"Mr. Argenti? Has a Knight of Beauty also come to Penacony?" Yanqing asked in surprise as he looked at the approaching knight.
"Yes. The Knights also received an invitation from the Family, so my brothers and sisters and I all came to the Planet of Festivities. The one beside me is also a knight. His name is Tiriandes."
Argenti nodded and introduced Tiriandes, who was beside him, to everyone present.
At this moment, he and Tiriandes were testing the strange aspects of Penacony's current dreamscape.
The two of them had returned to the Golden Hour from Dreamflux Reef, then left the dreamscape to take a look around before returning to the Golden Hour and heading to the Clock Studios Theme Park.
Finally, they took the What Is Real? through the route that Blackie had opened when welcoming Nero earlier and returned directly to the present-day reality's Reverie Hotel.
As for whether this place was the Reverie Hotel in reality, Argenti had already confirmed it with Yanqing. At least, in the perception of Yanqing and the others, there was no doubt that this place was the Reverie Hotel in reality. This proved part of what Tiriandes had previously deduced.
Topaz glanced over from not far away, but did not say anything.
She had learned about the Knights of Beauty earlier than Yanqing and the others, and not long ago, she had already met a knight named Noe.
In fact, Topaz was a little puzzled at this moment.
Unlike Noe, who had left with the members of the train crew, Argenti and Tiriandes gave people the feeling that they were rather confused, like people who had drunk too much SoulGlad in the dreamscape and could no longer quite tell the difference between reality and dreams.
Although Topaz had not had much contact with the Knights of Beauty, in her impression, Argenti should not be this kind of person.
At least, according to Nero and Martin's descriptions, aside from liking to praise people, this knight was relatively normal in every other respect.
But the one in front of her now... had actually asked whether this was the Reverie Hotel in reality.
Argenti and Tiriandes seemed not to notice Topaz's somewhat suspicious gaze, or perhaps they had noticed but simply did not care. The two of them found a place to sit, and Tiriandes asked:
"Then, I wonder if you could tell me why all of you are no longer playing in the dreamscape, but have gathered here instead?"
Hearing Tiriandes's question, the others straightened their expressions. Out of respect for Argenti and the identity of a Knight of Beauty, Yanqing did not hide anything, "We suspect that something has gone wrong with Penacony's sweet dream. We no longer have any mood to play."
"Nero disappeared, and not long ago, some kind of crisis even broke out at the Clock Studios Theme Park. One problem after another has made us feel that Penacony may be facing some kind of crisis."
"Also, although Nero has already been found, when we first received the news of his disappearance, we contacted the Xianzhou."
"Most of the people on the Luofu already know about this, and the Luofu had already set sail long ago. Even after receiving the news that Nero had been found, the Luofu still arrived in the starfield near Penacony. During this process, the Xianzhou Alliance and the IPC's fleets even temporarily joined forces."
"We just received a message from the General. They are preparing to board. On one hand, it is for safety, and on the other, it is to welcome the General, so we are waiting in the lobby."
Yanqing spoke with a complicated expression, as though even he, a Luofu native, felt that something about the entire process and these events was strangely absurd when describing them.
Then, the genius young swordsman raised his head again and looked at Argenti.
"Speaking of which, Mr. Argenti, according to the message Teacher Stelle passed on, you were also trying your best to find Nero... Do you know where Nero is now?"
"I think..." Argenti was silent for a while. "Nero may be at the Penacony Grand Theater."
During that period of silence, Argenti had actually been thinking and analyzing the current situation.
There had been no news of the Xianzhou fleet arriving in the previous dream. None of the brothers and sisters scattered throughout almost every corner of the Planet of Festivities had sent back any similar news, and Tiriandes's monitoring equipment set up in outer space had not captured any relevant information either.
According to Tiriandes, the monitoring vehicle he had set up outside had only seen the Astral Express parked on the Silver Rail.
The Reverie Hotel in reality... This place... this place where it was unclear whether it was reality or a dream, had a story that developed in much the same way as the dream Argenti had previously been in, but there were also astonishing differences.
Previously, before taking the What Is Real? back to reality, during that return through the Dream Pool, Argenti and Tiriandes had not found Yanqing and the others waiting in the real hotel's lobby either.
All these abnormalities made the two knights even more certain of their previous speculation.
And now, Argenti guessed that during the conversation with Sunday, the developments on this side had been different from what he had experienced.
Otherwise, there was no reason for the Argenti and Tiriandes on this side not to return to the hotel in reality because of their suspicions, and then exchange information with Yanqing and the others.
And furthermore...
There was now another piece of evidence that could almost certainly confirm the two's suspicions...
Under Argenti's complicated gaze and the light flashing from Tiriandes's constantly shifting eyes, a woman carrying two long swords, with a gentle appearance and soft air about her, but whose behavior seemed rather lacking in brains, walked over happily while holding a plate.
Noe smiled broadly as she placed the plate full of sweets on the table. Then she naturally sat down beside Topaz and, with a speed that caught the eye, stole a piece of cake. Chewing as she spoke, she said:
"The desserts on the Planet of Festivities are really good... I spend most of my time traveling around the universe, so I rarely get a chance to eat such soft cakes..."
"That Argenti guy doesn't know how to enjoy himself at all. In the storage room of the What Is Real?, there are nothing but baguettes as hard as rocks, and then more baguettes as hard as rocks..."
As she spoke, this woman once again scooped up another pastry and stuffed it into her mouth.
But this time, before she had even chewed twice, Noe froze in place, at a loss as she looked at the other two knights who had no idea why they were sitting in front of her.
"Mm... ahhh~ Argenti, Tiriandes, why are you here?"
After being flustered for only an instant, Noe proudly puffed out her chest again.
"Look, I did a good job, right? Following Nero's orders, I did a great job protecting Yanqing and the others from getting hurt!"
Argenti and Tiriandes were at a loss for words.
No matter what, the Noe in front of them was definitely not the same Noe who had previously been sent to protect Mr. Welt. And this so-called Reverie Hotel in reality was not the same place as the Penacony they had been in before.
Neither of them believed that Noe could have misunderstood Nero's request.
Afterward, everyone had another fairly ordinary conversation, while Argenti subtly looked toward Tiriandes during the process and asked in a low voice, "What do you think about the current situation?"
"Perhaps parallel dreamscapes really do exist," Tiriandes said.
"The ability to 'copy' dreams would make every dreamscape extremely similar, while the ability to manipulate dreams would cause an individual's will and pursuits to become a kind of reality within the dreamscape."
"I still stand by my previous deduction. If it were Fuli, it might be possible, but I don't believe that the authority of Taiyi alone could manipulate a dreamscape to this extent."
"So you still suspect the Mirror-Holding Man?"
"To be precise, I suspect that the mastermind behind this may be the Family, who obtained something from the Mirror-Holding Man, such as a fragment containing an authority capable of copying things like a mirror."
Tiriandes continued, "As I said before, when two different authorities that do not belong to the user are used to construct such a huge system, some kind of loophole is bound to form. And now, that loophole is right in front of us."
"Moreover, this jump on the level of the dreamscape has given me a new idea. Because of the conflict between the authorities, there is some kind of path connecting the different layers of the dreamscape."
"The god may have accidentally entered that path. And think about it. Maybe, because of our ideas, the god who got lost over there has already 'reappeared.' I will confirm this part later."