Having resolved matters on Grace's end, Geno made his way over to the Sacrificial Wraith to check on its condition.
What he found, however, was not what he expected: the Sacrificial Wraith was truly, genuinely dead.
Its entire body had done exactly what that giant-hand Sacrificial Wraith he'd encountered once before had done — dissolved into a thick, viscous puddle of white liquid. A deeply unpleasant sight.
It didn't take long for Geno to notice it: somewhere inside the Wraith's remains, a strange Ether signature was pulsing.
He reached into the already-liquefying mass of the Sacrificial Wraith's body and pulled something free.
"What is this?"
"No idea — but it's giving off a very particular Ether signature. Probably something like the monster's core."
Geno turned the strange gem over in his hand. It looked like a purple crystal, and while he wasn't sure why something like this would be inside a Sacrificial Wraith, it was clearly important. He pocketed it, making a mental note to have Twiggy and the others look it over later.
"Hm? What are you doing?"
Grace, no longer occupied with her own examination, watched with some puzzlement as Geno produced a small vial and proceeded to collect a portion of the liquefied Wraith.
"Taking a sample. For research."
Once he'd secured both the vial and the Wraith's core, Geno turned to lead Grace back to the others.
"Come on. Koleda and the rest must be worried sick about you. Hm? Why aren't you moving?"
"...The path is this way."
— ※ —
Elsewhere, the mechanical giant that Koleda and the others had been fighting had lost all drive the moment the Sacrificial Wraith died — its operator gone, its purpose extinguished.
After a brief survey of the situation, Koleda made the call to climb up and check the cockpit.
The moment she pulled the cockpit door open, her expression curdled with undisguised disgust.
"Ugh — what on earth happened in here?"
The control console and the seat, both perfectly intact before, were now plastered top to bottom in a thick, sticky, milky-white substance of unknown origin.
Anyone who didn't know better might have thought someone had thrown quite the party in here.
Though, admittedly, with the way Koleda's mind worked, that particular line of thought probably wouldn't have occurred to her.
Steeling herself against the nausea, she rummaged through the cockpit and eventually turned up the prototype's built-in black box.
Then she dropped back out of the cab, coated head to toe in white grime, and rejoined the others.
"President, you're..."
Ben Bigg trailed off, leaving the rest unspoken. The state Koleda was in looked — well, it looked like she'd been up to something rather questionable. He wasn't going to say what.
"A minor occupational hazard. Never mind that — did you find the logic cores?"
While Koleda had been hunting for the black box, Ben Bigg and Anton had been gathering the machines' logic cores — the real prize in all of this.
"Uh, we found them — but all four logic cores took damage to varying degrees. Most likely destroyed during the forced fusion."
Ben Bigg produced four square objects, each resembling a hard drive, and as he'd said, every one of them showed signs of damage and scorching.
"Do what you can. Let's hope Grace can repair them."
The mention of Grace made Koleda's expression shift again, a shadow of worry crossing her face. She still had no idea how Geno and Grace were getting on.
Seeing the change in her, the others' faces fell in kind. They were all equally anxious about the two of them.
"Hey~~ everyone~~"
And then, just as the group was mired in worry, Geno's familiar voice carried over from the distance.
Koleda's eyes lit up instantly. She spun toward the source of the sound — and sure enough, there was the figure she'd been desperate to see.
"Thank goodness! Grace is back?! President!"
Ben Bigg was still rejoicing at the return of the two of them when a small red shape shot past him in a blur.
Koleda — like a little red rubber ball — launched herself straight at Grace, only to instinctively shed speed at the very last second before impact.
"Ow! What's the big idea, shorty?!"
"You're alive. You're really alive. Thank goodness."
Grace had been ready to give her president a piece of her mind after getting rammed like that — but then she saw the tears streaming down Koleda's face, and every scolding word she'd been about to say died in her throat.
"Alright, alright — I came back, didn't I? Stop crying. Stop crying, or you'll look like a little blotchy kitten."
In that moment, the two of them were neither boss and employee, nor older sister and little sister.
They were simply family — the most precious thing each had in the world, and the only one of its kind.
Watching the scene, Geno's face softened into a quiet smile. Then he slipped away toward the others, leaving the two of them their space.
"Geno — you two alright?"
He walked straight into Ben Bigg's greeting. Geno waved a hand — all good — then went around to check in with Manato and Anton.
Finally, his gaze settled on Eous, who had been hanging back behind the group in silence.
"Proxy — I need to talk to you."
"What do you mean you spent three months' worth of electricity bills?! Explain yourself!"
Geno had been about to ask Eous to help him get in touch with the outside world — but the voice that erupted from inside that small Bangboo body stopped him cold.
[Master, by my calculations, the energy expenditure required to break into the mechanical unit's control permissions was already optimised to the minimum possible cost. I deserve commendation, not reproach for electricity consumption.]
"You're telling me that in under three minutes, you burned through nearly three months' worth of electricity for the entire video store — and you want me to praise you for it?!"
The Random Play Video Store.
Belle stared at the electricity bill scrolling endlessly across the screen and the power company's inquiry asking whether their shop was engaged in certain illegal activities, and felt her head shrinking to roughly the size of Eous.
"Brother! What are we going to do?! Are we going to be living on nothing but wind for the next month?!"
They'd thought that with the commission from Baizhong Heavy Industries, this month's electricity and living expenses would be completely covered — but who could have predicted that Fairy would go and multiply the cost several times over.
If Belle hadn't called the power company to explain the situation, Public Security would probably already be at their door!
"Stay calm, Belle. Didn't we still have a little secret fund stashed away? We can use that to tide us over."
Wise recalled that back when their Phaethon account was still active, they'd set aside a substantial sum. It should be enough to hold them over for now.
"About that... I put all that money into our old Inter-Knot account."
"...I distinctly remember telling you never to put all your eggs in one basket."
"But you also said the most dangerous place is the safest place."
Easy. This is his little sister. He cannot hit her.
Wise drew a long, slow breath. Then he looked at the big, dewy blue eyes blinking at him on the screen, utterly devoid of emotion, and said:
"...Maybe we should just sell her to Geno after all."
____
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