Neptunia: Merc's Involvement

Chapter 43: Final Act - Four Days

Upon seeing the fox girl, Alex immediately placed a hand on the handle to his sword but the girl immediately put her hands up in defense.

"Hold it. I'm not your enemy." She said.

"Considering our last encounter, I highly doubt that." Said Alex.

"Seriously. Please, stand down. Besides I can tell you aren't even in the right state of mind for a fight. I just wanna talk."

After a few minutes, Alex sighed and let go of the handle.

"What do you want from me?" He asked.

"I was sent to look for you."

"By who?"

"My colleague."

"Your colleague, huh?" He asked while looking down, remembering that during their first encounter, the fox lady had mentioned working along with another person.

"Look, now isn't a good time okay?" He said after taking a deep sigh.

"May I ask why?"

"Because I made a critical mistake and got someone killed!" He yelled while sudenly leaning forward and looking at the girl with an irritated expression. "Not to mention that also because of me, I got the other three CPUs captured!"

The boy lowered his head and placed his hands over it to cover his eyes as his voice began breaking.

"Young boy, there's no need for you to feel guilt regarding the demise of Planeptune's CPU. She's still alive."

"What?" He said while raising his head to look at the fox girl with widened eyes.

"Planeptune's CPU is still alive."

"Bu-But how? That deep wound, and all that blood..."

"I will admit, a laceration like that is critical, even for a CPU, but the CPUs of Planeptune have always been renowned for their outstanding vitality. Neptune in particular is quite stubborn when it comes to her will to live."

The young boy went silent for a moment or two.

Normally he'd be crazy to just trust this girl's words about Neptune's condition since they were possibly too good to be true, but with the way she spoke them and the tone she spoke in, Alex felt like she was definitely saying the truth.

"Wait. More importantly, how do you know all this?" He asked as the fox girl just chuckled.

"My colleague has her ways. I got the information from her."

"I see."

After knowing of Neptune's survival, the fox girl thought for a moment that the tears he had piled up in his eyes would start running down his cheeks, but instead he lowered his head and sniffed once before wiping the tears off with his sleeve and raising his head to look at her again, this time with a stern face.

"You said that your colleague sent you to come see me, right?"

"Yes, she did."

"Why?"

It took a moment for the fox girl to began talking, but eventually she began to explain what was going on.

"My colleague is aware of what's been going on and more specifically, what had just occurred involving the CPUs capture and Neptune's injury. She fully understands the pain and guilt that you're currently going through, however she firmly believes that you're the one that can free the CPUs and take down the Deity of Sin." Explain the fox.

Alex was simply baffled at that considering recent experience would dictate otherwise.

"She must be joking right? The only reason I was able to take down the Four Felons and the Deity of Sin was because I had help from all of the CPUs. Right now, three of them are captured and one is critically hurt. It'd be me and the Candidates against Magic, Trick, and Judge. We'd be severely outmatched in strength." Said Alex.