Magister Ausonius shouted an order, and then Legate Lucceius’s troops led Verrucosis away and into the city. He then walked over to Emperor Lucius and saluted.

Emperor Lucius nodded, and then Magister Ausonius went to demobilize the gathered legions. Emperor Lucius, meanwhile, walked over to Seero.

“Hello, Your Majesty Seero. I’m glad to see you in good health. And thank you for your assistance in this manner.”

“Greeting: Hello, Emperor Lucius. This unit is also pleased to see you were extracted successfully.”

Meanwhile, the Hero of Elteno was glancing around. His eyes finally landed on one of Seero’s group.

“Taog!”

Taog’s eyes widened.

“Mr. Niraemius?”

The Hero of Elteno rushed over and grabbed Taog by the shoulders.

“I’m glad to see you well, Taog. But please, tell me. Where is Ateia?! Is she safe?! Is she alright?!”

Taog sputtered at the sudden approach.

“Um, s-she’s fine. She’s at, well, it’s a bit hard to explain.”

He glanced at Seero, not sure whether he should tell Ateia’s father about the Primary Home Base.

“Query: Please identify the requesting unit. The unit appears to be acting aggressively but non-damaging towards friend Taog.”

The answer did not come from Taog, but from Ateia over the comms.

“Seero! That’s my dad! Please let me out!”

“Acknowledged.”

Since there were unaligned and even formerly hostile forces in the area, Seero withdrew into the airship before opening an entrance to the Primary Home Base. Ateia flew out of it and out of the airship.

“DAD!”

The Hero of Elteno spun around.

“Ateia!”

The two ran forward and embraced one another. Ateia began to sob.

Emperor Lucius made a wry smile and glanced around at everyone watching.

“Why don’t we give them a moment? We, ourselves, have much work to do.”

Everyone else began to clear out and move into Corvanus while Seero, Taog, and Agedia remained behind. Soon, Ateia let go of her father. She took a step back and glared at him.

“Where have you been all this time?!”

The Hero of Elteno blinked, and then frowned. He glanced over at Emperor Lucius and Appius as they were moving away. Appius just waved his hand dismissively.

“Go, talk with your kid. The Emperor should be in no danger now and honestly it's better for the negotiations for you to remain ‘the mysterious hero’ than an actual party. Besides, we’ll all be waiting for the Queen of the Dobhar anyways.”

The Hero of Elteno nodded and turned back towards Ateia.

“Let’s take this somewhere secure.”

Princess Caecila made her way towards Corvanus with the group when Emperor Lucius approached her.

“Daughter-in-law, I see you were successful.”

She turned, her eyes widening, and then attempted to salute.

“I greet the Emperor…”

She then gasped as Emperor Lucius hugged her.

“E-Emperor Lucius, w-what are you doing?”

He made a mischievous smile.

“You can call me Father-In-Law, you know?”

Princess Caecila’s eyes spun as she glanced around.

“I-I could never, i-it is not proper to address the Emperor as such in public!”

He let her go and chuckled.

“True, but I don’t care much at this point. Either I’m actually the Emperor and I can get away with it or I’m not really the Emperor and it doesn’t much matter.”Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

His face then turned serious.

“Besides…the Imperial Princess just risked her life on a dangerous mission to save the Empire and its people. She deserves to know how the Emperor feels about such valor.”

Princess Caecila flushed. Emperor Lucius chuckled again and then patted her shoulder.

“Now then, steel yourself. Our battle has only begun, and this time, we have a real chance. And that means we will need to put in a great deal of work to make use of it. Are you prepared to fight for the Empire again, Princess Caecila Galvisia Electus?”

Princess Caecila’s expression turned resolute as she narrowed her eyes.

“I always am.”

Seero, Ateia, Taog, Agedia, and the Hero of Elteno moved into a private room in the airship. The Hero of Elteno was about to start when Seero created an entrance to the Primary Home Base. She considered it acceptable to reveal classified intelligence given the Hero of Elteno’s designation as Ateia’s person of interest. Ateia had also requested it through the CELIU network, so that they could discuss her experiences openly and without fear of eavesdropping.

The Hero of Elteno immediately drew a knife and stepped in front of Ateia.

“Dad?!”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Queen of the Dobhar…what exactly is this…and what exactly are you? From what I can tell…that’s some sort of dungeon entrance…or a Rift.”

Seero’s robotic eye flickered as she calculated a response. On the one hand, the Hero of Elteno was obviously threatening hostile actions towards her. Under normal circumstances, she would activate combat protocols while warning the potential hostile that confirmed hostile intent would be met with immediate termination.

On the other hand, this was Ateia’s person of interest, and terminating him would result in Ateia failing her stated primary directive. Seero may have abandoned her own directive, but did not intend to cause friendly units to fail theirs.

“Analysis complete, response determined. Warning: Hostile intent towards this unit by a friendly’s person of interest will result in immediate application of non-lethal countermeasures.”

