Chapter 20

This spear is engraved with our time—destruction or new birth. Cocolia Rand, you shall decide it all!

Listening to Alisa Rand's response, Cocolia flashed back through her past life. In her childhood, she was adopted by the previous Supreme Guardian, Rosaliya Landau; in her youth, she joined the Silvermane Guards alongside Serval. Back then, she and the guards who enlisted at the same time were all full of fiery passion, pure idealists striving single-mindedly for the revitalization of Belobog.

However, after the abrupt passing of the previous Supreme Guardian, she took over the position of Supreme Guardian at a tender age and began to accept the bewitchment coming from the Stellaron. She could not confide this situation to anyone, and when facing the current state of Belobog—which seemed stable on the surface yet had undercurrents surging internally—she frequently felt helpless despite her best intentions.

Gradually, she began to believe in the possibilities promised by the Stellaron, and perhaps it was also from this moment onward that the Preservation could no longer serve as her strength.

The resource gap of geomarrow began to grow increasingly massive. She closed the passage between the Lower City and the Upper City—on one hand, to reduce population pressure; on the other hand, because the geomarrow deficit could no longer be compensated for by the current extraction speed.

She was like a mere mender, continually patching up this rotten current situation, but she also understood very well that the status quo could not be maintained for much longer. The future of this city, of this civilization... could already see the location of the final stop.

After that, she completely abandoned other possibilities and began to think with all her might about how to use the power of the Stellaron to achieve the best outcome.

Only...

Within her plan, she always cared far too much about her only daughter, far too much about that child's perspective.

Thus, she kept delaying the initiation of the plan.

Until this moment, until right now, having lost the Stellaron and everything she had plotted beforehand.

Destruction and new birth?

The Stellaron no longer exists, so then... it is time to face destruction.

ps: Some people gave low scores again. Right now, this rating on fl is really quite grating. A single vote or two can pull the rating down by a huge margin. Please, everyone, go cast your votes..

Chapter 42: Making a Name for Yourself Is Right Today! (2/4)

As expected of the newcomer favored by Lord Aha, she certainly has a few tricks up her sleeve.

Watching Shirou make Cocolia seem to regain her fighting spirit simply by using a weapon that had already been out of version, Lady Sparkle could not help laughing happily.

However, a broken mirror reforming is not that simple, oh, little master.

It's true that she has reignited her fighting spirit, but her loyal Belobog might not necessarily be loyal to her anymore, you know.

In Belobog,

at the Grand Goethe Hotel,

March 7th and Stelle, who had already stayed here for two days, had gradually grown familiar with the intelligence officer, Miss Pela.

Regarding the situation in the Upper City, Stelle and March 7th saw it with their own eyes. The situation here truly had a world of difference from the Lower City.

The wealth gap, education levels, food rationing standards...

Without exaggeration, it could almost be called two countries.

In the Upper City, there was still a portion of quite wealthy and extravagant nobles living a luxurious life day after day that the people of the Lower City could find hard to imagine. They even knew of a young noble master who, out of sheer boredom, would rant and rave there every day, shouting from his mouth that he wanted to make close friends, yet the moment he understood the other person's situation, he would immediately flip his face—truly a master skill.

One could only say that different people have different fates.

The wealth gap drew a clear-cut dividing line across the entire Belobog.

The rich disdained to associate with the poor, the nobles looked down on the common folk, and the impoverished had no mental capacity to mind others, barely surviving and gasping along. How could they have the heart to mingle with the rich and the nobles?

Wine and meat rot behind red gates, while bones freeze by the road.

The bones of Belobog were simply sunk deep beneath the ground.

This extreme wealth gap made both March 7th and Stelle, who had entered the Lower City first, somewhat silent.

No matter how carefree a person was, it was impossible to remain indifferent upon seeing such a situation.

They had witnessed Seele shedding tears over white rice, seen wanderers fighting fiercely over a few pieces of dried smoked insect meat, seen the children of Boulder Town cheer and leap with joy upon scavenging a rusted gear to trade with adults for meager snacks, and seen thin-skinned, emaciated children holding tiny pickaxes and entering the mining area alongside adults.

Every single one of these instances and scenes fell into their eyes. They were merely young, merely naive, and simply pure, yet they were not fools, idiots, or morons, let alone emotionless monsters cold as beasts.

Stelle, are, are we... shouldn't we have come here?

