And then, three hours later again…
The Herta left with a rosy glow and a deeply satisfied look, heading off to rummage through the Emperor's Scepter database for the juicier bits of Rupert II's unofficial history. Meanwhile, Kiyono Inori, who had turned into a little kitten, lay completely limp inside the Scepter's inner space.
H-How many rounds has this been now… This is straight-up cheating! Lady Herta has way too many questions! What are you, a living "One Hundred Thousand Whys"?!
Her consciousness was about to blur out entirely.
Inori Cat barely managed to shift into a slightly different sprawled position.
Lady Herta, yes, you gave me tons of ideas for the project "Using the Stellaron as the Emperor's Scepter's Power Source," but I'm sorry, if you keep asking like this I really will collapse!!
Inori Cat entered emergency strategy mode.
To be honest, forcefully cutting off a conversation with Lady Herta was basically a once-in-a-century problem for a kitten.
Fair skin, long hair that shimmered, a slender figure, long legs wrapped in high-transparency gray stockings. Aside from the slightly lower armor rating in the frontal area, she was practically flawless.
The kitten was not drooling over Herta's gray stockings.
Well… mostly it was just that dealing with Herta was efficient. You could systematically learn and understand the Star Rail universe with her. Before she knew it, she had walked herself straight into a corner.
In simple terms.
The knowledge for "Stellaron to Emperor's Scepter" was basically there, but it still felt like it was missing just a tiny something. And that tiny something felt exactly like one of those endless bargain cuts where you are always one cent away from free.
It had already been like this several times. Always just short!!
"Meow meow meow meow meow meow!"
Kiyono Inori meowed loudly, summoning No. 4, the Lord of Silence. Not long after the conversation started, No. 4's data spirit appeared.
"…What is it?"
The data spirit of No. 4 materialized out of thin air.
"Whoa, why are you responding so fast, meow?!"
Inori Cat jumped in fright. "Fourth Seat, you are not monitoring me at high intensity, are you? I already said I would not do anything dangerous! Cute kittens never lie, you know?"
No. 4's data spirit frowned slightly.
How to put it…
This cat was usually very sharp, learning and improving at a pace indistinguishable from a genius. But sometimes her train of thought went completely off the rails, like she was missing a screw. It was hard to tell what kind of environment could shape a personality like that.
"Acting cute won't help. Get to the point," said No. 4, arms crossed, voice cold.
"Okay okay! I think Herta set me up! She's luring me in with knowledge. The progress bar hit 99 percent more than ten hours ago, but now it's still at 99.99 percent!!"
Inori Cat complained nonstop. "That's way too much! It's basically like one of those endless challenge shows, meow! When Herta comes back later, you hide in the shadows and see if she's bullying me on purpose, okay, meow!"
"…Sigh."
No. 4 let out a quiet sigh. "Did you forget the most important detail? What's inside the Emperor's Scepter isn't the real No. 4, but a slice she split off herself. To put it simply, I am the confusion she felt at a single instant."
Genius Society No. 1, Zandar One Kuwabara.
Once, using No. 4's causality abilities, he erased himself and all the design blueprints of Nous, the Aeon of Erudition, to prevent future geniuses from rebuilding Nous after it was eventually destroyed.
At that moment.
Right in front of No. 4, Zandar shattered his own consciousness and scattered it across the vast galaxy.
No. 4, the Lord of Silence, was a peerless prodigy.
After understanding the principle, she became the second genius in the universe to master the technique known as "Zandar Splits into Nine Just to Elbow His Big Kid, v3.34."
After the Omniscient Domain was cracking, No. 4 inevitably experienced a fleeting moment of confusion. But in her arrangements against the End, her position could not tolerate even the slightest hesitation. So she used Zandar's technique to cut that instant of confusion away.
She upheld Nous's optimal solution plan, aided Kiyono Inori, and when the state of the universe became uncontrollable, she could even cash in this favor to have "Future Kiyono Inori" step in.
One move, three wins.
Zandar's slicing technique was incredibly refined. Every slice could perform at the level of a true genius. Naturally, the slice No. 4 left behind was no weaker than any genius.
But… what she left here was the aspect of "confusion."
This slice was already confused to begin with, and after seeing the origin teleportation array of the Pink Piggy Genius, it became even more confused. In simple terms, the Lord of Silence inside the Scepter was currently in peak confusion.
