Narrator's POV
"So...in summary" Ryan drove a hand to his chin. "Kafka has been confirmed to have infiltrated here ever since Blade was caught..."
"Yes, the Helm Master told us she had been posing as a worker doing Odd Jobs, after her transmission was discovered, she dissapeared and has been on the run ever since" Welt explained.
"If they have to rely on us to catch her, I can just assume she's not an easy woman to deal with..." Ryan burrowed his brows. "When I lost her and that other girl in Herta's Station, I couldn't even find a single thing to track them down..."
"That woman also said that we'd be getting Tingyun as our guide... something about them being thinly stretched" Serval added making Ryan wince lightly.
"Bear with it for now Ryan, we should go and meet with her, the Helm Master said that she had a clue for us to start looking for her." Welt spoke again starting to walk and was soon followed by the others.
They didn't walk long until they reached the docks, seeing the fox woman who was seemingly catching on the sighs on the distance, she soon turned around and seeing them she let out a smile walking up to them.
"Well, looks like Madam Yukong has asked me to look after you" she let out a soft sigh before quickly returning to her smile. "The Sky-Faring Commission has reserved rooms for you at Petrichor Inn."
"Why did she look so annoyed at first?" Ryan deadpanned at the woman.
"An Inn...is it too early to have PTSD?" Stelle asked looking at March.
"Do not jinx it Stelle..." The pink girl glared at her.
"Imagine tomorrow we wake up with the Cloud Knights in front of our doors..." Ryan spoke not looking directly at the other two.
"Ryan! Don't act like Stelle, please"
"No worries~ the Cloud Knights will always give you a warning before arresting you" Tingyun smiled at the group.
"Now I'm starting to get worried..." March drove a hand to her head.
"I'll take you all to Petrichor Inn, so please follow me" with a little chuckle, the foxian started to walk.
....
In the edge of the universe, The Herta hummed lowly, her hands busy as she slowly flipped the page of a book, her legs crossed as she remained completely relaxed.
"Madam Herta, what you've been asked for is almost done"
Gazing to her left, she looked at one of the many puppets she had, this one in particular was handing her a holographic tablet, slowly she closed the book, setting it down on her legs as she accepted the tablet eyeing the contents of it in silence.
"...Heh" A smug expressing soon formed on her face. "And Ryan dared to say that it might not be possible for me to do"
One hand waved the tablet nonchalantly as the other one grabbed the book and set it down on a desk to the side of the chair, standing up she started to slowly walk while reading the tablet and the puppet soon followed behind her.
"What's his status exactly?" She asked without looking directly at the puppet.
"His physical aptitudes are scaled to the level that you were asked for, Madam Herta, having to replicate it's magical aptitudes is looking like a challenge"
"I see, I assume that is too much for puppets, I'll have to finish that part on my own..." She let out a soft sigh before smiling.
"With your help, oh great Madam Herta, we won't have trouble finishing him" The puppet looked at the woman with adoration "We've already tested his strength against Simulated enemies"
"And what were the results?"
"As of now, he has already defeated a total of 259 Members of the Antimatter Legion, 138 Fragmentum Monsters and we are still planning to make him fight more to test his stamina"
"Do not bother yourself with that, if I'm right, Spirits like him have endless stamina, he won't grow tired in a long-term fight" she stopped walking and drove a hand to her chin. "Even without magic he seems to already be above common pathstriders"
"We'll stop the fighting simulations then, Madam Herta" obediently the puppet nodded.
"Once I finish coding his magic, I'll fight him myself, I've grown curious on how long he'd last against me"
"Someone like you, Madam Herta, would beat him in less than a second"
"Maybe, but I need to give him a chance and see his potential, anything else I should know?" The Herta looked down at the tablet again.
"He has shown some...hostility towards any kind of simulated creature that is spawned remotely close to him, even coded puppets were hunted down, it's probable that you too, Madam Herta, will be attacked by him upon entering the Simulated Universe, we've tried to change his coded personality, but it seemed futile, his hostility remained"
This made Herta rise an eyebrow, looking momentarily towards her own puppet before staring back at the table, slowly smirking.
"Violent and Murderous even as a line of code?...as Expected of Ace Chevalier"
...
