Chapter 28: Cold Paths Ahead
“…Why are you smiling like that?”
That was the first question I received upon joining the others, who were all waiting for me at the place we had talked with Oleg, with the noticeable exception of Bronya, who wasn’t present.
Blinking, I brought out my phone and looked at my reflection to see myself staring back with a stupid smile that practically screamed what I was currently feeling right now.
That I was a lucky son of a bitch who had just managed to get laid with one of the most beautiful and badass girls in the universe, who also happened to love him just as much as he loved her.
If I wasn’t feeling like this, I would have seriously thought that something was wrong with me. So I just shrugged casually, the smile never leaving my face, and turned to March, who had been the one to ask, of course.
“Let’s just say that I had a good evening and leave it at that~” I said with my smile somehow getting even wider as my mind replayed all the ‘fun’ me and Firefly had last night.
Narrowing her pretty blue and pink eyes at me, March hummed as she grabbed her chin and looked at me more closely. I was just lucky that my clothes hid all of my torso, or else March would see the many love marks Firefly had left behind, with her own body being even worse off, especially around her chest area.
“Did you find a rare trashcan or something for you to be so happy?” March asked, still not letting it go as she said the first thing that popped into her mind.
Fortunately for me, Dan Heng interrupted our conversation, and it was a good thing too. From the look of Seele’s expression, she looked ready to explode if we had continued.
“Ahem, I think we can save that discussion for later, March,” Dan Heng said with a slight cough, distracting March and calming Seele.
He then turned to me and relayed that Bronya had already gone ahead to the Overworld ahead of us and that Sampo would be our guide.
“Oh right, Bronya told me to give you this,” Seele said as she pulled out a letter from somewhere and presented it to me specifically.
“She left us a letter. Hmm… could this be one of those ‘open-in-case-of-emergency’ letters? I’ve never gotten one of those before. Should we wait until we run into something dangerous?” March said with worry obvious in her voice.
“Stop overthinking and just let Caelus open it,” Dan Heng said with a small sigh.
Giving him a thankful nod, I opened the letter, idly noticing that there seemed to be two of them, and grabbed the bigger one before reading it out loud for everyone.
It explained her plan to confront her mother personally and, if anything went wrong, to forward the letter to the Landau siblings and ask for their help.
“The Landau siblings?” March spoke up in confusion before a look of understanding lit up her face. “Oh! She means Gepard and Serval!”
“While her plan sounds reasonable, I don’t think Bronya realizes just how far her mother has fallen,” I muttered with a small frown, recalling how Cocolia was convinced on killing her own daughter under the foolish belief that they would be reunited in the end.
“I’m of the same mind,” Dan Heng agreed with a nod. “She gave it good thought, but based on what you shared with us, Bronya might have trouble understanding whatever is going on in that Supreme Guardian’s head.”
Dan Heng then shook his head and turned to Sampo.
“Sampo, do you know the Landau siblings?”
“Landau… Uhh yeah, we’re old friends. I’ve mostly dealt with the younger brother in the past, but the sister… shudder She’s much scarier. Today’s supposed to be a day of celebration, so let’s not talk about it right now.”
“We can set out at any time. Just come find me when you’re ready~” Sampo responded, all but shivering from head to toe when he mentioned Serval, which got a curious raised eyebrow from me.
From my perspective, Serval was the easier sibling to get along with, and I actually liked her quite a bit. Blinking, I suddenly remembered that there was another note inside the letter and curiously reached for it.
“Oh, there was more?” March immediately noticed my actions and leaned against my shoulder as she curiously looked at the much smaller note, getting the others’ attention.
“It appears so,” I muttered, noticing a bit of handwriting on one side. It was addressed to me with the words ‘For Caelus’ written on it with neat handwriting.
Figuring that it was something private, I made sure March couldn’t read over my shoulder, making her pout cutely at me with crossed arms.
‘Caelus,
Before anything else, I hope this letter finds you well and you have fully recovered. You had everyone worried when you collapsed out of nowhere, especially Clara, so I urge you to please take better care of your health.
With that out of the way, I wanted to tell you this face to face but unfortunately, I will have to settle for this letter.
