"Guys! Bad news!" Helena cried as she ran up to the table her friends were eating breakfast at, "Roko's missing! He's been gone since last night!"
Kaguya and Momo looked up as Helena slammed down her chicken nuggets on the table, waited for a bit then turned back to their own meals.
"Okay." Kaguya replied.
"I'm sure he's fine." Momo added.
"Yeah, probably." Helena chuckled as she sat down on the table, "I am kinda worried though."
"Of what?"
"Of the plot dump he's going to lay down on us when he gets back." Helena laughed, "If he's gone for a day then he's gonna have one hell of a story to tell us to catch us up."
"That or handling the entire problem on his own." Momo nodded.
"I hope not." Helena frowned, "I didn't get to do much during the Archaeopteryx incident and I've been wanting to do some sniping."
"You did help us find the nest though." Momo noted.
"Yeah well, unless you want me to invade everyone's privacy with my eye spell, I don't know how useful that will be this time." Helena shrugged.
"Hm." Kaguya frowned, "Say, you haven't used that spell on US have you?"
"Kaguya." Helena said simply, "Come on. We're friends. You too, Momo."
"Okay." Momo nodded, "What about Corissa then?"
"Momo." Helena said simply, "Come on."
...
"Of course I have." Helena admitted.
"Is this becoming a book too?" Kaguya shook her head with a small smile.
"Are you kidding me? If I turned what I saw into a book, I'd have more money than the entire world and no where in said world to live safely."
"Speaking of Corissa, she still-"
"Yeah."
"She can be surprisingly bratty when she wants to huh?"
"Yeah, she hasn't left her room since we got here." Helena nodded, "She'll probably come out when Roko comes back depending on what the situation is."
"Think it's monsters?" Momo asked excitedly.
"It's always monsters." Kaguya sighed.
"We do see them quite often." Helena noted, "Like some kind of parasite infecting the world."
"Hmmm..." Momo thought aloud, "And yet we hadn't heard about them until recently. Wonder why?"
"Well, I'm from a distant land that wouldn't get told about things like this." Kaguya shrugged, "But even then we were attacked by similar forces. The real question is how countries like Momokami and Aporia never knew about them until now."
"Hmmmmmm..." Helena mused it over for a while, "I mean, I'm sure there are things my parents wouldn't tell me about until I became queen but this is kind of bigger than I expected."
"I dunno if my parents knew at all." Momo nodded, "We did bring one right through our front doors...surely if they knew they'd have blocked it."
"I mean, they are pretty sneaky from what we've seen." Kaguya admitted, "They have all sorts of crazy powers and adapt in weird and even crazier ways. I'd say we have to have some sort of defense against them prepared but I don't know how they're react to that if we did."
"Still, we have to at least tell people they exist right?" Momo frowned, "If we don't they'll just be left vulnerable."
"If it was one type of monster that'd be one thing." Helena sighed, "But there's like what, six different kind of species we've seen now? That's a lot of info to put out even in like a pamphlet. But yeah, some kind of info might help over the literal nothing we've seen."
"Hmmm...Let me mull over the pamphlet idea." Kaguya nodded, "I'll see if there's a way to compress the info enough to warrant creating them."
"Really? Way to go class prez." Helena smiled, "Though I guess you haven't been at school for long for a while now huh?"
"In a class of future rulers, student council and class rep jobs are just extra credit." Kaguya chuckled.
For a moment the girls sat there, having long since finished their breakfast.
"So do we go looking for Roko now?" Momo asked.
"Nah, we let him cook." Helena smiled.
Another long pause.
"...So what's for lunch then?" Momo asked.
More silence.
"Damn, I guess we should start looking around." Helena sighed.
"How about pizza?"
"Nah, we had pizza yesterday."
"Curry?"
"Nah, Corissa makes the best curry. If we wanted that, we can just get Corissa to make it for us."
"Steak?"
"Nah, I'm not in the mood."
"Burgers then?"
"I just said I'm not in the mood!"
"So we just cutting out all beef options for today?"
