The thought of missing out on Mobius in her little skirt filled Elysia with annoyance and regret—Damn it, why did I drink so much last night! If I had just pretended a little, wouldn't I have avoided getting drunk?
Miss Pink Elf, who passed out after only a few cups, didn't consider that this might be due to her own alcohol tolerance. She just pouted sullenly, then... glared fiercely at Jiang Qiao beside her.
Although this matter didn't seem to have much to do with Jiang Qiao, Miss Elysia, figuring someone had to take the blame, was clearly unwilling to admit her own mistake. Shifting the blame onto Bad Jiang Qiao seemed much more reasonable.
After all, she needed somewhere to vent her frustration over the failed plan, right?
Of course, Elysia wasn't discouraged at all.
This trip was just beginning; she definitely had more chances later to try the same trick—by then, having learned her lesson, she would surely witness Mobius wearing a pink little skirt with her own eyes.
Filled with unwavering determination, Miss Pink Elf dragged Jiang Qiao out the door and encountered Aponia.
The moment the latter saw Elysia, her cheeks flushed slightly...
Especially when she saw Jiang Qiao being elbowed by her.
This reaction struck Elysia as strange. Puzzled, she asked:
"Is something wrong, Aponia? You look unwell."
"Elysia..."
"Yesterday..."
The honest Aponia wanted to say something, but before she could finish, a lazy, heavenly voice interjected:
"Ah, so you two are here."
Undoubtedly, it was Eden. She looked quite energetic today, rosy-cheeked, like a water peach nourished after rain.
Approaching with elegant steps, her gaze flickered away guiltily when it met Elysia's, but thankfully, her extensive acting career had equipped her with enough experience to regain her usual gentle and graceful demeanor.
"Good morning, Eden. Looks like you slept well last night~"
"Mm..."
Eden's tone was somewhat erratic, slightly unnatural. Fortunately, Elysia didn't notice, continuing on her own:
"Thanks for your trouble yesterday, even helping me take a bath..."
"Don't mention it, it was just a small effort. Besides, I was also somewhat impolite during yesterday's banquet..."
"Uh... what happened?"
"Perhaps I drank a bit too much, accidentally spilled some on you." She sounded guilty.
Elysia, however, looked enlightened.
"So that's what happened... No wonder I felt like I was drenched in water in my dream last night..."
"Sorry..."
"It's fine, it's fine. After all, Eden, you were drunk too. Besides, it's not a big deal, and you even helped me wash up." Smiling, Miss Elysia displayed her magnanimity and composure.
This attitude made Eden feel a surge of guilt... After all, her actions last night seemed somewhat 'despicable'.
But... as Elysia said, it was all just because she was drunk, an accident that happened under the influence, it doesn't count, right?
Thinking this, she instantly felt much better.
Meanwhile, Aponia, with a placid expression, looked subtle.
...Last night, due to certain reasons, she had seen it.
Jiang Qiao with Mobius and Eden... especially the latter... Wine? Listening to Eden's explanation, recalling the 'fountain'-like scene she witnessed yesterday, Miss Nun's mood became exceptionally heavy.
...She had merely followed Eden's suggestion to come out and experience the atmosphere of another world, yet right at the beginning, she encountered such a thing... especially when one of the parties involved was her good friend Eden...
Alright, it could only be said that, whether Elysia or Eden, aside from certain disagreements with Mobius due to differing views, they were undoubtedly her good friends... Even 'Jiang Qiao,' the core of the incident—the one who had saved her as 'Ely'—was undoubtedly an important existence to Aponia.
Completely unsure how to handle this, Aponia could only feel conflicted, her mind in turmoil. Finally, after glancing at Eden, she let out a breath, abandoning the thought of revealing the truth about last night's banquet.
"It's nothing, just didn't rest well last night," she replied to Elysia's concern.
The latter understood and nodded in agreement:
"I see... after all, arriving in a new place, it's natural to feel a bit unaccustomed..."
