In the days that followed, Anby, Nekomata, Nicole, Ellen, Corin, Qingyi, and several other girls visited Wise more than once.
Nicole's visits were discreet enough to go unnoticed, while Qingyi used the excuse of a patrol route to check on him and deliver the "gratitude" she had promised.
The troublesome part was dealing with the aftermath, though it wasn't entirely unpleasant.
Putting that aside, today was the day Wise would head to the Outer Ring with Billy. Once ready, he made his way to their usual meeting spot.
Odile, Odette, and Fairy had originally wanted to come along, but Wise asked them to stay behind and watch over Belle.
He wouldn't be gone for long, and the Outer Ring was no place for Belle to be alone. With those three staying by her side, he could at least feel a little more at ease.
Fairy was the world's most advanced artificial intelligence. Her combat potential remained unmeasured, but she possessed an S-class body granted by a system reward, could access any combat technique from the internet within seconds, and was capable of reading an opponent's movements in the middle of a fight.
On top of that, there were two extraordinarily dangerous Ethereals who could go toe-to-toe with Victoria Housekeeping. With all that combined, Belle's safety was more than assured.
With everything settled, Wise headed toward the nearby intersection, where Billy was already waiting.
Before long, they were out on the Outer Ring highway.
"Oh? It's so vast!"
Gazing at the desolate landscape stretching far beyond the car window, broken only by Hollows of all shapes and sizes scattered across the terrain, Wise couldn't help but voice his amazement.
"How is it? The scenery out here isn't too bad, right? Driving in the Outer Ring is seriously exhilarating!"
"It is, but this road runs dangerously close to the Hollows. There are quite a few nearby."
If a Hollow were to suddenly expand, any vehicle caught too close wouldn't stand a chance.
"Haha, can't really help that," Billy replied. "The Outer Ring doesn't have much in the way of Ether technology, so clearing out Hollows isn't easy. You can't even mine Ether resources out here."
As he spoke, Billy pointed toward a cluster of towering machines in the distance. Wise immediately recognized them as oil derricks.
Billy went on to explain that the Outer Ring still relied on oil, even though the resource, highly susceptible to Ether corruption, had long been abandoned within the city. Out here, without the infrastructure to support anything more advanced, there was no better alternative.
"Huh? Wait... wait! What's wrong with that car coming from the other direction? It's going to crash, it's going to crash!" Billy's voice rose in panic.
Wise reacted instantly, lunging for the steering wheel and wrenching it sharply to the right.
They avoided a direct collision, but the sudden shift in momentum sent the car crashing through the guardrail and straight into a Hollow.
The driver of the oncoming vehicle was slumped halfway out of his seat, gasping for air. Behind him, two figures stepped out from the back: a blond man and a gray-furred Thiren carrying a weapon. Both wore clothing typical of the Outer Ring.
From the brief exchange between the blond man and the driver, it quickly became clear that the crash had been no accident at all.
Meanwhile, inside the Hollow, despite its unusual nature, the combined resilience of Wise and Billy ensured they came through completely unharmed.
They paused briefly to assess the situation. The Bangboo from the Sons of Calydon had Carrot, along with the Hollow data Billy had purchased on the black market.
With those in hand, finding a way out wouldn't be an issue. As a Proxy, mapping an escape route using calculated data was well within Wise's abilities.
As they gathered the necessary data, several Ethereals appeared along the way, giving Wise the perfect opportunity to show Billy what he could really do.
One of them stood out from the rest. A high-risk Ethereal with a single enormous eye embedded in the center of its forehead and two thick red horns jutting from its skull came charging at them like a raging bull.
Billy stumbled back, trying to get out of its path. Wise, however, didn't move. He faced the creature head-on, and the moment the Ethereal locked eyes with him, his charm took effect. It froze mid-charge, caught in a daze as its movements came to an abrupt halt.
Wise closed the distance without hesitation and drove his blade straight into its massive eye.
One strike, and it was over.
He pulled back, then turned, only to find Billy staring at him, completely speechless.
At that exact moment, a gray-gold-haired woman came tearing in on an off-road motorcycle, landing right in front of them. The impact made her chest bounce noticeably before she steadied herself.
"Boss!"
Billy's face lit up the instant he recognized her. The woman, however, barely acknowledged him. Her gaze had already locked onto Wise.
"Eh? Is... is that you? You're actually the legendary Proxy, Phaethon?!"
"Well, revealing my identity as a Proxy inside the city isn't exactly ideal," Wise replied with an awkward smile. "Just like I didn't know you were the boss out here in the Outer Ring, Caesar."
"Ah... right. I did think about bringing it up before, but it never really felt like the right moment to say anything."
Caesar scratched her cheek with one finger, looking slightly flustered. Billy, still standing beside her, spoke up to get her attention, and only then did she seem to realize he was there.
"Oh! It's been a while, Billy!"
"It has, but... how do you two know each other, Boss? And what are you doing out here?" he asked, clearly confused.
Before either of them could answer, a young man approached from nearby. He had dark blue-black hair, wore a pair of sunglasses, and had a red scarf loosely wrapped around his neck.
"Looks like there was quite a fight here just now. I didn't expect that, even after all this time, your strength would still be on another level, Billy."
"Ha, you're not wrong, Lighter, but honestly, this whole situation was handled by the guy standing next to me."
Billy gestured toward Wise. Both Caesar and Lighter turned to look at him, the question clearly written across their faces.
This young man, who looked more delicate than anything else, aside from being strikingly handsome, was actually that capable?
Wise could read it clearly from their expressions, without needing the system to confirm a thing.
There wasn't much he could do about it. It wasn't that he lacked the desire to grow stronger.
The issue was that, as his charm value increased, something seemed to push back against it, a limiting force that kept his body locked in what it considered its most ideal state.
It was why he appeared slightly lean beneath his clothes, while anyone who saw him without them would discover a very different reality.
But that wasn't important right now.
Caesar finally answered Billy's earlier question. She had received a call from a girl who sounded genuinely panicked, telling her that the two of them had ended up inside a Hollow.
"That was Belle, wasn't it?" Wise said, more as a quiet realization than a question. "There really was no need to worry that much."
He figured Fairy had been the one to inform her. He had planned to bring it up himself once they were safely out, hoping to spare her the worry.
"So it was Belle! I thought the voice sounded familiar, but she didn't call my private number, so I wasn't completely sure at first. Lucy even thought it was a prank."
Caesar paused, shook her head slightly, and added, "But she described everything perfectly—the details about you two, even the route in. That's a Proxy for you. I really learned something new today."
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Novels Available:
-> Zenless Zone Zero: The Almighty Incubus of Sixth Street. (Translation)
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