Having just fished that Digimon-like creature over to her side, before she could even say a word—the data body transformed into the appearance of Cipher, blinking rapidly at her as if wondering which of these unfamiliar hackers might be willing to help.
"It's me, Bai Ming."
Cipher froze for a moment when she heard that. The tail behind her shot happily upright, and her ears twitched. With a bright smile, she leaned closer.
"What brings you to Punklorde? Did the hackers here offend you too?"
Cipher didn't have any special ability to confirm whether someone was real or fake, but considering that their savior was now an Aeon…
It was hard to imagine anyone in this universe being stupid enough to pretend to be a god.
That wouldn't just be courting death—it'd be asking for it.
"I'm here for another reason, but… oh? Did some hackers pick a fight with you?"
Cipher nodded immediately.
"Of course! Those overconfident idiots didn't stand a chance. The seamstress took them out in no time. But they dug up some intel—apparently they still have accomplices here on Punklorde."
At that point, Cipher threw 'Silver Wolf' a playful wink.
"So I volunteered to come here and teach these hackers a lesson. Let them see what happens when they mess with the wrong people."
'Silver Wolf' curled her lips into a faint smile.
"Just a lesson?"
"Yeah~ what else?"
"Then why did I find traces of Bartholos here? He got here before you, didn't he?"
As she spoke, 'Silver Wolf' gestured toward a certain direction.
Cipher immediately puffed up her cheeks.
"That's part of the plan! If you're going to teach someone a lesson, the best way is to steal their treasures right in front of them. That way they'll never forget."
"…Just stealing treasures?"
"…Okay, fine. I was also planning to swipe a few interesting local specialties while I'm at it—and leave behind the legendary name of the Coin of Whimsy. But that's really just a side thing, I swear!"
Cipher puffed out her chest proudly and raised four fingers to swear in front of 'Silver Wolf', which only made her want to laugh.
"Alright, alright. I'm not blaming you. Just be careful. Punklorde isn't as weak as you think."
After all, those clueless hackers had been the ones to provoke Amphoreus first.
And once they already knew she was basically a Digimon and still dared to hack in, they had to have been prepared to get traced straight through the network.
"Relax. My whole life philosophy is moving like the wind—bold but careful!"
Cipher grinned and patted her chest. Then she rubbed her hands together and revealed a slightly mischievous smile.
Her whole body swayed closer like a boneless fish as she leaned in and said with a giggle,
"Besides, now that our savior is here overseeing things, what's there to worry about? I was a little nervous before I came, but now… the ones who should be scared are those hackers."
Even though she didn't say it out loud, Bai Ming could tell—her sudden appearance had made Cipher want to go bigger with this stunt.
"Take it easy. Don't do anything reckless, or I'll leave right now."
"Alright, alright—I promise I'll take it easy. At most… I'll just become a legendary hacker. Nothing too excessive."
The moment she heard that her biggest backer might leave, Cipher immediately backed down.
All those dangerous plans in her head were tossed aside in favor of something a little more reasonable.
Seeing the seriousness in Cipher's expression, 'Silver Wolf' finally nodded and agreed to keep an eye on her so she wouldn't crash and burn.
After that, 'Silver Wolf' brought Cipher to the underground arcade.
Emerging from the equipment as a stream of data before reconstructing into a physical form, she instantly caught the attention of the real Silver Wolf.
She snapped out of the virtual screen she'd been looking at and studied the suddenly appearing Cipher with great interest.
"How'd you do that? It looks like data turning into a physical body… a hologram?"
Before Silver Wolf could even step closer, Cipher had already moved over.
Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the Project Bunny Silver Wolf was sitting on. No matter how she looked at it, the thing didn't resemble anything native to Punklorde.
"Hey there, kid. What's this thing?"
"A game console. Got it from a wish."
"…Uh…"
Cipher, who had been intrigued just a moment ago, suddenly froze. She turned to glance at 'Silver Wolf', only to find her watching with a faintly amused expression.
So Cipher blinked innocently and stuck out her tongue at 'Silver Wolf', trying to play it off.
Meanwhile, Silver Wolf had Project Bunny scan the catgirl in front of her.
And discovered that she wasn't a hologram at all.
So how exactly was she switching between data and physical form? It didn't even look like the way her sister appeared.
"Did you come here with my sister too?"
Cipher blinked.
She had wanted to say it earlier—Bai Ming's current appearance looked surprisingly similar to this girl.
Could it be that Madam Bai Ming's maternal instincts had suddenly kicked in and she'd decided to raise a kid out here?
And the girl was calling her "sister," too.
They seemed pretty close.
