can you maybe link your save?
either here or on discord
edit: btw eml had an update mby that could've been it?
Viewing post in Old: Conquest Tweaks
Unfortunately I already blew away the saves because removing the modules and trying to continue obviously led to other things breaking. The bug didn't occur with just eml, like I said I tried running with just the loading speed modules of your mod installed and that particular problem fixed itself. The only other mod I'm using is the faster battle animations mod. I'll try another run with everything installed and see if it happens again.
I've managed to make a save with the same issue - when loading certain modules (haven't tested all of them myself, but from the minimal testing I did it seems like at least image_cache and threaded_imageload are fine and at least slu is broken) you are unable to remove or add people to your battle party. I can link the save either here or discord if you'd like, along with any other info that might be helpful.