The Last Drop of Hope, Chapter 32 (Patreon)

A lot of weird things had happened since Kazuma had landed on Belzerg. Actually, weird things had started happening right about the time Sylvia interrupted his tunes. Either way, he didn’t think that anything weirder than having a bunch of people kneel to a cat had happened. Even if the kitty had bat wings. 

“M-Mistress?” Yunyun asked, looking around at both the kneeling ‘Crimson Demons’ and Arnes. “What do you mean?”

“I dunno, she was never a cat before,” the pudgy kid said. His name was Chekeria or something, but Kazuma wasn’t one to judge, out loud anyway. Mostly because Crimson Demons were crazy, and lethal. 

“She…she has been cursed, I have not seen her like this since… since she became a General,” Arnes said, tears filling her eyes. She gently reached out a hand to pick up the kitten but Chomusuke yowled and swiped at the hand, clinging to Yunyun instead. 

“Mistress! Don’t you recognize me! It’s me, Arnes, your faithful servant for all these years!” the demon woman said, tears filling her eyes as she pleaded with the cat. 

“HSSSS!” was Chomusuke’s only response, then she wiggled back into Yunyun’s bosom, where she promptly snuggled up and started snoring. 

“R-rejected… Mistress, you are too cruel,” Arnes sniffled, hugging herself and wrapping her wings about her body like a blanket. 

“And this means…what?” Megumin demanded, leaning on her sword and frowning. “Who are we supposed to fight now? Because I came here to kick corporate ass and so far I haven’t done any of that.”

“Let’s stop and think for a minute,” Kazuma said, holding up a hand. “We were sent here to secure the city and the transportation hub, maybe make some allies with the local succubi. So far, Mission Accomplished. Nice work, Komekko.”

“Thanks!” Komekko said brightly, grinning and giving Kazuma a thumbs up as her minions stood behind her. 

“W-we have the transportation hub, but…what about the people?” Yunyun pointed out. 

Kazuma shrugged at that. “We’ll need to figure that out, but honestly I think we’ve got a bigger opportunity here. What if we can ally with the Cat’s Eye Group? I mean, they’re not the biggest corporation, but they’re not the smallest either. Plus, they’ve got a lot of infrastructure dedicated to building stuff. That’d be pretty handy if we want to survive this whole mess.”

Getting to her feet, Arnes dabbed at her eyes with a white lacy hanky, something far girlier than Kazuma had envisioned someone with an axe bigger than he was using. “Are…are you offering an alliance between the House of Belzerg and my Mistress, Wolbach?”

“Not to brag, but I am officially Iris’s Big Bro,” Kazuma said, giving Arnes his best winning smile. For some reason, all the girls present made a face, except for Lolisa, who giggled instead. “What? Is there something on my face?”

“Are you sure you’re a Belzerg? You don’t look like murder on legs,” Arnes said, frowning at Kazuma. 

“He’s adopted,” Lolisa said, winking at Kazuma. “But he’s a lot more competent than he looks.”

“Hmm,” Arnes frowned at Kazuma, who did his best to look competent and serious. “What do you think, Chief Yunyun?”

“Um, he’s a bit weird, b-but he did rescue her Majesty from Discord, a-and he’s not worthless in combat,” Yunyun said, giving Kazuma a nervous smile. 

Damned by faint praise. Kazuma would show them!  He’d show them all!

“Oh? Well, if a Crimson Demon says you’re not bad in a fight then you’re probably more badass than your average black hat,” Arnes said, sounding a lot more respectful. “Belzergs didn’t adopt weaklings or fools into their line.”

Kazuma preened at that. “So, will you consider an alliance then?”

“Well, you already stole my kids,” Arnes said, smiling at the new Crimson Demons, who shuffled about uncomfortably like the awkward kids they were. “But I’m not in charge of Cat’s Eye. That’s Wolbach, even if she’s in her diminutive form at the moment.” 

“So, what, you expect us to turn Yunyun’s cat into a person or something?” Megumin asked, frowning at Arnes. 

“It has to be Seredisa! She’s cursed my mistress! You have to help us!” Arnes pleaded, turning back and forth between Kazuma and Yunyun. “Please, if you do, I’ll make sure she agrees to pledge all of Cat's Eye’s resources to your cause!” 

That didn’t require much consideration. Kazuma caught Yunyun’s eye, and she nodded. He turned to Arnes. “Don’t sweat it. We’ll just take the cat to Aqua and she’ll break the curse or whatever. She’s pretty good at that stuff.”

“Mistress, um, I just remembered…we have to iron our cat,” Becky said, tugging on Komekko’s sleeve. 

“Yes! I have to, um, pluck my nose hair,” Clara agreed, and Tina nodded, looking rather pale. 

“Wait, do you mean…?” Arne’s expressions soured immediately. “Please don’t tell me that the Axis Cult and their blue-haired bimbo is back.”

Before the demon could draw another breath, Megumin had Gram at the woman’s throat, causing her to freeze, her eyes going very wide. 

“I don’t know you well enough for you to insult my friend and goddess like that,” Megumin growled softly. 

Lolisa nodded, pointing her gun casually at Arnes. “Aqua is what this world needs, Archfiend. Do you really think a Fallen Goddess and the forces of Hell could save this world? We need the gods back, or everyone is going to suffer and die, and we’ll end up back in the Pit where we spawned. And if you’re going to stand in the way of that…well, I suppose I can help send you back to Hell faster.” 

“Well, shit. A succubus, standing up for the Axis Cult? Never thought I’d see the day.” Arnes frowned at Megumin. “Put that razor away, kid. I don’t like the Axis, but that’s an old, old grudge. I’m willing to look past it if it means fixing my mistress…though I warn you, she and Aqua do not get along. Like cats and dogs, really.”

“Why don’t cats like dogs? Megumin demanded, her eyes narrowing slightly. 

“I…ugh, look, it made more sense when those species weren’t basically extinct. Oil and water, OK? A very, very old grudge,” Arnes said, wincing as Gram drew a line of blood from her throat. “Seriously, I’m on your side.”

“Please don’t hurt her,” Nerimaki said, putting a hand towards Megumin. “She…she’s like our mom. She basically raised us with Miss Wolbach. They were kind to us…mostly.”

“Hmph.” Megumin withdrew the sword, but kept an eye on Arnes, who ran a finger along the cut and winced. 

“Esh. Crimson Demons with a melee build. I thought you were scary enough when you were walking magical wastelands. Look, if going to Aqua is what it takes, fine. But I don’t know that even a goddess can break this curse, because if Seresdina put the curse on, then it’s Regina, Goddess of Revenge that powers it.”

“Wait, are you saying another goddess is alive? Does Seresdina have her imprisoned” Kazuma demanded, his ears perking up. Aqua was good, but if they had a second goddess…

“Honestly, dunno. She’s had a monopoly on Regina’s power since before the War,” Arnes said, spreading her hands helplessly. “I imagine she used Wolbach’s own goddess power against her, or something. I don’t know the whole story, I just know that Seresdina and Wolbach had hated one another for basically forever. Maybe Regina’s imprisoned, maybe Seresdina drained her power somehow, who knows. But I ain’t real fond of the idea of putting my Mistress in Aqua’s hands.”

“So, w-what do you suggest?” Yunyun asked, frowning. 

“Go to where the Revengers are doing their ritual and fuck it up!” Arnes growled, slapping one taloned fist into the other. “We kick Regina’s teeth in, then break the curse and free my mistress!” 

“I like that plan!” Megumin agreed immediately, grinning broadly at the idea of more imminent violence, even if she’d just been threatening Arnes. 

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Yunyun said hesitantly, glancing at Kazuma. “Y-you’re the leader. W-what do you think?”

Kazuma considered that, then said, “I think they invented radios for a reason. Let’s call base and let them decide.”

The suggestion was so sensible that it took everyone else by surprise, but they all agreed to Kazuma’s suggestion. The next step was to find a suitable location to place a call, but as Spoke was a major transportation center, they didn’t have to go far: Just back to the train station, where a direct line to Axel was located. 

Despite the fact that they were at war, the day-to-day business of ruling went on. The worst part was, with Tina, Claire, Kazuma, and Dust’s crew gone, Iris didn’t have the people she trusted most to delegate matters to. Thankfully, ShopWiz was after all a hierarchical organization, and Wiz had experience running it. That meant that smaller matters could be attended to by lower level managers, while only the issues of direst need made it up to Iris. 

