Later
"..." Caelus awkwardly eyes both Grace and Betty as he's holding a document filled with information regarding the prototype, a crab-like robot with 4 legs, huge platforms on the top, and a mini screen displaying emojis on the lower part. Grace seems to be oblivious while looking at Betty, and Betty glares at the woman with so much hatred that Caelus swears that fire emits from her body.
"So, you're the partner from another company that Three Gates mentioned," Grace points out as Betty scowls.
"Indeed. What about it?" Betty asks in disdain.
"Oh, nothing," Grace says dismissively before focusing on her prototype, causing Betty's veins to pop.
"Geez, I've never seen someone as mad as her..." Caelus mutters.
"It seems that those two were used to go to a similar institute, but something happened that led to this...situation," Wise comments as they both watch the women interacting with each other; an air of hostility covers the entire construction site.
"I think it's more than something," Caelus sweatdrops.
"I bet a lot of bad things happened back then, till the woman believed enough is enough and just cut off their friendship," Belle comments.
"I doubt it can be considered friendship given Grace had no idea who she was or even remembered anything," Fairy adds. "According to my calculation, there's a 98.37% chance that it was jealousy. Grace was a model student, and this Betty feels like she was her second. Trying to catch up to her but failed, and to make it worse, Grace didn't bother to acknowledge her at all. From how badly she reacted, she might be a classmate, a roommate, or worse, both."
"Since when are you an expert at this?" Belle asks incredulously.
"Since I learned from my fellow companion beyond the stars. I expand my knowledge of humanity by going through the server, including Interknot," Fairy says with pride.
"Is that why our electric bills suddenly rise?!! We almost got into debt because of you!" Belle exclaims in anger.
"You know I could hear you all!" Betty, having lost all of her temper thanks to Grace and their conversations, snaps at them as Caelus, Wise, and Eous stiffen in fear.
"Hey, you don't get to talk to my baby-making partner, a beautiful child, and his father like that!" Grace exclaims as she stops working on her prototype.
"Huh!?! Wuh, huh!?!" Betty never looked so confused in her life. Did she call someone a partner!?! This cold-blooded Iron Witch who didn't bother to care about anyone back in the Institute except for her machine!? And what does she mean by 'baby-making'!??! Did Grace think about anything else besides the machine!?!
And somehow, that 'anything else' is sex of all things!?!? The thought alone makes her face bright red.
"Grace, how many times do I need to tell you about context!?! Or did you forget that PubSec misunderstood the entire thing!?!" Caelus groans in exasperation as Wise sweatdrops. "Grace was hoping I could be her partner in making more machines...."
"...right, this witch loves to call her machines 'child' or, in this case, 'babies'..." Betty mutters, looking away to hide her blushing face.
"I...don't think calling me Eous' father is right since he was made by someone else and has already been with us since childhood," Wise mutters as Eous scratches his cheek, but Grace doesn't seem to care at all.
"Also, why is he a partner? You sound like he's your equal," Betty asks while hoping that wasn't the case. She has studied at Roose Institute alongside Grace for years, but the woman had never even acknowledged her even once. There's no way a random person she didn't even know could even catch this witch's attention.
"Actually, calling him my equal isn't right," Betty feels like she imagines things, but she hears a loud record scratch in her mind. "Calling him master is the right word! Right, thanks for pointing it out! Baby-making master, could you help me with this prototype?"
"WHY!!!??!" Caelus screams in dismay as the construction workers cover their mouths to stifle their laughter while Wise pats his back sympathetically. Eous and Belle laugh their asses off, once again sounding like a pack of dying hyenas.
"...you're telling me this guy is much better than you?" Betty asks in disbelief as she points at Caelus, who dramatically wails at the ground.
"Oh, definitely!" Grace says without hesitation or even an ounce of shame. "He made something so beautiful that I feel like I saw the door to paradise opening right before my eyes."
"..." Betty didn't say a word; her face made a strange expression. She looked like she had heard Grace had invented shits since high school, and this random dude graced her with a handmade gold.
Scratch that; that sounds like what Grace had said.
"You don't believe me, do you?" Grace asks before she pulls out a drone, seemingly out of nowhere. Caelus notices this and immediately checks before widening his eyes in disbelief, wondering how she even got her hands on it. "Check it out, one of his babies!"
"...I don't see anything special about it." Betty frowns, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. This is all it took to impress the Cold Iron Witch? A mere drone?
"Come on, take a look closer!" Grace exclaims before opening one part of the drone and revealing the core. Betty widened her eyes in shock as she saw the dark blue energy core flowing at the center, unlike the normal Ether energy.
Not only that, but she was also able to see a glimpse of the internal circuit thanks to the light emitted from the core. It was just a glimpse, and yet, she could see the complexity of the circuitry.
