Honest with Each Other

When Belle saw Griseo's aura change, her heart skipped a beat. She knew that state all too well.

Back when she argued with her brother Wise, their cold wars could last for days. Usually, only after both of them had cooled off would Wise find a way to make up.

But after Griseo arrived, everything changed.

In Griseo's words, she did not like that color.

So she would insist that the two people finish arguing face-to-face and make up face-to-face. If they refused, Griseo would not mind using force to bring about reconciliation.

Belle hurriedly stepped forward and stopped everyone from Belobog Heavy Industries, especially Ben and Anton, who had instinctively pulled out their weapons.

"Koleda, Grace, don't argue! Talk it out properly!"

"Um, Anton, Ben, calm down!! Griseo doesn't mean any harm. She's mediating your argument!!!"

"This is one of Griseo's special abilities. She sees the world through colors. Everyone's emotions and feelings are different colors in her eyes."

"She doesn't like the color you have when you argue..."

After Belle finished speaking, Anton and Ben, who had been watching from the sidelines, put away their weapons. Then Griseo walked between Koleda and Grace and asked, "Sister Koleda, Sister Grace, you're family, aren't you?"

"You obviously both care deeply about each other, so why can't you be more honest?"

"Especially you, Sister Koleda. Why did you lie? Why did you say you didn't like 'Uncle Hors'?"

After Griseo's words fell, Belle promptly added, "Um, Koleda. Likewise, you can't fool Griseo with lies."

"Lied?" Grace froze, then seemed to realize something and turned to look at Koleda.

"Koleda, what exactly have you been hiding from us?"

At Grace's question, Koleda's body stiffened. Then her forceful attitude suddenly collapsed.

"Hey, seriously? That ability is way too overpowered, isn't it?!"

Koleda first looked at Griseo and complained before explaining, "The night Dad disappeared, I saw him vanish into the darkness with a huge amount of money."

"What???"

This time, even Anton and Ben stared at Koleda in disbelief.

"Yes."

Koleda looked at her companions.

"I was there that night. The money Dad took... was the money the company had lost."

For the first time, Koleda revealed the "truth" she knew.

Grace finally understood why Koleda, his biological daughter, had always resisted the name "Hors."

It was not that she disliked her biological father. Rather, under the pressure of reality... she had no choice but to bury it.

Once she revealed what she had seen, Uncle Hors's charges would be completely "confirmed."

And Koleda had chosen to hide it. She had only been a few years old then; she must have borne incomparable guilt in her heart...

Griseo's voice suddenly rang out. "Then does Sister Koleda truly think Uncle Hors is a bad person?"

Koleda was silent for a long time before shaking her head. "Of course not."

Before Griseo, lies were meaningless, so Koleda opened her heart for the first time.

"My dad has always been a hero in my heart. But what I saw that day... made it impossible for me not to believe the Public Security Department's investigation results.

"So all these years, I've been trying to find evidence that could overturn them. But every fact points to my father..."

At that, the light in Koleda's eyes visibly dimmed.

"Koleda." Belle suddenly spoke. "'Hearing is false, seeing is truth' is wrong. Everything you see and hear should be viewed under specific historical circumstances. Specific problems require specific analysis.

"You saw your father run away with the money... maybe it was just an illusion."

Belle said this not simply to comfort Koleda, but because it reminded her of her teacher.

All along, New Eridu's official statement had been that "her teacher was the culprit behind the fall of the Old Capital."

But she did not believe it. She had never believed it, and neither had her brother Wise.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't ignore me!"

As the atmosphere grew heavier, Friday in the pit finally voiced a protest.

"My mentor said I must head to the Calamity's seal as soon as possible!"

Seeing Friday so anxious, everyone from Belobog Heavy Industries felt even more bewildered.

The original commission had merely been to retrieve three lost machines, yet now it had somehow involved the first president and an unknown "Calamity"?

"Koleda, should we keep going? Maybe we can find traces of your father from back then." Belle looked at Koleda and asked.

"No, Proxy. Whether it's the disaster Friday mentioned or heading deeper into the Hollows... it's too dangerous."

Koleda rejected Belle's proposal.

As the current president of Belobog Heavy Industries, she had to take responsibility for everyone.

If something happened to Griseo, Ben, Anton, Grace... any one of them because of her personal affairs, she would feel guilty for the rest of her life.

However—Belle was not about to indulge her.

"Griseo, are you confident in your current condition?"

"No problem, Sister Belle."

After receiving Griseo's answer, Belle looked at the pile driver in the pit and asked, "Hey, Friday, lead the way! We'll go with you and seal this so-called Calamity!"

"Oh? Have you decided to follow me to the [Abyssal Shadow Realm]?"

"O Princess of royal blood and noble soul, allow me to join you in unleashing the holy arrows of judgment that condemn all sin!"

As he spoke, Friday excitedly leaped out of the ground. His front legs bent slightly as he gave Griseo a knightly salute.

"Hey—Proxy, what are you doing? I never said I was going!"

Koleda finally came back to her senses. She had clearly said they should stop!

"Why not?"

Because of her teacher, Belle was unusually stubborn at that moment. "Don't you want to uncover the truth about your father?"

Koleda gritted her teeth. "It's too dangerous. What if we run into Ethereals?"

"Then we'll go around them. I'm New Eridu's strongest Proxy—Phaethon."

"That still won't do! If we get delayed too long, Ether Corruption is no joke!"

"That's all? We have Griseo!"

Belle controlled Eous and waved a tiny hand with great vigor. "Griseo, show them!"

Griseo nodded and lightly flicked the brush in her hand.

Four clusters of Ether energy appeared around her, spinning and condensing before transforming into four streaks of light that flew toward Koleda, Grace, Anton, and Ben.

The streams of light landed on them and became a transparent, faint film, as though they had put on invisible clothes.

Anton looked down at his arm and touched it. He could not feel anything, but he could sense a faint layer wrapped around his skin.

"What is this?"

"One of Griseo's abilities," Belle explained. "You can think of it as—she painted you each a piece of clothing that can block Ether Corruption. Of course, it won't last very long, but it'll be enough."

Ben raised his heavy bear paw. As a foreman who spent all year in the Hollows, he knew Ether Corruption better than anyone. Yet at that moment, the Ether energy around them seemed to be repelled by something.

"...Amazing."

Grace checked the data on her tablet. "The Ether Corruption rate is close to zero... How, how is that possible? No, the Ether energy concentration in this 'clothing' is so high????"

That was right. The principle behind the protection was that the movement of Ether Particles followed the second law of thermodynamics.

Griseo used highly concentrated Ether energy to paint this "clothing." Once they wore it, the direction of the Ether particles' flow changed.

Everyone from Belobog Heavy Industries instead became sources of high-concentration Ether. Once the Ether Particles reached a certain level, the protective effect would disappear.

Of course, that was only possible if you could control the high-concentration Ether energy cluster you created and keep it "harmless."

Now that the most dangerous problem had been solved, Koleda did not hesitate any longer. She slung her hammer back over her shoulder and said solemnly:

"Proxy, this is my latest commission. As your friend, please help me find out what the hell my bastard dad was doing."

"Understood!"

I really want to complain about this damn weather. First there was a whole month of rain, then it turned hot and humid, and I caught a cold the moment I let my guard down.

The sun finally came out these past two days, and I thought it had cleared up, but then it started raining again.

Damn, damn, damn.