The Spirit Team's objective in the Neighboring World is to learn as much as they possibly can about the Demon Kings. However, what they can learn just by exploring the Neighboring World is very limited.

Ideally, they would have to find Lilith, or some other Demon King that's willing to talk with them, and try to gather information from there. That said, they don't really have any way of locating Lilith, so they have no choice but to look.

But obviously, just that would be inefficient, so Maria and Marina devised a plan to try and increase their chances as best they could.

[You will divide yourselves in four teams. Those will be composed of: one team of 2 people to stay on the base with Mildred, and three teams made up of 1 Spirit CR-Unit member and 2 normal CR-Unit members.]

[Unless we've got reason to do otherwise, we're planning to basically pick the teams at random. If everyone is in agreement, we'll proceed with today's selection.]

Before going to sleep yesterday, Shido had already heard this from Maria and Marina. In fact, the 2 people staying behind on the base was his idea.

It was something that made him really worried while he was on the mission with Ryouko. The mechanics were left on their own, and there's no guarantee that some monster or something wouldn't show up there. At the time, Ryouko told him that it couldn't be helped since there weren't enough combat personnel, but this isn't a problem for the Spirit Team.

Since the girls agreed with the plan, Maria and Marina made a random split and soon they each took off to their own missions.

Shido was selected to be on a team with Kotori and Miku this time. Miku didn't hide her displeasure, but she was professional enough to not allow it to get in the mission's way.

"Hehe, I'm glad I get to be with onii-chan a whole lot today."

"Ahaha. Yeah, come to think of it, we haven't hung out much recently. My bad, I'll try to make it up for it."

With everything that has been happening recently, Shido didn't have as much time to hang out with Kotori as he did before they joined the NWET. Although he was happy that she was hanging out with girls her age like Yoshino and Natsumi, he also didn't want to move too far from her.

"Then, when we get back, I want onii-chan to take me to your room tonight!"

"T-that's a bit…"

There's no way Kotori simply said something like that innocently. She probably had an idea of what Shido and the girls had done in their room last night, and she is a member of the Spirit Team, so Shido should be jumping at the chance to get her Spirit CR-Unit.

That said, Shido saw Kotori as his little sister… he would be lying if he said that there wasn't a part of him that saw Kotori as a beautiful girl and wanted to treat her as such, but he would need a bit more mental preparation for that.

Suddenly, Miku got closer and pulled Kotori away from Shido.

"Kotori-san, men are all beasts. Please remember to always be careful around them. I'll protect you as much as I can, but I won't always be there."

"No, I know that. But since it's onii-chan, I'm fine."

Miku then hugged Kotori. The only thing preventing the scene from being called beautiful were their CR-Units clinging against each other.

"Poor thing, he's already tricked you this much. But don't worry, I'll open your eyes. Yes, I'll show you what love actually looks like~"

"I feel more danger coming from you than from onii-chan though."

Miku either didn't hear that or pretended not to. All she did was hiss at Shido, like an angry cat.

It seemed that Shido had a long day ahead of him.

The first day ended without anyone finding anything much. The only thing they did was plant a few probes. This would at least help a bit in exploring the Neighboring World, though it didn't do much for learning about the Demon Kings.

That said, on that morning, Mildred seemed to have an idea and got to work as soon as everyone was equipped with their CR-Units. Once again, Maria and Marina randomly selected teams and, once that was done, they each went on their own way.

"Our objective today is to go where no man has ever gone, and then even further. We shall trek the lands and find what we are searching for!"

"Translation. Kaguya wants to go really far today so that we might make some progress."

"Wow, now that you say it, it sounds so obvious. Could you teach me later, Yuzuru?"

Today, not only did the Yamai twins happen to be paired together, Shido was placed in the same group as them.

Thanks to the twins being the fastest members of the team without Spirit CR-Units, they were able to quickly reach the point where the last probe of yesterday was planted, which means they'll have more time to go further.

If Shido also boosted their speed with his Territory, it was likely that they could cover a lot of ground today.

"H-hey, you make it sound like I just speak a bunch of gibberish!"

"Rebuttal. What does Kaguya think she says?"

"You!"

Kaguya and Yuzuru started arguing. Shido thought it was just a sisterly fight, so he tried to not get involved.

But, because they were fighting, they didn't notice they stepped on something different.

They were currently in a place that looked like a swamp, meaning the place they were stepping on felt wet. That's why they didn't notice when they stepped on a different puddle.

By the time they felt it crawling up on them, it was already too late.

""Kyaa!""

It was only thanks to their scream that Shido noticed. He turned around only to see the last few centimeters of the creatures crawling into Kaguya and Yuzuru's CR-Units.

It was a liquid-like monster, a slime for the sake of simplicity. It's not a strong monster, in fact it can be easily killed by just destroying its core, but it's problematic when it gets up close.

It's not like it dissolves things like acid, or something more anime-like, like a slime that only dissolves clothes. It just feels really bad to have it crawling on your skin. It was a weak monster, but everyone hated it.

"C-calm down, you two. Just open up your CR-Units and try to stay still, I'll try to pull them out."

