Chapter 105: If You Can't Pay the Debt, You Can Only Pay With Your Body
Pela left, holding the blueprints for the electrical equipment and the seeds that could feed the people of Belobog. As she departed, her steps were heavy. There was a hint of the tragic feeling of using money earned from a sister or mother selling herself to support the family, but it was more like she was a general under the command of the god of spring and war, about to fight the mortal enemy who brought frost and death to the land.
"Hah~!"
With only Bronya left in the Silvermane Guard commander's office, she was suddenly like an actor hearing the director yell "cut." Her entire demeanor changed in an instant. The pride of a princess and the fortitude of a soldier vanished in a flash. Only her elegance remained, now more carefree.
Crossing one beautiful, black-stockinged leg over the other, its material marked with a pattern of flowers and leaves, Bronya leaned back in her office chair and stretched.
[Question, Silverwing. How do you intend to bear the price? Are you going to help Belobog pay the patent fee?]
Little Duckie couldn't quite understand Silverwing's previous actions. It seemed she was using body language to mislead Pela... Well, if she didn't understand, she would watch and learn. She was more curious about how Silverwing would handle the patent fee issue.
"How could I? I don't have that much money."
Silverwing smiled, a pleasant curve forming on her lips.
[?]
Sensing the confusion transmitted through their mental channel, Silverwing shrugged. "I simply don't intend to pay the patent fee, that's all."
[...]
Little Duckie was rendered speechless by this brazen statement.
[According to the intelligence you provided, if this behavior is discovered by the Interastral Peace Corporation, this planet will be sued into bankruptcy.]
"Then we'll pay. Just in a different way."
Silverwing swung her leg nonchalantly. Even though she had only been in this body for a short time, she still felt that the curve of her legs was absolutely perfect!
[A different way?]
"That's right. I'll just use my body to pay the patent fee."
Silverwing made the same gesture as when she was with Pela, gently caressing the snowy expanse of her chest. Combined with her words, Little Duckie immediately understood the reason for Pela's earlier change in expression and couldn't help but feel astonished.
[Are you... serious?]
Little Duckie didn't believe Silverwing would go to such lengths for the future of an alien civilization. But from their linked minds, she could feel that Silverwing wasn't lying.
"Mhm~ I'm serious. After all, the patent rights for those seeds are in the hands of my... my dear."
Silverwing pursed her lips into a faint smile, her cheerful tone like clear sake mixed with fragrant milk. Calling myself 'dear,' tsk, it feels a bit weird~!
[You mean that scumbag... Caelus?]
She wanted to say 'scumbag,' but considering Silverwing's feelings, Little Duckie decided to use his name instead. She naturally held a hostile attitude toward that gray-haired man. That guy had supposedly taken advantage of her and hurt... although, she herself had also played a part in hurting Seele.
Beyond the hostility, there was an unavoidable, indescribable mix of emotions. When she was in the background of Silverwing's body, she could experience everything Silverwing and Caelus did, without missing a single detail. That damned first-person perspective! Little Duckie felt that, aside from not being able to control the body, it was no different from her doing those things with Caelus herself.
What's more, Silverwing couldn't fully control the special ability that caused their current situation, so occasionally, control of the body would switch to her while they were doing those things. What made Little Duckie's face darken was that with her hormones in a constant state of uproar, she never knew when control would fall to her, and her body would subconsciously cooperate with Caelus. What was even more frustrating was that she couldn't use Silverwing's body to attack Caelus! So whether Silverwing was in control, or if control accidentally fell to her, she had come to clearly understand that she could only endure the assault of the emperor-class Honkai beast.
After being in the body so many times, some special feelings had inevitably developed. However, once she returned to her own body with its damaged emotional center, she could suppress that indescribable emotion.
Subjective feelings aside, objectively speaking, no matter how Little Duckie looked at it, Caelus didn't seem like the kind of researcher who could develop and cultivate seeds.
