"We'll talk about it later," Su'er had a bit of a headache from being bothered by these two who seemed to never grow up, so he could only appease them for now. "I need to have a good talk with Riku first. Don't worry. If I really need help, I won't be polite."
"Then it's a deal!" Nonna was not an unreasonable person. On the contrary, she was already very satisfied with getting such a promise from Su'er. The blue-purple-haired girl extended her little finger in a hook shape in front of Su'er.
"...You're a grown woman now, and you're still playing this?" Su'er sighed helplessly and reached out his finger to hook with Nonna.
"Hehe~, anyway, you're not allowed to lie~," Nonna smiled foolishly to herself and didn't argue about her age.
Su'er was a bit confused because, according to his past experience, Riku should have rushed over the moment he returned to the settlement. As far as he knew, there was nothing so urgent in the settlement that Riku couldn't leave. Even Couronne had been here for a long time. Couronne even helped Riku explain a few words - but wasn't that the biggest abnormality in itself?!
According to Couronne's personality, her brother had finally returned. Shouldn't she have forced her other brother, Riku, to come with her?
It was too abnormal.
However, Su'er's confusion did not last for too long. No matter how much Riku delayed, he still had to appear. And the moment he pushed the door and came in, when Su'er saw the small figure following him, he understood in an instant.
This was why this guy had been so late.
A female, with a small body, not much taller than Jibril at this moment. She was wearing a brown hood on her head. A few strands of reddish-purple hair hung down from the front of the hood, covering her delicate little face. But what was more eye-catching were her amber eyes - eyes that made Su'er notice the abnormality in just one glance.
Her pupils were black, but there was a circle of black thin lines around the pupils. Although her eyes did not look much different from an Imanity's, Su'er felt an illusion of a mechanical aperture enlarging and shrinking no matter how he looked at them.
However, compared to these subtle streams of information, what was even more impossible to ignore were the two slender, wire-like things that hung down from her hood to the ground. The ends had orange rings and blue-green pointed tips.
The feeling of being a manufactured wire was too obvious. This made Think and Jibril, who had seen and made the wires that Su'er had described before, recall the same thing. But compared to this simple feature, they had already recognized what this existence that appeared with Riku was.
It was undoubtedly not Imanity. Su'er's nerves tensed up in an instant, but what was even more excited than him was Jibril, who was originally lying down.
This pink-haired Flügel had no intention of joining the conversation between Think and Couronne just now. She was just casually and lazily lying on a rock on the other side, rolling around and feeling bored. But at this moment, she suddenly sat up. If she didn't remember what Su'er said about not exposing themselves, this Flügel, whose face was flushed with excitement and was about to drool, would have already been fully armed.
"Ah~, isn't that—"
Slap!
The sound was so crisp that Su'er didn't even react. Before Jibril could open her mouth and finish her words, Think slapped Jibril on her butt.
"Calm down. Don't talk nonsense~"
"...Tch~"
Think's calm voice somewhat dampened Jibril's excitement. The pink-haired Flügel rubbed her face hard.
"Oh~, Riku~, and little Schwi~~," As if she hadn't noticed the conversation between Think and Jibril, Couronne raised her hand and waved without any abnormality, "Come here quickly!"
Not only her, but Nonna and Credo also greeted the existence behind Riku familiarly. It was clear that she was very likable in the settlement. Even Credo's two little ones reached out their hands and said "ah-ba ah-ba" wanting to touch her.
"Long time no see."
"Ah, long time no see."
Compared to the cordial greetings between the others, Su'er and Riku's meeting after two years seemed much more distant, but this did not mean that they had become distant. It was just that these two men... had too many things they wanted to say to each other.
"Let's go talk over there."
"Okay."
After giving Think a look to watch Jibril, Su'er and Riku went to another cave. There were only the two of them.
Sitting at the table and watching Riku light the lamp, Su'er suddenly found that he didn't know how to start the conversation with this man. The drafts and openings he had prepared in his mind seemed to have all turned into waste paper at this moment. He couldn't imagine what Riku's reaction would be when he heard his so-called plan.
After all, after living together for a long time, no one knew better than Su'er how gentle the white-haired man in front of him was under that icy facade. Even after suffering countless hardships, this man had a heart that longed for peace that even Su'er felt ashamed of - he didn't want anyone to die.
No, not just people.
This man named Riku didn't even want other races besides Imanity to die. He longed for a peaceful world, a fairy-tale world like a game.
A world that Su'er fundamentally did not believe in.
Even though he also longed for such a world, Su'er never believed that such a world could appear.
Under the layers of chains of self-hypnosis was a gentle and fiery heart that felt so guilty for his actions of ordering others to die that it was almost crazy.
This was Riku.
Now that they had the secret support of the Elves, there had been no deaths from expeditions in the settlement for a long time. In such a situation, would Riku agree to his plan?
Would Riku help him?
To help him achieve that almost delusional plan, which would obviously cost many people their lives, but in the end, it was just seeking a possibility, a plan that had no proof or precedent?
Without even asking, Su'er himself had already said the word 'no' for Riku in his heart. As a result, it was extremely difficult for Su'er to say a single word at this moment.
"You must have suffered a lot outside, right?" Riku sat down next to Su'er. His voice was still so calm.
Su'er knew that what he was talking about was actually Think and Jibril. The last time he came back, Riku had already guessed the inhuman identities of Think and Jibril, and Su'er had no intention of hiding it.