Chapter 396: Ignorance Truly Is Bliss
"You two go ahead and talk. I'll go fetch the script first. little one, we'll look it over together in a bit, alright?"
The moment Nian saw Kal'tsit switch into her serious mode, she immediately became very tactful and slipped out of the office with a convenient excuse. Whatever Kal'tsit wanted to discuss with Steve clearly wasn't something an outsider like her should hear.
As for the script talk, that could wait. From the look of it, Steve wasn't planning on leaving Rhodes Island anytime soon, so she had plenty of time to ambush him later.
Steven watched her leave, eyes lingering on her perfect waistline and that tail that practically screamed "grab me." Only after she was gone did he finally turn back to Kal'tsit, crossing one leg over the other.
"Alright, then. What's so important you had to drag me in here for a private chat?"
He tilted his head, meeting her green eyes, and casually summoned Shoggy from its Pokéball—then immediately began kneading it in his hands like a stress ball.
After absorbing some Originium, the little blob had grown quite a bit.
Kal'tsit, at first, paid it no mind. She thought he was just squeezing some jelly-like toy. But the moment she recognized the faint trace of a certain familiar aura… her eyebrow twitched sharply.
This thing…
Why did it have the same vibe as those Collapsal lurking along Ursus's borders?
"Let's talk about Kazimierz. Do you have no self-awareness whatsoever? Do you even know how big of a mess you caused over there?"
"Leaving that aside for now—tell me the truth. The… black hole that appeared in the sky that day. That was you, wasn't it? That thing didn't feel like an illusion at all. Are you seriously capable of controlling something like that?"
She forced her attention away from the suspicious blob in his hands. Compared to everything else he'd done, even if that slime was a Collapsal, it honestly wasn't the most alarming thing about him anymore.
The real problem was the vortex that had formed over the Kazimierz Grand Knight Territory.
Very, very few people on Terra knew what that phenomenon resembled—Kal'tsit just happened to be one of them.
A black hole.
A cosmic phenomena that could erase planets and more with ease.
If Steven really had the power to produce something like that, then the implications were horrifying.
Kal'tsit had met individuals capable of destroying a nation on their own—the true bodies of those "band members," Shui… beings that stood on the level of natural disasters.
But none of them had ever crossed into the cosmic territory.
If what appeared over Kazimierz was real, not an illusion…
Then she would have to rewrite her entire evaluation of this strange young man.
Because that would make him a variable even more dangerous—more unpredictable—more catastrophic—than the Seaborn or the Collapsal.
And that was a thought that made even Kal'tsit's blood run cold.
"Oh? You actually know what a black hole is? I'm surprised. Still, relax, that thing I made was just for show. If I really created an actual one, it wouldn't just swallow a little patch of sky. Like you said, cosmic-level phenomena start at star destruction."
Steven shrugged casually, but his eyes were filled with curiosity.
This world—where even basic technology had swerved off into the wilderness—actually had someone who understood the concept of black holes?
These people couldn't even make a proper aircraft. Their "flying machines" were basically grave-robbing relics from the previous civilization. The modern scientists had no idea how they worked.
A civilization that couldn't even break atmospheric flight… yet someone here could talk about cosmic phenomena?
That meant this old lynx knew a lot more than he'd given her credit for.
Kal'tsit's gaze sharpened.
"You didn't deny it. Meaning that thing was your doing. And from the way you said it… the only reason you didn't make a real black hole is because you didn't want to. Not because you can't. Correct?"
Her brows knitted even tighter.
Steven's casual reply had contained far too much dangerous information.
If he could actually create cosmic phenomena… then Steven wasn't just a walking natural disaster—he was a world-ending superbomb.
Kal'tsit had thought she'd already prepared herself mentally for Steven's absurdity.
She had been wrong.
She had grossly underestimated him.
"It's not that exaggerated! If I really hand-crafted a black hole, I'd have to sacrifice my looks for power. No way I'm turning into some scaly freak just to be ugly and overpowered. And it costs me a lot, okay?"
Steven waved dismissively, giving an explanation that made absolutely no sense to Kal'tsit.
But the more nonchalant he acted, the colder her back became.
He didn't deny the possibility.
He only said the price was high.
To her, that was ten times more terrifying.
Why was this creature so dangerous?
Was it physically impossible for him to speak in a way that didn't cause heart palpitations?
"…Suddenly, I find myself wanting to know… what exactly do you think of Rhodes Island?"
Kal'tsit covered her forehead.
For the first time in a long while, she felt genuinely overwhelmed.
She had just discovered that sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss.
If she'd known nothing about Steven, she wouldn't be sitting here contemplating the destruction of this planet.
Maybe this was what people meant when they said: the more you know, the more you suffer.
Steven blinked.
"What do I think? Just a bunch of people huddling together in a brutal world, chasing a glimmer of hope they're not even sure exists. Not noble, exactly, but at least you're doing something meaningful. Better than those Chamber of Commerce parasites, that's for sure."
He had no bad opinions about Rhodes Island.
"So relax, okay? I'm not going to use the same methods on Rhodes Island that I use on the Chamber of Commerce. You're safe."
He said this with the intent to comfort her.
But Kal'tsit froze—then her eyes sharpened with sudden determination. As if she had just made a crucial decision.
Rhodes Island's current crisis was beyond what she could handle alone.
So, it was time to drag that scapegoat out of retirement.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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