A Touching Reunion (before battle)
<Thanks, everyone... How did you find me?>
We entered via the Backdoor.
Your signals were no longer detected from within the bus's premises.
Then, every Sinner was immediately summoned from their respective rooms for the search.
And so soon after our break started... Dante, let's try to not do anything like this again, hmm~?
Even if you are the Executive Manager... rogue behavior such as this poses too great a risk. Please be wary of that.
<I'm sorry... S-so how did you guys find us?>
... I have deduced it.
As of late, Heathcliff was in a constant state of uneasiness. Considering the nature of our circumstances, I conjectured that there was aught that he had to do before our arrival at T Corp.
On the day in which the Backdoor volatility siren echoed, Don Quixote made a relatively delayed return to the Backdoor.
And, come the next day, she requested from me and Miss Faust an encyclopedia of common symbols used in the City.
Yes. So Faust lent her a few volumes.
Ever since receiving the volumes, Miss Don Quixote sat next to me and perused the pages with a rather enthusiastic expression on her countenance. Although I could not converse with her on account of my... conditions...
... I do recollect that the following words were repeatedly uttered. Cosplay, costumes, sack...
In summation, I surmised that Miss Don Quixote witnessed a series of symbols that caught her attention when the siren blared...
... and Faust was aware of the door on which those symbols were drawn. Based on that information, the Sinners were able to find their way here.
We engaged several entities of the corridor on our path to this door.
Good thing we only ran into weaklings, though~
An irreversible death of a Sinner could have occurred in the process.
<Um...>
Do you understand? Engaging hostile forces in your absence carries an exceedingly high level of risk.
We could have been lost forever in some corner of the corridors as bodies, never to be revived nor retrieved.
Please comprehend the weight of your responsibilities and the risks your independent action carries.
You must survive, Executive Manager. No matter what.
... Do I make myself clear?
I've never seen Outis look at me like that. Her gaze was cold and ruthless.
Your survival was a lucky coincidence, Dante. The sequence of those symbols... are not supposed to be interpreted in such a haphazard manner.
<I'm really sorry... I don't know what else to say.>
... I believe that is enough. But...
N.D.Q.
Yeah. Don Quixote, Heathcliff... where'd the pair run off to?
<Oh, that's...>
I told them exactly how the events transpired.
Seriously, how'd ya three even manage to survive this far?
All right, Manager Bud. I'm sure you've heard enough from the others, so I won't say more. But where exactly are we?
Hey, which district is this? This cold... we must be somewhere in one of the northern districts of the City. Or...
We are not in the City.
... What do you mean?
I mean that we are not in the City. Those intelligent organisms, called gnomes, are part of a species surviving in the Outskirts.
Commonly known as monsters of the Outskirts.
Eugh... Monsters again? After all that we faced at the Lake?
<They weren't exactly like the Whales, though. We could communicate with the gnomes. They were just like people... except smaller.>
So we're in a completely different region of the Outskirts... I would have liked to explore the area if the circumstances permitted. Look, this structure seems to have been custom-built for the gnomes, considering how small everything is here.
If this is the Outskirts... We can go back, right?
As long as the door we entered through remains open, yes.
It is open. For now.
What if it... closes?
Then, an unexpected journey begins. We will have to trek the distance from the Outskirts back to the City, which will be a significant endeavor in both time and effort.
<Isn't that a bit dangerou - >
Where's this sound coming from-ome... Eh?
'Ome!! I struck gold-ome! Get your tool-omes!!!
Dante, come hither to the back of the line.
The door slammed open, and gnomes began flooding into the room. We prepared ourselves for battle.