"Captain, wait. That little girl looks familiar."
One of the Bloodhounds stepped forward and said, "Hey, isn't that kid Nero... They say Mr. Sunday and Miss Robin brought him here together.
"Remember when we arrested those Mirror Holders not long ago? I think it was because of him.
"We got word from above that this kid has connections with the Xianzhou Alliance, the IPC, the Astral Express, and the Knights of Beauty.
"Maybe we've got the wrong person. That gentleman might be one of the Knights of Beauty.
"Didn't they say some Knights had just arrived not long ago?"
After hearing that, the captain thought it over carefully. It really did seem to be the case.
He also knew there had been news about a special little one whom they had been told to take extra care of. Now that it was mentioned, it really did seem to match.
After thinking for a moment, the Bloodhound captain walked forward and said to Nero, "Are you... Young Master Nero?"
Nero blinked.
'Young Master?'
'Is this how people in Penacony talk?'
The Bloodhound waited for Nero's answer, though he was already fairly certain.
As for the form of address, he had wanted to call him Mr. Nero, but that didn't seem to fit the child standing before him. On top of that, he seemed to be connected to several different factions...
If nothing else, calling him Young Master should work. He had heard that was what people on the Xianzhou used.
"I am Nero, but I'm not a young master," Nero replied.
By now, though, he understood what was going on, and couldn't help sighing inwardly. Having a powerful background really was convenient.
At the same time, another thought came to him.
This body of his had been made from fragments of Beauty, and because of that, his background had become incredibly complicated.
If that was the case, what kind of situation was Idrila, the Aeon of Beauty herself, in?
———
Back on Stelle's side, Argenti's sudden appearance had completely caught the gang leader off guard.
But after recovering from the surprise, he still intended to teach Acheron a lesson.
That decision made him the sacrifice for Stelle's attempt at using Clockie Tricks.
Suddenly flipping someone's emotions upside down left Stelle a little confused, and what confused her even more was that Clockie, the one who had suggested using Clockie Tricks, seemed even more confused than she was.
It seemed her first use of Clockie Tricks had been a little too forceful. It had directly turned the other person's emotions completely around.
Fortunately, the problem had been solved.
As long as she wasn't the one being treated like a lunatic, Stelle didn't care that much.
After everything was settled, Stelle chatted with Acheron for a while.
According to Acheron, the earlier disturbance had been caused by a group of Masked Fools making trouble in the streets and disrupting public order.
She had happened to pass through the area, had been stopped for questioning, and during the process, a few... misunderstandings had occurred.
It was hard to imagine what kind of misunderstanding Acheron was talking about, but since everything had been resolved now, Stelle didn't care much about the details.
During the conversation, both Firefly and Acheron became curious about the method Stelle had used to reverse the gang leader's emotions.
Stelle said she had used talk therapy, treating him through conversation.
Seeing how irritable that gang leader had been, he clearly had some problems. She had already treated him with her skilled talk therapy, which was why he had suddenly become happy.
Clockie was very dissatisfied with Stelle's explanation and insisted that it wasn't talk therapy, but Clockie Tricks.
But aside from Misha and Stelle, no one present could see him. In fact, except for Stelle, no one could even see Misha.
So no matter how much Clockie insisted, it was pointless.
Stelle completely ignored him.
Although Acheron couldn't see Clockie, for certain reasons, her perception was much sharper than that of ordinary people, even ordinary Pathstriders.
Naturally, she didn't completely believe Stelle's explanation, because she could sense that something vague and indescribable existed between herself and Stelle.
Just then, Firefly mentioned Clockie, whom only Stelle could see.
Acheron suddenly understood. If that Clockie really existed, then everything made sense.
Afterward, Acheron brought up something else. She said that at first she had thought that elegant Memokeeper had left something behind in her mind, but now it seemed there were quite a few unusual beings like herself in this dream.
Acheron's words caught Stelle's interest, and she curiously asked who that Memokeeper was.
Although Stelle hadn't met many Memokeepers, she wasn't unfamiliar with them.
After all, there was one on the Express.
Acheron didn't hide anything and recounted the story.
"Not long after we parted, I wandered into a ballroom by chance. A lady dressed entirely in black veils invited me to dance. It was my first time dancing... It was an unforgettable experience."
After hearing Acheron's words, Stelle thought for a moment, then quickly realized something.
So even though she had pointed Acheron in the right direction in the end, she still hadn't managed to find the hall normally.
Acheron didn't notice Stelle's reaction. Lowering her eyes, she said with some regret, "Unfortunately, I forgot to ask her name... I only know that she came from the Garden of Recollection."
To Acheron, the experience of that dance really had been unforgettable. She also felt that the Memokeeper lady was a good person, since she had taken the initiative to invite her to dance.
Acheron recalled the scene for a moment. Although she could no longer remember some of the details clearly, that Memokeeper lady had seemed very proud and had even taken the initiative to start conversations during the dance.
Even though everything she said was incomprehensible...
Come to think of it, she seemed to have mentioned the Annihilation Gang?
Unfortunately, Acheron hadn't remembered what the Annihilation Gang was at the time.
If that Memokeeper lady had asked using a different name instead, for example mentioning the Knights of Beauty, she might have remembered many things at once.
After chatting about a few more things, everyone remarked that far more guests had come to this grand gathering than they had expected.
Finally, Acheron bid Firefly and Stelle farewell.
"In any case, thank you once again for your help. I hope you enjoy your time in the dream. I won't interrupt your... date?"
"I-It's not a date...!" Firefly protested.
Acheron simply looked at Firefly's reaction, let out a soft laugh, and left.
In fact, the word "date" didn't necessarily carry that many specific meanings...
Afterward, Stelle said goodbye to Misha and Old Mikhail. Ever since Nero had returned to the Express, the little Stellaron baby had become more and more polite.
That was a good thing.
Then Stelle and Firefly continued walking through the streets and alleys.
Firefly led Stelle to a cafe.
Stelle looked around at the decorations. It was a beautiful place.
You had to use a pinball machine to get here. If you were just wandering the streets, it would be hard to notice this place.
"We're here. This is it," Firefly said to Stelle.
Stelle nodded.
"So this is the secret base?"
You had to rely on a pinball machine to reach it. Although the cafe wasn't all that secret, if the girl in front of her wanted to call it a secret base, that was fine too.
That was what Stelle thought.
But the girl in front of her shook her head awkwardly.
"N-No..."
With that, Firefly turned around and pointed at a manhole cover.
"It's here."
Stelle praised it immediately.
"What a beautiful manhole cover!"
"Mhm. The secret base is inside," Firefly said.
"Got it. We crawl in, right? I'm good at this," Stelle said.
She really was good at it. Or rather, she thought both she and Nero were good at it. They were even experienced.
At Herta Space Station, they had crawled through the passages set up by the Fright Maze. In Belobog, they had crawled through Sampo's "dog hole" when the Fragmentum separated the Overworld from the Underworld. On the Xianzhou Luofu, they had also run around inside the environment created by Huiyan.
The experienced little raccoon was full of confidence.
Firefly didn't know what Stelle was thinking, but she could hear the confidence in her voice, so she smiled and said, "I'll demonstrate first. It'll be a little dark at the beginning, so stay close."
Stelle didn't refuse, and the two of them crawled in one after the other.