[Chief Little Hater: …That's the situation. If you're ever short on money, just tell me, okay~!]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: Yosh, dai-dai-di yoshi!]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: Don't worry. Since Topaz is your friend, I definitely won't make things too hard on her.]
[Chief Little Hater: Hee hee, then I'm off to run some stargazing experiments~ (ゝω?)☆, talk later~]
Asta had sent a message to Caelus to give him a heads-up about the Topaz situation.
Having maintained daily contact with Caelus from the very beginning, and often lending an ear as he recounted his adventures, Asta had a clear understanding of what her good friend had been going through lately.
Mashin Mecha, the light-being Ultraman, the strange Emanator who'd shown up on the Xianzhou — all of it tied back to Caelus. If a single IPC faction went head-to-head with him, it would honestly be hard to say who'd come out the underdog.
Strolling leisurely down the corridors of Goethe Manor, Caelus rested his chin in his hand, idly stroking it. The Silver-Maned Guards stationed on either side stiffened to ramrod attention the moment they spotted the group, snapping into spirited, sharp salutes.
Miss Haxxor Bunny noticed that quite a few of those guards looked at Caelus with an almost fanatical reverence in their eyes. She nudged Caelus's arm:
"Hey, Caelus, what exactly did you guys do on this planet before?"
On the way to Belobog, listening to everyone talk about the Jarilo-VI planet, Haxxor Bunny had picked up the gist in scattered fragments — but the pieces were patchy here and there, and her understanding wasn't very clear.
If this were a game, the faction reputation gauge had to already be maxed out, right?
"It's a long story when you really get into it. Tonight at the story session, I'll have Ah Qi tell it to you properly — the tale of how our Granzort series defeated the inherently-evil Cocolia of the Honkai World and saved the world."
The Granzort series?
Wasn't it the Trailblaze squad?
Haxxor Bunny blinked in puzzlement. While the two of them were chatting, Stelle had already shoved open the magnificent doors of the Grand Guardian's palace and let out a cheer:
"The supreme and most benevolent Trailblazer has arrived at Belobog's highest seat of power, Goethe Manor — history shall once again turn to a brand-new chapter!"
Familiar Himeko-style bangs, a small round face — and that one feature impossible to tear your eyes away from.
Warm light poured through the domed ceiling, slicing the great hall in light and shadow. The Grand Guardian's personal secretary, Pela, stood below the dais with a bundle of documents clutched in her arms, and the light-and-shadow play across her ruler-precise black stockings was still the most eye-catching colour in the scene.
Pela, who'd been in the middle of giving her report, caught sight of the familiar figures. Her round-framed glasses slipped half an inch down along her Himeko-style bangs, and her pupils widened ever so slightly.
"Hi, Sister Pela~ Sister~ Are you helping Bronya work overtime? Hugs~!"
The Stellaron spirit just launched herself in for a tackle-hug.
"Stop acting like a little kid every time you see me!"
Pela hurriedly scrambled to catch her sliding glasses.
Up on the high dais, Bronya sat behind the Grand Guardian's desk, her brow knotted into a deep, river-like furrow, fingertips pressed against her temples and slowly kneading. The unprocessed documents on her desk were piled into a small mountain.
It wasn't until the doors crashed open on a wave of laughter that Bronya snapped her gaze up. After a brief moment of blank surprise, the anxiety at the bottom of her eyes melted into delight.
"Stelle, the other me, Caelus! Welcome back!"
To the "tok-tok" of her boot heels striking the steps of the circular platform, she descended in long, sweeping strides to greet them.
"Surprised? Did you miss us?"
Caelus spread his arms wide and strode forward. Bronya 'crashed' into that warm embrace. A momentary daze flickered through her silver-grey eyes — and was promptly filled with warmth.
Bronya's pretty face flushed faintly, yet she let the force of her own return hug tighten:
"Mind the setting."
The rebuke carried a touch of coy petulance. Miss Haxxor Bunny had frozen in place the instant she laid eyes on the silver-haired beauty, and witnessing this scene, she went full dog-jaw-on-the-floor.
What was going on?
