"Wuu buzz wuu buzz!"
"A-Aglaea, stop headbutting me. I really can't take it anymore. When exactly will this symptom of yours get better?!"
"I-I don't know either buzz. Humanity loss. Doing this kind of thing is completely out of instinct buzz. I want to control it but I can't buzz!"
Aglaea was arching her body, constantly headbutting against Stelle like a cute little Earth Beast cub. While headbutting she kept making "wuu buzz wuu buzz" sounds.
If Anaxa saw this scene he would probably explode on the spot. No other reason——when the person you push away and the person you hate become one, no one's CPU can handle it.
"That's right buzz! Red soil. I have red soil on me buzz. As long as I eat enough red soil, the beast nature belonging to the Earth Beast will be satisfied and thus suppressed buzz!" Aglaea said shyly.
"You should have said so earlier." Stelle complained, then reached into Aglaea's pockets and started feeling around: "Red soil··· where is it?"
(Fumble fumble fumble)
Clang——!
A coffin fell out of Aglaea's pocket. The coffin wasn't big or small, just the right size to fit one Anaxa inside. It was even lined with an Earth Beast fur blanket. It looked extremely cozy.
"Eh? Why is there a coffin too? Isn't this too unlucky?" Stelle asked in surprise.
"Wuu buzz. This, this is··· right, it's my latest developed weapon buzz! It just happens to look like a coffin buzz! It's definitely not prepared to secretly knock Anaxagoras unconscious and then stuff him inside to make a fool of him buzz."
"Oh oh oh, so that's how it is."
Stelle fumbled around in the pockets again. Suddenly she pulled out a grass doll. The grass doll was covered in small needles. Unfortunately, before she could get a clear look at what the grass doll looked like, Aglaea snatched it away: "This is, this is a prop grass doll I use to test inventions. Nothing worth seeing."
"Oh oh oh. I thought this grass doll had Anaxa's name on it, hahaha."
Stelle fumbled around in Aglaea's pockets once more. This time she finally found a lunchbox. When she opened it, it was shockingly filled with a delicate red soil bento: red soil rice, red soil vegetables, red soil beast meat, red soil drink······
"Buzz buzz, wuu buzz! It's red soil! Red soil is the most delicious thing in this world!"
Aglaea's eyes immediately lit up. She began devouring it with great relish. In just a few minutes the entire lunchbox was completely cleaned out by her. The beast nature belonging to the Earth Beast was also satisfied and suppressed by the human side.
Aglaea (instant face change): "Peh! Red soil is really the worst tasting thing in this world. If it weren't for the side effect of the Coreflame, I would never touch such stupid food in my entire life!"
Stelle weakly said: "···But I just saw you eating it very happily though."
Aglaea glared at her: "How can that be the same? I was just influenced by the beast nature earlier."
"You've never eaten red soil. You don't know the texture of that stuff. It's fundamentally bitter and astringent, and it sticks to your teeth too. Only because there's a specialty restaurant in Okhema that sells red soil bento can I suffer a little less every time I eat red soil."
Stelle scratched her head: "Ah? There's even a restaurant that specializes in red soil cuisine? This target demographic······ could they all be humanoid Earth Beasts?"
Aglaea gave a cold laugh: "Who knows? Probably besides special cases like me, only someone like Anaxagoras would go, right? Heh. That guy likes Earth Beasts so much. Loving the house and its crow, it's fine if he likes eating red soil too."
The next second, Aglaea looked at Stelle again. Her gaze was terrifying: "Trailblazer, you won't tell anyone about what you just saw, right?"
Stelle nodded like a pecking chicken: "I won't. I won't. Absolutely not."
Only then did Aglaea nod in satisfaction: "Hmph. That's more like it. Let's go. Hurry up. We have to find Nikador before that idiot Anaxagoras does!"
"Just thinking about that guy finally arriving at the scene only to find the Coreflame has already been taken by us makes me want to laugh."
·····
Castrum Kremnos, Soul-Forging District.
Nikador sat cross-legged on an ancient altar. Suddenly, the war god's intuition brought Him a bad premonition——He felt as if He was suddenly being watched by countless gazes.
This feeling made Him very uneasy.
Nikador: {Titan language · Worry}
His worry was correct, because right outside the door of the Soul-Forging District, two figures had already arrived——they were Aglaea and Stelle.
Although a small incident had just occurred, everyone had witnessed the speed of Aglaea's super wheelchair earlier. With that ridiculous speed's blessing, she still arrived at Nikador's location one step ahead of Anaxa.
The mutual attraction between Coreflames told her that Nikador was right behind this door in front of them!
"Ahahahahaha——!"
Seeing this, Aglaea couldn't help but laugh loudly: "What an idiot, Anaxagoras. As expected, he still hasn't arrived. That's right too. How could a stupid brute who only knows how to solve problems with muscles compare to the sage of the Grove?"
"The inside of Castrum Kremnos is intricate and complex. That guy is probably already turning into a headless fly and starting to run around randomly by now. Unlike me, who researched the historical map data of Castrum Kremnos in advance and is still somewhat familiar with this place······"
——"You're laughing too early, Aglaea!"
At this moment, a furious shout suddenly rang out from the ceiling. Anaxa suddenly leaped down from above. The rope in his hands instantly wrapped around Aglaea's hands and feet: "You've fallen into a trap!"
Stelle beside them: ???
Teacher Anaxa, your entrance was way too sudden, wasn't it?
"Partner?"
Snowy also jumped down from the ceiling. He immediately distanced himself from the one gold and one green pair and came to Stelle's side, smiling: "We meet again. As expected, teaming up with you is still more reassuring. Teacher Anaxa gives people too much pressure."
Stelle asked blankly: "What happened? You guys arrived a long time ago?"
Snowy nodded and gestured with his chin toward Aglaea and Anaxa. "At times like this, we should just peacefully be the audience."
"······"
"···Heh. Aglaea, you have your day too!"
Anaxa looked down at Aglaea from above. There was a trace of mockery in his eyes: "Did you think only you would prepare in advance?"
"Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat. Before departing, I not only memorized the map of Castrum Kremnos, but also visited the Castrum Kremnos people in Okhema in advance and asked them for the convenient small paths in the city."
"So Snowy and I arrived here five minutes ago. But I knew that five minutes wasn't enough to finish off Nikador, so I simply ambushed you on this necessary path and appeared when you let your guard down······"
Anaxa raised the rope in his hand: "Just stay here obediently. I'll let you personally watch me finish off Nikador, you useless demigod."