Chapter 20: Midnight Conversations
Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to get a proper night’s rest and hopefully avoid being dragged into accompanying Bronya and Seele on a medicine-fetching quest while feeling like a third wheel, I only managed to sleep for a few hours before strange dreams woke me up.
“Aaagh, and here I thought Chaos Response would save me from weird dreams,” I groaned as I sat up and checked my phone.
After a quick glance at the time, I realized I had only slept for around two hours.
“Haah. Well, I’m definitely not falling asleep again anytime soon. As much as I hate to admit it, I might as well get some fresh air and inevitably get dragged into somebody else’s problem while I’m at it.”
Stretching, I climbed out of bed before suddenly blinking.
“Wait a minute.”
A grin slowly spread across my face.
“I just realized I don’t have to do this alone.”
With that, I summoned my two newest companions.
A flash of golden light filled the room.
Virgo appeared first, already looking entirely too pleased to be awake.
Beside her, another figure materialized.
Pink hair that curled near her shoulders.
Soft purple eyes.
A pair of adorable brown goat horns curving from either side of her head.
She wore what looked like a white wool dress that reached her thighs along with matching boots.
And while her figure was even more developed than Virgo’s, the similarities ended there.
Where Virgo radiated confidence and barely restrained degeneracy, Aries practically radiated shyness.
The Celestial Spirit kept glancing away whenever our eyes met while nervously fidgeting with her hands.
“Thanks for answering so quickly, you two,” I greeted with a smile.
My gaze settled on Aries.
Immediately, she became even more flustered.
“It’s nice to meet you, Aries. My name is Caelus. I hope we can get along from now on.”
Offering a friendly smile, I extended my hand toward her.
“S-Sorry!” Aries immediately squeaked before bowing deeply.
“M-My name is Aries! I-It’s a pleasure to be in your service, Master! I-I’ll be under your care from now on!”
By the end of her introduction, her face had become completely red.
Watching her continue to avoid eye contact, I slowly blinked.
While I knew Aries was naturally shy...
This felt excessive.
My gaze slowly drifted toward Virgo.
Then I blinked again.
A completely expressionless look spread across my face.
“Virgo,” I called calmly.
The maid tilted her head innocently.
“Yes, Master? Are you finally going to punish me?” she asked hopefully, her eyes practically sparkling.
Walking over to her, I felt my eye twitch.
I stopped directly in front of her.
“What,” I asked with a pleasant smile that contained absolutely no warmth whatsoever, “have you been telling Aries about me?”
My suspicions that Virgo was responsible only became stronger as Aries’s ears turned red and she quickly looked away while Virgo herself smiled proudly and puffed out her chest.
“I simply told her that she had nothing to worry about since we have such a wonderful and kind Master. One who’s handsome, amazing, strong, and even willing to punish me whenever I do a good job~” Virgo said shamelessly.
Aries immediately let out an embarrassed squeak and covered her face with both hands.
‘Knew it,’ I thought blankly as my eyebrow twitched.
Slowly raising my hand, I placed it on top of Virgo’s head.
She blinked in confusion before I gradually tightened my grip.
“You shameless perverted maid,” I said flatly.
Applying a bit more pressure only seemed to make her uncomfortable for a second before a blush appeared on her cheeks and her smile somehow grew even wider as she started panting like a dog.
“Don’t go filling Aries’s head with your perverted fantasies.”
Letting go, I resisted the urge to continue since the degenerate was clearly enjoying herself far too much.
Turning toward Aries, who was still hiding behind her hands, I softened my expression.
“Aries, please don’t listen to anything this pervert says. I’m sure you already know what her personality is like, so don’t take her words to heart. I’m not going to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”
Getting even more flustered, Aries immediately bowed.
“Please forgive me for assuming things, Master!”
Letting out a sigh, I gently patted her head.
The moment my hand touched her soft pink hair, Aries froze before slowly relaxing as I continued rubbing her head reassuringly.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not upset.”
Pulling my hand away, I blinked when I heard a quiet whine of disappointment.
Realizing what she had just done, Aries instantly turned red again and stared at her feet.
“Anyway, I was hoping the two of you could accompany me tonight,” I said with a smile. “I have a feeling we’re about to get dragged into some errands, and I’d appreciate the company since everyone else is asleep.”
Both girls blinked before nodding in unison.
“Of course, Master.”
“Great. Then let’s go. Just try to keep quiet, it’s pretty late, and I’d rather not wake anyone.”