I want to thank you for finding it in your heart to make an effort to befriend me despite the circumstances. I know better than anyone the kind of unapproachable aura I give off, so the fact that you looked past it makes me glad.
The days I spent with you were some of the happiest memories I have to date, and I will treasure them in my heart. Believe it or not, it had been years since the last time I managed to laugh genuinely due to my duties with the Silvermane Guards and as the daughter of the Supreme Guardian.
Somehow though, you managed to do so from our first meeting by doing some of the most ridiculous things I thought someone was capable of. What other person finds such genuine enjoyment in digging through trashcans of all things and proudly declares it to a complete stranger?
It made me very happy when you said I could count on you to resolve this crisis, and I know if something happens to me, I have reliable friends I can count on.
Once all this mess with the Stellaron is over, I hope we can go on another walk and talk about anything that is on our minds. Though this time let’s do it during the day instead of the middle of the night.
Bronya Rand.’
Finishing reading it, I stored the letter inside my inventory under the curious gazes of everyone present, especially March and Seele.
“Well, what did it say? Don’t keep us in suspense!” March urged me with crossed arms and an impatient look on her face.
“She just wanted to thank me personally and remind me to take better care of myself,” I said with a small shrug, keeping it vague on purpose since I felt the rest was personal.
My answer didn’t seem to satisfy her at all—or Seele, for that matter—as the two looked at me suspiciously, though I think for different reasons.
Paying them no mind, I instead asked if everyone was ready to set out and received nods from everyone, even if they were a bit begrudging from March and Seele.
“We’re ready, Sampo. Lead the way,” I declared confidently.
“Wonderful! Remember to bring enough food and drink to refuel on the way. We have a lot of steps to climb!” Sampo said with his usual sleazy smile.
With everything set, Sampo led the way to the Furnace Core as we followed behind. Just before leaving town, I turned my head toward the direction where I had spent last evening in Firefly’s arms and silently wished her luck.
‘It’s only been less than an hour but I already find myself missing her,’ I thought silently, looking forward to our next reunion.
=====
Hours Later
Seeing the light of the sun up ahead, we hurried our steps before finally meeting the familiar sight of Belobog, having to squint our eyes as we were greeted by the rays of the sun for the first time in days.
“Ah, we’re finally back! …I forgot what fresh air tasted like… Nom, nom, nom,” March exclaimed in an exaggerated manner as she started taking bites out of the air.
Smiling in amusement at her antics, I shook my head before tilting my head curiously. “What flavor is it?”
Taking in a huge breath with closed eyes, March answered, “…Freedom… Cold… Mainly cold actually. Let’s go.” She said before she started shivering and rubbing her elbows.
“Where’s our next stop? We should find somewhere to put our feet up, as long as it’s not the Goethe Hotel again…” March continued, taking a look at our surroundings.
“Classic unreliable Sampo. He probably guessed we’d ask where his hiding place was. No sooner are we back in the Administrative District than he sneaks off,” Seele said with an annoyed sigh upon finding Sanpo nowhere in sight.
“I’m used to it at this point,” I said with a small shrug of my shoulders. “Anyway, we should probably go and find Serval. I have a feeling we’re going to need her help soon.”
“So you don’t think Bronya pulled it off?” Seele asked me in a confrontational way, but there was also a hint of worry in her tone.
“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “We should assume Bronya failed and start making plans to go rescue her,” I declared seriously, causing that worry to grow.
“A wise decision. I also feel we should seek Miss Serval,” Dan Heng said with crossed arms.
“We’re not even going to try searching for Gepard, huh?” March muttered softly, sounding relieved. “So you guys think we should avoid him for the time being as well, right?”
“He’s an elite officer of the Silvermane Guards. It wouldn’t be easy to get to him. Besides… if he hasn’t been persuaded by Bronya’s letter, we’d be walking right into the lion’s den,” Dan Heng explained patiently.
“Makes sense… Guess we better head over to Serval’s workshop then, like Caelus said?” March said with a nod.
“Mm. But… we must keep a low profile. We’re still wanted fugitives,” Dan Heng added as we started walking in that direction.
