Good thing their side had come well prepared too.
Celestine, the goddess reincarnated, and Wridra, the Magus Dragon who had lived at least a thousand years, kept trading compliments, introducing the members of their own kind they had high hopes for, and feeling out each other's strengths and weaknesses while they were at it.
Around them, the junior members of each camp were chatting too, getting to know one another.
The dragon camp.
"Hi, hi! I'm Shea, Shea Haulia! Lady Ursula saved my whole tribe right when we were about to be wiped out, surrounded by a horde of monsters and imperial soldiers. I swore I'd follow Lady Ursula and serve Lord Hikigaya with her!"
The rabbit-eared girl Shea, with her pale blue-white hair, introduced herself full of energy to the small blonde girl beside her.
They had both been brought over by Lady Ursula, true.
But since she'd be living in another world and wouldn't be coming back anytime soon, Lady Ursula had left her a little time with her parents, and only came to take her across worlds once she'd gathered enough people.
After the mad rush to get over here, they had only just found time to sit down and talk.
"Hello, Shea... I... don't have a name..."
The blonde, expressionless girl, her face as delicate as a porcelain doll's, looked at the rabbitman girl Shea, who was still so excited even knowing she was going to serve a strange man she had never met. She was quiet for a moment, then answered softly.
"Huh?! How can you not have a name?!"
Shea's eyes went wide as she stared in shock at the expressionless blonde girl with the especially tiny body.
"Mm... I only woke up when Ursula broke my seal deep in the Great Orcus Labyrinth. I'm probably a vampire, but I lost my memory during the long seal. Ursula said that once we meet the master we're going to serve, she'll have him give me one."
The blonde vampire girl nodded her small head, her eyes a little shifty, and answered Shea's question quietly.
Actually, she hadn't lost her memory. She just didn't want to use her old name anymore.
As it happened, she had been sealed for so many years that no one knew she existed, and claiming amnesia let her dodge a lot of needless questions.
"So you lost your memory? Waaah, you poor thing... It's okay! From now on, I'll look for your memories with you!"
At that, Shea threw her arms around the vampire girl, eyes brimming with tears, stroking her smooth, dazzling long blonde hair.
Because Shea could manipulate magical power and cast magic without chanting, she'd been branded a freak, and her tribe, the Haulia (a rabbitman tribe), had been driven out as a whole by the demi-human nation. Then, in the monster-filled forest, they'd run into imperial soldiers who wanted to capture them.
If they hadn't happened to meet Lady Ursula, who had come looking for helpers, her entire tribe might have been wiped out.
That was exactly why, hearing what the blonde vampire girl said, Shea right away figured that the blonde vampire girl in front of her had probably also been branded a freak for having a special power, and that was why she'd been sealed deep in the Great Labyrinth.
Still, compared to the blonde vampire girl, her own fate was a lot happier. Her father, the tribe's chief, was still alive, and plenty of her people were still around too.
But vampires lived a long, long time. If she'd been sealed for several hundred years, then not just her parents and family, maybe even her whole people were gone.
"...I'm not crying."
"Are you so sad you can't even cry anymore?! It's! Okay! I'll cry for you!"
"..."
The rabbitman girl Shea was pressed tight against her face, not only looking at her with pity but even shedding tears for her. The blonde girl silently reached out and pushed at her, and when she found she couldn't push Shea off, she had no choice but to let Shea keep hugging her, sniffling and whimpering.
Lying to the pure, innocent Shea left her feeling a little guilty inside.
Then again, maybe only someone as innocent as Shea would be brought to this world so easily while she still had ties back home.
Shea wasn't like her, betrayed by everyone close to her, with nothing left in that world to miss...
The blonde vampire girl turned her head with an effort and gazed up, wistful, at the light screen on the side wall of the family restaurant, the one both camps were ignoring without a word between them.
She stared at the 'delicacies' on the screen being wasted on white pantyhose.
She was a vampire. By rights, she needed to drink blood to restore her mana, especially in this world without magic.
But Ursula hadn't made a blood contract with her, and hadn't given her any blood either, only a small pouch of 'delicacies' to drink. So now, seeing them waste it like that over there, she was itching to condemn the whole bunch of them for throwing away something so precious.
Too bad it wasn't her turn to take the stage yet.
'Still have to hold out, hold out, hold out...'
The elf camp.
"This is Alicia Arcturus. She's in charge of the First Fortress of the Seven Shields Alliance, and she's the knight commander of the Knights of St. Iris."
Farma, princess of the kingdom and leader of the hero party, who had come to this world a step ahead of the others, took it upon herself to introduce the members of the various factions she knew to one another.
"Nina, princess of the elves..."
"Princess Nina, one of the Seven Heroes who once defeated the Demon Lord ZERO. I've heard about your adventures. I'd love to defeat a demon lord with my own hands someday too."
Before Farma could finish, Alicia, blonde with purple eyes, stood up to show her respect for the elf princess Nina.
"I've heard of your deeds too, Alicia. Your code of chivalry is deeply admirable, and there are those among my people who respect and look up to you. If the chance comes, we can fight side by side."
Nina stood up as well and gave Alicia an earnest nod.
Alicia was the only daughter of the Arcturus family, a distinguished noble house of Eos, and was known as 'the Princess Knight of Iris.'
She hadn't earned that through her family name, but through her own strength and force of character. Her subordinates loved and respected her deeply.
Though Alicia's strength didn't rank anywhere here. She wasn't even as strong as some of the magical girls who'd been favored more.
Neither the elf princess Nina nor the princess knight Alicia cared for pleasantries, and after a quick sense of each other, neither said anything more.
Seeing that, Farma had no choice but to go on and introduce the other members who'd come to this world with Alicia.
"Prim Fiorire..."
"Kaguya..."
"Maia, formerly..."
"Luu Luu, of the half-dwarves..."
"Claudia Levantine..."
The princess knight of the First Fortress, the Princess of Flower and Moon of the Second Fortress, the mysterious shrine maiden of the Third Fortress, the mercenary boss lady of the Fourth Fortress, the half-dwarf chieftain of the Fifth Fortress, the holy knight commanders of the Sixth and Seventh Fortresses, and so on.
The commanders of all the great fortresses that had originally formed the alliance against the Dark Elf Queen were here.
Their minds, though, weren't on talking with their elf allies. Their eyes kept flicking, now and then, toward the other side of the table.
Seated across from them, the dragon camp had reinforcements of every race besides dragons.
And apart from the vampire girl, the rabbitman girl and a few human girls, the most eye-catching of those reinforcements were the dark elves, by far the largest group, all clustered together.
And at the head of these dark elves was the haughty, brown-skinned Dark Elf Queen.
That's right. This Dark Elf Queen was the very enemy the Seven Shields Alliance had originally been formed to fight, Olga Discordia!
That was also the reason they were here!
The Dark Elf Queen had come to another world with the Dragon Clan Chief in search of great power.
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