"Is that so? Himeko isn't with you... Then let's go look for her again." Nero raised a hand and patted the Shell of Faded Fury beneath him. "Hop on."
March naturally didn't refuse Nero's invitation and quickly climbed onto the back of the purple tyrannosaur.
"Where do you think we should start looking for Sister Himeko?" Nero asked.
March thought about it for a moment before saying, "Someone as dependable as Himeko probably wouldn't end up getting chased all over the place like I did. Maybe we should head somewhere closer to the lobby."
Nero nodded. He thought so too, and acknowledged March's clear understanding of herself.
Finally, the child patted the head of the Shell of Faded Fury beneath him.
"Let's go up."
The Shell of Faded Fury naturally didn't resist. It lowered its body slightly, its powerful legs supporting its weight, then leaped into the air.
Just like when it had charged toward the lobby before, accompanied by the sound of shattering, the Shell of Faded Fury smashed through the ceiling of this floor and the floor above, jumping straight to a higher level.
But...
What awaited Stelle and March was a completely different scene.
Instead of the hotel corridor they had expected, there was only pitch-black darkness, a thin layer of mist, countless twitching, twisted streaks of light and shadow, and chaotic, distorted noises.
March felt as though something had burrowed into her head, causing an extremely sharp pain. At the same time, she could no longer hear any sounds from the outside world. The only thing left was a constant ringing echoing in her ears.
The very next instant, March lost control of her body and all perception of the outside world. It was as though something had suddenly severed her consciousness, bringing all thought to an abrupt halt.
———
Inside the Reverie Hotel in the dream, in the accommodations lobby, Aventurine looked at Stelle with what appeared to be an exceptionally sincere gaze.
He had just laid out all the suspicious points and deductions concerning Acheron to the gray-haired girl before him.
"...Do I need to keep going, my friend?"
"So that person was Acheron..." Stelle muttered with a frown. Following the clues Aventurine had given her, her suspicions naturally settled on the quiet "Galaxy Ranger."
Aventurine nodded.
"The Galaxy Rangers come and go without a trace, and they rarely interact with one another. That identity is simply too easy to wear. As long as she refuses to admit it, there's no proof. The IPC has ways to investigate, but it still takes time."
"So, my friend, you have two choices before you. The first is to pull out immediately. All of you leave this place, leave this beautiful dream, and leave Penacony."
"I'm afraid that's not possible," Stelle replied as soon as Aventurine finished speaking. "We're already involved. Besides, we also have some missions here in Penacony. We'll need to discuss the details with everyone first."
"Then why not take a look at the second option? It's difficult to find shelter in the middle of a storm. Come with me. I want to show you something."
"After that, I hope you'll take Nero somewhere far away and stop getting tangled up with anyone else. Oh, and don't forget to tell everyone aboard the Astral Express about my proposal as well."
Stelle didn't hesitate, but neither did she agree immediately. She simply followed Aventurine, leaving the area, climbing the stairs, walking through the corridor, and heading toward one of the hotel's rooms.
The little raccoon wasn't especially wary of Aventurine. After all, they shared the same goal, and they had already met before. More importantly, Nero had told Stelle that Aventurine's way of speaking was very easy to misunderstand.
But if Stelle were to tell the rest of the Astral Express crew about these private conversations with Aventurine and the information he had revealed, then at the very least the two parental figures of the group would have to seriously consider what role this IPC envoy was actually playing in this chaos.
Aventurine naturally didn't want Nero dragged into this mess. Protecting him was one reason. Another was that Nero's power could upset the balance of the table, which would inevitably lead to even more uncontrollable changes.
However, with the Family blocking the IPC at every turn, smoothly completing his mission was clearly impossible. He had to find the most suitable solution from among many different factors.
Acheron's appearance, along with the astonishing truth he had just witnessed, gave him a new plan.
He wanted Nero to enter the sight of every player at the table, while at the same time preventing his uniqueness from being exposed too much. Only then could he create an environment where Nero would be least likely to be disturbed.
As for the method, finding a bodyguard and creating a more eye-catching target to draw everyone's attention was clearly a good idea.
That bodyguard candidate was naturally Acheron.
But first, he needed to distance himself from the matter as much as possible.
Aventurine's idea was a good one. As one of the IPC's executives, he could use the company's vast sphere of influence and complicated intelligence network to learn a great deal of information.
But there were still things beyond his grasp.
For example... this plan had little chance of succeeding from the very beginning, because most of the forces involved in the chaos surrounding Penacony already knew about Nero's uniqueness.
There was no need to mention the Astral Express. Aventurine himself already knew some things. As for the Garden of Recollection, he had just encountered them earlier.
Those were the ones Aventurine knew about.
What Aventurine didn't know was that the Knights of Beauty had already followed them here, Acheron had also noticed something unusual, Robin was aware of Nero's uniqueness as well, though she apparently hadn't informed the Family, and as for the Fools, there was even less to say. They were perhaps the first faction to realize Nero was special.
But because of that, although things hadn't developed exactly as Aventurine had expected, they had coincidentally moved in the direction he had hoped for.
None of those organizations were hostile toward Nero. The ones that held friendly intentions would arrive at the same conclusion as Aventurine. The Knights of Beauty would probably strike wherever they were pointed.
Neutral factions, meanwhile, didn't want an unstable time bomb sitting at the gaming table... The only group worth paying a little extra attention to was the Fools.
But for the Fools, blowing up Penacony outright might be amusing.
Then again, perhaps it wouldn't be all that interesting after all.
After all, that would only be a one-time joke.
Moreover, compared to the other factions, the Fools had one more thing to consider. Even when dealing with a "Fool," a Fool had to tread carefully. Who knew if, in the blink of an eye, they themselves would become the punchline?
Unfortunately, as vast and useful as Aventurine's intelligence network was, it still couldn't uncover these even more deeply hidden pieces of information.
Otherwise, he would have had far fewer things to worry about.
At this moment, Stelle had already followed Aventurine to the door of the room.
He pushed it open, and the two of them walked inside.
In the very next instant, Stelle's eyes flew wide open.
She stared at the scene before her, stared at the girl lying inside the dream pool. Shock nearly filled those amber eyes.