"CLANG—!!"
The long Green Dragon Crescent Blade fell to the ground. Zeig stared blankly at the loli and the robot in front of him.
He sighed:
"Too hasty. I clearly took this path ahead of time, yet I still couldn't escape fate's arrangement."
The traffic-light robot suddenly turned around and scanned Zeig:
"Warning, warning—threat detected…"
"My life is over—!!"
"Protecting Clara—activating active defense mode—"
Just as the robot stepped forward, the white-haired girl quickly stopped it:
"Perkins, no! Stop!"
The girl looked at Zeig and said nervously:
"I've seen this person before… You're not a bad person, right?"
The robot called Perkins halted its actions:
"Instruction received. Threat neutralized. Active defense mode deactivated."
Clara looked at Zeig and said softly:
"This place is very dangerous. Big brother, you should go back."
"Go back?"
Zeig slowly turned around and glanced at the ground behind him, covered with dying Fragmentum creatures.
"Are you going to protect endangered Fragmentum creatures?"
He grinned sinisterly:
"Little sister, since you know this place is dangerous, you should run too! There are only two paths here—up and down. Once the Fragmentum creatures block them, there's no way out!"
Clara pressed her lips together and explained:
"Clara has Perkins with her, so it'll be fine. I'll leave once I finish packing these painkillers."
"Perkins?" Zeig looked at the traffic-light robot and murmured:
"I see—so it's an automoton with the Shield of Universal Equality? Worthy of you! Hahahahaha!"
At that moment, Seele and Bronya caught up from behind.
Seele spoke up:
"Wait—you just said you're taking the painkillers? No, absolutely not."
Clara froze, then suddenly realized as she looked at the three:
"So… you're here for these supplies too?"
She thought for a moment and nodded:
"That makes sense. There must be a lot of injured people in the mining team too, right? It would be great if everyone could just get along peacefully…"
Seele stood beside Zeig:
"Clara, this batch of medicine belongs to Natasha. You can't just take it."
Clara looked surprised:
"Huh? These were Dr. Natasha's? I'm sorry… I didn't know. Can you spare some for me?"
She murmured:
"A lot of vagrants were injured in the last incident, so I came to find some medicine for them."
Upon hearing "vagrants," Seele immediately flared up:
"Hmph? Vagrants? Aren't they supposed to be so tough? How shameless—making a little girl come to a place like this to find medicine for them!"
In Seele's mind, her opinion of the vagrants dropped even lower.
Seeing the misunderstanding, Clara quickly explained:
"N-no, it's not like that! Clara wasn't asked by anyone… It's just that the vagrants live in really poor conditions. There's no clinic in their settlement, so Clara wanted to help them."
"And actually… not all of them are bad people. Everyone just wants to survive properly."
Zeig bent down, picked up the guandao, and praised:
"You're quite the good person! Thankfully, Belobog's environment hasn't deteriorated to post-apocalyptic levels, or you'd really suffer!"
Bronya patted Seele's shoulder and asked:
"Should we leave some painkillers for Clara?"
("Ah, found the battery.")
Seele rubbed her chin in thought for a moment and said gravely:
"Since Clara got here first, let's split them evenly. The painkillers were ours to begin with—we can't leave empty-handed. This is already the biggest concession."
Clara covered her small mouth in surprise:
"Huh… give me half directly? But if we do that, Dr. Natasha's side…"
("Zzzzzzzzz—" The chainsaw sounds rose and fell continuously.)
Seele said gravely:
"I know Natasha—she won't mind. Though this will double our follow-up work… we do have two physicians, so it's not a big deal."
Clara was immediately overjoyed and thanked them repeatedly:
"That's wonderful! Thank you, big sis Seele…"
The three conversed very harmoniously, with no unpleasantness at all.
After dividing the supplies, Seele couldn't help asking:
"What's your relationship with Svarog?"
Clara answered without hesitation:
"Mr. Svarog… he's Clara's family. I met him when I was very little. He raised me and made me part of his family."
She lowered her head and apologized:
"I'm really sorry about what happened in the Great Mine before… Mr. Svarog doesn't trust any humans except Clara, especially the people from Wildfire."
Seeing Clara's friendly attitude, Seele suddenly felt that Svarog wasn't quite so dislikeable anymore.
"Then why did Svarog attack us that day?"
"Mr. Svarog didn't mean to hurt anyone. He just trusts his own calculations… He thinks negotiating with people is always inefficient."
"Everyone in Wildfire wants to lead the people out of the Underworld… but Mr. Svarog wants everyone to stay here, because in his calculations, the Overworld is no longer safe."
Bronya's thoughts raced. She suddenly stepped forward and couldn't help asking:
"Is the Underworld safe, then?"
With the Silvermane Guards in the Overworld, it shouldn't be more difficult than the Underworld.
Clara answered:
"Yes, at least according to Mr. Svarog's calculations… Mr. Svarog says his duty is to preserve, and for that, he must make decisions that protect humanity."
Through their conversation with Clara, Seele and Bronya learned a lot about Svarog.
Clara bid them farewell and left.
The remains she saw along the way made her freeze.
"Huh? This… why are there so many Fragmentum creature corpses?"
Piles of monster fragments were scattered on the ground, most incomplete. They emitted a faint glow, with edges turning into light particles and gradually vanishing over time.
Pascal scanned the fragments on the ground and analyzed:
"Traces of high-threat creature slaughter detected. Uploading to network immediately… Clara, we need to evacuate urgently…"
On the other side.
Bronya and Seele stepped over the Fragmentum creature corpses and climbed the stairs.
The two finally reached the orphanage up high.
At that moment, Zeig was riding an enormous Fragmentum creature, swinging a massive hammer and shouting things like "Eighty! Eighty! Eighty—!!"
Seele surveyed the surroundings and murmured:
"I didn't expect this place to be preserved so well."
She stood here with Bronya, gazing far over the whole of Rivet Town, and said wistfully:
"If everyone had united against the Fragmentum back then… maybe we wouldn't have had to abandon this place so quickly."
("Eighty… eighty… eighty!")
Bronya looked at the scenery around her and grew increasingly silent.
("Roar—woo woo woo!!")
Seele turned back and pointed to one spot:
"There seems to be a lot of goods piled over there. Let's check if there's the medical alcohol Natasha needs!"
"BOOM—!!"
A Fragmentum creature fragment shot toward them. Bronya ducked to avoid it and murmured at the goods in front:
"These crates have been sitting here for years, right? Are you sure there's still anything usable inside?"
Seele touched the surface of a crate:
"You think people in the Underworld care about expiration dates? As long as it's usable, it's good enough."
The two sidestepped together to dodge another flying Fragmentum creature fragment, then began opening the crates.
"Nothing… empty?" Seele frowned.
Zeig, still riding the Fragmentum creature and relentlessly swinging the hammer nearby, couldn't help laughing:
"Heh, hilarious! Everywhere we go, someone's already taken the supplies ahead of us, right? This humble one saw through it long ago! Hahahahaha!!"
"…"
…