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Next to the unconscious Ugu, Mond kept calling his name, unable to find a way to help.

Mond: “Ugu! Ugu… Oh no, Ugu, what am I going to do…”

The “Purple Cloak,” who had been watching the Baraks, called out to the “Brown Cloak.”
Pad: “Rotar!”
Rotar: “What?”
Pad: “Rotar, do bugs ever help each other out?”
Rotar: “What nonsense. Bugs don’t do that. Let’s just finish this.”
Pad: “That’s what I thought too… but look at them. Doesn’t that seem strange?”
Rotar: “You’re just imagining things. I’m not exactly busy, but should I finish them off here, Pad?”
[He stretches]
Pad: “Hmm… No. I’ll take care of it.”
Rotar: “…Fine.”

Pad pushed aside his uneasy feeling and stretched out his arms toward the Baraks. This time, unlike before, he created a white sphere tinged faintly with purple. He made the sphere a little larger and was about to hurl it at the Baraks when—

Pad: “No… this isn’t right.”

He altered the sphere’s nature instead, lifted the massive, fallen Barak, Ugu, and tried to move him far away.

Pad: “Even so, he’s not trying to save himself… That’s admirable. This time, I’ll let you live. Yes, live.”

Somehow, he felt he had no choice. It was a mysterious feeling he could not explain.

[Pad’s sudden decision on this day would, in the future, bring about tremendous consequences within the fiercest whirlwind of history.]

Mond followed after Ugu, who floated gently through the air. Out of worry, he desperately called Ugu’s name again and again.

Mond: “Ugu, Ugu~ Wake up, Ugu~”
Pad: “…Look at that. Why is he doing that?”

Rotar, having noticed EAT trapped beneath Ugu’s severed foreleg, tossed the limb aside.

EAT, who had lost consciousness, slowly regained his senses and opened his eyes moments later. Rotar, who had been watching him, waited, and once he saw EAT awake, he approached.

As EAT’s mind cleared, so too did his memory.
EAT: “Ah! I… I have to run!”

Unaware of this, Rotar politely addressed him.
Rotar: “Greetings, Sir EAT! I serve under Commander-in-Chief Olpin—”

But before Rotar could finish, EAT frantically bolted.
EAT: “Now’s my chance! I have to get to the forest!”

Rotar and Pad watched him scamper away.
Rotar: “Excuse me~”

He called once more, but EAT, as if possessed, ran on without listening. In the end, Rotar formed a small sphere at his fingertip and sent it flying toward EAT. [He had no choice.]

The sphere shot toward EAT, who was crawling forward with all his strength and desperation. The small sphere expanded, spun rapidly, and engulfed him.

As if trapping him inside a bubble, the sphere began to contract.
EAT: “Aaaagh! What is this! What’s happening? Quak, Qwehl, Qwaet! Wehl!”
[The sound of being vacuum-compressed inside a bubble]

EAT was squeezed like a vacuum-packed object. Rotar waited for him to calm down, for his composure to return.

…
Rotar: “The ‘Red Rooster,’ Sir EAT~ Greetings! It is an honor to meet you for the first time. We are Rotar and Pad, direct subordinates of Lord Polun.”
EAT: “Pwehl?”
Rotar: “It’s an honor! We’ve heard you are a legend.”
EAT: “Qwaet?”
Rotar: “We came because Lord Polun wishes to meet you. So we came ahead to greet you first.”
EAT: “Wehl!!”
Rotar: “…I beg your pardon?”
EAT: “Qwelb!!!!”
Rotar: “Then… what shall we do? Should we arrange the meeting now?”
EAT: “Yelb! Yelb!”
Rotar: “Yes? …Ah, I see. Then we will make preparations.”

Rotar simultaneously released the force that had been compressing EAT.
EAT: “Pwaaah… Gasp… Gasp…”

Rotar and Pad stepped back, bowing low in greeting.

Even in this chaotic moment, Pad’s thoughts were consumed by the Baraks’ strange behavior.
Pad: [Hmm… Why?]
Rotar: “Then we shall bring forth the Commander-in-Chief of the Olpins, Lord Polun.”
Pad: [Could it be…!]

A pillar of light shot up between Rotar and Pad. The door of light opened wide to the left and right, and Polun’s silhouette appeared within. Slowly, Polun stepped through.

Golden Owl Polun—Commander-in-Chief of the Olpins. He and EAT had been friends since a time long, long, long ago.

Polun: “Oh! Look who it is? EAT, it’s me! Polun~”
[He spreads his arms wide to show his joy]

Though Polun appeared relaxed, his hurried footsteps betrayed him.

He tried to act casual, waving cheerfully to EAT, but inside he was anything but calm.

Polun struggled not to reveal his unease. EAT simply stared at him blankly.

Looking at Polun, EAT remembered the events of that day long past.
EAT: “…Polun…”

EAT looked once more at Polun, then at his own small, shabby hands.

EAT: “…The reason I’ve ended up like this… It’s all because of you, Polun.”

The moment EAT said this, Polun rushed forward and seized his hand.

Polun: “It’s not because of me… No. It’s not because of me. …It’s because of you.”
EAT: “What!?”
Polun: “Mhm~”