got dragged in. And you actually believe that?"
Natsuki Minamiya quietly listened to Azazel, then set down her teacup.
"He really was only unlucky enough to get dragged into it. The battle traces at the scene are enough to prove everything. Aside from Shadow, everyone who participated was arrested."
"Is that so? But this really is strange..."
Azazel spoke suspiciously. The curiosity he had immediately snuffed out after meeting Cid last time flared up again. After all, back then, Azazel had not noticed anything wrong. But given the peculiarities Cid was now showing, Azazel could not help wondering whether he had misjudged him.
"In that case, I'll go meet this..."
Before he could finish, golden chains pierced through the void in front of Azazel, cutting off what he was about to say next.
"Is that really necessary? I honestly just wanted to talk to him."
A drop of cold sweat slid down Azazel's forehead as he tried to explain. He truly had not expected the woman in front of him to suddenly make a move. It was not that he could not beat her, but her spatial magic was far too troublesome. If she set her sights on him, he could forget about leaving his base freely in the future.
Listening to Azazel's weak explanation, Natsuki Minamiya fell silent for a moment, then withdrew the chains.
"You may talk to him, but I will make one thing clear in advance. Cid is my student."
More chains shot out of the void, and Natsuki Minamiya's sharp gaze fixed straight on Azazel as she issued her warning.
"Of course. Our Grigori is a proper organization, after all."
"Pfft..."
Forgive Natsuki Minamiya for laughing rather unkindly. Hearing a Fallen Angel say that... True, the organization itself was proper, but whether everything inside it was proper was a different matter. Still, it did not matter. All she wanted was a promise from Azazel, to prevent Cid from being taken away directly.
Faced with Natsuki Minamiya's scorn, Azazel merely kept his composed smile. After all, as long as he did not act first, Natsuki Minamiya would not attack him as long as she remained rational.
"Remember what you said..."
After leaving him with those final words, Natsuki Minamiya voluntarily lifted the blockade formed by Laeding's chains, allowing Azazel to leave.
"Don't worry. My personal credibility as Azazel still has some value. An ordinary person isn't worth breaking my word over.
"As for now, I'll go see Vali first."
"That had better be true."
Watching Azazel leave, Natsuki Minamiya sat in her chair and let out a breath of relief. Making an enemy of the Fallen Angel Governor General still put quite a lot of pressure on her. She was confident she could win, but killing him would be difficult.
"Cid, you really know how to cause trouble for me."
Complaining under her breath, Natsuki Minamiya still stood up immediately. She wanted to get Cao Cao into the Prison Barrier before the next group from the Hindu Pantheon came to demand his release.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot Cid is still inside the Island Guard. Those two will definitely run into each other later... Astarte, sorry to trouble you, but go keep close watch over Cid. If that Fallen Angel Governor General from earlier dares to make a move, call me. I'll come immediately."
After thinking it over, Natsuki Minamiya still could not feel at ease with the Fallen Angels, a race whose reputation was not exactly good. She turned to the maid standing nearby, who had witnessed everything, and gave her an order.
...
On the street outside the Island Guard, Cid and a loli in a maid outfit leaned against the wall together, waiting for their fast food to be ready.
Because he still needed to confirm testimony with Asia, Ophis, and Lilith at the Island Guard, he could not leave for the time being. Since it was already noon, Cid applied for permission to go out and buy lunch.
As for the blue-haired maid loli beside him... Cid glanced at her blank, adorable appearance. He did not know what was going on either. The moment he said he wanted to go outside, she had suddenly appeared and followed him.
To be fair, it was not that she was so strong that Cid could sense her line of sight. The main reason was...
"Stare..."
Her presence was too obvious. She was following him from just one meter behind him. He could tell he was being tailed just by looking at her shadow.
"Hello. May I ask why you're following me?"
Unable to endure the strange looks from the people around them anymore, Cid directly walked to a less crowded spot nearby, sat down, and looked at the petite loli in front of him, who seemed somewhat familiar.
"?"
Seemingly surprised by this sudden turn of events, the petite loli looked around, pointed one finger at herself, and tilted her head.
"Who else do you think I'm talking to? The Island Guard shouldn't be so extravagant that they send someone to follow an ordinary person like me just because I came out to buy food, right?"
Cid complained bluntly. To be honest, if he had not been followed inside the Island Guard, he would have already found an alley and dealt with her by now.
"...Astarte received orders from Captain Minamiya to watch Cid and prevent anything from happening to Cid."
After thinking for a while, Astarte said this in a somewhat mechanical voice. Honestly, at that moment, Cid even suspected she might be some kind of robot.
"Astarte. That's your name, right? Wait. What did you say? What do you mean, prevent something from happening to me?"
After his urge to complain passed, Cid suddenly realized what Astarte meant and grew puzzled. What could possibly happen to an ordinary person like him?
"Sorry. Astarte does not know. But Captain Minamiya told Astarte to watch Cid. If Azazel tries to attack Cid, Astarte is to call Captain Minamiya..."
Azazel? The Fallen Angel Governor General? He wants to attack me?
Hearing Astarte's words, several doubts flashed through Cid's mind in just a few seconds, but in the end, they all turned into a single question.
"Have I met you somewhere before?"
Cid looked suspiciously at the blue-haired maid in front of him, tilted his head, and asked in confusion. He kept feeling a strange sense of familiarity from Astarte, as if he had seen her somewhere before.
As for Astarte's claim that Azazel might attack him, the other party had better pray that someone knew his movements at the time. Otherwise, Cid would not show mercy.
"Command received. Astarte will now search her memories... Search complete. Astarte has no memory of having met Cid. Astarte and Cid have never met."
Like a robot, Astarte closed her eyes after hearing Cid's question, then opened them a moment later and gave her answer.
"Eh?!"
This time, Cid was the one who was surprised. Although he used a deletion method for memories of people he might never meet again and for repeated memories, if someone left an impression on him, that meant the two sides had definitely interacted. In other words, he had deleted his memories of meeting her, while the other person's memories had not been deleted. Which meant...
"Was it just my imagination?"
Rubbing his chin, Cid decided to treat that impression as an illusion. Maybe he had deleted too many memories and mixed things up.
"Sir, your meal is ready."
"Oh, thanks."
While he was lost in thought, the meal Cid had ordered was finished. He went to the window and accepted the lunch handed to him, then looked back at the blue-haired maid behind him.
"Want one?"
He shook the food in his hand. Astarte merely looked at it a few times, then continued watching Cid.
"I'll take that as a yes. Boss, one more."
After Astarte's portion was ready, Cid handed it to her and walked out the door, heading toward the Island Guard. Behind him, the blue-haired maid looked at the food in her hands, hesitated for a few seconds, then continued following Cid.