Adoption?
Aglaea and Seraphia looked at each other.
Both were somewhat moved.
"Tch, I don't want to be adopted."
Cipher turned her head away.
At this moment, she was very much like a stubborn, bristling little cat.
"I can just live at your place. If you find me annoying, just build me a nest in a corner and I can live there. Anyway, I used to get by that way before."
As she spoke, her voice lowered several notches.
Though her words seemed casual, those clear eyes couldn't hide the flash of hope at the bottom.
Blanca's heart tightened, maternal love instantly flooding over.
The poor little thing usually lived in a nest? Thinking of scenes of wind and rain leaking in with no one to care, her eyes grew slightly hot.
Tribbie: "Flyer."
"You really like the textile workshop, don't you?"
"Otherwise you wouldn't repeatedly, again and again, circle around your 'Seamstress-sis's' textile workshop."
Ryuga raised his broad hand and gently patted it on Cipher's head.
"..."
Feeling the warmth of the large hand on her head, Cipher bit her lower lip tightly, her throat feeling like it was stuffed with soft cotton.
Long-hidden memories, grievances, attachments, and reluctance surged into her heart. Her eyes gradually reddened.
She didn't respond, just biting her lip.
Keywords: textile workshop.
Cipher was from Dolos. Back then, the place where she sheltered with her grandmother was a small textile workshop.
Her handicraft skills were inherited from her grandmother.
Under her grandmother's care, Cipher spent a warm and happy childhood.
Unfortunately, her grandmother and that textile workshop were destroyed by people's malice.
To avoid implicating her, her grandmother claimed she was just an adopted orphan.
And Cipher actually knew—that wasn't a lie.
'She was originally a stray cat adopted by the textile workshop.'
When she wandered to Okhema with nowhere to rely on, barely surviving, she would still unconsciously gravitate toward textile workshops.
Even though this textile workshop's mistress was different from her original grandmother, she loved this place.
"Your handicraft was learned at the textile workshop, wasn't it?"
"You also want to adopt Cipher, don't you?"
Ryuga looked at the cat, then at Aglaea, and smiled.
"Mm."
After a moment's silence, Aglaea nodded.
"..."
Cipher froze.
In Ryuga's view, the cat's encounter and companionship with Seamstress-sis were destined.
As a young child coming to a strange city-state, once again seeing a textile workshop, once again ending her wandering life.
For her, the textile workshop represented longing and yearning for home.
And Aglaea at this time had just experienced life's dramatic changes.
The former young lady who enjoyed wealth and glory—her past family fortune turned to dust in flames. This textile workshop was built from scratch by her own hands.
The raggedly-dressed stray cat on the street repeatedly 'inadvertently' passed by her textile workshop, then truly stayed by her side.
'Home' was what they both possessed. Genuine heart and love—this was what she gave Cipher.
And it was also what Cipher gave back to her.
Unfortunately, in the end, the cat could never return.
Even though that golden textile workshop still sat in the city, hadn't gone anywhere—she just couldn't return.
She couldn't even 'pass by' once more.
Even though that place was the home she'd longed for and yearned for from beginning to end—but she carried an even more important 'Lie.'
After all, she called her 'Mama Aglaea.'
And Seamstress-sis's 'child' had always been only Cifera.
Until she silently died in a corner of the world.
Amassed wealth was an empty dream.
Parting praises were an illusion.
In the end, she never returned to the textile workshop she missed, but 'wherever my heart is at peace is my homeland.'
"I tried hard to live up to what they called a 'hero.' Honestly, that was too exhausting... I wanted to give up long ago."
Cipher's cat ears trembled, then drooped like airplane ears.
A moment later, she raised her little face, stubbornly staring into Ryuga's eyes.
"You named me Cipher. The 'Cat Burglar' was born to run in the wind and won't stop for any one place."
Speaking, the cat proudly turned her head away.
"Hehe."
"You are the wind, free wind. Your lies travel with the wind, your footsteps lighter and swifter than wind."
"But the wind also returns home."
"Will the far-traveling wind stop for a certain place?"
"I think it will. Because that distant wind has bonds. No matter how far it goes, it still wants to return home."
"Wherever my heart is at peace is my homeland."
Ryuga stroked the cat's head, gently ruffling it.
"You love this place."
"That's why you pass by so often. That's why you're too shy to stay—because you're afraid you're not worthy of the 'Golden Weave' sign."
Aglaea suddenly spoke.
Cipher stubbornly bit her little mouth: "..."
"After taking on Mynetta's divine office, I've grown accustomed to letting golden thread distinguish sincerity from falsehood for me. But the mission I want to complete requires that I learn to trust and rely with my heart."
"Cifera, you're a genuine heart I've given to this world, and also a challenge it's issued to me."
"Stay by my side."
"You have a beautiful face—it shouldn't often keep company with scars and mud."
Aglaea extended her hand in invitation.
Cipher fell silent.
"Oh my, your Magic God sir especially likes girls with good handicraft skills, you know."
Mobius suddenly, possessed by mischief, added a line.
It had a bit of teasing flavor.
Everyone: 乛_乛
The cat's ears suddenly trembled, then stood high, even the tips' fur slightly bristling.
Cipher proudly snorted softly.
"Then, then we'll... we'll make a deal."
"I'll give you one day to regret it. After that time passes, if you want to chase me away it'll be too late."
"Hmph, it's not... not for a certain someone."
Haha~, everyone laughed.
"Come~, let's raise our honey brew and witness this moment."
...
Cloud Stone Marketplace.
Already changed into Amphoreus clothing at Aglaea's place, the women looked east and west, curiously browsing the market.
(PS: None revealing.)
Ryuga held Cipher, Cipher held little Griseo.
Blanca watched nervously.
The street clothes all had strong ancient Roman style, quite beautiful, but with Golden Weave Lady's clothing, everyone looked down on the rest.
Must say, Aglaea truly deserved being 'Seamstress-sis.'
"Mm, this flavor is strange?"
"Minced eggplant egg?"
"The taste is quite good though."
MEI ate street snacks, commenting.
She finally understood what Amphoreus's 'food' was.
Memoria, right?
Simply put, writing the taste sensation of food from memory into underlying code, presenting it in the computer through data, then... mixing it with memoria and 3D printing it out.
Commonly called: 'Schrödinger's Food,' 'Quantum Taste.'
You fundamentally didn't know if you'd actually eaten or not.
Or if you were full.
Like eating.
Like being full.
...
They played in Amphoreus for a week.
Ryuga confirmed that MEI and the others with 'Universal Pass' simply weren't recorded by Lygus.
And Lygus had never appeared before him.
This also verified his speculation.
Restricted by the Scepter δ-me13.exe's extremely rigorous autonomous protocol constraints, Lygus also couldn't meddle everywhere.
More accurately, he only paid attention to the Twelve Factors in the management logs.
Other passerby data was meaningless.
Everything was predetermined anyway.
...
Herta Space Station.
In an extremely luxuriously decorated room, a pink door opened out of nowhere.
This was Herta's own room. When she occasionally came to the space station, she rested here.
Usually it was sealed.
In the Herta Cottage, having just exploded the kitchen again, Herta received an abnormal puppet notification.
"Mm, O_o?"
"Although it only shifted five meters... but how could this be?"
"My exclusive room is locked with permissions, biometric identification plus triple encryption. No one can get in and no one would have that guts, right?"
Her heart tightened. Almost the instant the thought flashed, Herta had forcibly switched online.
Consciousness flooded into the puppet like a tide. Before the familiar room became clear—
"Ryu—"
...
To be continued…