Chapter 94: Let Us Dance Once More

With Victoria Housekeeping

“Mmph! Mmph!!” A pink-haired girl, her face covered by the hood of her jacket, can be seen hanging from the arm of a soldier who picks her up, threatening to drop her.

“Wait, Captain, didn’t the employee ask us to bring her back and find out how much she leaked…?” One of the soldiers asks the one with the girl in his arms.

“Those bastards are already onto us, and we won’t get away if we’re stuck carrying this deadweight,” The soldier says coldly. “We were paid to do the job, and we’ve completed our primary task – There was no point in putting our lives on the line. We’ll just say she didn’t survive the Ether Corruption.”

“Mmmph! Mmmph!!” The girl desperately tries to hold onto the man, but he simply pulls her jacket collar tighter, causing her to grunt in pain.

“Sorry, but it’s your own fault for knowing too much…” The man says coldly before he lets her go, letting her plunge into the ground. The girl screams in fear as tears come out of her eyes, but thankfully she is saved as a white blur catches her before she crashes into the ground. The white blur turns out to be Lycaon, and his appearance surprises the soldiers.

“What!?!” The captain yells in surprise as his fellow rebel soldiers join in.

“Oh, no! They got the hostage!” Before any of them could do anything, some soldiers receive either a powerful blow on the back of their head or getting a shock therapy. The captain looks at his fallen soldiers and panics as he sees the rest of the Victorian Housekeeping.

“Damn it, leave the hostage! Everyone, retreat!” The captain yells as everyone rushes off. Rina watches them rush away towards the door while carrying an unconscious soldier.

“Should we pursue them, Sir Lycaon?” Rina asks as Lycaon shakes his head.

“No, saving Ms Rain and the airship is more important.” Lycaon says as Eous hops off Lycaon’s back and rips off the tape on Rain’s mouth.

“Rain, are you okay?” Wise asks in concern. “Don’t worry, you’re safe. We’re friends of Nicole; we’re here to save you.”

“Y-you’re here to save me?” The girl, Rain, asks in surprise before she shakes her head in panic. “Quick, we’ve got to get me to the rooftop! We’re running out of time; the court’s airship-!”

Before she could finish her sentence, they hear a loud explosion, followed by a loud tremor in the building. Lycaon uses his arms to shield both Eous and Rain, while Rina shields Corrin and Ellen.

“W-what was that?” Wise asks in surprise and concern.

“It seems that they have activated the explosion from above. I’m afraid this won’t be easy.” Lycaon says with a light scowl. Meanwhile, the Rebel soldiers can be seen walking through a pathway with the path behind them closed by Etheric minerals.

“Reporting in, Captain, the timed explosives have been detonated as planned. Hollow structural changes have been detected. The path to the rooftop is gone!” One of the soldiers says as the captain nods.

“Copy that,” The captain responds with a cocky smirk underneath his military helmet. “Hmph, they took the hostage back, but they can’t save the airship now.”

“Gah!” The soldiers were taken aback when one of them got knocked unconscious, with burns on their gear. They lifted their head, facing forward, and saw two people standing in front of them. One was a woman with white hair holding a sword, and another was a girl with red hair, sharp ears, a pair of ram horns, and a mechanical tail with a robot head at its tip,

“Hostage, huh? I shall add that to the list of your crimes,” The woman says coldly as she points her sword at them. “I suggest you all surrender, traitors. Or you’ll face even more consequences.”

“D-Defense Force!?! How did you all even get here!?” One of the rebel soldiers asks in shock.

“We don’t owe you any explanation,” The woman says as she lights up her sword.

“Wow…Soldier 11 seems very eager to fight, huh?” The girl says nervously.

“Focus, Orphie. We’re dealing with rebels right now,” The robot on the tail scolds the girl, causing her to shrink a bit.

“O-okay, Captain Magus.” The girl, Orphie, mutters before she grabs her tail and uses it like it’s a gun.

———————————————————————————————————————

With Cunning Hares

“E-everyone, how are things back there?” Qingyi asks as she tries to turn off the autopilot, but this time, it didn’t work. She tries to shake the steering wheel to keep it from moving towards the tower, but the autopilot system seems adamant about moving towards the Ballet Twin.

“It would be nice if you would STOP SPINNING THE DAMN AIRSHIP LIKE A GODDAMN ROLLER COASTER RIDE!!!” Nicole yells as she gets up; her hair is completely disheveled before slamming an incoming Ethereal in the head using her suitcase.

“G-god, I thought I would never get airsick, but here I am…” Billy moans as he covers the lower faceplate. From his back, an Ethereal tries to rush towards him, only for Billy to shot it right on its head, causing it to disintegrate.

“GET! OFF! OF! MY! SARDINE!!!!” Nekomiya yells as she swings her knives multiple times, shredding an Ethereal into tiny pieces before collapsing into the ground with a sigh of relief and opening the can with her blade. She watches the sardine while drooling before pouring it all into her mouth.

“Has anyone ever told you that’s just gross?” Anby asks blankly before slicing several Ethereals in half. Zhu Yuan blinks at the display of strength before lowering her gun.

“Damn, I want to have whatever W-Engine she’s using…” Zhu Yuan mutters quietly.

