Returning from the Pale Yellow Void, Ayaka lightly stretched before changing back into her maid clothes.
Leaving the room, she proceeded to walk down the hall and knock on Hilde's door.
"Come in."
Inside Hilde was yet again stuck with a pile of documents to go over.
Glancing up just to see Ayaka close the door behind her, she refocused on the documents.
"Where is she?"
"She is not in the specialized server nor in any other server we have ownership of."
Hilde let out a deep and stress filled sigh before speaking.
"Any possibility of being hacked?" Hilde scratched her head, messing up her hair.
"None."
"Then where The Fuck is she?" Hilde slammed her fist down on the table sending a few documents flying. "It's not like her mind just poofed the fuck away!"
"Her disappearance has similarities to only one other case. Mr. Procurro."
"I Know. And Vaeril has been stuck in the fucking Pod for years now, that son of a..."
Hilde spoke with with a saddened tone.
"We could call for Vivian the Oracle."
"Vivian? Is she recuperated?"
"Just recently. It did take her a while after finding out about Kumi's existance."
"Well, we did need a lot of information on her back then. Call her here then, tell her that we need crucial information, but little of it."
"I will call on her."
"On another note, was there anything strange in our servers?"
"Nothing. Just as Deadlock reported. Everything was completely normal."
"Damn it. Right, Ayaka, before you go get Vivian I need you here to help me with something."
Hilde bent down and grabbed a document from the floor.
Ayaka walked closer and picked up all the others while asking.
"And what would this important 'something' be?"
"A delegation from the West. The Savage Lands specifically. They'll arrive any moment now."
Ayaka, having picked up all the scattered documents from the floor, placed them all down back on the table before asking.
"Pardon?"
"The delegation. Didn't I mention it?"
"You have been busy with Kumi's mental disappearance for the past few days and have mentioned nothing besides it. This delegation from the Savage Lands is arriving today? Could you have not notified me earlier? At all?"
"I guess I didn't mention it. My mistake. Anyway I need your help with translation, I am not quite learned in The Language With No Name."
"There is a sudden delegation from the West and you don't even know The Archaic Tongue?"
"The message of their delegation was in Common but having you here for a smoother discussion just in case would be helpful. And you can slaughter them if needed."
"Then should I have someone else go and bring Vivian the Oracle here? Kumi's matter does require haste."
"No. Most of The Locks are spread thin right now and the fewer people know where and who Vivian is the better. The delegation won't take long. Just simple pleasantries and signing some contracts."
"I hope that after today you notify me earlier whenever-"
Before Ayaka could continue her complaint there was a knock on the door and a guard spoke.
"A Delegation from the West has arrived, Boss. Do we let them enter?"
"... You didn't even tell any of the guards?"
"Slipped the mind, with the bioweapon being MIA and all that. Let them in, bring them here."
Hilde answered Ayaka before yelling towards the door.
"Yes, Boss."
"You may be Brave and Intelligent but where is the Foresight? Is that not included in Intelligent? Or Communication?"
"As I said. I was busy. As we all were."
"Understood. I will not bring the topic up again." Ayaka let the topic go, taking the hint.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get this over with, I'm still worried as all the hells about Kumi."
A few moments later, two knocks on the door.
"Come in."
The door opened and the guard standing watch spoke.
"The Western Delegation led by princess Lythtara of the Savage Lands."
"Lyth'ara."
A muscular man with brown hair in a long braid and dark skin corrected the guards pronounciation before clicking his tongue and following the woman infront of him.
The guard closed the door and now in the room there were five people.
In the group of three from the Western Delegation was the brown haired man with ragged horns, a shorter woman with ankle length white hair covering her face, dark skin along with a horse tail and ears as well as a brown scarf.
Finally, there was Lyth'ara the princess of the Savage Lands. Shoulder-length black hair, strong physique and the traits of a Puma. Her claws and teeth were noticeably sharp.
The dark skinned man spoke first to Hilde.
"Grrak."
He growled in a low and respectful tone, fist to his chest.
"He gave his greetings, my lady."
Ayaka quickly translated.
"I can tell that." Hilde answered her before growling back "Grrak."
The man seemed slightly confused.
"Grr'rok?"
He questioned, looking towards Ayaka.
"He asks if you are a male, my lady."
Hilde immediately turns to Ayaka.
"What? What does he mean?"
"You spoke in the dialect of a man, my lady. Since you spoke in the male dialect he asked if you were one."
"No, no. No. Ughh. Just fix the communication issue and translate everything for me from now on."
"Understood, my lady."
Ayaka then turned back to the delegation and spoke with a fluent hiss.
The man grunts before growling back his response.
"Grr'rah, grr'roak."
"He says that he understands and apologizes, my lady."
"Great, well we still haven't heard from the other two. Extend my greetings and offer them to sit down already."
"Yes, my lady."
Before Ayaka could translate, Lyth'ara spoke up.
"Oh, please. No need to translate any further. I can understand the Common tongue." she then turned to her two companions and hissed a command "Ss'lah" before sitting down along with the two beside her.
"I was just wondering how well the Doorstep was learned in The Language With No Name. Please, take no offence."
Hilde sighed as she leaned back in her chair.
"No offence taken. Were you amused, your highness?"
"Oh, yes. Very. Your attendant is quite fluent. The oaf she spoke to just now sadly knows very little of the common tongue so he naturally spoke in Archaic the moment he walked in. It was not planned, really. I just couldn't help myself from watching the show."
"Right, right. Were you welcomed properly?"
"Not at all, seems that no one was expecting us. But I don't really care for the whole Golden Carpet routine. Let's get down to business now."
"Indeed. I would like to make this quick, today is the start of the Long Veil after all."
Hilde glanced out of the window toward the sun in the sky. If one looked very carefully and at the right time of day, they would see a ring of sorts surrounding the sun, spinning.
In a few moments, the ring would block out the rays of the sun and make artificial night fall on the lands for a week at most. This Rare Event was calles the Long Veil.
'Kumi sure is missing out on a lot while stuck in her pod. She better get the fuck out of there soon.'
"Indeed it is." Lyth'ara agreed as Hilde was snapped out of her thoughts.
"Ayaka you can head on out now. We won't be taking long."
Hilde dismissed Ayaka before motioning toward Lyth'ara.
"Currently the Savage Lands are in-"
The discussions began.
...
"Where in all the hells did that wall come from?!"
"There was a weird corner, the room wasn't quite 'rectangular' or 'square' unlike normal so it's understandable you didn't see it coming."
"YOU are the one that 'didn't see it coming' Kumi!"
"But! I reacted and dodged well. Only broke a few bones in my arm. And a rib or two."
"Yes! That's whatever. But you did all that IN SILENCE! While running BEHIND ME!"
"...So I couldn't quite get a good warning shout to reach you in time, yes, but is it truly my fault for not warning you or is it your fault for not being good enough to dodge out of the way at the last moment."
"You! You are at fault there!"
"It seems to me that you aren't trying to see this from my perspective, Vaeril."
"At least your 'perspective' wasn't used as Fresh Red Paint On The Wall !"
"You make a fair point. But I choose to ignore this point just as I am ignoring my involvement in your tragedy."
"Ughhhh!! Gods damn it, Kumi. We were so close to the third level~!"
"These things happen, Parky. Don't cry over the spilled cow."
"That 'Spilled Cow' was my damned Head Painting the Wall!"
"You seem to keep going back to that. Did a piece stay on the wall and you no longer have any new memories or ideas that you can formulate?"
"Oh, just shut the fuck up, Kumi."
"Swearing infront of children now. A new low Vaeril. A new low... I'm going to get some coffee."