While Ryuga was confronting the Stellaron Hunters, the train crew members were rushing in this direction.
"Whoosh!"
Ice-crystal arrows suddenly shot out, cold moonlight flashing across the arrowheads.
Then the arrows split from one to two, two to four, finally becoming sixteen arrows that swept clean the remaining scattered Voidrangers along the way.
Seeing this scene, Himeko was immediately shocked.
"March 7th, how did you become so powerful?"
Dan Heng and Welt Yang also looked over curiously. Clearing so many mobs in one breath—March 7th hadn't had such skill before.
"This is the protection Lord Ryuga bestowed. How is it, pretty good right!"
Having shown off, March 7th proudly displayed the bracelet on her wrist.
Only when using it did she understand how amazing Ryuga's gift was.
Not only enhanced power and functionality, but also granted her ability to control Six-Phase Ice even more freely.
The attack just now was just a small test. If she needed, this power could provide even greater boosts.
"Indeed quite good."
Dan Heng praised. Even from his perspective, Ryuga's gift far exceeded those rare Light Cones.
"Especially for someone as careless as March 7th, the auto-targeting and guaranteed hit effects are very useful."
Welt Yang evaluated quite objectively.
Even against enemies hidden extremely well, these arrows could auto-target. No need to worry too much about March 7th's exploration in the outside world anymore.
"Uncle Yang! I'm not careless!"
Regarding Welt Yang's evaluation, March 7th, who prided herself as a warm-hearted, gentle beautiful girl, naturally wouldn't accept.
"However, Lord Ryuga's power is indeed useful!"
Watching the girl's elated appearance, Himeko asked curiously.
"March 7th, such a precious gift would be worth quite a lot even at the Interastral Peace Corporation's collection department. Do you know why Mr. Ryuga gave you this gift?"
"Why? It seems like an apology gift. I helped one of Lord Ryuga's subordinates!"
March 7th scratched her head and immediately answered.
"Just helping once isn't worth this much."
Recalling the misunderstanding when first meeting Ryuga, Himeko shook her head, then asked with a smile.
"Remember what I asked Mr. Ryuga when we first met him?"
Hearing this, the pink-haired girl's expression froze as she immediately remembered.
—"Mr. Ryuga, are you willing to take responsibility for March 7th?"
She immediately became somewhat shy, her tone also slightly stuttering.
"Re-remember, but wasn't that a misunderstanding?"
She'd only realized later that Himeko suspected she and Lord Ryuga had been cohabiting for a long time.
Though this was completely groundless speculation, as a girl of proper age, mentioning romance topics still made her a bit embarrassed.
Watching her eyes dodge, Himeko smiled slightly and continued asking.
"Do you remember Mr. Ryuga's answer?"
"Answer?"
March 7th was slightly stunned. After thinking, her small face immediately exploded red, her expression nearly freezing.
Regarding Himeko's misunderstanding and questioning, Lord Ryuga's answer seemed to be—he didn't mind?
Oh my!
March 7th, who'd always yearned for a maiden's lifestyle, became completely confused when actually encountering similar topics.
"Th-th-this is just Lord Ryuga's polite words! H-how could he take interest in me? Lord Ryuga has so many pretty girls under his command—n-not possible!"
She immediately waved her hands, denying such possibility, though her expression was somewhat conflicted.
Seeing her like this, Himeko raised an eyebrow slightly and exchanged glances with the other two.
This child was truly honest, completely without disguise.
Though appearing to deny it, having considered so much, she actually hadn't said one word about refusing.
In other words, she herself found it acceptable?
Realizing this, Himeko immediately spoke.
"What kind of talk is that? Our March 7th is so cute—maybe someone likes exactly your type? Preferences are always unpredictable!"
Though unclear about Ryuga's background, as a Trailblazer, she always encouraged companions to courageously do what they wanted.
Whether success or failure, it was all experience.
"Sister Himeko..."
Hearing words from an elder rich in romantic experience (actually zero), March 7th suddenly felt full of motivation.
For some reason, she really wanted to see Ryuga soon.
So she slightly quickened her pace, soon reaching the coordinates the Machina gave.
Then she discovered the little grey-hair beside Ryuga and heard the address from the little grey-hair's mouth.
"Dad?"
Not just her.
The train crew members who followed behind also all froze.
Just two minutes—what exactly had they missed?
Fortunately, having had the previous misunderstanding, both sides had experience.
In just dozens of seconds, Ryuga explained the ins and outs and cleared up the misunderstanding.
