Acheron seemed not to have come over with the two knights and March, but she had always been a loner. Perhaps she had something else to do, or had been held up by something.
Seeing the three of them approaching, Aventurine's expression suddenly became somewhat complicated.
Although he had never intended to kill the people from the Astral Express or Noe from the beginning, the two sides had still been fighting with blades just moments ago.
Although he had planned everything out, he had underestimated Nero, causing part of his plan to fail successfully. In a sense, he had lost once again.
If they were only talking about winning and losing, it seemed he had never actually beaten this child. But considering his goals and feelings, most of the time it had been a win-win situation. Both he and Nero had won.
Having lived for so many years, Aventurine was not someone who was thin-skinned, but as the three of them came closer and closer, his mind still began turning rapidly, thinking of what excuse he could give.
If only Nero were not here. Then he could shamelessly act as if nothing had happened.
However, after they approached, the girl named March 7th did not seem to have any intention of blaming him. Her clear gaze looked as though she did not know at all that the person who had fought them so fiercely was him.
The knight lady also did not seem to intend to say anything about his plan. She merely let her gaze pause on him for a moment, confirmed that he was not dead, and then immediately looked toward Nero.
Then, under Aventurine's somewhat stunned gaze, the two knights quickened their steps, walked around him, and came before Nero, revealing extremely sincere and reverent looks.
Looking at the two knights who had suddenly become reverent and were now bowing seriously, a question mark appeared in Aventurine's mind.
The Knights of Beauty. Although the company had not had much contact with them, he had still heard quite a few rumors related to them.
Although the things the Knights of Beauty did often damaged the company's interests, in Aventurine's understanding, these people were actually serious, kind-hearted people with a fanatical pursuit.
And that was precisely where the problem lay. Because of the knights' fanatical pursuit of Idrila, they were naturally very serious and very polite, but Aventurine found it hard to imagine what kind of person could make reverence appear in the knights' eyes.
If those people recognized by the knights as "beautiful" were involved, they might show admiration in their eyes, but reverence... If Aventurine had to give an answer, then there should only be one possible answer.
An idea slowly surfaced in Aventurine's mind. It was an extremely bold idea, so bold that even Aventurine himself could hardly believe it.
However, very soon, one sentence from Noe turned the strange idea in Aventurine's mind into a highly shocking reality.
"Argenti, is this what Lady Idrila looks like now? She's so beautiful!", As Noe spoke, she ran over and picked Nero up from behind.
Although she had a quiet-looking appearance, Noe was probably the most carefree Knight of Beauty Nero had encountered so far. She was practically March 7th plus.
Argenti nodded. "Quite clearly, she is currently traveling with the Astral Express in this form. Personally coming into the cosmos to experience the beauty in every tiny detail."
"I'm so moved! Lady Idrila..." Noe began shedding little pearls again.
Nero's expression became somewhat complicated. Although he had explained things to Argenti many times, Argenti clearly had his own firmly established ideas.
For creatures like the Knights of Beauty, once they had decided that something was a certain way, it was difficult to change their minds.
Listening to the conversation between the two knights, Aventurine seemed to have turned into an Aventurine stone sculpture. The information revealed by their words was simply... far too shocking for him.
'The Goddess of Beauty?'
'Who?'
'Nero?'
In an instant, quite a few thoughts surfaced in Aventurine's mind.
For example, Nero was a "god," Mother Gaiathra was also a god, and he was Nero's older brother, so he was an elder of Mother Gaiathra.
Or perhaps something like a novel titled About My Little Brother Being the God of Beauty...
But Aventurine was not March. He would not let his thoughts run completely wild under such a shock.
After calming down, many things suddenly became reasonable.
If Nero was the God of Beauty, then the fact that everyone seemed to like him could be explained much more clearly.
After all, a good personality combined with the influence of the God of Beauty would simply be a case of two strong factors reinforcing each other.
Compared with everyone else, March's attention at this moment was more focused on the two heads of the Astral Express family.
Looking at Welt and Himeko lying on the ground, she asked, "By the way, what was that 'explosion'-like situation just now? Why are Mr. Yang and Himeko sleeping on the ground... Wait... can you sleep in a dream?"
