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“What is this thing that humans call love ?” Asked a woman sporting the World Police attire to the Millennium Tree.
Of course, the Millennium Tree didn’t respond, as trees usually do.
However, this was no ordinary tree, and the woman who asked was no ordinary lady, even by World Police standards. She hit the trunk with her fists, though not as hard as her master was used to. Rather, it was more similar to knocking on a door. “Michaella! Don’t fall asleep. You are not Lord Held.”
“Waaa, sorry Gumillia.” The Millenium Tree woke up and attended the request of her fellow disciple. “You know, it’s very hard to stay awake in this body, there are just so many things to pay attention to!”
The green haired woman scoffed. “Elluka was right, you are getting lazy…”
“So hurtful!” The Millenium Tree complained. “Anyways, what were you saying?”
“I was asking if you knew what this thing is that humans call “love”?”
“Ohhh, has little Gumillia found someone she likes?” The tree asked coquettishly. If Michaella had eyelashes she would have fluttered them. Sadly trees didn’t have eyelashes, or eyes for that matter, so he just moved her leaves as coquettishly as she could and hoped Gumillia would get the message.
“How am I supposed to know that if I don’t know what love is.” Gumillia, blunt as ever, pointedly ignored her teasing.
“Ahhh, that’s true.” Michaella conceded “I was like that too before, you know, before I met her . My beloved Clarith. She taught me what love was.”
Gumillia raised an eyebrow. “The Netsuma girl?”
“Yes!” If trees could jump of happiness, Michaella would have done so. “She was so beautiful, so kind… and when she laughed her cheeks made the cutest expression!”
But as excited as Michaella was, Gumillia was still skeptical. “So being in love is thinking someone else is beautiful, kind and has a cute expression?” The person who was in Gumillia’s mind was very beautiful, but as for kind or cute… those were not exactly the words to describe her.
So in the end, perhaps it wasn’t “love” at all…
“That’s right! I mean, kind of…” at seeing Gumillia’s gloomy expression, Michaella couldn’t help but try to cheer her up. “That’s how I felt about Clarith anyways. But I think there are many ways love can look like. Before, lots of couples came to ask for my blessing and they came in all shapes and sizes! Sometimes there were two men, sometimes they were both elphes and sometimes people of different races, people also came from different ages and social classes and they all asked me to bless their love. So in the end, perhaps “love” is a thing that is particular to every couple, don’t you think?”
“Mhm.” Gumillia simply said. “And how could you tell the difference between how you felt about Clarith and Elluka or me, or even the Freezis girl?”
“Well… you all are people I love a lot, but it’s not the same thing. With Clarith… I wanted to stay with her forever. You and Elluka were dear friends, but even though I missed you two when I went to Elphergot… I still could live with that, you know? But after meeting Clarith and spending so much time with her, all I wanted to do was to be near her at all times, to protect her and to see her smile for as long as I possibly could. Everything she did was perfect to me. She’s a person I would wait for however long is necessary, even if it is forever. And, oh! I got butterflies in my stomach when I made her laugh! When she was happy, I was happy too. I still get this little happy feeling when I think of her, even after all these years.”
“You shouldn’t eat butterflies.” Gumillia responded. “You’ll get sick.”
“Geez, I know, it’s a human expression.” And it wasn’t like Michaella could eat much of anything these days. “Now that I’m a popular pilgrimage spot, I’m getting all caught up with the latest human lingo.”
Gumillia stared at her blankly.
“I’m cool with the youths!”
Gumillia’s expression didn’t change.
“Stop bullying me!” Michaella complained. “I’m going to sleep now…”
Said and done, Gumillia could no longer hear Michaella’s voice. Trees could do little but sleep it seemed. She didn’t really understand why she was so bothered, but then again, their conversation had raised more questions than answers.
Reminiscing of Michaella’s words under her breath, Gumillia picked up her hat and headed to Aceid. “A person you would wait for as long as it’s necessary, even if it’s forever, uh.”