As we headed toward the door, I let Aries walk ahead before falling into step beside Virgo.
Naturally, the maid immediately noticed and looked at me expectantly.
‘This perverted maid is definitely getting punished when we get back,’ I thought as my eyebrow twitched again.
Leaning down toward her ear, I watched her instantly turn red.
“For that little stunt you pulled, expect proper discipline when we return.”
The whisper alone made her shiver happily.
Feeling another eye twitch coming on, I gave in to temptation and spanked her hard enough to sting.
“Mnya Thank you, Master” Virgo moaned blissfully while looking at me with stars in her eyes.
Rolling my eyes in exasperation, I walked ahead without another word.
Behind me, Virgo happily hummed to herself while Aries watched the entire exchange with obvious curiosity as the three of us finally stepped outside.
=====
Walking outside, we immediately spotted Bronya standing watch.
Hearing our footsteps, she turned in our direction with a glare.
“Who goes there? Show yourself!” she demanded before blinking when she recognized me, though she did give Aries and Virgo curious glances.
“…It’s you. Don’t sneak up behind me next time. Lucky for you, I wasn’t armed.”
“Couldn’t sleep?” Bronya asked, looking more relaxed now.
“Yeah. Had some strange dreams,” I muttered with a small frown before shaking my head.
Smiling again, I placed my hands on Aries and Virgo’s shoulders, earning a small squeak from the former.
“Anyway, let me introduce you to Aries and Virgo. They’re good friends of mine. Since I couldn’t sleep, they decided to keep me company.”
I then turned toward the two girls.
“Aries, Virgo. This is Bronya, a friend of mine from this world who I met under some pretty funny circumstances.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Bronya.” Virgo immediately bowed with perfect professionalism. “I am Caelus-sama’s personal maid.”
“A-And I’m Aries,” the shy Celestial Spirit quickly added while bowing as well. “A-Also a servant of Caelus-sama.”
Bronya observed the two girls for a moment before nodding politely.
“A pleasure.”
Then she turned back toward me with a raised eyebrow.
“I didn’t know you had personal attendants, Caelus. To be honest, you don’t really seem the type.”
“And where were they? I don’t recall seeing them in the Overworld with you.”
“There’s plenty of things you don’t know about me, Bronya. We only just met after all~” I teased while giving her a small wink.
Thankfully, that immediately distracted her from looking at Aries and Virgo too closely.
“I-I suppose you have a point,” Bronya, not used to being teased before, shily admitted while looking away for a moment with a small blush.
“As for how they got down here, that’s easy enough to explain.”
I patted Virgo’s head, causing her to blush happily and puff out her chest in pride.
“Virgo here has a really useful ability that lets her travel through the ground.”
Bronya's expression turned curious.
“I see. That is indeed a useful ability. With such an ability, making it down here would have been a simple task then.”
After a moment, her gaze returned to me and became more thoughtful.
“Actually... seeing as there’s nobody else around, could I ask you something?”
Her voice carried a complicated tone, as though she had been wrestling with her thoughts for quite some time.
“Sure.” I shrugged. “I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability if I can.”
Bronya was silent for a second before finally asking the question that had clearly been weighing on her mind.
“This Stellaron you keep talking about...” she began seriously.
“If you were to find it... how certain are you that you could stop the Eternal Freeze?”
Adopting a similar serious expression, my face twisted into a small frown before I responded.
“The answer is a bit more complicated than a yes or no answer. Let me explain,” I muttered before crossing my arms as Bronya nodded, seeming pleased I was putting thought into this.
“While I can assure you with 100 percent certainty that the Eternal Freeze would stop, that doesn’t mean that everything will just go back to normal with the planet quickly warming up and becoming a paradise like in the past,” I revealed with a somber tone, seeing Bronya narrow her eyes and nod as if expecting that.
“Unfortunately, too much time has passed for that to happen, and without unexpected circumstances or unknown intervention, it will take many years for Jarilo-VI to warm up again.”
I let out a sigh, looking up and thinking back to how the planet had looked from orbit.
It was basically an ice planet at this point, and something on that magnitude can’t just go back to normal so fast.
Looking back down, I saw Bronya with a pensive expression and let a smile grow on my face as I placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, causing her to startle and look at me in surprise.
“What I can promise you is two things. One, once the Stellaron is sealed, the Fragmentum corrosion will no longer spread anywhere else,” I stated confidently, causing her to blink.
Then I smiled wider and pointed at myself with my free hand.
