Can't a person just peacefully complete commissions?

"Under this starry sky, the apex are the 'Aeons'—every traveler who sets foot on a Path must ultimately face Them at the end of their journey."

"An emperor is whoever has the strongest army and horses. Aeons are the individuals with the biggest fists. Whether you see Them as superpowers or local gang bosses, in this universe, if you don't pay respects to the right mountain, you're a nobody—get wiped out and no one cares. But once you kowtow to a mountain, at least you have some room to struggle. If your backing is solid enough, say, clinging to the thigh of an Emanator, even those madmen of the Antimatter Legion would think twice before slapping you."

"Herta, the 83rd seat of the Genius Society, saved her homeland nineteen times. In the earliest Stellaron incidents, she personally captured and sealed a Stellaron, had two audiences with Aeons, and even the Lord of Annihilation, Iron Tomb, only dared to send little gifts to her turf to annoy her. If your homeland were to produce an Emanator of its own, you could casually knead a Stellaron and toss it away, and the Antimatter Legion would immediately declare unconditional surrender here."

If Aeons are the dragon-head bosses, then the leading Emanators are undoubtedly the red-pole enforcers—figures like Marshal Hua, the Supreme Dragon God, Blazing Wind, Shuhu, and Luocha. The next tier of Emanators are the white-paper fan strategists, like the other Xianzhou generals, Phantom, and the Lord of Silence—slightly lower in rank.

As for Belobog, let alone these Emanators, even the top-tier fighters just below them—like Jingliu, Imbibitor Lunae, or Hulay—if any one of them showed up with ill intent toward this planet, the locals would have absolutely zero chance of resistance.

Aeons, Emanators, City Builders, Xianzhou, Antimatter Legion, Stellaron...

A flood of terms flowed from Shirou Emiya's mouth, and Bronya finally understood what it meant to look at the sky from the bottom of a well. As someone at the very top of Belobog, she had received a relatively advanced education, but when she truly looked out at the entire starry cosmos, her past existence was laughably like a frog in a well.

The path to Jarilo's revival didn't lie in Belobog, nor in the Supreme Guardian, nor in a couple of Creation Engines.

Right at this moment, a fierce impulse began to sprout in the heart of this young Miss, who had been taken to the Upper City since childhood to be groomed as the next Supreme Guardian.

Leave Jarilo, Leave Belobog!

No longer trapped in this snowfield searching for possibilities, but to take the initiative, to venture into the vast and boundless world to absorb more knowledge, gain more power, and build more connections—only then would she have the ability to promote Jarilo's revival.

She closed her eyes, and in her mind surfaced her foster mother's earnest teachings and weary exhaustion in her spare time, the nobles' surface elegance and hidden arrogance, and the common people's numbness and calm as they struggled to support their families while being exploited by noble merchants.

Before, Belobog had no qualification to contact Visitors from Beyond.

Now it did, and there was no reason to give up this possibility.

"...Once the Stellaron problem is resolved, I will be the first to go!"

Chapter 038: Explain, Explain, What's the Surprise? (2/4)

"You're saying someone of unknown origin disguised as an acquaintance of yours, approached you, and told you that you had to come to this Everwinter Peak?"

Inside a cave in the snowfield, Bronya recounted her situation to Shirou Emiya. Compared to the unknown person, the Nameless who had just explained so much to her seemed more trustworthy.

"Mm, she said she had prepared some kind of surprise for me here in this snowfield."

As for the button that might be a bomb, she didn't mention it directly. Some things didn't need to be said so clearly.

"I think I have a guess who it is."

Shirou Emiya rubbed his chin and suddenly laughed.

"I had a sudden hunch earlier that something dirty had sneaked in. Turns out it's a little devil girl who slipped in to cause me trouble."

"You know her?"

"About thirty to forty percent sure. After all, that kind of street loafer, bouncing around the universe for kicks, showing up here isn't strange."

"Then her... purpose."

"Didn't I just say?"

Seeing Bronya's puzzled expression, Shirou Emiya smiled and said, "It's just for kicks. Masked Fools are mostly like that—they seek fun without any special reason, just acting on a whim."

With that, his smile faded slightly, and he added, "Whether for good or evil, there's no clear line for them. A few have some moral bottom line and aren't too crazy, but some, to create fun, won't hesitate to push wars. When they see millions lying in pools of blood, they'll burst out laughing, appear before the final victor, and hand them a ridiculous, farcical ending."

