When he saw the Knight of Beauty in the room, Professor Ratio was also somewhat surprised. However, after hearing what the mechanical intelligence knight in front of him said, he quickly connected the clues, while also thinking of some other things.
For example, those fanatics he had seen at Herta Space Station.
Although it was only speculation and association, Ratio felt that his guess was already very close to the truth. That boy named Nero might have something to do with the missing Aeon of Beauty.
Otherwise, there would have been no need for the Knights of Beauty to make such a huge fuss, and the reorganization of the Knights of Beauty would also be difficult to explain.
In an instant, many thoughts flashed through Ratio's mind, but he said nothing. He simply stepped aside silently as if watching a show, turning his attention to the books on the bookshelf beside him.
In any case, what he needed to do was basically finished by now. He might as well see what other information here, belonging to Sunday, might interest him.
As a renowned scholar, he was naturally very good at managing his time.
On the other side, because Sunday had yet to give him an answer, Tilianders had no choice but to speak again, "Mr. Sunday, I must remind you that my arrival this time represents the Knights of Beauty, not me personally."
Along with his words came the vibration from his vocal apparatus, adding a little more pressure to Tilianders' voice. In reality, however, this mechanical intelligence was not speaking in a tone mixed with any emotion.
"We are not putting pressure on the Family. We are merely making some reasonable requests. We hope the Family can agree to our request. At the same time, I am willing to swear on the honor of the Knights that we absolutely will not pose a threat to Penacony's normal operation or the Family's control over it.
"I think you should understand very clearly that these things are of no use to us.
"We do not wish to make things difficult for you. It is simply that the Knights cannot compromise on this matter. The trial of Beauty is right before us. We have no reason not to move forward."
Sunday looked at Tilianders, feeling quite irritated inside.
No matter what, Tilianders' request was not something he could easily agree to, but the Knights' attitude was clearly firm. Their military strength alone was already enough to give him a headache.
He could not agree, but he also could not refuse to agree. The head of the Oak Family was now in an awkward position with no way forward or backward. The Knights' strength made it impossible for him to simply leave them alone, but at the same time, he could not turn against them and disregard their feelings. And on top of that, his sister had just been murdered, while Aventurine had also been brought here at this moment.
One troublesome matter after another...
Sunday had been suppressing the anger in his heart for a long time. Ever since he learned of Robin's death, he had already been furious beyond measure. It was only because of his position that he had to take certain things into consideration, forcing himself to suppress it and preventing himself from losing his temper.
A few seconds later, Sunday gave in. He had no choice but to kick the matter down the road and stall for time, at least giving them an answer. With so many Knights in Penacony, things would become troublesome if they all started causing trouble together. That would definitely cause the situation to spiral out of control.
"Please give me some time, Mr. Tilianders." Sunday spoke to the mechanical intelligence knight. "You should know that in Penacony, even as the head of the Oak Family, I cannot make decisions freely, especially when it concerns matters that may involve Penacony's secrets.
"Afterward, I will summon the heads of the other families and discuss how to deal with this together. I think that in the face of the Knights' request, the Dreammaster should also issue instructions."
"Thank you for your trust and generosity, Mr. Sunday." Tilianders stood up and looked at the head of the Oak Family before him.
"We will wait for your message. But before that, even if we cannot obtain the authority to freely explore all of Penacony, I still hope you can open up some areas to us, such as the Dreamscapes currently being built by the Dreamweavers. He might have simply wandered into one of them by accident."
Sunday frowned. He heard the determination in Tilianders' words. Even bringing the Dreammaster into the matter would be useless.
No... Forget the Dreammaster. Even if the Mother of Faces herself descended, these people probably would not take another step back.
Although it was difficult to imagine how the Knights would confront a god, Sunday inexplicably found himself thinking this way.
Even if an Aeon personally descended, it would be useless. These Knights would absolutely not retreat even a single step.
"Fine..." Sunday said. "You may investigate the area around the Dreamweaving Frontier freely."
Sunday gave in, and at the same time, his eyes were filled with exhaustion. Facing the Knights of Beauty under these circumstances was not a pleasant feeling.
Ever since he was young, he had already encountered all kinds of people. No matter what kind of person they were, he could always find a weakness in them, find a point of entry.