As much as they felt like just trying to blow the slimes away with their Territory, that was a trap. On the best case, the slimes would get stuck, on the worst, they could damage the CR-Units.

So they did as Shido told them. The first step in taking out a CR-Unit is to open up the parts that fixed the wearer to the machine, such as the chest, arms and legs pieces. Once those parts were open, Shido could see the slimes.

But these monsters were peculiar in the fact that they always tried to hide, as opposed to fight. Once they were exposed, they quickly crawled into the girls' plugsuits. Needless to say, Kaguya and Yuzuru felt like ripping off their clothes, but they somehow managed to resist the urge, mainly due to still being stuck with the CR-Units.

Shido gulped. It was mental preparation both for grabbing the slimes and for something else.

"Quick, Shido."

He decided to begin with Kaguya. The slime had crawled into the chest area of her plugsuit. Shido had no choice but to reach his hand in there and grab it.

He did his best to not look or touch too much, but there was only so much he could avoid. He did succeed in grabbing the slime by its core and then he threw it to the ground and killed it.

"Shido, please."

Next was Yuzuru. Just like with Kaguya, the slime had crawled into her chest area, so Shido reached his hand inside and tried to get it.

However, the slime escaped Shido (maybe because he was a bit mesmerized by the feel) and went lower to Yuzuru's crotch area. Shido had no choice but to reach in there as well. He was luckily able to catch it before it went somewhere else and then killed it.

The twins were breathing hard and had tears around their eyes. Shido felt disgusted just from quickly grabbing the slimes, he can't imagine how they felt. Though maybe he's also at fault a bit.

"If you two want, we can go back for a quick shower and then come back here."

Kaguya and Yuzuru looked at each other, and then nodded.

""Please.""

And so they did. When they came back, they were much more careful around where they stepped.

That said, many other hijinks occurred, making that which should have been the fastest team be the one that made the least progress. On the bright side, by the end, Kaguya and Yuzuru very nearly had enough compatibility to get their Spirit CR-Unit.

Unfortunately, the second day also didn't give much results. Still, they couldn't give up, so they tried again on the third day.

As luck would have it, Shido and Maya were the ones chosen to stay behind on that day.

Officially, what they should be doing is protecting the base and checking in on each team every now and then to make sure everything was fine. It sounded busy, but it really wasn't.

"It's kinda boring."

Shido was currently flying on a perimeter around the base, but no monsters or anything have been sighted since the first day, and it was no different now. That's also why Shido told Maya that she didn't need to equip her CR-Unit. He would feel bad if she went through all that hassle for nothing.

Having finished making his rounds, Shido landed near the base. He grabbed his tablet to check on everyone else, but it wasn't long before he confirmed everything was fine.

It was still early in the day, and frankly time seemed to have slowed to a crawl for Shido. He wondered what to do to kill some time.

"Ah, Shido. Can you let me borrow Da'at for a bit?"

"Hm? I guess it's fine."

Shido returned Da'at to its dog tag form and gave it to Mildred. He didn't really know why she wanted it, but it would at least help her not get bored.

Since it seemed his CR-Unit would be kept for a while, Shido figured he should tell Maya that, should anything come up, she'd have to hold the fort for a bit. While at it, Shido figured he might as well ask if she wanted to do something, if she was also bored like him.

"Maria, can you tell me where Maya is?"

[She is currently in the bedroom.]

"Huh? Is she feeling sick or something?"

[No no. She's not in the bedroom she sleeps in, she's in the bedroom you and the girls use.]

It was Marina who answered Shido the second time. Shido was still confused as to what Maya might be doing there, but he figured he might as well go check.

He walked to where the bedroom was and opened the door. Though, he only opened it slightly. That's because he heard something that made him stop.

"Nnn, aaah!"

It was a moan, or at least it really sounded like it. Thinking his ears were playing some kind of trick on him, Shido decided to try and look through the slight opening in the door to see what was going on inside.

He saw Maya in the nude, touching her breast and crotch. Since she was lying on the cushioned floor with her ass pointed towards the door, she didn't notice him.

Yup, she was most definitely touching herself. Shido quickly and stealthy closed the door.

After all, this isn't anything weird. Girls are human too, and just like anyone else they have their necessities. Shido often finds himself having to relieve himself after using his abilities on the girls. Maybe it was the lack of internet that drove Maya to choose Shido and the girls' room for her necessities this time.

Regardless, Shido would just pretend he saw nothing. He walked off and decided to find a way to kill time.

"Ah, Shido, can you help me with an experiment here?"

After an hour or so, Shido happened to go near the hangar, where Mildred was, and she called out to him. Having nothing better to do, Shido went to her.

"What's up?"

"I've been studying Da'at for something I'm preparing. It's honestly really impressive, I kind of want to study the other Spirit CR-Units now. Though there is one thing that's bothering me, I can't find out how it copies the Angels. All I see is basically a Realizer that can handle your output."

