"Alright, go back and tell Emiya and his family, we will meet him tomorrow at noon in the restricted zone. At that time, we will make the final decision."
"Supreme Guardian, my lord, please don't make decisions on your own!"
"Exactly! Belobog is not yours alone, Supreme Guardian. You don't have the right to speak recklessly!"
Hearing Cocolia's words, the Builders and the Landau family didn't even bother pretending anymore. They joined forces, trying to replay the scene from before where they had crushed Cocolia with overwhelming power.
But because they had always been arrogant and blind, they failed to notice that Cocolia was no longer who she used to be.
Ever since she had the thought of abandoning Preservation and embracing the Stellaron, she had become like a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment.
"Utter insolence!" Cocolia's face twisted as she smashed the conference table with one punch.
"I am the Supreme Guardian. What I say goes! Whoever dares to provoke me again will all be thrown into prison!"
"Yes!" Gepard immediately led the Silvermane Guards to kneel on one knee, showing where they stood.
"Fine, very fine, Supreme Guardian!" Seeing the tide turn against them today, the others glared viciously at Cocolia before flinging their sleeves and leaving.
They knew tomorrow at noon would be the real turning point. Arguing further now was meaningless. It was better to hurry back, gather more people, and prepare well.
Although Belobog city was in an uproar, the Emiya family inside the Iron Guard restricted zone remained relaxed, sipping milk tea and snacking on melon seeds.
They understood Belobog's concerns very clearly. They could have pretended to be ordinary people, sneaked in, and slowly started their plans. But that would waste too much time, completely unnecessary.
On such a remote planet, the survivors were so weak that even if they resisted with all their strength, it would only look cute. They had no choice but to obediently accept the Emiya family's kindness.
———
Zoe had been sleeping from 7 o'clock the night before until this afternoon before finally waking up satisfied.
Wearing a fluffy fur coat, rubbing her sleepy eyes, the moment she stepped out of the tent she went straight into Emiya's arms.
"Up so early today, are you going to keep researching?" Emiya gently rubbed Zoe's little head while slipping a peeled hazelnut into her soft lips.
"Mmm, I kind of want to go see that miracle doctor, Vah. I heard he's pretty popular in the city." Zoe stretched lazily. Emiya's arms were too comfortable, she almost fell asleep again.
[T/N: Vah is a character the author created]
"The food is running low. I'll go with Lady Acheron to take a walk." Vera stood up, brushing the melon seed shells off her pants, and stuffed the rest of the seeds and peanuts into Zoe's pocket.
"When you're out, listen to Lord Emiya. Don't go wandering around!"
"Lady Vera, I'm not a child. Where could I even wander off to?" Zoe rolled her eyes with mock anger.
"You and Acheron are the ones who should be careful. Right now our reputation isn't great, so don't go targeting those fluffy little animals."
"Don't worry. We're just thinking of looking at some little pets like rabbits!" Acheron's eyes curved into crescents just from imagining soft, cute rabbits.
"Fine, if you really want to raise some, I'll work out a domestication potion for you." Zoe, though she looked much younger than Acheron, sincerely treated her like a sister, caring more about her than even about Emiya.
"And the peach tree, I'll step up my research on that too."
"You're so sweet. I'll look forward to it!" Acheron was so excited she hugged Zoe tightly, rubbing her soft cheek with her own.
"Ah, come on, have some restraint! I liked you better when you were all cold and distant!" Zoe helplessly pushed Acheron away, then scampered up to perch on Emiya's shoulders.
"Lady Vera, give Emiya my supercomputer. We're heading out now."
"Alright. There are also some grapes in there. Take them and finish them off, or else the wild skeletons will steal them soon!"
The space Vera could open with her ability wasn't truly a Rift Realm, but it still had corrosive properties. The wild skeletons had the ability to completely block out that corrosion and could even supply oxygen and other vital energy to any living beings stored inside.
Because of these traits, both living and non-living things could be kept inside for a while without spoiling, as long as they were taken out in time. But there was no guarantee those thieving skeletons wouldn't eat them.
Vera not only stored daily necessities she might need inside, but also kept treasures found along the journey, like the two half-warships captured from the Stellaron Hunters, or rare metals and the like.
From one of those half-warships, Zoe had salvaged useful materials to build research equipment, including a supercomputer and a workstation. The leftover scraps were tossed onto the mountaintop as "evidence" of their supposed crash.
It was rare for Zoe to go out with Emiya alone, and she looked very happy. Her little hands hugged his head tightly while her lively big eyes darted everywhere, as if this cold world wasn't so hateful after all.
Vah's place was extremely remote, yet easy to find. Following a wide road straight ahead, they soon saw rows of abandoned houses.
All the houses near Vah's home were covered with black cloth, so he could carry out animal experiments, or human ones, without being noticed.
Usually, the Silvermane Guards came by regularly to deliver supplies to Vah and take away the potions he developed.
Some of the stable-effect medicines were kept by the Iron Guards for emergencies. Others were given to Vah's followers in Belobog, who brought them to the undercity for the poor to drink as "miracle cures," then collected feedback on how patients reacted afterward.
"This should be the place." Emiya knocked on the door of the one that looked most like a bedroom. His knock echoed harshly across the snowy plain, but there was no response from Vah.
Emiya instinctively pressed his ear against the door. Hearing faint, uneven breathing inside, he realized something was wrong. He quickly kicked the door open and rushed in.
The room reeked with an overwhelming stench of medicine. Vah had collapsed behind the workbench, foaming at the mouth, looking like he was on the brink of death.
"This guy's experimenting on himself!" Zoe quickly tested with her instruments and found that Vah's body contained at least hundreds of different drugs.
The drugs clashed with each other, damaging his meridians and severely harming his bodily functions. Detectable symptoms included asthma, coughing blood, loss of voice, and dulled auditory nerves.
"Sigh, another tragic soul…"
Emiya sighed softly, placed Vah onto the bed, and used magic to cleanse his body as much as possible. But this only temporarily stopped the symptoms. For a full recovery, at least several months of continuous treatment would be needed.
"Cough! Cough, cough!" After the treatment, Vah, who had been in shock, suddenly spat out a bloody phlegm clot. His consciousness finally began to return.
"Y-you… why did you barge into my lab without permission?!" Seeing strangers inside, Vah panicked immediately. This was his last place to conduct experiments, he had nowhere else to go.
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