I look away from the Crawler, and I see Kaede bends in twain, apologising to everyone as they gather around.

"I am truly regretful for leaving you. And for concealing myself until now. I hope you all will re-accept me as part of this team, yes?"

Aria's mouth bends in an S shape briefly.

"It won't happen again? You rather scared me, for sure..."

"I... no. I will not allow foolish madness to overtake me again. I am firm now, as your spear, Aria-sama. I have... sorted out what plagued my thoughts, yes..."

"Um... what changed?" Kiku queries.

Kaede sighs.

"I decided, after all... that I cannot be merely a blade. I have stop denying. Nii-sama is... I simply love Elijah, much like the rest of you."

There is a collective sigh.

A few weeks ago, I would have thought this a tremendously fucked up situation. I wouldn't have believed it.

Aren't I lucky?

I pet Kaede on the head, and this time, unlike before, she reacts and pushes her head up, practically purring.

"What is wrong with us all?" Aria rolls her eyes.

"Much silly maidens, Arry-chan. Beyond thought. Desire all consuming." Kali squirms.

"Who the heck is Arry?!?" Aria exclaims.

"Is you?" Kali cocks her head. "Is Arry, Ki, Kae, Serri and Rish. And aniki."

I noticed this partially before, but it seems Kali is fond of shortening more than just her own name. She likes arbitrarily assigning nicknames to others.

"Um... 'Arry' is sweet." Kiku grins.

"Hehe... I should try Arry as well. You've already always called me Rish! Hee-hee!" Rishya comments.

I laugh and Aria sighs.

"Jeez... I should re-institute requiring to call me 'your majesty'. I'm lax and then this happens..." Aria sighs again.

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"I also think Arry is pretty cute." I say, rubbing her face.

She blinks her big blue eyes and cocks her head.

"Do you now? W-Well... I-I guess its fine then." She smiles wryly.

"Ha! Quick to mind change when Aniki agrees!" Kali snickers and the other girls laugh.

"S-shut up!" Aria blushes. "Sendervil's mercy... j-just do whatever you want."

"Ok." I kiss her. So cute! She responds briefly, caught up in the moment, but then pulls away.

"Agh! Shit! I shouldn't say that in front of Elijah. It... it doesn't apply for this!" She spins away and crosses her arms in an X shape.

"The new law already has a clause?" I laugh.

She facepalms.

Kaede suddenly bursts out in a lyrical laughter, crouching and holding her sides. I look incredulously in her direction and so do the others. This is new. I like it though.

"Ahahaha! Why is it... why do I only find this hilarious? S-surely I should have... jealousy or such, yes? ...but it seems..."

"Fufufu... quite so... mmmm... the boy's ability to tame women is truly quite frightening, is it not?"

"Yes... It is, Seria-sama." Kaede nods.

Truly, I don't get why myself. But let’s run with it.

"In any case, shall we proceed?" I ask.

"There is only one other way, right?" Rishya says, looking behind her.

"So it appears" Aria nods.

"Um... I would have possibly suggested prying a plate off this Crawler again... but this one is very big. Will that fit in your bag, Rish?" Kiku checks, banging the nearby chitin with her gauntlet.

"No way!" Rishya shakes her head.

"Would one of the teeth suffice as proof?" I ask.

"Mmmm... I guess." Seria nods.

Fortunately, it appears a few of the fangs of its sandworm mouth snapped off, so I pick up one of those and hand it to Rishya who sequesters it away in her tote bag with a whistling crack noise.

We then start to move on, formation reforming to what it was in previously. I didn't appear to level up this time, but get the sense that I can't be very far off again.

"We did very well this time, didn't we, Onii-chan?" Aria smiles sweetly.

"Yup! We got by without injuries!" Rishya seems happy. I guess less work is good for her.

"Are you still good for your explosives, boy?" Seria asks.

"Yes." I nod. "I still have plenty. Though if this pace carries on, I don't know how long for."

"Hm... speaking of which... you used one, didn't you, Kaede?"

Kaede looks embarrassed.

"Uh... yes."

I actually didn't notice one had gone before. I guess... yeah, the only answer is that she took it when I was in jail with Aria, right?

"Your weapons are actually easy to use, Nii-sama." She nods, looking away. She seems uneasy about something. Ah!

"Don't worry. I'm not worried about you stealing it. It's fine."

She looks up and squirms, her mouth open. She's really not used to being forgiven, is she?

"Take another, then. Just ask in future. With your agility, it really might help. Just be careful around the fire and electricity."

I pull one out and hand it her.

"I... no... you should keep it..." she blushes for some reason, pushing it away.

"It will... I will worry about it, yes?" She grimaces.

Hm. I guess if she causes an explosion again with that Blazefall thing, it might blow her up.

It's actually a good job that her electrical move didn't set me off, actually.

That would have been pretty stupid, getting saved and then being blown to giblets.

Hm. I guess she has a point.

"As you like. You're probably right, it could be dangerous for you to hold."

I put it away.

"Nn... in many ways..." She has a difficult expression.

Whatever does that mean?

Well whatever... in any case... I wonder what's next?