"So… I fight Herta? Seriously?"
That was probably her true inner thought. But the pride of the Lord of Silence would never allow her to show weakness in front of another genius.
Thus, No. 4 politely refused Kiyono Inori's request.
No. 4's explanation immediately reminded Inori of the classic "Zandar Splits into Nine" story. It did not help the current situation much, but at least she understood why Herta was more interested in her than in No. 4!!
Kiyono Inori: wide-eyed shock.
Well… looks like I can only rely on myself now! The astonishing wisdom inherited from the Pink Piggy Genius by the beautiful girl caretaker began to spin up!
And so.
Three hours later inside the Emperor's Scepter, when Lady Herta returned as usual to the door of the discussion room.
"Aaaaaah!!"
Inori Cat mimicked the usual antics of the Pink Piggy Genius, clutching her head with her little paws and rolling around on the floor without reason. "My brain… my brain is going to explode from this high-intensity cram teaching, meow! I'm going to be taught broken, Herta big sister, please stop teaching, let's end it here for today, okay, meow?!"
Faced with Inori Cat's wailing.
"Hmph, that's all you've got? Across the universe, you're the forty-seventh lifeform that's managed to chat with me continuously for over forty-eight hours."
Herta smiled with interest.
"Great, I'll remember that. From now on I'll tell everyone, 'I'm someone who chatted with Herta for over forty-eight hours, who are you even,' so can we end it now? Herta big sister, onegai."
"Of course."
Herta gave the kitten a kindly yet merciless smile that said, you're old enough to understand how dark society is now. "Nope."
Kiyono Inori stared blankly.
"You seemed to understand me pretty well from the start. Then you should know this about me. I take revenge immediately and never leave it for tomorrow. The same goes for my friends."
Genius Society Seat No. 83 flicked her long hair aside, then smiled warmly. "Embedding a Stellaron into the Emperor's Scepter array is, in theory, an extremely difficult problem. But your Scepter is different from others. Hmph, you should thank me. Once we finish analyzing this, class will be dismissed."
In the beautiful girl caretaker's mind, countless Herta puppets suddenly appeared, bouncing, cheering, praising her.
System notification detected key information.
Little Herta: Wow! It's Lady Herta! Lady Herta came to inspect the space station! Cheering! Jumping! You Are Three Winters DJ mode activated!
Automatic praise mode activated: Lady Herta is unparalleled! Lady Herta is incomparably brilliant! Lady Herta is stunning beyond compare!
"Kiyono Inori has experienced forty-eight hours of after-school tutoring by Lady Herta. Emperor's Scepter φ-ln7 modification plan 'Stellaron Energy Supply Unit' acquired!"
From 99.99 percent to 100 percent. In any field, that final step is always the hardest chasm to cross.
…
"A Small Step for the Wingweavers"
Taking advantage of the Antimatter Legion's momentum, the Wingweavers infiltrated Herta Space Station and stole one of Lady Herta's prized curios. Recovering it might earn you substantial rewards from Asta.
This kind of thing happens during Trailblazing.
What was supposed to be a simple meet-up with March 7th at the station somehow turned into an extremely lucrative ultra-long quest chain.
Up to now.
In pursuit of the missing curio from Herta Space Station, Stelle had already gone through more than twenty side quests related to the Wingweavers.
From the old man who gave clues back in Herta's beginner village, to capturing Wingweaver scholar-archaeologists in bizarre ancient ruins, to even getting dragged into a massive internal faction war among the Wingweavers in an Abundance-era ruin.
Now, at last, it was coming to an end.
"General Stelle, without your help, our Burning Lamp Legion would surely have faced annihilation… Are you truly leaving? Please stay in the tribe and be our general for life!"
The gorgeously dressed Kun-headed figure on the throne looked utterly reluctant.
"Who the heck would be your meow-meow general!! Enough already! The curio, the curio. You did take back Herta's Man-Made Meteorite from the enemy leader, right?!"
Stelle was absolutely losing it.
If time had not flowed differently inside the Wingforger ruins, the Astral Express crew would have thought she had gone missing by now! Who wanted to lead a bunch of Abundance Kun-heads as a general anyway?!
"Cough cough. The curio General Stelle needs, we already sent people to search the enemy camp long ago. It's just that the war caused severe structural damage, so the whereabouts of the curio…"
The Wingweaver leader hesitated, looking exactly like he was about to extend the ultra-long quest even further.
