MTLNOVEL Chapter 86: Not a Kid
Stepping off of March, Sunny was baffled by the simplicity of the encounter. In all honesty, he was worriedly expecting a troublesome encounter against Svarog, one that would devestate the landscape as he barely survived the robot's onslaught. Instead, a mere couple of words from Clara was able to placate the ancient automaton.
Although he was slightly skeptical when Svarog stated that they now had access to any information regarding the Stellaron, he didn't think that the robot was programmed to be able to deceive others. If he was… then Sunny questioned the sanity of his programmers.
March stood up, grunting as she cracked her back. The popping sound of her vertebrae rang out. She turned to Clara, then to Svarog.
"…Before we do anything, shouldn't we go get the others?"
Sunny shook his head. Although he believed that it would be more convenient to not have to repeat anything, finding the others wasn't necessary.
"They're already here."
March blinked, suddenly turning around.
Dan Heng, Seele, Bronya, and… Natasha approached them. The last of them hadn't arrived with them earlier, which brought Sunny some confusion. However, he wasn't surprised, since he saw her through his shadow earlier.
The commotion would have drawn them over, as a hurricane of snow appearing wasn't something that could be easily missed — even on Jarilo-VI.
Sunny blinked, finding an empty spot where someone else should have been.
"Where's Sampo?"
***
Sampo spun a card on the tip of his finger, acting haphazardly despite it's value. After a while, he suddenly stopped, sending it a strange look as he pondered certain matters.
'…There would be too many problems with attempting that. The current state hasn't changed for dozens of millennia, so why should it do so now? Even if I'm able to conceal it, who knows what means they have? If they didn't have unknown methods, then there would be plenty of Sovereigns by now.'
Even if he had obtained the necessary means without using the common method, it was simply too high of a risk. As an experienced thie—entrepreneur, he had an instinctual sense for when he was operating beyond his means.
Of course, he could be completely wrong about there being a high risk. After all, his main investment was appreciating at a horrendously leisurely pace. Meanwhile, his second investment — which wasn't really an investment — wasn't going to be useful anytime soon!
Gazing at the card, a strange image was displayed. Within it was a figure clad in onyx armor, a haze of Darkness being expelled through the seams. Two terrible wings with black feathers sprouted out of 'His' back. Oddly enough, 'He' was rubbing 'His' hands together, creating a sense of mischief. Behind the figure was a massive grandfather clock.
Sampo's thumb covered the bottom of the card, seeking inspiration for the ideal path to take. A pocket watch that hung from his belt — one of many — started to rotate the small hand counterclockwise. It landed on the three.
He suddenly became transparent, fading away as he witnessed a plethora of indescribable sights. The logic of space began to have no meaning. Up, down, left, right… direction was unable to be described in such a manner.
A few seconds later, he found himself in the middle of a simple, yet desolate park. He sat down on a bench as he thought to himself.
'What a useful Ability. If only Miss Erudition would let me borrow it more often.'
He sighed.
Suddenly, his gaze pointed up at the smoggy industrial sky.
'I guess everything's solved there…'
There was no point in viewing that. After all, he had already deduced the situation himself. Instead, he had his own problems to worry about.
'Mr. Murder used to live on this planet. Maybe those 'pals' of his left something behind.'
Probably not, as time was rather unforgiving. Sampo doubted that he was going to find anything after a century, much less multiple millennia. Despite that, it was worth a try.
'Besides, I'm great at finding things! It's one of my signature skills…'
Extricating himself from the bench, Sampo walked past a tree with three scratches on it. After a couple minutes he walked past a skinny teenager. The boy turned around, eyeing him. His gaze stopped at the watch that hung of one of Sampo's belts, a hungry glint in his eyes.
The boy reached under his shirt, moving to grab something from the inside of his waistband. His hand grasped nothing, a look of confusion appearing on his face. Searching for a moment, he pulled out a wad of bills — pure cash. His confusion only grew more despite the appeal of the mysterious money.
Sampo turned back, a grin on his face. He held up something within his hand, tossing it up and down as he flaunted it in front of the boy.
It was a gun.
"Is this yours? Don't you know that it's dangerous to carry these things around?"
Sampo crushed it within his grip, letting the mangled scraps drop to the ground. He turned away, continuing as he walked in the general direction of the place he wanted to check out. He paused for a moment.
"Keep the cash."
***
"I hope his memory bank really does contain data on the Stellaron."
After speaking, Dan Heng suddenly had the urge to yawn.
