"Castorice is already fighting that dead dragon. Aren't you going to help?"
After a while, the sounds of Castorice and the Remains of the Dead Dragon fighting drew the two of them back from their own worlds.
Herta didn't dwell too much on the thoughts in her mind. In this situation, she chose to let things take their natural course.
At least compared to the previous Lumina, the current Lumina had given Herta a glimmer of hope.
Next, she would let time prove it.
Having understood this, Herta reverted to her usual Madam Herta persona.
Crossing her arms, she watched Castorice, who was fighting the Remains of the Dead Dragon, and asked Lumina a question as she saw the girl struggling slightly.
After all, this person had clearly stated that "a beautiful girl's business is my business." Now that the beautiful girl was struggling to hold on, it was time for her to prove her resolve.
"Little Herta, Castorice herself isn't in a hurry, so what are you rushing for?" Hearing this, Lumina gently shook her head, lecturing Herta like an elder.
"Young people really are impatient, huh? They don't know that being in a hurry means you can't eat hot tofu."
Herta: "..."
This person, what kind of roleplay is she doing now?
Herta's mouth twitched slightly, but after getting used to Lumina's personality, she quickly returned to normal.
Lumina's personality is just like this, what can you do about it?
Just get used to it, just get used to it.
"Don't let Castorice's current struggle fool you. In reality, dealing with this dead dragon is a piece of cake for her." Without noticing Herta's speechless expression, Lumina scoffed and gave a simple explanation.
Her attention was still focused on the Remains of the Dead Dragon.
Although this Remains of the Dead Dragon looked ugly right now, it's a corpse, so being ugly is normal.
Once she restores it to normal, won't it become majestic and eventually turn into a "Dragon Girl"?
Thus, the anticipation that had faded from Lumina's heart re-emerged.
"Oh."
Herta responded faintly to Lumina's explanation.
Could Herta not see whether Castorice could defeat the Remains of the Dead Dragon?
Castorice could obviously defeat it, but that didn't stop Herta's previous question.
Looking at Lumina's little expression as she stared intently at the Remains of the Dead Dragon, Herta immediately understood that Lumina was again expecting her most anticipated "Dragon Girl."
Well... It seemed Lumina's expectations were about to be fulfilled.
Herta mumbled with a fair bit of dissatisfaction in her heart.
Based on the information obtained along the way, Herta could basically conclude that Castorice and that Titan of [Death] were twins.
After analyzing other information, she deduced that the Remains of the Dead Dragon itself was a "female."
Castorice was so beautiful, so the older or younger sister who was her twin naturally couldn't be any worse...
"Sigh..."
Thinking of this, Herta couldn't help but sigh again in her heart.
Herta couldn't possibly stop Castorice, let alone change the thoughts in Lumina's mind.
The sudden appearance of another "beautiful girl" for Lumina to like, wouldn't anyone feel a strange sensation?
Although Herta initially didn't care at all how many beautiful girls were around Lumina, because Herta felt that she would definitely be the one to "laugh last."
But reality had dealt her a heavy blow.
Because the so-called result depended entirely on Lumina...
The outcome of all matters was decided by her alone.
No matter how powerful Herta herself was, it was completely useless.
And for Herta to hate other beautiful girls, to drive away the other beautiful girls around Lumina, this was something Herta absolutely could not do.
After all, the main reason for this matter also had nothing to do with them.
It was all Lumina's fault.
If one insisted on relating it to them, it was only because they were too beautiful.
Thus "provoking" Lumina, this "scum woman"...
-
"Death... Rest in peace!"
The battle did not last long, quickly ending with Castorice's victory.
Seeing the battle won, Lumina and Herta strode forward to Castorice's side.
They stood shoulder to shoulder, gazing at the Remains of the Dead Dragon before them.
"Castorice, you were amazing."
Upon reaching Castorice's side, Lumina's first reaction was, of course, to give the beautiful girl a gentle compliment.
"Sister Lumina..." Feeling her Sister Lumina's tenderness, Castorice immediately showed a touched expression, nearly bursting into tears of emotion the very next second.
