MEMELAND

For a while nobody spoke.

The battle was over.

The surviving cultists had fled.

The alligators had disappeared.

Only the sound of flowing water remained.

Kai sat against a wall.

Andre sat on a broken crate.

Eric collapsed wherever his legs had given up.

Nobody moved.

Nobody wanted to.

Eventually Andre pointed at Kai.

"So."

Kai looked up.

"So?"

"Why are you here?"

Kai blinked.

Andre crossed his arms.

"The last thing I remember was falling into a sewer because of that red-haired woman."

"Then suddenly you're here."

"Explain."

Kai thought about it.

Then sighed.

---

He started from the beginning.

After Andre fell into the manhole.

The slums.

The secret passage.

The hidden route.

The office.

Andre listened quietly.

For almost thirty seconds.

Then Kai finally reached the important part.

"And then Alice revealed she was the Queen."

Silence.

Andre stared.

"...What?"

Kai nodded.

"Alice is the Queen."

Andre stared harder.

"The red-haired bitch?"

"Yes."

"The eyepatch?"

"Yes."

"The weird poses?"

"Yes."

"The one who made me fall into a sewer?"

"Also yes."

Andre slowly looked toward the ceiling.

As if searching for divine intervention.

"That's the queen?"

Kai nodded.

Andre looked genuinely offended.

"What kind of city elects that?"

"They didn't."

"That explains a lot."

Eric snorted.

Andre pointed dramatically.

"I almost died because royalty thought it was funny."

Kai laughed.

"I think she actually found it funny."

"Of course she did."

Andre buried his face in his hands.

"I hate this city."

---

The group rested a little longer.

Then Andre pointed toward Eric.

"Who's the nervous one?"

Eric immediately looked offended.

"I'm not nervous."

"You threw up twice."

"That doesn't prove anything."

Andre looked at Kai.

Kai nodded.

"Twice."

Eric looked away.

"Three times."

Andre grinned.

---

Kai explained the encounter.

Meeting Eric.

The stolen blueprints.

The hooded figures.

The hatch.

The sewer investigation.

Everything.

Andre listened.

Then nodded.

"That actually sounds less ridiculous than my day."

Kai blinked.

"How?"

Andre stood.

Cracked his neck.

Then pointed at himself.

"Allow me to explain."

Eric immediately sat up.

For some reason he felt this story would be important.

---

Andre began counting on his fingers.

"I fell."

"Got attacked by alligators."

"Won."

"Found a ladder."

"It broke."

"Fell again."

Kai nodded.

Reasonable so far.

"I wandered around."

"Found their hideout."

"Found food."

"Stole food."

Eric nodded.

Also reasonable.

"Found cultists."

"Beat up cultists."

Kai wasn't surprised.

"Then they chased me."

Andre continued.

"I ran."

"Found alligators."

"Found more cultists."

"Found even more alligators."

"Then somehow both sides started chasing me."

Eric blinked.

"Both sides?"

Andre pointed at himself.

"Apparently nobody likes thieves."

Kai laughed.

Andre ignored him.

---

The three sat quietly for a moment.

Then Kai suddenly remembered something.

"The alligator women."

Eric immediately groaned.

Andre looked confused.

"What?"

"The ones you mentioned when you fell."

Andre was confused.

"Alligator women...?"

Eric raised a hand.

"I saw normal alligators."

Andre looked at him.

Then at Kai.

Then back at Eric.

Silence.

Several seconds passed.

Andre pointed aggressively.

"I hit my head."

"You definitely hit your head."

"It happens."

"It really does."

Andre sighed.

"I hate both of you."

For the first time since entering the sewer—

Things felt normal again.

Even if normal involved murderous cultists.

Man-eating alligators.

And a queen who thought pushing people into sewers was acceptable behavior.

---

Eventually Eric stood.

His expression becoming serious.

"Jokes aside."

The others looked at him.

Eric pointed deeper into the tunnels.

"The hideout Andre found."

"The one where he stole food."

Andre looked proud.

"I found it first."

"You robbed it first."

Eric ignored him.

"If it's connected to the people who stole my blueprints..."

His expression hardened.

"...then we need to see what's inside."

The humor disappeared.

Kai looked deeper into the darkness.

The cultist who escaped had gone that way.

The hidden base was somewhere ahead.

And whatever Captain Fais was planning—

The answers were waiting deeper underground.

"Then let's move."

Andre stood.

Cracked his knuckles.

And grinned.

"Good."

"I'm getting hungry again."

Eric immediately regretted everything.