In front of the large bay window of the Grand Goethe Hotel, March 7th could overlook the very picturesque scenery of the northern land from here. Those gentlemen and ladies walking on the street in bright and gorgeous attire were elegantly conversing and laughing, but in inconspicuous corners, the poor dressed in simple coarse hemp clothes were laboring numbly. These fragmented sights made the young girl's heart tighten involuntarily.

Want to go back? If it's now, Shirou won't say anything.

No.

March 7th shook her head, not due to reasons like wounded pride, but because she understood that even if she returned to the Lower City, she seemed unable to help with anything.

Speaking of which, Pela doesn't seem to have come today? Is there some temporary work?

She just sent a message saying that a friend of hers hasn't returned in a long time, and even her sister has gone missing recently.

A missing persons case?!

It should be more than that.

Stelle shook her head, then spoke again, This matter is probably not that simple. The identities of the two missing sisters are very special. I heard they are Gepard's own sisters.

Gepard? I remember his surname is Landau? Is he one of Belobog's native high nobles?!

Mhm.

Wait, Stelle, isn't this a great opportunity for the two of us to make a name for ourselves?

Miss March 7th suddenly grew somewhat excited, and after darting her eyes to scan her surroundings in a circle, she leaned close to Stelle once more.

Look, if we use the identity of Sea Rangers to find these two missing sisters, others will definitely completely acknowledge our identity as Sea Rangers, right?

Is there a possibility that we'll be treated as the culprits behind a kidnapping case? We are outsiders, after all.

Seems right. Then otherwise, shall we go find Pela and apply to take action together with her?

Then what are we waiting for!

My sister's disappearance should be related to a banquet from two days ago.

In Serval's Workshop, Gepard recounted to Pela the intelligence he had currently investigated. His expression was filled with thinly veiled fury.

That was a noble banquet initiated by the Goethe family. Although my sister does not like that kind of social gathering, as the eldest daughter of the Landau family, she sometimes had no choice but to participate.

Because my sister lived in the workshop year-round, I didn't discover her disappearance right away. Moreover, my sister herself is also one of Belobog's premier combat experts and mechanics. I would never have imagined that anyone among those nobles would dare to lay a hand on my sister.

...Then, is it possible Lynx was also targeted by these nobles?

Pela pushed up her round-rimmed glasses. Although she felt extremely anxious inside, before Gepard, a family member, she could not show a flustered emotional state, and merely tried her best to calm down and analyze.

The Landau family is a core faction among the nobility. The disappearance of Miss Serval is evidently related to them. Do they not seem to fear the Landau family pursuing responsibility?

...Yesterday, Lady Bronya secretly left Belobog.

Gepard's expression gradually grew serious. Despite his abnormal fury, as the garrison officer of the Silvermane Guards, if he were completely dominated by anger at this moment, it was highly likely to cause the current situation to spin further out of control.

Today, Lady Cocolia also seemed to be absent from the meeting.

Lord Pela, in Belobog today, only the noble faction headed by the Minister of the Interior and the Silvermane Guards under my control remain.

You mean?

Although I am somewhat unwilling to utter that possibility, we must now make psychological preparations in advance. The affair of Spanja Marcuse is a lesson from the past and must be guarded against.

The Supreme Guardian had gone missing, and the Minister of the Interior held absolute power. Judging from the immediate situation, that current Jackal Minister indeed possessed the possibility of posing a threat.

Then what do you want to do?

Pela's expression also began to grow extremely grave. Belobog's current situation was already far from stable, and now this sudden, suspected coup d'etat grand event had appeared. She could not imagine what kind of chaos would engulf all of Belobog once that Minister of the Interior truly raised the banner of rebellion.

Seize control of the automatons. Aside from the Silvermane Guards, the most powerful armed force is those automatons. The security key should be in Lady Bronya's hands, but now Lady Bronya is missing... We have no choice but to be on guard against this possibility in advance.

What do I need to do?

During the time I lock down the Technical Department to prevent the automatons from being seized, you must quickly find the Supreme Guardian or Lady Bronya. Their disappearances should be inextricably linked to the disappearances of my sister and Lynx, so... I hope you can find them before everything turns into the worst-case scenario.

In addition, those three Visitors from Beyond can perhaps be drawn over for an attempt. They are also Pathstriders, and in the subsequent investigations, they should be able to lend you a helping hand..

Chapter 43: We Shall Support You to Become the New Supreme Guardian. (3/4)

To sum up, I hope the two of you can lend me a hand.

After concluding negotiations with Gepard in the workshop, Pela 'coincidentally' informed Stelle and March 7th of a portion of the matters.

