"Good evening to you too, Princess."

"You're half an hour late," Voloha harrumphed.

"You said that already."

Like, Jesus I ignored her earlier comment and greeted her to show her what she should do when she's meeting an acquaintance after some time, but she straight up ignored it like it was my comrades' pleas for me to value my life and commented on me being late once again.

Just why are people of this world so rude?

I get it, I'm half an hour late, but I had no choice, okay?

I was drowsy after that fiasco with Clementine (who would have thought that shooting my so-called little sister with come with consequences), so I made a cup of coffee and took a 20 minute nap (which surprisingly didn't extend into an 8 hour sleep) and took a bath because I wanted to feel refreshed.

Everyone does it, so stop guilt tripping me. Goddamnit.

"Then you should have been on time."

"I'll try my best next time."

Correction; I'll try my moderately best next time because frankly speaking, I'm an easily distracted malaka.

"Please, have a seat," Azell asked me as he stacked the documents on his desk into a neat pile.

How organised.

"Thank you."

Noelle, by the way, wasn't here today. At my request, obviously.

Azell is of the mind that I should reveal to our comrades that I'm the creator of the Elixir, but I disagree.

Mainly because of my Operation Shadow Organisation, and I also don't want them to know that I was the one who jebaited Noelle because they'd probably whoop my ass right in the middle of the public square.

That's why keeping it a secret is the most tactical decision right now.

"Azell was just telling me about your little… inventions," Voloha said.

"Little?"

I did what no else could by integrating a teleportation magic spell and a magical artefact and she has the audacity to call it little?

If yes, then she's absolutely right. Finally, someone who doesn't make a big deal out of the things I do.

"Well, compared to the Elixir, it's a little…"

"Ah, right, you might think that," I nodded with a slight, derisive smile.

Time to put on my acting face and start the phase 2 of my epic prank.

"Hmm?" She slightly furrowed her brows, perhaps confused by my choice of words.

Noice.

Wait, have I dealt with that… ah yes, I have.

Good, the stage is set. All that's left is to make the actors dance.

Hmm, shouldn't it be the dancers, though? The actor acts, and the dancer dances. Unless, of course, the actor is multitalented and can both act and dance.

I'm just going to make this weird, so let's move on.

"Now, before we start, are we secure?"

By which I meant was the sound isolating barrier set up or not.

I mean, what if someone is eavesdropping on us? Though now that I think about it, I should have asked about it before Voloha said that my new inventions were little compared to the Elixir.

A tactical miscalculation on my part, but I'll just do what I do best and blame someone else in case of any information leak.

"We were secure the moment you entered the room," Azell replied. "Would you like some coffee?"

"No, I already had some before coming here."

"Huh?" Voloha scowled at me.

Oh shit.

"I mean, I had a cup of coffee before I trained Neia."

"…" Her scowled sharpened.

"How did it go?" Azell asked.

"Well, I taught her the first lesson of owning a gun. I couldn't continue with the rest due to some unforeseen circumstances, so I'll continue tomorrow."

That's assuming Mr. Cat is there to lick my face and wake me up again.

"I see. By the way, I have been wondering," he took a seat beside Voloha, "how do you know so much about guns?"

"Books."

"I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe-"

"I just had a lot of really good books."

This answer might seem like bullshit (it is), but it's going to play such an important role today.

"I see," he exhaled sharply.

"Anyway, may I know the reason behind today's emergency meeting? Did something happen?"

I already knew the answer to that, but I still needed to keep up appearances.

"I'm sure you know why I'm here," Voloha replied.

Oh my, would you look at this smartass.

"Well, I don't know, maybe because you are bored? I actually have a really good card game to pass time and break friendships over I mean just pass time. Hold on, let me get it."

"Uno?" Azell muttered under his breath.

Yes, Azell, Uno. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing the heart of someone break as you put a +4 right before they are about to win.

That feeling is just orgasmic.

"I'm not here because I'm bored," Voloha sighed.

"You are not? Then why are you here?"

"I'm here because of what you said during the Seminar!" She exclaimed.

"Right," Azell nodded.

Alright, chill, woman, no need to scream like that.

This Princess needs some anger management classes.

"Ah, I see. Okay, so which part of what I said in the Seminar made you come all the way here? I just did what we agreed to do beforehand."

Let's see which trail they are following and then act accordingly.

"Was it, though?" Voloha raised her eyebrow.

"Yup. I demonstrated the power and use of the Elixir, I let them know why we were giving the Elixirs to them, I explained the rules to them and made them sign a contract to accept those rules. Everything happened just as planned."

As simple as that.

"Oh yeah? Then what about the 'we', the part about the people pulling the strings from behind you?" Voloha asked.

"Ah, you're talking about that part," I nodded.

I was originally planning to make the New Dawn Guild and Voloha be the 'people behind me' so that I could relax, but I have since changed my mind.

I want to run a shadow organisation; an organisation that controls the world but doesn't actually exist because it's just a single 12-year-old boy doing everything on his own.

It's a bit of a hassle, I admit, but it's going to be so worth it when I'll reveal the truth to them right before the final battle to save the world.

Oh my God, just imagining their faces the moment they learn that everything they ever believed in was a lie… ah, I should control myself before I get an awkward boner.

"You're thinking too much about it," Azell stepped up to defend me. "I'm sure he just meant us, right?"

"Maybe, but I want to hear it from his own mouth," Voloha stared directly into my eyes.

This girl sure loves her premarital eye contact. How sinful.

"Well, actually, I wasn't referring to you guys," I smiled slightly.

"Huh?" Azell stupidly grunted.

"Huh?" And so did Voloha.

"There are people behind me who have been helping me."

"What, wait, no-"

"How else do you think I got those books?"

Get pranked, big gurls.