When dealing with a Herta puppet, at most it meant that Herta had noticed what was happening here and allocated a bit of processing power to play with you.
But if Herta herself showed up, then it meant you would be facing the full strength and inventions of Herta—the Emanator of Honorable Sage, the eighty-third member of the Genius Club, and the woman who had saved Azure Star several times.
Looking at Herta before her, dressed like a witch in a pointed hat, Kafka's smile vanished at some point, replaced by seriousness and solemnity. "Respected Madam Herta, we did not come here to make an enemy of you. Quite the opposite—we hope to speak with you. Perhaps we can even reach a deal beneficial to both sides."
"A deal?" Herta tilted her head slightly, a teasing look appearing on her delicate face beneath the brim of her hat. "Sure. You can put the Stellaron I collected into that carefully prepared container right now, then obediently put on specially made shackles so I can send you to the IPC and claim the bounty on the Stellaris Hunters. Quite a bargain, isn't it? You complete Elio's script, while I get some research funding. Everyone gets a bright future."
"If Madam Herta requires research funding, the Stellaris Hunters would be happy to support your work." Kafka pulled out a black card from the lining of her coat and flicked it toward Herta.
Herta caught the black card precisely between her fingers, then scanned it and found that it held quite a lot of Credit Points.
Credit Points: 16800000000
Sixteen billion eight hundred million Credit Points. As a gift upon meeting, it was indeed a grand gesture. After all, even Kafka herself, the Stellaris Hunter with the highest bounty, was only worth