Before she could even take a deeper look, the drone flew off Grace's hand and into Caelus's as he stored the drone immediately. Grace pouts as she approaches him while Betty stares at him with an unknown expression.
"Come on, master. Please let me take a look," Grace begs.
"Please stop calling me master, and no," Caelus deadpans.
"Pretty please, with a cherry on top?" Grace begs again.
"Who even says those in this day and age!?!"
Betty stares at Grace, trying to wrestle Caelus so she could take the drone while Caelus pushes her away with one hand. Betty wonders what is going on right now. Since when has Grace called anyone partner/master? Who is this random dude with an impressive engineering skills?! Where did he come from, and why has no company tried to hire this man!?! Do they even know if this man exists?
Should she try to hire this man? Did Grace know about this and decide to be nice to him so he could join Belobog?!?!
Oh, hell no! Forget about the Three Gate Corps. Getting that man to be her co-workers will definitely help, and he'll even help her humiliate Grace and Belobog, even if it's unintentionally.
"Come on, master! Let's test my baby in the Hollow, and you'll see how amazing it is!" Grace exclaims as she drags the poor grey-haired man into the top of the prototype before driving it away. Betty snaps out of her thought as she watches Grace leave with Caelus in stunned silence.
"H-hey, wait a minute! Don't just leave yet! Grace, you damn witch, don't take the man away without consent!" Betty exclaims in annoyance as she chases after them. Wise and Eous watch in silence as they look at each other.
"...remind me why I'm even called here?" Wise asks in confusion. Then, Grace returns and scoops up Wise and Eous into the top of the prototype machine before driving away, ignoring Betty chasing and screaming at her.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One Ride Later
Lemnian Companion Hollow
"Hah....hah..." Betty looks completely exhausted, holding her knees as she pants heavily and her entire body shakes like a leaf in a storm.
"Geez, are you okay?" Grace asks in concern, looking oblivious to why Betty looks exhausted.
"What do you think?!" Betty doesn't have any energy left to snap at Grace, who doesn't even realize what she did wrong.
"...when did my life feel like one of the anime Belle watches?" Wise comments tiredly.
"Why do you make it sound like my anime is bad!?!" Belle asks indignantly.
"Your 'taste' in TV shows is rather...questionable, if I do say so myself." Fairy remarks.
"Oh, screw you!" Belle snaps at the AI.
"Reality is often stranger than fiction," Caelus says wisely.
"I'd rather not hear that from you of all people," Wise says in a tired voice.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Caelus asks in confusion.
"My life gets stranger the moment you appear on Sixth Street," Wise answers.
"...with how crazy Hollow is, I bet even if I never met you, your life will get stranger," Caelus mutters.
"I very much doubt it," Wise says while shaking his head.
"...did you even realize you jinxed yourself?" Caelus asks as Wise freezes. His mind starts screaming out of panic, but his expression turns blank.
"...I blame you for this," Wise says blankly.
"Oh, sure, blame me for everything," Caelus deadpans.
"Sorry to interrupt, guys," Grace says while appearing behind them, startling the two boys. "But the test run is about to begin, and I would like it if you guys could get off my baby."
"Right," Caelus says before picking Wise up by his collar and jumping off the prototype. Eous 'Enh-na' indignantly as he jumps off the prototype.
"Could you not do that?" Wise mutters as he fixes his collar.
"Sorry," Caelus apologizes as Grace starts controlling the prototype.
"Haha, my baby is taking its first step! Come on, do as mama says! Let's show your new daddy what you can do!" Grace exclaims as Caelus chokes.
"Can you NOT word it like that!?!" Caelus asks in exasperation. Wise had to cover his mouth to hide his laughter.
"I'm still getting used to Grace trying to flirt..." Betty mutters in disbelief.
"THAT'S flirting!?!" Caelus asks incredulously.
"Given how I know about her at Roose Institute, yes," Betty mutters before giving Caelus a look of pity.
"...please don't give me that look," Caelus groans in dismay.
"Well...I could help if you would try your chance at joining the company I worked in...." Betty says with a sly tone before pulling out a contract. Caelus stares at her in a deadpan manner.
"...woman, you're a sneaky little rat..." Caelus responds as Grace decides to intervene, blocking Betty from Caelus.
"Excuse me, I would appreciate it if you didn't try to distract my master from my baby's demonstration," Grace exclaims as Betty snorts.
"I see you still lack social skills to notice that he wants nothing to do with you. I am merely offering him a job with a huge salary." Betty responds as she crosses her arms.
"I don't need those to know he wants nothing to do with YOU. You didn't even know he existed until now." Grace retorts.
"Well, if you didn't hog him all for yourself, I would have found out about him earlier!" Betty exclaims as both women start glaring at each other. Both Wise and Caelus could see sparks coming out of their eyes.
"...I don't pity you," Wise says blankly while patting Caelus' shoulder.
"Screw you."
To be Continued