"Ah, if our Phaethon account were still active, we could've gone to find Rain ourselves. But now I hear that, because of her outstanding hacking skills, she's become quite picky with clients. If we try contacting her through this new account, she might not even reply."
During breakfast, Wise sat at the dining table, discussing the matter with Belle.
"Yeah, she sounds pretty arrogant. Do you think Nicole's favor would be enough to get her attention?"
Belle recalled how Nicole usually dealt with people. She was good at building relationships, though avoiding repayment came even more naturally to her.
"Oh, and I heard Hollow activity in Cretan Hollow has been dropping recently."
Whenever the ether activity of a great Hollow declines, the companion Hollows branching from it tend to decrease as well. In some cases, the authorities take advantage of that window to clean up a few of them.
Cretan Hollow was known as one of the more active great Hollows, accompanied by numerous companion Hollows. It was still unclear whether any actions would follow this change.
For a Proxy, a decrease in Hollow activity usually brought opportunities. Tasks that had once seemed nearly impossible could suddenly become achievable.
"Hmm, in that case, Brother, if there's no news from Nicole, why don't we take on a few commissions to pass the time?" Belle said while playing with her phone.
"Sounds good. We'll also pay more attention to what's happening around Cretan Hollow. There could be something worth taking."
On the topic of earning money, the siblings never disagreed. Fairy, of course, supported the idea wholeheartedly, considering her power costs.
"I'll head to Belobog Industries later. Koleda mentioned that monster again."
Wise commented, standing up from the chair.
Judging by the way she spoke on the phone, the team in charge of researching the monster's remains had changed, and Wise was summoned to hear the details.
Considering his involvement in defeating the creature, it was only natural for Belobog Industries to inform him.
Soon enough, Wise arrived at the construction site, where Grace was the first to approach him.
This time, though, she looked at him with clear suspicion, her eyes studying him like she was trying to figure him out.
"Did something happen, Grace?" He asked, finding her behavior a little suspicious.
"No. It's nothing. Everything is fine."
Grace shook her head, trying to keep her voice steady, yet the faint trace of anger beneath it was obvious to anyone who knew her even a little.
As expected, the restraint didn't last long, and the emotion burst out.
"Wise, answer me. What did you do to Sweet Pea?!" She grabbed Wise by the shoulders and leaned in, looking sharp and somehow still adorable at the same time.
'So I really got caught, huh? Why does this feel like some blonde idiot running off with a good girl and getting caught red-handed by her family?' Wise thought.
Before they could say anything else, Koleda arrived.
"Sis, what are you doing?! Let him go already, you're being rude to our guest!"
Koleda stepped in and pulled Grace's hands away, then glanced at Wise with a shy, apologetic look.
She quickly concealed it and turned back to Grace with a composed expression, but Grace, standing so close to her, immediately noticed something was off.
Although she appeared to accept the scolding without protest, her repeated glances at Wise made her intentions obvious.
"When the President came back from your place last time, Grace said she was acting weird, like something big had happened. She tried asking about it, but the President wouldn't say anything, so now it's turned into this."
At that moment, the ever-enthusiastic Ben also explained the situation to Wise, who nodded and expressed his thanks.
He didn't quite know why, but he felt like he saw the same emotions reflected in Ben's eyes as well.
'Is this the price of making a move on the group's favorite?' Wise thought to himself.
The good news was that Anton clearly had no clue about any of it. After greeting Wise loudly, he went off to the side and started polishing his 'brother.'
Wise followed everyone into an office, only to see a few Public Security officers and HAND researchers already there.
Through the rest of the conversation, Wise came to understand that the monster's remains would ultimately fall under this research group's responsibility.
The retrieval itself was still assigned to the Public Security, but the remains would later be handed over to HAND for docking.
Once it was over, Wise didn't dwell on it for long. He had bigger things to worry about.
"Wise, you didn't forget that you promised to help with my research, right? The kids really want to see you, and you're free now, so come with me."
Grace grabbed his arm tight, making it clear there was no way out.
Left with no other options, Wise looked toward Koleda for support, only to see her quietly avert her eyes. She knew her sister too well. Once Grace decided on something, she'd do whatever it took to make it happen.
Even if she could be stopped once or twice, could she really be stopped forever?
So it was better for Wise to face it sooner. After all, it was bound to happen eventually.
Koleda silently prayed for Wise, fully confident that someone as capable as him would eventually win her sister's approval.
Seeing Koleda's reaction, Wise got the message and agreed right away.
Then he followed Grace into her soundproof lab. Inside, he noticed three mechanical bodies that weren't completed yet, so for now, their core data was stored as intelligent entities inside the computer.
After greeting them, Grace finally spoke to him.
"Wise, you and Koleda have already… done it, haven't you?"
"Eh? Eh!!!"
'Grace, are you really this blunt?'
Wise was completely caught off guard. The last time he had felt this shocked was when Anby had said something similar.
But after a brief moment of being stunned, Wise still nodded in admission.
For her to question him that way, she clearly had proof. Wise just couldn't tell how she had found out. He recalled Ben saying earlier that Koleda hadn't shared their secret with Grace.
'Did she tell her later? Or did I accidentally leave something on Koleda's clothes back then?'