"This silly child..."
Seeing Castorice's expression, Herta couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for her.
Castorice was such a wonderful girl, yet of all the people she could have met, she had to meet Lumina.
Now her future was practically ruined.
From now on, she would spend her days and nights longing for Lumina.
Meanwhile, Lumina would devote herself entirely to other beautiful girls, occasionally neglecting her... In the end, after this trip to Amphoreus, it would be hard to ever see Lumina again for the rest of her life.
It wasn't a matter of Lumina "abandoning her conquests" after a fling; there were simply far too many beautiful girls around her.
But Lumina was only one person. Under these circumstances, she simply couldn't handle them all.
When one beautiful girl was treated with Lumina's tenderness, it naturally meant that another beautiful girl was left in the cold.
There was simply no other way around it.
Is it possible that Lumina was actually a master of time management, able to ensure that no matter how many beautiful girls there were, she could bestow her "special affection" upon each and every one of them?
The answer was:
Absolutely impossible.
Based on the beautiful girls Herta had witnessed with her own eyes so far, this was already beyond what any so-called time management master could solve.
No matter how powerful a time management master might be, they'd still be cuddling with five or six beautiful girls in the same area.
For the kind of cuddling across the Cosmos that Lumina did, trying to solve it through time management was completely impossible.
Hmm... Actually, if there were only five or six beautiful girls to cuddle with, then given Lumina's strength, it wouldn't be completely impossible.
After all, traversing the Cosmos was no particularly difficult task for Lumina.
But yeah, no problem is one thing, but that only means her strength was not the issue.
In the end, it still depended on the number of beautiful girls.
If you say five or six, then it is indeed possible to bestow "special affection" upon all of them through time management.
But what about fifty or sixty?
If there were fifty or sixty, could you still solve it through time management?
Even if you took three, four, five, or six at a time, you would still have to run back and forth dozens of times a day... In this situation, forget a time management master, you might as well become the so-called Aeon of [Time] itself, and it still wouldn't be of any use.
Hmm... if you became the Aeon of Time, maybe it wouldn't be impossible?
But using the Aeon's power for this kind of thing, isn't that a little...?
But when it comes to Lumina, it suddenly feels quite normal.
Herta thought of this and glanced at Lumina, just as she met Lumina's gentle smile.
Hmm...
After taking a look, Herta withdrew her gaze.
In short, no matter what, it was simply impossible for Lumina to attend to all the beautiful girls.
However, the fifty or sixty beautiful girls Herta mentioned were just a random number.
What if the number of beautiful girls Lumina had actually met and cuddled with was only five or six?
Although the possibility was slim, what if?
Hmm... Okay, that possibility simply didn't exist.
After all, the number of beautiful girls Herta knew alone already exceeded that figure.
Asta, Ruan Mei, March 7th, Stelle, Little Swarm, Robin, Firefly, Sparkle, Acheron, Black Swan, Aglaea, Castorice, Hyacine, Cipher... plus Herta herself.
That already made over a dozen, not to mention the beautiful girls Herta didn't even know about.
Adding them all up, perhaps the so-called fifty or sixty beautiful girls was still an underestimate by Herta...
Faced with this, Herta didn't know what to say. She could only silently pray that Lumina would definitely mess up in the future.
That's right, not "definitely not mess up."
But rather, "definitely mess up."
After all, if Lumina messed up and was despised by all the beautiful girls, then Herta could take advantage of the situation and become Lumina's one and only!
Though this was no different from [Ena's Dream]...
Lumina would most likely not mess up, because she had that near-invincible strength.
And even if she did mess up, the final outcome awaiting Lumina would absolutely not be abandonment, but acceptance.
If Herta had these thoughts, then the other beautiful girls would naturally have them too... When the time came, the so-called "messing up" topic would naturally pass.
It wouldn't have any impact on Lumina.
Hmm... Rather, the words "messing up" simply could never apply to Lumina.
She couldn't mess up, and she absolutely wouldn't mess up.