"Of course Caelus didn't develop them~ They were a gift from the rich woman who keeps my husband," Silverwing said in a nonchalant, slightly mischievous tone.
[!!!]
[???]
The words were concise, but the information they revealed left Little Duckie deeply shocked, requesting a translation for her translation.
[K-Kept? Rich woman!?]
Even someone with Little Duckie's personality stammered, which showed her astonishment.
"Mhm, a rich woman named Asta. I'll introduce you to her when we get the chance."
That's right, the patent holder for the seeds was the adorable little pink-haired rich girl! When Caelus asked Asta via his phone if he could promote and plant this crop on a planet, he was just about to explain Jarilo-VI's situation. Before he could even finish typing, he received a little shock from the rich girl.
Asta-sis: Of course, you can. Hmm, granting a patent and gifting a patent are pretty much the same process. I'll just transfer the rights to the profits from this patent to your name.
When Caelus saw Asta's message, his typing fingers froze on the screen, and he was completely stunned for a moment. Huh? My dear little rich sis, you're just giving it to me? Asta had been wondering what to give Caelus as a return gift for the Herta doll he'd given her. Exchanging gifts was the magic of friendship, and just giving credits was too tacky. She was at a loss for what to give, but then Caelus expressed interest in seeds that could grow in low-temperature environments. What more was there to say? Give it to him, just give it to him!
After all, the patent fee for this seed wasn't that much; in Asta's eyes, it was about as significant as a mosquito's leg. There were countless civilizations in the galaxy, but those naturally adapted to extremely cold environments had their own food sources and didn't need this crop. And normal civilizations, even those with farming etched into their genes, rarely expanded their cultivation to the north or south poles. There weren't many civilizations in the galaxy that needed this type of crop, and its taste was mediocre at best. Most civilizations just imported the mature crop to try it out and wouldn't plant it on a large scale. That was a different profit chain.
Two days later, Caelus received the patent information from the Interastral Peace Corporation.
"So, Caelus is now the patent holder. Belobog needs to pay him a patent fee. If I become the Supreme Guardian and can't come up with the fee, then I'll just have to pay with my body, won't I~!"
Silverwing spread her hands and said in a matter-of-fact tone.
[...]
Good heavens. So the debt that could crush Belobog is just a part of your couple's play?
No, no, wait! Before that, shouldn't you explain the part about the gray-haired guy being kept by a rich woman? You know your man is being kept by a rich woman and you don't even care? And you'll introduce me to her later?
Still, to casually gift a galaxy-wide patent... what kind of cosmic-level rich woman is this? Rationally thinking, no male could resist the temptation of such a rich woman! And, although Little Duckie could sense that Silverwing and Caelus were soulmates, in reality, doesn't this mean Silverwing is being kept by a pretty boy using the allowance given to him by a rich woman?
There were too many things to comment on, so many that Little Duckie fell into a long silence. After a long while, Little Duckie pushed all the flying thoughts to the back of her mind. All she needed to do was help Silverwing complete her mission, and then use her body to interact with Seele. Nothing else mattered.
[Bronya thinks... those things can't just be brought out like that.]
"I know. I'm just giving them to Pela to prepare for now. Those things need to appear at the right time, coordinated with the media to create public opinion in my favor."
Belobog's media was, in essence, just newspapers.
"Besides the official Belobog paper, the several major newspapers in the city are controlled by the noble factions, with bureaucratic ministers behind them. We need to take care of those nobles first."
Silverwing took out another small notebook compiled by Pela and began to look through it.
[What do you plan to do?]
"Taking care of those people won't be difficult. I have three strategies."
Silverwing held up three slender, jade-like fingers.
[What three steps?]
"Feast them, execute them, and make their underlings my dogs!"
A mature Masked Fool must be able to switch freely between Zhang Mazi and Master Huang.
Silverwing narrowed her silver eyes. She was considering whether to have Raven come to the Overworld. If she was going to move against the nobles, she certainly couldn't do it herself. There was no one more suitable for the job than Raven.
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