But she already spent most of her time as a human with that person. Ever since reincarnating, she had followed her and never been too far. The one time they were separated by forces beyond their power, she had searched for her tirelessly and worked hard to be powerful enough to take her back. Right now, they were separated again but for much more agreeable reasons. And even so, they sent letters to each other constantly and were very aware of where the other was and, when the time came, they were sure to continue their journey together again.
But was that “love”? Now that Michaella was asleep, there was nobody else Gumillia could ask.
Unless…
“Lady Heidemarie!” Inside the police station, a familiar voice greeted Gumillia. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“What is it?” She asked, and when she received no response, she asked again. “What is it, Ayn?”
Poor Ayn seemed very flustered by her presence. Odd, given that they were coworkers. “Oh, it’s… nothing. But there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
The way he was sweaty and erratic was a little gross for Gumillia. But he couldn’t help it, humans something got like that. “Are you ill?” She asked, placing her hand on his forehead. It wasn’t especially feverish though, odd.
This only made Ayn’s condition get worse. “A-ah! Lady Heidemarie!” he jumped, “I’d like to talk with you somewhere private, if possible.”
How troublesome. Gumillia thought. “How troublesome.” She said.
“I-I’m sorry… but it’s really important!”
“Just say it then.” Gumillia did not understand anything at all. How troublesome humans are.
“Lady Heidemarie!” He all but shouted, to Gumillia’s distaste. “I like you! Please go out with me!”
This, Gumillia was not expecting. Her eyes opened wide and she stayed quiet for a few seconds. Was this what humans called “love”? Was Ayn offering her “love”?
“...lady Heidemarie?” seeing her fixed perplexed expression, Ayn tried to approach her. “It’s… it’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. I understand.”
“Okay.” Gumillia said finally.
“A-ah, then sorry to bother you.” Ayn’s expression was sad, like a kicked puppy.
“Let’s date.” Gumillia clarified her previous statement.
“You don’t have to… wait, what?” Ayn asked. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“A-ah…” Ayn could not contain his excitement. This time he actually screamed. “YES! THANK YOU LADY HEIDEMARIE!”
This bothered Gumillia, who preferred peace and quiet. She hoped this would help her understand “love”, even a little bit.
Ayn hugged her tightly, which she barely recipro cated. Distantly, she wondered if the post office was still open. It had been a long time since she'd heard from her “sister” and she was starting to miss her.
A week later, Gumillia concluded her experiments with love weren’t going anywhere.
“I never had any feelings for you, so I’m breaking up with you. We can still keep in touch if you’d like.”
Ayn looked like a ton of porcelain plates had been shattered against his head. He didn’t exactly respond, but made a barely audible asphyxiated sound.
Gumillia had things to do, so she turned her back and left. Before closing the door, she turned around and asked: “Do you have any new leads on the “Fifth, Pierrot” case?”
Ayn, who looked like he’d been shocked to near death and then released just recently, managed to say a few words. “I heard Lady Hanne found a lead on Toragay… I’m not sure though…”
Hearing that name, Gumillia’s eyes shone bright, though her expression didn't change. “Thank you for the information.” She said before closing the door and leaving definitely.
“We’re going to have to hide our identities for a while.” That’s what Elluka– Gumillia’s master– had said.
Naturally, she nodded and said nothing more of it. As always, Gumillia was loyal to any command of Elluka’s. It had been like that ever since she reincarnated as a human.
After talking about it with Lord Shaw Freezis, they decided to take on the identities of his deceased granddaughters, Hanne and Heidemarie. It was an awfully advantageous position, with the Freezis house by their side, they could basically do whatever they wished for in Evillious. Acquiring the Vessels of Sins would be much easier now with an international web of agents at their disposal.
But to do that, they had to change their appearances, or at least Elluka had to. The Lorre sisters were supposed to be Elphes, and even though that was no issue for Gumillia, who already had the face of a beautiful elphe woman, Elluka, who inhabited Lukana Octo’s body as she had for the past six hundred years, was not that lucky.
