"Took me a while, but I found it," Volcatia said a very short while later. She took Mina's car out of her Inventory and set it on the floor of the workshop.

Mina's expression instantly changed into an excited smile, and she looked back and forth between Carl and Volcatia. "Thank you so much!" she squealed, darting forward to give the older woman a hug.

"Uh, yeah," Volcatia said as she awkwardly patted the girl's shoulder.

Was hugging a friend thing?

She wasn't sure.

She'd done plenty of hugging in recent years, but it wasn't really…

It wasn't the sort of hug she'd want to give Mina or Carl.

Maybe there were friend hugs that were different?

She'd think about it.

Mina released her after a little while and raced over to her car, beginning to check it over.

"And this is for you," Volcatia said as she pulled the fishing rod out of her Inventory and passed it to Carl, who was smiling faintly at Mina.

"Whoa, awesome!" Carl said, a bigger smile spreading across his face as he accepted it and started turning it over in his hands. "I totally forgot about this!"

Volcatia smirked at him. "Obviously. Main character needs to look out for her—"

"Don't say it," Carl said in a warning tone.

"—side character," she said with a wide grin.

Carl groaned.

"You did really great today, side character," she said, giving him a small salute. "Heroically defended your daughter when she was in trouble, attacked someone you couldn't beat, and then kept him busy as you lost while I—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Carl grumbled, having returned to looking over the fishing rod. "Fine, I guess I'm a freaking side character."

"Couldn't have been such a great main character without you though," Volcatia said. "You… You're a good friend, Carl."

He really was.

Even all the things that had happened today were only because of him.

Her brief fun driving around the city with Mina chasing after him while he was doing his weird coffee thing.

The time she'd spent hanging out with Aquila before and after she got Mina, who was only here because of him, registered for the race.

The race itself had been a little fun to watch.

Mostly because the cheating Char lost.

She'd finally decided to kill Belenus.

She liked not having a reminder of that in the back of her mind.

She'd…

Well, she hadn't killed the cheating Char.

She'd been expecting she would.

Still annoying that he'd run away.

It was a win, but it didn't feel like one.

Yeah, she could find him now if she wanted, but the moment was gone.

If she killed everyone who annoyed her…

She'd given Aquila something of value too.

Something that would make the old woman happy.

Her talk about sort of being family made some sense.

A little.

It was true that they weren't friends, but they were still much closer than acquaintances.

She imagined there weren't many people who had ever seen the Imperatrix naked.

Family, huh?

"You're a pretty good friend too, Vol," Carl said, now doing some mock casts with his fishing rod. He turned his head to her, still grinning. "We're always doing weird stuff when we hang out, but it's always fun, isn't it?"

She grinned a little wider.

It really was.

----------------------------------------

"I'd no notion you were close with the Imperatrix," Mina said. She sipped her tea.

"Yeah, it's not something either of us really talks about," Volcatia said around a mouthful of sausage and cabbage. "She's sort of my aunt, but we don't hang out much."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

They were sitting in some food shop in D-one that she'd vaguely remembered liking, though it seemed that while she'd been gone the entire thing had been replaced by another shop that wasn't as good as she remembered.

Or maybe it was the same place and she just had a different perspective now.

"Huh, didn't mention that when she was slamming me through a freaking table," Carl said. He took a drink from his cup of milk. "Cool that you spend time with her here though."

Cool?

Volcatia thought about it.

This was another Carl word.

She'd thought about this one before too.

It was easier to understand than 'noob' with how he used it, but…

Eh.

Didn't seem right.

Wouldn't people misunderstand her if she started saying it?

She hated being misunderstood.

She shrugged. "Yeah, it's been fun."

She took another bite of whatever sausage she'd been eating to blend in.

Luckily she didn't have to taste things if she didn't want to.

"But Mina, that was some good driving," she said while she chewed. "Was great how you drove in front of the cheating Char at the end. Really rubbed his face in it."

The girl smiled and blushed very slightly. "Yes, it felt quite nice to—"

"Can't believe that guy was such a freaking…" Carl frowned like he was searching for the word.

This was the perfect chance.

The moment to see if everything Volcatia had learned was true.

She swallowed. "A noob?" she tried.

Carl scratched his beard. "Er, not sure about that. He seemed like he knew what he was doing, at least."

