34 Escape

"Would you still take on the role as a leader despite knowing this?"

"...."

Silence overtook their surroundings as Bronya tried to imagine this situation to be projected into real life.

"..I.."

Bronya's answer was right at the tip of her tongue as she already knew her answer to this question but a hint of hesitation unknowingly mixed into her voice.

This sign of hesitation also came to her at a surprise but she managed to voice her answer. 

"I will still do it…"

Although it wasn't as firm as her previous answer, Yuuto was able to see a glimpse of her future self that he knew well from the game.

A person who despite not being a perfect model for the position suddenly given to her.

Was a person willing to learn and grow so that she could properly lead her people towards a prosperous life.

'But I hope this can help ignite something within her current view of things….'

Remembering that Bronya and Cocolia were arguing about something before they entered the office.

He hoped this could encourage her to voice her thoughts and question more towards Cocolia's actions.

If this were to happen, it would make the whole ordeal a bit easier based on the fact that a person in power can advocate for the people of the Underworld. 

Creating a potential ally.

He looked at her and saw her downcast eyes and felt a bit bad thinking that he may have been a bit too straightforward but he wanted to do what he could while he was still on the surface. 

"Hey, do you mind easing your expression a bit?"

"Huh…"

"Your face is looking a bit tense and it's making it look like I'm bullying you from an outsider's view…" 

Bronya lifted her head a bit and looked around to find out that a few people were sending them a few glances.

She also noticed Yuuto's rigid face and straightened her posture before clearing her throat and relaxing her face.

"I have a few things I want to do in my office so I will be on my way now…" Bronya dusted the bottom of her skirt and stood up from the bench.

"I hope you enjoy your stay and... thank you for the drink…"

Bronya gave him a graceful bow before Yuuto heard the click of her heels kicking off the concrete ground under them.

Yuuto watched her departing back before he took some fragmented crystals out of his pocket and concentrated on absorbing the energy inside.

Feeling the movement of warm energy gather within his palm and travel towards his body, he wondered how much energy he could absorb before a difference was felt.

"Cocolia would probably contact some people by tonight to betray us so we should probably leave during the night."

Yuuto rested his back on the bench and looked at the orange hues in the sky showing that nighttime was about to arrive.

Thinking of his next course of action, Yuuto wondered if Dan Heng figured out some things while he was also wandering off on his own. 

"But I should probably collect some proof that she's going to betray us…"

–Hehehe~

"Hmm?"

Yuuto stopped absorbing the fragmentation when he suddenly heard a laughter echo and wondered if he was hearing things.

–Heheh~ My precious..

"I swear if it's another ghost…"

Putting the crystal in his pocket, Yuuto stood up and focused his senses while also applying a bit of [Clarity] to see the things around him.

–I knew this place was a landmine

Yuuto suddenly turned his head when he pinpointed the direction of where he heard the noise and began to walk toward the source.

Passing by a few benches from his prior location, his feet eventually stopped in front of a large gray trash bin.

–Oh! There's something like this here too

"....."

Yuuto didn't say a word. Or rather he didn't want to say anything.

He rubbed the center of his forehead before taking his phone out to call someone.

[Hello, did you need anything?]

"I just want to ask something, is Stelle with you?"

[Ah! I actually wanted to ask you that. She said that she wanted to go buy something but I haven't seen her for quite some time already.]

"Alright, thanks for telling me."

Yuuto spoke a few more words with March who was telling him about some potential food he may like and he just said that he'll try some later once they meet up.

Turning off his phone, Yuuto let out one last sigh before he opened the lid of the bin.

"Can I ask what you're doing here?"

"Finding commodities that fit just right for a person such as myself."

"What a weird way to put it…"

"Non, non. It's called 'another person's trash is another person's family heirloom'' for a reason."

"I think you might have messed up that quote a bit."

Yuuto saw Stelle's smug face as she was crouched down looking at the contents of the bin she was in.

Thankfully it wasn't one filled with garbage but a bin that seemed to be used to throw away scraps of metal from machines and other items.

"So can you enlighten me on what type of 'family heirloom' you've found so far?"

He leaned his arms onto the edge of the bin and stared at the items Stelle had in front of her.

