After smashing through the wall, the Frostspawn ran extremely fast, darting far away.
Right now, it only wanted to escape this terrifying place. This Rivet Town, it couldn't stay here for even a second.
However, the deep-blue, double-headed man who had lost one head stopped it at an intersection.
"Run? Where do you think you can run to?"
Sampo's voice rang out as he said, "Behave yourself and surrender. That'll be better for everyone."
Then, the Frostspawn saw Sampo twirling a short blade in his hand as he walked over.
"I'm practically falling asleep here. Just do me a favor and hurry up and get caught, will you? Heh~ yawn... Once I catch you, that little ancestor should finally let me go back heh~ yawn... to sleep. So really, you just, "
Sampo didn't finish his sentence.
A continuous barrage of ice crystals shot toward him like a torrential downpour.
After hitting the ground, those ice crystals exploded with a loud boom. Cold air spread everywhere, frost rapidly creeping out and instantly freezing the entire street solid.
At the same time, massive ice crystals connected to one another, like a flower growing up from underground, completely blocking the road ahead.
The Frostspawn was startled by Sampo's sudden appearance and instinctively raised its hand, firing off a burst of Everwinter Rain.
At this very moment, it glanced left and right. After confirming that neither Sampo nor Sampo's head was in sight, it turned around and fled back at extreme speed.
A few seconds later, the ice crystals cracked apart, and Sampo walked out from inside.
His hair, eyebrows, and clothes were all covered in large amounts of ice shards.
Sampo blinked, then shuddered from head to toe.
"That really woke me up from the cold. But…"
After distancing itself from Sampo, the Frostspawn circled around several times before finally hiding in a dark corner.
Running blindly would always get it caught sooner or later. It thought maybe it could hide instead.
The place it was hiding now was fairly concealed. As long as those two weren't familiar with the area, then surely it could...
The Frostspawn froze.
It saw a red sphere, very similar to its good brother, descend from the sky and hover beside it.
The tension it had been feeling instantly turned into fear, and the stolen joy of having escaped death suddenly became heavy and oppressive.
The Frostspawn slowly raised its head, and sure enough, it saw the face it absolutely did not want to see.
Nero floated in midair, smiling as he looked at the Frostspawn, and spoke, "Did you hide well? You hid well, right? I'm going to start catching you now~ Up in the sky, every single move you make is crystal clear to me~"
Nero had no idea just how dangerous these words were to the Frostspawn.
The level of misery it felt right now far surpassed how bad things had been back when it played hide-and-seek with Nero alongside the Mole Gang.
But it didn't matter. Nero couldn't care less about what a Fragmentum creature thought.
Bang!
———
Over at the market square, Seele and the other two followed the footprints for a stretch of distance.
After that, the three of them ran into some Fragmentum creatures. Fortunately, all three were quite strong, and they took care of those creatures with ease.
While dealing with the Fragmentum creatures, they also discovered a small boy hiding in a corner. The child was too scared to make a sound, trembling all over.
Seele recognized the boy.
'Eric…'
And the supplies Seele needed had also been taken by Eric and hidden here…
After that, Seele argued with Eric for a bit. The kid's mouth was stubbornly tight.
From Seele's words, Bronya and Stelle also came to understand Eric somewhat, a child who lies and steals.
Eric's subsequent behavior only proved this further. The little brat spoke nonsense with confidence and opened his mouth wide, demanding that the three of them pay two hundred Winter City Shields to buy these supplies.
By a stroke of sheer coincidence, none of them, Stelle, Bronya, or Seele, had much money on them.
The coins Sampo dropped were being managed by Dan Heng. Bronya didn't bring money when going on missions. As for Seele… well, no need to say more.
The Underworld was poor to begin with, and this kid was the kind who looked cold on the outside but warm on the inside. Even if he had money, he'd probably have given it away to help others.
"In that case, there's nothing we can do."
After a brief silence, Stelle opened her eyes, her gaze filled with determination.
Then, the Stellaron girl pulled out her baseball bat.
"A disobedient kid can only be beaten into line. I don't have money. And the supplies are mine!"
Seele turned her head in shock to look at Stelle, thinking, 'You outsiders are all the same, huh? How are you even more aggressive than me?! But I like it, let's do it!'
Because Stelle loved stirring things up, it was hard to tell whether she truly meant to take advantage of the situation or was simply trying to scare the kid.
If the well-rested Sampo had seen this, he would definitely have thought Nero had led the Nameless astray.
After all, the behavior patterns of that little colleague and Miss Stellaron were practically identical.
'Are you people Nameless or bandits?!'
'Even the Aeon of Elation would have to beg the two of you to become Emanators!'
Still, there was a normal person present. Bronya vetoed the idea of robbing a child and began talking to Eric calmly.
Eric said he was doing this because something was wrong with his father's health.
Seele immediately said that Eric always used his dad as a shield, and that this time was definitely another lie.
It was obvious she'd been fooled by this kid more than a few times.
However, Bronya still chose a gentler solution. After all, Eric had already started crying because of Seele's distrust. Maybe this time he really was in trouble…
The Silvermane Guard commander was unexpectedly good at dealing with children.
In the end, Bronya exchanged a medal inlaid with an extremely high-purity Geomarrow crystal for all the supplies.
Eric was moved to tears on the spot, and afterward, the two of them even agreed that Eric was not allowed to lie to people again in the future.
With the money issue resolved, Eric needed to return to Boulder Town. Before leaving, he thought about the strange noises he had heard. Given that this area was heavily affected by the Fragmentum, he felt it was better to warn the three big sisters in front of him.
"You... you all need to be careful! Up high, near those buildings, there seems to be something really scary… Oh, right, the road straight ahead of the market is blocked. If you keep going, you'll need to detour through the shopping street."
"Mm, we understand. Thank you for the warning." Bronya nodded, her tone and eyes both extremely gentle.
Seele and Stelle stood to the side, looking at her with strange expressions.
"That thing was pretty important to you, right?" Seele asked after Eric left. "Is it really okay to just give it to him?"
"If it can let him truly change for the better, then paying this price is nothing." Bronya shook her head, her tone returning to normal.
"Hah, and what if he still doesn't repent?" Seele shrugged.
Bronya sighed and said, "Ever since I was little, my mother taught me tolerance, taught me to protect the kindness in people's hearts… Even if I'm only a faint glimmer of light, I should still try my best to illuminate others."
"I have to give him this chance, Seele. Because no one else will."
"..." Seele fell silent for a moment, then smacked her lips and said, "You really talk in a way that's hard to understand."
Stelle said seriously, "I'm thinking… the Cocolia I saw doesn't really seem like the same person you're describing?"
Bronya's expression stiffened slightly, a bit awkward, but she still said, "Please believe me. When she first met you, Mother absolutely had no hostility toward you at all… Actually, I don't know either what exactly caused her to change her view in such a short time."
"Doesn't matter." Stelle shook her head, then looked at Bronya with a teasing expression. "Didn't expect you to be so good at comforting kids. You're so gentle with children?"
"Well…" Bronya lowered her head, her cheeks actually turning a little red.
"Then why can't you show this kind of attitude when you're dealing with Nero?" Stelle asked again.
Bronya took a deep breath, then let out a soft sigh. "That child… his sense of self is extremely strong, he's very hard to persuade, and his thinking is clear and his words are sharp… He's the type I can't handle."
Stelle nodded. She understood.
Bronya couldn't out-argue him.
Seele watched the two of them talk, a smile flashing briefly across her face before she spoke, "Let's go. We should keep moving. Eric said we need to detour through the shopping street… I vaguely remember… this way."