To avoid alerting the enemy, Noah used his Time authority to slightly rewind time. Cartur, who had turned into a torn piece of paper, was restored to his original human form.
Noah retreated to the doorway, put on a nonchalant expression again, and only then deactivated the Time authority that covered the entire urban area of Septimont.
He knocked on the door and was about to speak.
"Phaethon!"
A surprised cry rang out from inside the room first!
Lupa, who had been on the sofa, sprang up and leaped in front of Noah. Her fluffy tail wagged nonstop behind her, and her eyes sparkled with excitement.
"It really is you!"
[Limited Banner "Victory Cheers for Me" and "Flame Scar" has been activated.]
Lupa was a dedicated Fire team support, but since he didn't have any Fire team characters — he wouldn't pull now, but the future looked promising.
Fire teams really had their issues. Very few characters associated with Fire teams were strong. Even the Aero-attribute Qiuyuan had been nerfed badly because he was a dedicated support for Galbrena.
Inside the room, Cartur saw Noah, secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva, turned his head to organize documents, and pretended to be very busy, trying to stay as low-key as possible.
Little did he know, Noah had already seen through his true identity and had no intention of paying him any attention.
"Lupa, you know me?" Noah was somewhat surprised.
"Of course! I watch every single one of your videos. I've learned so many techniques from them that aren't in Septimont. You're basically my cyber teacher — wait, you know me too?!"
Lupa was first shocked, then her tail wagged even faster.
Noah was worried about not having a reason to lure Lupa away from Cartur's sight. He didn't expect her to actually recognize him.
That made things much easier.
"Of course I know you — Septimont's star gladiator, spokesperson for the famous beverage Heart's Delight, future gladiatorial tournament champion, Lupa."
As the string of titles was spoken, Lupa's mechanical wolf ears unconsciously perked up. She heard Noah continue:
"I'm traveling in Septimont. My new video episode needs a guest with outstanding martial skills. Do you have time?"
"Yes, yes!" Lupa patted her chest confidently, then urged impatiently:
"Let's set off right now. You haven't updated in two days already."
Hearing this, Noah didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This was truly the first time he had been urged for updates in person.
"Alright, let's go!"
...
"Augusta!"
The door to the Ephor's mansion was pushed open. Iuno flicked her long twin-tails and walked straight into the room:
"Where is Noah?"
"Ah."
Augusta somewhat helplessly rested her hand on the table, gently supporting her tilted head as she looked at her longtime close friend:
"Iuno, Noah is ultimately an honored guest of Septimont and should be treated with courtesy. Moreover, he is a hero who prevented a global Lament. Logically speaking, we actually owe him a life."
"As for the favor of saving a life, as long as he is within Septimont, I will definitely repay him once later, although that's a matter for the future."
Feeling somewhat guilty, Iuno's voice grew softer. She sat down on a nearby chair, gently crossing one of her long, slender, fair legs over the other:
"As for now, you can rest assured. I'm not looking for trouble with him. I just want to ask him to prophesy once more. I'm curious whether he can change fate again."
Hearing this, Augusta felt slightly relieved.
Although her close friend had a rather straightforward personality, she always kept her word and disdained lying to others.
"I have never believed in the fate spoken of by Tetragon Temple."
Shaking her head, Augusta thought for a moment:
"Just now, Noah asked me for the location of the gladiator Lupa. He should be near Avidius's team right now. With luck, you should be able to run into him."
"Why did he get involved with that fake guy Avidius? Never mind, I'm leaving first."
Iuno muttered, stood up, and was about to leave.
"Wait, Iuno."
Behind her, Augusta called out to stop her:
"You have shown fate to so many people. Have you seen your own fate?"
"My fate is up to me."
As if.
Turning around, Iuno's expression became somewhat somber.
Her fate… was nothing but disappearance.
"Whatever. Everyone dies eventually. Using a death that shouldn't happen to exchange for a victory outside of prophecy — that's a good deal!"
Thinking this way, the girl's mood brightened again.
...
On the other side, Noah and Lupa ran into trouble as soon as they stepped out.
