"Miss Anna, may I get some water?" Bamb thought to test the waters, "I'm feeling awfully parched."

"Hm? Yeah, sure!" Anna smiled back innocently as she ran to the sink, "One glass of water coming right up!"

"Annie?" Dad looked sort of worried.

"In a minute, dad!" She glanced at him before turning to Bamb again, "Hey, I know I said a glass, but would it be easier for me to put it in a plate?"

"Anna." Mom also tilted her head worriedly, "Who are you talking to?"

"Didn't you hear Bamb ask for some water just now?" She giggled a bit, "Come on guys, you're not old enough to be hard of hearing just yet, haha!"

I see, so she herself is not aware of it yet. Reading her mind is also just the same as it always was before, and there's nothing in there that indicates she knows she can use Analyze. Well, she is a Brown Iro, so I guess it must've manifested silently without her even realizing. Looks like I'm not unique in that regard anymore, but it's not like I care that much either.

"Anna, the doe can't talk." Eleanor too remained confused.

"You must be hearing things. Why don't you take a break for now and I'll do the rest of the chores for today." Othelia volunteered to take over for the day.

"Right, sorry about that." Cecily kept Cene seated on her lap as he played with the wooden transport wagon toy he got as a birthday present from the Gryses, "It's my house, and yet I'm still forcing you to go to such lengths while I'm taking care of Cene. I'll help out too, so please rest up and clear your head."

"What?" Anna looked a bit anxious, "B-But, Ed said Bamb can talk just fine...? A-And besides, I heard her ask for some water loud and clear! R-Right, guys?"

She turned to us all scared and nervous, hoping that we'd clear the accusations put on her by the rest of the tenants, which is exactly what we did. Of course we were gonna tell everyone that Bamb can understand Entropic despite only people with Analyze actually being able to hear them, but even we were kinda too shocked to hear Anna also fell into that category. Thus - the current situation.

"Anna is correct, Bamb here can indeed understand Entropic, and we now know that apart from me, both Edward and Anna can communicate with her just fine due to their Iro Abilities." Aru explained whilst simultaneously fact-checking her claims with her omniscience, "Right, this is a topic for another day. For now, we have guests."

The moment she said this, a few polite yet strong knocks on the door demanded for me to answer it. This was definitely Adam and Elaine, no doubt, which is actually a genuine surprise. With how, ahem, carnal those two usually are, I definitely expected them to be super late, but it appears he at least respected the severity of what little time we had left until the next attack, and thus immediately went back to our house.

"We didn't keep you waiting, did we?" Adam looked just a tad disappointed at himself for passing up the opportunity to mate with his wife.

"This had better be important, fuckwad." Elaine didn't seem too thrilled to have her advances denied because of me, "When I got the news Adam was back in town, I certainly wasn't expecting him to just barge in, peck me on the lips and rush us back to this accursed house."

"I upheld my end of the deal." Adam winked at me, "Only a spoonful, right The Boy?"

"I told you, that's not-" I went to correct him, but I sensed saying anything that wasn't directly connected to the animal issue would lead to a swift death from the queen, "I-In any case, welcome. Come on in, we gathered everyone here, so let's exchange what we've learned for now."

"Smart move." Elaine cracked her knuckles, "Wasting even a second more would have gotten you killed, Saint."

"I-I know, Your Majesty...!" I nodded with all my might as I ran to sit on the sofa with everyone else, "N-Now, why don't we start from the beginning? A-ha, Aru?"

"Sure." Aru cleared her throat with an Ahem.

As it were, she then began retelling the story of our little outing from start to finish, with frequent interruptions and additive comments by Adam and Issei. Of course, they were only adding filler content about the story, like the fact Adam beat up a bunch of stray wolves, or that time we ate ice cream and such, but I tried my best to steer everyone back on the main road. Of course, this had made the overall story quite confusing and hard to consume, so most of our listeners were left completely lost by the end of it.

"And so, we thought to go back home before continuing to Montes, where we'll reunite Bamb back with her owner." Aru completed the story.

"Uh-huh..." Dad furrowed his brows.

"I see..." Mom scrunched up her face with a sort of confused expression.

"So, you didn't solve the main issue because you got distracted?" Eleanor tilted her head.

"Don't say that! They're helping reunite a lovely animal with her kind owner!" Othelia defended our course of actions, "I think it's an incredibly noble idea to put her needs above ours! Very sweet."

"Try saying that when the animals eventually mow down our town in a couple of weeks." Cecily groaned, "You guys, did you even manage to figure out where the next attack will be? Y'know, the main reason you went on this escapade in the first place?"

"Well, it's not impossible for Bliglje (the town where Navi lives) to be the next place they target..." Adam reasoned kind of awkwardly, "While yes, it is on the other side of the continent, it IS considered to be a somewhat popular tourist spot... I think."

"How is it popular if I've never even heard of it until now?" Cecily still remained skeptical, "Look guys, I understand you want to help Bamb as fast as possible, but don't you think it can wait? Just please finish the issue at hand while we take care of her here, then you can go wherever you want, okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." I looked down, "That would... make sense, yes."

