Seeing everyone fall silent, even Surtr's ice cream was melting and dripping onto the floor without her immediately noticing.
The huge living room was deathly quiet.
The atmosphere in the entire living room froze. This was truly a moment where silence spoke louder than words.
Magallan was very satisfied with the silent surroundings. After all, with such momentous news, any normal person would surely fall silent upon learning it.
"Ahem!"
It was too hot.
Magallan took off her somewhat tattered, Rhine Lab-issued special field uniform, revealing just a black, tight-fitting sleeveless T-shirt underneath. Her impressive chest-line was well-defined under the black T-shirt. Worthy of the little penguin; although you couldn't tell her figure when she wore her uniform, and she even looked a bit goofy, the moment the uniform came off, her figure was quite striking. Though she still looked a bit goofy.
"You're all shocked! Sigh... it can't be helped. Even Rhine Lab's greatest explorer, like me, was astonished when I first learned of it. Compared to such a behemoth, we humans are simply too insignificant."
Magallan talked to herself, and the people around her just watched.
Everyone here was professionally trained.
However, the current scene was a bit... comical.
Fast-forward to the 'try not to laugh' challenge.
Honestly.
For Magallan, a mortal, to realize that gods truly exist in this world was already remarkable. Even many high-level leaders in various countries weren't sure if gods existed or not.
But...
She just had the misfortune of sharing it with the wrong people.
"Er... I think, Miss Magallan, we should be a bit more scientific. Gods and all that, I think that's just superstition. We have to believe in science."
Lucas Reeve floated in mid-air, speaking earnestly.
This time, it was Magallan's turn to be silent.
"Mr. Reeve... anyone else has the right to say that to me, but you... aren't you the most unscientific thing here?!!! If the biologists in Columbia knew about you, they'd be rolling in their graves!"
"Ah, yes, yes, yes."
Lucas Reeve nodded, no longer arguing.
Nian, who was leaning on the railing, couldn't help but say.
"I think Lucas is right, this... er... very dirty young lady, we should still believe in science. After all, how can there be any gods these days! Have any of you seen one?"
Nian looked at Dusk.
Dusk, leaning on the second-floor railing, shook her head and looked at the Nine-Colored Deer.
"Dear Nine-Colored Deer, have you seen one?"
The Nine-Colored Deer also shook her head.
"See?"
Lucas Reeve spread his hands.
"Gods themselves are inherently unreasonable, so... don't take it seriously. Just treat it as a bit of fun."
Magallan frowned, her cute little eyebrows shooting up.
"Hmm~~ I feel like... are you guys teaming up to trick me?"
"How could we!"
Just then, Jessica finally couldn't hold it in.
She had been listening at the door for so long, and as soon as she entered, she saw a group of people ganging up to trick Magallan. She couldn't help but laugh.
"Hahaha~"
Hearing the voice.
Magallan immediately turned her head and then happily rushed over.
"Oho! Little Jessica!!"
Magallan threw her arms around Jessica, rubbing her dusty face against Jessica's.
"It's been a few months, Jessica... you've... grown up."
Magallan kept sizing up Jessica's figure, completely astonished.
This change... was a bit too much, wasn't it?
Magallan remembered that when she left, Jessica was still flat as a board. How... how had it only been a few months, and she was almost the same as her... Hiss... terrifyingly impressive. Did she start taking hormones or something?
"Long time no see, Miss Madonna."
Jessica wiped the dust Magallan had rubbed onto her face.
"?"
Magallan sighed, indicating she was used to it.
Then she looked at Franka and Liskarm.
"Yoohoo, Franka, found a boyfriend yet? Don't tell me you still haven't."
"Liskarmy, I missed you!"
Magallan greeted them one by one, but she was a bit dirty and looked travel-worn. It was obvious she must have come here straight after returning to Columbia, without even going back to Rhine Lab.