Fuck!

She was so sure she had it!

"It was quite noob of him to underestimate Vol simply because he'd activated that device of his," Mina said. She sipped her tea.

"Yeah, that was a real noob move," Carl agreed. He dunked his bread into his soup and took a bite.

Mina smirked behind her cup and lifted her eyebrows.

Smart people were really fucking annoying.

Then again, now Volcatia knew what the word meant.

It wasn't—

"SHE'S HERE! SCORPIO!" shouted someone near the entrance to the shop.

"Fuck," she muttered.

She'd never missed this.

"Okay, we're gonna go somewhere else," she decided.

"What?" Mina frowned. "But I've not even beg—"

"Food's not even that good," Volcatia said as she set a few ten-marks on the table. "Let's try…"

----------------------------------------

"Ooh, I do believe you were correct, Vol. Even the tea here is far superior."

"Yeah, it's been a while so I forgot, but D-two's where all the best food is. D-one's mostly just expensive shit."

"Mmm, best pork shanks yet."

"Might I try a bite?"

"Alright, fine."

"Oh my, this is quite delicious. Thank you, Carl."

"Don't talk with your mouth full, sweetie."

"I missed this place. Changed a bit since I was last here, but the food's still the same."

"So you were…just going around adventuring for a while if I heard right?"

"Yeah, more or less."

"Huh. Was it fun?"

"Sometimes. Boring other times."

"Guess that's kinda what I'd expect."

"Ah fuck."

"Wha—"

"SCORPIO!"

"Gonna have to move again."

"I'll be carrying this cup along."

"You're thirs-tea, huh?"

----------------------------------------

"No fucking way they're gonna find us here."

"I'd never imagined a restaurant would be located below that other shop."

"Yeah, most people don't know about it.

"Mmm, this is the best bread yet. Pretty good soup too."

"My dish is scrumptious as well. Vol, I don't believe I've ever encountered this type of meat previously. Would you mind—You've begun to laugh, I note."

"It's… Fuck, I think I'm gonna die… Didn't think you'd actually…"

"Not sure I recognize it either. Some kinda—"

"It's taurus gladius!"

"Oh…"

"Sort of a specialty dish in the Empire, but… Huh. I didn't expect you to keep eating."

"It's quite a lot chewier than I'd—Oh my, Carl, you seem unwell."

"Uh, n-no, no, it's cool. Just gonna keep eating my bread while you, uh…"

"Care to tas—"

"NOPE. Uh, I mean, uh, sure would be great if—"

"Fuck, how're they even doing this!"

"SCORPIO!"

"GUESS WE BETTER GET OUTTA HERE, HUH?"

"No, I've not finished my—Drat."

"This next place they'll never find us…"

----------------------------------------

"A rooftop restaurant's pretty cool."

"Yeah, when there's a big battle in the arena you can see the crowds bunching up over there while they wait to get in. D-three food's not as good as D-two, but it's still not bad."

"Perhaps this time I'll be able to actually enjoy a meal I've ordered."

"Definitely. I'm gonna even check… Is this a fucking joke?! Urgh, Mina, you don't have long, so get eating. So fucking annoying!"

"I've what? How could—"

"Don't worry about it. This wine's good at least. Feels like exactly what I needed."

"Salad's good."

"Carl, I can't help but notice this is the first occasion in which you've ordered a dish which contains no meat."

"Yup, just not in a meat mood right now."

"Mina, I can't help but notice this is the first occasion in which you've ordered a dish which—"

"No! Stop mimicking my speech!"

"That was really freaking good, Vol. Even nailed the accent."

"Carl! You've begun to side with her now, have you?"

"No, this is a round table. It doesn't have sides."

"Ooh, I'll get you for this."

"But I'm already here."

"Why—Stop laughing!"

"Nah."

"Carl, she's—Even you've begun to laugh now? I see how things have become."

"C'mon, those were some perfect dad jokes!"

"I've been unaware that there's a specific manner in which fathers conveyed their humor."

"Well, Mina, the way it works—shoot, this isn't as good without the glasses push—The way that it works is that dads have a special gland which secretes a hormone called hilaritin, and this lets us tell the best jokes."

"I've no—"

"Urgh."

"SCORPIO!"

"How they heck do they keep finding us?!"