"Lupa, I finally caught you coming out."
Several female gladiators surrounded them. The leader heavily slammed her shield onto the ground, producing a harsh scraping sound:
"I want to duel you!"
As soon as the words fell, Noah took a step forward and shielded Lupa behind him, asking politely:
"May I ask, what conflict do you have with Lupa?"
"Yes."
The leading gladiator nodded, her words resounding powerfully:
"She is not worthy of being Lord Hero King's partner."
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Noah's eyes widened.
Sisters, if the future gladiatorial champion isn't worthy of being Avidius's partner, then are you?
"It's fine, Teacher Phaethon."
Lupa walked out from behind Noah and instead comforted him:
"Ever since I teamed up with Avidius, I encounter this kind of challenge who knows how many times every day. Wait for me a moment. I'll finish it quickly."
With that, Lupa looked toward the group of female gladiators, her gaze sharpening:
"This isn't a place for fighting. Come on, follow me inside."
A group of people went in.
One person came out.
"Done! Although I don't really like my current partner, if one day I have to change partners, it will definitely be because of my own heart, not because others forced me."
Lupa smiled brightly, revealing two cute little tiger teeth. Her tail behind her wagged rapidly:
"Although encountering these people is quite annoying, I'll just treat it as extra training. I really like gladiatorial combat."
Good good good, happy little dog energy.
Noah gave Lupa a deep look, released his perception to confirm no one was around… except Iuno hiding in the corner. Whatever, he'd ignore her for now.
"Lupa, can you keep a secret?"
He planned to directly spoil the relevant main storyline for Lupa, emphasizing sincerity.
"I can't, I can't."
Lupa shook her head like a rattle drum:
"I can't hold onto any secrets at all. When I meet someone familiar, I can't help but tell them everything. Oh right, this is also my secret. Don't tell anyone, okay?"
Noah: ...
No wonder in the original plot, after knowing Rover for only three days, she spilled all her background and even poured out a bunch of troubles to her, treating her like a therapist.
She really was a happy little dog who couldn't keep secrets.
"Never mind. Let's go outside the city and find a Kerasaur to film."
With a slight sigh in his heart, Noah temporarily gave up on the idea of revealing the main storyline to Lupa.
Otherwise, the happy little dog would go crazy with joy just hearing the first sentence "You will become champion."
Since Cristoforo planned to let Avidius obtain the championship, Noah decided to play along, make preparations in advance, and set up a trap.
Suppressing the thoughts in his mind for now, Noah began explaining today's short video filming method to Lupa:
"Today is still from an ordinary person's perspective encountering a Kerasaur Remnant. I use every means to barely escape from the Kerasaur with my life on the line. When I'm about to die, you come out to heroically save the beauty."
"Yay! Heroically saving the beauty!"
"There might also be a need for your participation later."
Filming a series — this reason would allow him to keep inviting Lupa out to gather information about Avidius.
"Of course. I won't treat you badly. Two thousand Shell Credits per video episode."
"No need, no need. Teacher Phaethon, I have money. Teach me combat instead! I can tell your martial skills are higher than anyone I've ever seen."
Oh? She's a smart one.
Noah looked at Lupa with some surprise, then smiled slightly and nodded:
"Alright. I don't have any teaching experience. How much you can learn depends on you."
Switching his role from Jinhsi to Shorekeeper, he opened the panel and used the Data Bank to detect nearby Remnant locations, then got to work.
On the other side, behind the corner of the wall, Iuno stood with her arms crossed over her chest, deep in thought.
In the prophecy she had just seen, she witnessed a rather elegant room where Noah was having tea and conversing with a long-haired man wearing ink-wash style martial attire.
"That man seemed to be blind… but that's not important. The important thing is, is there such a room in Septimont?"
Unable to figure it out no matter how she thought, Iuno decided to take another look.
She crouched low, slowly poking her head out from behind the wall corner, her gaze gradually shifting outward until she could finally see Noah and Lupa's position.
"Eh——"
Iuno froze:
"Where are they? They were just here."