---o---
"Say, wasn't this mission part of the main story before? Why did it suddenly become a side quest?" Dogzi asked, having just driven away the annoying little brats.
[It seems they changed it to a side quest because forcibly inserting it into the main story felt a bit clumsy.]
[Besides, this is a fully voiced side quest. Do you understand how high-class that is?!]
"Ah~ Danshu's voice is so gentle! How could she possibly trick me! You guys must be trying to set me up again! To make me break her heart!"
[Ah, yes, yes, yes, you're absolutely right.]
[All those heals from Wende were for nothing (facepalm).]
[Maybe Yifu's heals still weren't pure enough.]
[Bro, this thread went off-topic way too fast!]
---o---
"Hm? Where did you get a spyglass?"
March noticed the monocular telescope Wende had placed to the side and started fiddling with it curiously.
"Oh, Dan Heng and I happened to see it in a shop this morning. It looked useful, so we brought it along," Wende said, casually flipping through the book in his hands.
"Oh! Stelle's coming back!"
March instinctively put the spyglass to her eye, looking toward the pavilion where Stelle and that Danshu person were.
"Sigh… Does anyone here know how to read lips? I can't hear their voices, so I can only watch their mouths. It's like watching a silent film."
March turned to glance at the three grown men, who remained silent, their attention fixed on their reading material, before silently turning back.
Tch~ How can these three be so unreliable at a critical moment!
"Tsk, why are you two getting along so well? Something's not right. Stelle, why are you smiling so happily? That's even more not right! Wait! Why are you two leaving together?"
March frantically lowered the spyglass, scrambled onto Wende's lap without warning, grabbed his collar, and yelled anxiously.
"Stop reading! Stelle's been lured away by a bad woman! She tricked Stelle! Maybe she wants to turn her into a tool for her evil organization!"
"March! Calm down! Calm down!"
Wende steadied the little girl's frame and looked at the now-calm March, feeling a wave of helplessness.
Weren't you the one saying I was being too worried about Stelle at the beginning? How come you're the one panicking now?
"March, don't let your imagination run wild. Nothing will happen to Stelle," Dan Heng said with a helpless sigh, looking at March who was still lingering on Wende. I haven't been gone for that long, have I? What on earth happened to make March 7th so concerned about Stelle?
"Alright, alright, Stelle will be fine. Don't you know her by now? How many people on this Xianzhou can actually beat her in a fight?"
Wende moved March to the side and smoothed out the book she had wrinkled.
"But… who knows if she'll be blinded by that big sister's sweet talk! This month's allowance can't be used to clean up her messes again!"
The thought of dealing with the aftermath of Stelle's antics a few days ago made March's wallet clench instinctively.
"Oh, so that's the reason. Never mind, then."
Dan Heng nodded with an expression that said, ah, that makes sense, and went back to his newspaper… Hm, why does the Xianzhou have newspapers from other places?
"Fine… I'll wait a little longer… But let me make this clear, if any fines from the Cloud Knights or other departments get sent to the hotel, I'm not paying for them!" March 7th declared righteously. If another accident happened during this time, she would really have to find a part-time job on the Xianzhou!
Four hours later, Danshu and Stelle finally returned to the pavilion.
Wende glanced at his phone. According to the intel from the Cloud Knight captain, they had apparently taken a trip to the Artisanship Commission… The reason seemed to be that the little girl they delivered medicine to earlier had gone to the Artisanship Commission by herself, and Stelle and Danshu had gone to find her.
Hm, if you look at it that way, perhaps that Danshu really is a good person.
But Wende was certain that the truth couldn't be that simple.
Because on Danshu, he sensed a familiar, yet impossible-to-place aura. Furthermore, the aura on her body was clearly wrong!
The internal problems of the Xianzhou really weren't something the Astral Express crew could solve with a few words and a little effort…
That woman was definitely a problem, but Wende chose not to intervene.
As for the reason… he had been in the spotlight a bit too much lately. It wouldn't be good if the real-world players started to dislike him, so…
Poor Stelle will have to take the hit.
In the few days before the next version update, he wanted to maintain the status quo. If he did something that stole the protagonist's screentime, the system might even deduct his Player Favorability.
He decided it was best to lie low for the next two days. Perhaps he could rent a shop on the Xianzhou and open a massage parlor or a small diner to earn some travel funds for the Express. Or maybe he could use a Domain Anchor to teleport back to the Herta Space Station or Jarilo-VI for a look. Since transmigrating, he hadn't used a Domain Anchor even once; he had only ever watched Stelle activate them.
That thing could supposedly only be used by those with the power of the Trailblaze, right? But from the moment he stepped onto the Astral Express and began to travel with it, the power of the Trailblaze had accompanied him. He could naturally use the Domain Anchors.
"Ooh~ Look, look! That woman is leaving! It looks like she left something behind… Wait! Wende! Stelle put that thing in her mouth!"
"!"
Wende's gaze sharpened in an instant.
---o---
"Huh? What's going on! Wasn't that an elixir pill for strengthening my body that Big Sister left for me! Why do I feel so sick after eating it!"
Guozi screamed in terror, watching as vine-like patterns spread across the screen.
[You've been tricked.jpg]
[I told you, no good ever comes from a big sister who approaches you out of the blue.]
[She's going to harvest your kidneys!]
[Holy shit! How did Dogzi fall for it!]
[There's a certain limpid stupidity to this.]
[(Smirks)]
[Long have I waited.]
"Waaah… I trusted her so much! She actually tricked me!" Dogzi wailed.
Then, seeing several Abominations of Abundance that had appeared in the game, a fire of rage ignited within her.
"You're the ones that bad woman sent to harvest my kidneys? Good, good, good! Damn it, you're all in this together, aren't you! All of you, die for me!"
---o---
"Whoa!! Stelle's charging over here!" March shrieked in terror, watching as Stelle rushed toward the four of them, a lance in one hand and a baseball bat in the other.
"There's something wrong with what she ate. Pin her down first!" Welt ordered, his face grim.
CLANG!!
Dan Heng raised Cloud-Piercer horizontally in front of him, blocking Stelle's strike. His body slid backward from the force, a testament to the sheer power behind the blow.
"Stay away!" Stelle shouted at the crew as if trapped in some kind of hallucination, before launching another attack.
Long have I waited.
---o---