"Haaaa~ the food is pretty good~"
March let out a content sigh and leaned back on her chair, the group was now at Petrichor Inn, the various plates and silverware on the table being the only remnants of their lunch, with a soft chuckle Tingyun slowly sat straight and cleared her throat, catching the attention of the rest.
"Now that we've all filled out stomachs, I think talking about work is due"
"Miss Tingyun in right, now that we rested, we should focus on Kafka" Welt slowly nodded in approval.
"Mhm~ now, Kafka is very cunning, her transmission was encrypted and she even timed it, so we couldn't pinpoint her exact location, but listen~"
Putting her phone down on the table, Tingyun started to play what seemed to be a recording of Kafka's transmission to the Express, letting the voice of the Stellaron Hunter come out.
"Could you, brave Trailblazers, turn a blind eye to that?"
Soon, the transmission seemed to end, and Tingyun picked her phone back up and looked at the group.
"Did you hear that?"
"There was...some noise in the background" Ryan narrowed his eyes slightly. "Could it be that you managed to find the location where she sent the transmission by those sounds?"
"Exactly~! Even if this ship is full of sounds like the ones in the transmission, the trained members of the Artisan Commission were able to perfectly pinpoint this location by these small sounds" Tingyun proudly spoke.
"That...is pretty impressive, I'm not gonna lie" Serval let out a small chuckle. "As an engineer I feel like I'd need to reach that level"
"You'd need to spend a few centuries for that, Miss~" the Fox woman quickly cleared her throat after speaking. "Anyways, based on the Artisans report, the place where this transmission was sent from is the Stargazer Navalia, so after all of you have rested enough, we'll depart there"
"Thanks for the heads up, Miss Tingyun, we'll be sure to be rested properly before continuing" Welt slowly stood up from the table.
"Good to know~ I'll go get something that'll help us track the Stellaron Hunter, so excuse me" with a little bow, the woman walked away from the group.
"We should take this rest to gather out thoughts" Welt let out a soft sigh. "We'll have to hunt Kafka down pretty soon"
"From what I understand, that woman must be pretty tough...if she casually hid here and hasn't been caught yet I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't find her either" Serval scratched the back of her head.
"For now, we should let the people in the Express know that we're fine~" March quickly pulled out her phone.
________________________________________
[March 7th]
"Heyyyy~! We're having lots of fun here! How're you guys doing?"
Message failed to send
[Stelle]
"The fuck?"
Message failed to send
[Serval]
"I think Stelle and March are having signal troubles..."
Message failed to send
________________________________________
"Ugh! Mr.Yang! Why don't you try too?" March asked a bit angry at the adult trailblazer.
"I don't think it'd work either... it's possible that the Stellaron is messing with communications, or perhaps, it's that Hacker from the Stellaron Hunters..." Welt shook his head
"Or maybe it's Ryan again" Stelle looked at the white-haired who simply deadpanned at her.
"It's not me, I already fixed that issue"
"We can just hope that they're okay, I guess..." Serval sighed slightly worried.
"For now we should focus, even if we find Kafka she won't be an easy opponent, she'll definitely resist, so we have to be prepared" Welt warned the rest of the group.
"I fought her at Herta's station, but we simply clashed for a few seconds before she escaped, I couldn't fully grasp how strong she was, but she's clearly above average" Ryan was the first one to speak up.
"What exactly is 'average' in your world?" Stelle crossed her arms over her chest.
"That's complicated..." He thought for a few seconds. "But from the people I know, I'd say only 4 are on her level or above"
"That's not exactly encouraging...are you between those four?" Serval scratched the back of her head a little nervous.
"No, Mr.Yang is though..." He looked at the adult.
"I'm happy to know you think of an old man like me in that way Ryan" Welt smiled a little.
"The Dilf Buff is real" Stelle decided to open her mouth without a second thought.
"I think I'm going to walk around, Stelle started saying weird things again..." Ryan quickly stood up from his chair. "Let me know when Ms.Tingyun is back"
"C'mon I'm not that bad, and you're so chill usually~ we should call you Ryan CHILLavier"
"Run, child" Welt looked at the white-haired boy.
"Take me with you please..." Serval looked up at him with some nervousness in her voice.
"No, someone has to stay behind to distract her..."
