"Your delivery has arrived, Miss Bronie. Here's the 'cargo' you requested."
Miss Imhotep placed a suspicious, constantly writhing sack on the table with a beaming smile. Bronya, the recipient, cautiously shut and locked the bar's main door, then drew the curtains. Once everything was secure, Bronie carefully untied the squirming sack—
Emerging from the sack was Miss Raven, who had been knocked unconscious by Imhotep's punch and then haphazardly bound with black rubber straps, rendering her completely immobile. She flopped on the floor like a dehydrated salted fish, the look in her eyes conveying a single, clear message to everyone present—
Guh... Kill me.
Bronie ripped the tape off Raven's mouth, then turned to grab a pair of scissors from the counter and cut away all the straps binding her. Freed, Raven sprang to her feet with a carp-like flip and resumed her tense standoff with the white-haired Valkyrie.
"You can't beat me. Give it up, World Serpent's little cadre... oh, wait, should I say 'Ms. Island Bomber'?"
Seeing Raven about to lunge again, Imhotep leaned against the bar, her teasing tone an attempt to dissuade her. Yet, it was hard to tell how much sincerity lay beneath her mockery. Unsurprisingly, the taunt "Ms. Island Bomber" struck a nerve, and Miss Raven once again lost her composure, charging at the white-haired girl.
She was instantly frozen into a Black Dodo popsicle, lying on the ground as hard as a rock.
"....I already told you. You can't beat me, and that's final. You, Natasha Cioara, who refused World Serpent's further modification to become a MANTIS, have no chance of defeating me. No, even if you had become a MANTIS... you probably still wouldn't stand a chance."
The frigid aura radiating from Imhotep made even Kiana, who had wisely retreated to a corner of the bar with Bronie to warm herself with her powers, sneeze involuntarily.
"Achoo! Imhotep, dial it down! This is a bar, not a walk-in freezer!"
Kiana cranked up the power of her makeshift fire, desperately seeking a bit more warmth.
"Ah... I forgot. White Blazing Cat, set the defrost mode for Ms. Island Bomber—"
Hearing this, Imhotep dispersed her icy aura. She crouched down and poked the rock-hard Raven lying on the floor. Hmm, still alive, just a bit stiff from the cold.
"Microwave or convection?"
Kiana, having warmed the room back to a normal temperature, leaned in to examine the completely frozen Raven. Thanks to World Serpent's body modifications, Ms. Island Bomber could still glare with her eyes at the two white-haired bastards wreaking havoc in her bar. Upon hearing Kiana's question, Miss Raven shot her a look that screamed, Holy shit, are you an idiot?
"...What exactly did you do during physics class?"
Imhotep, as if hearing the dumbest question imaginable, turned her head to stare at Kiana in disbelief.
"Uh, I haven't gotten to that part yet! I haven't learned it! And stop looking at me like I'm a moron, both of you!"
"Bronie would like to remind the very warm White Cat Hot Water Bottle Big Sister," Bronie piped up, "that microwaves heat food from the inside out. Mama Cioara is only frozen on the surface—so use light wave."
"If you're planning to eat roasted chicken, Kiana, then you can use microwave..."
Imhotep and Bronie both felt a headache coming on as they watched the suddenly clueless Kiana.
"Oh, oh, oh! I totally get it now!"
A warm, golden light emanated from Kiana's hands as she began to defrost Raven.
-
"Um, Ms. Island Bomber?"
Seeing Raven still sprawled on the floor even after being defrosted, Little Sun Furnace Kiana tried calling her name.
"It's Raven, or Natasha Cioara—no, wait, you damn Second Herrscher, you have the nerve to call me that?! You, of all people, are absolutely forbidden from using that name!"
The World Serpent executive, who had been lying on the floor in a state of utter despair, tried to correct Kiana's form of address. But as soon as she realized who was speaking, a fresh wave of nameless fury surged through her.
"My island! My villa! My life's work! It's all gone because of you! All of it!"
Cioara grabbed Kiana's shoulders and shook her violently, as if trying to shake the Herrscher Core right out of her so she could sell it to Headquarters for cash.
"Ahem, regarding that," Imhotep coughed, drawing Raven's attention back to her. "We've already made a massive donation to the orphans you've adopted. As it stands, your adopted daughter can now find another island at any time and rebuild a large villa for the children to live and study in."
"A donation?" Small Island Bomb Raven was still struggling to grasp the situation.
"Um... this white-haired big sister... is your name Imhotep?" Bronie looked at the wealthy woman on the scene for final confirmation.
"That's right. Just call me Imhotep."
"Okay, great—Raven's Bar just received an eight-figure Angel Fund donation, Mama Natasha Cioara."
"With a little dice manipulation, we can multiply this donation several times over. At that point, forget a small island—we might even be able to buy a whole Floating Island!"
Bronie nodded confidently.
"But... I don't know anything about investing!"
Ms. Island Bomber was tempted, but she immediately realized one of her own shortcomings.
"You don't, but maybe your adopted daughter does?"
Imhotep's gaze turned intriguing as she shifted her focus to Bronie.
"If I'm not mistaken... your adopted daughter carries a faint aura of the Sea of Quanta. Bronie, you're not from this world, are you? That's why you couldn't answer any of Ms. Island Bomber's questions when she took you to the police station—because back then, you barely understood this world at all."
Imhotep had exposed the true identity of the girl who looked strikingly similar to Bronya.
"Huh? The girl who looks exactly like Bronya is from another world?"
Kiana wore a look of astonishment, while Cioara, as Bronie's adoptive mother, also appeared utterly incredulous.
"Duh... Do you two really think there could be two people in the world who look exactly alike, aside from clones? Even identical twins have slight differences in their features."
Imhotep rolled her eyes.
"Yes, that's right. I am indeed from another World Bubble... Um... I guess you could call me a 'transmigrator'?"
With her identity revealed, the otherworldly Duckie frankly admitted who she was.