"Nothing much. Just a sacred sword."

"Okay, an old knife."

"A powerful telescope."

"So a long pipe?"

Stelle began to speak about her items with a serious face but all Yuuto thought about was that Stelle had a pretty vivid imagination.

Taking his eyes a bit off Stelle, Yuuto out of curiosity scanned the inside of the bin and looked at the scraps of metal broken down into pieces.

Some bars and other pieces were spread around but a certain object caught Yuuto's attention.

"A mini bird?"

"Ah, that thing. I had some batteries that I wanted to use on it but it seems that one of the wings broke off."

Stelle noticed what Yuuto was talking about and turned her body around.

A metal bird missing one of its wings, lifelessly hid under a few bars making it concealed if Yuuto didn't notice the light bouncing off it.

"Wait, let me see that."

Yuuto wanted to look at it closer and leaned his body deeper into the bin so that he could reach over towards the broken machine.

Stelle noticed what he was trying to do and helped him get rid of a few bars.

"What is happening…"

Unknown to Yuuto and Stelle who was out of sight, Dan Heng noticed Yuuto when he was a few meters away from him and watched as he pulled himself deeper into the bin.

"Did he somewhat get corrupted by Stelle…?"

Dan Heng looked puzzled at what he saw but decided to think past it and walk towards him.

"What are you doing?"

"....."

Yuuto froze when he heard a familiar voice appear behind him and Stelle who was inside, peeked her head outside the bin.

"Ah.. well.."

"...Let's go to our hotel since I have a few things I want to talk about."

"Gotcha."

"Can I stay a few more minutes?"

""No.""

***

The previous bright orange sky was now dark and night had finally fallen onto the city of Belobog.

Despite the dark sky, a few lights were on within an office where a blonde woman was sitting writing on some papers.

"May I ask Miss Pela to come to my office."

"Yes, Supreme Guardian."

Closing the door behind them, Cocolia was left alone in the room where she waited for a girl with long indigo hair styled in a hime cut. 

"I heard that you wish to see me, Supreme Guardian?"

"Yes, I would like for you to issue a warrant of arrest for a few people."

Cocolia stopped what she was writing and looked at Pela who wore an expressionless look.

"Who might these people be?"

"They're the visitors that arrived today. They have been found guilty of inciting rebellion against the Architects."

Pela flinched when she heard what the people wanted to do and donned a serious expression.

"Should we begin arresting them right away?"

Cocolia tapped her finger on the desk before she voiced her orders.

"Do it tomorrow at 0800h. Pass the orders around to Bronya too alongside the guards under her command."

"I understand. But currently, Miss Bronya is out doing some last-minute patrols so it may be a while before she comes back."

"That's unusual… That's fine however, just make sure to have her lead the arrest and tell her the specifics once she comes back."

"I will do as you're told."

Pela bowed her head and walked out of the office to fulfill the orders she received.

"Now that's taken care of… I should try and work on what 'it' said."

Cocolia picked her pen up once again and placed her attention on the paper in front of her. Not knowing that a sliver of silver light flashed behind her.

[They have been found guilty of…]

"Thankfully I got close to the window without getting caught."

Yuuto looked at his phone that had a recording and jumped off the tall wall of a few buildings.

His feet moved fast trying to hide as much sound as he could and return to the hotel.

'Ah, there's a few guards in the middle of the street…'

Donning their axes, Yuuto watched as they gathered in duos before walking in opposite directions.

'Thankfully the moon is out tonight.'

Yuuto took a deep breath and flashes of silver wrapped around his body that acted as a membrane encasing him.

Yuuto jumped from the roof, tapped his food lightly on the lamp post and glided through the air without having any of the guards look his way.

Moonlight.

His control over this energy had grown quite a bit after his spar with Jingliu and his way of applying had become more broader.

In a sense, he can now project it on items other than his sword and body to use it as more than just a form of enhancement.

In this case, using the moon's natural light to diffuse it around his body creates a sense of invisibility within dim environments.

Landing softly by the corner of the dark corner, Yuuto made his way into the hotel and made his way back into his room.

"I'm back."

"By the looks of it you found something."

