A Bold Idea (Part 2)

However, even Cocoilia wouldn't show a tough side to her own people.

"?"

Cocoilia felt like she had been asked a strange question.

But should this issue be free of political factors?

Cocoilia confirmed that although it is possible to roughly distinguish between "alien" and "native" people here, there is no political struggle between the two sides—not to mention fierce ones, there are not even minor frictions.

Is this considered Lord Liu Bai's charm?

People who can constantly summon powerful beings from the universe are normally feared, right?

This means that the opponent's power could expand at any time, especially for native planets, where the unknown is often more... uncontrollable.

Yes, sometimes danger isn't scary; what's scary is being out of control.

In particular, extraterrestrial invasion is a sensitive topic for such planets.

Of course, their side isn't exactly monolithic; if you break it down further, you can find quite a few different groups.

Cocoilia to say she's repaying a debt of gratitude, but what about that judge lady?

Did her boss, that... Ten-Lords Commission, have any other intentions in sending this person over?

And then there's Miss Acheron, who seems unable to fit into the group, and Miss Firefly, who always gives off a somewhat unusual vibe...

Smack

Cocoilia slapped her forehead.

My professional habit kicked in, and I started worrying unnecessarily. Even my own boss hasn't thought about these things, so why should I be the one to think about these trivial matters?

Moreover, everyone is currently trapped on this planet, and if they're unlucky, they'll never be able to get out.

Even if the Ten-Lords Commission were thinking something bad, they couldn't possibly send an order over a remote distance.

Cocoilia was indulging in her professional habit, on the other side, Guinaifen, watching Ryuki kneading Firefly, nudged Kamisato Ayaka.

"Ayaka, who did the Boss Liu come with when he first arrived?"

Firefly appear here?

No, that's not right.

Logically speaking, shouldn't Liu Yiying, even after waking up, stay in the room and wait until no one is around to steal Liu Bai's clothes and blankets?

Well, Guinaifen did some calculations yesterday, and these next two days should be the time for Firefly to make her move.

That's why Guinaifen insisted on a thorough cleaning yesterday, but Liu Bai stopped her.

—If the Boss Liu doesn't suppress Firefly desires, he'll be dragged into the abyss by Firefly sooner or later!

"... It seems to be Miss Firefly? Oh, and Miss Xueyi seems to be there too."

Kamisato Ayaka and the other martial artists are among the earliest risers.

"..."

I'm very worried. Why are these two people traveling together?

Hiss--!

Guinaifen suddenly gasped.

Could it be that these two people... no, normally speaking, if they did that, would they still get up on time?

"Little Gui ~ Come help me carry the dishes!"

"Good--!"

I'm still so resentful...

Guinaifen no longer finds the food in her mouth delicious.

We must test the waters with the Firefly.

"I'm full from my dream." Cao Cao shoveled the food into his mouth, then stood up. "Does anyone have any clothes that need washing? I'll go help..."

"Liu Bai's room isn't dirty," Firefly suddenly retorted.

Ah... here we go again.

The expressions of the people who knew about the inexplicable argument that had happened yesterday all became subtle.

Then everyone started to persuade them and act as peacemakers—so why are you two arguing about this in the first place?

Even kids don't argue about this kind of thing!

Guinaifen breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Firefly's reaction.

Hmm... thankfully, it seems like nothing much happened.

If she had done it, Firefly wouldn't have been so fixated on the quilt, and... if she had actually done it, she would have snatched it and washed it.

... Of course, we cannot deny the possibility that the Firefly's perversion has gone even further.

"Ahem, let's talk about something else."

Cocoilia noticed the atmosphere was a bit off and spoke up as well.

"So, is Lord Liu Bai facing any trouble right now?"

"... There are just too many troubles."

Guinaifen sat back down in her chair.

"A Herrscher has suddenly appeared here, and there's also a Herrscher in reserve at home."

Yesterday, they had already explained the world to Cocoilia and Xueyi, so there were no communication barriers between them.

"Hmm... Boss Liu should be helping the Chamber of Commerce deal with the lurking Herrscher recently."

Guinaifen thought for a moment before answering, and everyone else quieted down and listened attentively.

Guinaifen was probably the person present who knew Liu Bai's strategy best.

"Should we stir up trouble?"

Kitsune Saiguu used chopsticks to pick up a grain of rice.

Kitsune Saiguu understood Liu Bai's core strategy in an instant.