Thinking that, Cipher nodded, then shook her head.
"I came here for something else. Just happened to run into your sister, so I stopped by on the way."
Silver Wolf nodded and didn't ask further.
The arcade was old, and Project Bunny couldn't move anyway. Cipher quickly lost interest.
Still, she quietly memorized the address—and the silver-haired girl in front of her.
"Madam Bai Ming, will you be staying around here for a while?"
"Mm. If something special happens and you can't reach me online, you can come find me here."
"Got it~ Then just wait and see. The Titan of Trickery, the Coin of Whimsy—Zagreus—is about to make a comeback on Punklorde!"
With that said, Cipher was just about to leave—when she suddenly seemed to remember something.
From who-knows-where she pulled out a piece of Originium, grinning as she leaned closer to 'Silver Wolf' again.
"Hehe… um, since I'm technically one of the founding veterans, could you let me have one free wish?"
"…What are you planning?"
"Hehe, same as last time. I just want to make a wish and see if I can restore the Authority of Trickery."
'Silver Wolf' snorted softly and reached out to grab the little thief cat's tail, giving it a few strokes.
Restore the Authority of Trickery, huh? If that actually happened, she'd end up far stronger than most followers of Elation.
One wish definitely wasn't enough to accomplish that.
The moment her tail was grabbed, Cipher's entire body trembled.
Then she heard 'Silver Wolf' huff.
"You sure dream big. No games played, no missions done—just wishing all day. And not only that, you're asking for the moon. I think Aglaea's been way too gentle with you lately. You ought to be tied up with golden silk and hung from the Marmoreal Palace to reflect on your behavior."
Cipher immediately panicked.
Playing around was one thing—but how did it suddenly turn into tattling?
Even if you're a savior, an Aeon, she couldn't just swallow that kind of injustice!
"Dumb, dumb—Cifera, you wouldn't want Agla—"
"Stop, stop! That tone of yours is getting really weird!"
Cipher hurriedly clapped a hand over her mouth. She had seen that kind of phrasing plenty of times while browsing the interstellar internet.
She knew exactly what kind of stories that line came from.
Sure, covering an Aeon's mouth might be a little rude—but dragging Aglaea into that kind of meme? Cipher absolutely could not handle that.
'Silver Wolf' brushed her hand away, staring at Cipher with an amused smile.
"So you do understand. Looks like you spend plenty of time surfing the web."
"We're all adults who've lived for tens of millions of years. Watching adult stuff is perfectly normal!"
"Oh? Does Aglaea know her little kitty likes watching that?"
"Cough—cough—!"
Cipher raised both hands in surrender.
The opponent opened with an unbeatable move right out of the gate—what kind of fight was that? Might as well surrender, meow.
'Silver Wolf' chuckled and flicked the bell tied at Cipher's waist, hanging by her left thigh.
Jingle—
A crisp ringing sound echoed as a power belonging to the Path of Elation flowed into it.
Cipher, who had just been surrendering a second ago, suddenly stiffened. Her eyes widened in disbelief and delight as she looked down at the bell hanging from her waist.
Then she lunged forward and hugged 'Silver Wolf' tightly, rubbing against her enthusiastically.
"Boss, I love you! You're the real savior! From today on, I, Cipher, will be your most loyal little kitty!"
"Really?"
"Absolutely! I swear on Bartholos' reputation!"
"I've already recorded that with a memory bubble. I can send it straight to Aglaea right now for her to see."
Thud.
Cipher immediately dropped into a smooth sliding kneel, clutching 'Silver Wolf's' leg as she looked up with watery eyes.
'Silver Wolf' laughed softly.
Seeing the pair of cat ears finally within perfect reach, she shamelessly stretched out her hands and gave them a thorough, merciless rub.
Only after that did she send off the red-faced Cipher, who was clutching her ears.
"Alright, alright. I've had my fill of ear fluffing. Go do whatever you came to do."
"…Hmph."
Face flushed red, cheeks puffed out, Cipher ground her teeth while glaring at Silver Wolf.
But in the end she chose to endure the humiliation, huffing as she turned and left.
Jingle—
With another soft ring of the bell, Cipher transformed into a streak of light barely visible to ordinary people and dashed away at incredible speed.
The power of the Path of Elation had granted her an ability similar to extreme acceleration.
At the same time, it removed the flaw that required her to flip a coin—replacing it with the ringing of the bell instead.
No one knew exactly how this little thief cat intended to carve out her legendary path, but one thing was certain—it definitely wouldn't be anything quiet or well-behaved.
For the next while, Punklorde was probably about to get a lot more lively.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL