“Whaaat, no fair! I wanna see what Joel looks like now!”
“I don’t particularly care.”
I was regaling Lana and Eve with the latest news while we went to the imperial government offices on some business.
“He’s—er, she’s already back in Bauer by now, right?” Lana asked.
“Yup,” I answered.
Nothing of concern had occurred with Joel’s body since, and she had grown accustomed to it. Eventually, with the deportation deadline looming, she had left for Bauer. I’d never needed to use the Tears of the Moon, which currently sat in my pocket. I’d best return it to Yu soon.
“She was too shy to say goodbye in person, but she wanted me to give everyone her regards,” I said.
“Awwww, why’s she gotta be such a stranger?” Lana expressed regret at not getting a chance to say goodbye. Eve seemed to genuinely not care.
“Was she pretty?”
“Yup. You’ll definitely be surprised if you ever meet her again in Bauer.”
“For real? I’m totes looking forward to that!” Lana bounced with excitement.
“Whatever,” Eve said, indifferent to the end. She sighed. “Look, I won’t tell you not to talk, but if you keep stopping, we’ll never get this done.”
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“Ah, sorry, Eve,” I said.
“Sooorry!” Lana said.
We were drafting documents for the imminent four-nation summit— more specifically, compiling information on the Nur Empire for the bigwigs of Bauer. Of course, this government office was an imperial facility, so foreigners like us couldn’t access all its records, but what we could access was plentiful enough.
The information we were compiling concerned public records and statistics about the empire, among other things. This world didn’t have the internet, so such information was usually communicated to other countries by way of letters and, as such, was always slightly out of date. Our purpose was to supplement the information Bauer already had with more accurate, updated statistics.
“Oh, but I’m basically done.”
“That was quick, Lana. I shouldn’t be long, either. How about you, Eve?”
“Just a bit more.”
Surprisingly, Lana was a fast worker. Her grades in school were far from flattering, but it seemed she was in her element with clerical-type work.
