With that little interlude resolved, March 7th and Stelle had just returned to Qlipoth Fort when Topaz suddenly appeared, giving everyone a brief rundown of the situation.
Previously, due to poor communication, the Company hadn't known that Jarilo-VI was under the [Eternity Church]'s jurisdiction, so they halted the debt collection efforts on the planet.
"You've all worked hard. I never imagined we'd drag you into a crisis like this again... nearly fracturing the relationship between the Train and the Company." Bronya expressed her thanks repeatedly.
"Fractured? No, no, not at all... Besides, the main responsibility lies with me—my poor management of subordinates."
"Huh? We didn't really do much, though... Just accompanied Seele to the Great Mine and beat up the Company staff stationed there."
March 7th felt a bit awkward. "The ones we should really thank are the Eternity Church, right? So Priest Sister and Pontiff Blake really did come to Jarilo-VI for a vacation!"
"Sigh~ Too bad we didn't get to see them. I was hoping to snag some more specialty soaps from Pontiff Blake." Stelle sounded a tad regretful, her words instantly making Topaz snap to attention.
The Interastral Peace Broadcast already had material: Reports of the [Tavern] suffering a second assault from unidentified explosive heavy weaponry, alongside intense energy fluctuations in the Annihilation Gang's star domain.
"You've all had a tough journey. I've arranged rooms for you at the Goethe Hotel—please make sure to recover your spirits properly in Belobog."
The Dawn Festival kicked off on its first day with an emergency, but fortunately, it wrapped up smoothly. Now Stelle and March 7th had plenty of time to enjoy the holiday.
"Oh, right, Miss Topaz—if you need a comfortable place to stay..."
"No need to trouble yourselves. I have business to attend to back at Company HQ. Miss Bronya, it was a pleasure establishing contact with you all. I hope we have chances to collaborate in the future... Of course, the nature of that collaboration will definitely change!"
"The Dawn Festival March has been looking forward to... Looks like we can actually experience it now..."
Stelle sighed wistfully. Holidays were great... Come to think of it, she hadn't celebrated the corresponding festivals on the Herta Space Station or the Xianzhou Luofu yet.
As for Afrit, the message he'd just disseminated was suppressed across the cosmos in mere minutes—by the combined efforts of the Interastral Peace Corporation, the Eternity Church, and the Mourning Actors.
Why the Mourning Actors' involvement? Simple: They didn't want to get dragged down with it, and they feared a "friendly" shipment of Church-specialty soaps.
As for these cosmic rumors, Adrian HIMSELF was utterly unconcerned—someone would handle it for THEM.
If push came to shove, THEY could just snag Mythus the [Enigmata] historian; that's when a fabricator of histories really shone!
Unfortunately, no matter how swiftly the news was quashed, it couldn't escape the Galactic Baseballer's watchful eyes!
[Group Chat: Astral Express Family]
[Stelle: @Adrian (Forwarded Link: Shocking! Grand Duke of Netherfire Declares War on "Eternity"?! )]
[March 7th: (Forwarded Link: Still Shocking! Latest Update on the Assault of Market Development Director Oswaldo Schneider—True Culprit Revealed as Mysterious "Eternity" Emanator?) @Adrian]
[Dan Heng: @Adrian]
[March 7th: Teacher Adrian, pulling off these stunts behind our backs? Underestimated you!]
[Stelle: Utterly Shocked! The Culprit Was Right Beside Me? Where's the Trust?!]
[Dan Heng: Need any help?]
The Train crew all knew better: The assailant behind Oswaldo Schneider's attack couldn't possibly be Adrian, even if it were Aha of [Elation]. THEIR daily routine boiled down to just two elements: Milk tea and slacking off.
[Adrian: Thanks for the concern, everyone. I'm doing fine at the moment—the mastermind has been apprehended. It's a Mask of Fools who prefers not to disclose their name.]
[Himeko: Quick work.]
[March 7th: Oh oh oh! Support Teacher Adrian's righteous punishment of the rumormonger!]
[Stelle: +1]
In the Goethe Hotel, Adrian's pitch-black chains bound a Fool's mask grinning cheekily. Upon closer inspection, the mask's mouth still had crumbs from half a paper-cup cake it hadn't finished.
"Aha—"
The mask suddenly erupted in laughter like popcorn popping in a kettle, rattling the chains with a clang:
"It's the long-awaited torture segment! Aha's been caught!"
"Facing judgment from [Eternity] without a shred of fear—instead, you're getting excited...?"
"Ahem!" Adrian pulled out an ancient tome and cleared his throat:
"Inciting Afrit to frame [Eternity], impersonating me to stir up trouble at the Interastral Peace Corporation against the wind, and even fabricating the crime scene afterward..."
Adrian flipped through the book as he spoke, but after scouring it, found no suitable penalty. With a shrug, he snapped it shut: "Friend, the Church letting you off without a death sentence would be going easy."
"Oh~ My friend, you wouldn't do that to Aha, would you? As they say, trust..."
"Blah blah blah—take it up with my [Eternity] space." With a flick, Adrian tossed the mask into the black hole.
...
After enjoying a leisurely vacation on Jarilo-VI, in the Administrative District, before the Eternal Freeze Monument
"Hm? 'Aether Frontline'—never heard of this game!" March 7th took the phone Stelle handed her and read aloud:
"Um... Using the Company's cutting-edge Aether duplication technology, record any creature you've encountered into an Aether coin... Then print it out and pit it against other players in duels... Let your Aether spirit companions fight for your honor."
"Hey, sounds kinda fun?"
"You're serious?"
Stelle didn't get it. She'd woken up this morning to a message from that [Strategic Investment Department] salesperson, plus something about the Inter-Astral Tournament Festival. If she didn't know better, she'd think the Mask of Fools had organized it.
"What else? I'm genuinely interested! Why don't we swing by while we're here?"
Seeing how excited March 7th was, Stelle reconsidered her initial stance: "Well, we're already here..."
"Yay! I've only heard that the little lady from the Stellaron Hunters has this tech... Maybe this time we can observe it up close."
Meanwhile, on Adrian's end
"Yo, don't sweat the past few days. Wanna play a round of thrilling 'Aether Frontline' with me?"
Silver Wolf rubbed her hands eagerly. After all her diligent practice, she refused to believe she couldn't beat Adrian!
Plus, the game's [Aether Duplication] tech originated from Punklordes—stuff like arbitrarily tampering with reality data? Right up her alley!
Beyond that, she was an eighteen-year veteran of Aether Frontline, able to recite every scrap of in-game lore backward and forward, word for word!
Pity, then, that Adrian had zero interest in this all-in-one [collecting, battling, raising, upgrading] game. He claimed that if he played, he'd shatter players' perceptions of it entirely.
Pfft, thinks he's an Aeon or something... Shatter perceptions? Though, when it came to gaming, she really hadn't beaten him yet...
Damn! Couldn't find a comeback for the life of her!
As the universe's premier entertainment game, Silver Wolf highly recommended proselytizing Aether Frontline to the entire cosmos.
And a proper raising-and-battling game naturally needed competitive events—that was the [Inter-Astral Tournament Festival]!
Players from across the universe gathered during this period to mingle, sharing in the joy of the game!
However, due to Stellaron blockages on interstellar routes, this year's event had been hastily switched to online viewing...
But the organizers still kept an offline venue, showing maximum respect to fans insistent on attending in person! Super considerate!
"Doesn't make sense. Feels inferior to [Eternity]."
"Give the game rules some respect, will ya!"