After taking over the position of Supreme Guardian, Bronya was busy almost every moment. After all, Belobog had many things waiting to be rebuilt, and there was still a lot she needed to handle.
Still, she made time to receive the Astral Express crew.
For Stelle and March, it was an experience that felt strangely familiar. Not long ago, they had also been received by the Supreme Guardian in Belobog like this, then arranged to stay in the most luxurious room at the Goethe Hotel...
But now Cocolia had already been sent to work at Nero's Fragmentum Factory, and Bronya, as a friend who had fought alongside them, was obviously much more trustworthy.
Bronya was busy with government affairs, so she clearly did not have much free time to chat with the crew. But everyone was already familiar with Belobog, so wandering around on their own was no problem.
"Speaking of which... I already noticed this on the way to Qlipoth Fort."
After leaving Qlipoth Fort, March stopped and pointed at posters pasted on a nearby wall.
There were slogans promoting Fragmentum products, along with introductions to products and people, but the thing that caught attention the most was clearly Nero's image on them.
"Oh ho, I wanted to ask about this too." Qingque said, "If I'm not mistaken these are product advertisements, but aren't there way too many of them? I kept looking the whole way here. Everywhere I walked, I saw them."
"That's true. The key thing is every ad uses a completely different photo too." Bailu muttered.
"Although Sleepless Earl on the Luofu is also using Nero's image for promotion, and Nero's Fragmentum Factory was planned by Nero himself, so this kind of promotion makes sense..."
Yanqing frowned and looked at Stelle, "But isn't the number of these advertisements a bit excessive?"
"It's not that bad." Stelle said, "It's not that bad. Honestly, we're all hands-off managers anyway. But if you look carefully, you'll notice not all the ads are promoting Nero's Fragmentum Factory."
As she spoke, Stelle led everyone to one of the posters. "Like this one. It's actually promoting the game Aetherium Wars."
After that, the group continued forward and arrived at another brightly lit area. "And this one, for example."
"This actually isn't an advertisement. Besides mentioning Nero, it also talks about the things Nero helped bring to Belobog."
At this point, Stelle paused.
"Actually, there are plenty related to the Astral Express too. But because there are just way too many Nero ads, ours end up looking pitifully few in comparison."
"Speaking of which, under Bronya's push, the things our Astral Express did on this planet have apparently been continuously promoted."
"As great heroes, maybe in less than half an Amber Era, we'll become famous figures every kid on this planet knows by heart. The kind that get put into textbooks."
"Wow!" March's eyes lit up as she let out an excited shout. "Becoming people in textbooks!"
"Didn't expect March would one day get this kind of treatment." Stelle teased while looking at her.
"What do you mean by that!?" March glared at Stelle, then floated happily as she said, "Then next time we come here, maybe some kid will point at me and say, 'Look, isn't that the great hero Sister March from the textbooks!?' Just thinking about it makes me happy."
Stelle smiled without speaking and continued walking forward. "This one over here isn't an ad either. I feel like these posters were actually made voluntarily by the people in the city."
"Based on what Yanqing said earlier, these might... be things for this year's Warm Sun Festival celebration that's being restarted?"
There really were no advertisements on this wall. It was basically all posters, and there were even many little dolls made with Nero as the model hanging there.
Looking farther ahead, there was an even larger painting. On the huge canvas, with beautiful brushstrokes that could intoxicate the viewer, was painted a young man like the warm sun in snowy weather.
The group stopped in front of the painting, and they heard an old man's voice naturally cut in.
"As for this, it isn't an advertisement either. It was left behind by the Knights of Beauty. They once spread the ideals of Beauty here."
Looking at all these things related to Nero, the three from the Luofu all felt somewhat complicated.
Especially after thinking about Nero's popularity on the Luofu, that feeling became even stronger.
"This child is really popular no matter where he goes..." Qingque said.
"I suddenly feel like the next time we come to Belobog, we'll see a statue of Nero standing in front of the Everwinter Monument in the plaza."
"In the future, praying to him during the Warm Sun Festival might even become a tradition." March said from the side.
"Wow! Great idea! How did we never think of that before!?"
Right after March finished speaking, the old man who had interrupted earlier suddenly shouted sharply beside them.
March jumped in fright, but immediately afterward she heard the old man say, "This is truly a great idea. I have to go notify everyone!"
After speaking, the man ran off without even turning his head back.
March stood there blankly. Only after a moment did she recover, feeling that old man looked somewhat familiar.
It seemed like he was someone she had seen before in the Underworld...
How should she put it? At this moment, she actually would not be surprised at all if a religion worshipping Nero appeared after the upper and lower districts reconnected...
Just as she was thinking that, her phone suddenly rang.
March took out her phone to check the message, then frowned.
"...Veld? Who's that? By the way, didn't you just mention Aetherium Wars too?" March looked toward Stelle.
"A salesman from the IPC. He contacted me before and recommended the game Aetherium Wars. Nero is playing too. Anyway, I've already fallen into the pit." Stelle said.
"Really? Let me see... Mm... Using the IPC's most advanced Aether Copy technology, it can record any lifeform you've seen into Aether Coins, though Emanators and Aeons are obviously excluded, we're not joking around here... then print them out and battle against other players... Let your Aether Spirits fight for your honor..."
"Mm... sounds kind of interesting?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's what I think too." Stelle nodded.
"Of course you'd say that after already getting into it. I knew you'd react like this!" March said, then looked at the others. "So? Want to go check it out together?"
"A new game, huh! Then of course we should go take a look." Qingque said.
Bailu also nodded along from the side.
Yanqing had no objections either.
So the group set off.
And while heading toward Rivet Town, they suddenly saw a pillar of fire shoot into the sky in the distance before quickly disappearing again.
A surging energy instantly reached its peak, then was rapidly suppressed.
Judging from the reactions afterward, this phenomenon did not seem dangerous.
And there were many people on this planet now, especially with the IPC security teams around, so there probably would not be any accidents.
Perhaps it was just some outer-universe flame trying to escape the factory before being suppressed by the IPC security forces.
After all, the soaring flames were quite obvious, but the surrounding crowd all looked completely used to it...
So this brief abnormal event did not leave too deep an impression on the group. After arriving at Rivet Town, they quickly followed the location information Veld had provided and found him.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/XenosX
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining. You can also read advanced chapters there.🥰