Cento let out a weary sigh as she watched Tre being led away by Ein and Zwei. At long last, the ordeal of tracking her down was over, and she could finally catch her breath.
She turned to speak with Cien, only to find her partner with a hand pressed to her chin, lost in thought.
"Cien? Is something wrong?"
"Well... it’s about the person who contacted us to tell us where Tre was. I really feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before..."
"The man from that couple? The woman was definitely an elf, but the man... his magic was strange. I couldn't quite place his race. He looked human enough, though."
Otherworlders possessed a unique magical signature. Those with the proper eyes to see—much like Kuromueina or Isis—could identify them the moment they met. However, it was difficult to make that connection unless one had actually interacted with an otherworlder in the past. While Cento and Sien had attended the Hero Festival, they had never spoken to a summoned human, and they had only ever seen the Hero from a great distance. Consequently, the possibility that the man was an otherworlder didn't immediately occur to them.
"Now that I think about it, Cento... Chrome-sama mentioned once that otherworlders have a very distinct magic power."
"Oh, I remember hearing that too. I haven’t really seen one up close, so I didn't think much of it... but if that's true, does it mean there’s a high chance he was from another world?"
"An otherworlder... A man with light brown hair... A magic crystal necklace... I know I've seen that somewhere... Wait... Oh! Ohhhhhh!?"
Cien’s eyes widened as the pieces clicked into place, and she let out a sudden, involuntary shriek.
"C-Cien!?"
"I—I remember now! That’s it! I only saw him once from a distance in the Sanctuary, so it didn't register right away!"
"Once in the Sanctuary... wait—no, no way... Ahhhhhh!?"
As she processed Sien’s panicked realization, Cento let out a scream of her own.
Both Cento and Sien were elite members of the Underworld King faction. Though they fell just short of the Six Kings' Executive-class, they were top-tier even among the Count-class demons. Together, they were formidable enough to hold their own against an Executive.
Naturally, they had participated in the battle in the Sanctuary two years ago as part of the Underworld King's forces. However, they were not personally acquainted with the man in question; they had only caught a fleeting glimpse of him from a vast distance across the battlefield.
"It was him... That was Miyama Kaito-sama..."
"Chrome-sama's lover... Oh, gods... Cien, what are we going to do?! We didn't even give him a proper greeting! Worse, we’ve actually caused him trouble!"
"C-Calm down, Cento! Right! We can contact him via Hummingbird and—"
"We can't! We had him register my magic power into his magic tool so he could call us, but we didn't register his magic wavelength on our end!"
They had hoped to use the Hummingbird system to apologize and offer a formal greeting, but ironically, they lacked the necessary data to initiate the call.
"Cien, can't you remember his wavelength? Anything?"
"I’m sorry, I can't. My head was so full of Tre and her nonsense that I wasn't paying attention."
"I’m trying to remember too, but the elf woman was the one who actually initiated the contact... No, it's no use. I was so focused on Tre that I didn't memorize it either."
For demons of their caliber, reading a magic wavelength was a simple task—provided they were actually making an effort to do so at the time.
"Should we... go look for him?"
"I think we have to. More than anything, I’m terrified that Tre might have done something incredibly rude to him."
"Cento... do you honestly believe for one second that she didn't do something rude?"
"...She definitely did. At the very least, she surely said something she shouldn't have."
They both knew Tre’s personality all too well. While they didn't suspect she had gone as far as asking him to "fall in love" with her, they were certain she had been her usual eccentric self.
With a silent, mutual nod, the two rushed back into the castle and hurried to the room where Tre was currently being disciplined by Ein and Zwei.
"Forgive us, Sister Ein, Sister Zwei! Cien and I have urgent business to attend to, so we’ll be heading out for a while!"
"We’re leaving Tre in your capable hands! If possible, it would be a huge help if you could scold her thoroughly for at least three hours!"
After shouting their departure and requesting an extension on the lecture for their sister—who they were certain had disgraced them in front of Kaito—the two bolted out of the castle in a frantic blur.
~Second Mission~
[Find Miyama Kaito]
Success Condition: Discover Kaito before he returns to the Human Realm. Failure Condition: Kaito returns to the Human Realm.
Note 1: Due to Kaito’s blessing from Shallow Vernal, he cannot be located via standard detection magic. (Note: If wide-area detection is attempted, the Transcendent Beautiful Girl Secom will notice immediately, meaning the mission can be completed via Alice.)
Note 2: Contact via Hummingbird is impossible because Kaito’s magic wavelength is unknown. (Note: This can be resolved by asking Ein or Zwei, but the cost will be tripling the length of Tre’s lecture.)
Serious-senpai: "...Actually, that 'cost' sounds like exactly what those two want. Why don't they just ask Ein or Zwei?"