A terrifying pressure burst forth in the palace.
Stelle's expression darkened as she pulled out her bat. There was no emotion in her eyes, only the burning desire to complete the quest.
"Wait wait wait, General Stelle! I'm not done yet! Although the damage made searching difficult, the curio was, of course, recovered with all our might by our brave warriors!
The Wingforger tribes are now unified. All that remains for revival is the summoning of the Child of Prophecy! You are the eternal ally of the Wingweavers. At the very least, we hope you can bear witness."
The leader's expression turned eager.
"Fine, sure, of course. But you promise me this is the very last thing I have to do here!"
"Of course, of course! In our prophecies, the summoning of the Child of Prophecy is the most crucial step! You, the great hero who led us to conquer all directions and swallow all lands, cannot possibly be absent!"
The leader patted his chest in assurance.
Stelle stared blankly.
Who could have imagined back at the start?
She just wanted to retrieve one of Herta's curios, yet by sheer accident she passed through the Wingweavers' branch portal and entered their destroyed homeland, Muldrasil, which had been obliterated in turn by the Hunt Aeon and a Destruction Emanator.
She even got involved in an internal faction war among the Wingweavers.
Using the omnipresent intelligence network of trash cans, Stelle commanded several battles that could only be called miracles, leading the weak Burning Lamp Legion to defeat the strongest Peacock Angel Legion among the Wingweavers.
The force under Stelle's command was hailed as the sharpest plume of the Burning Lamp Legion.
Now, at last, it was time to go home.
After patiently wrapping up the Child of Prophecy summoning ritual, Stelle looked at the Wingweaver supreme leader with a sigh.
"Qin Yue. The Child of Prophecy has been summoned. Go build a nation where Kun-heads and trash cans alike can happily sing, dance, and rap together! If it's you, I know you can do it. I'm heading home."
"General, I will engrave your teachings in my heart!"
Stelle raised a hand and waved, leaving behind a silhouette the Wingweaver leader would never forget.
"General, the home you long for so deeply must be a warm and happy place… the Astral Express," the leader murmured, the reluctance in his eyes slowly turning into acceptance.
The Child of Prophecy had descended.
The great tree of Muldrasil would one day revive. Their people would return to the golden age once known across the universe as the Cloud Lords. When that day came, they would repay the general's grace of rebirth.
The Wingforger leader swore this silently in his heart.
And so.
Herta Space Station, Main Control Zone.
"Long time no see, Miss Asta."
Hearing the greeting, Asta turned around.
Leaning against the wall in a dominant stance was the Galactic Baseballer, gray hair sticking out in all directions. But… was that really the same gray-haired kid she knew?
For a moment, it felt like years had passed. Asta checked the time. Only four or five hours had gone by.
"Stelle, you're back. That was fast again. You must have gone through quite the battle. Was Lady Herta's curio successfully recovered?" Asta asked cautiously, eyeing the bristling Stelle.
"Of course…"
The curio floated up in Stelle's hand: the Man-Made Meteorite. It was said to be a gift crafted by Genius Society No. 9, Klein, for No. 7, Baiheng, with a replica of the Eye of Nous embedded on its surface.
Even among Herta's collection, it ranked as extremely rare.
"That really was a very, very long mission," Stelle said, narrowing her eyes with emotion. "There will be no more Wingweavers acting as interstellar pirates. They will never invade Herta Space Station again."
"Ah… that's wonderful. The station has had far too many disasters lately. Stelle, would you like to settle the commission reward now?"
"No… let's wait until the Express crew is back."
Stelle let out a cool little snort. She could not wait to show March 7th her new hidden power. Sure, she did not unlock a new Path, but she did unlock a new Trash Can Hero.
Clearly.
Asta did not run into Elysia and March 7th wandering the station. Under her guidance, Stelle arrived at the door to Herta's office.
As usual, Stelle pressed the button and opened the door.
What she saw was—
Brown hair falling naturally, Lady Herta herself in a long robe with a pointed hood, humming a tune Stelle could not understand, gently coaxing a well-behaved little cat in her arms to sleep.
Stelle stared in shock.
Th-this is Lady Herta and the beautiful girl caretaker!! Only a few hours passed outside, how are you already this close?! And why are you being so well-behaved in Herta's arms?!
The Stellaron inside Stelle puffed up its cheeks indignantly.
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.