This extraordinarily familiar face… Haxxor Bunny's astonished gaze flicked back and forth between Single-Turbo Duck and Triple-Turbo Duck. She tugged at Seele's hand.
"Seele, who — who is she?"
Seeing Sister Bronie so 'pleasantly surprised,' White Seele smiled gently and introduced her to Haxxor Bunny:
"Bronya Rand. The Grand Guardian of Belobog. She's also a parallel world isotope of Sister Bronya and Sister Bronie."
Another one!?
Why are there so many parallel world isotopes?
Miss Haxxor Bunny's little face went numb as she watched Caelus and Bronya embracing.
Wait — she remembered Caelus had mentioned before that he was the Grand Guardian's fiancé… Haxxor Bunny's expression gradually grew extraordinarily colourful.
Which meant — both 'selves' were engaged to Caelus?
"Ah, this…"
While Haxxor Bunny's emotions were churning, Bronya — having released Caelus from the embrace — also noticed Haxxor Bunny and her face showed surprise:
"And this is?"
"Real name Bronya. Commonly called Bronie."
Caelus introduced her, holding Bronya's hand.
The moment the real name came out, Rand-Duck — who'd had a precedent for this — got it in an instant. Yet another one.
At this very moment, the same confusion that filled Haxxor Bunny welled up in her too.
Why are there parallel-world versions of her absolutely everywhere?
Haxxor Bunny and Rand-Duck stared at each other for a few seconds, then nodded and exchanged greetings.
Miss Haxxor Bunny sharply caught the critical point — this Grand Guardian Bronya's bust size was clearly a whole tier above the Express crew's Bronya!
This made Haxxor Bunny feel a little uneasy. She'd thought future body proportions were locked in — that no matter what she ate, she'd inevitably grow up to Li Sushang's level!
Apparently not.
Bronie, who shared body and mind with her, picked up on the shift in Haxxor Bunny's thoughts and let out an inward huff.
Rand-Duck was actually one of the better outcomes — just pray she didn't end up as the Honkai Impact 2 Duck. That's an eight-jin gap right there!
"Duck-Duck, what's wrong? You look all anxious."
Stelle helped Pela pick up the documents scattered by the hug.
Bronya opened her mouth — then in the end didn't bother correcting Stelle's choice of address. After all, Stelle and Caelus were essentially the same person, so didn't that make her her remarried wife?
She'd just take it as a pet name.
"Sigh."
Bronya let out a long sigh: "The IPC's envoy has arrived in Belobog."
"Envoy? You mean Miss Topaz?"
March 7th blinked.
"You've already met? Then I don't need to explain… seven hundred years of Eternal Freeze buried far too much history and memory."
Bronya then laid out the cause and consequences of the matter.
Seven hundred years ago, after the Stellaron descended on frigid Jarilo-VI, the outsiders stationed there had all packed up and departed.
Among them was a group of investors from the IPC. Before leaving, they sought out the City-Builders who had insisted on staying to defend their homeland and provided them with a massive sum of capital, earmarked for disaster mitigation.
"It was precisely because of that capital that Belobog was able to construct city walls of such height — even the R&D budget for the first batch of Automaton Soldiers was drawn from that money."
"So that's what happened!"
Little Duck and Haxxor Bunny exchanged a glance.
March 7th tugged at her hair: "So Topaz came to Belobog to collect a debt?"
"Yes."
Bronya nodded.
"That's just ridiculous! It's been this long! Why didn't they come to collect when the Stellaron was still here? Isn't this just plain bullying?!"
Little March was righteously indignant.
"How much do they want?"
Little Duck asked.
Pela, hugging the documents to her chest, pursed her lips: "Going by the IPC's benchmark interest rate fluctuations over these 700-odd years, the figure I calculated matches the one they stated — Jarilo-VI owes a total of 6.48 quintillion credits in debt…"
"Pfft!"
March 7th sprayed her drink straight out.
"H-how, how much!?"
Haxxor Bunny, who had already experienced wealthy-woman shock once before, was once again stunned by this number.
White Seele's little face went pale.