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"Hold on now." Issei had something to say against Cecily's idea, "Even if we did do that, how would we know where the next attack is gonna take place? From what we know, it's kind of taking a chaotic pattern, neither following any roads nor rivers until the animals make it to their destination. And besides, whose to say they didn't split up if they're looking for this mysterious shadow person?"

"...Oh." We looked at him with our Eyes wide open, "That, uhhh... Yeah, that would actually make sense."

"The last two cities are on completely opposite sides of one another, I was actually wondering how they managed to travel so far in such a short amount of time." Aru shrugged, "It's a feat only made possible if the large crowd of animals split up to cover more ground, and that's certainly the best way to search for someone they're looking for. Nice thinking, foreigner!"

"Hehe, I try." Issei scratched his head with a sort of smug look to his face, "Wait, Eleanor, can you please bring out that map of Cardina again?"

"Huh? Yeah, sure." She was surprised to get called out suddenly like that, but nonetheless hastily got up to fetch it and spread it on the table, "What do you need it for?"

"Hmm... Yeah, as I thought." Issei then explained, "The animals, they're not going in a specific 'route', they're clearing the entire continent from bottom to top. Look here, I recalled that the larger towns are written in larger letters, and if we take a look at all the larger letter towns under this latitude..."

"Ohhh! The only towns written in bigger letters are the ones that got attacked!" I got the gist of it, "Which means, if you move your hand, the next city to get attacked is... Huh?!"

Everyone collectively gasped, for we knew full-well what was coming. The next town with the bigger name is the shared capital of the two Centralises - Centralis City. In other words, the place we're in right now - our hometown.

"This is bad, we need to warn the mayor!" Othelia started to panic.

"We have no mayor here, Adam takes the role of both mayor and king for this place." Cecily reminded her, "Adam, what do we do?"

"Allen, he's still back home all alone...!" He fretted for his son's safety, "We need to hurry. I'll run to get the knights and guards ready, but I'm gonna have to ask you guys to take Elaine and run to our mansion. It's way safer than here, trust me!"

"Adam, you can't just go alone!" Elaine went to interject, however Aru stopped her.

"Let him deal with it, mortal." She nodded knowingly, "He's more than capable to do this much on his own at least."

"Thank you, Allucius!" He smiled as he ran out the front door.

"Still though..." Aru then chuckled mischievously as she revealed to the rest of us, "I think having my favor by his side would probably make his chances guaranteed, so why don't I go with him?"

"We can't just leave you all on your own." Issei shook his head, "I'll go with you."

"No, it's best I go with Aru on this one." I thought rationally, "Our goal isn't to fend the animals off, remember? It's to stop them and talk them into a peaceful resolution. We need people who can talk to them."

"Then I'll..." Bamb thought before I immediately shot back.

"No, there are wolves and bears among their ranks!" I accidentally shouted at her, "Ahem, it's just too dangerous. Besides, what if the knights and guards mistake you for one of them? I don't want you getting shot at."

"Then, why don't I go?" Anna suggested without a care in the world, "If you need someone to help you talk with animals, then aren't I perfect for the job?"

"Annie, what are you talking about?!" Dad and mom both ran to stop her, and I was completely on their side on this one.

"Yeah, it's too dangerous." I shot down the idea as well, "You're..."

"I don't care!" She snapped, shouting with all her might at me, "I'm your wife, aren't I!? When we first started dating, didn't you say we'd always be there for each other?! You were the one who said that, and since then you've only left me out of it! I kept quiet because I knew you only wanted to keep me safe, but this is too much!"

"Anna..." I felt a bit guilty when she put it like that.

"No!" She sniffled as tears began to well up in her Eyes, "W-We're supposed to watch each other's backs, right? Through thick and thin, it was always supposed to be us against the world, and yet you still kept me holed up in here, as if I'm incapable of being of use to you... I'm not good at fending off a pack of stray wolves, I'm not someone with a backpack full of useful gadgets, and I'm certainly not an all-knowing Goddess!"

"..."

"B-But in this scenario..." She cried out, "In this one extremely specific scenario, of all the people in the world, don't you agree that I can help you out? Don't you agree that I fit every criteria to be of use to you? Sniffle, or are you just gonna keep putting me away in a box under the bed, like some sort of mint-condition doll you don't even wanna see get remotely scratched?"

"Anna..." I went to say something, but a loud yet distant ground-shaking noise could be heard from the south, "Oh no."

"Don't tell me they're already here!?" Issei grabbed Othelia by the hand as he told everyone to follow him, "Shit, come on! We need to move, right fucking now!"

"Right, everyone follow Issei to Adam's mansion!" I ordered them as I stayed back, "You too, Bamb."

"But I-!" She thought.

"No buts! Go on now." I wished them all luck before grabbing Anna by the wrist on her way out, "What's this? You said all that, and now you're gonna sneakily run off with the rest of them?"

"You mean...!" She got excited.

"Yep." I gave her a gentle hug before smiling at her, "Let's go talk those rowdy animals out of a civil war. I'm counting on you."

"Y-Yeah!" She hugged me once more as the ground beneath us shook, "I won't let you down!"

"Ugh..." Aru looked on, "I hate it when couples get like this right before the final battle. Their lovey-dovey act is suffocating."