Still, considering how great the current crisis was, that left a lot of matters to attend to. At first, Iris had thought she could rely both on Wiz and Aqua to help her, but she was rapidly being disabused of the notion that Aqua could run and manage a fast food truck, let alone a nascent nation. 

“Look, you’re just worrying about this too much! So what if the power goes off? If it does, just take a name, you were working too hard anyway!” Aqua said brightly.

Iris did her best not to grimace and punch her nose in frustration. “Thank you for bringing this power shortage to our attention. Currently, the highest priority must be given to the manufacturing of war materials. We shall put a prohibition on electronic entertainment, and the use of power for anything non-essential. Tell me, have you explored magical options to generate more electricity?” 

The chief engineer in charge of Axel’s power grid nodded. “We have, but lightning magic can’t just be used. It makes dirty power, or, er, it fluctuates too much. It could damage equipment. We’re working on ways to store it and clean it so that it can be put on the main grid, but that’s a lot of RnD that we haven’t had the time for.” 

“Hmm.” Iris frowned, her brow furrowing. She didn’t know all that much about how electricity was made, but… “What about using other types of magic that don’t produce electricity directly? You can use fire magic to stoke a furnace, for example.”

While Iris had a serious discussion on how to solve their critical power shortages, caused by the war that had destroyed or damaged much of their power generation ability, Aqua was using the wine in her glace to doodle on a paper napkin. Initially, Iris was just exasperated by this, but a second look brought a tear to her eye, as the goddess painted a beautiful impressionist painting of a sunny summer day. 

Then she went back to being irritated, because masterwork or not, Aqua was supposed to be helping her solve this issue, not make watercolors. 

In the end, the Engineering chief was doing essentially all he could, using fire, wind, water, and even earth magic to generate power in a variety of ways Iris couldn’t think of. She did assign him a new cadre of mages to help with constructing more plants, but that required specialized workers with a lot of skills, and those were in critically short supply. Still, even with her rudimentary understanding of modern industry, Iris fully grasped that you needed power, and lots of it, to fight a war. For now, she did her best to allocate that power to the most pressing needs. 

After that, Iris nudged Aqua, who crumpled up her napkin and tossed it towards the trash, the wadded ball bouncing off the rim and falling onto the floor. “Next we need to discuss how to form our newly empowered soldiers into cohesive military units.”

As soon as Iris said that, Aqua’s eyes glazed over, and Iris could immediately tell this was going to go nowhere productive. 

“...or perhaps I will speak with Miss Wiz about it,” Iris said with a heavy sigh. “Why don’t you…go check on the water purification plants.”

“Ugh, that sounds boring. I already cleaned a bunch of water. Why can’t we just stay home and watch TV? Or maybe have a party! Everyone seems so grumpy, but I bet they’d feel better if we had another party!” 

“After the battle has been won, there will be time for celebration. But laxity now would only lead to our defeat! Don’t you see that?!” Iris demanded, feeling increasingly frustrated. 

“Well, then why are we even taking laxatives? Are you having trouble pooping?” Aqua asked, clear confusion written on her face. 

If it hadn’t been grossly inappropriate for Iris to scream in frustration, she would have. As it was, she told Aqua to go make sure the water purification plant was working properly and stalked off to find Wiz. 

Thankfully, at least one person knew how to actually get things done. Wiz was currently training a cadre of new mages on the finer points of using their newfound abilities. This one was specifically a combat course, and Iris paused to watch the new recruits. A few dozen of them had been assembled in a wide cavern where ShopWiz had trained their security officers, and an entire course was laid out with buildings, mock targets of tanks, power armor, and gang bangers. The current set up was that of urban combat, the most likely scenario they were to encounter. 

They were practicing spell combinations, with one mage casting a tornado spell, and another attempting to weave in Ice Spears. They were both moderately effective Intermediate Magic on their own, but when done correctly, the combination would result in a swirling vortex of ice that could completely devastate enemy lines or tear apart buildings in short order. 

However, it required delicate control to pull off properly. Too much wind, and the ice would simply scatter uselessly. Apply the ice incorrectly, and the wind would die, leaving you with a less than impressive breeze. None of the new mages were having much success, so Wiz stepped forward again after the latest tornado blew apart.

“Watch, once more,” Wiz said, and raised her hands. A modest green tornado appeared, something that a mage of the current class could probably conjure. “Keep the winds steady, and control it. Don’t simply turn it loose. Use your mana to shave and weave the winds in a tight formation.”

