Achoo!
"Guys, I've got a really bad feeling…"
Sampo looked at the Fragmentum creatures wandering not far away, his legs trembling nonstop.
By all logic, this really shouldn't have been his part anymore, but the loss Stelle took because of him was something she still remembered clearly.
After learning about the shortage of supplies in the Underworld, she forcefully dragged him along to Rivet Town, which had already been occupied by Fragmentum creatures, to gather resources.
"Are you even a man?" Stelle sneered from the side. "You're scared like this over just a few monsters."
"Hey, sis, how am I not a man?"
Sampo retorted. "Seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster is human nature. I, Sampo, am just an ordinary merchant, and I should be doing what a merchant should do, like for example…"
Looking at the people in front of him, Sampo rubbed his hands together and said with a grin, "You folks should pay the rescue fee just now… fair price! Three thousand Winter City Shields!"
Three thousand Winter City Shields.
That was about an entire year's income for a household in the Underworld.
Everyone present had just arrived in Belobog and didn't understand the local currency system at all.
Naturally, they didn't know what level three thousand Winter City Shields actually represented.
Especially after experiencing Asta's rich-girl financial bombardment.
The number three thousand seemed a bit too small.
"Three thousand Winter City Shields, you've really got the nerve, Sampo."
A strange girl's voice rang out. Stelle looked up ahead, and the Fragmentum creatures wandering in the distance were sliced apart by ghostly blue blade light.
Immediately after, a girl with long blue hair, wielding a scythe as her weapon, appeared before them.
Seeing the girl reveal herself, Sampo gave an awkward smile. "Boss lady, didn't expect you to be collecting supplies here too… I just remembered I left the gas on at home. I'll be going now!"
Without giving anyone a chance to respond, he bolted in a flash toward the outskirts of Rivet Town.
"That coward…"
Stelle muttered, then looked toward the girl in front of her.
That guy had called her boss lady, could she be some kind of gang leader?
As she was sizing the other party up, the other party was also sizing her up. Then gunshots rang out around them, along with rapidly approaching footsteps.
A familiar figure appeared in front of them.
Stelle, Dan Heng, and March 7th all drew their weapons, watching the suddenly appearing girl with caution.
There was a hint of irritation on Seele's face. "Didn't I say I don't need your help! Those things can't hurt me at all."
"You upper-city young ladies don't need to be so self-righteous."
"But…"
Looking at her irritated expression, Bronya hesitated to speak. In the end, she raised her right hand. "You forgot to take the supplies you collected…"
"..."
The two looked at each other, the atmosphere a bit awkward.
"Give them back!"
Seele snatched the supplies from Bronya's hands, coughed twice, then reluctantly turned her head and said to her, "Um… thanks!"
Stelle: 'This one's a tsundere.'
"You're welcome."
Bronya nodded, then looked toward Stelle and the others who were wary of her, putting on a friendly expression and starting to talk with them.
But behind the three of them, a white-haired girl was staring intently at Bronya.
'This girl… she looks like a grown-up version of Bronya.'
———
[Herta Space Station]
The company's delivery personnel left in a hurry, wearing strange expressions as they piloted their spacecraft away.
Herta, Ruan Mei, and Screwllum were all inside her office.
Even with the combined efforts of three geniuses, they still couldn't crack the virus that had invaded the station.
The bizarre music continued to echo through every corner of the space station.
During this time, an overwhelmed Herta tried to shut down the hearing system of her puppets.
But two seconds after the hearing system was turned off, it automatically turned back on, and just like Screwllum, her puppets gained an additional permission level higher than her own.
Her puppets also turned into broadcasters.
Looping the bizarre music in Herta's own voice.
"Herta, you sing a bit better than the one outside."
"Now… is not… the time… for jokes!"
A flesh-and-blood body like Ruan Mei's could block out most sounds by wearing earplugs.
But mechanical bodies like Herta's and Screwllum's could only endure it.
There was simply no way to block the sound.
"I can't take it anymore, Screwllum…" Herta's voice was weary. "I'm leaving the space station now. You two stay here…"
She would absolutely not forgive the culprit behind all this.
"I'm issuing a manhunt to the entire universe!"
'Mr. Cold Feet!'
'No matter where you run off to with Asta, you won't escape the palm of my hand!'
Her consciousness detached from the puppet and returned to her main body. Herta immediately opened the terminal and, in her own name, issued a wanted notice to the entire universe.
The wanted notice had only one name that wasn't really a name: Mr. Cold Feet.
The reward was also something that wasn't quite a reward: Herta's favor.
The moment this wanted notice appeared, the entire universe erupted.
No one wouldn't want the favor of Lady Herta of the Genius Society No. 83, someone who had met Aeons twice, regained youth in old age, and stood at the pinnacle of genius.
No matter what one asked for, this favor could almost certainly make it happen.
In some unknown corner of the universe.
A girl wearing a fox mask looked at the wanted notice on her phone. It seemed like she had seen something interesting, and the corners of her mouth couldn't stop curling upward.
"Mr.~ Cold~ Feet… heeheehee, things are getting interesting~"
What kind of thing could make Herta put up her own favor as a reward and issue a manhunt across the entire universe?
After all, the word "favor" is the hardest thing in the world to repay.
What exactly did this Mr. Cold Feet do to Herta to make her willing to pay such a price just to catch him?
This was what almost everyone was curious about.
The masked girl happily opened an anonymous account, contacted Herta, sent the name of a star system, and then deleted the anonymous account.
"Heeheehee… this is going to be fun~"
After doing all this, the masked girl skipped away from the spot.
From the countless messages contacting her, Herta found one anonymous message.
The message contained only the name of a star system.
'Jarilo!'
Seeing this name, Herta felt an inexplicable sense of premonition.
The Mr. Cold Feet she was looking for was in this star system.
Her consciousness instantly left her body and once again appeared in a puppet on the space station. She spoke to Screwllum and Ruan Mei, who were still trying to solve the virus.
"No need to worry about the station virus anymore. We'll start from the root…"
———
"This is a battle of protection!"
'Anyone who dares touch my treasure can go die!'
Levi's body moved on its own, the greatsword in his hands swinging wildly. Facing the blazing flames, Silver Wolf could only dodge passively.
After dodging another strike, Silver Wolf hurriedly patted out the flames burning on her body.
Looking at Levi in front of her, who still hadn't fully regained consciousness, "When did this guy master this kind of power?!"
In just a few days, he had gone from a sickly-looking guy to a guardian bro who could suppress her and boast overwhelming combat strength.
"You took drugs or something, didn't you?!"
"My 20 SP is full…"
"? What does that even mean?"
Hearing this sudden line come out of Levi's unfocused mouth, Silver Wolf froze for a moment.
Levi didn't answer. After all, his actual consciousness was still unconscious, he was fighting purely on his body's instinct to "protect."
"I'm going to launch an NB attack…"
He raised the greatsword over his head, his empty eyes staring straight ahead.
"Heavenly Fire… unsheathe!"
Whoosh!