Yokuza rubbed his forehead as he and Winter Lily stood before Hinovien Smithy. Yokuza glanced over at Winter Lily as she proudly stood on Yokuza's shoulder.

"This the place?" Yokuza asked. Winter Lily smugly nodded her head while pointing to Hinovien Smithy's large sigh.

"Oh.". Yokuza tapped the back of his head before he strolled into Hinovien Smithy.

Inside Hinovien Smithy, Fox paced back and forth behind her counter and only halted her pacing when the front doorbell dinged. Fox tapped her cheeks before she climbed onto the counter.

"So, are you here for a pickup or to make a reque-". Fox abruptly held her tongue as the vision of Zuno appeared over Yokuza when she spotted him. Fox abruptly rubbed her eyes, and upon looking at Yokuza, he looked like himself again. Yokuza itched his forehead before deciding to ignore Fox's weird actions.

"I'm here to get the order for The Workshop Division of The Zelkio Empire's Army," Yokuza stated as he handed Fox a metal card-sized plate. Fox read the contents of the plate and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll let the boss know you're here for the weapon components," Fox said before she hopped off the counter. Fox rubbed her forehead and hurried off as sweat ran down her face.

"I knew one of the orders was from the army, but why'd they have to show up while I was working the front desk?" Fox complained mentally. Winter Lily placed a finger on her lips and inquisitively hummed.

"She's new," Winter Lily remarked, which caused Fox to flinch in the workshop at hearing Winter Lily's remark.

On the runway of the flying airship carrier, Zalroth stood on the runway while Kyubi pulled on the side of his mouth. Deva peered around from behind Zalroth and floated in front of his face.

"Didn't you plan on taking this abyssal slime to the specialized hospital here?" Deva asked perplexedly.

"I was planning on having Vivo take her, but the moment she saw me, she basically attached herself to me for some reason," Zalroth stated.

"That didn't answer unit's question.". Zalroth smirked as Deva continued to pout at him.

"Ela.".

"Oh, well, why didn't you start with that?" Deva asked unamusedly.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Because I wanted him to make you pout," Chronia said cheekily as she poked Deva's face. Deva remained neutral before silently floating into Zalroth's tails and entering the tails' pocket dimension.

"Man... I was hoping for the timeline where she acted like a tsundere," Chronia whined. As Chronia continued to pout even more passionately than Deva, Zuno strolled over to the duo in a marching manner.

"So, how would you rate their performance against the heathen from last night? Is what Callie wanted me to ask since she's sleeping right now," Zuno asked as he stood beside Zalroth.

"They certainly did better than me, and the original Heavenly Heroes when we first fought one," Zalroth remarked. Chronia smirked at Zalroth as she landed on his kitsune tails.

"That was only because you kept getting in others' way so you could fight it by yourself, and we know how that went," Chronia said cheekily as she pressed her foot against the back of Zalroth's head. Zalroth itched his faintly blushing cheek before sighing.

"I feel like you keep bringing that up because you're still mad at me for causing that Valentine fair to get totalled," Zalroth uttered, "But for the record, you know I had beef with that heathen in particular, so can you really blame me?". Chronia pompously grinned as she pressed her foot slightly harder against Zalroth's head.

"Of course not, but do you take me for someone who'd be so spiteful after three thousand six hundred and twenty-seven years?" Chronia asked with a flirty, serious tone. Zalroth playfully rolled his eyes and wrapped some of his tails around Chronia to look like a sleeping bag.

"I'd never think that, especially when you remembered the exact amount of time since it happened because a spiteful person wouldn't be capable of such a feat," Zalroth remarked playfully. Chronia smugly grinned at Zalroth's remark; however, after a few seconds, Chronia switched her demeanour to an offended one.

"Hey!" Chronia announced which caused Zalroth to snicker. Chronia flashed a teal/lime glow before she disappeared from Zalroth's grasp and reappeared sitting on his shoulders with her legs wrapped around his face. Chronia playfully bonked Zalroth repeatedly on the head while pouting as Zalroth continued to muffledly snicker.

"Stop laughing... you're making me seem like an immature child when I'm supposed to be the coy one in this relationship, not a... um," Chronia said bashfully before she leaned towards Zuno.

"Hey, what's a word for childish but more mature sounding?" Chronia whispered to Zuno, making him rub the back of his head.

"Erm... adolescent. But, is now the time for you two to be messing around?" Zuno asked as he pointed to the sky. Zalroth raised his head, making Chronia look upwards without her doing anything, and stared at the growing crack in space hanging over the flying airship carrier.

"I mean... we have roughly an hour before the heathen will break through. Besides, I'm... never mind," Chronia grumbled. Zalroth's smirk shrank to a faint grin as he stopped snickering.

"Must be something nerve-racking if it's making you act so adolescently towards me," Zalroth said with a serious demeanour.

"It ain't the heathen I'm concerned about, mister," Chronia whimpered as she poked Zalroth's face. Zalroth exhaled from his nose. He placed a hand on Chronia's head and ruffled her hair.

"If using my Sage States is needed, I'll make sure to keep it to a minimum," Zalroth said as he patted Chronia's head. Chronia quietly murmured as she buried her face in Zalroth's hair.