Magallan went to take a shower before being properly reintroduced to everyone by Jessica. Jessica also introduced Nian, Dusk, and the others to Magallan.
"Hello, Miss Azhe."
"Hello, Miss Mailisu."
'Hello, Miss McKenji.'
.....
Not a single greeting from the group was the same.
Magallan wasn't even surprised anymore. Whatever.
"Phew...."
Magallan emerged from a nice-smelling shower, sat comfortably cross-legged on the soft carpet, and began to tell her story.
"Ahem... Let me tell you, the rest of the story is a bit scary. Don't be frightened. It's very real. I'm revealing the truth of this world to you."
Nian, Dusk, the Nine-Colored Deer, and Lucas Reeve looked at each other and nodded.
"It was a month ago. After I left Shangshu in Yan, I decided to make Higashi my last stop. I planned to go back after exploring Higashi. After all, Higashi is in the far east, too far from Columbia, and I had never been there before."
"You all know, Higashi is in chaos with its civil war. The Kōgon faction controlling the north and the Kōgen faction controlling the south are fighting endlessly. Man, it was a mess."
"And then?"
Magallan said.
"As the most dedicated explorer, how could I be afraid of a mere war? Forget a small-time war between two factions in Higashi, I wouldn't even be afraid if Ursus and Higashi were at war. I charged right through the combat zone! I was heading for a secret realm I had already surveyed."
Magallan told her story vividly, even thumping her chest excitedly.
It had to be said.
Jessica and Lucas Reeve were quite impressed with Magallan.
That was an active warzone. While it might be a walk in the park for someone like Lucas, Magallan was just an ordinary person with limited combat power. Even with the help of her drones, she was still insignificant on a battlefield where blades and bullets don't discriminate. She truly had the guts of an explorer.
"And then?"
Magallan scratched her head, a bit embarrassed.
"And then... just as I stepped in, a cannonball landed right next to me, and I was blown away..."
Everyone: "???"
"After I was blown away, I passed out. When I woke up again, I was in a small wooden cabin. I woke up to find I'd been saved by a beautiful big sister. I'm smart, you know. A beautiful big sister appearing deep in the mountains... don't you think that's suspicious? Very suspicious!"
"At that time, this big sister came over with a smile, holding a bowl of chicken soup."
Magallan started imitating: "Ehehe, the chicken soup is here!"
"That's what she said."
"I have to admit, the chicken soup smelled really fragrant, but I didn't dare drink it. I just wanted to get out of there fast. But this big sister insisted I drink it. Later, she seemed to get angry, threw her apron on the ground, and said she wasn't pretending anymore. Then she transformed into a monster that looked like a pangolin, and it seemed to want to eat me."
"I thought I was a goner."
"Suddenly, a divine light appeared, and I saw a giant nine-tailed fox! This nine-tailed fox ate that pangolin in one bite, then glanced at me, and disappeared. I fainted again."
"Then I woke up and found myself in a hospital. According to the doctor in the hospital, I had wandered into the middle of the battlefield and was knocked unconscious by an explosion. They thought I was a goner, piled me up with the corpses to be buried together. But a sharp-eyed soldier suddenly noticed I seemed to be breathing and sent me to the military hospital."
"Er....."
So Magallan's dream was actually real.
A nine-tailed fox phantom.
Lucas Reeve thought of Lisa.
This story wasn't particularly captivating.
After all, no one present was an ordinary mortal.
It was easy to imagine that perhaps a remnant consciousness of a god had casually saved Magallan. She was pretty lucky.
"So, your body..."
Jessica said slowly, referring to Magallan's travel-worn face and clothes from earlier.
"Oh... that has nothing to do with the Higashi trip."
Magallan waved her hand. "On my way back from Higashi to Columbia, I ran into a Catastrophe, and then an Originium monster tide... and then I ran into a group of robbers. It took me forever to finally get back to Columbia."
"...."
The entire living room fell silent once again.
Deathly quiet.
Others might not know.
