While Guinaifen was talking, Nero's eyes opened slightly wider, and it seemed like a bit of light appeared in them.
Then the child nodded toward the empty air beside him, giving a few responses now and then, occasionally even waving like he was saying goodbye to someone.
March, walking nearby, noticed this scene, and her expression became a little unnatural.
She nervously looked at Nero and carefully reached out to pat his shoulder.
"N-Nero... what are you doing...?"
"Hm? Oh, I'm listening to ghosts talk." Nero answered directly without any hesitation.
"Huh? Ghosts?" March's outstretched hand trembled. "You're... joking, right?"
"No, really. Um... you can think of them as some kind of fixed energy field, or spiritual life-form. If that still doesn't work, you can treat them like memetic life-forms similar to the Remembrance entities."
"But their existence is even harder to detect than the Remembrance, and their ability to affect the material world is pitifully weak."
March stared blankly at Nero's serious explanation, but right after that, she felt a chill shoot from her heels straight to the back of her head. The more serious Nero sounded, the more logical his explanation seemed, the worse she felt...
Could Nero... really be seeing something?
"It's true." Nero seemed to see through what March was thinking.
"Right in front of me, there are two Foxian sisters following us across the bridge. Behind you there's a really muscular uncle who just helped chase away a heliobus that wanted to scare people."
"In front of Guinaifen there's a Vidyadhara holding a little flag. Even though people can't see him, he seems to really enjoy leading the way."
"Don't! Don't don't don't... stop talking!" March immediately stepped forward and covered Nero's mouth.
'Too scary!'
Invisible people were following them around... and he could describe them in such exact detail. Nero hardly ever lied, so this was obviously all real...
That realization made March start trembling, and goosebumps rose all over her body.
Even Stelle and Guinaifen in front noticed something was wrong and stopped to look over in confusion. After hearing Nero's description, they couldn't help rubbing their arms too.
"Looking at it this way, the rumors about this forest being haunted really do have solid proof behind them," Stelle suddenly said.
"Eek!" Guinaifen let out a short cry, then immediately covered her mouth. "I spent a lot of effort researching materials because I wanted to gather inspiration in this forest..."
This fiery girl's face had already gone pale, and even her breathing seemed unnatural.
If Huohuo and Sushang were here, their reaction would probably be even worse.
At this moment, Nero turned to the side again, nodded, then spoke to the other three in a righteous tone.
"Mhm, exactly, that's too much! Why are you all so scared? It's because of people acting like this that these big brothers and sisters keep getting misunderstood more and more."
"Lots of people used to come here, but now there are barely any living visitors in this forest anymore. Oh, right, the heliobi are partly responsible too."
Looking at Nero's behavior, the three opened their mouths, but couldn't say anything. They could only swallow nervously.
"Nero, you... I... they, this..." March flailed as she tried to say something, but all she could do was look around in fear, unable to form a complete sentence.
"Why are you all so scared! Everyone here is clearly very friendly." Nero put his hands on his hips and scolded them.
"This place commemorates the soldiers who died in foreign wars. What's so scary about them? Even the person on the Xianzhou most afraid of ghosts would only feel safe in a place like this."
After saying that, Nero raised a hand and pointed between Stelle and Guinaifen.
"The sister wrapping her arms around your necks said, 'We Cloud Knights protect the Xianzhou. Alive, we block invading enemies."
"Dead, we drive away evil and disaster. We protect our comrades, and even separated by life and death, we do not abandon them!'"
After speaking, Nero emphasized it again.
"So there's nothing to be afraid of. Eh? Mm, goodbye!"
In Nero's vision, he saw several figures preparing to leave, so he waved at them. Those faint humanoid shapes gradually drifted away, then at some point turned into tiny specks of light and disappeared from his sight.
In his previous life, his hometown also had customs for communicating with and honoring the dead, though he never knew whether the departed there could truly receive those things.
But in the Star Rail universe, when you speak to them, they quietly listen. When you walk, they silently protect you. When you honor them, they really do wait nearby.
Even if the living never know about that kind of watchfulness.
But for Nero, whether the dead truly knew what the living did for them was never important. In her view, rituals for the dead were more about reminding the living that no matter how numb life became, there were still some important things that could not be forgotten.
People needed some kind of form to remind themselves, to tell themselves...
Ah, there are still those people who cannot be forgotten.
After Nero said goodbye to the invisible spirits, the four of them stayed there for a while. A long time passed before the others finally came back to their senses.
Guinaifen shook her head. "I originally thought the ghost rumors were ridiculous, though the Ten-Lords Commission really had sent people here. But I never expected..."
Guinaifen sighed and said nothing more. She simply closed her eyes, stayed silent, and offered a brief blessing.
Those were spirits far more powerful than Aeons. If Nero wasn't lying, if everything he saw and described was real...
After another pause, Guinaifen pulled herself together again and said, "Even though some unexpected things happened, our adventure still has to continue."
After speaking, Guinaifen took two deep breaths. "If there's any strange movement ahead, we absolutely have to avoid it."
"Forget running into ghosts... uh... heliobi, if we run into a judge, we'll definitely get kicked out. Then this whole trip will have been for nothing."
Stelle and March nodded.
Nero, however, confidently said, "It's fine. They won't chase me away."
Guinaifen, "..."
"But we're not the same as you, my little Xianzhou idol. Alright, let's all be more careful and keep moving. Watch your step."
After Guinaifen finished speaking, the four of them headed deeper into this forest.
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