Styxia, Amphoreus.
"Um... where are Sister Lumina and Big Sister Herta?"
Castorice, who had arrived here in the blink of an eye, looked at Stelle, who was also a bit confused, glanced left and right, and asked softly.
"Um..." Hearing this, Stelle snapped back to her senses, observed the dark environment around her that seemed to be in the Underworld, and scratched her head in confusion.
"Where did this bring me? Is this still Amphoreus?"
Stelle did not answer Castorice's question because she did not know either.
Regarding this, although Stelle did not give an answer to the question, Castorice could also see a trace of it through her blank expression.
Since Miss Stelle did not know the whereabouts of Sister Lumina and Big Sister Herta, then let's put this matter aside for the time being.
Castorice did not believe that anything would happen to Sister Lumina and Big Sister Herta.
The original plan was for the two of them to go to Styxia to deal with the issues related to the Titan of [Death] and Miss Stelle's body.
Now, the disappearance of Sister Lumina and Big Sister Herta would not have any impact on the original plan.
So, Castorice no longer dwelled on the matter of Sister Lumina and Big Sister Herta, and softly answered Stelle's confusion: "Lady Cipher is the Demigod of [Trickery]. When she tosses the [Coin of Whimsy] high into the air, she can obtain unrivaled Divine Speed."
"Within Amphoreus, coming and going from any place happens almost in the blink of an eye."
"This is Styxia. Sister Lumina, Big Sister Herta, and Lady Cipher are all gone. It seems we'll have to rely on ourselves for the rest of the journey."
"Mem! And there's me too, I'm also one of the companions!"
After Castorice's words fell, Mem suddenly popped out of the air.
Without a single trace, making one wonder where she had actually emerged from.
"Mem, did you pay?"
Regarding Mem's sudden appearance, Castorice and Stelle didn't think much of it.
However, as for Mem appearing here, Stelle had some thoughts.
She put her hands on her hips, and asked Mem with a very serious expression.
"Ah." Hearing her companion's words, Mem was instantly stunned.
The words were unexpected, yet... they also seemed to be expected.
"I, I'm so small, I'm not even half a meter tall. I should be able to get a free ticket, right?" In response to Stelle's completely unserious question, Mem answered with a very serious expression.
"No can do. Although Mem's height hasn't reached the limit, her mind has."
"So you can't get a free ticket."
Just as Mem's words fell, before Castorice and Stelle could say anything, a pure white figure appeared behind Mem when no one noticed.
With a single embrace, she directly pulled Mem into her arms.
"Me...?! Mem! Mem!"
"Bad woman, it's you again!"
This familiar feeling, this familiar warmth, Mem knew who it was without even thinking.
It was that bad woman, Lumina!
"Hehe, it seems I've left an indelible memory in Mem's heart." Hearing Mem call her a "bad woman," Lumina wasn't angry in the slightest.
Her hands never stopped moving, continuously petting Mem's soft little body.
From now on, Mem can no longer be compared to a plushie.
Why? Because what plushie could be as comfortable as Mem?
If there were a plushie as comfortable as Mem, it would have been sold out across the Cosmos long ago.
"Mem!"
Mem didn't reply, because after all, Lumina was right.
This bad woman's image had already left an extremely deep impression in Mem's heart.
The kind that completely couldn't be erased in a short while.
Bad woman!
Mem completely gave up, letting Lumina do whatever she wanted to her.
"Sister Lumina." Seeing Lumina's appearance, a hint of joy immediately surfaced on Castorice's face.
Although Sister Lumina had said she wouldn't step in, this didn't matter.
As long as Sister Lumina was by her side, Castorice would have an inexhaustible amount of strength in her body.
Just like a warehouse skill, as long as Sister Lumina was there, even if she didn't take the field, Castorice could still obtain a buff effect.
"Mm." Understanding Castorice's voice, Lumina smiled slightly and gave a simple gesture.
Then she continued petting Mem in her arms, watching Castorice with a wave of envy in her heart.
Although it was a bit embarrassing and hard to say aloud...