But when facing the Knights of Beauty, Sunday had absolutely no idea where he should start. In a negotiation, there was nothing more frustrating than dealing with this kind of opponent.
"Thank you."
Tilianders held his head high and his chest out. As a mechanical intelligence knight, his bearing was clearly impeccable. After expressing his thanks to Sunday, he lightly nodded at Aventurine and Ratio. Only after greeting them like this did he turn around and leave.
At the same time, an almost invisible stream of data rapidly rolled through his eyes.
The instant Sunday gave in, the news had already been rapidly sent to all the Knights of Beauty who had currently landed on Penacony. In every corner of this enormous Dreamscape, one or more people who were so gorgeous that they seemed completely out of place with their surroundings could be seen. They might be men, women, or even cosmic lifeforms that did not look human at all.
The Knights smiled and prepared to begin their search on Penacony. They had chosen to first make their request to the Family, and only began large-scale action after the Family gave in. The Knights could be said to have shown the Family quite a lot of respect. They were truly very polite.
But what happened after they obtained permission to search was no longer under the Family's control. Even some highly confidential places would be visited by them. After all, they were not members of the Family. How would they know exactly how large the area covered by the Dreamweaving Frontier was? I've never been here before, so this should reasonably count as part of the Dreamweaving Frontier, right?
Wasn't excellent adaptability also a kind of beauty?
After all, one becomes like the fish one associates with, and Nero was ultimately not the former Idrila... As everyone knows, whatever kind of "idol" there is, there will be whatever kind of "fans."
Even among the Knights of Beauty, there was obviously nothing wrong with the Knights following Nero now being more flexible and adaptable than the Knights who had followed Idrila in the past.
In silence, Tilianders left. This mechanical intelligence knight even thoughtfully closed the door for the three people remaining inside.
The silence in the room lasted for a long time. Although he had not directly dealt with the pressure from the Knights of Beauty, Aventurine believed that the head of the Oak Family before him must be having a hard time.
The Company had enormous influence and more channels for information. Of course he knew what kind of "monsters" the Knights of Beauty were. Long ago, when the purge of the Mirrox Holders across the cosmos that began with the Xianzhou Luofu had officially erupted, the Company had already reassessed these warriors who had rarely shown themselves in the universe since their dissolution.
So even from the perspective of an observer, he could more or less understand how much pressure Sunday had just faced.
Aside from their inexplicably terrifying cohesion, the most serious thing about the Knights of Beauty was their strength, which seemed to fluctuate between divine and demonic. There had yet to be any news of an Emanator of Beauty, but there were some other reports...
Those Knights could be unable to defeat a child of only a dozen or so years old one second, then effortlessly erase a villain with the power to destroy a planet the next.
It was difficult to imagine just how great the difference was between their full strength in a duel and their full strength in a fight to the death.
These were only speculations for people like Aventurine and the others. After all, at most, they had only witnessed the Knights' strength indirectly. Compared to them, perhaps Yanqing had a much stronger impression of this point.
After all, at Nero's request, Argenti had always readily agreed to practice with Yanqing.
And the result of every practice session was Yanqing's defeat. Just like when he sparred with Nero, Yanqing had never won even once against Argenti.
If, among all those he practiced with, Nero was the one who put the most pressure on Yanqing, then Argenti was second.
Even Jing Yuan would occasionally hold back to tease the child, but Argenti would not do that. He would only let Yanqing clearly understand his current level before defeating him in a single move.
It was actually difficult to imagine that the Knights of Beauty could possess such terrifying combat power, to the point that Yanqing was always wondering whether this outcome had something to do with Nero.
After all, Nero was covered in fragments of Beauty from head to toe...
In short, before the Knights of Beauty officially began their search, the friends from the Xianzhou had already begun taking action.
They had even merely told the Astral Express crew to mention the Xianzhou people's attitude while notifying the Family, and regardless of whether the Astral Express crew had actually notified them, they had already begun acting.
Even Huo Huo and Yanqing did not think there was anything wrong or inappropriate about this...
Sunday actually already knew about this matter as well, but there was nothing he could say...
After all, the person really had gone missing on the Family's territory...
