Sampo left.
He left saying this, "Ah-trash-ha, how did I end up agreeing to this?"
Sampo's back, along with Sampo Korgi that he was dragging along the ground, quickly disappeared into the darkness.
Although it hadn't been long since Nero first met him, this Fool already seemed able to very naturally say lines like "Ah-trash-ha."
This saved Nero quite a bit of effort.
Nero had originally planned to use the Knights of Beauty constantly keeping Idrila's name on their lips as an example, trying to make Sampo, this Fool, believe that the "Ah-trash-ha" and "Ah-dumb-ha" he mentioned were both expressions of reverence and respect toward Joy.
And while he was at it, he wanted Sampo to feel that when this kind of seemingly insulting catchphrase was spoken out loud and heard by others, or even by Pathstriders of other Paths, the looks of disbelief on their faces would be a source of great amusement.
And after understanding it, the part where outsiders marveled at how uniquely the Fool expressed respect toward Aha would likewise be amusing.
However, just as Nero had finished constructing all of this logic in his head and decided to lay out, in frank language, the meanings of amusement and reverence before Sampo the Masked Fool, in an attempt to guide him onto the "right path", Sampo seemed to have grasped it without any instruction.
Perhaps he'd been inspired by Gepard's remark about naming Qlipoth Fort after Qlipoth's name as a way of expressing reverence toward Preservation.
As a seasoned Masked Fool, it clearly wasn't difficult for Sampo to glimpse the fun hidden within.
Being able to skip a round of verbal explanation was of course good news for Nero. Sampo was just the beginning.
Next there would be Giovanni, and then Sparkle… "Ah-trash-ha" and "Ah-dumb-ha" would sooner or later spread throughout the entire tavern, passing from the mouths of every Masked Fool.
Of course, there were also the Mourning Actors.
These anti-Joy folks would definitely be happy to use such seemingly mocking and insulting phrases as tools for cursing others, to demonstrate the piety of their sad hearts.
After imagining this wonderful future for a moment, Nero returned to his room in the Goethe Hotel.
Then he took out his phone, preparing to contact Tingyun to ask whether the Whistling Flames Merchant Guild had any interest in doing business related to Rift Creature products.
After sending the friend request, Nero received a message from Mengming, the boss of the Sleepless Earl.
[Nero! The application's been approved! Your name has now been entered into the Civil Census by the Divination Commission!]
Boss Mengming sent this message first, then followed it up with a screenshot of her conversation with the staff from the Divination Commission.
This was quite good news, it meant he was no longer undocumented.
Nero found it hard to judge whether his soul had transmigrated or not. After all, he arrived here already grown up, with no memories from this body's childhood or anything like that. Anyway, it definitely wasn't physical transmigration, after all, he hadn't been this good-looking before.
Still, Boss Mengming had taken him to the Divination Commission for registration the moment she found him, and now the results had finally come through.
After replying to Boss Mengming with a Pom-Pom sticker featuring heart-shaped ears, Tingyun also sent a response.
[Tingyun: Nero from the Sleepless Earl? Was it Boss Mengming who gave you this humble girl's contact information?]
[Nero: Mm.]
[Tingyun: Some time ago, this humble girl heard that the Sleepless Earl had taken in a naturally beautiful new employee. It wasn't easy to find some free time to go there hoping to take a look, but who would have thought that you had already left… I wonder if…?]
[Nero: That's fine. Also, I have something else I'd like to discuss with Miss Tingyun.]
[Tingyun: Let this humble girl first take a look at your appearance, it won't be too late.]
Tingyun asking to see his photo was within Nero's expectations.
After all, in her initial conversation with Boss Mengming, Tingyun seemed to have heard guests at the Sleepless Earl praising him to the skies, and it was out of curiosity about his looks that she made time to go there.
Using the lighting in the hotel room, Nero took a photo of himself and sent it over.
When it came to selfies, he didn't have March's level of skill. He casually picked a rather "death angle," snapped a shot, and sent it.
Fortunately, the base was good enough, no angle could really ruin it.
A few seconds after Nero sent the photo, Tingyun replied.
[As expected, peerless in appearance.]
[No wonder every time I hear people mention the Sleepless Earl's new employee, I always hear descriptions such as celestial beauty, eyes like cut water, icy skin and jade bones, heavenly fragrance and national grace, clear as water and wood, elegant demeanor, romantic and carefree, a face like crowned jade, bright eyes and white teeth, a graceful youth, a jade tree of the Qionglin, and the like.]
[Truly naturally beautiful. In my view, even if the Aeon of Beauty descended to the mortal world, it would be nothing more than this, wouldn't it?]
On the other side of the phone, Tingyun was indeed quite astonished.
As the chief of the Whistling Flames Merchant Guild, she had seen all kinds of people during her travels, but someone like Nero was a first.
Although she often heard people talk about how remarkable the newly arrived Nero at the Sleepless Earl was (having heard those evaluations so many times, even without deliberately memorizing them, Tingyun had passively committed quite a few to memory)…
Now that she had actually seen him, she instead felt that those words of praise were somewhat unworthy of the person in the photo.
People often use the phrase "grown exactly to match one's aesthetic" to describe someone or something beautiful, but the kid in the photo gave off the feeling that it was as if "aesthetic standards had grown for his sake."
Nero squinted as he looked at Tingyun's reply.
'Good grief, so much praise. Just how many times had Tingyun been bothered by people who'd seen me at the Sleepless Earl?!'
'And comparing me to the Aeon of Beauty is way too much!'
'Are you Pom-Pom or what?'
Before Nero could complain, Tingyun sent another message.
[Speaking of which, that Alchemy Commission's medicine-bearing dragon maiden, Miss Bailu, bears quite a bit of resemblance to you in appearance as well.]
[*Bailu photo*]
"Bailu?"
A huge question mark popped up over Nero's head.
Aside from possibly similar hair color, he really couldn't tell what else he and Bailu had in common.
Face shape?
In this world where everyone was basically a handsome man or beautiful woman, wasn't it normal for face shapes to look similar?
'Ah-dumb-ha!'
'Could Tingyun be subtly mocking my height?'
'I mean, I only sent a picture of my face, just from that, she can tell my height?'
[Nero: They don't really look that alike!]
[Tingyun: Hehe. Nero, come tell big sister what you want to talk about. Big sister has a good relationship with Boss Mengming, so I definitely won't let you suffer a loss.]
"Heh… hehe…" Nero twitched the corner of his mouth.
"That change in how you address yourself was pretty fast. Just now it was 'this humble girl,' then it became 'I,' and now you're already calling yourself big sister…"
"Ah-trash-ha… you were definitely mocking my height just now."
"I'm still in my growth period. Tomorrow I'll grow taller and scare you to death!"
Nero made a firm resolution in his heart to eat more good food and grow taller tomorrow, then began telling Tingyun about the plan for the Rift Creature products industry.
He said that he hoped the Astral Express and the Whistling Flames Merchant Guild could cooperate, with knowledgeable people like Tingyun stepping in to negotiate, striving to secure the greatest benefits for both the Express and the Xianzhou.
After all, the potential of the Rift Creature products industry was quite large…
For the time being, there was no need to worry about insufficient raw materials. After all, there were so many Stellarons, even the few forces, including the Astral Express, that possessed methods to seal Stellarons could run themselves ragged and still not manage to collect them all.
What's more, some forces might not bother with the matter even if they did have the means…
And besides, there were plenty of lifeless planets in the universe as well…