March's reaction made Aventurine narrow his eyes.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
That girl named March 7th had clearly been present during the battle just now. Why was she acting as though she knew nothing now?
Behind them, Argenti also frowned. He was thinking as well, but his thoughts were going in a different direction from Aventurine's.
Although the Knights of Beauty seemed somewhat abstract to most people, they were not incapable of thinking.
They were fanatics, but they would not stubbornly cling to a wrong path. They followed beauty, but if beauty itself truly made a mistake, they would definitely choose to correct it.
Whether correction would actually be useful was another matter, but that would certainly be their choice.
And what Argenti was thinking about at this moment was that he and Black Cutter had not entered the Dreamscape Reverie.
He had merely followed Black Cutter, who had been pursuing Nero's aura, all the way through the air, yet they had now arrived in the dreamscape.
On the other hand, Miss March should not have disappeared together with Nero, but while chasing Black Cutter, Miss March had appeared together with Nero.
It was still impossible to draw any definite conclusions, but the boundary between dream and reality seemed not to be as clear-cut as imagined.
This was something Argenti was rather concerned about. He believed that in a developed and prosperous place like Penacony, such a situation should not occur.
Because this was too dangerous. Blurring the boundary between reality and dreams was dangerous for both the Dreamchasers and the people. This was a sign that the Family was being irresponsible toward the Dreamchasers.
Such a dangerous mistake and loophole were clearly not beautiful enough.
Argenti felt that it was necessary to give the Family some warning, remind them of their mistake, and work with everyone to make the dreamscape better.
But taking the initiative to bring it up directly might be a little too forceful. That was not something a guest should do.
Now that Nero had been found, and he had discovered this matter while coming to pick Nero up, perhaps he could happen to mention it during their later conversation to make it sound more tactful.
After all, the Family should also be taking Nero's disappearance very seriously. Anders should already have made the Family aware of the seriousness of Nero's disappearance.
Argenti was very considerate of the Family.
After hearing March's words, Nero struggled out of Noe's arms. "Right, let me wake Mr. Yang and Himeko first."
As he spoke, Nero raised his hand and gave Himeko and Welt one slap each on the forehead.
Smack! Smack!
After the two crisp sounds, Welt and Himeko, who had been lying on the ground as though unconscious, suddenly opened their eyes. The motion of opening their eyes was accompanied by a jolt, like someone having a nightmare.
Seeing this scene, Aventurine suddenly wanted to know why he had heard a "smack" when he woke up.
He raised a hand and touched his forehead. If nothing unexpected had happened, Nero had probably slapped him like this too.
Aventurine could not help frowning, his thoughts jumping from one question to another.
So, normally speaking, he really should have died. Although according to his and Ratio's speculation, death might not have been true death, but rather going to some part of this dream that had been concealed.
After all, among the information the two of them had investigated, there had been cases in this sweet dream where someone had "mysteriously disappeared" and then returned.
Although the original purpose of investigating these records had been to look into Nero's disappearance, they had instead provided an insight into another matter.
'So... what exactly is the principle behind this?'
'A single slap could pull someone back across the boundary between life and death... Could it be that Nero really was the God of Beauty?'
But he had never heard that Idrila possessed such a power.
'Is this really not Abundance?'
Aventurine, who still did not know enough about Nero's information, fell into confusion. Meanwhile, in front of him, neither of the two knights seemed to think there was anything wrong with this.
Omnipotence was, of course, also something very beautiful.
Aventurine tried thinking from the knights' perspective. Their reactions seemed fairly reasonable, but...
His gaze turned toward March 7th.
'Wouldn't it be a little strange for you to be completely unfazed?'
Not only did Aventurine see "joy" in March's gaze, he also saw "as expected."
March, whose attention was focused on Welt and Himeko, did not notice Aventurine's puzzled gaze. Otherwise, she would definitely have given this company executive a proper explanation.
After staying beside Nero for so long, this kind of thing was just basic operation.
Don't underestimate the power of Nero's little hand. It can cure everything.
If some machine broke, a slap could fix it. Even the Xianzhou's Matrix of Prescience was no exception. If someone got sick, a slap could cure them. Even mara could be cured.
'I can tell you completely don't understand the value of those little hands of Nero!'