"6.48 quintillion credits — I can't even picture that number. Even if you packaged up the entirety of Belobog as repayment, it wouldn't even come close… Caelus, what should we do?"
Bronya gripped Caelus's hand tightly. Right now, the only one she could lean on was Caelus — her fiancé.
"I know you're anxious, but don't be anxious. The moment you get anxious, you'll turn into the Hasty King — and then aren't I the Hasty Queen? But I couldn't possibly be the Hasty Queen, because the Queen has no haste."
Caelus's palm stroked Bronya's pale hand soothingly.
"Is this how you offer comfort?"
"At a time like this, you're still making jokes?"
March 7th shook Caelus by the neck.
"I'm not joking. If the IPC really wants to come collect like this — then this is the most wonderful thing in the world!"
Caelus slapped the table.
"Huh?"
"Wonderful?"
The statement left March 7th completely dumbfounded. It was repayment of a debt — and unreasonable repayment at that — how could that possibly be a good thing?
"Let me check in with Topaz first."
Caelus dialed Topaz's number.
Had to give Asta face, after all~
"Mr. Caelus, contacting me so soon — is there something you need?"
Topaz's warm and polite voice came through from the other end of the line.
"Just call me Caelus. Miss Topaz is Asta's friend, which makes her my friend too."
Caelus said with a chuckle.
"Hahaha, mm, all friends here — just call me Topaz, no honorifics."
A note of greater warmth entered Topaz's tone.
Caelus had brought up Asta on his own initiative — which signalled that Asta had already reached out to her.
"Topaz, could you walk me through the source of Belobog's debt and the exact amount owed?"
Caelus's words left Little Duck, Pela, March 7th and the others exchanging baffled glances. Hadn't Bronya just laid all this out a moment ago?
"Are you perhaps trying to discuss professional financial matters with me? Sure thing."
Her voice remained warm, but inside, Topaz's heart stirred. She could vaguely guess the underlying meaning of Caelus's question.
So Topaz repeated the reason and figures from the IPC documents.
"What do you think of all this?"
Topaz heard Caelus's voice — still bright and cheerful.
"From Belobog's perspective, this matter is not reasonable. Different standpoints mean different angles on the same thing. For me, debt collection is just a job."
"I get it, I get it. So how do you plan to proceed with the work next?"
Caelus's tone was reasonable and accommodating, as though discussing some matter entirely unrelated to himself with a friend.
"What do you think?"
"I suggest you give feedback to the IPC and have someone else come collect the debt."
Caelus's tone shifted — quite weighty for a moment — and then abruptly veered back to cheerful.
Topaz inexplicably had a sense of déjà vu — as though facing that crowd of Masked Fools who went around stirring up trouble all across the Galaxy. She shook her head.
An illusion. No matter what, Caelus couldn't possibly be a Masked Fool.
"Otherwise it'd look bad later, dragging down your debt-collection success rate on your résumé."
"I will give your suggestion serious consideration."
After that, they exchanged a few more pleasantries and hung up. Topaz gazed at her phone and sank into thought.
Topaz didn't know Caelus as deeply as Asta did, but since both Asta and Caelus had sent her signals, she certainly wasn't about to be hardheaded about it.
She wasn't afraid of IPC penalties. The Jarilo-VI matter had been viewed as a sunk case by anyone in the IPC anyway — even if she failed, at worst she'd lose a chunk of salary and get demoted one rank.
Furthermore, the penalty for botching a project was completely different in magnitude from voluntarily abandoning the mission before it officially began.
She wouldn't get demoted just for voluntarily giving up on one mission.
The truth was, one of her main reasons for getting involved was that she couldn't bear watching Jarilo-VI civilization's descendants get squeezed dry as resources by certain departments within the IPC.
Since Caelus had the confidence to withstand pressure from the IPC, she could perfectly well withdraw and pull herself out of this quagmire.
With that thought, Topaz initiated a transmission.
"…I'm requesting to abandon the Jarilo-VI debt collection mission. Jarilo-VI's situation is highly unusual. I recommend transferring the project to the Market Development Department."
____
Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 10 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