"She agreed just like that?"
In the treatment room, Megumi Kato watched Reverie Metherlence eating curry rice, her tone laced with confusion.
"We've already signed the contract. What more is there to say?"
Having received the notification of a new Familia member and even 10 points of Spiritual Essence as feedback, Luo Shu calmly put away the signing pen and turned to smile at Megumi:
"Surely you don't think we'd go back on our word?"
"I'm just... slightly surprised."
Megumi's voice carried a note of disbelief. After all, Luo Shu had just recruited a Demigod right before her eyes.
A Demigod Rank powerhouse, standing at the pinnacle of the current world's tier.
And she was recruited just like that?
Seeing Megumi like this, Luo Shu couldn't help but chuckle:
"Megumi, are you surprised by how simple this is?"
"A little." Megumi Kato didn't hesitate, nodding directly to acknowledge her surprise.
At this, Luo Shu sighed:
"You're overthinking it. In fact, it's extremely troublesome."
"The condition of the contract is essentially to search for Reverie's homeland. In other words, it's an investigation of Abyss worlds across the globe."
"No specific target appearance, no direction, not even certainty about whether that world is near our current reality—just a massive screening without any defined scope."
"Thinking about it this way, do you still find it simple?"
Hearing this, Megumi fell silent. If that were the case, Reverie's condition would indeed be an enormous headache.
After all, it meant committing limited manpower to this bottomless pit of a search.
"Then why did you agree to it, Director?"
Luo Shu remained unfazed: "I'm not an idiot, passing up the chance to recruit a Demigod."
"Besides, the contract never said we had to go all out, did it?"
"The extent of the search will correspond to whatever value Reverie demonstrates."
"Doesn't that make things simpler?"
Luo Shu spoke these words right in front of Reverie Metherlence.
Megumi even worried that Reverie might get angry at being tricked, but when she turned to look, she found Reverie seemingly unbothered by Luo Shu's words. Instead, she was using her curry spoon to scoop something out bit by bit.
Seeing this, Megumi blinked and couldn't help asking:
"What are you doing?"
Reverie looked up at Megumi, then calmly picked out the diced carrots from her curry and dropped them onto the plate:
"Picking out carrots."
Megumi let out a soft "ah" and gently reminded her:
"Being picky isn't allowed."
"Don't like them." Reverie frowned, then turned to Luo Shu. "Does the contract force me to eat carrots?"
"No." Luo Shu replied without hesitation. How could a Familia contract possibly dictate whether someone ate carrots or not?
With Luo Shu's confirmation, Reverie turned back to stare at Megumi, as if saying, 'See? You can't make me eat carrots!'
For a moment, Megumi was silent. She held Reverie's gaze for a long time before finally relenting with a sigh:
"Looks like I'll have to talk to the cafeteria chefs."
Though she said this, Megumi was actually in rather good spirits.
Compared to Reverie's previous unwillingness to even communicate, this picky eating habit was a huge improvement.
Meanwhile, Luo Shu tidied up some miscellaneous items inside his Mist Ring before asking Reverie:
"Can I call you Ren?"
Reverie, who had just scooped up a spoonful of curry, looked at Luo Shu and gave a slight nod.
Seizing the moment, Luo Shu asked directly: "May I ask—do you have any memories of how you were captured by the Desire Faction?"
Reverie furrowed her brows, thinking very seriously before shaking her head:
"No."
"The first thing I saw when I woke up was this place."
"And before you fell asleep?" Luo Shu pressed curiously.
"Before I fell asleep..."
Reverie's expression seemed troubled. "Before I fell asleep, I saw Cisqua. She wouldn't let me go to Edel Garden and sealed me inside a coffin."
Hearing this, Luo Shu fell silent.
If he remembered correctly, Cisqua was Reverie's adoptive mother.
The reason she prevented Reverie from going to Edel Garden was likely because it served as the headquarters of an organisation that illegally enslaved and exploited the Edel Raids.
Reverie had been so stubborn about going to Edel Garden that her adoptive mother had no choice but to seal her away.
However, these details weren't particularly important to Luo Shu. The key issue now was the facts revealed by her words.
"So what you're saying, Ren, is that you don't know anything about the current situation?"
"That's correct."
"Don't say that so matter-of-factly!!"
Luo Shu grabbed his hair in frustration before continuing with a pained expression:
"Which means our only option is to ask the remnants of the Desire Faction for information."
The remaining members of the Desire Faction, apart from those who fled to the EU, were just Lana and Echidna.
Compared to Lana, whose memories were still being extracted, Echidna would undoubtedly be more troublesome to deal with.
Thinking this, Luo Shu couldn't help but sigh:
"Echidna, huh..."
Having just demoted her from Demigod status, he now had to go meet her for information.
'Guess I'll have to resort to forceful methods after all?'
Just as Luo Shu was considering this, the treatment room door slid open with a ding, followed immediately by Haruno Yukinoshita's cheerful voice:
"Haro~~"
"I knew you'd be here~~"
Haruno Yukinoshita entered the room with her hands behind her back, her gaze sweeping over Megumi Kato and Reverie before settling on Luo Shu with a bright smile:
"Director-kun~~"
"Yukino-chan asked me to inform you about something quite interesting."
"Huh?" Luo Shu blinked in surprise. "Isn't Yukino overseeing the construction team repairing yesterday's battle site? What could she possibly need to tell me?"
"Something very amusing."
Haruno Yukinoshita kept her hands behind her back as she smiled at Luo Shu:
"The eldest son of the Shinomiya family, Oko Shinomiya, has been detained by the Metropolitan Police Department."
"Eh?" Luo Shu was momentarily confused, unable to recall the context.
At that moment, Haruno Yukinoshita said mischievously:
"The charges are: colluding with a terrorist organisation to assassinate Luo Shu, Director of the Hidden Management Department, resulting in serious injury and disappearance."
Hearing this, even someone as expressionless as Megumi Kato was stunned.
"Eh?"
"That actually happened?"