"No...I guess maybe if it's the right dish..."
"...So burgers then?"
"Nah, don't feel like it."
"This is hell." Roland remarked as he followed the princesses as they wandered around the town, looking for their next meal.
"Wanna pitch in, Roland?" Helena called.
"No!"
"Then shut up!"
"Gladly." Roland scoffed as he sipped his drink.
But before they could return to their lunch hunt, an explosion drew the princesses' attention and a ragged man began running through the streets, carrying a bunch of bottles with cloths plugging their opening.
"Stop right there, vandal!" the police called as they ran after the man.
Almost immediately, Momo disappeared and before they knew it, she had slammed the vandal's head into the ground, dropping his molotovs all over the ground as she detained him.
"Let me go!" The criminal cried out in panic, "I'm saving people here!"
"Oh yeah?" Momo said, unimpressed, "Explain then."
"You wouldn't understand!"
"Well there we go then." Momo chuckled, "Hello officers!"
"Hello!" One of the two officers greeted her warmly as they caught up to the culprit, "You're...a wandering warrior I suppose?"
"Yep." Momo smiled as she handed the man over, "What happened by the way?"
"This man just blew up a drinking fountain." One officer replied as he cuffed the criminal, "Thankfully, no one was hurt."
"A water fountain?" Helena said as she came over, "That's a weird thing to blow up of all things."
"Yeah, well, we'll get the details once we bring him in for questioning." The other policeman said as he finished securing the criminal, "Thanks for your help, civilian."
"Thanks for your work, officers." Momo saluted, "Though...I'm curious. You two seem pretty different."
"You think?" The two officers looked at each other with friendly smiles, "Usually it's the opposite. Since we're brothers and all."
"I can see the resemblance." Momo nodded, "But what about the clothes?"
"Clothes?" The two looked confused.
"That uniform is from Castoid City isn't it?" Momo pointed at the apprehending officer, "That's pretty far away."
"Oh uhhh..." The officers looked at each other, unsure of what to say.
"Is your brother visiting for the day?" Kaguya suggested with a smile.
"Y-Yes! He's just visiting for a bit!" The free officer nodded quickly, "Now, if you'll excuse us..."
Momo waved as the two officers walked off, carrying the criminal away.
…
"That was weird." Roland remarked.
"No kidding." Helena frowned.
"Why blow up a water fountain?" Roland mused, "That's suspicious."
"That's what you're focused on?" Helena smirked.
"What? It's a strange thing to do isn't it?!" Roland protested.
"It is but not as suspicious as what Momo pointed out." Kaguya mused.
"What? You said it yourself, his brother's just visiting right?" Roland frowned.
"Castoid City is several days away from this small town." Momo thought aloud, "Why would he be wearing his uniform so far from home?"
"It's gotta be a joint sting operation!" Roland declared, "A criminal escaped from Castroid to Seawood and he's cooperating with local police to catch him!"
"Maybe..." Momo said, "That doesn't explain everyone else though."
"Huh?"
Following Momo's example, Roland looked around and finally noticed the sheer amount of people walking around them. People wearing clothes from other cities and towns. Ornaments from other cultures. All walking around like normal.
"Suspicious." Momo muttered.
"Are tourists really that suspicious now?" Roland asked, confused.
"This many tourists is unusual." Helena remarked, "There's almost more tourists than locals."
"And there doesn't seem to be anything around that warrants such a huge tourist population." Kaguya added, "At least, I've never heard of Seawood as a famous vacation destination."
"Suspicious."
"Suspicious."
"Suspicious."
The three girls all nodded in agreement as they mulled over this recent event.
"...What about the water fountain?" Roland asked.
"What about the water fountain?" Helena frowned.
"It's weird."
"Yeah. And?"
"..."
"..."
"...So we fighting the police now or..."
"I dunno...we need to investigate more." Momo sighed.
"I swear we usually have someone to do that for us." Helena frowned.
"He's off investigating." Kaguya smiled.
"Oh yeah! Oh well. Might as well help out." Helena grinned.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Roland grumbled.
