"Big brother, big sister! What are you doing?" Sampo, firmly restrained, looked sorrowfully at the two gray-haired youths beside him, his face etched with the misery of betrayal. "What happened to being sworn brothers from different parents?"
"Hey! Shut your mouth, you shameless old scoundrel! How dare you baselessly slander our good name!" Caelus declared with righteous fury, like a martial arts hero falsely accused by some evil mastermind, vowing to resist with unwavering integrity.
He couldn't bear to part with the treasure chest, but Caelus couldn't keep Sampo tied up beside him forever. In that case, sending him to Belobog's jail seemed like the best option. As a likely Masked Fool (ninety percent certain), Sampo definitely wouldn't wait to serve out a full sentence; escaping prison would be trivial for him. However, to avoid drawing too much attention, Sampo probably wouldn't escape immediately but wait a while. That waiting period would be perfect for the treasure chest to respawn. Once they caught Sampo again later, found the respawned chest, and sent him back to jail to wait for the next respawn – it was a perfect cycle! It was basically freeloading off Belobog's police force to guard his treasure chest for him!
"Facing your doom and still trying to sling mud at us?" Stelle scowled fiercely, letting out a sharp cry. "I didn't realize a petty thief like you could be so black-hearted! Your crimes are heinous! Officer, you must deal with him severely!"
"Exactly, exactly! Officer, your name is Gepard, right? Anyone can see from your face that you're a just, selfless, and perceptive official! You can surely tell that we're not cut from the same cloth as this old villain!"
Glancing at Caelus's grandstanding, March 7th felt his acting was a bit over the top. 'Is describing ourselves as 'cloth' really okay? And since when did you learn physiognomy?' Her mouth twitched slightly as she muttered under her breath, feeling unable to keep up with the sheer speed Caelus generated things to roast.
Dan Heng remained silent, quietly observing Stelle and Caelus's performance. Thinking about it carefully, handing over this suspicious blue-haired man actually seemed like a decent plan! A black-on-black operation... cough, helping capture a thief would establish a friendly, lawful image with the local powers, facilitating communication.
The Silvermane Guards were momentarily bluffed by Stelle and Caelus's righteous indignation. They exchanged glances, looking towards their commander for guidance. With a stern expression, Gepard's gaze swept over Caelus, imposing and authoritative. Meeting his eyes, Caelus placed a hand over his chest, his gaze sincere. "Commander Gepard, I am not lying!"
Naturally, Gepard wouldn't just take the word of one party, especially when the main blue-haired suspect was still wailing about his family abandoning him. But he trusted his own eyes. These people's clothing... was somewhat strange, distinctly different from Belobog's style. Unique attire alone didn't prove much. More importantly, the pink-haired girl muttering non-stop and the gray-haired girl restraining the blue-haired man were wearing short skirts with bare legs in the freezing snowy plains... even his rock-and-roll older sister had to wear thermal pants! The two young men were also dressed thinly, yet from their behavior, they didn't seem cold at all. This wasn't an ability Belobog residents possessed. Considering their righteous act of cooperating in capturing a criminal, Gepard raised a hand, signaling the Silvermane Guards to lower their alert.
"Heheh, I knew Brother Gepard wouldn't be fooled by this guy!" Caelus gave a thumbs-up, a glint seeming to flash off his teeth like the light of justice itself.
There weren't many fan-made videos about Gepard; Caelus only knew he and Serval were siblings and had a younger sister named Lynx.
Brother Gepard? The strange nickname and unnerving familiarity made Gepard's brow twitch, but he didn't lower his guard. "Who are you?"
Caelus crossed his arms, his gaze direct, his aura imposing. "Since you asked so sincerely."
In just an instant, a sense of déjà vu from her 'subconscious' sent a signal to Stelle.
"Then I shall graciously tell you!" Stelle put on a serious expression and announced loudly.
Caelus: "To prevent the world from being destroyed by the Stellaron!"
Stelle: "To protect the peace of the entire universe!"
Caelus: "To uphold the purity of love and truth!"
Stelle: "Charming and fascinating villains... spit, HEROES!"
Stelle had just begun to wonder if Caelus's lines were slightly off when the word 'villains' slipped out. She immediately caught herself and corrected it.
"Stelle!"
"Caelus!"
Caelus lifted one leg, arms raised towards one direction: "We're the Astral Express crew, soaring through the galaxy!"
