"Th-that..."
Eous's gaze darted nervously, avoiding Lycaon's eyes. But when he turned his head away, he ended up looking straight at Rina instead. Her smile was gentle and silent, yet Eous only felt more pressure. In the end, he took a deep breath.
"I'm truly, deeply sorry!"
Eous bowed low in apology. His small body leaned forward so far he smacked his head on the floor with a thud, then scrambled up, clutching his head.
Before he could even yelp from the pain, Eous hurriedly explained:
"Rain is a renowned hacker, operating in the gray area, and she was abducted by an unknown group. I initially kept it secret because I was afraid you would..."
"Afraid we'd hand her over to New Eridu Public Security, right?"
The perceptive Lycaon immediately guessed Eous's thoughts and finished the sentence for him.
"Yep!"
Eous nodded repeatedly.
Lycaon relaxed at once, his whole body loosening. After a brief pause, he said, "I see. Since Master Proxy is willing to exchange intelligence with us, our upcoming operation won't be affected."
"The upcoming operation..."
Eous murmured, suddenly thinking of something. The eyes on his display screen widened. "Wait, Lycaon—are you still willing to cooperate with me?"
He stared, a little dazed.
But... but didn't I hide part of the truth at the start? And putting that aside, rebels are involved now. Wouldn't a normal person think the right move is to call the authorities?
Clearly, Victoria Housekeeping does not operate by normal standards.
"Of course."
Lycaon nodded slightly, his white-furred face wearing an expression of complete certainty.
"Master Proxy, I'm sure you understand this much: Victoria Housekeeping's employers undoubtedly hold a certain level of status in New Eridu."
"Given our employers' standing, if they had to rely on New Eridu Public Security even for something as minor as protecting their property... Victoria Housekeeping cannot allow such rumors to spread and damage our clients' reputations."
"Moreover..."
Lycaon suddenly turned to look behind them.
Confused, Eous followed his gaze. They saw two figures rising from a bench half-hidden behind the flowerbeds, walking toward them hand in hand.
Halfway over, the two suddenly realized what they were doing. Ellen's face flared scarlet, and the pair sprang apart as though shocked by electricity, muttering something under their breath.
No one on Lycaon's side heard a word of it. Phaga, however, caught every syllable.
"D-don't let them find out about this. I don't know how to face them yet."
"...Uh, heh."
Phaga couldn't help a wry smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Thinking about it, the only one in all of Victoria Housekeeping still in the dark was probably Corin.
But since Ellen clearly wanted to keep fooling herself, Phaga didn't have the heart to tell her everyone already knew she was stealing hearts. He stepped away from her first, heading back toward the others and stopping in front of Lycaon.
The moment he returned, Phaga could feel that the mood was a little off. He asked, a bit stiffly, "What's wrong?"
Lycaon's gaze lingered on Phaga for a good while before he finally shook his head. "Nothing serious. But there is something you might care about."
Something I care about?
Phaga's confusion deepened. Lycaon didn't bother with pretense and said directly:
"I recall you mentioning you wanted to find a top-tier hacker to breach Sacrifice No.2's firewall."
"Mhm."
Phaga nodded slightly.
While Lycaon and the others hadn't known about Sacrifice No.2 at first, Phaga's experiments were being conducted in the basement—there was no way to hide a humanoid machine that large from Lycaon and Rina.
So on the third day after he brought Sacrifice No.2 back, Phaga had ended up confessing everything under Lycaon and Rina's questioning.
He'd assumed they were just asking casually and never expected them to remember it so clearly. That realization warmed his heart.
"Right now is the perfect opportunity. We don't know what the rebels want with Miss Rain, but the fact they targeted her at all proves her skills are exceptional. It's worth letting her try."
Before he even finished, Lycaon saw a spark light up in Phaga's eyes and couldn't help but smile faintly.
He then turned his attention back to Eous.
"Master Proxy, do you have any urgent business? We were hoping..."
"No, no, no! I should be thanking you for being willing to rescue Rain!"
Eous waved his hands again and again. Belobog Heavy Industries wasn't in any rush, and with Victoria Housekeeping running all over the place, cutting in line a little wouldn't hurt.
"Excellent. Then we shouldn't delay any further—let's depart at once."
Seeing Eous agree, the last of Lycaon's concerns evaporated.
All that was left was to go all-in.
"Wait... wait!"
Just as Eous and the Victoria Housekeeping group were about to move on, a miserable wail rang out behind them.
Everyone stopped and turned to look.
The Deputy Captain, hair disheveled, was dragging himself along the floor. One of his legs had been shattered by Phaga, leaving him unable to stand. The moment he saw Lycaon and the others turn back, hope flooded his eyes.
The Deputy Captain called out desperately, "I told you everything! You've gotta save me!"
Lycaon glanced down at him briefly, then turned away and continued on their original path.
The others followed one by one.
From behind a wall in Building B of the Ballet Tower, a faint voice drifted over:
"Rebel Lord, we never promised to save you—only that we wouldn't hand you over to New Eridu Public Security."
"Oh, right."
A backpack suddenly came flying from afar.
Its zipper was already open, and as soon as it hit the ground, a music player tumbled out.
Click~
The player triggered, and a song began to play.
Elegant, dignified music poured from the device, blending with the bright full moon hanging over the central courtyard corridor, making the scene seem tranquil and serene.
But the Deputy Captain didn't relax at all. The instant he heard the tune, he remembered something terrifying. He let out a terrified scream, ignoring the stabbing pain in his knees as he forced himself to crawl faster!
But he was too late...
The light bulb in the central courtyard flickered.
When it came back on, a new shadow was there.
The shadow was dressed in formal wear. Its metallic thighs, like sharpened spikes, scraped across the floor in a rhythmic cha-cha, slowly approaching the Deputy Captain.
"Don't come any closer, don't come any closer... Ah!!!"
A blood-curdling scream echoed through the entire building.
...
The anguished cry from behind made the group pause for a moment.
Phaga narrowed his eyes and murmured, "That backpack really was bad news."
Lycaon watched for a bit, then pulled his gaze back from the corridor and shook his head. "They brought this upon themselves."
"Let's go, Phaga. Forget them. Miss Rain is still in rebel hands, and time is the one thing we lack."
"Mm. Got it."
Phaga also looked away and moved on, scooping Eous up in his arms along the way.
Eous leaned back against Phaga's chest with practiced ease, ready to give directions in comfort—only for a message from Fairy to pop up.
[Fairy: My apologies for disturbing you at this time, but Billy is calling.]
"Tsk. Patch him through."
Eous clicked his tongue. Noticing everyone looking his way, he switched the call to speaker mode.
[Manager!!!]
The second the call connected, Billy's frantic voice exploded from the phone.
"Billy?"
Hearing the panic in Billy's tone, Eous sat up straight at once, his voice turning serious. "What's wrong, Billy? Weren't you on the airship?"
[Everyone on the airship deck is unconscious, Manager!]
"What happened?"
[No idea! Just now, Perlman asked us to get his suit from the trunk. The moment we opened it, white gas spread throughout the whole airship. Not long after, everyone just blacked out!]
[And that's not even the main issue...]
Under the dark night sky, an airship was gliding through the air.
But its cockpit was completely empty—only a robot in a red jacket stood there, utterly at a loss.
[The real problem is, the pilot operating the airship is gone.]
[After he vanished, the airship switched to autopilot.]
[But the route was hacked by some bastard! The airship is heading straight for the hollow—I can already see the spires of the Ballet Tower poking out from it!]
[What do we do? We're done for! Quick, think of something, Manager!]