Pei Guang glanced at Stelle. "While you were asleep earlier we talked a bit. We'll cash in the quest materials for some items, and keep wandering Penacony. From that Genius Society member I learned some things about Penacony. I feel like there are more people who know bits and pieces—if we find them, maybe we can uncover some truths."
He then looked at Sparkle and added, "As for you, if you want to follow us—"
Sparkle blinked curiously. "You don't hate me?"
Pei Guang: "You're okay. Like I said: will you harm us? If not, I'd welcome you to join our fun."
For Pei Guang, having more jokers in the team makes the game more entertaining: so long as they don't sabotage the main story at key moments.
Sparkle's eyes narrowed happily. "Sampo was right—you're way more interesting than those other guys. Don't worry~ I'd rather stir up all of Penacony than betray you. From now on I'll follow you. What do you want me to do?"
She didn't actually plan to follow orders blindly; if Pei Guang's plan didn't suit her, she'd play her own way.
Pei Guang thought for a moment: "There's nothing special—just explore. But since you're not hiding anymore, tell us what you know so we don't run in circles."
Sparkle: "Nope~ that would be no fun. How Penacony develops will blow your mind."
Pei Guang rolled his eyes. "Blow my mind? It'll probably be the same old prophecy-stuff: relatives turn on each other, houses destroyed, blood everywhere."
Stelle: "Good grief—March said that once, and you're repeating it now. No surprise there."
Firefly: "Relatives turning on each other? Households destroyed?"
Pei Guang nodded. "Yep. But of the people we know in Penacony who have family, only Robin and her brother come to mind. If family turns on family, would the siblings fight? Brother farming coins for sister, or sister farming coins for brother?"
Sparkle cocked an interested look. "What about the 'yin-yang separated' bit?"
Pei Guang shrugged and looked at Stelle: "That could mean one of us, or one of our companions, dies. Then we'd be separated by life and death."
Stelle: "I get it. If that happens, Penacony will indeed be drenched in blood. Ah Guang! Why don't we just bring our Star Destroyer over and fire one salvo at Penacony? Even if the planet has an Aeon protecting it, one shot might calm people down."
Firefly: "That's a bit... efficient."
Pei Guang: "Stop. I know you learned that from me, but usually those main-story items that can change the plot become unusable because of unexpected stuff. New-map threats need map-specific solutions. And if it really gets bad, an actual Star Destroyer would come too late. We need to improvise. Though I do have a more efficient method I mentioned before."
Stelle thought: "You mentioned? Oh—right! You said: beat up everyone you've met; one of them will be the mastermind."
Pei Guang gave a thumbs up. "Exactly!"
Stelle leaned in: "We've been here a while. Who do we beat up first?"
Pei Guang opened the minimap and pointed at the markers. "First: the siblings Robin and Sunday. Robin's okay: she took our gifts, so she's favorable to us. She won't attack right away."
Stelle: "Oh! I get it. Sunday doesn't like us: if something happens, beat up Sunday first."
Pei Guang nodded. "Yep. If something goes wrong, go hard. We team up: I start with Holy Light, you swing your bat for a headshot, I hit the butt—give them no time to react."
Stelle took out a notebook and wrote it down. "Understood. If that fails, I'll do a spinning War-Flaming Lance through the chest. But you can't really die in the dream, right? Oh, wait. If they get pulled out of the dream, then they're actually done."
Pei Guang praised: "Good pupil, you'll graduate soon."
Stelle: "Not at all, it's all thanks to your teaching."
After mutual flattery, Pei Guang pointed at Aventurine. "Next is Aventurine. He's tailing our little trash can friends. Even if he breaks off from them, we handle him like Sunday: full Holy Light, I stab the butt, you blow the head. They'll see our hot-blooded combo move!"
Stelle: "Good. Then those two?"
Stelle turned her gaze to Sparkle and Firefly—who looked a bit stunned.
Before Firefly could speak, Pei Guang cut in: "Sparkle can't, since she's a Masked Fool. She'll trip us up, but she's not the mastermind. She probably knows things but won't tell us; just bring her along for fun. As for Firefly…"
Firefly, who was being stared at, was about to speak when Pei Guang shook his head: "She invited me to a good meal and brought us around—definitely not an enemy. As for motives… Firefly, tell us what you want and we'll help. Even if you want the Clockmaker's inheritance, we can get it for you."