"Playing with hearts, stirring emotions at will... The Path of Joy, which is closest to mortal nature, is also the easiest to breed groups that highlight the worst of humanity."

"The one who appeared before you is a heavyweight among them. But... as for her actual situation, I don't actually know much. And her 'name' isn't something I can mention directly."

Because that little devil girl had walked very deep on the Path of Joy. Casually mentioning her name might let her sense it, especially since she was currently on this planet.

"Since she prepared a surprise for you, go and take it."

No one from the Masked Tavern was easy to deal with. Svarog had fallen into his hands only because of an information gap, but Sparkle was different—even within the Masked Tavern, she was one of the most troublesome, almost suspected of being an Emanator.

For someone like her to barge into a tiny planet like Jarilo-VI, Shirou Emiya didn't need to think twice—she was definitely after him...

Probably got some intel from Aha and came to find some fun with him.

Most people in the tavern were the type to bluntly declare, "I have no morals," while Sparkle was the kind who explicitly treated law and morality as jokes, and saw rules and order set by others as the biggest joke, taking pleasure in mocking them.

But on the other hand, there was no need to think of this little devil girl as too malicious. Her way of obtaining joy wasn't limited to harming others; she didn't feel pleasure from persecuting people. As for the core of what she pursued in joy, Shirou Emiya couldn't know, but at least he was sure that woman wasn't the type to stir up bloody storms and boring plots.

"It's just another player on the chessboard."

In the end, she was just a meddler who, on a whim, wanted to insert herself into this game. Now everyone was out in the open, and it was still anyone's game.

Ending the conversation, he followed Bronya deeper into Everwinter Peak. As for the big surprise Sparkle had mentioned being here, Shirou Emiya naturally wanted to see it too.

If it was just a Stellaron, that didn't seem worthy of being called a big surprise.

The snow peak wasn't actually that large. After trial and error on a few mountain paths, they finally reached an open spiral staircase. Climbing up step by step, they saw an increasing number of frozen Antimatter Legion statues. When they reached the top of the staircase, an ancient open platform, what came into view made Bronya's pupils suddenly contract in horror.

It was a massive ice sculpture, Or rather, a huge ball of ice.

And inside that ice ball, two familiar figures were trapped.

"Miss Serval! And... Lynx?!"

And, most critically, within the ice sphere, Lynx was clearly aiming the ice pick she usually used to break ice straight at Serval's forehead...

"Why are they here?"

"Why is Lynx attacking her sister?"

Her mind began to spiral into chaos. Bronya couldn't understand how this scene before her had come to be. The three siblings of the Landau family had always been close and harmonious, especially toward their youngest sister Lynx—both her brother Gepard and her sister Serval had doted on her endlessly.

Lynx's own personality was also quite tranquil; she had always been kind to others. It was hard to imagine her not only taking an ice pick to attack her own biological sister, but even the thought of this child throwing a punch at someone was difficult to conceive.

"Don't let appearances fool you."

Standing beside Bronya, Shirou Emiya quietly offered a reminder.

"That little girl's movements are very stiff. It's almost as if she's being influenced by something to act that way."

"As for that other woman, her expression carries pain, but there are no injuries on her body, and she doesn't have much of a protective posture to resist."

"In this day and age, there are many abilities that can bewitch hearts and manipulate bodies. Their situation could easily be called a staged act. Your top priority right now should be..."

Before his words could finish, hurried footsteps suddenly came from the lower level of the spiral staircase. Shirou frowned, sensing something was off, and pulled Bronya behind a large ice sculpture to hide.

When the hurried footsteps stopped, a mature blonde woman dressed almost identically to Bronya quickly arrived at this open platform. Her gaze swept rapidly across the entire platform, as if searching for someone, but the next moment, her eyes froze, locking onto the inside of the giant ice sphere. Her expression instantly turned extremely shocked.

"Serval?! Why? Why are you here?!"

"And Lynx... why are you attacking Serval?!"

Compared to the impact Bronya had suffered, the shock this mature blonde woman experienced seemed even stronger, because one of the people inside that ice sphere held an extraordinary significance for her.

"Wait, Bronya... and Bronya! Bronya couldn't have also..."

In her panic, this blonde woman suddenly thought of her adopted daughter, and her expression grew even more frantic. She began to scan her surroundings, hoping in her heart that she wouldn't catch sight of her adopted daughter here.

