A top the tower of Dreamflux Reef—
Gallagher tightly held his glass of liquor.
Silently watching the enormous memoria void before him.
After an unknown amount of time—
A faint smile finally appeared at the corner of Gallagher's lips.
"Guess it's time to say goodbye to Siobhan and the others."
"And those Dreamjolt Troupe fools too."
"Wonder if Siobhan's still gonna keep working as a bartender after this."
"Or maybe she'll go back to the Iris Family and become an artist again?"
Gallagher gently placed the drink beside Mikhail's body.
"Old man."
"Your dream came true."
"Those reckless kids already corrected the dreamscape."
"Gopher Wood's dead too."
"He paid for everything he did."
"From now on... Penacony won't belong to Order anymore."
"And as for me..."
"I guess it's finally time to leave."
"Hopefully... we'll meet again someday."
Then—
Gallagher's shadow slowly vanished from the spot.
Leaving behind only a sculpture of a hound sitting quietly beside Mikhail.
Faintly—
One could still hear a voice lingering in the air.
"A toast... to an imperfect tomorrow..."
Dreamjolt Bar.
At this moment—
A woman with the aura of a mature older sister quietly polished a wine glass.
Dreamjolt Bar was one of the more unique bars within the Reverie Hotel.
Its customers weren't merely ordinary guests.
It also welcomed many... unusual visitors.
For example—
Those little fellows from the Sweet Dreams Troupe.
And the woman before them—
Was Siobhan, the person Gallagher mentioned earlier.
Siobhan was originally a native of Penacony.
After giving birth to her—
Her parents went bankrupt and abandoned the young girl inside one of the Reverie Hotel's dream pools.
Later—
She was discovered and adopted by Maveen Ellis, head of the Iris Family.
Raised as an artist—
She eventually became one of Penacony's brightest stars.
Siobhan was an extremely famous figure within the Iris Family—
Her status second only to the Family Head herself.
Usually preferring solitude—
She rarely appeared in public.
Even toward Iris Family interns, she always spoke gently—
Patiently explaining every tiny detail they needed to remember.
And unlike many others—
She never treated members of the Sweet Dreams Troupe as tools.
She viewed them as genuine living beings.
Strongly opposing any mistreatment toward them.
Later—
After growing tired of life beneath the spotlight—
She left the Iris Family.
Yet she still couldn't abandon the Dreamjolt Troupe that the Sweet Dreams Troupe had become.
So she opened Dreamjolt Bar within Penacony's dreamscape—
Providing a place for them to recover.
Through drinks and conversation therapy—
She gradually restored unstable Dreamjolt Troupe members back into their original Sweet Dreams selves.
Gallagher had known her for quite a long time.
After all—
He himself was also an exceptional bartender.
This whole Penacony incident didn't affect Siobhan very much.
Because most of her customers—
Were these Dreamjolt Troupe members anyway.
But just now—
While polishing an empty glass—
She suddenly felt an inexplicable emptiness in her heart.
She couldn't understand why.
Siobhan glanced strangely toward the Dreamjolt Troupe members rehearsing inside the bar.
Everything looked perfectly normal.
So then—
What exactly was that sudden uneasiness earlier?
"That's weird..."
"But seriously..."
"How long has it been since Gallagher came by?"
"What's that guy even doing lately..."
Siobhan muttered softly.
Normally—
Gallagher would come help her mix drinks whenever he had free time.
After all—
Though she served ordinary customers sometimes—
Most of her guests were far from normal.
Yet Gallagher hadn't appeared for quite some time now.
Did something happen to him?
Siobhan shook her head.
Everything around her remained peaceful.
Nothing seemed unusual.
So she quietly continued polishing the glass in her hand.
Dreamflux Reef.
After Septimus disappeared—
Evan and the others returned here once more.
At this point—
The Penacony incident had more or less settled completely.
What came next—
Was the reckoning.
With the Oak Family's downfall—
The next power destined to step onto the stage would undoubtedly be the Alfalfa Family.
And their leader—
Was Old Oti.
An exceptionally shrewd Pepeshi.
According to Secret History of the Pepeshi—
The fluffy pom-pom atop a Pepeshi's head was actually their true body.
Their humanoid form was merely a disguise.
Xipe once attempted to bless the Pepeshi—
Only to discover the Pepeshi had somehow blessed Them instead.
Touching a Pepeshi's pom-pom could supposedly extend one's lifespan.
A Pepeshi's pom-pom could separate from the body during danger and grow an entirely new body.
Unfortunately—
Nothing in the universe had ever truly threatened a Pepeshi.
Destruction was apparently just a side effect of Pepeshi pranks.
Pepeshi pom-poms could fire superluminal particle beams.
