Having spent a long time navigating the streets and alleys, tumbling and crawling her way up, Pardo had developed a knack for "observing carefully" and "seizing opportunities"—for instance, "accurately grasping" business chances.
"..."
Hearing Pardo's sudden little turn of phrase left Lin Wei momentarily stunned, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
"Didn't you just say that helping with Sakura's matter was an undeniable duty?"
"Oh dear, business is business! After all, those little-known paths in the Elysian Realm are trade secrets I've accumulated over the years! I'm taking such a huge risk exposing these secrets to help you out so much, earning a little errand fee is perfectly justifiable, right?" Pardo argued plausibly.
"Besides, taking someone to see Sister Nia without any prior notice... that kind of thing is actually... quite scary... Ahahaha..."
"...Alright, what do you want?" Seeing Pardo look so pitiful, Lin Wei figured she was just trying to compensate for her greedy yet timid heart. He didn't intend to haggle with her and simply said,
"Let's be clear first, I can't give you that pendant from earlier. It's a keepsake a friend entrusted to me." Lin Wei was genuinely afraid she had her eyes on Anna's pendant, so he preemptively shut down that possibility.
"Huh? Oh... What? A small matter! Am I the kind of person who only sees money?" Pardo paused. He really was after that "lost and found" pendant. She truly loved those "bling-bling," shiny things, just like she loved shiny gold and silver coins.
But since that item held special meaning for him, the nature of it changed. Pardo had to reluctantly give up, waving her hand magnanimously.
"Doing business, it's all about mutual agreement and making money harmoniously. I understand the principle of 'helping others achieve their goals.' We can just pay in other ways~" But with her most desired item gone, Pardo felt a pang of disappointment. Her constantly swaying tail drooped involuntarily, and for a moment, she didn't even think about what she should ask for as payment.
"How about this? If I get a chance to introduce you to her next time, I should be able to get her to give you another gemstone, probably no worse than that pendant." Lin Wei saw that although she spoke magnanimously, her drooping ears and tail still betrayed Pardo's somewhat dejected heart.
He thought for a moment and offered with a comforting smile, "She's a young lady from a wealthy family. She shouldn't be lacking such treasures. It's just that I can't conveniently give away her things without permission..."
Actually, Lin Wei wasn't sure about Anna's family background. After all, when he met her, she was already a dirty, foolishly bubbly A-rank Valkyrie. He had never thought to ask her about such private matters.
But regardless, he'd make the boast first—if worse came to worst, after he returned to reality, he'd find a similar gemstone for Pardo and give it to her in Anna's name. Problem solved! Plan complete!
"Hmm, actually, it doesn't have to be that troublesome..." Pardo wasn't stupid. She knew Lin Wei's words were ten-to-one just to comfort her, but hearing them still made her feel much better.
"There's no time to lose, let's get going~" She actually started urging him on.
Pardo's sudden initiative surprised Lin Wei a little.
"Not going to name your price anymore?"
"Oh dear, among friends, why fuss over so much?" Pardo changed her tune again, patting her chest.
"Worst case, just introduce me to a few more business deals next time, that'll do!" Actually, she felt a little embarrassed just now.
After all, out of a "merchant's duty to seek profit and avoid harm," Pardo was extremely well-informed within the Elysian Realm.
She knew almost every blade of grass, every movement here. That's why she knew so clearly what Lin Wei had been up to recently, and why she had been so thoroughly frightened.
Although the "misunderstanding" was now resolved, the information itself was still valid. Coupled with Pardo's own understanding of Lin Wei and other stories she occasionally heard from Yae Sakura during their chats, she knew Lin Wei was, at the very least, a man of his word.
Because of this, Lin Wei's earlier words, which sounded very much like excuses and prevarications, didn't arouse Pardo's aversion.
Instead, they made her feel a little embarrassed—if Lin Wei really did give her a particularly beautiful gemstone, wouldn't she have made a huge profit? Although she always refused "credit," she also understood the principle of "casting a long line to catch a big fish"—since Boss Lin Wei had such a good reputation, if she hesitated any longer and he thought she was unhappy, and then pulled out a pile of money or something else on the spot... that seemed... pretty good too?
Pardo secretly calculated in her mind, almost drooling. Just as she was about to wipe her mouth, she saw Lin Wei looking at her strangely, quickly coughed, and said seriously,
"Ahem... Let me make this clear beforehand! The secret paths between the various areas of the Elysian Realm are my trade secrets for making a living! Wherever I take you, you follow me. No wandering around, no looking at things you shouldn't, and you're not allowed to tell anyone else the secrets you see!" Her serious expression was just like that of a little money-grubber, fiercely guarding her "treasures," not allowing anyone else to touch them.
Lin Wei didn't think too much about it. Since Pardo valued her secrets so much yet still agreed to help "for free," it made her gesture seem even more endearing. He nodded.
"Alright, I'll listen to you." Anyway, there were plenty of strange rules in the Elysian Realm; one more wouldn't hurt. Although Lin Wei was already deeply prepared for this, the scene he witnessed next still left him momentarily stunned—Is it this strange?
"Alright then, keep up!" Hearing Lin Wei agree to her final request, Pardo also breathed a sigh of relief. She beckoned to him, then turned around... With a whoosh, she dived into a patch of weeds that wasn't particularly tall or dense, and her entire person vanished without a trace.
"...What just happened?" Lin Wei quickly walked over, looking at the still gently swaying green blades of grass. He couldn't help but poke at the weeds, which barely even covered his ankles, completely impossible for a girl to hide in.
"How did she do that?" Just as Lin Wei was cautiously exploring the unknown mystery within, a cat girl suddenly "popped" out of the grass. Pardo shot out halfway from the shallow weeds, asking with a strange expression,
"I've been gone for a while, why aren't you following?"
"..." Lin Wei looked at her, then at himself—How am I supposed to follow?
"Oh, yo! Sorry, sorry, my mistake, my mistake... I forgot, it's the guest's first time on this path, not too clear about the way!" Pardo looked left and right at Lin Wei's face, which was filled with unspoken words, and suddenly understood with a smile.
"This is easy, give me your hand~" As she spoke, she pushed off with her feet, her waist emerging a little more from the grass. Her small hand just managed to grab Lin Wei's arm and pull downwards.
"Close your eyes, stand firm!" As her voice fell, she pulled Lin Wei, causing him to stumble right into the patch of grass—the next second, the scenery changed abruptly.
"How am I supposed to stand firm if you pull me like that..." Lin Wei grumbled inwardly about Pardo's pointless reminder while curiously looking around. He then looked up in the direction he had come from.
What looked like an ordinary patch of weeds from the outside was now, from this perspective, an inconspicuous path in the woods. He and Pardo were currently standing within the entrance of this path. He suddenly understood.
"Did we just directly enter another area?" Are cats really this magical? Lin Wei couldn't help but be amazed. The logic in the Elysian Realm was indeed very different from reality.
"Hehe, actually, I don't really understand the principles here either, and I wasn't specifically looking for these shortcuts..." Seeing Lin Wei's admiring and astonished gaze, Pardo scratched her head somewhat embarrassedly.
"At first, I just wanted to find a comfortable place to sunbathe. Then I accidentally stumbled upon a strange switch, and by the time I realized it, I was already at Sister Eden's place..." At that time, Eden didn't blame her at all for her presumptuous intrusion. Instead, she smiled and gave her many gifts to "calm her nerves." Pardo was quite grateful for that.
"And then, for business, I started actively looking for other such passages in the Elysian Realm. It's strange, every time I find a place and want to try it out, it always succeeds, I don't know why—over time, I've pretty much mastered these paths in the Elysian Realm." After speaking, Pardo somewhat awkwardly summarized for herself,
"Everyone says only I can do this; even Sister Snake and Sister Vill-V can't figure out the specific reason. Thinking about it, besides my bit of luck, maybe my little skill in picking locks, which isn't much to speak of, is also playing a role in some way..."
"..." Lin Wei was speechless. How is that "not much to speak of"? That's incredibly impressive! No wonder Vill-V, both in reality and in the Elysian Realm, had such high hopes for Pardo's "door-opening" skill. It truly defied logic; she could open portals at will! No wonder this family sometimes appeared and disappeared like ghosts, and sometimes hid so well that no one could find them!
"No need to look down on yourself so much, Pardo." Lin Wei couldn't resist ruffling her silky, smooth cat ears, which felt wonderful to the touch.
"This peak-level skill of yours, others can't learn it even if they want to!"
"...If you keep saying that, I'm going to get embarrassed." Pardo's face turned red. She ducked away from the mischievous hand and called out to Lin Wei,
"This way, this way, let's go, let's go!" With that, she led Lin Wei through this deserted forest path, then expertly "slipped into" a cypress tree that didn't look particularly thick. Before completely "disappearing," she didn't forget to pull Lin Wei along with her. In the blink of an eye, they were in another forest.
Only, unlike the previous dense forest with lush foliage, this one was much sparser.
Various towering trees that looked hundreds or thousands of years old were scattered about. The ground was covered in golden fallen leaves that showed no signs of decay or rot, only exuding an aura of ancient vicissitudes of time.
Although it wasn't his first time experiencing this kind of "traversal," Lin Wei was still amazed by the sudden, drastic change, completely different from the "gradual style change" of moving between areas in an orderly fashion before.
"I originally thought you would take me on a direct path to Aponia's area." Lin Wei said, clicking his tongue in wonder.
"I didn't expect we'd be quickly traversing through existing areas of the Elysian Realm."
"Oh dear, no matter what kind of road it is, doesn't it have to rely on the ground?" Pardo argued plausibly.
"Besides, if we run around randomly and accidentally stumble into a dangerous area teeming with monsters, what then?" Lin Wei understood; this one was still playing it safe.
"Alright, this is Brother Su's area. Let's keep our voices down and go this way, so we don't disturb him... Huh, why isn't Brother Su home today?" Pardo was whispering to Lin Wei, as barging into someone else's home still required some politeness. But then she paused, somewhat surprised.
"That shouldn't be. I rarely see Brother Su leave that tallest tree!" Pardo pointed into the distance. Lin Wei looked and saw a giant tree, like an umbrella canopy, growing solitarily on a low hill. Lin Wei was no stranger to that place—after all, when visiting Su normally, one would usually be transported to a spot not far from that tree. Viewing it from such a distance, however, was a first, and felt rather novel.
"Su probably went to visit a friend?" Lin Wei remembered Su mentioning he wanted to talk to Kevin when they parted ways earlier, so he didn't think much of it and smiled.
"You can't expect him to be cooped up under that tree all the time, right?"
"That's true, seize the day!" Pardo thought about it and agreed, then said excitedly,
"It's good that Brother Su isn't here. This way, we don't have to worry about disturbing him. We can take another, shorter path. Follow me!" As she spoke, she led Lin Wei, panting slightly, towards the small hill, as if worried Su would catch them if they didn't hurry.
"Ha... Ha... We're here." Pardo's stamina wasn't much better than an ordinary person's. Running this distance had already exhausted her considerably. After bending over to rest for a moment, she led Lin Wei, slightly excited, into a crevice between some rocks.
"This is the first time I've taken this path since I discovered it! This feeling is quite novel. After living in the Elysian Realm for fifty thousand years, such experiences are becoming rarer and rarer." Pardo whispered, explaining her excitement as she quickly led Lin Wei through the next area.
"If things go smoothly, we..." Before she could finish, a melodious yet sorrowful harmonica tune drifted down from above, like a young boy recounting his unbearable past. Lin Wei's heart stirred; he thought of something. But before he could say anything, Pardo unexpectedly muttered to herself in surprise,
"Kosma? That shouldn't be. Why is he here?"