The Boatwrights (before battle)
Rain~ I'm going to take a look at this bus, so why don't you get them to recepti - I mean, entertain the guests?
…Okay.
The Sinners were led into what appeared to be a workshop packed with tools and various mechanical apparatus.
Hm. It seems to me that this workshop is capable of making more sophisticated modifications than it initially appeared.
Ah, you recognize these?
During the war, it was of utmost importance to have a general understanding of arms and gear workshops.
Aha…
This awkward conversation was cut short by a sudden and deafening noise.
W-what's that sound?
...That was Mephistopheles' scream... or the alarm, rather.
I'm sorry! I think I did something wrong!
Are those stomping noises also you, Mika?
Look, outside!
They appear to be of the same species as the one we encountered earlier.
T-they do look pretty similar.
Hm, they are not "pretty similar", they are indeed of the same species.
<E-everyone, outside, now!>
Outside...
A giant enemy crab with a massive shipping container on its back loomed over us.
Well, at least for a brief moment.
We were soon overwhelmed by the sound of heavy metal scraping against the floor.
Men, spread out!
Where do we have to get crackin' this time?!
Just as we were all collectively losing our minds...
Its noggin, of course.
A dark figure leapt down from somewhere onto the creature's head.
Screeech!
Sit still... Quit strugglin'!
Hup!
A blinding light and a deafening explosion assault the crab's shell.
GUOOOOOOOOHHHH!
Hmph.
I-is it fleeing...?
The figure leaped gracefully from the back of the fleeing creature and slowly approached us...
Ha!
She squelched over the depressing mudflat in her swim fins and stood before us, a colossal harpoon resting on her shoulder.
Right, so you lot are... the bus people that fella mentioned?
After some time passed...
Allow me to formally introduce them, with Olga this time.
They are from the Molar Boatworks, here to help us with 'modifications' for Mephistopheles.
Woah... We're getting a whole intro and everything? Color me flattered.
Big Sis, they're still our dear customers! We should watch our...
Aw, come on! I didn't do nothing wrong, did I? Bugger, I didn't even do anything yet!
Sigh… 'Yet' being the keyword here...
Our business just opened, so there's nothing wrong with being a little careful.
...I'd imagine the sudden switch in your career path couldn't have been easy. Was it manageable...
...Olga, Grade 5 Fixer.
Well~
F I X E R ? !
W-wha?
Thou'rt a Fixer?! I thought I had caught scent of a noble one! Wherefore hast thou strayed from the path of a Fixer? The life of a Fixer must have been a grueling one, surely? Where was thy most prolific district?! Which Association and which test hast thou taken to rise to become a Grade 5 Fixer? A workshop exam at Tres Association, indeed? Hmm? Hmm?
…….
Fine, yes I understand...!
I apologize, Olga. Soon there will be peace and quiet.
The Red Gaze...
Gree...tings? I guess? Blimey, it's been so long since I had to be so polite!
Well, that's polite enough.
It seems that people have been returning one by one from the books since the incident at the 'Library'.
How was it for you?
Same story here~ One moment I was like 'Huhn? Am I dead?' And next, I'm suddenly waking up somewhere around here!
No Mika, no Rain, stomach hankerin', thought I should grab myself a nosh, so~
...And uh... how'd it go again?
A trash crab appeared, you fashioned a few things around you into a weapon, smashed its head in, turned it into a barbecue, Bob's your uncle.
And Fanny's your aunt~ Tasted like arse, though.
Then you started selling scrap metal from the back of those crabs.
Haah~ Okay, Rain. How about I leave the storytelling to you, yeah?
Hm~ That Olga lady's got a pretty flippant personality, huh?
<Yeah, Rodya. Like someone else I know.>
Uhuhu, I have no idea who you're talking about~
Ohoho? What's this? That's a... prosthetic head, innit?
Big Sis, we'll be here all day if you keep derailing...
Tsk, okay. I gotcha, I gotcha.
The woman they called Olga fell back, clicking her tongue...
...And a man they called Rain came forward, bringing us up to speed.
He was a Fixer, working alongside Olga and Mika until they were all sucked into the Library, getting wrapped up in these things called receptions...
And just when he thought he was a goner, he suddenly came to, began wandering, and found Olga...
They began collecting scrap metal together, with Mika joining along the way, and ended up running a workshop almost like they used to run the office back in the old days.
...Hm. So there wasn't any particular order in which they were returned from the book.
...The patterns have yet to reveal themselves to me.
Vergilius muttered something to himself, looking at Faust who stood near him...
......
Faust nodded silently.
......
I knew that there was something between the two of them, but it was always about something apocryphal that I couldn't even begin to understand...
...Besides, I was starting to get worried about Ishmael, who was growing increasingly distraught. It was about time I talked to her about her sudden change.
<I-Ishmael, so you've been here before? It looked like you recognized those crabs from earlier.>
...Yes. Is that a problem?
<Huh? No... not really.>
<I'm just wondering how they taste. It sounds like people eat those crabs.>
I can see plain as day what you're trying to do with that inane question, but...
I'll entertain it anyway. Yes. I've had it more than a few times as crab chowder.
It was a pretty digestible flavor, once I got past the vomit traveling back up my esophagus.
Does that answer your question?
<Uh... yeah. T-thanks?>
Yeah, I didn't think that was the best question I could've come up with, but... her reception was much colder than I'd expected...
So... that thing is edible, huh... Eugh, it almost looks like an A-Abnormality or a Distortion.
<No, I don't think that's an Abnormality or a Distortion.>
Really? Then...
Since Dante can distinguish between an Abnormality and a Distortion, they were able to tell without me explaining.
They are living organisms. Mutants, if you will. Theoretically speaking, there shouldn't be any problem with ingesting them.
Grandmother used to collect mutated animals, too. I've never seen anything like this one, though - what a priceless experience!
Yep, so they're pretty much our daily grub!
The woman they called Mika was walking over from inside the boat workshop, an inscrutable look on her face.
Mika! So how much of it do we gotta work on 'ere?
You know, there's this thing that my father who worked in a workshop used to say.
The whole shebang.
What, all the way down to the engines, or something like that?
No, not that far. ...I won't dare go tinkering with that thing, either.
I saw the internals of the bus, and... it's on a whole 'nother level of complexity.
But yeah, pretty much everything else has to be changed. No floatation device, no propellers, no steering gear, nothing.
<So... what do we do now?>
This was to be expected. Please present us with a solution.
Did the manager say something? Or do they just tick-tock sometimes? Well, anyway.
We do have a plan to fix it. What we lack are the parts.
Parts for the bus... What, do you need us to collect scrap or something?
Yep, exactly. And from what I've seen so far, I'm certain you and your company are... cut out for the job.
With that, Mika pointed away...
Toward where the trash crabs were.
Defeat the trash crabs, and you should be able to collect the scrap they're carrying.
...How many do we need to kill?
Uh... a lot?
Haah... Of course. That's what we're here for, isn't it?
Precisely.
Your job at this stop is to collect parts to modify the bus. It's a far simpler and easier job than retrieving a Golden Bough.
Now then, while I converse with our cooperators...
Everyone, to the beach.
That is no beach...
...Yes, it is. Even that mudflat is a part of the Great Lake... also known as the sea.