The remaining vagrants hurriedly dragged their unconscious companions away, not daring to stay another second.
With the confrontation over, the group turned toward Seele, who was still looking around in confusion after witnessing the vagrants collapse without anyone laying a finger on them.
Sampo: "Miss Seele! Phew, it's a good thing you showed up when you did. My heartfelt thanks~"
Sampo: "These vagrants have got some nerve looking for trouble in Wildfire terri-"
Seele: "Shut it Sampo, this has "you" written all over it. Wildfire has countless issues on its plate right now. We don't need a side order of Koski."
Seele's gaze shifted to Bronya.
Seele: "I hear a Silvermane Guard is paying the Underworld a visit... is that you?"
Bronya: "You kidnapped me and brought me to the underground. What is the meaning of this?"
Seele scoffed.
Seele: "Hmph, listen to her. "What is the meaning of this?"...She still thinks she's an Overworld princess."
Seele: "Do you know what's become of us down here while you live the easy life? Did you even consider the fate of the Underworlders?"
Bronya stood her ground.
Bronya: "The Silvermane Guards aren't "living the easy life." We are constantly engaged with the enemy - defending Belobog from the scourge of attacking monsters... and protecting all those above and below the surface."
Seele: "Hah, do you even hear yourself? You? Protect the underground? Redeploying every Guard to the surface, sealing off the only passageway... Protecting the so-called Architects, more like it."
Bronya: "The Madam Guardian has her reasons..."
Seele: "Hmph."
After a brief silence, Seele made her decision.
Seele: "Enough talk, you're coming with me. Chief Oleg wants to see you, and he's got more than a few questions."
Sampo immediately seized the opportunity.
Sampo: "Perfect, Miss Seele! We were just on our way to pay Chief Oleg a visit ourselves. Room for a few more?"
Seele: "Fully booked."
Her eyes swept across March, Dan Heng, Caelus, and Kouga.
Seele: "...Who are they?"
Caelus: "I'm Caelus."
Seele stared at him blankly.
Seele: "...What good is your name by itself!"
Kouga quietly thought to himself,
'This Seele is even more aggressive than the Seele I know.'
Sampo hurriedly stepped in.
Sampo: "Well it's like this: The chief's in the market for specific talent - an urgent request. So, I'm taking them to see him..."
Unable to hold herself back, March chimed in.
March 7th: "We're looking for a Stellaron - it's the source of all the disasters here. If we find it, we can-"
Before she could finish, Sampo clamped a hand over the conversation.
Sampo: "Ahaha - ahem! I would recommend you not recite your story to everyone you meet. Miss Seele won't understand it anyway, so let's save it for the chief, huh?"
Seele merely shrugged.
Seele: "You're right, I don't understand it, and I don't plan on passing the message on either. Wildfire's encountered trouble at the Great Mine - the chief's busy. If you really want to find him, come look for me at the mine entrance."
Without waiting for a reply, she turned around.
Seele: "I'm leaving."
With that, Seele departed.
The tension eased somewhat, giving everyone a chance to catch their breath.
Taking advantage of the brief lull, Caelus walked over to Kouga.
Caelus: "Mr. Hayata."
Kouga turned toward him.
Kouga: "What is it, Caelus?"
Caelus: "I want to ask you something."
Kouga: "Go on?"
Caelus: "What do you think of this situation? About Cocolia."
Kouga folded his arms, thinking for a moment before answering.
Kouga: "Right now, Cocolia is under the Stellaron's influence, and it's driving her to make some very questionable decisions. Why do you ask?"
Caelus: "I had a vision in my dream... The Stellaron was whispering to her, promising her a better tomorrow."
Kouga nodded slowly.
Kouga: "I see... Then that means Cocolia is indeed a victim ."
He paused briefly before continuing.
Kouga: "But being manipulated doesn't erase the consequences of her actions. Once this is over, she'll still have to answer for the choices she made."
