Durandal offered a few more details, "That girl is incredibly lucky, but I'd say her actual ability is just average. I hadn't planned on actively seeking her out or recruiting her into Schicksal, but as fate would have it, we crossed paths in that situation, and I ended up bringing her back."
Elysia chuckled at this.
She reached out to smooth Durandal's hair and adjust her clothes—Honkai energy, unfortunately, doesn't come with a self-cleaning feature, so the golden-haired beauty, fresh from the explosion site, was looking more than a little disheveled.
"Well, her luck certainly is impressive. Before you got back, Eden and I were chatting in her room, and she mentioned meeting Pardo at the nursing home earlier today. It's a pity they didn't get to talk much before the girl bolted."
"Later, Eden asked Aponia for some information on her, and we decided we wanted to recruit her for the logistics department. I just didn't expect that before we could make a move, you—our fearless leader—would already have beaten us to the punch."
"Is that so?"
A faint smile touched Durandal's lips. "I suppose that must be her good fortune at work again. It seems Schicksal really is a decent place for her to find shelter."
"I think so, too. Alright, off you go to get cleaned up~♪"
Though Elysia urged Durandal to hit the shower, she was the first one to start undressing.
Durandal's eyes widened. "Was feeding you full this afternoon not enough?"
Elysia's movements paused at the remark, and she shot Durandal a sidelong glance. "I'm just checking to see if someone is playing tough! Don't let me find a single scratch or bruise on you later, or else... hmph~"
With that, Elysia stripped off her clothes, leaving Durandal with nothing but a perfect, jade-like back to admire.
Watching Elysia walk away, Durandal could only sigh, bend down to pick up the discarded garments, and follow her into the bathroom.
It was obvious: she clearly hadn't been "fed" enough yet.
After all, with a stripped-down Elysia standing right there, how could she possibly resist?
The straightforward Durandal was simply no match for such temptation.
While Durandal and Elysia were busy preparing for their bath, next door, Pardofelis—whom Eden had settled onto the bed—finally stirred to consciousness.
Before Pardo could even figure out her current situation, a gentle female voice drifted toward her: "Felis, are you awake?"
"Mew-ow!"
Waking up to a voice that sounded both strange and vaguely familiar, Pardo let out a startled, tremulous meow—an instinctive reaction she hadn't had since she was a tiny stray cat, digging for scraps and jumping at the slightest disturbance.
Eden couldn't help but laugh at the reaction. She pointed to her own nose and sighed, "Am I really that frightening? I'd like to think I have a bit more poise and grace than that."
Once Pardo fully cleared her head and recognized Eden as the young, beautiful, and wealthy woman she had met at the nursing home earlier, her heart settled.
She shook her head repeatedly, giving a sheepish laugh. "Of course not! Sister Eden isn't scary at all! I was just a bit groggy from waking up, that's all."
As she spoke, Pardo sat up. She recognized that she was in the only star-rated hotel in Sundown Alley; she used to follow stray cats there to scavenge for food when she was little.
"Sister Eden, how did I end up here?"
Pardo glanced around with slight unease, her hand pressing into the soft, springy mattress. She felt a lingering sense of unreality, as if she were trapped in a dream.
She had actually woken up in such a comfortable bed!
As if reading her thoughts, Eden felt a strange tug at her heartstrings, warmed by this somewhat over-familiar girl, and her voice softened further.
"Don't you remember what happened? It was the leader... well, her name is Durandal. She was the one who brought you back from the bar."
Eden provided a hint, and at the mention of the bar, the terrifying events of earlier finally rushed back to Pardo.
Just as Durandal had suspected, Pardo had been out on a routine "supply run." She visited that bar quite often, mostly because the place was up to no good, but it always had plenty of cash on hand.
She would swipe a portion of their ill-gotten gains to distribute to the folks in the slums and the sanatorium.
The people at the bar weren't oblivious to the thief, but they could never catch her.
Besides, the reputation of the "Robin Hood of Sundown Alley" had begun to spread—other thieves even operated under her banner, forming a loose, unofficial power base.
The drug dealers didn't want any trouble, so as long as Pardo didn't push things too far, they usually turned a blind eye.
But today, for some reason, the moment she slipped in, she was spotted by a few men clutching guns, as if they had been waiting for someone.
One of them didn't say a word; he just raised his weapon and fired.
She thought she was a goner. Her chest had felt like it was smashed by a massive weight—it was agonizing.
But the piercing wound she expected never came.
At the time, Pardo didn't have the luxury of thinking; she knew that if she didn't collapse and play dead, the next volley of bullets would finish her off.
She might not be that lucky a second time.
So, she lay there, wondering how long she had to pretend before she could make a break for it, when a massive blast rocked the bar nearby. After that, she lost consciousness.
When she woke up, she was already in Eden's bed.
"It seems the leader was right. As for why you weren't killed, take a look at the pouch you were wearing."
Eden had peeked at the pouch earlier before tucking it safely away.
Hearing this, Pardo quickly pulled the pouch from her chest and found a charred, smoking hole matching the one in her clothes. She opened it and shook out a coin with a bullet embedded directly into it.
"I can't believe... you saved me."
That coin had been a stroke of pure chance. After her frantic escape from the nursing home, she had run toward some vending machines out of habit. She'd looked down and spotted the coin—likely dropped by someone buying a drink earlier.
Usually, Pardo would take any coin she found and stash it in her piggy bank at home.
But she had been wandering the streets and hadn't made it home yet, so she had just shoved the coin into her chest pouch.
She never imagined that such an impulsive act would end up saving her life!
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL