Chapter 172: Put It on Aha's Tab
A miraculous evolution was taking place aboard the Astral Express, centered on the small creature known as Little Blue Light.
The combined might of Abundance and Propagation—who could possibly predict what would emerge from the convergence of two such Paths?
The vibrant green cocoon pulsed with life, the shadow of the pupa within growing ever more distinct.
"Is Little Blue Light going to grow up, Pom-Pom?" the conductor murmured, tilting their furry head as they watched over the glowing chrysalis. Whatever was happening, Pom-Pom had a feeling that the little creature would be just fine.
Meanwhile, a storm of transformation raged within the cocoon. Inside the pupa, Little Blue Light's very form was in constant flux.
Become powerful.
Like Boss.
Get closer to Boss... closer... near him... similar to him...
Complex thoughts were beyond its grasp. To Little Blue Light, the world was composed of three simple truths: things that were tasty, things that were not, and Boss.
It still remembered the time Boss had become very, very big: a formidable being with a blue-purple shell, razor-sharp claws, six powerful legs, and a magnificent pair of wings. But Boss hadn't seemed to like that form very much... so it was probably best not to become that.
The green power it had greedily absorbed—the life-giving branches of the Ambrosial Arbor, the very essence of The Abundance—was now rampaging through its body. It was an energy so potent it had felt stuffed to the brim.
Now, it had to chew through it all, swallow it down, and digest every last scrap. Then, it would use that power to rebuild itself anew.
The temperature inside the cocoon climbed higher and higher. The once-gentle green glow intensified, becoming almost blinding. A rhythmic pulse of life, sometimes deep, sometimes shallow, surged beneath its developing carapace. It could feel its forelimbs lengthening, the wings on its back growing tougher and more resilient.
With a faint, crisp crack, a network of tiny fissures spread across the top of the green cocoon. But the light that shone through was no longer a pure, verdant green. It was a deep, dark, blue-purple.
The fragments of the shell didn't fall. Instead, they weathered away in an instant, dissolving into motes of glowing green dust that scattered into the air.
The first thing to emerge was not an insectoid mandible or a sharpened forelimb, but a fair, slender human arm.
It was followed by a pair of silver-gray eyes, which slowly opened from within the cocoon's darkness. A silver-haired girl tore the rest of the chrysalis apart with her bare hands. Her hair and skin were still slick with the viscous residue of her metamorphosis. Her body was adorned with a layer of blue carapace that resembled form-fitting clothes, and the draconic horns protruding from her head were particularly striking.
"Conductor..." she said, her voice a soft, new thing. "Little Blue Light... is now... like Boss..."
Rekka was, in his own way, a very considerate person. He had even made a point of dragging Rozaliya away, all to give Stelle and Firefly some time alone.
"Ahhh..." Firefly sighed, a shadow falling over her face as she stared at the table. "As I thought... I should have become more sophisticated if I truly want to be with Stelle..."
"What are you thinking about?"
Stelle's voice cut through her thoughts. She arrived bearing a massive pile of Oak Cake Rolls, setting them down with a proud little smile.
Firefly's eyes widened. "Eh? You—you like eating Oak Cake Rolls, too?"
"Yeah," Stelle said, pushing the plate forward. "You eat first."
"Then... I won't stand on ceremony."
A peaceful, ordinary feeling settled over Firefly as she sat with Stelle, a simple joy she cherished more than anything.
"Um," she began tentatively, glancing around the fancy establishment. "This table... ahaha, it might, perhaps, be a little expensive..." Oh no, had she brought enough money?
"It's fine," Stelle declared, patting her chest with confidence. "I'll pay."
She was thinking of the wallet Rekka had given her. He had repeatedly warned her not to spend all his money, but that was a problem for future Stelle.
"Captain, is it really okay to just leave Stelle there by herself?" Rozaliya asked, her tone laced with concern.
"She's with Firefly," Rekka replied nonchalantly. "What could possibly be the problem?"
"She is too dangerous." In her 'Delta' form, Rozaliya's analytical mind was running at full capacity. She and Liliya had done their own secret investigation into Sam. The Stellaron Hunter was infamous, known for their ruthless methods. More than that, Rozaliya could clearly see that Firefly carried herself with the ingrained habits of a soldier.