But seeing this scene, Castorice just... just wanted to take Mem's place, lying in Sister Lumina's arms, letting Lumina do whatever she wanted, petting her over and over again...
But she was already so old, this kind of thing was definitely not allowed.
For a moment, Castorice actually felt a hint of envy toward Mem.
"Aren't we in a hurry? Why are we still standing here?"
Just then, Herta, who had been following behind, arrived at the spot and appeared beside Lumina.
Looking at Mem, who was held in Lumina's arms and being petted over and over, several flashes of emotion crossed Herta's eyes.
She said nothing about it, then turned to look at Castorice and said calmly.
"Yes, Big Sister Herta is right, we need to hurry."
Hearing this, Castorice instantly snapped back to her senses.
Realizing that they were racing against time to complete a task, she nodded seriously and solemnly.
"Let's go, we can discuss any doubts and questions as we walk," Castorice said softly, looking at the ruined but magnificent ancient city before her.
After speaking, she took the lead and walked in the very front.
"Lady Cipher hasn't appeared for so long, she probably has no intention of staying a second longer, so we don't need to wait for her."
-
"Among the few clues we have, the most useful one might be the 'Fairy Tale of the Dragon'."
"Fairy Tale of the Dragon?"
Mem scratched her head, muttering in confusion.
"The Teacher once used a Secret Alchemy technique to successfully fuse her soul with the souls of Calypso and Kephalos for a brief moment. At the same time, she was drawn by Thanatos and succeeded in glimpsing the flowing Styx."
"The Alchemist, known as the [Act of Blasphemy], might be able to attract the souls of mortals to Titans."
"Although Thanatos has been missing for a thousand years without a trace during this time, and has not been found by her believers."
"But that attraction might be able to summon her here."
While walking, Castorice explained her plan.
This was a plan they had all discussed together.
"So, we are going to use that [Philosopher's Stone] to make the Titan here appear?"
As Castorice started walking and stepping into Styxia, Lumina also let Mem go from her arms.
Hearing Castorice's words, Mem took out a small notebook and recorded them word by word, to prevent forgetting later.
"Mm-hmm, it should be something like that," Castorice said softly, nodding.
"However... we have very few clues at hand, we need to explore inside first."
"Among the few clues we have, the most useful one might be a giant dragon fairy tale."
"A giant dragon fairy tale?" Mem scratched her head, muttering in confusion.
Could a fairy tale really serve as a clue?
"Hehe..." Seeing Mem's confusion, Castorice smiled gently. "Because clues are scarce, we cannot afford to ignore any of them."
"Whether it is a fairy tale or anything else, all inspiration is drawn from reality."
"Therefore, even a fairy tale holds reference value for us, especially in our current state of knowing almost nothing."
Castorice explained softly.
Ultimately, it all came back to the same point: Thanatos, who had been missing for thousands of years, was simply too mysterious.
"Thanatos is even more mysterious than I am..." Mem sighed, catching Castorice's unspoken meaning.
"Whether she is more mysterious than you or not, won't we find out after exploring Styxia?" Lumina smiled upon hearing Mem's remark.
Hmph, Little Mem, when will you finally become Little Cyrene?
I'm already getting impatient waiting!
Although Mem was also very cute, and acting as a body pillow made her the absolute best body pillow in the Cosmos, without a doubt!
But compared to a body pillow, Lumina still preferred beautiful girls.
You're right, but cuteness is completely no match for a beautiful girl.
Not to mention, the category of beautiful girls already includes cuteness.
How could the cuteness of a non-beautiful girl even compare to the cuteness of a beautiful girl?
So—
Transform, transform for me!
Mem, transform for me! I want Cyrene!
Transform! Transform! Transform!
"Mem... B-Bad woman, what are you trying to do..."
Perhaps it was Lumina's emotions and gaze, her desire to turn Mem into a beautiful girl completely unconcealed. Sensing this, Mem's body floating in the air suddenly shrank, and she hurriedly flew behind Stelle, using Stelle's body to block Lumina's view.
