"So... any ideas?" Lyra asked.
"Wanna try killing soone early? Like... oh! Like Syriphis! If we kill the Demon Lord’s Royal Scientist, she’ll never turn Isobel Greaves into the Demon Queen. Then redith the Life Warden won’t die to her, and we’ll be able to work alongside her in the final battle!"
"We did that already. Run Eleven. We killed Syriphis, and the Demon Lord turned those demon triplet girls into Royal Scientists."
"Ah, right," I sighed, rembering just how badly that particular run had been. Sure, Isobel Greaves and her House of the Unblinking Eye weren’t a problem, but in exchange for that, we had to deal with three Royal Scientists instead of one.
I wish I could say our evening had been more interesting than tossing ideas back and forth, but... it hadn’t been. After I ca back with the food – a tray of spiced at, yeast rolls, and stead vegetables –I took a shower and changed into decent nightclothes before eating dinner with Lyra. From that point to right now, we’ve done nothing but consider what our next steps were regarding our little Demon Lord problem. As you could’ve probably guessed, we’ve long since tried everything we possibly could. Still: no stone unturned, right?
"We could just infiltrate the Demon Lord’s castle now? He won’t be ready for us."
Lyra considered for a mont, brightened, then deflated. "I don’t have enough mana gathered to send us back. If we failed, we’d be dead dead. No Clerics to revive us."
"Goddamn it..."
"Yeah. That would’ve been a fun one. Oh! What if we join our respective Orders? You join the Order of Paladins, and I join the Order of Sorcerers? That way we’ll be legally recognized as Paladin and Sorcerer!"
"And what does that bring?"
Lyra shrugged. "Connections, maybe? The hardest part of the battle with the Demon Lord is facing him with just the two of us. redith the Life Warden is a good third option, but if she doesn’t end up dying to Isobel Greaves, she ends up falling to the Life Warden inside of her. Maybe if we have status within the Orders, we could find more powerful adventurers to fight alongside us?"
"We don’t need anyone fighting alongside us. We’re a team – the two of us. Adding soone to our team would be a burden on us both."
Lyra didn’t say anything for a long while, which indicated to that she was serious about that particular point. I had a feeling I knew where she was going, and I wasn’t sure whether I liked it. Surely she wouldn’t suggest what I thought she would, would she?
Yes, she would.
"Lloyd," Lyra said. She’d turned away from the ceiling and was facing now. I t her eyes, unsurprised to find them a mix of apprehensive and resolved. "We’ve been doing this alone for the past 600 years. We... we aren’t enough. We need help. Maybe we don’t need a whole group, but at the very least, a few strong adventurers we can fight alongside and bring into the fold. We already have a repertoire with redith the Life Warden, so if we find her sowhere out there, we can invite her to join us. We can find a Cleric to be our healer, and maybe a Ranger to be our information gatherer. I don’t think that’s too–"
"What happened to us being a team?" I asked, cutting her off before she could get too far into her delusion. "That’s how it’s always been. From the orphanage to the Wastelands to the Demon Lord’s castle. It’s been the two of us. I don’t mind working with soone on a mission-to-mission basis, but joining us? That’s a step too far for ."
Lyra sat up and moved to the edge of her bed, crossing her eyes as she looked down at . "Listen, Lloyd. I understand what you an. We are a team. You are literally all I have in this world, and I know it’s the sa for you." She squeezed the sheets of her bed, looking away from with her lips pursed and brows furrowed. After a mont, she continued, her voice far more emotional than it’d just been. "But you have to face the facts, Lloyd! We haven’t won against the Demon Lord! We’re outnumbered and outgunned. Everything we’ve tried up to this point ends in loss! I promise, I’m trying my hardest to keep my head, but losing and watching all the people I’ve t and co to cherish die and be subjugated by a mad god is too much! Do you know how much it hurts sending us back this far with Ti Manipulation? I promise, I want to do this with you, but we... we just can’t! We aren’t enough! This goes beyond your pride and ego. If we lose, Aspia is gone! We can’t keep letting people die, Lloyd! We... we need help. I know you know that."
"...How long have you been thinking about that?"
Lyra looked away from , deflating a bit. "A few runs ago. The run we killed Syriphis early, actually. redith was a handful to travel with, but she saved my life so many tis that run. I missed having that safety net once she was gone, but I didn’t want to disappoint you."
She was right. About everything. As she often was. We needed more than just a third mber for our little group. We needed a team. The strongest force in Aspian history, not counting the Demon Lord and his forces, was the Aspian Quartet – a team of four hailing from Podros of all places. If we had a team like that, we’d likely defeat the Demon Lord in two or three runs after ironing out the kinks.
But doing that felt like admitting defeat. It was childish, I ultimately knew, but it was how I felt. Lyra was my first friend in the world. When no one wanted to adopt , Lyra was there as my companion. When we both "graduated" out of our orphanage, she fought alongside to beco adventurers. I saw the world, t all sorts of people, tried all sorts of things, experienced all that Aspia had to offer, and lived a full life in spite of my childhood. And Lyra had been there with every step of the way. She was my everything, and having soone co between that felt... wrong. What would happen to our bond? Would we spend less ti together? Would... would she get closer to soone else?
"This goes beyond your pride and ego!"
Lyra’s words echoed in my mind. I was terrified of losing Lyra, but I was even more scared of the Demon Lord destroying the Aspia that I loved. This was bigger than . It was. But still...
I stood from my bed, walked to the dresser, and pulled out so clothes decent enough to go outside in. Lyra watched do it, not saying a word until I finally spoke first.
"I’m gonna take a walk. I’ll have my answer for you in the morning. Get so rest."
Lyra sighed, nodding before lying back down in her bed. "Alright. Good night, Lloyd. Don’t venture off too far. Might run into monsters."
"I’m a 5-Star Adventurer. Monsters shouldn’t venture too far unless they wanna run into ."
She laughed softly. "Yeah, yeah. Just think about what I said, okay?"
"I will. Promise."
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