"I don't see March and the others..." Rekka mused, deliberately changing the subject. He was barely managing to hold back his laughter. He'd done something like, hypothetically, clipping through the map directly into the final reward room.
'No, no, hold it in,'he told himself.'I haven't even gotten to see the others running around like headless chickens looking for the Watchmaker's Legacy yet.'
The Golden Hour was a riot of sound and color. Neon lights flowed like rivers across the surfaces of impossible buildings, casting the crowded streets in a rainbow of shadows. Visitors of every conceivable species, clad in the most bizarre and extravagant costumes, reveled in the endless dream of Penacony.
"Good eve-en-ing~" a singsong voice chirped from behind them.
Sparkle appeared as if from nowhere.
"It's you," Rozaliya said flatly. "The Fool who's shorter than me."
"Hey! Where am I that much shorter than you?" Sparkle shot back, hands on her hips.
"Not by much," Rozaliya conceded, holding a hand up. "Probably about this much taller." She tugged on Rekka's left hand, her prehensile tail already wrapped securely around his wrist.
"If you don't believe me, we can stand back-to-back and compare," she challenged.
"Compare then! Who's afraid of who!"
After a very careful and serious comparison, Rekka reached a definitive conclusion.
Sparkle was, indeed, really short.
Sparkle gasped, a hand flying to her chest as if struck by a mortal blow. She staggered back half a step, the very picture of wounded innocence. "Oh my, so fierce. Lord Sparkle came all this way out of the goodness of her heart to greet you. But since you're so unwelcoming, I'll just leave."
She turned, her movements theatrically slow. "I was originally going to tell you a shocking secret about the Charmony Festival, but it seems some people don't want to hear it."
She took a single, agonizingly slow step, clearly waiting for Rekka to call her back.
But Rekka didn't bite. He simply turned with Rozaliya, ready to find something delicious to eat.
"...Crap."
A sudden realization struck him. He patted his pockets, his face falling as he discovered a serious and deeply important problem.
Sparkle's expression instantly morphed into one of gleeful intrigue.
"I gave my wallet to Stelle just now," Rekka muttered. "Let me just... get her to bring it over..."
He turned to look for them, but the spot where Stelle and Firefly had been sitting was now empty.
"Captain," Rozaliya stated with grim finality. "Stelle has absconded with the funds."
Rekka's mouth twitched. "She didn't 'abscond with the funds,' she just ran off to play."
"Oh. Then spend my money," Rozaliya offered immediately, her tone earnest. "I have some Credit Points saved up. Captain, take them and use them."
Eighty thousand Credit Points.
"No, no, no, how can I use your money?" Besides, in a place with Penacony's ridiculously inflated prices, eighty thousand credits would barely cover a few meals.
"Lord Sparkle just loves watching this kind of down-on-their-luck worker drama," Sparkle chimed in, her earlier hurt feelings miraculously gone. "How about this: as long as you're willing to bend over and shout in your most sincere tone, 'Great Lord Sparkle's beauty is peerless in this world! Lord Sparkle's beauty is enough to make the fish sink and the geese fall!'... something like that, I'll pay the bill for you."
"Great Lord Sparkle's beauty is peerless in this world! Lord Sparkle's beauty is enough to make the fish sink and the geese fall!"
Rekka recited the lines instantly, without a shred of hesitation.
Sparkle blinked. "Where is your dignity?"
"Dignity? What dignity?" Rekka asked, genuinely confused. "I'm not a woman."
A slight miscalculation on Sparkle's part. She had thought that Rekka, for all his antics, actually cared about his reputation at least a little.
Who would have thought he'd be able to say such things in public so shamelessly?
"No dining and dashing, you have to pay honestly, no counterfeit money, and after paying, you can't..." Rekka began rattling off a whole list of conditions.
Sparkle just stared at him.
"Fine," she finally sighed, a grin spreading across her face. "Lord Sparkle is happy. You provide plenty of emotional value, after all."
Besides, she thought with a private, wicked little smile, she'd just put it on Aha's tab when the time came.
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