If Bronya wasn't here, then what was happening here and the secrets here would still have nothing to do with that child. More importantly, if that child hadn't come here, she wouldn't be harmed.

But...

The next moment, as she held onto this hope and began searching for her adopted daughter's figure, a voice, suddenly rang out, completely, shattering her fantasy.

"...Mother."

Chapter 039: Need a Word More Offensive Than 'Despicable' (3/4)

The lead-gray sky was drifting with scattered flakes of white snow.

The howling north wind swept across this icy platform.

As it passed through the gaps in the ice sculptures, the entire platform carried a strange wailing sound, like weeping, or like the noise of something shattering.

Their identical military uniforms fluttered and rustled in the chaotic wind and snow.

Bronya gazed at her adoptive mother, Cocolia, the current Supreme Guardian of Belobog.

And likewise, Cocolia was gazing at her adopted daughter, the one she had placed great hopes in, the few close ones to whom she could entrust her emotions.

But unfortunately, both Bronya and Cocolia understood very well that everything they had once experienced as mother and daughter had cracked in that instant of their meeting.

They could no longer trust each other wholeheartedly.

Why had Cocolia followed her tail after she secretly entered Everwinter Peak?

Why had Bronya secretly come to Everwinter Peak without informing her?

And, most importantly, being present at the scene where Serval was being attacked by Lynx, both of them had instantly developed "doubts" about each other—whether the events unfolding before them... had anything to do with the other.

"That little devil girl really pulled off a big one."

Bronya stepped out from the hiding spot, but Shirou remained concealed behind the ice sculpture. Watching the mother-daughter pair on the platform, he gained a phased understanding of Sparkle's entire plan.

The series of events she had arranged were precisely meant to shatter the trust between Bronya and Cocolia completely. Having come to Everwinter Peak, the place hiding Cocolia's greatest secret, Bronya had no room left to turn back.

Cocolia didn't know whether Bronya had come into contact with the Stellaron, but as long as that possibility existed, Bronya could no longer return to Belobog—because this child... would become an obstacle to her.

And the same applied to Bronya. Cocolia's frantic rush to this place, her unwillingness to let Bronya know what was here—this secrecy would only deepen the anger in Bronya's heart.

"That brat probably won't give up on Bronya as a good pawn."

"...And, most importantly, the Stellaron here is gone."

Shirou slowly narrowed his eyes. Was this worthy of being one of the most troublesome people in the Masked Tavern? With a combination of moves like this, Cocolia would inevitably lose trust in everyone from now on.

Without the Stellaron, without the future the Stellaron had promised, then... all the heinous acts she had committed to welcome a new world would become utterly wasted effort.

The tens of thousands of Belobogians she had indirectly slaughtered would lose all reason for their deaths.

"Drawing the firewood from under the cauldron—that's a pretty clever move, and a pretty dirty one too."

It made all the targets Cocolia could have used to explain away her past misdeeds vanish directly, pinning the original sin squarely on her forehead. While her past crimes might not fill endless bamboo slips, they were at least not something a few edicts of self-blame could resolve.

Of course, that was a different matter if the woman felt no guilt at all.

"Heehee... Lady Sparkle's performance—did you enjoy it?"

[Joyful emotion from Sparkle +35]

A faint, teasing laugh came from an unknown direction. Shirou Emiya raised an eyebrow slightly, then smiled and spoke in a low voice, "Causing such a ruckus on old Sampo's turf—not quite appropriate, is it, Flower Guide?"

"Hmph hmph... Lady Sparkle got Sampo's permission, you know!"

"When did you two get mixed up together?"

"Guess?"

Shirou shook his head. Those two getting mixed up together was far too simple; he just hadn't expected Sparkle to suddenly show up on Belobog's set.

"Sisters at each other's throats, mother and daughter turning against each other—Flower Guide, your script is a bit too wicked, you know."

"Pfft, as long as Lady Sparkle has no morals, it's fine!"

"Besides, I'm just helping them realize their true feelings ahead of time. A daughter who's long sensed her mother's hiding something and keeps probing, a mother who knows her daughter suspects her yet still clings to hope—such a twisted mother-daughter relationship. Just watching them squirm like that, Lady Sparkle could down several bowls of rice."

With that, the voice paused briefly, then spoke again, "But too bad, Lady Sparkle doesn't have that much time. Eating too many staples isn't good for digestion. After all, you've got to bring the main course to the table to eat to your heart's content."