Seeing Mem's panicked movements as she hid behind Stelle, and feeling Mem's cautious gaze, Lumina didn't mind, gesturing with a smile on her face: "Mem, do you know?"
"Generally, things as cute as you end up becoming a super beautiful, super cute girl."
"Mem? Uh..." Hearing this sentence, Mem froze for a moment.
Then, seeing that Lumina didn't seem to have any ill intentions, Mem cautiously floated out from behind Stelle.
Scratching her head, wondering what that bad woman Lumina was thinking about, Mem hesitated for a moment before thanking her: "Um, thank you?"
Although she didn't know what that bad woman Lumina wanted to do, becoming a beautiful girl was indeed something Mem looked forward to.
So, since she said that, Mem thanking her once seemed... to be nothing wrong with it.
"You're welcome~" Lumina replied in a delighted voice.
Although Mem wasn't a beautiful girl now, her voice was definitely that of a beautiful girl.
So, even if she wasn't a beautiful girl now, Lumina would feel very pleased and satisfied because of this sentence.
Besides, Mem not being a beautiful girl now didn't mean she wouldn't be one in the future.
Lumina had seen Mem's future beautiful girl form after all.
So, she could just substitute herself into that vision.
If she simply imagined it, wouldn't it be as if Cyrene herself had thanked her?
How could Lumina not feel great about this?
"Gross..."
Just as Lumina was reveling in this delight, Herta's voice, tinged with a hint of disgust, reached everyone's ears.
It instantly drew everyone's gaze.
"Ah... Dear Herta, I wonder what your older sister did wrong to make you so angry?" Hearing Herta's disgust, Lumina wasn't surprised at all.
She immediately struck a bewildered, confused, and heartbroken pose.
"Heh..." Herta couldn't be bothered to say much more.
Because Herta knew that no matter what she said, there was a ninety-nine percent chance that Castorice, Stelle, and even this Mem would all side with Lumina.
In that case, was there even a need to speak?
Herta would never do something that would only cause her more trouble.
Anyway, she had already scolded her and vented her anger. Was there anything left to be dissatisfied with?
Of course not.
Lumina's perverted reaction just now absolutely deserved to be scolded.
All she knew was how to run off to Huohuo and other beautiful girls all day. Shouldn't she be scolded?
For the safety of other beautiful girls, she definitely had to scold her severely.
"Alright, alright, everyone, let's keep moving."
"Little Herta is just like this. She loses her temper and scolds me from time to time."
"I'm fine, so don't worry about it. Just focus on the task at hand and ignore me."
Lumina "suppressed the emotions in her heart and forced a faint smile" as she gestured to Castorice and the others.
It was as if she were telling them that she had frequently suffered Herta's verbal abuse and had long since grown accustomed to it.
She wanted them to just focus on their own work and not mind her.
I'm fine, really... I'm fine.
Herta: ...
Ah, where did this tea aroma, so thick it was almost tangible in the air, come from?
Oh, so it's wafting off this Little Lumina.
Herta's heart was filled with countless waves of exasperation.
Given Lumina's current act, anyone with a brain, anyone with a shred of independent thought, could smell the tea aroma in the air and understand that Lumina was faking it.
Everything she said was complete nonsense.
But unfortunately, everyone present, except for Herta, lacked the ability to think independently.
Well... that's not quite right.
It should be put this way: everyone present, under the influence of Lumina's invisible Domain, had lost their ability to think independently.
Although they said nothing, the slightly surprised glances they cast at Herta also proved that they had already believed Lumina's words in their hearts.
Herta wasn't surprised by this at all.
In fact, she would have been surprised if they hadn't believed Lumina's words.
After all, in Herta's eyes, these people already seemed to belong to Lumina heart and soul...
For a few people who had already taken Lumina's side completely, how could Herta still dream of them taking her side?
She was dreaming.
Even Penacony couldn't produce such a sweet dream.
Therefore, Herta didn't bother to explain anything about Lumina's nonsense.
They wouldn't believe her anyway.
Ignoring them was the best way.