In the process of getting along over the past two days, Pela had grasped the personality traits of these two people—to put it nicely, they were simple; to put it bluntly, they were carefree.

Of course, it was not any derogatory term, but rather that people like them seemed unable to hide any emotions, and their intentions and thoughts showed far too much on the surface.

Precisely because of this,

the moment Gepard brought this matter up, Pela proactively approached these two individuals, and after a friendly discussion between both sides, they hit it off almost immediately.

The mansion is about to collapse, internal rebellion erupts everywhere, and then we return triumphantly with the Supreme Guardian... Listen, how delightful!

Miss March 7th was probably experiencing such a tense and thrilling script for the first time, appearing exceptionally excited. On the contrary, Miss Stellaron Essence appeared somewhat quiet.

Generally speaking, Miss Stelle did not belong to the type of absolute optimist like her companion.

Presumably with the genes of the Stellaron Hunters lingering in her bones, she could not be called entirely optimistic about the current situation, and... let's not forget, now that the Upper City was beginning to descend into chaos, there was still an 'ambitionist' in the Lower City whose mind was entirely set on marching troops to the capital and seizing political power.

If Shirou led the people of the Lower City to rebel amidst the chaos right now, she dared not imagine what level of chaos the situation would escalate to.

Stelle? What's wrong with you?

Noticing Miss Stelle's somewhat hesitant expression, March 7th asked a question. Hearing this, the latter smiled slightly and did not say much more. At this time, she did not want to add several more layers of pressure to Pela.

As for what came later, she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

Things are getting a bit too out of hand, sis.

In a secluded tavern in the Upper City of Belobog, Svarog gazed at the young girl doing as she pleased on her own film set, speaking with a slight headache.

If you keep acting up like this, this Belobog really is going to be finished.

Why take things so seriously, Sampo? You understand me. I don't feel joy from destroying any physical objects.

The young girl stirred the non-alcoholic beverage in her glass with a giggle, speaking softly.

I merely flushed everything lurking beneath the water ashore in one single breath.

Whether it's the Nameless, the Minister of the Interior, the City Builder's Inferior Stones, or some uninteresting ambitionists... They harbor various ulterior motives in this tiny city, plotting against one another while weighing gains and losses, unwilling to let go, yet not wanting to let anyone else live in peace.

I offered those jackals a little bit of help, and they couldn't wait to present that pair of sisters to me as a gift. It's just that that little puppy's wild nature was quite fierce, luring that Supreme Guardian out the exact moment little grey hair left Belobog.

No one cares more about that little grey hair than that twisted mother, so that twisted mother took the bait... Just like dominoes, I only gently pushed over a single block. The subsequent chain reaction is merely an explosion that has been brewing for a long time.

That jackal wanted to trick the Supreme Guardian out to completely complete a coup d'etat during this time. The blockade of the Lower City caused those nobles to lose far too much labor force, so... the nobles need a new leader to drag the Lower City's labor force back, and then dispatch more labor force from the Upper City to the mining areas below to contend for more resources for them.

Listening to Sparkle recount event after event, Svarog could not help letting out a sigh.

You blew things up far too thoroughly, sis.

Heeheehee... Lady Sparkle doesn't like watching uninteresting reasoning dramas. On the contrary, works that wear the skin of a reasoning story yet keep bombing away—Lady Sparkle actually gets very excited about those.

Forget it. Next, old Sampo needs to clean up the mess. Sis, don't give old Sampo any new trouble from now on, alright?

This grand play has not yet reached the climax of the performance. However, if you plan to participate, Lady Sparkle won't refuse either, Sampo.

The sweet yet warped laughter of a certain deranged girl lingered in his ears. Svarog fell slightly silent for another moment, then chuckled as well.

Then let everyone in the tavern come together to appreciate a performance by yours truly.

As for the spot of the protagonist, old Sampo has no intention of handing it over to you, sis.

Belobog is old Sampo's film set!

The Technical Development Department of Belobog was situated within an enclosed building located on the west side of Kliperburg.

Aside from its primary function of technical development, many military technology updates, repairs, maintenance, and disposal were carried out here. Although nominally a technical department, in reality, just like the Silvermane Guards, it could be considered a multi-functional behemoth.

Dr. Arlan, if possible, I do not wish to cross swords with you.

Before the iron gates of the Technical Department, through the interception net already charged with high-voltage current, a woman with brown hair looked at the purple-haired, mature beauty with an extremely cold expression inside the net, speaking slowly.

I have always respected your scholarship. If you had been chosen by Lady Rosaliya back then, Belobog would not have degenerated to this state today.