"Ugh— hurl— blech—"
On the desolate snow plains of Jarilo-VI, two figures suddenly appeared.
One of them immediately bent over, hands on knees, and began painting rainbows from her mouth.
"Look at you. I hadn't even started pushing it, and you're already falling apart?" Watching Firefly's state, the look of contempt in Clara's eyes grew even more pronounced.
Is that all you've got?
"I… blech—" Hearing this, Firefly wanted to retort, but a torrent of rainbows churned in her stomach and shot up her throat, making it impossible for her to form a complete sentence.
"Little rookie, Firefly~" Clara walked over and looked down at Firefly, who was still heaving up rainbows, taunting her:
"If you're weak, you just need more practice~"
"You… ugh— I… hurl—"
Hearing those deeply mocking words, Firefly desperately wanted to say something back to Clara, but given her current condition, she really couldn't get a single complete sentence out.
"Still, I really didn't expect your constitution to be this frail. Looks like you'll need some proper training from now on."
Clara stroked her chin, eyeing the pale, sickly-looking Firefly, pondering what kind of training could help her improve.
"...blech—"
"Well~ I'd advise you to hurry up and finish throwing up." Clara closed her eyes to sense their surroundings, then smiled at Firefly.
"Why… hurk—"
After vomiting for a while, Firefly managed to string three words together somewhat smoothly.
"Because your little spectacle is about to be seen by outsiders." Clara chuckled softly, spotting several figures approaching from not far away.
Firefly: ?
"Wow, it's a cute little girl, and another… uh."
Firefly: …
"Ugh—"
…
One system hour earlier, on a snowfield not too far away, four figures suddenly materialized.
Two men and two women—precisely the Astral Express crew who had come to trailblaze on Jarilo-VI and seal the Stellaron.
"So this is Jarilo-VI?" March 7th looked around with great curiosity at the endless expanse of white before her.
"It really is an icy wasteland."
She couldn't help but sigh. Even though they could tell from space that Jarilo-VI was covered in ice and snow, seeing it in person was still somewhat awe-inspiring.
"It really is an icy wasteland," Stelle, standing beside March 7th, echoed.
"Are you a broken record?"
Hearing this, March 7th immediately shot Stelle a glare.
"Anyway, with all this endless white… which way are we supposed to go…" March 7th scratched her head, troubled by the sight of every path blanketed in snow and ice.
"According to the coordinates, the target is not far ahead," Dan Heng said coolly, glancing at the ever-entertaining March 7th.
Hearing Dan Heng's words, the frustration on March 7th's face vanished instantly, replaced by a cheerful expression. She planted her hands on her hips and looked ahead:
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Dan Heng and Stelle ignored March 7th, instead turning their gaze to Welt, who had been observing their surroundings since they arrived.
"Hey! What's with the attitude? Don't you trust me?" Seeing Dan Heng and Stelle's reactions, March 7th stomped her foot in annoyance.
Hearing this, Dan Heng and Stelle glanced at each other, then simultaneously nodded at March 7th.
March 7th: …
"Hmph! Since you have so little faith in me, I won't take the lead then. I'll just wait for your instructions." March 7th turned her head away with a small,傲娇 (tsundere) huff.
"Mr. Yang, what should we do now?"
Feeling the gazes of Dan Heng, Stelle, and March 7th, Welt spoke slowly:
"The corrosion from the Stellaron on Jarilo-VI seems to have reached a rather severe level,"
"However, aside from the Stellaron, I don't sense any other immediate dangers."
"If it's just the Stellaron alone, it's far from reaching the level of danger Miss Sparkle mentioned."
Welt leaned on his cane with his left hand and adjusted his glasses with his right.
"In any case, for this trailblazing journey, we must muster even more than our usual effort."
"More than usual? I could give it ninety-nine percent if needed!" March 7th raised her arm, flexing her utterly non-threatening muscles.
Dan Heng, Stelle: …
Watching March 7th, Dan Heng and Stelle both instinctively facepalmed, as if to say they didn't know her.
"Hey! Do you two have some kind of problem with me?" Seeing Dan Heng and Stelle wear that look again, March 7th finally couldn't take it anymore, feeling like the two of them must have some misunderstanding about her.
Seeing this live-wire March 7th, a slight smile finally appeared on Welt's face, and the tension in his heart eased a little.
"Our understanding of this world is still far too limited. We know nothing about the danger Miss Sparkle mentioned, and we don't even know the exact location of the Stellaron."
"Therefore, we must proceed with caution, to avoid making one wrong step that leads to many more."
As a seasoned veteran, Welt seemed to speak from experience as he instructed the three.
"Relax, with the four of us here, nothing can possibly go wrong," March 7th chuckled.
"Stelle's got a Stellaron inside her, I have my unique Six-Phased Ice, Dan Heng has… uh, Dan Heng has that mysterious past we know nothing about."
"Not to mention we have the invincible Mr. Yang here! Anyone who tries to mess with us is asking for trouble!"
"They're asking for trouble!"
Upon hearing this, Stelle chimed in again.
"…" March 7th gave Stelle a deeply unimpressed look.
"Hey, how long has this 'broken record' syndrome of yours been going on…"
"Alright, let's move," Welt tapped his cane and began leading the way.
"Yay~" Hearing Welt, March 7th stopped dwelling on Stelle's echoing habit.
"May our Trailblaze never end!"
…
"Whew, finally caught up."
Not far from where the Astral Express crew stood, on another stretch of snowfield, a blue-haired man wiped the sweat from his brow. Sensing the presence of the Express crew nearby, he let out a sigh of relief.
Then he muttered in confusion:
"That's strange. Why is the guy with glasses here too?"
"Ah, whatever. This has Sister Clara's fingerprints all over it."
The mere thought of Clara gave Sampo a headache, and he massaged his temples.
If it were anyone else daring to meddle in Jarilo-VI's affairs, old Sampo here would teach them a proper lesson.
But if the person interfering was Clara, Sampo wouldn't say a word against it—in fact, he'd applaud.
"Sister Clara's meddling is good, it's wonderful!"
It wasn't that Sampo was scared. He just wanted to follow his heart, that's all.
Of course, you could put it another way.
Commonly known as…
Being cowardly.
…
T/N: I am still upset.
…
I have completed the author to TL pipeline, 2 chapters per day. Advanced chapters available on patreon.
patreon.com/intraneer
Give power stones please I survive solely off of number go up.