With those words, Ryan simply vanished, having made himself invisible with his illusion magic, though Welt's eyes were clearly following his movements he soon got away from the dumb Racoon girl just as she had locked on the blonde woman.
"Hey Serval, have you ever seen a Mind Goblin?"
...
Having escaped from the horrible girl with gray hair, Ryan let out a soft sigh and dropped the illusion magic, making himself visible and leaning onto the railing of the bridge he was now resting his arms on it, looking to the front he saw some Starskiffs flying across for a little while before a thought went through his head.
"This place...looks quite peaceful, even with the Stellaron in here, it doesn't look like a bad place to...settle down on" he quickly shook his head at the thought of settling in. "Not now, I don't think I'd have the chance"
"Oh? Did you decided to stretch your legs~?"
Almost immediately he turned around, a little taken back as he saw Tingyun's face inches away from his own, quickly he gave a step back and cleared his throat.
"I didn't sense her at all..." He was about to say something but felt something on his leg.
Slowly looking down, he saw what seemed to be a small dog with mixed colors of orange, white and green, the small dog was currently sniffing at his leg.
"Ms.Tingyun...this is..."
"Oh yes! This'll be the Hound that'll help us in our chase, Diting, it's a bionic dog created by the Artisanship Commission, it's an excellent tracker."
"I see, I assume we'll use it to track down Kafka" he went back to look at the fox woman who smiled.
"Exactly! No matter how good at hiding she is, once Diting catches her scent, they'll follow it to the end of the universe~" the woman smiled proudly. "By the way~ you looked rather nostalgic a while ago"
"Not really...I guess that the Luofu just reminds me mildly of my home"
"I see, you know Benefactor...why don't you stay here after the Stellaron incident is dealt with?" She asked with a little smile.
"...what?" Ryan took a few seconds to fully grasp what the woman had just asked him.
"You see, I have a good eye for people, I have to have one, it's almost a requirement for my job~ and I like to think I'm pretty good at it" with a soft boy, she leaned closer to him. "You're not a Nameless, you could safely settle down here, maybe apply for the Cloud Knights, have a common job, you'd make a good merchant, you have a pretty face, and I'm sure you're good at smiling and tricking people"
"I...don't think that'd be a good idea, Ms.Tingyun" he burrowed his brows lightly.
"Why not~? You just said this place reminds you of your home didn't you? Wouldn't it be nice to live in a place that gives you good memories? And also, I could write a letter of recommendation, we could work together~" the sly fox woman backed off from him, her smile still on her face.
"I'll have to decline, Ms.Tingyun...I have important stuff to do outside of the Luofu..."
"Oh, that's such a shame...but the offer will always be up, whatever that important stuff is, wouldn't it be nice to set it aside for a while and do something for yourself~?" She clasped her hands together with a small chuckle. "I'll go back to Petrichor Inn and show Diting to the Nameless! Feel free to join us~"
Tingyun quickly gave a small gave at him before walking off in direction to the Inn with the small bionic dog following closely behind her, Ryan simply stood there, looking somewhat confused.
"That woman...truly reminds me of Ms.Orly...she asked me a similar thing" Ryan closed his eyes softly and leaned back against the railings. "After reviving me she had asked me to go live with her and Mr.Teo...but I rejected her, I instead decided to go back to Shion Island to take on my responsibilities as noble, and soon, as one of the protectors of the Island, if I had been more selfish and accepted her request...would I have been happier?"
He let out a soft sigh, his eyes looking forward before momentarily looking down at his left hand, slowly opening and closing his palm while his brows burrowed.
"Ms.Tingyun said that I am good at tricking people...I can cry when I need to, I can smile and scream if needed, I can fake hatred or even love...it has always been like that"
Silently, he drove his left hand to his face, softly grazing the skin or more precisely, the mark under his left eye with the tip of his finger before lazily letting his arm fall back on the railing.
"Everything I've felt so far...could it be possible that I've tricking everyone, including myself?"
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A/N: I took it to heart when I said I wouldn't be updating in a month because of Silksong.
I reaaaaally want to give Ryan an existential crisis, but I still need to cook more, also early The Herta in the story as you guys read...I'm gonna have a field trip with the next chapters, hope it doesn't take me a month each.
Anyways! Hope you all enjoyed