Lying on the grass, Yuki had reapplied her resistance to any and all attacks of Rara's kind, as well as reinforced them to the point where they should have no effect on her at all. She could have done so sooner, but she just had not felt a need to up to this point. She also thought her natural, biological immunity to poisons as well as her angelic immunity against mind control and similar effects would be sufficient for anything they may encounter.
While looking at the sky above, the setting sun shining past the parasol which had found little use ever since put together, she held Yamato's hand, their fingers entwined as they were lying next to each other.
"Hey, Yuki, I have somewhat of a crazy idea…"
"I love crazy ideas!"
"Yeah, I figured… Well, technically it's not crazy. But it seems spontaneous and impulsive. It's really not though."
"And what caused you to consider such an approach, to whatever this may be about~? Was it me~?"
"Yes, actually…"
"Oh… Really? That's a surprise… Well, go on, tell me! Because I still don't have a clue what I'm teasing you about right now."
"What would you think about taking over the Naru Empire tomorrow?"
"…And you say that's not at least a tiny bit spontaneous? And motivated by the impulse of avenging your wifeys pride~?"
"It's technically not spontaneous because I've been planning it for a while now, I'm just moving it up a bit on the priority list."
"Mhm~…? But why~?"
"You already said it, didn't you…"
Yuki paused, surprised that he would so openly admit to that. It resulted in her blushing and glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, to make sure he was still looking at the sky. Though she was able to otherwise keep a straight face, every time she blushed she felt as though she had to hide it, despite being certain that she must look impossibly cute.
"Ha… So you are holding a grudge because they disrespected me? As you should~!"
"Well, yeah… That feels like the normal thing to do, no? Cinderella has been acting weirdly focused on you ever since the first time I met her, while you were unconscious… And you told me yourself how much this Suzuki's behavior bothered you. I would even go as far and say I'm furious about it."
"A-are you now…? As you should…"
True love, and the desire to lock them up in a room together forever and throw the key out, so just true love, overcame her and shrouded her senses.
But in the end, it actually helped her realize that she had forgotten to tell Petrisha to do something before sending her off. But that was just the price she paid for her drunk-state. But since it was too late to get her back without putting more effort into it than doing it herself would take, she figured she might as well do it once they left.
With that put into the back of her mind, her blushing had calmed down a bit. So she would no longer look silly teasing him about the things he just admitted. She turned her head and cupped his face from the side, gently turning it to face her.
"But you don't seem all that furious to me… Won't you show me tomorrow, just how much you love and want to protect me~?"
New found confidence and composure gave her a teasing smirk, which crumbled shortly after Yamato put one arm around her shoulder and nudged her over to put her head on his chest as he began to pet it.
"Sure, boo… I will make sure you won't miss at least some parts. I will try making them extra special for you, even."
As she felt her forehead being kissed, she felt her blush returning tenfold. Hiding by pressing herself further into him, she felt really figured out. She could barely contain the excitement she felt at his words and promises. To think Cinderella wants to sabotage this relationship of pure love and perfection, she truly was enemy of all happiness, Yuki was certain. She promised to herself here and there, that tomorrow there would be one sin less on this world. Her dark spiraling eyes, filled with obsession and desire, though hidden from Yamato's, unexpectedly matching his own. Feeling quite strongly about Yuki right now, he coincidentally at that very moment made a promise to himself as well. That he would make sure all the heroes died, and Cinderella, whatever her exact relation to the elves and heroes, would die alongside the entire evlen empire. And what remained, would be absorbed by the Absolute Empire.
"Oh no, now they've really lost it… Maybe I can get this situation resolved with an apology!"
A tree spoke with a serious and concerned look on its face. Said tree, was secretly not a tree at all, but instead Natsumi, who had been practicing the art of listening to others conversations with good intent. Which was entirely different from eavesdropping or stalking in any way. She too had noticed the force trying to invade when they first attempted to teleport. However, she really only felt the need to take a look for herself after Yuki's broadcast, which in hindsight must have really disappointed all the troops which were motivated to fight alongside them. Why was she disguised as a tree, one might wonder. The answer was that she had concluded it to be the perfect disguise for anyone hiding in nature. Though this was an open field and not a forest, she was confident that her tree would pass as a lone and isolated tree that stood there all by itself. This trust was reinforced by the craft that went into the tree, as fell as all the camouflage magic she could muster. Getting the right size of tree for her to hollow out took quite a while. And every time she found a tree that fit, she broke it while trying to hollow it out. She of course planted new trees for each she destroyed. After obtaining the perfect one, she quickly moved into position while everyone was busy fighting each other. But it was all worth it, and now she had the information she needed, all that was left to do was for her to get away without raising any suspicion to the moving tree around fifteen meeters away from Yamato and Yuki. She made a careful test hop, causing the leaves to make much more noise than she anticipated, at which Yuki immediately snapped around and stared at the tree. Luckily, the hole to look through was on the opposite side that was turned away from them, which allowed her to remain unnoticed for a bit longer.
"Huh, boo did you see that tree moving just now?"
"What are you talking about? It just made some tree noises because of the wind. Or do you want me to turn around for some specific reason?"
