"It's been quite a few days since I came back!"
Flandre continued to rock Emperor back and forth like he was a giant, feathered roly-poly toy.
Emperor could only sway helplessly along with Flandre's rhythm, his flippers flailing in the air.
"This is the first time I've ever seen the Boss make an expression like that!" Exusiai remarked, leaning against the counter and watching with wide, entertained eyes.
"Why don't you go over and help him out, then?" Texas, the resident pocky enthusiast, replied casually without looking up from her notepad.
"Hiss... actually, I kind of want to play too," the apple pie fanatic admitted, completely discarding the idea of rescuing her employer. Her eyes sparkled as she raised her hands, creeping toward the couch with a sinister chuckle.
"Hey, hey, hey! If you dare step one foot over here, I'm docking your salary!" Emperor attempted to use financial intimidation to ward off Exusiai, using his stubby flippers to cover his face in protest.
"My salary? What would I even need that for!"
Exusiai reasoned that even if her pay was docked to zero, she could easily borrow money from her friends to buy apple pie. Besides, Penguin Logistics already covered her room and board, so a formal paycheck was hardly her highest priority. Compared to a boring stack of Lungmen dollars, getting the rare chance to mess around with her boss was infinitely more enticing.
"What are you doing?! Kwa! Don't come any closer! I'm going to scream—I'm really gonna scream!"
Facing the approaching Sankta, a certain penguin boss who preferred to maintain his dignity tried in vain to shield himself. But in the end, Exusiai closed the distance, and Emperor was reduced to a helpless toy squawking in frantic bursts.
Ten minutes later, looking at the completely exhausted, ruffled penguin sprawled across the cushions, Flandre and Exusiai finally withdrew their mischievous little hands.
Hand in hand, the two trotted over to a nearby booth and slid into a leather seat.
"Come to think of it, I really didn't expect you to come back to Lungmen, Flandre!" Exusiai said, swinging her legs happily as she looked at the little girl.
"Hm? I never said I wasn't coming back!" Flandre tilted her head in confusion.
Exusiai quickly explained the misunderstanding.
It turned out that when the return convoy had arrived in Lungmen a while back, the crew from Penguin Logistics had gone to greet them. At the time, they noticed Flandre was missing from the group. When they later asked Beatrice about it, Sister Hoshiguma had looked thoroughly downcast, lamenting that Flandre hadn't returned with them.
Because word had spread that Flandre's elder sister had personally picked her up, everyone naturally assumed Flandre would go home with her family and never step foot in Lungmen again. Seeing her sitting right here in the bar was a genuine surprise.
Flandre waved her small hand dismissively, clarifying that she had indeed reunited with her sister, Remilia, and had left with her instead of traveling back with the Lungmen convoy.
However, they hadn't gone straight home.
Remilia felt that since they were already out exploring the world, it was better to travel more and gain broader experience—citing the famous saying, Read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles. It also prevented Flandre from being cooped up in the Scarlet Devil Mansion all day with nothing to do but cause chaotic trouble.
Furthermore, Letty—who had traveled with them—required a vast, open territory with low temperatures to comfortably settle down. Thus, the entire group had taken a trip to Kjerag together.
"Kjerag... If your friend needed a place that stays below freezing year-round, offers plenty of physical space, and remains relatively secure from outside conflict, then that region is indeed remarkably suitable. But how on Terra did you think of Kjerag in the first place?"
The voice belonged to Emperor, who had dragged his ruffled body off the couch and squeezed into the booth beside them after overhearing the conversation.
Flandre tilted her head, her red eyes bright. "Naturally, I read about it in the Terra Geographical Encyclopedia!"
There weren't many regions across Terra covered in perpetual snow and ice. Aside from the far northern tundra, the most prominent locale was Kjerag. The environment in the Far North was notoriously hostile, infested with dangerous creatures, and bordered the harsh expanse of Ursus.
Kjerag, on the other hand, was merely separated from the Reunion Movement's active areas by Victoria, making it look vastly more appealing than Ursus no matter how one analyzed it. It had been the first logical choice to pop into her mind.
Hearing Flandre's straightforward reasoning, Emperor nodded in reluctant approval. "You're pretty sharp for a kid. But the native snow-folk of Kjerag aren't exactly welcoming to outsiders—you could say they're intensely xenophobic. How did you manage to convince them to let a bunch of strangers settle on their land?"
"That was easy! We just went straight to find Kjeragandr. Since She gave us Her permission, we just stayed!"
The moment Flandre finished her sentence, Emperor spat his tea across the floorboards.
"Cough, cough, cough! What did you just say?!" He stared at Flandre in absolute disbelief.
"Kjeragandr! Isn't Kjerag Her territory? Since talking to Her directly solved the problem, why would we bother asking anyone else?"
Flandre stated the obvious with complete confidence, while Emperor rolled his eyes so hard he nearly fainted.
Was Kjeragandr someone you could just waltz up to and chat with over afternoon tea?! Even for an ancient entity like himself, securing an audience with Her was immensely difficult, yet Flandre spoke of it as if she were popping next door to visit a neighbor.
"Kjeragandr... I feel like I've read that name in a textbook before," Exusiai murmured, resting her chin on her hand as her memory searched back to her school days in Laterano. A few seconds later, her eyes widened in shock. "Wait! Isn't Kjeragandr the actual deity worshipped by the entire nation of Kjerag?! That thing actually exists?!"
Flandre shot her a strange look. "Laterano has its own religious faith, right? Why can't other people have one too?"
"That's completely different!" Exusiai leaned over the table, pressing her hands onto Flandre's shoulders with immense curiosity. "A god! A real, living god! I've never seen one before in my life. What does She actually look like?!"
Flandre reached up and pushed Exusiai's excited face back. "A god? She probably doesn't count as one in the grand scheme of things. I'd just say She's an exceptionally powerful living entity."
"You shouldn't diminish Her like that," Sister Hong Meiling chimed in from the adjoining seat, gently correcting Flandre's assessment. "If you judge Her by the traditional standards of a Land Deity, Kjeragandr satisfies every single requirement."
At her words, the entire room went quiet, everyone turning to look at Meiling.
"The fundamental requirement of a true Land Deity is the ability to perceive, command, and absolutely domain over a specific realm," Meiling explained calmly. "Kjeragandr easily operates at that level. Evaluating Her by the standards of a Land Deity is entirely accurate."
Flandre nodded in sudden realization, correcting her earlier statement. "Sister Meiling is right! If you put it that way, Kjeragandr really is just like a Land Deity. The entirety of Kjerag is Her personal realm, and because of Her protection, Kjerag has never suffered from Catastrophes for countless generations."
Listening to the casual dialogue between the two, Emperor was utterly speechless.
Were divine secrets and ancient entities really the kind of topic you just threw around in a casual bar setting?!
To make matters worse, his employees were absorbing every word with intense curiosity. Not only was Exusiai practically bouncing in her seat, but even Texas over by the bar had perked her wolf ears right up, hanging on every detail of the conversation. After all, the concepts Flandre and Meiling were discussing were far beyond the scope of Penguin Logistics' usual courier contracts.
Emperor felt an overwhelming urge to punch his past self from five minutes ago. Why had he felt the need to waddle over and ask questions?! Now that he had stoked their curiosity, what was he supposed to do if these reckless kids decided they wanted to take a trip to Kjerag to go god-hunting?!
"So... you just left Miss Letty alone on the snowy mountains?" Texas asked, stepping away from the counter and walking over with genuine curiosity in her eyes. "Aren't you worried about what might happen if she runs into danger up there?"