Dan Heng shook his head at March. "...No, that's actually not what I want to talk about."
"Alright, alright, then go on." March spread her hands.
"Back at Qlipoth Fort, did you pay attention to that Supreme Guardian?"
"Of course I did!" March proudly put her hands on her hips.
"After adventuring with you guys for so long, my powers of observation have been polished up, hey, they're not just average anymore~"
Stelle, who was standing nearby listening to everyone talk, tilted her head slightly and looked at March, "What did you notice?"
March shook her head and looked at Stelle with a blank expression. "Nothing, really. She seemed like a pretty normal lady. A bit hard to talk to at first, but after explaining things she was actually quite gentle."
Then March's gaze dimmed slightly, and she spoke in a hesitant tone, "It's just… I felt like her eyes had this kind of penetrating power, like, even though she was talking to us, her gaze seemed to be fixed on something far away…"
Stelle nodded. "Great minds think alike."
"Mm. I felt something similar." Dan Heng also affirmed March's statement.
"As if there was more in that room than just us."
As soon as Dan Heng finished speaking, the pink-haired girl shuddered violently, her eyes showing a bit of panic.
"Hey! When you put it like that, it sounds kind of scary…"
"He's an invisible man."
A trace of a smile flashed through Stelle's eyes. March's reaction made her want to tease her.
March did react to that sentence, but… she only retorted, "That definitely wouldn't escape Dan Heng's eyes."
"Sigh…" Nero, standing to the side, let out a breath.
"Without Teacher Dan Heng, this family would fall apart sooner or later."
"At first, I thought I was just being overly sensitive, but Nero shares the same view as me." Dan Heng continued.
As soon as he said that, March and Stelle immediately turned to look at Nero, two pairs of eyes fixed on him.
Both girls wore expressions that said, "When did you betray the organization?"
"When we were outside, Nero and I discussed it, and we came to the conclusion that there are many suspicious points about that Supreme Guardian."
"Huh? Then… are we still going to stay here?" March sounded a little nervous.
"Of course we are!" Nero said.
"It's such a high-end place, if she lets us stay, why wouldn't we?"
"But weren't you two just..."
"I've already observed the layout around the Goethe Hotel and roughly judged the distance of the Silvermane Guards stationed in the city from here."
"There's no personnel planted around the hotel. Even if the guards responsible for the perimeter routes rushed over to make trouble for us, we'd still have plenty of time to react."
Dan Heng spoke up to explain for Nero.
"And if that Supreme Guardian really intends to harm us, judging by how capable she's shown herself to be, she definitely wouldn't act in the first half of the night. She needs time to build trust and make us let our guard down."
Nero continued, "If it were me, in these first few days I would only observe our actions from the shadows and wouldn't make a move."
"During that process, I'd create some situations that require both combat and brains, to observe our fighting ability and planning skills."
"After getting a grasp of our strength, I'd then mobilize enough manpower to wipe us out and suddenly strike at a certain moment, or directly interfere during the process of sealing the Stellaron."
"Even if I were really in a hurry, I'd at least give us one peaceful night's sleep, then strike the next day when we wake up and our sense of trust has skyrocketed."
"But given the current state of this planet, actually trapping us to death in the Fragmentum would be the most effective method."
Listening to Nero's analysis, the way March looked at him became strange.
Then the pretty girl reached out, pinched Nero's cheeks, and pulled them to both sides, as if trying to see whether she could tear off a layer of human-skin mask.
While pulling, March asked, "Are you really Nero?"
March tugged at Nero's face, her feelings a bit complicated.
She had always thought Nero was on the same level as her, but what he just said was basically like digging a pit that she would jump into the moment she saw it.
She thought to herself that although Nero didn't look stupid, no matter how she thought about it, he didn't seem like the kind of person who would come up with things like that.
Rubbing Nero's face, March lifted her head and looked at Dan Heng, feeling like she had found the reason.
As the saying goes, those who stay close to vermilion turn red, those close to ink turn black. Nero was so close to Dan Heng all the time… the reason this kid turned out like this must be Dan Heng's doing.
Teacher Dan Heng was no ordinary person. One look at March's expression and he knew exactly what she was thinking, so he immediately said, "I didn't teach him."
He wasn't surprised that Nero had such thoughts. Ever since he noticed Nero intentionally or unintentionally tricking Stelle into drinking soda bean juice, Dan Heng had already realized that the reason this kid hadn't pulled off anything big yet was simply because he genuinely had a good nature.
Small mischief like this was fine.
On this matter, the Flamespawn held the opposite opinion to Teacher Dan Heng, but unfortunately it couldn't speak at all right now.
"In short, from now on, we can't relax for even a moment," Dan Heng said.
"She promised to help us. Hopefully she won't go back on her word… that would be the best outcome…
"Get some rest early. The more we need to stay highly focused, the more precious rest time becomes."
No one objected. March also contentedly released Nero's cheeks, and the group headed toward the front desk.
Old Goethe sat behind the counter.
The mature and steady Teacher Dan Heng handled the negotiations, confirmed the rooms prepared for them with Old Goethe, and in addition, they also received an extra two hundred Wintercity Shields.
Wintercity Shields are the official currency circulating in Belobog, with an exchange rate of 1,50 against Credits.
Although, under such long-term lockdown conditions, why Credits can still be used as one of the currencies in Belobog is a question that sparks curiosity, people seem unable to give an answer anymore.
In any case, these two hundred Wintercity Shields were equivalent to ten thousand Credits.
Old Goethe said they were sent over not long ago by a Silvermane Guard. That guard said it was at Captain Gepard's request, to deliver these Wintercity Shields here, so that they could later be handed to the foreign guests whose accommodations would be personally arranged by the Supreme Guardian. This was the reward for capturing a criminal.
At this moment, Sampo obviously hadn't escaped yet. Even if he had, he probably wouldn't be able to come looking for Nero at this time.
There were a total of two hundred Wintercity Shields. Split evenly among the four of them, that would be fifty each.
But since they had previously promised to give half to Sampo, Nero took out twenty-five Wintercity Shields. When Mr. Cold Feet came looking for him, he would give these to him.
This was something he learned from Herta, he did indeed promise to give Sampo half, but he never said whether it was half of the total or half of his personal share.
But even doing it this way was because Nero was a "good kid." He could have completely twisted Sampo's gestures even further.
For example, stretching out ten fingers could mean he only wanted ten. Spreading five fingers could mean he only wanted five. Or holding out a hand could mean that if he didn't agree to give him three (an OK gesture), then he wouldn't be willing.
Or Nero could just play dumb, pretend he didn't understand anything, and give Sampo nothing at all…
From that perspective, Sampo had already made a huge profit, a massive one.
After taking out the Wintercity Shields reserved for Sampo, the rest were kept by Teacher Dan Heng as funds for their activities in Belobog over the next period of time.
Soon after, everyone went up the staircase behind the flower beds, heading toward the rooms that Cocolia had prepared for each of them.