"I'm not joking or teasing! I swear it just moved!"
"If it makes you feel any better, I will take a look."
"Hm…"
Yuki looked suspiciously at the tree, deciding on whether or not it was worth having him get up and disrupt their position or not.
Just as she was about to say whatever and go back to clinging to him, the tree fell over and rolled inconspicuously away.
"Uh… Must have been hit by something earlier… Explains the noise, I guess."
"You're buying that, boo!? It's obviously an evil tree plotting to stop us from our destined victory!"
"I'm not running after it…"
"Fine! Then I guess we'll just stay right here!"
Yuki shot a light projectile at the rolling tree, which caused an explosion upon impact evaporating the entirety of the tree, with not even a single leave surviving. She proceeded to make herself comfortable again. Natsumi remained unharmed, of course, but was shocked and sad about the loss of her disguise, which she had grown surprisingly attached to.
"Actually, we should head home soon…"
"Are you saying that because of the tree? I took care of it though!"
"I'm saying it because it's getting really late…"
"I suppose I'd rather keep doing nothing in bed than here too… Alright, off we go."
Teleporting herself, Yamato and the barely used chairs and parasol as well as the also barely used battle map away, Natsumi was left alone and able to climb out of the pit created by Yuki's attack. After straightening her clothes and roughly fixing her hair, she made her way to where she had tracked down the individual she had learned was called Cinderella. With such a beautiful name, surely all this was merely a misunderstanding. Though she did say some concerning things to Yuki earlier, but Natsumi of course gave everyone the benefit of the doubt.
Now having arrived in the elven capital, where her trail ended, Natsumi found the tree structure very impressive. This being the first time she had travelled here, she would have loved to look around a bit more, but since it was already late, she did not want to interrupt even later than she already was, and tomorrow could be too late due to Yamato and Yuki's plans.
While the teleportation trail could not be followed further than to just the general area of the city, a presence like Cinderella's was most certainly within Natsumi's abilities to track down from there. She located her in a tree structure far above any of the others. A large structure, palace like, if she had to guess, though she was unfamiliar with elven architecture specifically, since she originally never planned to interact with them in her retrieval mission of Yuki. But things obviously changed a lot since then. Standing on a balcony, wearing a purple nightgown with a glass of what appeared to be some sort of alcoholic drink, was Cinderella. Natsumi was not well educated on the topic of alcohol, since it was a sin in her eyes to consume any kind of drug, but she was unsurprised to find someone with the title of lust dealing with such substances. Flying in front of her, Cinderella just looked at her curiously in response. Staring st her wings first, then at the rest of her body, and eventually meeting Natsumi's eyes with a piercing gaze.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here… Aren't you a looker, reminding me of someone else I met today who'd also be quite the catch… But I don't think you and I met, and you don't seem to be an elf either… Eh, whatever. Wanna have some fun? I'm really in the mood when it's dark outside~…"
"N-no, thank you, I've come for something else!"
"Oh… Well, in that case, I can't say I'm interested…"
She flicked a knife at Natsumi, who easily caught it.
"Urgh… Are you gonna be difficult? Because I really don't like doing this after my night routine… I'm just taking a break from bed, y'know?"
"You seem tired… How come you need a break from resting then?"
"…I just like fresh air."
"Ah, that makes sense! Anyway, I'm not trying to fight you. I understand you have had a conflict with two specific people today?"
"I'm guessing you're a friend of Lust and Pride then, huh… I really would have appreciated if they came themselves though… If you went through the trouble of following me already, least I could do is offer drinks and… Company…"
"Don't… Don't make weird pauses like that! It's improper and suggestive."
"Oh no, you're right, my mistake…"
She said in a sarcastic voice, which completely went by Natsumi.
"Glad you think so! I was a bit worried there for a second."
"You're not the brightest girl, huh… Well, at least you got the looks."
"I-I will have you know, I'm pretty smart!"
"Aww, I'm sure you are, my little birdie~ Come down here and get some pats from mommy, will you?"
"No thank you, and you are talking a bit weird still, I must say…"
"Well, worth a try. What do you want again?"
"I want to set things right between everyone! How about we meet up and everyone apologize, and that way—"
"-What a wonderful idea! I'd love to meet up with my dear friends and partners! Just tell me a time and place!"
"Oh… well, that was easy. You're really easy to talk to, aside from everything that's weird about you!"
"Ah, honest little birdie…"
"Unfortunately, I don't have a time… But I'm sure now that you agreed, there won't be an attack tomorrow so their schedules should be free!"
"Attack, you say… You wouldn't happen to refer to that little war that these idiotic heroes apparently tried to start? On their own, I might add."
"I guess I am referring to that… They did that on their own? What exactly is your relationship to them anyway? You aren't an elf. So what are you doing here?"
"Mhm~… Let's just say I put this thing under new management. And the heroes are kinda what I ended up with, unfortunately… I'm still deciding on how to deal with them."
"Oh… I think I understand…? Anyway, this worked out great! See you soon, hopefully!"
"Yeah… Very soon~ My Yama-boy and beautiful snack…"