Stelle, shocked: "You actually snuck yummy food behind my back?!"
Pei Guang: "I'll treat you later!"
Stelle grinned sheepishly. "Ehe~ Ah Guang, you're the best. A person should be honest—just bring me ten servings of every kind of food."
Looking at Stelle's simple, dopey expression, Pei Guang suddenly felt a tightness in his chest. What kind of thing had he raised here?
Wait a second… wasn't he the same? Never mind then, Stelle had learned well!
"Fine~ when the time comes, I'll buy a hundred servings of everything, and all of you can eat until you're sick of it."
Stelle cheered. "Yay~ But back to the point, out of all of us, who do you think would be the one to die and end up on the other side? It won't be March, right? March has the highest favorability with you, and she always acts like she's waiting for the right chance to confess and go shopping with you. That kind of character clearly wouldn't survive this plot."
Pei Guang reached out and pinched Stelle's cheeks. "Can't you say something nicer? But to be serious, I did consider March, but I ruled her out. You've got to remember, the dream world has no physical attacks."
In the dream world, even if an attack looked physical, in essence it wasn't truly physical. March 7th, however, had a skill that made her immune to all non-physical attacks.
The duration might be short, but it was enough to protect herself.
Of course, Pei Guang still had ways to deal physical damage in the dream world. The staff he'd obtained in the dream he created earlier was capable of causing physical attacks.
Even though it was the dream world, that thing could still actually hurt people: Pei Guang just hadn't had a proper chance to use it yet.
Stelle's expression grew serious. "If March 7th is safe, then it must be Uncle Yang, Himeko, or… you."
Her gaze drifted to Firefly and Sparkle, swept over both of them, and then landed back on Pei Guang.
Pei Guang rubbed his chin in thought. "Hard to say, hard to guess. It could be anyone—even you or me. But it's not a big problem. After all, even if everything is stitched together by fate, the story's ending definitely isn't set in stone. As long as we explore everything we can, we'll surely reach the ending we want. It'll just be a bit difficult, that's all."
Stelle nodded firmly. "I believe it!"
Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Pei Guang. After spending so much time with him, even though Stelle often acted like a little rascal on the surface, she shared the same simple and sincere conviction as he did.
If a perfect ending was possible, then they had to fight for it with everything they had. Save everyone they could. Make sure every teammate lives.
In most stories, that would come off as boring. And in a game with multiple endings, most players would probably run into another ending first because of some accident.
But this was reality. And since this was reality, Pei Guang didn't mind if the result was a little cliché.
Stelle thought the same.
Watching the two of them so fired up, Firefly stepped forward. "I… I don't know much, but if there's any way I can help you… please use me as much as you need."
Then Sparkle leaned in with curiosity. "I've got a question. When you're beating people up, can I join in?"
Pei Guang nodded. "No problem. If the enemy isn't too dangerous, we'll think of a way to pin them down, hang them up, and let you smack them around."
Sparkle's eyes lit up. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go already~"
Pei Guang: "You're right."
Stelle: "Let's move out!"
Firefly: "Let's move out!"
Firefly had originally had her own plan. But after hearing Pei Guang's words, she decided to put it aside for now.
Simply because he trusted her after just one meal, even willing to help her—no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to betray that trust.
At the same time, she was filled with anticipation. She hoped Pei Guang could find a better way to uncover the "treasure."
Maybe others couldn't, but after getting to know and truly understand this unusual person, Firefly felt it wasn't impossible.
The four of them set off together. Pei Guang's first plan was to go to the Clockie Boy statue, find Clockie Boy, and trade for some rewards. With those rewards, they could carry on with the next steps.
But Pei Guang and the others had gotten so caught up in their planning earlier that they had forgotten something important.
Right now, Sparkle was in her normal form. And among the four of them, she was the only one wearing a backless outfit.
The outfit itself wasn't the problem. The problem was that Pei Guang had just cupped seven fire jars onto her back, using Savory Truefire and various Path materials as ingredients.
This left Sparkle's body giving off a complex aroma, a layered scent that stirred the appetite.
Inside the room, everyone had gotten used to it, so no one thought much of it.
But once they stepped outside and onto the street, every passerby who caught the scent instinctively turned toward it.
And when they saw Sparkle, they were stunned.
On such a cute girl's back were seven multicolored marks, each glowing differently—and releasing that mouth-watering aroma?
One look at this girl, and they could tell: she smelled delicious!