Caelus quietly looked toward Bronya, who was standing a short distance away.
After a moment, he spoke again.
Caelus: "Then... what do you think about Bronya?"
Kouga followed his gaze.
For a few moments, he simply watched the young commander in silence.
Kouga: "From what I've seen... she's a good person."
Kouga: "She has a strong heart, and she genuinely wants to protect her people."
His expression softened slightly.
Kouga: "But she's also someone who has spent her whole life following orders."
Kouga: "She trusts authority so completely that she rarely stops to question whether those orders are right or wrong."
Kouga looked back at Caelus.
Kouga: "If you really want to understand her..."
A small smile appeared .
Kouga: "Then don't ask me."
Kouga: "Go talk to Bronya yourself."
Caelus looked at Bronya once more before giving a small nod.
Taking Kouga's advice to heart, he walked over to her.
Before he could say anything, Bronya spoke first.
Bronya: "...I will arrest you under the supreme guardian's decree. Nothing has changed."
Bronya: "I am not your friend..."
Caelus simply chuckled.
Caelus: "It takes time to make friends."
Bronya didn't respond immediately.
Instead, after a brief silence, she began speaking.
Bronya: "...I saw you the day before the Goethe Hotel. Gepard took you to see mo-...the supreme guardian. He told me you were visitors from beyond the sky."
Bronya: "Just like the interstellar travelers of ancient legend - people of all kinds that carried the will of the Aeons."
Bronya: "Gepard said that you wanted to help us reverse the damage that the Eternal Freeze and Fragmentum continue to wreak on our planet... but that night, mother summoned me, and ordered me to take a detachment to arrest you."
Bronya: "What happened? The supreme guardian didn't tell me the details and Gepard had to rush back to the front line... I don't understand..."
Caelus decided to answer honestly.
Caelus: "It's seem like that the supreme guardian was being influenced by the stellaron to order the arrest."
Bronya looked skeptical, though she kept her thoughts to herself.
After a moment, she continued.
Bronya: "The Silvermane Guards withdrew to the surface long ago... I must avoid that identity here."
Bronya: "Until we're back in the Overworld, I propose a temporary truce and cooperation. Your true intentions are of interest to me..."
Bronya: "If it helps you to trust me. I'm willing to answer your questions to the best of my ability."
Caelus thought for a moment before asking.
Caelus: "Do you know where the Stellaron is?"
Bronya: "Truthfully, I've never heard of this Stellaron."
Bronya: "But if all this catastrophe could be brought to an end simply by sealing it, then I hope its existence proves to be real."
Caelus: "Why did the Silvermane Guards withdraw from the underground?"
Bronya: "Fragmentum monster activity on the surface intensified, and hostilities on the front line were critical. To resist the invasion, the Architects had no choice but to redeploy the Guards to the front line."
Bronya: "...If we couldn't hold our defensive line, then we wouldn't be able to maintain our supply of aid to the underground, which would have collapsed without us. That was the supreme guardian's explanation."
Caelus: "Why are you willing to cooperate with us?"
Bronya: "In truth... I've always felt like something important is being hidden. Whether it's the Architects, mother, or Silvermane Guards, there's always an... unnatural element to their actions."
Bronya: "Since encountering you, the unexpected seems to have arrived in waves. I never thought I'd enter the Underworld that has been sealed away for so long..."
Bronya: "I have a feeling that with you, I can pick up the lost threads... and dispel my uncertainties."
Caelus: "That's all I have to ask."
Bronya gave a small nod.
Bronya: "Mm, we should be going to see Wildfire. Let's move."
The group made their way to meet Seele.
Seele: "Hey, you came. That was fast."
Caelus: "What trouble has Wildfire gotten into?"
Seele: "Didn't I tell you? sigh Long story short—"
Seele: "The underground used to have many mines. However, in recent years, some sort of corrosion called the 'Fragmentum' started to spread. It's ruined a lot of mines."
