The moment Seele appeared, she pulled Bronya behind her.
'I know this way of putting it is a bit ambiguous, but… hehe, this is my favorite episode!'
At that very moment, Nero, who had already found a good spot long ago, snapped quite a few good-looking photos. Of course, these would also be sent to Old Yang. After all, the fun was right there, within arm's reach…
Would anyone really give up this kind of fun?
Obviously not.
As soon as those troublemaking drifters saw Seele arrive, they immediately turned around and ran.
"Crap, run!"
They shouted like that, bolting off without even looking back, decisive as hell.
Seele watched their fleeing backs and let out a cold snort. "Hmph… trash that bullies the weak and fears the strong."
After the drifters had all run off, Sampo stepped forward a few paces and put on a fawning smile.
"Hehehe… Miss Seele! Whew, thank goodness you showed up in time. I'm endlessly grateful~"
Then Sampo's expression changed, and he said indignantly, "These drifters really are way too arrogant, daring to start trouble on Wildfire's turf..."
Before he could finish, he was cut off.
Seele turned her head to look at Sampo. She didn't look pleased, but compared to how she treated those drifters, it was much better, at least there was no outright disdain.
"Shut up, Sampo. You're not getting out of this either. Wildfire already has a pile of problems to deal with, did you really have to stir up trouble at a time like this?"
Sampo immediately shut his mouth.
Then Seele turned to look at Bronya. "I heard there's a Silvermane Guard who ran down to the Underworld… was that you?"
Facing Seele, Bronya chose to answer with a question. The Silvermane Guard commander clenched her teeth slightly and demanded, "You abducted me to the underground, what exactly are you planning?"
Hearing that, Seele blinked, snorted disdainfully, then said to Sampo beside her, "'What exactly are you planning'… heh, she still thinks she's some young lady from the surface."
After saying that, Seele turned back, crossed her arms, frowned at Bronya, and shot back sharply, "Comfortable up on the surface, huh? Do you know what the underground has become? Have you ever cared whether the people down here live or die?"
Bronya refused to back down and retorted, "The Silvermane Guard isn't living comfortably on the surface. The Guards have always been fighting enemies, protecting Belobog from monsters… protecting everyone above and below."
Seele laughed scornfully. "Hey, that sounds better than a song. What exactly have you protected underground? You pulled all the Guards up top and sealed off the passages between above and below, when you put it nicely, isn't that still just to protect those so-called Architects?"
Bronya frowned slightly, but her tone was no longer as firm as before. She could only say, "Her Excellency the Guardian has her own considerations…"
Nero, who had already taken plenty of photos, landed from midair and stood beside Seele, saying, "Yet the method used by the Guardian you speak of was to casually fabricate a lie, and then have her army drive interstellar friends, who were capable of resolving the Eternal Freeze crisis and the Fragmentum monsters, into a dead end…"
Nero raised his head and stood straight, speaking almost in the tone of a teacher lecturing a student.
"And you are that military commander who lacks independent thought and judgment.
"Don't keep calling her 'Her Excellency the Guardian.' People need to have their own judgment, to be able to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, rather than attaching their thinking to someone else whenever they encounter something they can't explain."
"You will never truly know what the so-called Supreme Guardian is thinking in her heart. Blindly following her thinking makes it even harder to know when people have already gone to extremes."
"Her considerations may not be right. They may not be beneficial. People cannot obey blindly, you need to learn to question and think for yourself."
Bronya lowered her head, her gaze flickering slightly.
The Guard commander didn't say anything more. She recalled what the young man before her had said back at the marginal passageway, and also remembered the arguments she once had with her mother regarding policy…
She was not someone who refused all reason, nor was she a fool who placed the Supreme Guardian on a pedestal. All the education she had received since childhood told her one thing, everything she did was not for any one person, but for Belobog, for the last remaining light of civilization on this frozen tundra, and for everyone within it.
Bronya knew she couldn't change the current situation. She calmed down and began to think.
Avoidance and confrontation lay on opposite ends of the scale, so at this moment, which side would the weight fall on?
Nero's words caught Seele's attention.
Looking at this unfamiliar face, Seele raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You seem to know quite a lot. Kid, who are you? And what's this 'interstellar friend' supposed to be?"
Nero looked up at Seele. "It means I'm an alien."
At this point, Sampo stepped forward and said, "Hehehe, Miss Seele, this kid's name is Nero. These people count as my partners, hehe. We've got some business we'd like to discuss with the boss, you see…"
Hearing this, Seele turned her head and swept her gaze over the Trailblazer squad one by one, then said, "You're partners with Sampo? Ha, then you've probably made enemies with more than half the people in this town."
Then Seele lowered her gaze to Nero. She raised her right hand and tapped her finger restlessly against her arm as she said, "Nero, was it? I don't care if you're an alien or whatever else, you'd better keep your wits about you when dealing with Sampo."
"Hmph. You look pretty smart. You should know what this guy teaches is worth learning, and what absolutely isn't, right?"
Before Nero could speak, Sampo put on a mournful face and started crying injustice.
"Oh come on, Miss Seele, I, I'm not as bad as you make me sound, am I? When it comes to dealing with kids, what should be said and what shouldn't, Sampo here still knows that much!"
But while he was saying this out loud, what Sampo was thinking inside was something else entirely, 'Setting aside whether Sampo would corrupt this kid or not, this is my colleague! From the moment we met until now, Sampo has already been screwed over by this kid several times. Sampo has really lost face!'
There was no way Sampo could say these thoughts out loud, so he could only swallow the bitterness in silence.
Seele merely snorted coldly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, completely ignoring Sampo.
At this point, Sampo could only give an awkward smile.
Then Seele asked, "So? What do you want with Boss Oleg?"
"Well, it's like this…" March was the first to speak. "We came here looking for something called a Stellaron. It's the true culprit behind all these disasters. As long as we find it, we can..."
Sampo cut March off, "Miss, this kind of thing isn't something you should tell just anyone. Oleg's the boss, Miss Seele doesn't understand this stuff."
The moment he said that, Dan Heng and Stelle almost simultaneously turned their heads and locked their gazes onto Sampo. Both frowned, thinking, 'How does he know March tells this to everyone she meets?'
At that moment, both of them silently raised Sampo's danger rating a notch and decided to keep a close eye on this guy at all times.
They couldn't let this bastard trick Nero.
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