Reunion
A few seconds later, we were standing in front of the core. It was strange to think that Cordelia was both the glowing orb sitting over there and the person standing next to me.
I picked up my gun, which was still lying on the floor.
"Millie, don't be afraid. I'm not planning on using it."
"Hmm?"
She tilted her head to the side in confusion, seeming unaware that I had a deadly weapon in my hand. Cordelia just scowled and looked away. The feeling that it really wasn't going to be easy to get used to dealing with these two kept increasing.
"Alright, Cordelia, did you already stop the attack?"
"Of course. Who do you think I am?"
"Right. Okay, let's head out. I need to check on Gilda."
It was still cold on the spaceship when we crossed the threshold between vessels, but the gravity was working again, and the lights were back on.
The mithril golem was just a big silvery splat on the floor at this point. Cordelia was looking at it but quickly looked away once she realized I'd seen her.
"Is that a friend of yours too?"
"As if a proud core like myself would accept a lowly golem as a friend."
Millie rolled her eyes and muttered something I couldn't hear.
As I went to check on Gilda, I made sure to keep Cordelia in front of me. Gilda was still tied to the couch. She hadn't regained consciousness yet. I kept an eye on Cordelia as I checked on Gilda's condition. She was breathing, and she felt warm enough. It seemed the damage was mostly repaired, so why wasn't she waking up?
Millie was looking around excitedly, even though there wasn't much to see since almost everything was kept in hidden wall panels. Cordelia just flopped down in one of the chairs with a huff.
"Hey, Millie, I'm going to wait for Gilda to wake up. We'll decide how to proceed once she is awake."
"Hmm?"
"You know, Gilda. This lady right here... she was badly injured. It looks like she's mostly healed up, but she hasn't regained consciousness yet. I'll need you to wait here until she can sign off on both of you being here. It's her spaceship, after all."
Millie looked at Gilda intently for a few moments.
"If you're worried about her, William, do you want me to take a look inside her mind?"
For some reason, Cordelia made a snorting noise that sounded scornful of Millie's question. She really was an expert at getting under my skin.
"Um... is that something you can actually do?"
Millie smiled, completely ignoring Cordelia.
"Silly boy, I'm a succubus. That's what we do."
The idea gave me some reason for hesitation. I really didn't know Millie very well, but I got the sense that she was utterly harmless. If anything, she seemed eager to help.
"Sure... I guess... as long as it's safe."
"Yay! I love meeting new people!"
Not quite sure how to take that, I decided to just back away as Millie came over and reached out her right hand toward Gilda's head. Before her fingers could touch, Millie faded away. I was a bit shaken but calmed down as soon as I saw Cordelia acting like this was all just a big annoyance.
"So, what's your problem, Cordelia? Do you not like the idea of Millie helping Gilda?"
Cordelia released a heavy sigh.
"No, you nitwit. None of this matters. We'll all be dead soon, anyway."
Somehow, I was almost used to her constant insults by this point. Choosing not to react, I focused on the content of what she'd said.
"The fighting is already over. Why would we be dying?"
"You really don't have two brain cells to rub together, do you? We're slaves to the Demon Lords. Do you get it now?"
My blood pressure was going through the roof. I didn't want to rise to every provocation, but I couldn't let this continue to go on.
"If you don't stop it with the insults, you'll be dying much sooner than the rest of us."
Her eyes got big for a second. I was beginning to think she wasn't even aware of what she was doing. As if this was the only way she knew how to communicate with others.
She cleared her throat.
"I'll try harder."
"Good... Now, it's true I don't know anything about your circumstances. So, why don't you explain?"
"We're slaves. We'll probably be ordered to fight you when the reinforcements arrive. Normally, my kind is almost indestructible. However, the Demon Lords figured out a way to kill us, and, having experienced it once, I know whatever your magic is could kill me as well. So, I'm dead either way... and when I go, so does the stupid harlot."
She was doing so well, right up to the end...
"Cordelia!"
She straightened her spine with an alarmed look.
"I-I mean Millie. Millie dies if I die. Our life-forces are tied together."
Talking about Millie dying put a sad look on Cordelia's face. Maybe Millie was right when she said Cordelia wasn't really an evil person... at least when it came to Millie.
"I think I understand. But why can't you just join us? If you agree to fight alongside us, I'm sure Gilda will agree to let you."
"No... you don't understand. We're slaves. We have slave crests that will kill us if we fight back or disobey. The only reason why we're alive right now is that they don't know we have surrendered yet."
"Okay. Fine, then just come with us then. I'm sure we'll be leaving as soon as Gilda wakes up."
She looked like she was really struggling to speak without insults.
"The slave crests allow them to track us. They know where we are, and they know we encountered you already. Somebody is coming soon, and they'll be able to track you too if we come with."
That wasn't something I had expected. Those slave crests seemed to be really troublesome. If Gilda was awake, I'm sure she would know what to do. I couldn't wait for that, though. It seemed like time was of the essence.
"Can I see this crest?"
She got a sour look on her face, but she got up and turned her back to me. Pulling her hair to the side and lowering the top of her dress, she showed me the back of her neck.
"You won't see the crest... It's made of pure mana. It can't be tampered with or removed, except by them."
Pure mana. Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't be able to see that. But I had just the skill for that. I activated my Aura Reading skill, and I could see the slave crest clearly. Cordelia's mana was a pink color, but the slave crest was a putrid looking green. It definitely looked nasty, but it didn't look like something too hard to figure out.
I stepped closer to her and was about to touch the crest.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Are you trying to get us both killed? Don't try anything... these can't be dealt with by anybody but the Demon Lords."