Pepeshi didn't dream.
Dreams dreamed them.
A Pepeshi once told a joke at the edge of the universe—
And thus Aha was born.
The first black hole originated when a Pepeshi arm-wrestled a star and forgot to hold back.
There were originally hundreds of Lord Ravagers—
Until they encountered a Pepeshi during team-building activities.
The Cancer of All Worlds was merely crumbs dropped during a Pepeshi picnic.
Yaoshi possessed nearly infinite life.
Their only near-death experience came from interrupting a sleeping Pepeshi.
Lan borrowed Their bow from a Pepeshi.
Yaoshi borrowed Their life from a Pepeshi.
Nous was created by Pepeshi.
Aha stole jokes from Pepeshi.
Even Xipe's songs were apparently composed by Pepeshi.
In short—
According to this absurd book—
Pepeshi were invincible across the cosmos.
Anyway—
Those stories were obviously nonsense made up by bored Pepeshi.
Their credibility wasn't even as reliable as a sentence from Aha.
Still—
There was no denying Old Oti himself was difficult to deal with.
Not because of strength.
But because the old fox was simply too cunning.
Unless you were even more cunning—
Handling him would be troublesome.
"Finally back."
March stretched lazily.
"After saying goodbye to Mikhail and Gallagher, we can finally enjoy Penacony properly now, right?"
"Mhm."
"Even if the dreamscape's kinda falling apart..."
"At least we're not back in the barbaric Trailblaze era."
"...Evan."
Welt looked toward him hesitantly.
"You..."
He stopped halfway.
Then ultimately forced the words back down.
"Uncle Yang, Uncle Yang!"
March immediately leaned over curiously.
"What were you trying to say?"
"Yeah!"
Stelle also moved closer.
"The way you were looking at Evan was super weird!"
Even Dan Heng—
Though still standing with his arms crossed—
Quietly shifted his gaze toward Welt.
Meanwhile—
Evan planted his hands on his hips and grinned meaningfully.
"Hehe."
"So what exactly were you trying to ask me, Old Yang?"
Welt gave him a strange look.
This guy...
Did getting noticed by the Elation Aeon immediately make him addicted to watching drama?
"It's nothing... hm?"
Welt suddenly frowned.
"Strange."
"Where's Gallagher?"
The group had walked all the way from Dreamflux Reef's abandoned station.
Among all places—
Dreamflux Reef suffered the least damage.
It was also the place closest to falling under Ena's Dream at the very end.
Perhaps because it sat so close to the memoria void—
Aside from occasional weightlessness—
Almost nothing else changed here.
Now that everything had settled—
Life simply continued as normal.
Eventually—
The group arrived atop the high platform.
Mikhail still rested there quietly—
Holding the dream bubble containing Misha.
On the ground—
Only a single glass of liquor remained.
Gallagher himself had completely vanished.
Only the hound sculpture nearby remained—
Silently accompanying Mikhail.
"Maybe..."
March looked around awkwardly.
"He just got busy and left?"
"Penacony's huge after all."
"We'll probably run into him again later."
Evan's gaze quietly settled upon the hound statue.
A sigh rose within his heart.
Gallagher—
Had always been Mikhail's old companion.
"That hound statue..."
March blinked.
"I've seen it all over the dreamscape before."
"Hound statue... Hound Family..."
"Wait."
"This drink—did Gallagher leave it for us?"
"Probably."
"And this drink's called..."
Evan picked up the glass and smiled faintly.
"Gatherings Must End."
Then he raised the glass toward the hound statue in a silent toast.
—Gallagher was my truest lie.
—Sometimes, even I could no longer distinguish the boundary between him and myself.
A Fictionologist—
Had departed.
The identity called Gallagher—
Was itself merely a lie Gallagher created.
Even Evan himself couldn't fully understand beings like the Fictionologists.
Gallagher's existence had always been false.
He was Mikhail's old companion.
Mikhail's loyal hound.
Everything he did—
Including fabricating the identity known as Gallagher—
Was solely to fulfill Mikhail's wish.
Now—
Penacony had finally returned to normal.
Mikhail's dreamscape was never consumed by Order.
His purpose had been fulfilled.
And now that Mikhail's Trailblazing spirit had been passed on—
There was no longer any reason for the identity called Gallagher to remain.
Besides—
What a frighteningly perceptive Nameless.
The very first time Gallagher met Evan—
His true identity had already been seen through.
Though Evan never exposed him—
Gallagher wasn't stupid.
The fact he managed to remain until Penacony returned to normal—
Was already fortunate enough.
It was just a shame...
He never got the chance to properly say goodbye to his other friends.
Nor personally bid farewell to these descendants of Trailblaze.
But now—
He no longer had any regrets.
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