Footsteps sounded behind everyone, followed by Seele's somewhat surprised voice.
"…Clara? Why are you here?"
It looked like Seele and Bronya had already finished talking...
Clara blinked, came back to her senses, and looked toward Seele and Bronya as they walked over.
Nero and the other two also turned around. Bronya looked a little puzzled. "You… what were you just talking about? …What Supreme Guardian? Or…?"
Nero and Stelle turned their heads away and didn't say a word.
Sampo glanced at his two teammates, an awkward smile appearing on his face. "No, we didn't say anything. Officer Bronya, you must have misheard!"
"Is that so…?" Bronya blinked twice, a trace of confusion and bewilderment showing in her eyes.
Clara also spoke timidly. "Sister Seele from Wildfire… I came here because…"
After that, Clara explained her purpose to everyone. Roughly speaking, it was to help find some medicine for injured drifters. Of course, she also didn't forget to apologize on Svarog's behalf, and hoped everyone could give her some time.
This child believed that one day, Svarog would be persuaded by her.
Seele rolled her eyes, shifted her attention to the drifters, and said with clear disdain, "…Why are you helping the drifters find medicine? Aren't they supposed to be very capable? How can they have the nerve to let a little girl run around everywhere?"
"N-no, it's not like that. Clara wasn't entrusted by anyone… it's just that the drifters' living conditions are very poor, and there's no clinic in their settlement, so Clara wanted to help them."
"And actually, they're not all bad people… everyone just wants to live properly."
Seele shrugged, snorted lightly, and didn't say anything more.
Clara's gaze fell on the painkillers she had found. After learning that Nero and the others were also looking for medicine, she handed most of them over to Nero, but still kept some…
Then Clara looked at Seele again and pleaded, "Sister Seele, were these medicines originally Sister Natasha's? Then… could you give me some? Just a little is fine… the drifters are badly hurt too."
"What a good kid…" Sampo exaggeratedly raised a hand to cover his face, as if he was so moved he was about to cry.
Stelle nodded as well.
Nero, however, spoke up. "Wanting to live isn't wrong, but that doesn't mean all mistakes can be forgiven."
Clara looked at Nero, her expression a little aggrieved.
"Can you judge which drifters can be forgiven, and which crimes are unforgivable?"
Clara didn't hesitate. Her voice and gaze were firm. "Clara can! Mr. Svarog's database records many things. Clara can use that to judge."
"Very good, then let's split them evenly!" Nero said with a smile.
Clara froze for a moment, then her face lit up with surprise. "R-really? Is that okay? Don't we need to ask Sister Natasha first?"
"Of course… probably… it's fine?" Nero turned his head to look at Seele.
Seele sighed and said, "I know Natasha. She won't mind. Although this will double the cleanup work for the two of us… she'll definitely understand. It's always been like this."
"That's wonderful! Thank you, Sister Seele! And also…" Clara looked at Nero, pressed her lips together. Not knowing someone's name at a time like this was a little awkward. "Thank you, everyone!"
Fortunately, Clara was very clever and avoided the awkward moment.
'Introverted people always seemed to react especially fast in situations like this…'
"Are you leaving? Old Town is too dangerous. We can escort you for a bit," Bronya said with concern.
"N-no, it's fine. Clara has Perkins with her, and… I still have some things to look for here."
"I understand. Then be careful," Bronya said.
Clara nodded. After saying goodbye to everyone, she left with Perkins.
Nero then handed the painkillers in his hands to Seele. "So, we're not missing anything else now, right?"
Seele quickly checked the items they had gathered. "Steel plates and gauze… medical alcohol… painkillers. Alright, that's everything. Let's go. We should still make it in time for the situation I estimated. Let's head back to Boulder Town and report to Natasha."
"Okay, perfect timing to check if my landmines caught any intruders." Nero nodded. "Ah, right, wait for me a bit."
After saying that, Nero left, leaving the others confused.
When he came back, Seele's expression was a bit twisted, while Bronya looked utterly stunned.
Stelle and Sampo wore expressions that said, "We're used to this."
"You really… plan to bring this thing back too?" Seele looked at the extra-universal ice behind Nero, lying there like a dead dog, her expression complicated.
"An outsider… truly worthy of being an outsider…" Even Bronya, who had received higher education, found herself at a loss for words.
"If you just take it back like this, you might scare the people in town," Stelle said.
"That's true." Nero nodded.
Then Nero and Stelle simultaneously looked at Sampo.
"We'll leave it to you!" Nero said.
"Huh?" Sampo blinked, then said, "Little ancestor, if you want old Sampo to handle this, it's not impossible, but… it won't hit me, will it? (Acting, little ancestor, play along with me.)"
"Mm, of course. (It can't even beat you, what are you panicking about?)" Nero looked at Sampo with some confusion.
"Alright, no problem then. Leave it to old Sampo, I definitely won't let you suffer any losses!"
Sampo took the extra-universal ice from Nero, waved to everyone, and left along another path.
The group soon returned to Boulder Town and headed to the clinic to look for Natasha.
And when they found Natasha, they also saw Dan Heng and March, as well as three unlucky fellows who looked like a train had run over their faces.
Seele and Bronya discussed things with Natasha while handing over the medicine, and informed her of what had happened along the way.
Meanwhile, Nero and Stelle went over to their companions.
At this moment, Nero looked full of pride, confident and righteous. With just one glance, he knew those three unlucky guys were definitely the poor souls who had triggered the trap.
However, he wasn't very satisfied that the tripwire mines Pam had given him were only effective to this extent. But it didn't matter, after all, Dan Heng and March were perfectly safe.
Before Dan Heng could ask where the two of them had gone, Nero spoke up first, as if claiming credit, "See? My strategy still worked, didn't it!"
Dan Heng had originally wanted to speak in a serious tone and question the two juniors who had gotten on the train late, but Nero's single sentence completely shut him up.
After all… the sneaky mines this kid set really did work.
Although those traps made no difference to him personally, for March, they undoubtedly provided excellent protection.
Fortunately, at times like this, the carefree March could act as a mouthpiece.
Even though Dan Heng had been silenced, the girl still said, "They were useful, sure… but now's not the time for that! You two just disappeared without a word, what did you go do?!"
"I went to help Natasha find medicine."
"Played with Sampo."
The surroundings instantly fell silent…
After a moment, Stelle broke the silence. She took a few steps forward and quietly said beside Dan Heng and March, "Nero and Sampo are getting a bit too close, and I think the two of them already seem really familiar. We might need to do something about it."
Then the three exchanged glances, deliberately left Nero behind, and ran off to a corner to whisper among themselves.
Nero didn't deliberately eavesdrop, but he still heard things like "pre–March-style supervision mode" and the like.
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