As everyone knows, among the many forces in the universe, clashing with the Xianzhou was the most unwise choice. Nowadays, many people said that even if you went to provoke the Antimatter Legion, you should never provoke the Xianzhou.
You ask why?
Don't you know that the last Lord Ravager who provoked the Xianzhou was captured alive?
At the time, only the Xianzhou Luofu had fought against him. They had not even called in the other Xianzhou ships for help.
At some point, the power of the Xianzhou seemed to have expanded.
There were even some rather strange rumors about this. For example, a certain Mirror Holder who had fortunately been imprisoned had already gone insane and kept saying things like the Xianzhou Luofu had come alive and the Xianzhou Luofu was an Emanator.
If his words were anything to go by, the Xianzhou Alliance seemed to be a little too powerful. It was difficult to imagine how terrifying it would be if every Xianzhou ship were actually an Emanator apart from the Seven Arbiter-Generals.
It was even harder to imagine what it would look like in battle if the Xianzhou reached out and grabbed your Emanator by the neck.
However, since he had thought of the Xianzhou, there was actually another thing that puzzled Sunday.
From what he knew, the only force currently listed as a hunting target by the Xianzhou Alliance was the Abundance faction. Even though the Lord Ravager Phantylia had attacked the Luofu, the Destruction faction had still not been included among the forces being hunted.
Yet under these circumstances, the Mirror Holders had inexplicably been designated as a hunting target by the Xianzhou Alliance. This was a signal the Alliance had sent out not long ago.
Sunday found it difficult to imagine what kind of outrageously offensive things those lunatics of the Mirror Holders had done to be designated as a hunting target by the Xianzhou before even the Antimatter Legion.
But given the current situation, with the Xianzhou, the Astral Express, and the Knights of Beauty all involved, Sunday felt as if he had understood something.
That little brat who seemed to be very familiar with his sister was apparently quite something.
But these things were ultimately unrelated to the matter at hand. No matter how many troublesome matters there were, they had to be dealt with one by one.
Sunday raised his hand and rubbed the space between his brows, quickly setting aside those chaotic thoughts for the time being and turning his attention back to the Company's envoy.
He looked at Aventurine, adjusted his state of mind, and then spoke, "Company envoy, to be able to come here so quickly, I presume your learned friend beside you helped quite a bit?"
"Of course," Aventurine said with a faint smile. "You should understand this better than I do. He has faithfully fulfilled his duty, hasn't he?"
"Mm. Earlier, the professor vouched for your noble character."
Sunday quickly adjusted his state of mind and calmly spoke with Aventurine. When negotiating with Tilianders, the matters involving Nero had placed pressure on both him and the Family from many sides. But facing Aventurine now was clearly much easier.
"He said that the two of you are equally upright and are people the Family can trust."
"I understand your character very well now, Mr. Aventurine. You are diligent, generous, willing to cooperate, and you successfully crossed obstacle after obstacle to come before me. This gives me reason to believe in your wisdom and decisiveness."
"But there is one thing I must question you about. Your intelligence and talent were unfortunately used in the wrong place, leading you to meet someone you should not have met, appear where you should not have appeared... and witness a tragedy that should never have happened."
"You don't look very well," Aventurine said with a light laugh. "Let me confirm one thing for now. Am I the one making you anxious? If not, then I'm on your side."
"If I have understood correctly, what you just said... is an extremely serious accusation against the Family."
"You understood correctly, because evil is quietly growing at your side."
Aventurine said openly, "We don't need to beat around the bush. Let's talk about your sister. Your sister's talent is unmatched in the entertainment industry, but you also know that after returning to Penacony, her voice was never quite right."
"What's even more frightening is that she can no longer sing. Who did it? Everyone thinks the murderer is among the outsiders, but I know... you have another answer in your heart."
"Now, your noble status has instead become shackles, preventing you from personally capturing the murderer and avenging your sister. You are isolated and helpless, which is why you feel so anxious."
"Hmm... perhaps that's only part of it. Nero, the Nameless who came from the Xianzhou and is close to the Knights of Beauty, has gone missing. Under these circumstances, I imagine that has also brought you no small amount of trouble."
"But don't worry. I'm on your side."
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