I Became a Raid Boss-Chapter 250: This is just an alliance this time

There’s a novel called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

It’s a story about a girl named Alice, who chases a rabbit and falls down its hole, embarking on an adventure in a strange land.

The person in front of me—

“Tsk!”

...The name Alice was taken from the protagonist of that novel.

"So why Alice of all names?"

"Oh, that?"

When I suddenly asked this question, Da-eun answered.

"I was thinking of giving her a Korean name, but it didn’t seem to fit. So, I was wondering if there were any good Western names. At first, I thought of giving her a name similar to Kanna’s, but—"

"Ugh... No."

"Yeah, I thought you’d say that, so I didn’t. Then, since she was supposed to be a person who serves the gods, I considered a religious-sounding name, but that didn’t seem to fit either. Then, I suddenly thought of Alice in Wonderland. Doesn’t the situation seem kind of similar?"

"Really?"

I tilted my head.

I’ve never read the original novel, but it’s so famous that I know the general plot.

Maybe I read it long ago, but that’s not really important, so I’ll skip over that.

So, I could understand why Da-eun made that comparison.

Chasing a rabbit and falling into a hole and crossing into another world are pretty similar, right?

But there’s an important difference.

"The place they ended up in is the complete opposite."

In the novel, Alice fell into Wonderland, but this "Alice" didn’t end up in Wonderland.

It’s more like she came from Wonderland, to be honest.

"That’s true, but still, both of them left their own worlds and embarked on an adventure in a new one. And from Alice’s point of view, our world might seem strange."

"I know this one. It’s the phrase ‘the tail is bigger than the belly,’ right?"

"...Huh?"

"Or should I say, 'interpreting a dream better than the dream itself'?"

"I guess the latter is more accurate..."

Da-eun muttered, then suddenly snapped out of it.

"...Wait! Are you trying to force a connection?"

"But Da-eun, you just agreed that 'interpreting a dream better than the dream itself' fits better."

"I didn’t agree! I just said it made more sense in that context!"

"Anyway, stop thinking about it like that."

While Da-eun and I were arguing, a voice came from the other side of the office.

"Stop fighting and get to the point, would you?"

"This isn’t a fight!"

"Kanna, love doesn’t always mean romantic love. It can be used for relationships between parents and children, siblings, friends, and so on."

"...I know."

"Really? Then why... Oh, wait!"

Da-eun abruptly stopped talking, seemingly realizing something, and covered her mouth.

Seeing her eyes wide open in shock, I quickly spoke.

"Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not what you think, so stop."

"Kanna, don’t you love your sister...?!"

Of course, Da-eun wasn’t the type to stop just because I said that.

Her face twisted as if she was about to burst into tears.

"You were lying when you said you love me!"

"When did I ever say that?"

"You said, 'I’m so happy living with my sister!'"

"So, when did I say that?"

"Then, you don’t like living with me?"

"...It’s not that I don’t like it. I’m just asking when I ever said that..."

"You don’t like it?!"

"..."

I turned my head to avoid Da-eun’s persistent gaze.

"...I do like it, but I never said those words."

"Hehe."

"I told you, go have your love fight at home."

Creak.

With a voice sharp like thorns, Edel pushed her chair back and stood up.

Edel’s face, which had been buried in paperwork, looked just as tired as Da-eun’s earlier.

"Do even gods feel tired?"

"Don’t ask ridiculous questions and sit down."

...I was just curious, but I swallowed my complaint and quietly sat on the sofa.

I sat on the opposite side of where Alice was sitting.

As I did, Da-eun’s eyes widened.

"Ah? Kanna, you can’t sit there!"

"...? What’s wrong?"

Did I sit on something?

I stood up and checked, but all I could see was smooth leather.

Looking at Da-eun in confusion, she shouted.

"It’s cuter when we sit together!"

"..."

I grabbed a cookie from the table and ate it.

"Ah, this is good."

"Right? I’ve had it too, and it’s delicious."

"Do dimensionals eat stuff like this?"

"Just because I have a staple food doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy snacks."

"I guess."

"...Are you ignoring me?!"

I haven’t completely let my guard down around Alice.

But right now, there’s no sign of aggression, and since this is the base and the most powerful force is gathered here, I didn’t feel the need to be overly cautious.

