A small interlude ended. Just as March 7th and Stelle returned to Qlipoth Fort, Topaz suddenly appeared and briefly explained the situation to everyone.
Previously, due to a lack of information flow, the Company did not know that Jarilo-VI was under the jurisdiction of the [Church of Eternity], so they halted the debt collection operations against this planet.
"Thank you for your hard work. I really didn't expect to drag you into a crisis again... and almost caused a rupture in the relationship between the Express and the Company." Bronya expressed her gratitude repeatedly.
"Rupture? Not that serious, not that serious... Moreover, the main responsibility for this part also lies with me. Blame me for poor management of my subordinates."
"Eh? Seems like we didn't do much either... just accompanied Seele to the Great Mine and beat up the Company employees stationed there."
March 7th felt a bit embarrassed. "The one to thank most should be the Church of Eternity. So the Priestess sister and Pontiff Blake really came to Jarilo-VI for a vacation!"
"Sigh~ Pity we didn't get to meet them. I was thinking of asking Pontiff Blake for some specialty soap again." Stelle felt a little regretful. Her words directly made Topaz stand at attention.
The Interastral Peace Broadcast already had material. It would say the [Tavern] suffered a second attack by unidentified high-explosive heavy weapons, and at the same time, violent energy fluctuations occurred in the star sector where the [Annihilation Gang] was located.
"Everyone has had a hard journey. I have arranged rooms for you at the Goethe Hotel. Please be sure to recover your spirits properly in Belobog."
Encountering an emergency on the first day of the Solwarm Festival was rough, but fortunately, it was resolved smoothly. Next, Stelle and March 7th had plenty of time to enjoy the holiday.
"By the way, Miss Topaz, if you need a comfortable place to stay..."
"No need to trouble you. I still have things to do and have to return to the Company headquarters. Miss Bronya, I'm very glad to establish contact with you. I hope we will have opportunities to cooperate in the future... Of course, the method of cooperation will definitely change!"
"The Solwarm Festival that March has been looking forward to... seems we can finally experience it."
Stelle sighed with emotion. Celebrating festivals is good... Speaking of which, she hadn't participated in corresponding festival activities on the [Herta] Space Station or the Xianzhou Luofu yet.
As for Ifrit, the news he just spread was suppressed by the joint efforts of the Interastral Peace Corporation, the Church of Eternity, and the Mourning Actors within a few minutes.
Why were the Mourning Actors involved? Simple. They didn't want to be implicated, and they were also afraid of being "friendly gifted" specialty soaps by the Church.
Regarding these rumors spreading in the universe, Adrian himself certainly didn't care. Someone would handle it for HIM.
If worse came to worst, HE would just go catch Mythus of [Enigmata]. The function of the History Fictionologists would be demonstrated at this time!
Unfortunately, no matter how fast the news was suppressed, it couldn't escape the Galactic Baseballer's eyes!
[Group Chat: Astral Express Family]
[Stelle: @Adrian [Forwarded Link. Shocking! Duke Inferno actually declared war on "Eternity"?!]]
[March 7th: [Forwarded Link. Still Shocking! Latest progress on the murder case of Marketing Development Department Director Oswaldo Schneider! The real culprit is actually a strange "Eternity" Emanator?] @Adrian]
[Dan Heng: @Adrian]
[March 7th: Teacher Adrian, actually doing these things behind our backs, we underestimated you!]
[Stelle: Big shock! The murderer is actually by my side? Where is the trust?!]
[Dan Heng: Need help?]
Everyone in the Express crew knew the score. Even if the murderer of Oswaldo Schneider were Aha of [Elation], it couldn't be Adrian. HIS daily life consisted of only two elements: milk tea and slacking off.
[Adrian: Thanks for everyone's concern. Status is currently good. The instigator has been caught; it is a Masked Fool who wishes to remain anonymous.]
[Himeko: Quite efficient.]
[March 7th: Oh oh oh! Support Teacher Adrian in righteously sanctioning the rumor monger!]
[Stelle: +1]
Goethe Hotel. Adrian's pitch-black chains were binding a grinning Fool's mask. Looking closely, there was still half an uneaten confetti cupcake on the corner of the mask's mouth.
"Aha—"
The mask suddenly emitted laughter like popcorn exploding in a pot, shaking the chains with a clatter:
"It's the long-awaited torture session! Aha has been caught!"
"Facing the judgment of [Eternity] without fear, but getting excited instead..."
"Cough cough!" Adrian took out an ancient book and cleared his throat:
"Inciting Ifrit to provoke [Eternity], impersonating me, committing crimes against the wind at the Interastral Peace Corporation, and specifically forging the crime scene afterwards..."
Adrian flipped through the ancient book as HE spoke. After flipping through it all, HE didn't find a handling method, so HE simply closed the book: "Friend, if this were the Church, sentencing you to death would be getting off light."
"Oh~ My friend, you surely wouldn't do that to Aha, right? As the saying goes, trust..."
"What is this gibberish? Go talk to my [Eternity] Space." Adrian turned his hand and threw the mask into a black hole.
...
After enjoying the leisure holiday on Jarilo-VI, Administrative District, in front of the Everwinter Monument.
"Hmm? Aetherium Wars, it's a game I haven't heard of!" March 7th took the phone handed by Stelle and read:
"Um... utilizing the Company's most cutting-edge Aether Copying technology to record any creature you have seen into an Aether Coin... then print it out to spar and battle with other players... let Aether Spirit partners win honor for you."
"Hey, seems pretty interesting?"
"Are you serious?"
Stelle didn't understand. She received a message from that [Strategic Investment Department] salesperson as soon as she woke up this morning. And that Interastral Tournament Festival—those who didn't know would think it was organized by Masked Fools.
"Otherwise? I'm really interested! Shall we go check it out since it's on the way?"
Seeing March 7th looking forward to it so much, Stelle changed her original thought: "Since we're here..."
"Great! I only heard before that the little girl from the Stellaron Hunters had this technology... maybe we can observe it up close this time."
Meanwhile, on Adrian's side.
"Yo, don't mind what happened a few days ago. Want to have a tense and exciting round of [Aetherium Wars] with me?"
Silver Wolf rubbed her hands excitedly. She had practiced hard for a long time; she didn't believe she couldn't beat Adrian!
Moreover, the [Aether Copying] technology of this game originated from Punklorde. Silver Wolf was more than skilled at things like tampering with reality data at will!
Besides that, she was a veteran Aetherium Wars player of eighteen variations. She could recite all the information and knowledge inside backwards without missing a word!
Unfortunately, Adrian had no interest in this kind of game that integrated [Collection, Duel, Training, Upgrade]. HE said something like if HE played, it might refresh the players' cognition of this game.
Laughing to death, thinks he's an Aeon... refreshing cognition. But in terms of playing games, I indeed haven't won against him...
Damn it! Can't find a point to refute for a moment!
As the most cutting-edge entertainment game in the universe, Silver Wolf highly recommended promoting Aetherium Wars to the whole cosmos.
And a qualified training and duel game naturally must have tournament-type events—that is the [Interastral Tournament Festival]!
Players from all over the universe will gather together during this time, communicate with each other, and enjoy the happiness of the game together!
However, due to the Stellaron blocking the interstellar pathways, this festival was temporarily changed to an online viewing mode...
But the organizers still kept the offline venue, giving maximum respect to those spectators who insisted on coming to the scene! Very humane!
"Don't understand. Feels inferior to [Eternity]."
"Show some respect for the game rules!"