Seele: "The one we're heading into is relatively unaffected. A bunch of vagrants made it their home after their old turf was consumed by the Fragmentum. Actually, most of them are pretty honest folks..."
Seele: "But with such a large group, it's inevitable that troublemakers will find their way in. They've been stealing from the miners and picking fights. And that's not the worst of it."
Seele: "Things are much more serious this time... For two days now, huge clashes have been breaking out between the miners and the vagrants. It isn't pretty."
Seele: "Mines are our lifelines in the Underworld. We have to keep providing Geomarrow to the Overworld in exchange for supplies."
Seele: "In order to quell the situation, Chief Oleg brought Wildfire into the mine and left me in charge of security for the towns. But the situation in the mine is critical—I have to back him up."
Caelus: "Understood, let's go."
Seele then turned to Bronya.
Seele: "Oh, as for you... the Chief will decide your fate when we see him."
Bronya: "Good, I've been wanting to come face to face with the leader of the Underworld."
Seele: "Hmph, you're about to come face to face with reality."
Without wasting another moment, the group headed toward the Great Mine.
Upon arriving at the mine entrance, they found a crowd gathered outside. Miners and their families stood together with anxious, frustrated expressions, their path blocked by a barricaded entrance.
March spotted a familiar face in the distance.
March 7th: "Huh? Isn't that the doctor lady?"
Seele: "What's Natasha doing here...? Things must be worse than I thought."
The group quickly approached her.
Seele: "Nat! I didn't think you'd be here. Where's Oleg?"
Natasha: "Hey Seele, and... Sampo's guests. So, it looks like you've already met."
Natasha: "I haven't seen Oleg. The miners said they saw him take a group further in."
Caelus: "What are you doing here?"
Natasha: "I heard that the miners had been having violent clashes with local thugs, with significant numbers of wounded. I hurried over to see if I could help."
Natasha gestured toward the anxious crowd gathered behind her.
Natasha: "You see these people? They're all miners and their family members. They want an explanation from the instigators."
She pointed toward the sealed passage leading deeper into the mine.
Natasha: "This area up ahead is a vagrant dwelling, but they've sealed off the entrance. I guess they're afraid that angry miners might try to take revenge."
Seele: "How could the situation here become such a mess?"
Natasha: "I heard that First Mining Team found a Geomarrow vein with incredible deposits... The initial estimate put it at the largest discovery in the last thirty years."
Seele's eyes widened.
Seele: "Are you serious? That's big news. How come I never heard about it?"
Natasha: "Well, they weren't in a hurry to make it known. Most of the mines have been contaminated by the Fragmentum—many people are out of work. They were afraid of being overwhelmed if they let the word out."
She sighed before continuing.
Natasha: "But the vagrants here have keen eyes—they couldn't keep it hidden from them. Some local gangs wanted to profit from the situation, so they blackmailed the mining team for hush money... and that was the final straw."
Caelus: "That's the price of guarding a secret."
Natasha: "sigh ...I can understand your thinking. It's just that the underground is in difficult straits..."
Natasha: "And that's how the clash started. Now both sides are dealing with heavy losses."
After a brief pause, Natasha looked at the group.
Natasha: "So, are you guys here to help resolve the conflict?"
Seele: "They're here because they need a favor from Chief Oleg. I'm escorting them."
She then turned toward Caelus, March, Dan Heng, and Kouga.
Seele: "And seeing as you need that helping hand, it wouldn't be too much to ask you to lend one here first, right?"
March 7th: "Of course we wanna help... we care about other people too y'know."
Kouga answered with a confident thumbs-up.
Caelus: "We came here willing to help out."
A faint smile appeared on Seele's face.
Seele: "Oh... that's quite nice of you."
Natasha smiled warmly at the group.
Natasha: "Haha, I believe we're dealing with kind-hearted people here, Seele."
She looked toward the worried miners before speaking once more.
Natasha: "As you've all seen, the situation down here is... strained. If you can, we really would appreciate you helping the people."