On the road to Aidonia, Fu Zhu looked up with a deadpan expression at the pair of fair thighs perched on his shoulders. Stelle was one step away from shouting "Giddy-up!"
"I'm telling you, sis, why did you have to come with me? Even March isn't this clingy. I don't remember you being like this before."
Fu Zhu didn't get it. How did it seem like Stelle was evolving into someone with a brother complex?
Could it be that during the time he was gone, she went through some kind of major event?
With Stelle sitting on Fu Zhu's shoulders, the now-displaced Mem could only sit on her shoulders. The three of them were stacked up like a totem pole.
Stelle crossed her arms with a world-weary air and sighed, "Brother, do you have any idea how many brothers in this world wish they had a clingy little sister? How come you're not happy about it? Look at Sunday! If Robin were that clingy with him, I guarantee he'd be happier than you!"
Fu Zhu rolled his eyes from below, retorting dryly.
"Sunday gets to live off his sister, while my sister only gets to live off me. There's a difference, you know."
"Not much of one!"
"What do you mean, not much of one? That's the complete opposite!"
Stelle suddenly leaned down, her charming face hanging upside-down in front of Fu Zhu. If she were to remain quiet, Fu Zhu was certain she would have countless suitors. But unfortunately, the corners of the static beauty's lips were currently pulled back so far they almost formed the Nike swoosh.
"Bro, I've already missed out on so much screen time! If I don't follow you to get some more camera-whoring in, I'm gonna become a background character!"
"Could you stop with the fourth-wall-breaking commentary," Fu Zhu retorted again. His gaze passed through the bangs hanging in front of Stelle's face and landed on the fog Aglaea and the others had spoken of. He immediately stopped.
"We're here. You can get down now."
This time, Stelle didn't continue to freeload. With a little "oomph," she hopped down from Fu Zhu's shoulders, dusted off her hands, and stood beside him to look at the fog Lygus had set up around Aidonia.
"A little strange."
Fu Zhu frowned, stroking his chin as he stared at the dense fog.
Lygus had already discovered during the events at Castrum Kremnos that he had "escaped" his prison. Why would he leave this fog here? Was it just a waste of effort? Or was he trying to trap Cerydra?
Stelle squinted, trying to peer into the fog, but it was too thick. She couldn't see a thing inside, not even when she took out her phone and used the camera's zoom function.
After a few fruitless attempts, Stelle put her phone away and turned to ask Fu Zhu.
"Bro, do you know where Cerydra is inside?"
Fu Zhu glanced at his minimap. The map showed that the area ahead contained no solid objects, let alone any living creatures.
"No. There's nothing and no one there."
"Hiss..." Stelle shrank back, a little scared. "It's not haunted, is it?"
She was well aware of her brother's X-ray vision cheat. If even he couldn't see anything, then this was a serious problem.
"We'll know if there are any ghosts once we go in. Stelle, I'm counting on you."
Fu Zhu snapped his fingers, switching to Observer Mode and vanishing from Stelle's side.
Seeing Fu Zhu disappear, Stelle panicked and shouted into the empty air, "Bro, why are you counting on me?"
Fu Zhu's voice echoed beside her, "Didn't you want more screen time? I'm giving you the camera! Don't worry, Mem is here. She's my Stand. I'm lending her to you for a bit. You can be a Stand User, too."
"Whoa, when could you lend out a Stand? By the way, if I can see your Stand, does that mean I'm a Stand User too? What's my Stand?"
"It hasn't awakened yet, obviously. Alright, hurry up and find him."
After one last quip, Fu Zhu stopped talking.
In truth, he didn't want Stelle to take the risk either. But because of his unique constitution, the moment he came into contact with this fog, he would probably be teleported directly into the prison Lygus had prepared for him, just as Lygus intended.
Originally, if Stelle hadn't come along, he would have had to find another way to enter the fog and search for Cerydra. But now that she was here, he could have her enter the fog while he scouted ahead in Observer Mode. Coupled with Mem, who could use his commands, the danger was minimal.
"Alright, bro. I'm going in."
Stelle didn't waste any more time. She pulled out her baseball bat, said a quick word to the air beside her, and followed Mem into the fog.
The moment she stepped inside, Stelle felt a wave of dizziness, like she'd just ridden a hundred roller coasters back-to-back. But a second later, the unpleasant sensation vanished.
Fu Zhu had used a command to remove the negative status effect from her, and then offered a reminder.
"The substance in this fog is Memoria, same as in Penacony, which is why you felt sick."
Stelle nodded lightly, gripping her bat as she cautiously moved forward, whispering to Fu Zhu.
"Bro, so Lygus's plan was just to use Memoria to trap you? That's not very high-tech, is it? Isn't he the number one genius?"
Fu Zhu disagreed with her assessment.
"Simple and effective is always the best method. The more sophisticated the technique, the more prone it is to failure. Lygus specifically chose this method that's less likely to fail precisely because he understood my nature. Let's go."
Fu Zhu flew ahead in Observer Mode to scout, while Stelle followed slowly from behind.
Before long, the two of them, along with Mem, arrived in front of the large cathedral where Fu Zhu had briefly stayed. Even after a thousand years, the cathedral looked exactly as it had before. There wasn't even a single weed growing on it.
Stelle walked up to a windowsill and glanced at the several potted plants placed there, noticing that the plants had been recently pruned.
"Bro, someone's been living in this cathedral!"
Stelle whispered her reminder, then tightened her grip on her bat, ready to attack at any moment.
"I know. I see them. It's Cerydra and... Lygus!"
The moment he got close to the cathedral, Fu Zhu had spotted two new icons on his minimap: the missing Cerydra and the ever-present Lygus.
Hearing this, Stelle let out a sigh of relief. It was good that Cerydra was still alive. On the way here, she had been genuinely worried that after a thousand years, something might have happened to him.
Still, the fact that he was able to survive in a place like this for a thousand years meant he must have gone through a lot.
Stelle gripped her bat and cautiously crept toward the cathedral. As she got closer, she finally heard voices. Lygus was speaking to Cerydra.
"Your Majesty, don't you understand yet? A thousand years have passed. You have been abandoned. If not for the suggestion I gave you back then, you too would have become withered bones in your home like those other villagers!"