In Elysia's view, Aponia might just be the type who couldn't sleep in unfamiliar beds.
"Actually, you should have joined us for a few drinks last night. Although drinking isn't great, it really helps with sleep, you know." Highly recommending it, Elysia sounded sincere and relaxed.
"...I'll consider it." Though her attitude towards this was subtle, Aponia still responded politely.
"Mm... Right, Bad Jiang Qiao, you don't still have to help Firefly with official duties today, do you?"
Nodding, Elysia then looked at Mr. Jiang, her eyes holding a hint of 'threat,' her tone quite unfriendly.
Although seeing Bad Jiang Qiao suffer, having to work diligently while she could tour scenery with other pretty girls, felt quite satisfying—Elysia clearly hadn't forgotten that this trip was originally supposed to be with Bad Jiang Qiao accompanying her.
If she kept getting stood up, even Elysia would get angry!
"About that... probably... hmm, no need to go. After all, Firefly can handle those official duties herself. Yesterday was just about some rather special matters where she felt it necessary to seek my opinion for reference."
And that was the truth.
Although Miss Firefly inwardly did harbor thoughts of tying someone to the office sofa, turning the 'temporary requisition of a work-use living massage cushion' into 'permanent,' or even 'essential'—after all, this not only helped alleviate the urge to propagate but also let someone handle those mentally taxing official duties for her, while she only needed to glance occasionally and relax...
Unfortunately, doing so was clearly too unscrupulous.
Even Miss Firefly, who was gradually developing a black heart, clearly couldn't hog all the food herself.
Especially since her relationship with Elysia was very good.
Of course... eating alone was definitely unacceptable, but... when needed, occasionally calling someone over to help relieve work pressure, and replenish the fuel tank, clearly wasn't an excessive request, right?
Miss Elysia was clearly quite satisfied with Jiang Qiao's response.
And as for Jiang Qiao, he did indeed want to take a good look at this Planet Nottung.
Over a decade had changed much here—even before, this city, co-built by 'Firefly' and Silver Wolf, held many unknowns for him.
After all, the data for many buildings in the city was actually provided by Silver Wolf. All he did was use the power of 'Truth' to turn that data into reality.
What made Elysia very happy was that today's trip involved only herself and Bad Jiang Qiao.
Mobius, Eden, and the others each had their own reasons.
"Although the scenery of other worlds is interesting, for me, these rocks, trees, and whatnot, merely hold some novelty. Compared to immersing myself in this novelty, I'd rather explore their research value."
Even while traveling, Miss Snake hadn't changed her fervent dedication to research—the Glamoth Empire, such a developed interstellar civilization standing tall in the cosmos, undoubtedly held knowledge and inspiration that Mobius coveted.
After soothing her mood through certain means and adjusting her physical state to optimal condition, it was naturally time to start working diligently.
"I want to see this world, understand the cosmic trends, and experience this unique art."
Eden spoke in her lazy tone—traveling like Elysia wasn't bad, and she was willing to accompany her, but as an artist, Eden naturally wanted to understand cosmic art in more detail.
Besides... she also planned to see if she could find opportunities to develop her career in this new place.
Not out of any utilitarian motive, simply unable to suppress the urge to showcase her talents. Moreover, having been a great patroness before, relying on Glamoth's official funds for travel now felt somewhat uncomfortable for the always generous Miss Eden.
Compared to others giving her money, she was more accustomed to showering others with money herself.
Having her own source of funds would give her more confidence at certain times, wouldn't it?
Of course, there was absolutely no 'compensatory' meaning in this—what? Because she did something wrong to Elysia, she decided to be considerate, make some time, try not to be a third wheel, and compensate Elysia? Mobius clearly held no such thoughts, neither did Eden (assuredly).
Vill-V's reasons were similar—after all, she had many personalities and had long been curious about everything in this world.
Whether technology, knowledge, art, or anything else, for the polymath Vill-V, it was like a sponge, wanting to absorb everything.
