“Yeah. And you have a different air about you now, so I wasn’t sure I had the right person, but you’re definitely that same Liz, huh?” Zenos replied happily. The Liz he remembered had a more demure, gentle aura; now there was a certain allure about her.
His old acquaintance, frozen, opened her mouth with a puzzled look. “You’re the mastermind?”
“Mastermind? What do you mean?”
“Oh, um, nothing,” she replied, somewhat perplexed, before shaking her head. “I mean, he does operate from the shadows, so of course he wouldn’t just admit to it. But...that little boy, an evil overlord, womanizer, and deviant experimenting on humans...”
Aaand now she’s babbling nonsense. Well, she had experienced a shock powerful enough that she’d fainted, so some confusion was to be expected. Zenos gazed at her familiar features and said, “So, Liz, I hear you collapsed on the roadside in the ruined city? What happened?”
“Um, so, about that...” she murmured hesitantly.
The healer smiled gently at her. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. For now, you seem healthy, so you should be able to go home without any issue.”
Liz looked even more surprised at that. “What? You finally have me in your grasp, and you’re letting me go?”
“Huh?”
“No, don’t tell me... I failed?”
“Failed...what?” Zenos asked. None of what Liz was saying made any sense. Maybe her mind was still hazy because she’d just woken up? “You know, maybe sending you home alone is a bad idea. I’ll escort you, just in case. Where do you live?”
Liz was silent for a moment, bringing a hand to her chin pensively. Eventually, she hung her head and replied, “I’m sorry. I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember?”
“No. It’s like there’s a gap in my memory.”
“But you remember me.”
“Um, I remember bits and pieces of the distant past...”
“Some sort of transient memory disorder, maybe,” he mused. His Diagnosis spell hadn’t indicated any apparent brain damage, but it was a fact that such symptoms could emerge from psychological shock.
Liz’s eyes grew dewy, and she clasped her hands together. “I’m so nervous about all this. Please, Zenos, if you don’t terribly mind, can I stay here until I regain my memories?”
“Huh?” Lily said in surprise as she walked in carrying a tray with tea.
A troubled Zenos crossed his arms and muttered, “Well, if you can’t even remember where you live, you can’t exactly go home...”
“Please, Zenos!” Liz pleaded, glancing up at him. “Just until I’m better!”
A quick peek at Lily beside her showed the young elf fighting back tears. “I-I think it’s a good idea,” Lily said. “W-We can’t just not help someone in need.”
“Hee hee hee... What an exemplary young woman,” came a sneaky whisper and a muffled chuckle from the second floor.
***
The night in the ruined city was quiet. A sort of resigned silence hung in the air, different from the malice coiling in the abyss of the underground.
In a room within the now dark clinic, Liz slowly rose from the bed. “Who am I? Where is this?” she whispered, then gave an amused chuckle. “Just kidding. I remember, of course.”
The young woman, affiliated with the Black Guild, had infiltrated the mastermind’s lair by pretending to have collapsed on the roadside. And...she remembered little of what had happened after that, for some reason, but everything else was very clear. Her claim of memory loss was just a ruse so that she could stay here.
But still, she thought to herself. I can’t believe that boy from the orphanage is now the overlord of the slums. True, he’d always had an elusive, unfathomable air about him, but a desire for control like this seemed like such a far cry from the image she’d had of him. It was, frankly, shocking. People change, I suppose, she concluded. Liz herself had changed; she was nothing like she’d been back then. Anyway, for now I should focus on my next move.
Shifting her focus, Liz began to survey her surroundings. She lay in a room just by the entrance to the building. The mastermind Zenos and his elven torturer had gone to the bedroom in the back, so this was the perfect opportunity for her to act. Slowly, quietly, she lowered her feet from the bed.
And then she stopped. Yes, this was a great time to do something. But...do what, exactly? She’d already explored most of this weathered mansion-like building during the day, and hadn’t found any suspicious passageways. Ultimately, she’d managed to secure her stay here, but no one had brought her to an underground space, nor had she encountered any of the numerous minions she’d been expecting. There remained an inexplicable sense of dissonance.
“Well, overthinking it won’t help,” she mused. Liz still had her one and only goal: manipulate Zenos and make him into her pawn. She could force him to answer whatever questions she had after that.
“Liz?” Zenos called out, peeking in through the door. “You awake?”
“Oh! Yes!” she replied, turning around, not letting her surprise at his sudden presence show. With a nod, she continued, “What is it, Zenos?”
“I mean, it’s just... Lily’s asleep, and I figured maybe we could talk for a bit.”
“Ah, of course,” she said, nodding with a smile and getting off the bed. She wasn’t sure what he had in mind, but this was her chance.
Liz followed Zenos to the dining room. It was likely he’d conquered the slums by force; the demi-humans were a rough bunch and he’d managed to subdue them, meaning he was probably very capable. She decided to not attack him suddenly just yet, and instead observe the situation a while longer.
The pair sat down opposite one another. “So, what did you want to talk about, little Zenos?” Liz asked.
“‘Little,’ huh,” he echoed, scratching his cheek awkwardly. “I’m not a kid anymore, so it’s kinda embarrassing to be called that.”
“Huh? Oh, yes, of course, but to me you’re still that same little Zenos.”
“S-Seriously? I mean, sure, I guess...”