Then Wiz began to conjure up spears of ice, and delicately wove them into the tornado. “You don’t want your first few to simply fly out. You have to shoot them in at an angle so that they’re absorbed, and their essence begins to move with the wind.”

After a dozen or so spears had been merged with the tornado changed from bright green to icy blue, and grew darker and stormier. “Now, once the tornado has fully merged with the ice, keep a tight rein on it. Guide its path, then let it loose!”

The vortex proceeded down the road of the course, ripping up asphalt and leaving a path of blue ice behind it. At a gesture from Wiz, the tornado began to launch massive spears of ice that utterly devastated a line of mock tanks and infantry, then leveled a building. 

Iris found herself impressed by the demonstration: Not by the devastation, but by the level of control on display. She knew from experience that Wiz could have used a single spell to cause that level of carnage, but to have such fine control to not only infuse a vortex but then also set it on a careful path…what would have happened if Wiz had been using Advanced spells, instead of simple Intermediate magic? 

The recruits started practicing again, and Iris signaled to Wiz, who smiled and hurried over to the observation deck at the rear of the training facility. Upon arrival, Wiz bobbed a quick curtsy. “Yes, your Majesty.”

“An impressive display, General,” Iris said, nodding to the battlefield. 

Wiz winced. “I…I do not claim the title of General any longer, your Majesty. I was never much of one to begin with.”

“Really? I know you were on the side of humanity at the end, but how exactly did you earn the title of ‘General’ from the Devil King?” Iris asked curiously. 

Wiz’s eyes grew distant as she gazed out at the struggling mages, her pale face sorrowful. “It…it was when I was newly raised as a lich. That is another long tale, but, ah, I did not become a lich in the usual manner. Vanir, he…forced me. I wished to simply die, but he pulled out my heart and fed me the blood of an innocent. I was weak, and to end my own pain, I completed the ritual. When I awoke, I found myself an Unlife Queen, a walking abomination.”

“I tried to find my old companions, but they drove me off, fearing what I had become. I tried to hide in human civilization, but my mere presence brought the dead back, and I was forced to wander in the wilderness for a time.”

“Then, I heard the Devil King was rounding up civilians and simply killing them en masse to create undead hosts. Outraged, I decided my unlife was already worthless, and launched an assault on his castle when he and all his Generals were gathered there.”

“You found people willing to work with you? Other outcasts from human society?” Iris asked curiously.

Wiz blushed and shook her head ever so slightly. “Ah, no. I…acted alone. I did end up seizing control of a sizable portion of the Devil King’s undead, but ah…well. That was an accident. No, instead, I attacked on my own. I thought I would perish. Instead, I killed the lich Verdia, destroying his phylactery. Then I subdued Beldia, Hans, and Seresdina, though I wasn’t able to kill them. After that, I faced the Devil King in single combat.”

Iris’ eyebrows rose as Wiz recounted the story, and the lich hastily clarified, “I-I never fought him! I, um, well, I was running out of mana and was already quite injured. Um, the Devil King…offered me a position to replace Verdia. And I…I decided I did not want to die. I could see that he would surely triumph, and not even the few remaining gods could stop him. So…I accepted. On the condition that I would be put in charge of the human prisoners. He thought I meant to use them as undead, but, ah…”

“But you preserved them instead,” Iris said, nodding slowly. She sighed, resting a hand on her sword. “And now…I must ask you the same thing. How would you preserve our forces, while waging war on the enemy?”

“I was never much for strategy, or tactics beyond myself,” Wiz admitted. “I will follow your lead, your Majesty, but there is little I can actually tell you about running an army. I always delegated such matters.”

“What about running your corporation? Surely that has given you some organizational insight?” Iris prompted. 

“Ah…” Wiz flushed, looking embarrassed. “Well, you see…it took me several centuries, but I did eventually learn that my business sense is…lacking. I’m afraid that while in part my shrinking Empire was due to my focus on helping those in my care and finding a way to restore the world…the real problem was that I am not a very good businesswoman.”

“Right,” Iris said, gritting her teeth. “Is there any insight you can give me?”

“Yes. The same lesson I had to learn: You cannot do everything, and there are some things you would do poorly. Delegate them to those who would do a good job. I might lack business sense, but I do have a good judge of character. I can tell you several individuals who would do well as your own advisors in military matters,” Wiz said.