"So this child isn't Lord Ryuga's daughter?"
March 7th breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"Yes."
Ryuga nodded, looking at Himeko.
"Kafka's meaning is to have this child join the Astral Express as a Navigator. This requires your opinion."
"My opinion?"
Himeko thought for two seconds, confirming.
"You're certain this child has a Stellaron sealed inside her body?"
"Correct."
Ryuga nodded.
"Though the seal is very stable, it definitely can't be said to have no danger."
"..."
Himeko fell into silence for a moment.
For any force, Stellarons could easily trigger abnormally terrible disasters.
Though the Astral Express was famous, in terms of power it couldn't compare to large organizations like the Xianzhou or Interastral Peace Corporation.
If rashly adopting this Stellaron girl, they'd have to bear the responsibility of watching over her—this wasn't easy.
Facing such a thing with minimal benefits but maximum effort, mature leaders would usually refuse.
Anyway with March 7th present, maintaining relations with Ryuga was sufficient. Leaving the Stellaron girl to Herta's custody would ensure her safety without adding trouble.
However, she didn't immediately decide, instead looking at the Stellaron girl who'd found a baseball bat somewhere.
"Stelle, right? What do you think?"
"Think?"
The grey-haired girl enthusiastically played with the baseball bat in her hands, swinging it through the air passionately.
"Rules are made to be broken!"
Hearing this, Himeko explained helplessly.
"I'm asking if you're willing to come to the Astral Express and blaze trails across the galaxy with us?"
Hearing this, the grey-haired girl immediately dropped the bat, tearfully hugging Ryuga's thigh.
"Dad, are you abandoning me too?"
Looking at this, even March 7th felt pity.
Facing the girl's extremely abstract behavior, Ryuga casually reached into the girl's pocket, pulled out the fifty-credit bill from her embrace, then immediately made it into one hundred bills.
"How about it?"
This was a trick learned from Kafka.
Venmo her five thousand.
Seeing so much money, the grey-haired girl immediately accepted it joyfully.
"No problem, thank you Dad! From now on I'm an Astral Express person!"
Stuffing five thousand credits into her pocket, the girl immediately left Ryuga's leg and stood beside Himeko.
"..."
Seeing this scene, March 7th felt her sympathy was wasted.
Himeko also helplessly held her forehead, saying to Ryuga.
"Mr. Ryuga, counterfeiting credit notes is illegal. Bills have serial numbers—duplicate usage will get you wanted by the Interastral Peace Corporation."
Hearing this, the grey-haired girl was shocked.
She immediately hugged Ryuga's thigh again and stuffed the bills back.
Seeing this, Ryuga pondered two seconds and transformed these imprinted bills into equal weight in gold.
"Can this be used?"
"This works."
Himeko's mouth twitched as she nodded.
Unlike diamonds which were an IQ tax, gold as a stable heavy element was essentially non-renewable for ordinary lower civilizations. Even in interstellar society, gold was recognized hard currency.
After all, this substance was usually born from universe-level events like the Big Bang or supernova explosions—stellar-level fusion reactions. The total quantity was basically fixed.
Though now there was technology to artificially create gold, it was limited to small-scale production. Large-scale manufacturing costs were still quite high.
She just hadn't expected Ryuga to have this trick too.
Worthy of the One True God. If his gold production cost was relatively low, just this technology could make him a renowned tycoon in interstellar society.
Hearing Himeko's explanation, the grey cat girl immediately accepted the gold and stood up.
She stood behind Himeko, looking at Ryuga with resolute eyes.
"Goodbye Dad, tonight I'm setting sail~ Don't worry about me, because I have Dad's and gold's love!"
She even sang it out.
"I haven't said I'm accepting you yet. Well, I indeed don't plan to refuse, so you don't need to stuff money at me. Besides, you stuffed way too little."
After slight complaints, looking at the grey-haired girl who'd directly given her fifty credits as if trying to bribe her, Himeko shook her head but still chose to compromise.
This child was indeed suitable to become a Trailblazer, just her personality was a bit too problem child.
Looks like the Astral Express would become much livelier.
After discussing everything, suddenly the Machina's emergency communication appeared, followed immediately by Asta's communication.
"Report to Lord Ryuga, detected dangerous energy source approaching the deck. Suspected from network search data to be Antimatter Legion stellar weapon—Doomsday Beast."
"Mr. Ryuga, Miss Himeko, this is bad! Eh... you also received the warning? The Doomsday Beast appeared! Right next to the train!"
To be continued…