Her robotic eye turned red and she charged up her stun weapon, while also preparing some hopefully non-lethal magic circles.

But then Taog stepped in front of the Hero, blocking him from moving towards Seero, while Ateia struck his head.

“Ouch, Ateia, Taog, what are you both doing?”

Ateia scowled.

“What are we doing? What are you doing! Seero’s trying to help by giving us a place we can talk freely! And you’re threatening her!”

The Hero of Elteno narrowed his eyes.

“Ateia…that looks like a dungeon entrance. I haven’t heard of anyone opening dungeon entrances on the spot save for demon lords and cultists.”

Taog crossed his arms.

“That’s because Seero is a demon lord, technically speaking. But she’s also our friend, and we trust her.”

The Hero of Elteno gripped his weapon.

“That’s a mistake. She’s probably manipulating you.”

He began to tense up, preparing to move when suddenly Agedia’s tail smacked him on the head, knocking him unconscious. Ateia jumped, and shrieked lightly.

“Miss Agedia?!”

Agedia shrugged.

“The situation involving shiny girl is too complicated and out of the norm for someone to accept it just like that. You weren’t going to convince him, and he was getting ready to attack. Let’s tie him up and bring him inside, and then we’ll talk.”

And then she smirked.

“…I also can’t say I didn’t enjoy that.”

A short while later, the Hero of Elteno awoke. He was sitting on the ground inside the Primary Home Base, tied up with metal ropes, and surrounded by Barrier and Prison spells. Seero had the Equalizer up and running, and countless other magic circles in the air around them, ready to activate on a moment’s notice.

The Hero of Elteno froze, and took stock of the situation.

“I’d calm down if I were you.”

He spun his head towards Agedia, his eyes widening.

“Agedia?”

She scoffed.

“Took you long enough to notice I was here too.”

He winced…but he relaxed.

“I guess I don’t have a choice, then. And if you’re here…”

Agedia narrowed her eyes.

“You don’t. And you have no right to complain, either. So you best get to catching up, before you do something rash.”

He heaved a deep sigh at that. He glanced around until he found Ateia staring at him. He heaved another sigh.

“Ateia…just tell me this…are you alright?”

Ateia opened her mouth but then paused. Her face twisted through several expressions, and her eyes grew moist. Eventually, she glared at him.

“Am I alright? Am I alright?!”

She leaned forward and shouted.

“I HAVEN’T BEEN ALRIGHT SINCE YOU LEFT!”

The Hero of Elteno winced at that.

“Just where have you been?! You were gone for years, YEARS! Without so much as a single message to us! The villagers started beating Taog every week after you left! Quintus wouldn’t be seen with him in public! They very nearly denied us food and supplies when I spoke up about it! I had to act as if I liked those monsters just so we could survive, all the while stupid Lar was hitting on me as if I wouldn’t strangle him with my bare hands for what he was doing to Taog!”

The Hero of Elteno hung his head.

“I just…wanted to keep you safe.”

Ateia grit her teeth.

“Safe? SAFE?! What were you going to do about the Wulver and Dobhar incursions?! The mana waves and the dozens of new dungeons appearing in the forests around us?! And did you expect us just to sit there and hide until you came back when everyone else was convinced you were dead?! If we hadn’t met Seero, we would have died no matter what we did!”

The Hero of Elteno fell silent. Ateia was breathing heavily, then spoke in a quiet voice.

“Just…why didn’t you tell us? If we understood…if we at least knew why…but we didn’t. And then that stupid cult found me anyways and…”

Ateia’s eyes watered again…and then opened in surprise.

Metallic arms wrapped around her.

“Concerned Statement: Friend Ateia appears to be experiencing strong emotional distress. Engaging emotional distress termination protocols.”

Seero was not sure how to deal with this situation. But Ateia’s distress was generating negative emotions in her as well, and was judged as a situation that required a response. She initially considered terminating the cause of the distress, but since that was Ateia’s person of interest that solution was not considered viable.

But she had observed from her own experience that physical contact appeared to mitigate the effects of emotional distress, so she created a basic protocol for that contingency.

She channeled a bit of Holy mana through Ateia while rubbing Ateia’s back as Ateia had previously done for her.

Ateia just stood still for a moment before she closed her eyes, slowly smiling. She took a deep breath before opening her eyes again.

“Thank you, Seero.”

“Acknowledged.”

She turned to face her father again.

“…actually…to tell the truth, I am alright. More than alright. I have friends now who care about me, more than anything, more than even their most important missions. And I feel the same about them.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“So do NOT threaten my friends again.”

She then took a deep breath, and looked into her father’s eyes.

“Still…I want to hear everything.”

The Hero of Elteno looked at her with wide eyes, glancing between his daughter and the very-likely demon lord hugging her. Eventually, he shook his head and heaved a sigh, his head hung towards the ground.

“…ok.”