“Oh, screw you, Anby!” Nekomiya exclaims. “I never complained when you casually pick up any pickles falling off the ground whenever you eat your burger!”

“It was a waste of food,” Anby says blankly.

“That’s still more disgusting!” Nekomiya argues back.

“Okay…I do not need to know your lack of care towards your physical health…” Zhu Yuan says as she wisely steps back and adjusts her disheveled ponytail. Like Nicole, everyone looks like a complete mess since Qingyi tries her best to stop the airship by turning the airship left and right, shaking the entire ship and launching everyone left and right. Thankfully, all passengers were wearing seatbelts, or else they would be flying around along with the Cunning Hares and Zhu Yuan.

“Sorry about that. Whoever hacked the airship managed to keep me from shutting down the autopilot, and neither pilot possesses any memories of how to deal with hackers,” Qingyi says apologetically as she steers the controller to the left, keeping the ship moving in a loop.

“Is there no other way to deal with this situation?” Zhu Yuan asks.

“Unless any of you know how to counter a hacking attempt using a military-grade tool from far, far away, I doubt we could stop this,” Qingyi says grimly.

“W-well, we still have Phaethon on our side?” Billy says nervously.

“That reminds me, how could Phaethon help with our current situation? Does he have a trick to track down the hacker?” Qingyi asks in confusion.

“… From what I heard, he managed to track them down, who turns out to be a victim of kidnapping,” Anby explains blankly.

“And this person happens to be your friend?” Qingyi asks with a raised eyebrow. “I heard you told Phaethon to save your friend.”

“…” Anby didn’t say a word, but her silence confirmed everything.

“We won’t arrest her if what you’ve said is true, but she might be questioned by us for the investigations into this Exaltist cult,” Qingyi says.

“Look, I know a lot of things about Rain, and I know she isn’t a part of that crazy cult!” Nicole exclaims. “She prefers not to get into trouble with any authorities.”

“Even so, she might have useful information regarding them, given she’s their hostage,” Qingyi explains, causing the Cunning Hares to blink and process her words.

“…fair…”

——————————————————————————————————————–

WIth Victoria Housekeeping

“On one hand, I’m glad that there are people capable of steering the ship and stalling it as long as possible. But on the other hand, I am questioning Nicole’s decision to work with the PubSecs. Cunning Hares and PubSecs are like mice and cats,” Rain points out, earning a chuckle from Wise.

“Knowing them, they might get bribed by the PubSecs to help with them,” Wise comments. Currently, Rain is at Lycaon’s back while Eous is carried by Rina’s Bangboo. The group is rushing towards the rooftop as soon as possible.

“Still, I wasn’t expecting them to be on the side of the law…” Rain comments. “And I’m surprised that the PubSec didn’t do anything against them.”

“Being the one helping the Canvas Street alongside the hero did make the PubSec get off their back for a moment, and them doing an honest job for a while also helped,” Wise says as Rain nods.

“Yeah, imagine my surprise seeing them selling books like a normal stall owner….as normal as shoving boobs into their buyers, at least…” Rain sweatdrops. “I hear some people thinking it was porn, and boy, were they wrong…”

“You read them?” Wise asks in surprise.

“I enjoy a good story, and damn, As I’ve Written is easily the greatest fiction that was ever written,” Rain exclaims before shedding a tear. “I cried only at the first Cycle…”

“As I’ve Written?” Corrin asks curiously.

“I heard some of my classmates talking about it, but I never got the chance to read it,” Ellen comments. “To think the Cunning Hares are selling those books…”

“Hmm, how about after this, we visit them to buy the book, and we both read it together?” Rina suggests, earning a smile from Corrin and nods from the girls.

“Oh, dear…my suggestion: prepare a ton of tissues,” Wise says nervously.

“Is it really sad?” Corrin asks nervously.

“…sad is a heavy understatement,” Wise mutters.

“…heavy angst, got it,” Ellen mutters.

“Everyone, let us focus on the mission; then we could talk about the story,” Lycaon suggests before they arrive at the giant empty hall. Wise glances upward and notices the exit door at the top of the wall, flickering like a television with a bad signal.

“There’s the exit,” Wise exclaims, but suddenly the light starts flickering like before.

“Something’s wrong…” Lycaon comments before the light turns off. It was dark for a moment before suddenly they all heard a familiar song.

“Wait, isn’t this song…?” Wise mutters in worry before the light shines right in front of them and reveals the Ethereal from before. Everyone prepares to fight, but the Ethereal reveals something that shocks them.

It glitches before another set of arms appear and the Ethereal bend their back to the left side, revealing another Ethereal with similar appearance.

“There are two of them?” Lycaon asks in surprise. Wise takes a step back nervously.

“Is the story actually true? Those Ethereals are formerly the two sisters?” Wise asks nervously. “W-we’re running out of time.”

“Rest assured, Master Proxy,” Lycaon says reassuringly as he looks at his pocket watch and gives it to Wise. “For Victoria Housekeeping, it’s plenty of time.”

“Your wish is our command,” Rina says with a smile as Lycaon and her approaches the Ethereal, Ellen and Corrin follows suit. Lycaon takes the lead as he adjusts his gloves.

“Let’s go.” With a single command, the Victoria Housekeeping charge at the Ethereals, who retaliate by charging forward as well.

To be Continued