Slowly, Iris nodded, setting aside her anger. “That is good advice. I would greatly appreciate seeing a list of such candidates at your earliest convenience.”

“I’ll see to it right away, but my first suggestion would be Aloerina: She was in charge of my special ops division, and she is very good at both training troops and in assessing a situation and knowing what missions to undertake, and how to plan them. She’ll need some adjustment to having magical troops, but she’s a quick learner,” Wiz stated, pulling up a dossier on her data pad and showing it to Iris.

A quick glance over showed a scared and seriously looking woman who was rather young for the position, being only in her mid-30s. That said, she had an impressive record of dozens of successful operations and plenty of frontline combat experience. 

“She looks like an excellent candidate. Thank you, Lady Wiz,” Iris said, feeling a faint ray of hope. At last, another competent subordinate. She was regretting sending so many of her trusted servants away, especially Claire, who had a knack for organization and tossing out on their ear anyone who was going to waste Iris’ time. 

Somewhat heartened, Iris made a video call to Aqua, to check in on her. A moment later, the goddess picked up, and Iris could feel steam coming out of her ears. 

“Yo, what up, Irizzle! You gonna hit up this party or what!” Aqua laughed, winking at the camera. Instead of her (rather immodest) costume from earlier, now Aqua was dressed in a bikini, sunglasses, and a colorful inflated plastic innertube shaped like a giant beer bottle. She had another regular beer bottle in her hands, and loud cheering music was playing. Apparently, Aqua had turned the water reservoir into a pool party, and various people were splashing and playing in the water. 

“Aqua, what are you DOING?!” Iris demanded. “That’s our drinking water!” 

“Oh yeah, well, it was like, super toxic. Way more than the regular water even! If I didn’t know better, I’d say-”

“GET OUT OF THE DRINKING WATER! WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR A PARTY, WE HAVE WORK TO DO!” Iris screamed, clutching her phone in both hands. How DARE this moron not only fail at her task, but actually make more work for everyone?

Instead of screaming back, Aqua started crying. “W-why are you yelling?! I’m purifying the water and keeping it from getting icky again! I was just bored so I told my friends to come have fun and cheer them up!”

“You cannot SWIM in drinking water! It contaminates it! Get everyone out of the pool and FIX THIS!” Iris snapped, then shut off the phone before she completely lost it. She then composed a hasty message to Wiz.

Dear Miss Wiz,

Please forward a list of candidates who would be most adept at goddess babysitting. While Lady Aqua can be a great asset, if someone does not watch her at all times, she rapidly becomes a liability. If you cannot find someone immediately, see to it yourself.

Signed, Her Royal Highness, Iris Stylish Sword Belzerg

There was only a few seconds before another reply came. 

（>﹏<）So sorry! I will c 2 it rit now! (つ﹏⊂)

Iris accidentally crushed her phone and growled in irritation. The next thing she was going to do was put out a memo on appropriate communication on business related matters. While the emojis were very cute, Iris did not want cute, she wanted results. Cute could come if they were simply chatting. Not when she had a goddess compromising their water supply. 

The fact that they only had a water supply because of said goddess was the only reason Iris wasn’t ready to strangle Aqua. 

“Your Majesty? Priority call for you,” a timid looking aid said, poking his head in and trembling slightly. 

Groaning, Iris straightened up and smiled. “Sorry, Damien. I am not cross with you. Please, who is the call from?”

“Kazuma Sato, your Highness. It’s about the Spoke mission,” her aide said nervously. Iris felt horribly guilty. Her training had covered never showing your anger in front of servants, nor taking it out on them. It was one thing to chew out a powerful retainer, it was another to harass the maid. A retainer, while still beneath you, had power and responsibility. A maid was unworthy and undeserving of the ire of royalty. 

“Put him through, I shall take the call here,” Iris said, and handed Damien the phone. “Please see to it that this is replaced. I was careless with it.”

Damien held up the phone with two holes punched through it where Iris’ thumbs had been, and winced. “Of course, Majesty.”

Then he scurried off, though he did put the call through on one of the screens nearby. Fascinating, how this communications technology worked, and very useful. 

A few moments later, Kazuma’s face appeared on the monitor. “Yo, what’s up, little sis?”