The only thing worth mentioning was perhaps Vill-V's slightly flushed cheeks as she left.
The remaining Aponia tactfully had no intention of being a third wheel.
Besides, what happened last night was truly quite shocking for this ascetic nun.
She felt she needed some time to calm her complex emotions and figure out how to view the inappropriate relationship between Eden, Mobius, and a certain Mr. Jiang, hidden from the main party, Elysia.
Moreover, Aponia heard there were churches native to Glamoth. She planned to visit them. As a fellow clergy member, although Aponia, who came from a choir background, didn't actually believe much in God, she still felt she might gain something.
Jiang Qiao and Elysia naturally supported their ideas, especially the latter.
Although she lost the company of pretty girls and couldn't take the opportunity to retaliate against Bad Jiang Qiao...
Still, the thought of having no one disturb her and Bad Jiang Qiao's two-person trip made Miss Elysia unable to stop smiling.
Yay~ Finally, it's just Elysia and Bad Jiang Qiao!
Of course, outwardly, she still pretended to look regretful, only moderately interested.
After all, if Bad Jiang Qiao noticed her bursting with joy just being with him, wouldn't this rascal misunderstand something?
While not unacceptable, perhaps even somewhat anticipated, out of 'self-esteem,' the face-conscious Miss Elysia still wanted to make things look more dignified—Hmph, you should be the happy one, Bad Jiang Qiao!
Elysia is just reluctantly accompanying you!
But unfortunately, in terms of action, Miss Elysia seemed exceptionally inept.
At least, while touring Planet Nottung's scenery with just Jiang Qiao, she completely failed to hide her delight and happiness—even a three-year-old seeing her would shout: Mommy, look, that big sister looks really happy.
This made Miss Elysia quite embarrassed, forcing her to put on a straight face, trying to adopt a calm 'so-so,' 'just okay' attitude to salvage the situation.
---||---
Due to various reasons, after over a decade of development, the capital star system of the Azure Sky Empire Glamoth, Nottung Star System, had now become the most prosperous star system in the cosmos.
Its prosperity level, according to statistics from the Intelligentsia Guild scholars, even surpassed that of the Interastral Peace Corporation's headquarters, Pier Point.
This couldn't be helped.
After all... the Interastral Peace Corporation had long become a subsidiary of this colossal entity spanning the universe.
This change wasn't altered just because the decade of development was in the past, disconnected from this era.
On the contrary, the moment convergence completed, even with weak retroactivity, the 'present' Corporation didn't belong to Glamoth.
Yet, after receiving memories passed down from the past, the surviving high-level executives of the Corporation, after a board resolution, made the most rational decision—just like in the past, fully submitting to Glamoth.
After all... no matter how reactionary, one shouldn't fall into the same pit twice, right?
The Corporation's executives indeed loved to gamble, but only when they thought there was a chance of winning.
Facing a guaranteed loss—the current Glamoth, even setting aside the terrifying Glamoth Empress, possessed enough strength on its own to crush the entire Interastral Peace Corporation.
Under such circumstances, making the correct decision clearly wasn't difficult.
Moreover... resisting was actually a very foolish thing—because it wasn't just the Corporation's high-level executives who completed convergence. From that moment on, the Corporation's managers and even bottom-level employees were also affected by this influence.
Eight-hour workdays, excellent salaries... mandatory ideological education after work about certain things that made Corporation executives sweat profusely—aside from the 'Long Live the Empress' doctrine, which wasn't explicitly written into the charter and seemed somewhat heretical to Jiang Qiao himself, yet had to be tolerated due to the Glamoth populace's fervor.
In the past decade's glorious era, the originally money-grubbing Interastral Peace Corporation had transformed, rediscovering its original mission as Qlipoth's support team, becoming a rebellious machine rallied under the Glamoth Empress's banner, giving the old masters nightmares.
And leading such a group of Corporation employees, fiercely injected with Glamoth genes and the Empress's spirit, to resist Glamoth...
Right now, you must be joking, right?