After a lengthy explanation, Bathilda and Hiro are now more clued up on this world's fate than they would like to be.

Apparently, the Demon King resurrected almost a hundred years ago. The Hero that was supposed to have trained to fight against him slacked off and ended up dying a horrific death, or so Jones' story went. Ever since, the Demon King has been going village to village, town to town and big-ass city to big-ass city, with the singular objective to end all life on the planet.

Bathilda is still unsure of the geography of her new world, but a hundred years is still a long time. No matter how big the planet is, it's still taking that crazy bastard a long time to complete the task. Not that Bathilda's complaining over trivialities.

The residents of Home don't know how many cities or towns are left out there. Magical communications shut down ten years after the Demon King's resurrection and with how dangerous the monsters have become people fear travelling further than necessary. Especially when their life is on the line every time they set foot outside the safety of their walls.

All alone in the middle of nowhere, just waiting for their own destruction. Bathilda wants to think they're crazy, but what else can they do? None of the people inside the walls of home looked particularly impressive as she was hurriedly shunned out after her aid.

Her now-trained eyes and skill-honed body let Bathilda gauge the strength of anything around her.

"I haven't even owned this lodge for that long," Bathilda sighs, much to the confusion of Jones. Hiro waves it off as an everyday occurrence.

"So how strong is the Demon King? Do you know?" Bathilda doesn't expect the sad-looking scout to know and he responds as expected.

"What about flight? Can the Demon King fly?" She suddenly asks before feeling foolish. If she can fly, then it stands to reason that the one with the grandiose title of Demon King could too.

"Erm... We're not sure. Sorry." Scout Jones shakes his head and slumps down in pre-war defeat.

"That's ok. At least the other monsters can't fly. Or most of them can't at least." Bathilda looks at the sky through the window of her lodge.

"I just... W-What? What do you mean?" Even more confused, Jones wrinkles his brow as he doesn't understand the beautiful demon's words.

"The city is safe from dangerous monsters to the east, north and west, as I destroyed the land surrounding it. All that's left is an extremely large hole in the earth. It's easily a mile long and stretches all the way around. This allows monsters to only attack you from the front of your city." Bathilda smiles at her self-proclaimed handiwork.

"I still... I don't understand? Are monsters going to attack us more often now? Is that what you're saying?"

"Come with me," Bathilda leads Scout Jones outside by the hand before she embraces him. The man goes bright red at the gesture made without consent.

"W-What are you doing?" He tries to struggle and protest. The original fear he carried with him on the way here returns fiercely as Bathilda takes off to the sky still holding firmly onto the petrified scout. Now holding onto the woman tightly, his red face has turned white.

Bathilda maintains a firm grip on Jones as she doesn't want him falling either. That's not why she brought him up here.

High in the sky above the city of his birth and life, Scout Jones finally understands what Bathilda was trying to explain. From up where the clouds live, the city of Home looks like an island surrounded by darkness. A pit, deeper than anything Jones has ever seen before, one that stretches down further than the eye can see, truly does prevent attacks from almost all directions.

Scout Jones doesn't say a word. He just stares into the darkness for a moment, remembering that the one who made the bottomless abyss is the same person who's holding onto him now.

Returning to solid ground and re-entering her large wooden home, Hiro, the woman-man, has brewed some tea and serves them three cups. Jones shakes his head at the sight he's just witnessed and flops down to the couch. He's way past terrified and is now in a state of disbelief. He drinks the sweet-tasting liquid no questions asked.

Bathilda watches Scout Jones and even though she has carried out a full examination of the man, she worries about his mental health. Not just his, but the mental wellbeing of all the citizens of Home.

Granted his state of mind right now was caused by a brief trip to the sky and back. Not to mention that the pit of death is something to see in its own right, but living with the constant fear of death must put a heavy burden on the mind state of the people that kicked me out of their city. Bathilda can't hold it against them. If she was in their position, she might just do the same.

Fortunately, Bathilda is no longer a regular human and whether that's turning out to be a good thing or a bad thing, she still identifies herself as a person. Even if she isn't.

"So, I was thinking of cultivating the land to the north of your city and rearing livestock in the east. With monsters being funnelled in from the south, it only makes sense to train the army up there. I haven't thought of anything for the West wall yet though. Maybe we could extend the perimeter, but I'm not sure." Before Scout Jones has the chance to process what he has just seen, Bathilda is already explaining what she believes to be the best course of action for him and the rest of Home.

He looks at Bathilda and then at Hiro. The first continues to talk about her ideas while the second laughs and shakes its gender-defying head. Between the two of them, the chasm now surrounding Home and the sweet-tasting flavour still lingering in his mouth, Scout Jones once again passes out on Bathilda's sofa.