For the moment, Ronan had no idea that someone had placed such a high degree of "trust" in him. He had no mind for other matters right now, because an important person had called him in the middle of the night.
"Regarding the Mist Labyrinth, I'm fairly satisfied with the materials you provided. The data is relatively complete, the methods of observation were restrained and clear, and the data processing was passable. You reached an obvious conclusion... and it was perfectly logical, far better than those complicated and absurd speculations."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
The caller was none other than the Martial Emperor.
But Ronan's thanks were on behalf of his father, whose fate was still unknown. He was thanking this important and mysterious Extraordinary Species for her fair assessment and recognition.
The Martial Emperor did not know the subtlety in his thoughts. Perhaps even if she did, she would not have cared. She turned to the Mist Labyrinth itself:
"These materials can only establish a broad framework; they cannot explain much more. Still, those concepts—dangerous core, radiating influence, scattered outskirts—make it sound like the sort of place that would set an adventurer's blood boiling.
"Unfortunately, I am not an adventurer, and that place does not seem suitable for sightseeing."
The Martial Emperor had once described her hobbies as travel, archaeology, and treasure hunting. The Mist Labyrinth in its current state seemed to overlap somewhat with all of them, yet fell just short of each.
Was she saying she was not interested in the Mist Labyrinth?
That did not seem right either.
Faced with this Big Moneybags who controlled immense funds and also held financial authority over the branch, Ronan truly found himself lacking the spirit of a hero. He immediately became cautious. "What are Your Majesty's thoughts?"
"I have