As Wriothesley led Lumine and her companions on a tour of the Fortress of Meropide, Lumine spotted Lyney. However, with Wriothesley nearby, she refrained from greeting him immediately.
After the tour, Wriothesley departed, leaving the trio to settle in. Since it was their first day, no work assignments were given. After a hearty meal, they retired to their quarters.
The following day, the group began acclimating to life in the Fortress of Meropide. They worked in the production areas in the mornings and spent their afternoons on other tasks.
Since Paimon had secretly stashed away plenty of delicacies in her treasure, avoiding detection during the search, she and Lumine didn't need to rely on the provided welfare meals.
Chu Xi, on the other hand, didn't require food at all, though she occasionally drank Black beverages. Knowing they would be staying below for an extended period, Chu Xi was particularly frugal with her supplies.
On the afternoon of the third day, Lyney actively approached Lumine and arranged a meeting.
After a brief negotiation, they agreed to share information.
Lyney and his group had infiltrated the Fortress of Meropide to investigate Childe's disappearance and uncover the hidden secrets concealed beneath it.
Lumine and her companions, meanwhile, were investigating the cause of Childe's disappearance and were equally curious about the secrets Lyney mentioned.
Initially, Lumine had refused, but after Lyney proposed an exchange of information, she reconsidered and agreed.
With both parties pursuing the same objective, sharing intelligence was a natural development.
It's worth noting that Lyney and Lynette weren't the only ones in the Fortress of Meropide; Freminet, a diver younger than Lyney, was also there.
"Lyney, you and Lynette are here for stealing state secrets, but what about Freminet?" Paimon asked.
Remembering Freminet's shy demeanor, Paimon found it hard to believe he could do anything malicious.
"Uh... well..." Lyney trailed off, recalling some embarrassing incidents.
Lynette stated flatly, "Freminet's crime is: being caught stalking a beautiful girl."
"Huh?!"
Lumine and Paimon exchanged glances, wondering if their ears were malfunctioning.
Freminet... stalking a girl...?
Lyney explained, "Actually, Freminet was stalking Lady Fidelle, Lady Furina's bodyguard, when he was caught red-handed."
"We noticed Freminet seemed overly fixated on Lady Fidelle, so we questioned him. He said he sensed a strangely familiar aura from her..."
Lyney explained. Although Freminet's entry into the Fortress of Meropide was less than honorable, he had still managed to get in.
"A familiar... aura...?"
Lyney continued, "Like us, Freminet is an orphan. He entered the House of the Hearth much earlier than Lynette and I did. Perhaps it's just Freminet's imagination."
[ Live Stream. ]
[ A familial aura? Could it be...? ]
[ I don't think it's likely. Freminet and Fidelle don't look alike at all. Look at Lyney and Lynette—you can tell they're siblings at a glance. ]
[ They're twins, of course they look alike. ]
-
Inside the Fortress of Meropide.
That very night after parting ways with Lyney, Lumine had a peculiar dream while sleeping, thanks to Tartaglia's Hydro Vision she carried. In this dream, she experienced fragments of Tartaglia's perspective, though the dream remained hazy and yielded no immediate useful information.
Over the following days, Lumine, Paimon, and Chu Xi familiarized themselves with life beneath the Fortress, diligently earning Credit Coupons.
One day, after finishing their shifts, the trio encountered Rowan, a veteran worker claiming to have toiled for decades. He revealed the Fortress's first hidden rule: working continuously for three days would lead to misfortune during lunch on the third day.
Intrigued, the trio decided to test this claim.
After three consecutive days of labor, they arrived at the Cafeteria to find something strange: the day's bonus meal included strange meat.
The meat's color and odor were unsettlingly unfamiliar. Recalling the missing people, Lumine and Paimon felt nauseated and dared not eat it.
"Ugh... I'm so tired from working so many days in a row," Paimon whined, her head drooping. "I'm going back to our room to secretly snack on something good..."
Lumine also felt fatigued, while only Chu Xi remained energetic.
Although the trio had experienced the hidden rule firsthand, they ultimately uncovered nothing substantial.
They learned that Resident Head Nurse Sigewinne was absent from the infirmary for half an hour before lunchtime and discovered, through a notebook, that Melusine had a unique way of perceiving things.
They also observed Sigewinne watching workers near the production area, her eyes seemingly analyzing their physical conditions.
The group returned to their lodging to rest properly.
Later, they visited the boxing arena and uncovered its hidden rule: triggering the second hidden rule required betting on both fighters in a match to win simultaneously.
However, betting on both fighters to win would inevitably result in a loss...
Nearby, they found additional clues: Fonta Company salesmen were struggling to sell their product. Wriothesley's evaluation revealed that Fonta beverages were only purchased in the Fortress of Meropide by those who failed to recognize the true value of Credit Coupons.
The trio decided to spend some Credit Coupons to test this hidden rule.
The next morning, a bottle filled with a red liquid appeared on the table in their lodging.
Associating the liquid with the missing people, Lumine and Paimon immediately thought of blood. Paimon recoiled in disgust, pushing the bottle away.
Lumine, however, didn't share Paimon's aversion. She leaned in for a sniff, her mind already forming an answer.
None of this had anything to do with Childe's disappearance.
The investigation had reached a standstill.
That night, Lumine had another dream. This time, she experienced events from Childe's perspective with greater clarity.
Childe seemed to be drawn by some kind of voice, a voice that compelled him to go. He arrived at an abandoned factory district and, with the help of three individuals, managed to escape.
At the same time, Lumine faintly heard the roars of what sounded like a colossal monster.
The next morning, Lumine awoke with vivid memories of the dream. She shared what she had seen with Chu Xi and Paimon, and the trio decided to track down those three individuals for questioning.
However, when Lumine and her companions questioned them, all three were evasive and withheld information.
Forced to continue investigating, Lumine finally stumbled upon a peculiar discovery: on pipeline cleaning days, strange noises emanated from the abandoned pipelines, making the duty crew reluctant to work those shifts.
Realizing that today was the final day of pipeline cleaning, Lumine, Chu Xi, and Paimon waited until nightfall and stealthily infiltrated the abandoned pipelines. There, they encountered the three individuals Lumine had seen in her dream.
After revealing her connection to Tartaglia, they successfully uncovered Childe's whereabouts.