Seeing Seele distracted, March turned to her. “What’s wrong, Seele?”
“Nothing, it’s just a little… new. The last time I was on the surface, I was still a child. I have no memory of any of this. The Overworld and the Underworld… We’ve… We’ve been cut off for so long,” Seele muttered softly before shaking her head and adopting a serious expression.
“I’m okay. Let’s go.”
=====
As we made our way to Serval’s workshop, we noticed a lot of Silvermane Guards standing watch all over the city, which just further reaffirmed my theory that Bronya had failed.
We made a brief stop at an iron notice board covered with our wanted posters (except for Seele’s). They were actually pretty funny to look at due to how we were drawn. I even made sure to store one in my inventory as a memento.
When we finally reached Serval’s workshop, it was closed, so we had to knock, hoping she was in.
“Who is it? Shop’s closed today. You’ll have to come back tomorrow!” Serval’s voice came from inside.
“It’s the radiator fixers,” I answered back with a smile.
“Hah…? Ah, I remember! The three outsiders! Wait, why are you still strolling around the city? Do you know the Silvermane Guards are looking all over for you? Quick, act natural and get inside. Don’t get spotted!” Serval responded, thankfully remembering that little detail and letting us in a moment later.
‘Heh, knew Serval was really nice,’ I thought inwardly, pleased at my initial assessment of the beautiful blonde woman.
Once inside, Serval was curious about what we could have done to have the Guards patrolling the entire city looking for us.
While I trusted her immediately due to foreknowledge and my personal belief that Serval was a good person, it took the others a bit longer to do the same.
Serval then let us know that she wasn’t exactly on speaking terms with Cocolia and her belief that if there was any true evidence of something we did, the Architects would have already released it.
“You can trust me. I know our paths have only crossed once before, but my intuition tells me you guys are good people. And I’ve got good intuition, by the way, haha,” Serval finished with a small laugh, trying to reassure us.
Speaking up before anybody else could, I nodded my head and placed my hands on my hips.
“No worries, I trusted you from the beginning anyway,” I said with a big smile on my face before winking playfully at her. “I also have pretty good intuition.”
Dan Heng seemed to sigh at my words, while March readily agreed with me before a huge smile lit up her face.
“Ooh! I’m the best storyteller. Let me! Let me the story!” March pleaded excitedly, even jumping on her toes like a small child.
“…Try not to embellish the facts,” Dan Heng said in a defeated tone.
“Let me know if you need sound effects at any part, March. I got you covered~” I said, giving her a thumbs up.
“Got it, partner~” March said, giving me a thumbs up in return, totally in sync with me.
March then launched into the animated story of everything that had happened to us since we left Serval’s shop last time before showing her the letter at the end.
Thankfully, Serval believed us, as I believed she would, and agreed to help us. She had actually been in the Scientific Research Division in the past and was researching the Stellaron.
Serval then went on a rant about how it all made sense why she was kicked out of the Scientific Research Division, to prevent any knowledge of the Stellaron from leaking to the public. She also shared my view that not telling her brother Gepard was a wise decision, as her brother was the type of guy where orders were more important than anything.
In the end, Serval even told us the general location of the Stellaron and promised to lead the way herself, which was a relief to hear. Having someone who knew the way on our side felt good.
As we were about to head out though, Gepard decided to show up at the workshop, forcing us to hide and lowering my opinion of the guy even more. At least he proved that I was correct about Bronya failing in her mission, so there was that.
The guy almost discovered us, but Serval was able to lead him away from our hiding spot and he finally left. With no time to waste, we quickly made our way out of the shop and into the north of Belobog as Serval dissuaded Seele from storming Qlipoth Fort in an attempt to rescue Bronya.
The way out of the city was full of guards, but thanks to Serval’s 100 Speech skill, we quickly made it past that hurdle, further endearing herself in March’s eyes.
As we left the city proper, the cold settled into our bodies as if silently letting us know that danger waited for us ahead.
The time to confront Cocolia had finally arrived.
‘Hah, why do female villains have to be so hot?’ I silently wondered with a small groan to myself.