So I casually chatted with Alice.

"I thought you’d be all tied up with ropes and thrown into some warehouse. Seems like you’ve been treated decently."

"Honestly, it’s way better than where I was before. At least here, I’m not starving."

"Tsk. What kind of parasite did you pick up?"

Edel clicked her tongue as though she didn’t like it.

Alice’s soul is twisted, so she can’t store energy.

To put it metaphorically, it’s like pouring water into a bottomless barrel.

The problem is, this barrel isn’t just bottomless.

It’s absurdly large, so it consumes water at an enormous rate. And if you refuse to give it water because it seems wasteful, it’ll suddenly turn into a jar full of gunpowder.

What else can be done?

Even if the water keeps leaking, you can’t help but keep filling it.

And judging by Edel’s reaction, it seems like Edel is the one filling the barrel.

Despite Edel’s ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) prickly response, Alice calmly sipped her tea.

"Parasite? That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think? I gave useful information too."

"If it wasn’t for that, you’d have been kicked out long ago."

"Well, it doesn’t seem like your concern, though."

Hmm.

I chewed on the cookie while watching Alice and Edel converse.

"They get along well."

By coincidence, Da-eun, sitting next to me, shared my thought.

One of them is growling, and the other acts like they don’t care but secretly enjoys teasing.

It might seem like an odd way to get along, but actually, their relationship is more like that of an aggressor and a victim. It wouldn’t be surprising if they fought to the death.

So, if they’re peacefully bickering, I guess that means they get along.

"Even if you kick her out—"

"Enough, let’s get to the point."

Before Alice could finish speaking, Edel abruptly interrupted.

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The conversation was cut off, but Alice didn’t seem upset at all as she sipped her tea.

"After consulting with the manager, we’ve decided to accept this one’s offer."

"Yeah. I expected that."

It wasn’t surprising since I expected this exact outcome.

If it were any other way, we wouldn’t be sitting so comfortably on the sofa.

"Well, as you know, let’s go over it again. This one agreed to help us with stopping the dimensionals... Basically, 'help' means providing us with information, force, and any cooperation necessary for defense... Right?"

"Yeah."

"Seems like a vague but favorable condition for us. It’s almost surprising that we accepted it."

"We made the conditions broad so that we can handle any situation. If you’re here to help, you should do at least that much, right?"

"Who’s saying anything about that? I just think it’s surprising."

"Are you worried about me? How sweet."

"Me? Worried about you?"

I wasn’t going to entertain her delusions.

With a sarcastic grin, Alice chuckled.

"It’s nice to see you disgusted."

"...Wasn’t that your personality until just recently?"

"I’ve had my hunger somewhat satisfied now. Well, I’m still hungry though."

Edel stuck out her tongue and looked at Alice in disgust.

"And now, we’re going to keep giving this one energy and help 'restore' the Pandemonium world. As for that—"

"...Wait. Hold on."

I cut off Edel’s smoothly flowing words.

Did I hear that wrong?

"Help restore the world?"

When we met on the island, Alice asked for help to prevent herself from turning into a monster, or rather, to stop her mother’s blood from being tainted. She never mentioned anything about restoring a world.

Da-eun’s shocked face told me I wasn’t mistaken.

While we were both confused by the sudden scale of this, Edel simply shrugged her shoulders as if nothing was wrong.

"There’s nothing to be surprised about. If we want to solve the root problem, we’ll have to do this."

"Think about it," Edel started, her tone casual.

"They won’t stop invading just because we fend them off a few times. If they were the type to give up after a few failures, they would have stopped long ago. As long as we don’t pull out the roots, their invasion will never stop."

"'We' can't survive without doing this. Whether we die from failed invasions or starvation, it's all the same. So there's no reason for us not to invade. Of course, not every one of them thinks that deeply or acts with such purpose."

"I get that, but... restoring, not destroying?"

That part puzzled me.

If they were really thinking of uprooting the invasion, they could simply destroy the world. But since they’re talking about 'restoring,' it raised the question.

Destruction and reconstruction.

When you think about it, usually the latter is much more difficult.

"You're right," Edel nodded.

"Usually, that is."

She added that last part as a side note.