It didn't take long before they returned to the meeting room.
Nero's fans were much easier to deal with than expected. They didn't even need comforting. Nero only had to say, "Thank you. I'll have to trouble you again next time," and they happily and orderly left.
Of course, there was one difference.
When they left the meeting room, two people had gone out. Now, three came back together.
Nero had come with them.
"You're back." Asta smiled when she saw them return. She wasn't surprised that Nero had come as well.
When Stelle brought up the theory about the Flame Fiend employees and informed Nero, the young lady already knew he would definitely come.
After all, that child wasn't good at hiding what he was thinking. It wasn't hard to guess.
"I had people monitor the dark web and barely managed to limit the spread of the videos. The situation hasn't gotten any worse for now... unless you count Nero's fans... Anyway, let's hear your results first," Asta said.
"The situation isn't encouraging," Ratio said.
"But it's not the worst outcome either. This child's group of fanatics surprised me."
"From the information we have so far, there are three breakthroughs..."
"First, the victims have some things in common. It's not a pleasant topic. Still, there's no need to worry about it. If something happens, that group of fanatics will step in."
"Second, Adler's disappearance. Whatever he discovered must have drawn the enemy's attention, and I already have an idea what it was."
"Finally, there's Duke Inferno's ability, the secret behind spontaneous human combustion. A being that easily climbed to the top among the Flame Fiends naturally has special flames."
"In the booklet Adler was reading before he disappeared, there was an introduction to a kind of flame. It said it burned across many worlds and left behind many descendants of flame."
"The Phase Spirit Flame," Screwllum gave the answer. "It should be the Curio Herta lost. Logic: It was created by #29 Sserkal."
"She was an outstanding genius, smart, kind, and humble. Unfortunately, by human standards of time, she lived for only twenty-nine days."
"The Phase Spirit Flame shifted into another phase as soon as it was born. By the time it returned, Sserkal had already died of old age."
"After that, it continued shifting between phases and became nearly impossible to capture."
"Someone once happened to glimpse the Phase Spirit Flame and caught a small strand of it. Herta took it in and later lent it to Ruan Mei for research. Unexpectedly, the flame seed was lost because of that."
"If Ifrit is also a descendant of the Phase Spirit Flame, then the whole picture becomes clear."
Hearing this, Stelle blinked, then exchanged a look with Nero.
After that, both of them turned to look at Ratio.
During that time, besides Ruan Mei herself and the two of them, the only person who had entered Ruan Mei's research base in the Seclusion Zone seemed to be him. (On the way here, Stelle had already told Nero who Ratio was, although he had known all along.)
That meant even someone who knew nothing like Stelle could suspect, based on the timing alone, that Herta's missing flame seed might be with Ratio.
If that guess was true, then why was the professor still keeping the flame seed instead of returning it to Herta?
He didn't look like someone who acted without reason, even if he had a very forceful personality.
Stelle wondered about it for a moment, but quickly stopped thinking about it.
What did it have to do with her?
Who had the flame, or why they had it, wasn't important to her. What mattered was getting the flame back. Since they had accepted Herta's request, the Nameless should keep their word.
As for everything else, Nero always said there was no need to burden yourself with unrelated matters, and Stellaron Baby naturally followed his example.
If it really came down to it, using Ifrit in place of the Phase Spirit Flame should probably work too. At worst, the thing sitting in that spot would change from a ball of fire into a goat-shaped fire person.
If Screwllum's guess was correct, and both were offspring of the Phase Spirit Flame, then there shouldn't be much difference.
After spending so much time around Nero, Stelle had clearly learned how to live happily, and her head was now full of all kinds of strange ideas.
An active imagination was also one of the reasons this generation of the Nameless rarely fell into sadness or despair.
Among them, some could always calmly understand the situation and face it seriously. Some were naturally cheerful and good at adjusting themselves. Others had heads full of strange ideas and simply didn't care how bad the situation became.
Then Ratio brought up what Wenshiling had mentioned, that Adler had kept mumbling the word "fragrance." Combined with what they had just concluded, he was probably actually saying "phase."
Ratio guessed that Duke Inferno might not be able to perform true phase shifting, but should still be capable of a weaker form of spatial movement.
At this point, the basic picture was clear.
No one was worried that Duke Inferno might attack the space station. The Astral Express was here, and so was the "Embodiment of the Fragment of Beauty."
They absolutely would not lose in a direct fight. Perhaps that was exactly why the enemy had chosen to spread fear and chaos instead, hoping the station would tear itself apart from within.
If the one present had not been the "Embodiment of the Fragment of Beauty," but instead the embodiment of another Aeon's fragment, or if there had been no embodiment of an Aeon at all, his plan would probably have gone much more smoothly.
Professor Ratio fell silent for a while, thinking about something.
Although things had not developed quite as expected, the current result was still acceptable.
It had even pleasantly surprised him.
His eyes drifted toward the white-haired boy nearby. By now, what interested him most was no longer Duke Inferno's actions, but Beauty.
Some people on the space station were fanatical believers in Beauty, yet the way they acted satisfied him, and even made him feel pleased.
From their brief contact, he found them calm and restrained. Although they were deeply devoted to their "idol," they remained rational and clear-minded.
They didn't make empty boasts about challenging Duke Inferno for the sake of their "idol," knowing full well they stood no chance.
They clearly understood the limits of their own abilities, so they willingly chose to provide information and help suppress any chaos that might break out if a crisis occurred.
Ratio had seen many fanatics before, but not many who were both passionate and rational like this.
There were many races that fanatically worshipped Aeons, and quite a few of them maintained order. But when all that devotion was focused on a single person as an "idol," reaching this level was especially rare.
Everything he had seen and heard made him interested in this "person" who was the embodiment of a Fragment of Beauty. He wanted to know how Nero managed his fans, because he knew how difficult it was to enlighten people.
As for the possibility that Nero had done nothing at all, Ratio had considered it, but found it hard to believe.
Precisely because he understood how difficult it was to enlighten people, he found it unbelievable that someone could seemingly enlighten others just by letting them see him.
Even though blind obedience still couldn't be completely avoided, this was still a barely satisfactory result.
However, none of that was the main issue right now.
Ratio quickly put those thoughts aside.