As he listened to Jiang Yu and the others explain, Gepard frowned slightly and narrowed his eyes.
His gaze kept shifting, sweeping over an irritated March 7th, Stelle as she tried to explain, and a silent Dan Heng, before finally settling on the unruffled Jiang Yu and Sampo, whose thoughts were anyone's guess.
Gepard remained stern and uncompromising. "What trick is it this time? Sacrificing one person to save the whole gang?"
Seeing Gepard's reaction, Jiang Yu asked, "So why can't we just be upstanding citizens doing a good deed?"
March 7th nodded beside him.
"Exactly! You should've seen how quick he was when he tried to ditch us and run! If you didn't see it, ask the people beside you. There's no way they missed it!"
Gepard looked at Jiang Yu, but he could find no subtle sign on the boy's face that might suggest he was lying. The kid was so calm that he might well have been telling the truth.
Then he saw March 7th's indignant expression and turned to the soldiers beside him to ask what had happened.
Several soldiers nodded, making no attempt to deny that Sampo had abandoned the others and fled without a moment's hesitation.
Teacher Dan Heng watched from the sidelines, treating this as an opportunity for the youngsters to learn, while Sampo, standing beside Jiang Yu, felt rather put out.
He was starting to suspect that Jiang Yu had planned all along to turn him in for a reward.
Of course, March 7th noticed Gepard's reaction and those of the soldiers beside him, so she spoke with even greater indignation.
"We thought he really wanted to talk business with us, but he ran off without the slightest guilt! You ought to get to the bottom of this!"
By then, Gepard had turned his attention back to the Trailblaze Squad.
After the soldiers beside him confirmed March 7th's account, everyone thought he would relent. Instead, Gepard remained stern.
"I am a guard captain, not a tribunal. As citizens of Belobog, you have the right to defend yourselves, but that should take place under the scrutiny of the Architects, not here and now."
Then Gepard instructed the soldiers beside him, "Take them back."
"But we're not citizens of Belobog!" March 7th cried.
"Hm?" Gepard looked at them in confusion.
After a moment's thought, Stelle patted March 7th's shoulder. "March! Show him the photo!"
"Photo?" The confusion in Gepard's eyes deepened.
Hearing Stelle's suggestion, March 7th brightened.
"Oh, you're so clever! That's a great idea!"
Then March 7th walked toward Gepard, speaking as she went.
"You've never seen what your own planet looks like, have you? Let me show you the picture I took of Jarilo-VI."
Once she stood before Gepard, March 7th found the photo she had taken in the train's observation car on her phone. Against the deep, dark, star-studded cosmos, the ice-covered planet floated silently, as though the frost had frozen every piece of information it could send beyond itself.
Gepard and the Silvermane Guards looked at the photo on March 7th's phone, gazing at the frozen planet as shock and disbelief began to spread through their hearts.
For them, this might have been their first encounter with, or deeper understanding of, the concepts of planets and the universe, and their first time seeing the place they lived in such a direct way.
One soldier cried out in disbelief, utterly stunned by the photo.
"You're saying this white ball is... here? The place we live? That's just..."
The soldier simply could not believe that the solid ground beneath his feet, this vast snowfield from which countless snowy peaks rose, was actually a ball!
Gepard remained silent, lost in thought.
The Landau family was one of Belobog's noble houses, as well as a military family that had defended Belobog for generations.
Naturally, he had encountered certain pieces of knowledge that circulated among the upper classes, or were known only to those who held power.
Among them were stories from countless years ago, before the war. Most tales of the past had fallen into an abyss of ignorance along with the break in civilization caused by prolonged warfare, but a few scattered fragments had still been collected and passed down to the present.
Those fragments were also an important basis for present-day Belobog to speculate about, look back on, and understand the history of the land beneath their feet.
At that moment, Gepard's memories of those accounts gradually grew clearer.
"They say that long ago, visitors from beyond the sky often came here... But after the Eternal Freeze began, no one ever crossed the veil of snow to reach Belobog again..."
"But these people-"
The soldier looked at the Trailblaze Squad, then at Sampo, as though he still wanted to say something.
After all, while they had indeed seen Sampo prepare to sell the others out and flee without hesitation, they had also seen him talking amicably with these strangers before that...
But Gepard remained calm.
If the people before him truly were visitors from beyond the sky, he could not treat them the way he would ordinary citizens of Belobog.
If a misunderstanding arose and was allowed to escalate, it might lead to something harmful to Belobog.
He addressed the soldiers beside him.
"This is no longer something we can decide. If what they say is true, only the Supreme Guardian can determine what to do.
"Our duty is to bring them before the Supreme Guardian."
Then Gepard raised his head and addressed the Trailblaze Squad.
"Outsiders, follow me. Belobog lies beyond this veil of snow."
After some consideration, Gepard decided to take Jiang Yu and the others to Belobog to meet the Supreme Guardian.
Of course, the Trailblaze Squad would not refuse. After all, their first objective upon reaching this planet had been to find a place where humans lived and thrived.
Sampo, on the other hand, very much wanted to refuse, but Jiang Yu gave him no chance.
Under Gepard's guidance, they passed through the veil of snow and reached the edge of a cliff. A snowy path stretched away along its side, and from here, all of Belobog lay before their eyes.
Looking down at the enormous city of dark steel, Gepard spoke softly.
"Welcome to the City of Preservation-Belobog."
The others looked down as well, taking in the snowy mountains and the steel city sheltered within their embrace.
Towering black walls enclosed the entire city, shutting out the snow and icy winds beyond. Countless elevated walkways and pipes had been built above it. The walkways extended outward, while the pipes spread across the city's sky in every direction, clinging to it like a spiderweb and connecting every household in Belobog.
The whole city resembled an enormous black gear, with a tower rising at its center. It was the heart of the city and its grandest building, the most splendid of them all, like the city's beating heart!
Looking at the sight before him, Jiang Yu felt a wave of fantasy flavor wash over him-a blend of magic, the Middle Ages, and the Industrial Revolution.
Before you continue