An Angel is what a Spirit CR-Unit's weapon is called. It adapts to the user and it's much more powerful than the conventional CR-Unit's weapon. Mio told Shido that his Da'at had the ability to copy the girls' Angels for his own use.

"Maybe it's just somewhere you don't understand?"

"No, it seems like I can basically understand everything about Da'at. Sure, there are some things I believed to be still experimental technology, like how it resizes and auto-equips the CR-Unit, but the mechanism to copy the Angels simply doesn't exist anywhere."

Shido didn't know what to answer to Mildred. He still felt like it was simply somewhere she wasn't seeing. After all, it's a fact he can use the Angels, so if there is no mechanism for it, how else would it be possible?

"Oh, I ended up getting distracted. Sorry, sorry. Here's Da'at, and here's what I want your help with. Oh, just in time. Place your hands on these things and activate your Territory, Shido."

"Alright…"

After putting Da'at back around his neck, Shido did as Mildred had asked. He grabbed the two things Mildred seemed to have built and activated his Territory.

To his surprise, his Territory didn't activate. No, he felt like it had, but the feedback he got from it didn't seem to be from this room.

Mildred grabbed Shido's tablet and operated it. When did she learn how to do that? While Shido asked himself that, Mildred seemed to have had a conversation with the team on the other side.

"Alright, you can stop now, Shido. The experiment was a success."

"What was that?"

"I found a way to expand your Territory from a distance."

"I see… wait, what?!"

Mildred said it so casually that Shido almost didn't notice it, but this was an amazing invention. It would allow support members to not have to risk themselves in the middle of battle, and that's just what Shido could think of at the moment. Surely there was much more to this.

But Mildred soon explained that it wasn't so simple. This was only possible by using the probes as relays, and also because of Shido's absurd compatibility. It wouldn't work with anyone else.

"My basic idea for this was that the most effective way of searching would be to use the range of Shido's Territory and Maya's analytical ability. But it would be inconvenient for you two to go everywhere, so I thought of a way that you wouldn't have to."

"Amazing. This is going to change everything. Did you hear this, Maria, Marina?"

[Yes. It's an impressive invention. We're currently reworking our strategy taking it into consideration.]

[It's impressive you could build it here. I'm sure Karen will praise you once you get back.]

Despite how amazing her invention was, Mildred didn't seem to care much for the fame or praise. She really just loved researching Realizers.

Shido, and later Maya as well, spend the rest of the day helping Mildred improve her invention. Meanwhile, Maria and Marina adapted their strategy.

On the fourth day of searching, the fifth since they got to the Neighboring World, Maria and Marina informed the Spirit Team of the change in strategy.

Using Mildred's invention, Shido and Maya would be in charge or actually searching for Lilith, or any other Demon King. The remaining members were to take the probes and plant them as far as they could.

Since the previous strategy had yet to show any progress, everyone was excited to try out this one. However, once everyone had left, Shido was faced with a slight problem.

"Um, is this really necessary?"

"It's the best I could do with what I had. Ideally, I would also like to remove the plugsuits, but-"

""Impossible.""

During the previous day, Shido and Maya had helped Mildred improve her equipment as much as possible. Of course, since they were working with limited materials, some compromises had to be made.

What they ended up doing was fixing the things Mildred had built to the arms of a chair, where Shido would sit. Since they would be doing this for most of the day, they had to get comfortable.

But Maya still needed to touch Shido to be able to use his Territory. The solution? Have her sit on his lap for the whole day. It wasn't flashy, but it worked. Mildred wanted to get rid of the plugsuits so that there would be even less interference, but Shido and Maya weren't exactly ready for this.

Ultimately, they knew there was nothing to be done, so they resigned themselves to their fate. Shido sat on the chair and then Maya sat on his lap. After placing his hands on the equipment Mildred made, and having Maya place her hands on top of his, Shido activated his Territory.

"Alright, everything seems good here."

"Over here as well. … Honestly, I still can't get used to the feeling. Please focus your Territory as I ask, Shido."

"Got it."

And so they began using their newly developed equipment and strategy to look for Lilith.

A good chunk of the fourth day was used to reposition the probes so Shido's Territory could go as far as possible. But, even taking that into consideration, they still made a lot more progress than the previous days.

Today again, Shido and Maya were in their impromptu setup, doing their best to try and locate Lilith.

Although the searching process became easier, Shido and Maya had their own challenges to face. Feeling the touch and smell of a beautiful girl for so long would naturally make Shido's body react, and having something hard pressing on her back naturally bothered Maya, so she tried to reposition herself, which started a vicious circle.

Well, eventually they learned to just ignore (enjoy) it, so things were easier on the second day. In fact, Shido was under the impression that Maya was purposefully trying to rub against him sometimes, which brought the scene he saw a few days ago back to his mind, but he decided to keep it to himself.

And so, a few hours passed on the fifth day of searching, until…

" "

Through the Territory, Shido and Maya felt like they heard a singing voice. It was a voice they recognized, despite having heard it only once before.

Surprised, Shido and Maya opened their eyes and looked at each other, as if to confirm they weren't hearing things. Well, they were, but at least it meant it was real.

""We found her!""