The girl cornered against the wall by the Bloodhounds frowned slightly, looking completely at a loss.
She kept glancing around, as if hoping someone would come help her.
The moment Stelle arrived, she noticed the girl had spotted her.
There weren't many other visitors nearby. Stelle's appearance seemed to give the girl hope. She suddenly broke free from the Bloodhound blocking her and hurried over.
"S-Sorry! Please help me..."
Now that she was closer, Stelle realized the girl's eyes were unusual. They looked like a brilliant starry sky.
Stelle had seen plenty of people with beautiful, unusual eyes before, like Professor Ratio, Aventurine, and Argenti. But someone whose pupils looked as though they reflected an entire landscape, this girl was only the second she'd ever seen.
The first was Nero. His pale gray eyes weren't as colorful as the girl's, but they were as clear as a mirror, reflecting every scene he looked at.
Speaking of Nero...
If Nero were here right now, he would recognize the girl asking for help at a glance.
Firefly, the "Miss Samuel" Silver Wolf of the Stellaron Hunters had mentioned.
In other words, Sam.
But Stelle obviously didn't know that. After all, when Nero had asked for those photos last time, he'd only shared the parts about the mech that interested him.
Now that a pretty girl had come asking for help, Stelle immediately planted her hands on her hips and declared boldly, "Protecting pretty girls is my duty!"
At that moment, the Bloodhounds behind them came to their senses and rushed over, surrounding the two girls.
"Guys, she's got an accomplice too!" one of them shouted.
"Good. Take them both!" another barked.
The Bloodhound enforcers didn't waste any words before making their move.
Naturally, Stelle wasn't going to stand there and take it. She pulled out her bat and swung it into action.
The Bloodhounds charged together but couldn't overpower her. All they could do was keep Stelle and Firefly surrounded without managing to subdue them.
Just then, a scruffy middle-aged man with stubble walked over. He stood tall and solidly built, though both his expression and voice carried a lazy, worn-out air.
"Alright, alright, boys, that's enough."
As he spoke, his eyes landed on Firefly. After a brief glance, he looked away.
The Bloodhounds surrounding the two girls obeyed his order. One called him "sir," though it seemed some of the others didn't recognize him.
The Bloodhound who did know him explained that he was a security officer sent by the Family to oversee the Charmony Festival.
The Bloodhounds then reported that they were carrying out an operation to capture an illegal stowaway.
After giving the situation a quick look, the man said,
"Bullshit. Take another good look. The witness report said it was someone silver. And you lot grab a little girl with silver hair? Is that the same thing? You even picked a fight with guests? Enough. Get lost. I'll handle this."
The man drove the other Bloodhounds away and apologized to the two girls along the way.
He introduced himself.
His name was Gallagher.
Firefly also thanked Stelle and Gallagher, saying that if they hadn't helped her, she really wouldn't have known what to do.
If it had come down to it...
She might have had no choice but to set the Oti Mall on fire.
Gallagher soon took his leave, saying he still had work to do. If they needed anything, they could ask any nearby Bloodhound to contact him.
After Gallagher left, only Stelle and Firefly remained.
———
As mentioned earlier, Nero was also in the Golden Hour, currently locked in an intense "battle" with Aventurine at the slot machines.
They were playing in Aideen Park.
Not long ago, however, Aventurine had left.
He still had work to do, unlike Nero, who could play however he liked.
With Aventurine gone, Nero decided to take a break. He found a seat at a nearby café, polished off two floating ice creams that hovered in midair inside the dream, and drank a huge cup of SoulGlad.
Still, compared to SoulGlad soda, Nero thought hot floating goat's milk tasted better.
Too bad they didn't sell it here.
First, a quick summary of Nero and Aventurine's match.
The two had spent a long time in Aideen Park, playing countless rounds against each other. By the end, both the adult and the child had made a fortune.
At the very least, even after his gift money had been deducted, Aventurine now had more than enough funds to visit the auction house.
As for the final result...
Nero narrowly won, 1–0.
In the last round, Aventurine hit the grand jackpot.
Nero hit the mega jackpot.
Although Aventurine lost, he smiled happily. Afterward, he even taught Nero the way people in his hometown blessed others.
When they pressed their palms together, Nero noticed something hidden deep in Aventurine's eyes.
A trace of longing.
He knew that, for that brief moment, the person Aventurine was looking at definitely wasn't him.
But that was fine.
Ever since learning he was a fragment of Beauty, Nero had realized that strange things occasionally happened around him.
He was already used to it.
After finishing his snack, Nero looked up and noticed that, for some reason, a crowd had gathered around the slot machines.
He jumped down from his seat and walked over to see what was going on.
It turned out there was an Intellitron claiming to be the God of Gambling, who had won several jackpots in a row at the slot machines.
The people around him suspected he was cheating.
Nero scratched his head.
He didn't think there was anything worth watching.
Wasn't winning at slot machines perfectly normal?
Just then, the Intellitron spotted Nero.
He asked Nero to give it a try so everyone watching would know he wasn't cheating.
Nero didn't think much of it. He borrowed an Aideen token from the God of Gambling, dropped it into the machine, and pulled the lever.
A moment later...
Mega jackpot.
The crowd instantly fell silent...
At that moment, the so-called God of Gambling didn't seem nearly as suspicious anymore.
The real suspicious one had become the machine.
The God of Gambling pulled a mega jackpot.
This kid pulled a mega jackpot too.
The machine had to be broken.
Otherwise, what right did the God of Gambling have to win the same prize as this little kid?
Some things weren't convenient to say out loud.
But the expressions on everyone's faces made it obvious.
Even the God of Gambling himself started thinking the same thing.
So the whole group moved to a different machine.
Nero pulled the lever again.
When the reels stopped... Another mega jackpot!
Then they switched to a third machine.
Nero pulled the lever once more.
The God of Gambling was amazed by Nero's skill, or perhaps his luck.
Curious, he secretly activated the signal transmitter hidden inside one of his fingers and began interfering with the machine Nero was using.
The signal he sent was naturally meant to make the slot machine stop on three different symbols.
But things didn't turn out that way.
When the reels finally stopped...
Another mega jackpot.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
Just like that, Nero became the new God of Gambling.
The Intellitron, meanwhile, looked rather dejected.
There were two reasons.
First, the difference in how people treated them.
He had also been hitting mega jackpots over and over, yet everyone's attitude toward him was the complete opposite of how they treated this little kid.
Second, there was something the Family had taken from him that he still couldn't get back. (Even at the end of the quest, it never says what it was.) After watching Nero's performance, he felt his current plan wasn't thorough enough.
He needed to regroup and start over from scratch.
Meanwhile, surrounded by the cheering crowd, Nero froze in place.
'Oh no.'
'I got carried away for a second... and now I'm trapped!'