So they had to prepare a disguise.
“You know, back in my day there used to be this powerful witch who had the power of hypnosis. If we could learn a technique like that, we wouldn’t have to bother with this” Elluka was complaining because, in principle, she didn’t like taking baths. Though her current bath was the most ideal bath she could ever imagine: in the fancy Freezis mansion with warm water, all the most expensive products money could offer and, most importantly, Gumillia washing her hair for her as well.
“Mhm.” Gumillia added mindlessly. She had to clean Elluka’s hair before applying the green tincture that would help her pass as Elphe, after that, turning one’s eyes green was just a matter of simple color spell.
“Honestly, I have infinite time and I still think bathing is a waste of it.” The witch of endlessness continued. “And who even cares about smells? When you are as busy as I am, those things are simply irrelevant.”
“Mhm.” Gumillia said again, though she was listening. In fact, she was thinking that she liked Elluka’s smell and basically everything else about her. When she turned into a human, the first thing she perceived with all her senses was Elluka and back then she smelled like dirt and grass, two of Gumillia’s favorite things. Now she smelled like lavender soap and pomegranate shampoo, which were quickly becoming Gumillia’s favorite smells too.
“Are you listening, Gumillia?” Elluka stood up from the bath and faced her apprentice. When doing so, her silky and long pink hair fell down to her midriff and the little accumulations of foam that had formed from the soap slided down her pale skin.
Gumillia thought that, even though she had lived for six hundred years, Elluka was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.
She didn’t know why, but she blushed. And when she did, she became awfully aware of it, like she shouldn’t be caught staring at her master. So even though she didn’t know why she was so embarrassed, she looked away.
This intrigued Elluka. “Is something wrong? I thought forest spirits would have no trouble with naked bodies. Though this is the first time we’ve bathed together…”
“It’s not that…” Gumillia tried to argue. “Your hair is ready, let me apply the tincture.”
Taking pity in her poor student’s sorry estate, Elluke decided to drop the topic. “Fine.” She turned around. “Just make sure I look beautiful.”
Heidemarie met Hanne with the barrel of a gun.
It was accidental, of course, but it had made Elluka flinch. Gumillia’s savage tactics were known all across Evillious, but Elluka never imagined she’d end in the bad side of it.
She dropped the gun and called her name. “Hanne.”
“Hello, sister .” Elluka greeted. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
In the Hellish Yard, the souls had found a new master.
Two masters, to be precise. A forest spirit and a mask who decided who was allowed to go to heaven and who should remain in hell given their sins.
The Hellish yard smelled like sulfur and brimstone, very unlike the dirt and grass that Gumillia liked.
There was also nobody to have civil conversations with, despite being constantly surrounded by people. They either left too soon or were too angry about being sentenced to hell, so they never made small talk. The other person she could talk to was… unpleasant, at best.
“You know I can hear your thoughts, right?” The mask complained about his owner’s rudeness.
“Shhhh. I’m thinking.”
“I know. You think very loudly.”
“It’s because I’m thinking about something important.”
“Yeah like what?” This actually piqued Seth’s interest; it wasn’t often that Gumillia bothered to continue conversing with him.
Many thoughts were boiling inside Gumillia’s head, but most importantly, she remembered her conversation with Michaella so many years ago. “Do you know what this thing that human’s call “love”?”
Seth was flabbergasted. “Are you serious?”
“I am.”
Gumillia’s response took him by surprise. Of course he had never much reflected on the meaning of love, less of all felt it himself, even if it had been a useful component to some of his plans. “Well… objectively speaking, it’s a chemical reaction installed in human’s brains to get them to breed and therefore reproduce the species.”
Gumillia gave a small condescending laugh. “Oh, but you’re wrong.”
The brilliant scientist of the Second Period took offense to this, but there wasn’t much he could do without a body. “And what might it be, then?”
“It’s about waiting.” Gumillia simply said before another poor, unfortunate soul crossed their path in search of judgement.