The kind of "messing up" that would make her hated by beautiful girls.
But unfortunately, even if she did some very excessive things, like "forcing love" on the beautiful girls, there would probably be no problem at all.
Who asked her to be so good-looking?
"I'm sorry, I have to awaken you from ancient death."
While Herta was lost in her own thoughts, Castorice looked at the Remains of the Dead Dragon before her and offered an apology.
"I know you're uneasy, but... don't be afraid."
Castorice's voice was slender and gentle, and hearing it felt like one was about to conceive.
It felt incredibly soothing.
Hearing Castorice's gentle words, Death let out a sorrowful low croon, evoking a sense of pity and compassion.
"Do you remember me? I am the girl you once escorted across the Styx..." Castorice softly helped Death recall.
The Death Dragon listened quietly, responding with a sorrowful low croon at certain parts of the story.
After finishing the tale, Castorice's expression became exceptionally serious: "So now, please guide me across the Sea of Souls and back to the Nether Realm."
"Just... just like you did before."
"Take me to the final resting place of the [Death] Coreflame, will you?"
The Death Dragon let out a low rumble, responding to Castorice's words.
Aside from Castorice, no one else present could understand the Death Dragon's speech.
But the smile that appeared on Castorice's face showed that the Death Dragon had agreed to her request.
Nodding to the Death Dragon, Castorice turned to face the others.
"Sister Lumina, Big Sister Herta, Miss Stelle, and Mem, I'm leaving now."
Castorice first smiled softly at Sister Lumina, then turned her gaze to Stelle.
Castorice had never forgotten the true purpose of this journey.
Obtaining the [Death] Coreflame was only a secondary goal; the primary objective was to resolve Stelle's physical condition and allow her to become a "living being" once more.
"We... we aren't going to have to crawl inside the egg, are we?" Stelle joked lightly, resting her hands on her hips as she looked at the Remains of the Dead Dragon before her.
"Um... uh."
The moment after she spoke, Stelle's vision suddenly blurred. Her pretty face contorted slightly as she quickly covered her head with her hands to ease the sudden dizziness.
"Partner?! Partner, what's wrong!" Mem, standing beside her, was the first to notice Stelle's distress and immediately appeared, asking with deep concern.
"I... I think I'm ascending to become an Aeon."
Even at such a critical and important moment, Stelle still maintained her sense of humor.
She wasn't particularly worried about her own condition.
After all, with the omniscient and omnipotent Sister Lumina here, nothing could possibly go wrong.
Of course, even without Sister Lumina, Stelle wouldn't have felt any anxiety.
It was just [Death], after all. What was the big deal?
"Huh?" Seeing Stelle's current state, the smile on Castorice's face vanished instantly, replaced by a look of utter worry. "Is... is the fifteen Dawns really that fast?"
Although they didn't know the exact time, no matter how she thought about it, it definitely hadn't been fifteen Dawns yet.
"Don't worry, this is perfectly normal. Saying fifteen Dawns was just an estimate. It's normal for the actual timing to be slightly off," Lumina said, trying to soothe the two of them, one of whom was a floating object, as they looked so tense.
However, this attempt at soothing was somewhat off.
It didn't sound like comfort at all, but rather like she was pronouncing Stelle's death sentence.
But this was clearly an illusion. After speaking, Lumina extended her small palm, gently resting it on the top of Stelle's head. She lightly rubbed it to ease the discomfort and pain Stelle was feeling.
At the same time, she slowly channeled a faint green light into Stelle's body, causing the discomfort and pain to gradually fade away.
Simultaneously...
She restored Stelle's physical condition to normal.
Lumina couldn't bear to see a beautiful young girl suffering. Besides, she didn't plan to drag this out any longer, so she simply decided to solve Stelle's problem directly.
It wasn't a difficult task anyway, just something she did in passing.
Next, all she needed to do was wait for Castorice to become the [Death] Demigod, and then make friends with her "Dragon Girl" younger sister, and this journey to Styxia would be over~