But Lucas Reeve, Jessica, Franka, and Liskarm knew Magallan's rotten luck all too well.
Basically, going on a trip with Magallan never ends well.
Before, she only brought misfortune to those around her, but this time, she brought it upon herself.
Encountering a war, a bomb explosion, a god, a Catastrophe, a horde of Originium monsters, and robbers.
These were things an ordinary person might not encounter even one of in their entire lifetime, yet Magallan had managed to run into all of them in such a short period. The most crucial part was that the survival rate for each of these incidents was no more than 5%, but Magallan had somehow survived it all and returned to Columbia.
Six five-percent chances...
Tsk tsk, with odds like that, Magallan should really buy a lottery ticket.
Thinking of this.
Lucas Reeve immediately activated his Causality Vision.
In Lucas's vision, normal people were half black and half white, representing equal parts luck and misfortune. They wouldn't become fabulously wealthy or have heaven-defying luck, but they also wouldn't suffer major disasters. But Jessica was white luck mixed with an incomparably dazzling gold, representing that she was destined for great wealth in her life; poverty was an impossibility.
But when his gaze shifted to Magallan.
Lucas Reeve almost lost his composure.
What kind of shitty fate was this.
Her physiognomy point was dark, her whole body was wrapped in black qi, she was as 'non' (unlucky) as a Chieftain. Not only that, the causal threads on Magallan were also constantly turning black. And this blackness seemed to be spreading, capable of being transmitted to the people around her through causal threads.
If it were an ordinary person, with this kind of bad luck, they probably wouldn't have even grown up; they would have died young.
But hidden within Magallan's darkness was a glimmer of bright light. This represented 'survival against all odds.' Although her luck was terrible, it wasn't fatal. Just like the Yin-Yang fish of Yan, a single white dot in the blackness, representing that even in crisis, there was a way out.
"So, there really are gods in the world! I remember it clearly!! That couldn't have been a hallucination!!"
Magallan insisted.
Everyone else just nodded, humouring her.
At this point, nearby Ceobe didn't quite understand.
She didn't get it.
Why was Sister Magallan insisting there were gods in the world right in front of Big Brother Lucas, Sister Nian, Sister Dusk, and Sister Nine-Colored Deer?
So weird...
Aren't the gods right in front of her? Why is Sister Magallan still emphasizing it? Is Sister Magallan dumb?
Since Magallan was back.
She also temporarily settled into Jessica's villa.
They were running out of rooms. The expansion on the other side had already begun.
Originally, Jessica planned to buy the villa next door, but the villas were all separate; none were directly adjacent.
So Jessica thought about it, bought the villa next door anyway, and then talked to the CEO of the development company about buying the main road around the villa as well, to expand the estate, and had the developer replan the community layout.
Faced with Jessica's request, the CEO, worth tens of billions, immediately clapped his hands and agreed.
Whatever the young lady of Raythean says, goes. Please, just give the word. This was a favor, and although it wasn't huge, it might be useful one day.
"Mr. Reeve!!"
A call echoed in Lucas Reeve's mind.
That voice?
Lisa!
Lucas Reeve hadn't gone to see Lisa in a long time. The little girl had grown up a lot and didn't need him watching over her all the time. And Lisa was very sensible; she knew Lucas was busy, so she didn't bother him, even though she missed him dearly.
This was the first time she had actively called him.
"Little Lisa, what's wrong?"
Lucas Reeve materialized in front of Lisa as a Shikigami. He came over immediately, afraid something had happened to her. Fortunately, she was in her room, perfectly safe.
Seeing Lucas Reeve, whom she hadn't seen in so long, the adorable Lisa was incredibly excited. Although she really wanted to hug him, like she would her mom, Lisa was too embarrassed. She spoke nervously.
"Mr. Reeve, can you accompany me back to Higashi?"
"Hm... huh?"
Lucas Reeve froze.
What a coincidence.
Magallan had just finished talking about Higashi.