"Bingo~"

Within his room was Dan Heng, Stelle and March who had a white towel on her head.

"So are we going to be branded as accomplices once again?" 

March pursed her lips after knowing the gist of what was going on after being informed by the two.

Yuuto didn't reply and just played the recording he got.

"Ah! This seems to happen every third planet we visit…"

"At least we formulated some sort of plan instead of mindlessly going with the flow."

"That's true.. I will just leave the thinking to you two."

Yuuto and Dan Heng glanced at each other to which Yuuto laughed to himself and Dan Heng let out a heavy sigh.

"So knowing that we're going to get arrested, where should we aim to go now? I noticed a streetcar near the lower layer but it looks unused."

"We can try to look into it but…"

Yuuto's eyes wandered out the window and released a hue of white. A smile began to grow on his face seeing that the person he was waiting for finally arrived.

"I feel like we should let a 'professional' guide us to where we should go next."

***

"Are you sure he'll be here?"

"Yeah, pretty sure."

Yuuto reassured March who patiently waited for a certain person to arrive.

Within the dim atmosphere, Yuuto was able to see a faint mist appearing on the body of a man who was happily humming to himself.

"Hehe~ I made some good trades~ This guy still has it in him!"

A man with blue hair and sleazy eyes happily walked under the night sky and added a bit of a hop with every other step he took.

"I should be able to sell a fortune in the Underworld with this~"

"Oh really? How much would you earn?"

"Just a few shields would be my usual!"

"Sounds fun, should I also sell some stuff?"

"Of course! What–"

The man suddenly stopped in place when he realized that he was talking with a person and slowly turned his head to see the faces of four people.

One had an expressionless look, a smile, glaring eyes at him and one that was staring into the dark sky above.

"W-What a coincidence this is! My dear friend! I haven't seen you since the last time you bravely saved me from those guards."

"You sleazy person… you ditched us!"

March pointed her finger towards Sampo who had a face that didn't understand what she was talking about.

"Accusations! I was just… strategically hiding.. Yes! I was going to assist you once the guards had their defenses down but I guess you guys were too strong."

"You…"

Sampo rubbed his hands together and apologized which didn't look sincere in the first place.

Yuuto noticed March was about to pull out an arrow and stepped in to guide the conversation.

"It surely must be a work of faith that we meet again."

"Haha! My friend sure knows the truth!"

Sampo patted Yuuto on the shoulder and noticed that he wanted to say something.

"Since we've met again, why don't we continue our guide that happened to be abruptly interrupted last time."

"Oh? But isn't it too late for a tour?"

"Hmm, if that's the case why don't we change locations and ask you to bring us towards that 'Underworld' you spoke of earlier."

Yuuto looked at Sampo to gauge his reaction and waited for his answer. Sampo didn't respond right away and took his time to collect his thoughts.

He looked serious before he opened his mouth in a regretful tone.

"I'm sorry but it's a bit too late for–"

"I will give you two more crystals."

"Me to inform you that we will not be back for quite some time! You should have all your stuff ready and if that's done, follow me~!"

Sampo raised his fist into the air and led the way towards a dark tunnel leaving behind the four.

March looked a bit speechless at what she saw while Dan Heng rubbed the center of her brows.

"Birds of a feather, fly together…"

Stelle whispered as her eyes landed on Yuuto and Sampo. 

Using his maxed-out skill of ignoring her words, Yuuto was the first to follow Sampo into a hidden location.

"Here it is!"

Sampo placed his hand on a brick wall that was located on the side of the tunnel and knocked his fist a few times in a rhythmic pattern.

He hummed a pretty fast tone before the wall suddenly crumbled, exposing a giant stone spiral staircase.

"Here's the Furnace Core. It will be our ticket to the Underworld!"

Yuuto analyzed the stairwell and followed Sampo along with the others down the staircase.

"My dear friend."

"Yes?"

"There seems to be a certain lass that's attempting to follow us down the stairs. Should I seal off the entrance?"

"Can you describe what they look like."

"Long gray hair, big earrings and—"

"You don't need to continue… have her follow us but if you notice her running back, seal the entrance.."

"No problemo!" Sampo saluted after hearing what Yuuto said.

'Why the hell is she here…?'