If he could make things this amazing with a single slap, then bringing the dead back to life and restoring flesh to bones was perfectly reasonable, right?
In March's eyes, there were many things that made Nero unique, but if she had to name one trait that was both classic and representative, she definitely would not choose his good looks, his great strength, or Black Cutter's heavy sword. She would choose that miraculous slap.
At least in March's opinion, throughout the entire universe, including those Aeons, there should be no one else capable of doing the same thing.
While Aventurine was staring blankly, Welt and Himeko gradually regained consciousness. The two then looked at Aventurine with great vigilance.
For the two of them, there seemed to be a gap in their memories. They did not know what had happened after Miss Acheron had cut through Preservation with her blade, but that did not stop them from becoming vigilant toward Aventurine the moment they woke up.
After all, they had just been fighting this company envoy to the death.
The first thing the two heads of the Astral Express family did after waking up was to put Nero and March behind them.
Although they were also curious about what had happened to Nero when he disappeared, they needed to be wary of Aventurine first.
Seeing this scene, Aventurine did not know what to say. If his plan had succeeded, none of this would have happened, but right now, he still had to face it.
So, amid Nero's inexplicable gaze, the complicated looks of the two heads of the Astral Express family, and March's energetic eyes, he briefly told everyone about his plan and the thoughts behind it.
'Oh.'
So it was just water rushing into the Dragon King's temple, with one family fighting another.
Although they understood that Aventurine had meant well, the two heads of the family still really wanted to complain about what he had done, because it sounded like something out of one of the trashy novels March usually read.
But thinking about it carefully, it seemed to be a little better than a trashy novel. After all, there was an information gap, and it was at least somewhat logical.
If things developed any more absurdly, then this would be undeniable reality.
After getting a general understanding of the situation, Welt looked around again and asked, "Where did Stelle go?"
"Stelle..." Nero blinked. "She was taken away by Flow... Sam."
"Sam?" Welt frowned.
"Yeah, Sam from the Stellaron Hunters, the white robot." Nero nodded. "It's fine. I'm pretty familiar with the Stellaron Hunters. Later, I'll just ask where Silver Wolf is."
Welt's expression became rather complicated, but he still nodded.
Although so far, the Hunters had not done anything particularly heinous as far as the Astral Express was concerned, the Stellaron Hunters were, after all, notorious cosmic terrorists.
The fact that Nero was becoming more and more familiar with them always made him feel like something was strange.
"What a delightful result. In this storm filled with the power of Nihility, not a single person died. And even more delightful is that Nero has returned to our side."
Argenti said, "Then the remaining problem that needs to be resolved should be the murder of Miss Robin."
Hearing Argenti's words, Nero looked at him somewhat doubtfully. He had clearly already told Argenti to keep watch.
Noticing Nero's gaze, Argenti continued, "As you instructed, I remained steadfast at the Reverie Hotel in reality. However, Miss Robin was still attacked. Therefore, I think Miss Robin may have been killed in the dreamscape."
Following Argenti's words, Nero thought about it. At that time, he had been in that cold-toned dream hotel or the Memory Zone turbulence, while Argenti had been at the Reverie Hotel in reality. So Robin had most likely been attacked in the normal dreamscape...
Thinking about it now, what exactly was going on with Penacony? Why did it seem like a mille-feuille?
"However, after investigating, my brothers and sisters discovered that Miss Robin has not died." Argenti continued.
"In a corner of the dreamscape that is difficult to notice, one of my comrades has already found Miss Robin. She is still alive.
"Next, we only need to have the Family find her. As for the rest, I don't think we need to concern ourselves with it. The Family should be able to take this matter seriously. After all, it concerns the Charmony Festival, so the matter is of great importance."
A smile appeared on Argenti's face, and his whole person seemed to be bathed in holy light.
The final piece of information thrown out by this Knight of Beauty was undoubtedly shocking to everyone investigating the case.
The Knights of Beauty really are useful.
[T/N: New fanfic chat—"Genshin Impact: Retiring Early from the Fatui". A solid read, definitely give it a try. Have a great day~]
[🙇🏻 You Can Support the Story Through P@treon—AmbitiousTranslator. It also has 40+ Chapters of all the novels and fanfics. Thanks for reading~]