Sunny provided a plentiful amount of exposition, informing the others that Svarog was now willing to provide them with the necessary information on the Stellaron.
However, there was a strange sensation he was experiencing. Others might not notice it due to how miniscule it was, but Dan Heng was especially sensitive to such matters.
His Soul Essence was being drained by something.
He noticed it when Sunny had went missing. The amount being drained was so little that he was still being brought back to full capacity, but due to how his Aspect worked, anything that involved his Soul Essence couldn't pass by his senses.
As it didn't seem to be anything major, he decided to not inform anyone of this. Although he had his suspicions about what was currently occurring to him, he believed that he should simply pretend like he didn't notice. Dan Heng will simply proceed with his life like nothing changed.
However, he would make sure to monitor his current situation at all times. Particularly for any sudden fluctuations in his Soul Essence.
***
Seele almost cheered after Sunny finished his explanation. However, she remembered that she had a reputation to keep, so she kept quiet.
A snicker resounded in her head.
[What a lofty reputation…]
Seele inwardly scowled at Veliona's sarcastic remark.
'…This is a pretty crazy moment, isn't it? We're one step closer to saving the Underworld.'
[Just the Underworld?]
'You know what I meant!'
Veliona simply laughed.
'…What's so funny?'
Her laughter died down.
[I just find it funny. There were so many coincidences ever since they arrived. He was right. Unlikely things do tend to happen around him.]
As she thought about everything that occurred, Seele had to agree. The fact that she had encountered Sunny in the real world was already ridiculous. Dragging Bronya to the Underworld, encountering a Fallen Terror, coincidentally running into Clara…
If Seele didn't know any better, she would have thought that everything was orchestrated.
'…I really need to get some sleep.'
A second ago, she was feeling just fine. But now, she had the urge to curl up into a ball and never wake up.
'Weird…'
***
Bronya released a heavy sigh, her shoulders tensed as she knew what was going to come next. In a moment, Svarog was going to reveal the truth behind… everything, really. She was separated from the rest, dreading what was bound to occur.
In truth, Bronya was horrified. She wasn't sure what she was going to hear, and she wasn't sure what she was going to do with what she heard. Although she was very familiar with the morality of others, she couldn't tell what she would do.
If it turned out that her mother was the greatest villain of them all, would she stand against her? Or would she stand by her side? She didn't know what choice she'd make until the scenario actually occurred.
She closed her eyes for few moments, opening them once more when she heard a pair of footsteps approach her.
"…You don't seem very happy."
Sunny spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, being blunt rather than gently asking her if she was okay.
'He really doesn't know how to treat a woman…'
Bronya couldn't help but smile. There was no aura surrounding Sunny, depicting his moral inclination. It was a blank void, perfectly suitable for someone that 'had no interest in whether or not he was a good or bad person'.
"I wasn't aware that you held interest in my mood."
At her teasing remark, Sunny just tilted his head.
"If you're not happy, morale is going to drop. Then, everybody would be useless as they mope around. I could deal with everything myself, sure, but… I doubt anybody would like how it turns out. Including me."
'…What is he, a general?'
For a boy who wasn't even eighteen, he seemed to have quite the pragmatic approach to things. She wondered what kind of life could have led to such a mindset.
Her gaze softened as she shook her head.
"You don't need to worry about any of that. When was the last time you slept? And the nap at the orphanage doesn't count."
Although she was curious about how he woke up so quickly despite being in the Dream Realm, she didn't want to pry.
Sunny raised his fingers, seeming like he was counting. However, the way he moved his fingers was completely counterintuitive to doing so. It was like he was simply flipping random fingers to fake the action of counting.
"…Somewhere around forty-eight hours?"
Bronya pursed her lips. Wasn't the same true for her?
"Well… if you have any trouble sleeping again, just tell me. I'll put you to sleep."
Sunny blinked. Then he frowned.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Bronya blinked back.
"What parents do when their children can't sleep. Like reading a fairytale."
'…Ah.'
She expected him to glare at her for insinuating that he was comparable to a child, but he simply turned downcast.
"…Do I really look like a kid?"
Bronya coughed into her fist.
"I… I wouldn't say you look like a child necessarily. Rather, your features aren't very…"
…She was only digging an even bigger grave for herself.
As she paused, Sunny could only frown.
"So you do see me as a child."
Her eyebrow twitched she glanced around.
"…Could we save this discussion for later?"
Sunny crossed his arms.
"Fine… but I'm not a kid!"