"It doesn't look that hard to me."
She turned slightly to look at me over her exposed shoulder. Her glare was intense, but after what felt like a long time scrutinizing me, she relented.
"You say it doesn't look that hard? Does that mean you can actually see it?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah... I can see mana."
"Haah... of course, you can. I should have expected that. Nothing is too ridiculous for my life now."
"So, do you want me to do something about this, or not? It seems like time is an issue here..."
She looked conflicted for a little bit.
"Fine... but I'm not responsible for whatever happens."
She had to make everything so needlessly complicated. It really didn't seem like such a big deal to me. The crest had writing that said: 'to register as the crest master put your thumb here and input mana.'. How hard could that be?
The only thing I wasn't sure about was whether I should synchronize my mana wavelength with her's, the crest's, or just leave it at my natural wavelength. I decided not to tell her that part. After thinking about it for a second, I figured it probably wanted to register my specific mana wavelength, so I didn't change anything. I put my right thumb on the crest, in the space provided, and let my mana flow into it.
The crest changed from the putrid green to the color of my mana. I also felt a weird connection in my mana, letting me know where Cordelia was. I assumed that meant I was the new controller of the crest now. The whole thing was really convenient and easy to use. These Demon Lords really knew how to make their stuff user friendly. There were even instructions for how to disable and remove the crest if I wanted to. However, I still didn't trust Cordelia yet, so I figured I'd let those sleeping dogs lie for now. Maybe later...
"Okay, it's all done."
She turned to give me a skeptical look. But she also must have felt the connection shift over to me because she just silently brought her dress back over her shoulders and let her hair fall.
Right around that time, Gilda started moving. So I went over to untie her. A few seconds later, Millie reappeared with a big dopey looking grin on her face and wiped her mouth for some reason. Gilda opened her eyes and, once she saw me leaning over her body, she got bright red.
Behind me, Cordelia was harassing Millie for some reason.
"Geez! Do you have to do that every time?"
"What? Gilda's a good girl. I just wanted to be friends."
"Haah..."
Meanwhile, Gilda was almost crimson now. She shoved me away and sat up.
"Hey! You were hurt really bad, Gilda. You should take it easy..."
"My body has recovered. You have no reason to worry."
She seemed intent on getting away from me, so I stepped back to give her some space. After a few seconds, she got her bearings and calmed down. Millie was humming to herself and looking around the room again. Gilda gave her a quick glance before turning to Cordelia and me.
"I have already met Millie. So you must be Cordelia. Do you intend to cooperate with us?"
"Why would a majestic core like myself be willing to..."
I slapped Cordelia on the back of her head before she could finish. She grabbed her head and glared at me.
"Manners, Cordelia. I'm done warning you."
She looked like she wanted to say something else, but she managed to just nod her head towards Gilda.
Gilda seemed to be shocked at our interaction. She looked me over for a second before Millie interrupted.
"Hey! Something seems different about you, Cordie!"
"Who's Cordie?! My name is Cordelia -- make sure you get it right, you halfwit."
That prompted another whack on the back of the head, followed by another glare at me. I heard Gilda sigh.
"Ow! Stop hitting me, you brute."
"Stop being such a mouthy bitch, and maybe I won't hit you... Cordie."
"Hehehe. See, it's a nice nickname. So anyway, as I said, you feel different... what happened?"
It took me a second to figure out what Millie was talking about, but Cordelia figured it out right away.
"Hah! I've left you behind! I no longer serve those foul Demon Lords. Now I will be the majestic ruler of the galaxy while you toil away in bondage to those cretins."
Millie looked at me. I just nodded. I saw Gilda out of the corner of my eye with a confused look on her face. However, Millie looked like she was going to cry.
"No... I don't want to be left behind!"
"Don't listen to her, Millie. I can take care of you too. Turn around and lower your dress so I can see the back of your neck."
"Okey dokey!"
Millie turned around and promptly dropped her dress right off her body and onto the floor. As she pulled her hair to the side, she gave me a sultry look over her shoulder.
"Like this?"
"Ah... yeah... that'll do."
I repeated the process, but this time I took the crest off her completely. Nobody else could see what I was doing, so I didn't expect any reaction.
"Hmm... that's weird."
"What's up? I've just removed your slave crest."
"Ah, that explains it. All of a sudden, I felt like I was free of a pressure I didn't even know I had on me."
Cordelia looked at me with her mouth hanging open.
"What is this! Why does the harlot get to be freed, and I don't?!"
I whacked her on the back of the head again.
"Ow! dammit!"
"Millie, put your clothes back on."
"Aww, do I have to?"
I glanced at Gilda. She seemed to have decided to just tune all of this out.
"Yes."
"Hey! Don't ignore me... tell me why she got freed, and I didn't."
"That's because you're so mean. Nice people get nice things."
I was looking for help from Gilda, but she just gave me a blank stare. I guess it was unfair to expect anything from her since she didn't know what was going on.
"The reason I left your slave crest on is I'm still not sure I can trust you. If you prove you're trustworthy, I'll remove yours too."
"Ha! See, I told you so. Nobody likes mean people."
Cordelia looked at me like she couldn't believe it. Maybe I should have just told her when I disabled hers, but I had no intentions of letting a means of keeping her under control go to waste.
I tried to ignore the bickering twins behind me and turned to Gilda.
"Cordelia tells me the Demons Lords should be sending reinforcements our way soon. We need to get out of here."
I think too much time alone made the twins a bit eccentric.