"Using the Chamber of Commerce's Herrscher to interfere with all the Herrscher in the Sky Dome Zone?"

There's not much to say; the Chamber of Commerce's Herrscher of Dominion is the only Herrscher of Dominion whose whereabouts can be confirmed.

"However, if we want to alert the enemy, we must capture them alive."

If there is even the slightest mistake, the Herrscher of Dominion will not hesitate to discard the useless "self".

Only by capturing them and forcing the Herrscher of Dominion to act collectively for them can Schicksal and the World Serpent catch them by the tail.

"It's not that absolute."

After feeding the real Liu Bai, he came downstairs, clearly having overheard the Kitsune Saiguu's speculation.

"The potential danger of directly alerting the enemy is actually... hard to bear. If things go wrong, the other side could turn the Sky Dome Zone into a living hell."

In Liu Bai's opinion, the current Herrscher of Dominion is actually quite "well-behaved".

At least they didn't cause any serious incidents to disrupt society—or, in their view, disrupting society at this stage would only make the Sky Dome Zone, where their target is located, more under martial law.

Of course, it's also possible that the Herrscher of Dominion is still in the accumulation phase. The more than 700 puppets are obviously not yet at full capacity. The Herrscher of Herrscher of Dominion's silent threshold should be 500, which is half—although in reality, the full number of Herrschers of Herrscher of Dominion is definitely more than a thousand.

It's understandable that the Herrscher of Dominion didn't take full action to ensure its own margin for error.

Although the fable of boiling a frog in lukewarm water is fictional, it still has strategic significance.

If possible, Liu Bai would also like to slowly boil the Herrscher of Herrscher of Dominion like a frog in warm water.

If Liu Bai can successfully capture the Herrscher of Dominion, then given just one day, even if the Herrscher of Dominion keeps its mouth shut, Liu Bai can still max out its favorability.

"Everyone is preparing now: Schicksal is preparing, World Serpent is preparing, the Chamber of Commerce is preparing, and the Herrscher are preparing. Now it's just a matter of who can prepare the fastest."

"This is a truly worrying situation."

Cocoilia sighed, "This situation is indeed critical." Cocoilia thought for a moment, "What if the Herrscher of Dominion were in Belobog..."

Oh dear, our own margin for error is definitely doomed.

"However, these two days are a free period for us. We are the only ones who don't need to prepare anything. We can just live our lives normally."

Although he was supposed to have free time, Liu Bai still had things to do.

For example, the training Eden that I promised before.

So Liu Bai asked for Rita's address and then brought Eden over.

Well... unsurprisingly, it was warmly welcomed.

The girls from the Undying Blade were incredibly enthusiastic towards Liu Bai, especially after they learned that he had come to see Rita. They practically carried Liu Bai up in a huge throng.

"... Liu Bai, is everything really alright here?" Dian asked with some concern in the elevator.

Compared to the warm welcome Liu Bai received, Eden's experience was far less pleasant.

I always feel like... everyone looks at me with a sharp gaze.

"No problem... probably."

Liu Bai himself also felt several menacing gazes!

Am I doing something as foolish as throwing myself into the lion's den?

"Although these people can be a bit frivolous at times, you can think of them as... magical girls?"

"I'll beat you up."

"Huh? I don't have any extraordinary skills... Okay, okay."

Seeing Eden's face darken, Liu Bai decisively raised his hands in surrender.

"Don't make such connections, but this group of people probably fits the most typical definition of a magical girl."

Although she's a minor magical girl.

"Like Kiana, she is Valkyries, the kind who started training at the age of eleven or twelve."

"Hmm... more like a Boy Scout than a magical girl?"

Eden's words were clearly sharper.

"Letting eleven or twelve-year-old girls learn combat? Are you out of your mind?"

"... There's nothing we can do about it, at least not right now."

If you ask Liu Bai, this Sailor Moon concept is really... kind of weird in reality.

Eden pursed his lips, but didn't say anything more.

Eden understood the term "industry rules" very well.

It's really frustrating, but the rules of this industry are clearly not something Eden can overturn.

Eden could only give an unladylike snort in response.

After taking the elevator to the designated floor, Liu Bai (and Eden went out for a walk) went to Rita's room after a while.

Gull =

"Please come in~"

Good morning, Rita.

Good morning, Liu Bai.

Rita stood up from the dressing table and looked at Liu Bai and Eden.

"This is... oh, the La Signora from the bookstore earlier?"

"... Have I seen you before?"

Eden was somewhat puzzled.