Pretending as if he hadn't seen Clockie Boy at all, Gallagher spoke calmly before Pei Guang could say anything.
"Seems you really like my drinks. Fine then: from now on, whenever you manage to find me, I'll make an exception and craft five drinks for you."
Before Pei Guang could answer, Siobhan widened her eyes. "Good grief, what's with you? Since when do you value someone that much?"
Gallagher: "Ha! You're asking if I'm serious? Of course I am. I can feel it: with him around, the Family will change for the better, and so will Penacony. A toast to Penacony."
Gallagher casually picked up a glass of wine and drank it down.
He'd weathered all sorts of storms in his life, but he was certain that just now, he had survived a true crisis: one even more terrifying than death.
If Clockie Boy hadn't suddenly appeared, spouting all that bizarre nonsense and random "rules," Gallagher probably wouldn't have escaped that situation intact.
Thinking about it, he picked up the materials Pei Guang had provided and began mixing another drink.
He had no intention of offending someone like Pei Guang: not when this man could somehow obtain a "Xipe Dog Cake," or even grab a Something Unto Death and eat it like it was nothing.
If he could get along with Pei Guang, he definitely would.
As Gallagher finished preparing a new drink, Firefly walked over.
"What's wrong?"
Pei Guang looked at the freshly mixed drink, picked it up, and handed it to Firefly.
"Here~ have a drink."
"Huh?"
Firefly didn't quite understand why Pei Guang was offering her this specifically, but she didn't hesitate: she took the glass and drank it down.
"Mmm… it's really good! I—"
Before she could finish, her wide, beautiful eyes went rigid with shock as she stared at Pei Guang.
Because in that very instant the drink reached her stomach, she could feel it: her body's deterioration had… stopped.
Yes—she could feel that in the real world, her condition's worsening had halted.
If, before, it felt like the world was gradually forgetting her existence, then after drinking this, she could clearly sense her body resisting the process of fading away.
It was faint, almost imperceptible, but for Firefly, who had been walking toward death without pause, even a temporary halt, even a slight reversal, was something worth celebrating.
For her, it was a glimmer: a real, tangible spark of hope.
Elio had once promised her that she'd find the meaning of life. She had seen the accuracy of Elio's prophecies, but no matter how accurate a prophecy could be, it was nothing compared to feeling hope with her own body.
Even if this hope was temporary… it was enough.
Pei Guang didn't have to ask whether it worked: Firefly's expression already said everything. And yet, because it did work, her expression grew complicated.
For the sake of a single hope, she had done many things as a Stellaron Hunter. But after meeting Pei Guang, she realized she'd done almost nothing for him, apart from buying him a meal.
He, on the other hand, had always been good to her.
She wasn't someone who took kindness for granted: when people were kind to her, she wanted to be even kinder in return. But Pei Guang had been too good to her.
She honestly didn't know how to repay him anymore.
Seeing Firefly's initial shock fade into a complex look, Pei Guang tilted his head.
"Hm? Didn't work?"
Firefly pursed her lips and shook her head. "It worked really well, it's just that… I…"
Pei Guang: "You what? Don't think that just because we're close, you can skip giving me a reward! The closer we are, the better your reward should be! You should know: I never work for free. No reward, and I'll get angry, even if we're friends."
"But I…"
Pei Guang: "Stop! Don't even start that 'I don't have anything valuable' speech like some tragic heroine does! I told you: things that seem useless to others might be very useful to me! So just give me whatever. So far, even that little lollipop the younger girl gave me at the start ended up coming in handy."
The things he'd gathered from the Space Station, the "useless" trinkets he got from missions, had saved his life in Belobog.
The "junk materials" from Belobog turned out to be key components for assembling the Engine of Creation.
He hadn't used that engine many times, but each time he did, it made his adventures so much easier.
As for the Xianzhou Luofu, the things he'd acquired there, everything from the random stuff he'd grabbed to the food, toys, and main-quest materials, had all proven useful too.
In short, everything Pei Guang had obtained along the way, whether to boost affection or to trade to Asta for credits, had all found their purpose.
"Reward…"
Firefly thought about what she could give him, but sadly, aside from the clothes she was wearing and the small stash of Coins she'd saved up, everything else she had wasn't really hers.
"No, wait—there's still something I can do."
Firefly pulled out one of the three transformation devices Pei Guang had previously given her.
She'd already figured out how the device worked: not only could it transform into battle gear according to her will, but it could also store preset forms in advance, so she wouldn't have to think about her combat suit mid-fight.
And what she wanted to do was simple: using Pei Guang's body data, she fine-tuned some of Sam's parameters, changed the color scheme and a few details, and then handed the device to Pei Guang.
It wasn't the real Sam of course: just a suit simulated through the adjusted transformation device, looking similar but completely different in essence.
"This armor… is for you. Um… I've already pre-set the transformation data in the device. If you use this to transform, you'll be able to fight directly with the armor. Is that… okay as a reward?"
Pei Guang didn't immediately answer.
His eyes were fixed entirely on the transformation device Firefly had handed him—not on Firefly herself.
A cool, battle-ready suit of armor… something Pei Guang had dreamed of having for ages. And now, he'd actually gotten one?
What? Cute girls? Cute girls were nothing compared to a badass suit of armor!
Back when he first saw Firefly transform into that armored form, he'd wanted to make one himself: he even thought about copying her suit's data to recreate it later.
But he never expected that after completing one of Firefly's affection quests, she'd just give him one.
At that moment, Pei Guang felt a surge of emotion: so strong he almost wanted to call her "wife" on the spot.
Meanwhile, March 7th, watching from the side, felt her scalp tingle.
This time was different: she genuinely sensed a strange, creeping sense of danger.
Oddly enough, it wasn't Firefly herself who felt dangerous…
It was the thing she gave Pei Guang that radiated a sense of unprecedented threat.