Stelle rose onto her tiptoes, forearms held flat to her left, head tilted high to the right: "White hole, a bright white tomorrow awaits us!"
Heaven knows how much willpower Caelus exerted to resist the urge to have Seele add a 'meow', but for the sake of greater Elation, Seele's character couldn't be broken! He had to resist!
"?"
"? ?"
"???"
Including Gepard, all the Silvermane Guards froze. If this were the Alliance, a cascade of golden question mark pings would be furiously spamming the screen, the sound effects overlapping endlessly.
They weren't the only ones stunned. Dan Heng and March 7th were too, though their reactions differed.
"..." That was Dan Heng.
"So cool~!" That was March 7th, eyes wide and sparkling. She immediately jumped between the posing Stelle and Caelus, striking what she considered a very cool pose herself. She wanted to add a couple of awesome lines, but she held it in until her face turned red, unable to think of anything fitting on short notice. Finally, she could only nod earnestly along. "That's right! That's how it is!"
As if a final barrier had been broken, Caelus and Stelle looked excitedly at March 7th, surprised she'd grasped the concluding line all on her own. But where was the 'Meow~'? Where!?
Feeling their excited gazes, apparently quite pleased with her own performance, March 7th nodded in satisfaction. Then she noticed both their lips moving, but no sound was coming out. Her brows furrowed slightly. March 7th tilted her head quizzically, blinked, and after a moment's hesitation, sounded out their lip movements: "Meow~?"
Finally! Caelus and Stelle looked as refreshed and relieved as if they'd finally had a bowel movement after three days of constipation.
That innocent, soft, cute meow caused the Silvermane Guards to collectively flash another golden question mark. Many couldn't help but turn their gazes towards the only two normal-looking people present. White Seele shrunk back slightly. Dan Heng finally couldn't keep a straight face anymore, raising a hand to cover his features, which had clearly lost their 'management module control'.
The atmosphere abruptly turned strange, filled only with the whistling sound of the cold wind blowing snowflakes.
The first to recover from the performance art was Gepard. The Fragmentum and its monsters were common knowledge in Belobog, but only a small number knew of the Stellarons' existence, and Gepard wasn't among them. Furthermore, Caelus and Stelle's lines contained too many unclear terms. Gepard's focus latched onto the phrase 'soaring through the galaxy'.
"You... are from beyond the sky?"
"Correct!" Caelus nodded.
"March, show him the photos," Stelle prompted, tilting her head.
"Photos, right! This can serve as proof!" March 7th immediately took out the camera she never parted with and began showing Gepard and the Silvermane Guards. The sight of Jarilo-VI photographed from orbit elicited gasps of disbelief from the guards.
Gepard, however, was now ninety percent convinced of their identities. According to clear historical records, outworld travelers frequently visited centuries ago, but after the Eternal Freeze began, no one had passed through the curtain of snow.
Ordering the guards to take custody of the thief who stole ancient relics, Gepard carefully re-examined the outworld travelers before him. After a moment's thought, he gave a polite nod. "Your arrival is a matter of great importance, one I cannot decide upon myself. If you wouldn't mind, would you accompany me into the city to explain your origins to the Supreme Guardian? I believe Lady Cocolia will surely welcome you... after all, it has been several hundred years since any outsiders have visited."
"Of course, no problem!" March 7th beamed, and Dan Heng let out a sigh of relief.
But immediately following were two gasps of stunned surprise.
"Cocolia!"
"Mom?"
"!?" Everyone present looked, surprised or shocked, towards the navy-blue-haired girl who had blurted out 'Mom'.
"Ah, apologies. Perhaps it's a coincidence. The Supreme Guardian shares the same name as my mother." Seele regained control of her body, adopting an embarrassed posture.
White Seele, who had also gasped, quickly realized this was a parallel world. Mother Cocolia couldn't possibly appear here. Even if someone with that name existed, it would be a parallel world's Cocolia.
"Seele must have mistaken her for someone else. Stelle, why were you so surprised?" March 7th noticed Stelle's expression seemed a bit off.
While the Silvermane Guard Gepard's attention was focused on Seele, Stelle leaned close to March 7th's ear and whispered, "March, don't you think anyone with that name is definitely not a good person?"
Seeing Stelle's solemn expression, March 7th tilted her head, a question mark appearing above it. Well, that's weird! Judging people by appearance, she'd heard of that. But judging people by their name? That was a first!
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