After a while, Serval finally let out a long breath and said, "You can come out now. It should be safe."
"Whew… I was suffocating to death!" March complained the moment she came out. "What kind of TV drama cliche is this supposed to be…"
"When my little brother went to get the thermos, that's when I was really on edge…" Serval tugged at the corner of her mouth.
Seele said, "…Bronya is in danger. No, we have to go save her."
"Us, storming Fort Qlipoth?" Serval looked at Seele. "Let's drop that idea. Miss Seele, no matter how capable you are, I can't just let you go throw your life away!"
Then, to put Seele at ease, Serval added, "Don't worry. Cocolia… she won't do anything to Bronya. Even if people can change, at least on this point, I'm confident."
Seele was silent for a moment. "…Bronya said something similar too. I really don't understand why, you all oppose that Cocolia, yet in some ways you trust her so much."
Stelle was thinking about something else and asked, "Will Gepard go to the Silvermane Restricted Zone too?"
Serval replied, "Didn't he just say it himself? He's going to stay in the city for a while. As long as we move fast enough, we should be able to avoid running into him."
Then Serval paused. "You're asking that… are you not going to look for that kid anymore?"
Immediately after, all three members of the Express crew smiled, and Stelle spoke up, "No need. We're splitting into two groups."
"While we were hiding earlier, Nero sent a message."
"He was spotted by the Silvermane Guards, but he's already safely left the Administrative District. He still has other things to do."
"I see… alright." Serval blinked. Since the three companions in front of her didn't seem worried, it probably wasn't a problem.
She then said, "Let's go. We're heading to the Silvermane Restricted Zone. As long as we find the Stellaron first, Cocolia won't be able to do anything to you."
Everyone set off immediately, heading toward the Silvermane Restricted Zone.
As for Seele, she was still a little worried. "Bronya… will she really be okay?"
"You care about her a lot. Are you two very close friends?" Serval asked.
"Close… maybe not that far. I just promised her…" Seele replied hesitantly.
"Don't worry. She's the toughest girl I've ever met," Serval said.
"Mm." Seele nodded. "That, I know."
The group's journey toward the Silvermane Restricted Zone went smoothly. Now, let's rewind time by a few minutes.
———
Nero was following the group on the way to the Ever-Moving Mechanical House.
He suddenly stopped, feeling as if someone was calling out to him, and then turned his head to look in a certain direction.
That's when he noticed that quite a few people had gathered around the Everwinter Monument. One by one, they raised their right hands, shouting something as if swearing an oath.
The Everwinter Monument was still some distance away. Nero had originally planned to ignore what was going on there, but then he suddenly remembered the special event and the sword the system had promised him…
Thinking it wouldn't take much time, Nero ran toward the Everwinter Monument to see what was going on.
When he got closer, he finally heard clearly what those people were shouting.
"By oath, let the glory of Pure Beauty resound throughout the cosmos, everything is offered to Idrila! The Goddess of Pure Beauty, Idrila, possesses peerless beauty!"
Hearing this, Nero immediately realized that someone here was spreading the faith of Pure Beauty, and doing it quite successfully.
At least, for the two factions that currently believed in Pure Beauty, this counted as a major success.
Some related concepts could be found in the drifting memory bubbles within Herta Space Station.
The Mirror Holders who followed Idrila had an overly arrogant and extreme style, clearly not something that would win people over. Even if they succeeded in preaching, it wouldn't result in a scene like this.
At least from what Nero could see, the people in front of the Everwinter Monument all had sincere gazes, with inner spiritual light shining within them. It was obvious that this wasn't the result of some concept being forcibly implanted into their minds.
That meant it could only be the other faction, the Knights of Pure Beauty.
Nero rose with the wind, and sure enough, at the center of the crowd, in front of the Everwinter Monument, he saw an exceptionally beautiful man. The red-haired knight already looked like a god descending into the mortal world.
That face was also a "familiar" one, Argenti.
Because this man's performance in the game's story had been far too memorable, Nero recognized him at a glance.
The Knights of Pure Beauty had once been renowned throughout the cosmos, but now they had long since lost their former influence. Idrila's "fall" had caused the entire order to fracture and collapse.
In the past, the Knights of Pure Beauty could even be described as a place everyone yearned for. These knights were just, selfless, full of passion, champions of the weak, and followers of an ancient creed called "chivalry," a belief that modern times considered long extinct. Every story about them displayed an extraordinary kind of romance.
But now, despite the extraordinary strength of the Knights of Pure Beauty, the major factions of the galaxy generally looked down on them, believing that these knights, full of admiration but lacking true faith, were nothing more than scattered rabble of the universe, incapable of achieving anything great.
Even so, as a Knight of Pure Beauty who had already fallen into obscurity in today's universe, the fact that Argenti could spread the faith of Pure Beauty on this land devoted to Qlipoth, and truly move so many people, could undeniably be called a tremendous success.
At that moment, Argenti suddenly lifted his head, and his gaze almost instantly locked onto Nero. In his emerald-green eyes, tinged with the blazing red of the sun, a devout light shone through.
Then, Argenti slightly bowed toward Nero and raised both hands…
For that brief instant, Nero felt it vividly, as if he were seeing that light with his own eyes, the wind gently stirring, blowing vivid rose petals into motion, white hair softly drifting, lightly brushing against his cheek…
"Praise Idrila!"
Argenti offered such a resounding praise toward Nero.
"Huh?!"
Nero had, of course, noticed Argenti's burning gaze, but when he heard those words, he froze completely.
'Pom-pom said it. Tingyun said it. And now even you are saying it?'
'Fine, you can say it, but you're saying it in front of so many people…'
Not to mention he wasn't, even if he really were Idrila… wouldn't that still be incredibly embarrassing?
Nero's small face turned red as he lowered his head and slowly descended from midair.
Martin, the corporate office worker, immediately looked at Nero after hearing Argenti's praise, then quickly turned to look at the portrait on the Everwinter Monument.
They were exactly the same.
No, more accurately, even the masterfully rendered figure in the portrait couldn't compare to even half a strand of that child's hair he had just seen…
'So this is… the Aeon of Pure Beauty?'
Subconsciously, that thought arose in Martin's mind.
But in the very next moment, he snapped back to reality. That wasn't the Aeon of Pure Beauty, Idrila, it was a child named Nero.
He had heard through communications about how Nero and the Nameless had saved the space station. After all, the space station cooperated with the Corporation…
At the time, he hadn't paid it much attention, and afterward, he himself had run into trouble.
Meanwhile, the Belobog residents around them, those who had come to understand and begin, to some extent, believing in Pure Beauty because of Argenti, let out sighs of amazement when they saw Nero.
Someone so good-looking… this was the first time they had ever seen such a person.
And beyond that, they saw even more. Some saw friends. Some saw family. Some saw the past. Some saw peace.
What everyone cherished most in their hearts, what they believed to be the most beautiful… seemed to fall into their line of sight in a single instant.
Then, these people actually parted on their own, making way and surrounding Nero.
Though their movements were still a bit stiff, they began to act as much like gentlemen as possible, expressing their most natural, most devout, most beautiful selves.
Those who were elegant became even more elegant. Those who were unrestrained became even more unrestrained.
Countless exquisite praises were beauty. "Damn, he's really f*cking good-looking" was also beauty.
Nero, a person who wasn't good with words and didn't know how to socialize, kept his head lowered in the middle of the crowd, saying nothing.
At this point, Nero couldn't say a single word. His face felt unbearably hot.
This kind of scene was really too embarrassing. He really wanted to crawl into a trash can.
Just how did those Knights of Pure Beauty manage to do this without blushing or skipping a heartbeat?