Despite herself, Iris smiled. “I am well, Big Brother. However, this is not the time for pleasantries. How fares the mission?”

“Ugh, way to kill the mood. Well, uh, it’s a good news/bad news situation. Which one do you want first?” Kazuma said with a dopey grin that so reminded Iris of her elder brother Jatice. 

Still, this did not hearten Iris, and she grimaced. “Bad news first.”

“Basically everyone’s gone. Seems like they’ve been kidnapped and mind-controlled by Seresdina and Vanir working together for some weird magic ritual. We’ve found like, twenty survivors in the whole city. Might be a few more, but not a lot,” Kazuma said. 

Heart sinking, Iris nodded. “That is dire news indeed. Please tell me there is actually some good news…”

“Well, that depends,” Kazuma said, and Iris felt like crying. Then he adjusted the camera. “How does four more Crimson Demons sound?”

Iris blinked in shock, then grinned hugely, pressing her face close to the screen as red eyed teens in mage robes waved sheepishly at her. 

“Do we bow?” a tall boy in his late teens asked, looking worried. 

“Meh. I don’t,” Megumin opined, leaning on her sword and shrugging. 

“That sounds…like an almost worthy trade,” Iris said, feeling light headed as a sense of relief flooded her. “The loss of an entire city’s worth of people is tragic, but four Crimson Demons? Can…can they use magic?”

“Intermediate only, so we’ll have to level grind them so they can do it properly,” Kazuma explained. “But that’s not all.”

“Truly?” Iris said, feeling whiplash as she feared for the worst now. “What else?”

“Your Majesty.” The camera panned again to show, of all things, a female archfiend with long goat horns and flaming red hair, who bowed seriously, fist to chest. “I am Arnes, Archfiend in service to the Fallen Goddess Wolbach. In light of my mistresses…condition…I offer you the fielty of the Cat’s Eye Group and myself, in exchange for your assistance in restoring Lady Wolbach.”

Carefully closing her jaw, Iris cooly nodded. “A gracious offer. Though I must ask, what is the ‘condition’ of General Wolbach?”

Tears suddenly filled the Archfiend’s eyes, and she fell to her knees. “Please, your Majesty! I will do anything to get my precious Lady Wolbach back! Even if it costs me my life, I am your humble servant if only you-”

“Nyyaaa~!”

A cute black kitten with an odd red marking on its forehead was shoved into the pick up. “She got turned into a cat. A curse or something,” Kazuma said. “Sorry, Arnes gets all weepy and dramatic about this stuff.”

“Oh.” Iris considered that, then asked, “What is your opinion on the matter, Sir Sato?”

“Help them out. If we can get a whole Corporation’s assets behind us, huge win. We not only take out a whole entire enemy group, they ally with us? Hell yeah! Plus, whatever this ritual thing the Revengers and Masked Media are doing sounds real bad. If we can save those people and stop it, that’s only good for us, right?” Kazuma said, turning the camera back on himself. 

“What would that entail?” Iris asked, her mind racing. It was worth a great deal to get the forces of General Wolbach on her side. Though breaking the curse on the General was a gamble that could turn on them, stopping the plans of Seresdina and Vanir was to their profit. Even if they simply encouraged a war between the three generals, that still benefited her own forces. 

“Going to Revenger territory and breaking up the ritual, seeing if that breaks the curse. If not, we give the kitty to Aqua and see what she can do. If not, Yunyun gets a cute pet.”

“Nooooo!” Arnes wailed. “Mistress!”

“Oh relax, I was kidding,” Kazuma grumbled. He sighed and shook his head. “It’s your call, Iris.”

“I am inclined to agree with you,” Iris said after only a short pause. “At the very least, a ritual that Vanir and Seresdina conduct could have ruinous consequences. That must be stopped if at all possible. Restoring Wolbach is of much lesser import, but getting the aid of her forces is the top priority. Do what needs to be done. I trust you, Kazuma.”

“Alright,” Kazuma nodded and gave her a thumbs up. “We’ll handle it. How are things back in Axel?”

“We are making do. But I miss you,” Iris said, feeling terribly lonely for an agonizing moment. 

“Yeah, me too. Listen, we’ll fix this problem and get back soon. Call you again when we get an update. Love you.”

“I love you too, brother,” Iris whispered.

Then the line went dead, and she felt all alone in the vast world once more.