"Alright. Here's the first draft of the contract."
Olivia handed Roko a piece of paper that Roko took in his hand, glanced through it in a few seconds before replying, "Seems good."
"You barely looked it over!"
"I read fast." Roko replied as he returned to the book he was reading.
"Oh yeah? Turn the page already then." Olivia sneered.
"I'm digesting the information."
"Is that book more important than our literal contract?!"
"I trust you."
"...Let me rewrite the contract."
"What, are you feeling guilty about how exploitative it is now?"
"No, I'm gonna make it MORE exploitative!"
"Too late. Already signed it."
"Good. Here's page two."
"How many pages are there?"
"13."
"Does it really have to be this long?"
"Yes! Contracts are serious business!"
"If you say so."
"You're the one who asked for this contract. Can you at least pretend to care?"
"I'm reading it, what more do you want?"
"Oy vey." Olivia held her head in her hand.
"Gimmie the third page."
"Here."
"I dunno what you're worried about, our practice contract worked well, didn't it?"
"Yeah..." Olivia said as she turned to look around her, "A little...too well."
Around them was the destroyed remains of a nest. Bodies laid mangled and destroyed. Human bodies or at least, formerly human bodies. Earth upturned and dumped. A chapel crushed from the inside using outside forces. Beneath the surface carnage were the practice bodies. The monsters killed as a test. First deaths killed by the first steps of their experiments. Tendrils that once held their nest together laid limp between pieces of rubble as the earth itself broke them apart, rebelling against the attempt to cover them, flipping the attempt upside down. And on top of this mountain of tests was Roko, sitting on a salvaged table and chair. Single candle lit for visibility and the records he was reading laid aside on table for the time being as he finished reading the contract.
"How are you THIS powerful?" Olivia frowned as she turned back to him.
"You know I'm not."
"Yeah but like...even I couldn't output this kind of power by myself. So it HAS to be you but...you're...not actually capable of this are you?"
"I already said no, didn't I?"
"Then HOW?!"
"Why you asking me?"
"Because even if you don't have THE answer, you have AN answer."
"...I spent two years at Granreveria."
"...Is that it?"
"What more do you want?"
"Are you saying you studied with the elves and that's why you're so strong?"
"Basically."
"Unless you studied under the witch herself, I don't believe you could reach this level of power."
"I didn't and I haven't."
"You're saying you never mastered any new spells there?"
"Well there is one spell. But I don't really believe it's worth using at this point."
"So what WAS it?! Was it you, was it me?!"
"Does it really matter?"
"YES!"
"Is this for the contract?"
"...Maybe?"
Roko sighed, "It's both of us. You have a much more powerful ability to influence magic than you think. But your assembly of spells is poor. Sloppy. Think of it like this. If a spell was a drawing and we both tried to draw it, my pen doesn't have the ink to attempt it but your pen is full of ink but you just suck at drawing."
"Is that an insult?" Olivia grumbled.
"So together, I just borrow your hand and craft much more powerful spells with your abilities." Roko finished.
"...So I'm just bad at magic." Olivia sighed.
"On the contrary. Your pen being full of ink is an ability I cannot learn. You have so much potential, you just don't apply it properly. My drawings, my archeomancy can be taught. Learned. You're talented. You just need to learn magic instead of just feeling it all the time."
"..." Olivia fell silent. Unsure of how to take this explanation, "Are you saying I should learn from you then?"
"You can if you want. I'm not going to stop you."
With that, Roko finished the 13th page and fully signed the contract before tossing it on the table.
"Right then. Now we move onto the next stage of our plan."
"Your plan you mean." Olivia grumbled.
"Maybe. But first some preparations."
"What now? We gonna try and destroy that town now?"
"What? No. Why would we?"
"Then what do you want? This is the first spell we're casting with our contract properly in place so it better be good."
"I dunno if it's 'good' per say but..." Roko reached down and picked up a crown that had fallen from the pedestal it had been on, "Can you make this light up and blink?"
"...Seriously?"