“The second is more personal, but now that we’re friends, I will do everything I can to help in any way I can. I want my friend’s world to prosper after all.”
At my words, Bronya’s eyes widened before a full-blown blush covered her whole face and ears, even spreading down her neck.
The next second, I blinked as she quickly turned her back to me and coughed into her hand.
“That was smooth, Caelus-sama~” Virgo whispered behind us, which only caused Bronya to squeak in embarrassment and me to give Virgo a side-eyed glare.
“T-Thank you for your honest and kind words, Caelus,” Bronya muttered in a quiet tone, still refusing to face me. “I will definitely keep your offer in mind.”
A moment of silence descended amongst us before Bronya spoke again, sounding calmer after her bout of embarrassment.
“You know, when Madam Cocolia first gave the order to arrest you and your friends, there’s something that made me curious. Why didn’t she issue the order straight away instead of letting you go on your way and providing accommodations?” Bronya asked, turning back to me with her hand on her chin.
“She must have realized something about you... Something I haven’t been able to perceive for myself, and it bothers me,” Bronya admitted with a hum as she studied my face as if trying to decipher the answer.
“Hmm, well, the only thing that comes to mind is that I have a Stellaron inside me,” I admitted honestly, seeing no reason to hide it.
Bronya’s eyes widened in shock.
“W-What do you mean? How can such a dangerous object, from what you all said, be sealed inside a human? How are you even alive right now?” she immediately questioned with an incredulous look on her face.
“Not sure what to tell you.” I shrugged calmly. “There’s much about me that remains a mystery even to me. I woke up in a Space Station a while back with no memories of my past, where I met the others, and then later found out that I had a Stellaron inside me.”
I briefly explained my life so far, only causing Bronya’s expression to become even more disbelieving.
“I’m just going with the flow if I’m being honest.”
“…Sorry for bringing up bad memories,” Bronya said with a small frown.
“Don’t worry about it, you didn’t know,” I said with a smile, easily waving away her worries.
“Thank you, but what you said makes things even more confusing.” Bronya let out a sigh before shaking her head.
“While I don’t think you did anything wrong anymore, the problem will be changing mother’s mind. But how can I change her mind? I’ve tried before, but she won’t listen. I don’t know how to get through to her…” Bronya admitted sadly with crossed arms.
“Don’t worry, Bronya. Like I already said a bit ago, you don’t have to do this alone. My friends and I will help,” I said with a reassuring smile.
It surprisingly worked to cheer her up as a smile lit up her face and she giggled.
“Help me change the mind of the Supreme Guardian? Not easy. Nobody knows better than I do.”
Then she shook her head before letting out a sigh.
“…Maybe you’re right. Right now though, I just… need more time to think.”
She then turned to me with a friendly smile and gestured forward.
“Come, walk with me. Let’s forget our problems for a while.”
Bronya invited me and I immediately agreed.
We walked side by side with Virgo and Aries behind us, thankfully remaining silent as Bronya and I talked about anything that came to mind while exploring the empty streets of Boulder Town.
I mostly listened patiently as Bronya unloaded some of her worries on me while I occasionally asked her about life as a Silvermane Guard and what life was like in Belobog.
Half an hour must have passed as we talked amongst ourselves, a friendly atmosphere forming around us as I, being my usual dumb self, did my best to keep her smiling and entertained.
For the most part, I succeeded as I regaled her with the reasons I loved digging through trash cans.
In fact, I had even gotten distracted for a bit as I couldn’t hold back my urge to explore some of the trash cans we passed.
Bronya, along with Virgo and Aries, watched me in amusement as I dug through them.
She even did something bold and got really close to me before smelling me curiously. She became shocked and asked why I smelled so good despite doing what I did.
I just laughed and told her that as the King of Trashcans, there was no possible way I would ever be cursed with smelling bad for doing something I was born to do.
It took everything I had not to burst out laughing at the utterly deadpan look she gave me in return.
Eventually, though, our outing was interrupted as we heard familiar voices up ahead that caught our attention.
We soon found Seele and Natasha speaking in front of the clinic about needing more medical supplies.
Before they could notice us, or Bronya make our presence known, I stepped forward first and declared happily.
“Look no further, for your favorite Galactic Baseballer and his sidekicks have arrived to help~”
I grinned broadly.
The glares from Bronya at being called a sidekick, combined with the surprised and confused looks from Seele and Natasha, nearly made me laugh.
‘While fetch quests are really boring, if Natasha is the one asking, then you won’t find me complaining.’