A message from the Stellaron Hunters, but the one who stepped forward to talk to 'Little Herta' wasn't Elio—it was Jingliu.
"Bai Ming? A kid this time? How've you been?"
Ever since Jingliu had sorted out her Mara-struck problem, her whole demeanor had been getting softer and softer.
A faint smile even appeared on her face as she spoke to 'Little Herta'.
"Not bad. You? Heard your bounty went up quite a bit."
Jingliu just smiled, not really caring.
"It's alright. Kafka joined recently, so it's been a bit livelier."
Not dwelling on it too long, Jingliu continued, "Elio wanted to chat with you about something and asked me to see if you're free."
"Elio? I thought he didn't like seeing me. What's with the sudden invite?"
Hearing 'Little Herta's' words, Jingliu's mouth twitched.
Elio really wasn't too keen on seeing her, which was why he'd specially asked Jingliu to make the contact. But as for what it was about, Elio hadn't gone into detail.
"Probably something important?"
"Alright, fine. Let's meet then. Where?"
"We can't exactly show up at the Land of Light. Come to the Stellaron Hunters' hideout. I'll send you the coordinates."
As she spoke, Jingliu sent over an address. Then she cut the comms.
'Little Herta' naturally decided to go check things out. If someone like Elio specifically asked for a chat by name, it had to be something important to talk about.
So even though she was still super into the project she was working on, she followed the coordinates Jingliu had sent and phase-shifted over.
--+--
The landing point was on a spaceship. One of those ecological ships specially designed for living on.
But the moment 'Little Herta' touched down, the first person she saw wasn't Jingliu—it was Kafka, holding a wine glass.
The moment 'Little Herta' looked at her, Kafka looked back.
"Hm? A little kid?"
Kafka got up from the couch and walked over to 'Little Herta', a puzzled look on her face.
For some reason, she felt this little girl's features were strikingly similar to a certain Genius Society member these days.
Also, the way she was looking at her wasn't quite like looking at a wanted criminal, nor was it like looking at an accomplice.
"You seem to know me?"
"Not really. Jingliu contacted me to come here. Do you know where she is?"
'Little Herta' shook her head, not taking Kafka's bait. Though, honestly, what she said wasn't wrong.
Even if you added in backstory, the info this woman Kafka had shown wasn't all that much.
"She's in the cabin over there. You must be Bai Ming, the one Jingliu mentioned?"
Kafka pointed down the corridor, confirming the kid's identity.
She had no idea what kind of quirk made someone model themselves after a little girl, but from what she'd picked up in casual chats, this person was special.
Kafka really wanted to have a talk with her, but since she was here, it was probably on Elio's orders, meaning something important was going down.
"Fancy a drink sometime when you're free?"
Kafka sat back down, raising her glass in a toast. 'Little Herta' nodded.
"Sure, if I've got the time."
With that, 'Little Herta' turned and headed down the corridor.
Passing through a walkway with a view of the starry sky, she found Jingliu meditating in what looked like a training room on the other side.
And beside Jingliu, a black cat sat elegantly on a cushion. It greeted the approaching 'Little Herta':
"Haven't seen you in a while. You've been off messing with the universe's futures again. If I could, I'd banish you to the edge of the cosmos and only let you out when absolutely necessary."
'Little Herta' grinned, walking over and plopping down with her back against Jingliu. She reached out and scratched under Elio's chin.
"Still so feisty right off the bat, huh?"
"...Tch. And whose fault is that? Because of you and your meddling, the Eighth Lord Ravager, who should have lost all possibility of ever existing, is about to rise from the ashes."
Elio shook his head, dodging 'Little Herta's' fingers, its face a mask of disdain.
'Little Herta' frowned slightly, then glanced at Jingliu's hand resting on the cushion.
As if anticipating the question, Jingliu calmly stated, "Wasn't me."
"It's got nothing to do with Jingliu. And more importantly, the focus isn't on that Eighth Lord Ravager, but on who that Lord Ravager is going to be."
Elio's tone was grave, trying to make 'Little Herta' grasp the severity of the situation.
"Put simply, I need you to go somewhere and retrieve a deserter from the Glamoth Iron Cavalry."
"Glamoth Iron Cavalry?? I thought they were already..."
"Already what? The Glamoth Empire is still locked in a stalemate with the Republic."
"The Empire and the Republic are at a stalemate?? What about the Swarm?"
"Unitedly crusaded by the Glamoth Empire and Republic. If not for the Swarm, the Republic would have fallen long ago."
"..."
'Little Herta' was completely thrown by Elio's words.
What do you mean the Glamoth Empire is independent?
Wait, hold on, does that mean Firefly might not even exist?.
"Alright, listen up. That deserter cannot go to Penacony. If she does, she'll become the Eighth Lord Ravager, one wielding the powers of Propagation and Remembrance."
"And then, a brand new Swarm Disaster will restart, with the Swarm devouring the memories of the entire universe. This mess is your doing, you troublemaker. Now go and deal with it!"
Elio rarely spoke this much or this clearly.
Though the only real result of explaining so much was filling 'Little Herta's' head with confusion and bewilderment.
She couldn't quite grasp why it had to be Penacony. That place was Harmony's turf, wasn't it?
How was Nanook supposed to grab someone there to become a Lord Ravager, and one fused with Propagation and Remembrance at that?
It wasn't like you could just gather some Memoria and mash it together to get that kind of power.
She couldn't figure it out for now. So 'Little Herta' asked another question:
"You said to stop that specific Iron Cavalry from becoming a Lord Ravager, but you didn't say to stop the Lord Ravager from being born at all."
"So that means... the Eighth Lord Ravager is still going to be born, right?"
Just hearing this question made Elio's blood boil.
Seriously, who did she think was the cause of all this?
If she'd just stayed put, just been the Lord Ravager Jingliu from that other timeline, none of this would be happening.
But no, she had to go and mix herself up with the power of Remembrance.
Had to go and cook up this weird hybrid of Propagation and Remembrance. And now look. Nanook had taken an interest. Now THEY wanted to add Destruction to that already tangled fate.
"Yeah. The Ascension of the Eighth Lord Ravager is already set in stone. All you and I can do now is pick someone whose Ascension we can stomach."
"You saw it? Who is it?"
"Not telling you. Point is, you'd better help me out here. Just go grab that Iron Cavalry soldier before she wanders her way into Penacony."
"Unless... you want to be the one to personally wipe out the Glamoth Iron Cavalry yourself?"
Elio's words were dripping with a certain dramatic flair. But 'Little Herta's' eyelid just had to start twitching.
Was the consequence really that serious...
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL