"You said this was their own business and you wouldn't help them, didn't you?"
Once Lumina finished her conversation with Castorice and returned to Herta's side, she was greeted by an elbow strike charged with a lot of personal emotion.
One could feel from this elbow strike that Herta's mood was extremely bad right now.
It was filled with a lot of resentment and displeasure.
It was like the emotion of a wife waiting at home, who had waited until the middle of the night to see her husband push open the door and come home.
After all, coming home so late, who knows if their own husband was fooling around with some shady character outside...
Um... Alright, this wife not only knew that her husband was out fooling around, but also knew who her husband was fooling around with.
And they even did it right in front of this wife of hers...
Of course, Castorice was not some shady character. She was also an innocent little girl who had suffered from evil poisonous claws, she was also a victim.
She is innocent!
How could a victim be guilty?
All the sin lies with Lumina!
"Oh, clearly, I changed my mind." After being elbowed by Herta, Lumina paid no attention to it at all.
Shrugging her shoulders and not even trying to act, she gave a completely honest reply.
It could only be said that Lumina was truly Lumina; anyone else facing this scene would probably take the time to offer a patient explanation.
But as a result, this person, Lumina, was so perfunctory that it was almost overflowing.
If Herta hadn't cared about Lumina, she would have already brought down a heavy blow with a club and given her a sound thrashing.
Um... although she completely lost to Lumina in a fight anyway.
But in any case, her aura could not lose!
If even her aura lost, wouldn't that mean her fate would evolve into always being manipulated by Lumina?
This was definitely out of the question, Herta would never allow it!
Herta could accept being manipulated for a moment, but she could absolutely not accept always being manipulated.
In Herta's view, being manipulated for a moment was merely a stepping stone for her to manipulate Lumina in the future.
But being manipulated all the time would be a different story.
That would mean she no longer had any strength to resist...
"Sister Lumina, can you tell me where Thanatos is now?"
Seeing that Sister Lumina and Sister Herta had no intention of continuing their conversation, Castorice spoke up and asked.
Castorice had originally wanted to wait for Sister Lumina to bring it up herself, but this matter was too important for her to wait any longer. She was impatient to hear the news.
"Hmm, let me look for him first." Lumina smiled and nodded, her demeanor completely different from when she was facing Herta.
Someone who didn't know better would probably think Lumina and Castorice were the ones who were friends, and that Herta was just a passing stranger asking for directions...
Herta: ...
"Hu hah..."
Seeing that Lumina's actions were as perfunctory as her words, Herta immediately took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to brutally retaliate against her.
A good woman doesn't fight with a trashy one.
In the end, Herta chose to forgive Lumina...
-
"Hmm... found him."
Before long, Lumina had found a lead on Thanatos.
"Really? Sister Lumina!" Hearing Sister Lumina's words, Castorice couldn't hide the excitement on her face.
Castorice had a lot of trust in Lumina, but even so, in this situation, she couldn't help but let out a confused query.
Of course, the main reason was...
Sister Lumina... had found a lead on Thanatos in less than ten seconds, which made Castorice... find it a bit hard to believe.
Finding it in less than ten seconds, could it be that Thanatos is currently in Okhema?
This thought immediately surfaced in Castorice's mind.
But soon, this thought was rejected.
"What are you thinking, Little Sister Castorice?"
Sister Lumina's voice brought Castorice back to reality.
"With my strength, if I could only search Okhema once in ten seconds, people would laugh me to death if I told them."
Castorice's little expression revealed all her thoughts in her heart. Seeing this, Lumina was somewhat speechless.
Searching Okhema only once in ten seconds, is she looking down on me?
In those ten seconds, Lumina had already searched the entire Amphoreus once.
She had even intentionally restrained herself to keep Castorice from being too shocked.
Otherwise, never mind ten seconds, Lumina could search every single detail of Amphoreus several times in just one second.
At that rate, let alone one Thanatos, Lumina could find a thousand or ten thousand Thanatoses in the blink of an eye.
"Mm-hmm, sorry, Sister Lumina."
While Lumina felt extremely proud of her strength in her heart, Castorice also realized her mistake and lowered her head, offering an apology.
To actually doubt Sister Lumina... even if she prayed to the gods ten thousand times, she would never be forgiven for this, right?
Castorice thought to herself, a thick sense of guilt rising in her heart.
"Hmm... my dear Little Sister Castorice, what are you thinking about again?"
But just like before, this thick sense of guilt did not last long. It soon completely vanished because of Lumina's voice.
"De... dear!"
It was just that... Castorice's attention was completely captivated by another newly surfaced emotion.
Lumina's "dear" was like an atomic bomb exploding in Castorice's mind.
Sister Lumina... she actually called me dear...
And... and she even did it in front of Big Sister Herta...
This... this isn't good...
Castorice stammered inwardly.
Sister Lumina... by calling me dear, does that mean... she, she likes me?
Then... should I agree, or... or should I hesitate for a moment and then agree?
A spark of anticipation inexplicably rose in Castorice's heart.
Subsequently, a sequence of unspeakable events followed...
"Gulp..."
These unspeakable events continuously flooded Castorice's mind, causing her to swallow hard as thousands of thoughts emerged along with the imagery.
Her exquisite, adorable, pale face instantly flushed with a delicate blush, making her look exceptionally cute.
Her body twisted awkwardly, her cherry lips turning red; such a sight actually aroused a faint sense of longing in Lumina's heart.
This emotion seemed to be urging Lumina to seize this opportunity, to press on, and then completely devour Castorice...
A certain feeling in Lumina's heart toward beautiful girls seemed to have transformed from a state of simple cuddling into... some desire to take things a step further.
Lumina didn't mind this, nor did she try to correct it.
She just let this impulse continue.
In the past, Lumina might have gone to reflect, to correct, to deny it, but now, Lumina simply did not care.
Because she discovered that this matter was beneficial to her.
Since it was beneficial to her, why should Lumina reflect, correct, or deny it?
According to Lumina's logic, since it was beneficial, shouldn't she just enjoy it properly?
Let nature take its course; if she could enjoy it, she would, and if she couldn't, she wouldn't.
If the beautiful girl agreed, she would enjoy it; if the beautiful girl disagreed, she wouldn't enjoy it.
Um...
Why did I feel like something was a bit off?
As she pondered, Lumina silently muttered to herself.
She suddenly realized what was wrong.
"Ahem! Ahem!"
"Sister Castorice, don't mind it, and don't overthink it. 'Darling' is just one of Lumina's ways of addressing people, it doesn't have any deeper meaning."
Before Lumina could even process what exactly was so off about it, Herta's voice rang out, once again interrupting the flow of their thoughts, just as she had interrupted their hug before.
"Ah? Oh, oh, that's... that's right." Castorice's face turned red as she snapped back to reality, and the light in her eyes visibly dimmed a little.
"Sis... Sister Lumina, where... where is Thanatos now?"
The blush on Castorice's face showed no sign of fading, and her speech was still as stuttered as the thoughts in her mind.
But she still forced a change of subject, turning the conversation back to Thanatos, the [Death Titan].
But even so, though she desperately wanted to change the subject, the emotions Lumina had stirred in her heart with that single word "Darling" hadn't faded in the slightest.
They continued to rage wildly through Castorice's mind...
"Hmph!"
Although this wasn't exactly a good thing, even if this scene had been allowed to continue, it would have ended with just a hug or holding hands, and wouldn't have progressed to anything further.
After all, with so many people in this Garden, Lumina definitely wouldn't do anything to Castorice.
But, being interrupted by Herta like this, Lumina was still a little annoyed.
Then again, that annoyance vanished completely the very moment it was born.
It couldn't be helped; after all, the person interrupting her time with a beautiful young girl was also a beautiful young girl~
After glaring at her, Lumina answered the question Castorice had asked: "Hmm... I don't know the name of the place."
"But judging by the surrounding architecture, it's already a ruined, dilapidated city-state."
"It's surrounded by rivers that look like... the Styx?"
"It seems to be an isolated island. I can sense the aura of a [Titan] within it."
Lumina's words reached Castorice's mind, momentarily halting those... unspeakable emotions that had been raging wildly through her thoughts.
"Ruins... an isolated island surrounded by the Styx," Castorice muttered, seemingly recalling something.
"Styxia..."
Castorice softly spoke the name, the blush on her face gradually fading.
It seemed she knew of this place.
"Styxia? Hmm... I don't know if the [Titan] aura here belongs to the [Death Titan], but the aura does indeed have a certain flavor of [Death]."
"And there aren't many Titans left in the world, so it's highly likely to be here, in this place called Styxia."
Hearing the name Castorice spoke, Lumina nodded and spoke softly.
Lumina didn't recognize people, nor did she know these Titans, so she could only make judgments based on their auras.
There are very few Titans left roaming the Land of Amphoreus. Aside from the [Sky Titan] hanging high in the heavens, only the [Death Titan] remains.
Coupled with the fact that this aura reeked of [Death] from head to toe, Lumina gave a definitive answer.
It was impossible for this Titan, so full of the aura of [Death], to be the [Sky Titan], right?
"Hmm... Thanatos, He is likely there." Castorice nodded, the blush on her small face having mostly faded.
"Since we've confirmed the direction, why don't we set out right away?" Lumina said softly.
Though her words contained no hint of urgency or haste, they still sounded a bit like she was rushing.
Was Lumina urging Castorice to leave Okhema quickly?
Why?
Of course, it was because Lumina was also planning to leave Okhema with Castorice and head for Styxia~
With so many people here in Okhema, it wasn't convenient for Lumina to engage in some slightly daring actions.
For example, if no one was around just now, and only she and Herta, Castorice, Stelle, and Mem were here, Lumina would have directly taken action to do some improper things to Castorice.
So she naturally seemed a little anxious, so she could just take advantage of the journey to Styxia to continue to improve the relationship between herself and Castorice.
What, you're going to say what if Herta, Stelle, and Mem were also by her side?
What else could she do, either treat them as if they didn't exist, or just take them all along in one go~
Anyway, Lumina was feeling quite confident, in her view, it was just a simple 1v4, the advantage is with me!
"Mm, I know." Hearing this, Castorice immediately nodded her head obediently like a little chicken pecking at rice.
Then she explained: "But I need to tell Lady Aglaea and Lady Tribbie first, so Sister Lumina might need to wait a moment."
At this moment, Castorice's mind was entirely focused on the matter of the [Death Titan], and even the fact that Sister Lumina had called her "dear" just now was temporarily suppressed in her heart.
"Are you planning to go to Styxia with Castorice and the others?"
While Castorice was recounting the matter to Aglaea, Herta gave Lumina another elbow nudge.
After the elbow nudge, she asked a question.
"How can a girl keep acting so rudely?" After being nudged by Herta, Lumina glared fiercely at her.
This Little Herta was truly becoming more and more lawless.
If she continued to let her run wild, who knew what kind of creature she would evolve into...
Lumina felt that she needed to represent her "sister"... No, she was her sister to begin with.
Therefore, Lumina planned to properly use her "sisterly" authority to teach this Little Herta a harsh lesson.
However, now was not the right time.
This lesson would be put on hold for now, to be dealt with later.
After temporarily suppressing the thought of teaching her a lesson, Lumina answered Herta's question from earlier: "Of course, since we came to Amphoreus for tourism, we will naturally go see all sorts of places."
"Heh, I think you just simply want to deepen your relationship with Castorice," Herta snorted coldly, seeing right through Lumina's thoughts.
"Mm-hmm~"
Hearing this, Lumina's expression remained unchanged as she let out a pleased little hum.