"Do you still remember the Fisalia noble, Gilberto, whom you previously captured?"
Noah nodded:
"I remember. The true culprit behind the Echo runaway incident."
"After interrogating him under torture, we extracted a great deal of important information from him — for example, there are spies from them within our Montelli family."
Hearing this extremely confidential piece of news, Noah showed no surprise whatsoever.
There was no helping it — he had already run this plot into the ground. He really wanted to pretend to be shocked, but he just couldn't act it out.
"You're telling me this because you want to root out the spy and need my help, right?"
"Yes. This can serve as our first collaboration."
Carlotta tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and slowly explained the current situation of the Montelli family to Noah:
"Previously, I had already suspected that someone within the family had defected to the Fisalia family and the Order, but I always lacked the right opportunity to purge these rats. Until this chance arrived."
"Echoes are the primary means by which the Order controls Rinascita. The true culprit behind the Echo runaway incident is from Fisalia. They will not want this matter made public."
"Therefore, the evidence in the storage room has become the perfect bait to lure these rats out of hiding."
"And I know of a secret path. While they are distracted by the storage room, we can go straight to their hiding place and leave them with nowhere to escape."
At this point, Carlotta paused slightly:
"However, this secret path is fraught with danger. Only two people who absolutely trust each other can pass through it. Otherwise, one side could easily trap the other to death inside."
"Oh~ You don't trust anyone within the Montelli family. You're afraid the person you choose might be a mole who will trap you in the mechanisms."
Noah analyzed on her behalf:
"So you came to me. Because I'm an out-of-town tourist — at the very least, my identity is clean enough. No matter what, I have no motive to harm you."
"You're right — but that's not the only reason."
A smile returned to Carlotta's face as she acknowledged his reasoning:
"I chose you because I've actually investigated your past. You are strong enough that the vault's mechanisms cannot trap you. Therefore, you don't need to worry that I would harm you."
"Moreover, Fractsidus is also involved behind this Echo runaway incident. Montelli can help you investigate Fractsidus's presence."
"This small collaboration can lay the foundation for even greater cooperation between us in the future, don't you think?"
Noah gave a light chuckle, his gaze turning toward Carlotta:
"Then, once we enter the passage, your little life will be in my hands. The second miss of Montelli is willing to trust a complete stranger like me so easily?"
"I never misjudge people. And I believe you're not the kind of person who would act foolishly."
Carlotta remained calm and composed, turning the question back on Noah:
"So — do you trust me, Noah?"
"Of course. I already said we're on the same boat."
Noah spread his hands and teased:
"Though, I remember when Zani invited me here, she said it was just to be a guest. How did it suddenly turn into an adventure?"
"I apologize for luring you here under such a pretext. But regardless of whether you agree to cooperate, Montelli still welcomes you as a guest."
Carlotta gave a slight bow:
"As compensation, you may propose some form of reward that the Montelli family can offer you."
"Great!"
Clapping his hands together, Noah instantly thought of the reward he wanted —
"The reward I want is very simple."
"In the future, you call me Tall Chestnut, and I'll call you Little Potato!"
"We each use our own nickname."
Huh? Just a change in how they address each other counts as a reward?
Though Carlotta was bewildered, she still agreed readily:
"Fine. A name is just a designation. Tall Chestnut!"
"Perfect, Little Potato!" (pvz mod where wuwa characters are the plants nad Carlotta's the potato mine)
She looked up and saw the man before her grinning exceptionally brightly — a smile filled with the delight of successfully pulling off a prank.
She didn't understand. She really didn't understand.
Whatever. As long as he was happy.
In any case, she should first explain to him exactly what needed to be done.
Time passed quickly.
…
The sound of high heels echoed through the silent corridor. It was Carlotta, moving according to plan.
"Calling Little Potato. Please respond if you receive."
Noah's enthusiastic voice came through the earpiece, causing Carlotta to involuntarily twitch the corner of her mouth.
For some reason, just by changing the way they addressed each other, this man had gone from his previous calm and rational demeanor to something… friendly, even a little frivolous?
It was as if he were speaking to a very familiar old friend.
Whatever. No time to think about it now. She needed to hurry and traverse the secret passage of the vault.
Shaking her head to set those thoughts aside for the moment, Carlotta replied softly:
"Little Potato received. Calling Tall Chestnut — is the earpiece working well?"
"Working great!"
Hearing the affirmative reply, Carlotta felt slightly more at ease.
Although she had confidently declared her absolute trust in Noah when they were talking earlier, now that the moment had truly arrived, she couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
If she had misjudged him, she would absolutely be trapped in the vault's deadly mechanisms — her life would be in danger.
But now that things had reached this point, she had no choice but to believe in Noah.
"I've already arranged for Zani to guard the storage room through the terminal. Wait a moment — I need to go to the upper surveillance room to unlock the protective door on your side."
She passed through the clean corridors, using her auxiliary device to control the surveillance cameras and Vitreum Dancer Echoes. Passing through paths heavily guarded by Echoes, Carlotta successfully reached the surveillance room.
Switching the monitors to Noah's position and opening the door, she watched as Noah leisurely stepped through the entrance and disappeared from the camera's range.
"Calling Tall Chestnut. Little Potato calling Tall Chestnut."
"Received. What's up, Little Potato?"
Answering casually, Noah strolled past a row of motionless Vitreum Dancer Echoes with practiced ease. Only then did Carlotta's voice continue:
"After passing through the door, you should find another surveillance room. Be careful — there may be patrolling Echoes ahead. Don't let them spot you."
Hearing this, Noah expanded the range of his Time Stop once more and unhurriedly walked toward the other surveillance room:
"Don't worry, Little Potato. I definitely won't let them spot me."
"Good. I've upgraded your surveillance permissions on that side. You can now control some of the vault's facilities."
Through the monitor, Carlotta once again saw Noah's figure. At this moment, she stood on the upper corridor of the vault's grand hall, speaking into her earpiece toward him:
"I need to cross the hall from above…"
"Skip."
The enormous six-pointed star chandelier slowly descended, perfectly forming the path Carlotta needed. Her eyes brightened:
"Quite in sync, aren't we? I hadn't even finished speaking, and you already understood. How did you know I wanted to jump across?"
She took a running start, then leaped lightly, grabbing the edge of the chandelier without making the slightest sound.
"Now, I need you to…"
"Skip."
The chandelier was then controlled to rotate clockwise ninety degrees. Noah's voice came through the earpiece:
"Little Potato, I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"Since you're hanging like this and wearing a skirt, if someone below looks up, they'll be able to see everything."
"Huh?"
Carlotta looked down, her gaze passing over the flat expanse of her chest and landing on her short skirt. Several black lines appeared on her forehead.
She seemed to have worn safety shorts, right?
No — why was he even paying attention to something like this?
She didn't reply. With a slight exertion of strength, she landed as lightly as a swallow on another six-pointed star chandelier.
Pushing off with both legs, Carlotta tried rocking the chandelier. When it swung to its highest point, she leaped again, successfully crossing above the grand hall and arriving at the opposite upper corridor:
"Perfect. I've made it across, Tall Chestnut. We'll meet again soon…"
"Skip."
"What does 'skip' mean?"
Carlotta was completely puzzled, but Noah didn't explain. He simply urged:
"Little Potato, hurry up a little. We're speedrunning this adventure."
"Speedrunning? Just what I like."
Carlotta smiled knowingly.
So he also knew that time was of the essence right now.