The sudden ringing shattered everyone's train of thought, dispersing the silent and heavy atmosphere along with it.
Hearing the sound, both March and Himeko followed it with their gazes, landing on Stelle. Seeing this, Stelle was slightly stunned before pulling out the phone from her pocket—the one with the Uuwu Bear case.
"It's Bronya calling."
Stelle showed the caller ID on the screen to March 7th and Himeko, then pressed the answer button.
"Hello, is this Stelle? It's Bronya." The call connected, and Bronya's somewhat anxious voice quickly came from the other end.
"Mm, it's me. Bronya, is something wrong?" Stelle nodded slightly and responded.
"It's like this. I'd like to ask Stelle for a favor. Do you have Lady Topaz's contact information? We're having some issues on our side while accepting the company's second round of financing..."
On the other end of the line, Bronya unreservedly informed Stelle of the problems Belobog was currently facing, showing her complete trust.
After all, fundamentally speaking, Belobog's survival through the Stellaron disaster owed much to the help of the Astral Express, so Bronya's trust in them was absolute.
"I understand. I'll pass this on to Topaz for you. As for her contact information, I need to get her personal consent first."
Stelle did not directly agree to give Bronya Topaz's contact details, instead leaving some room and planning to ask Topaz's opinion first.
Although the girl's contacts did include Topaz's information, in reality, she wasn't actually that close to her. The one on the Astral Express who was truly familiar with Topaz was only Yun Fan.
"Alright, then I'll trouble Stelle with this." Hearing Stelle agree to relay the message, Bronya finally let out a long breath, filled with gratitude.
"Later, when you all pass by Jarilo-VI again, you must come back to Belobog as guests. I'll host you properly and treat you all well."
Beep beep beep...
As the call ended, a busy tone came from the other side. Stelle put away her phone and recounted what Bronya had said to Himeko and March 7th.
"So that's how it is—it's the company's side..." Himeko came to a realization and nodded.
"That makes sense. With the IPC's pack-of-wolves-and-tigers style, if they truly didn't intervene in Jarilo-VI's internal affairs at all throughout the process, that would be the truly strange thing."
"Stelle, let's help Bronya out. Relay everything those Interastral Peace Corporation executives are doing in Belobog in full detail. In the name of the Astral Express, I believe Lady Topaz will give us a satisfactory answer."
— — — —
IPC headquarters planet... Pier Point...
"Betting everything—either lose it all or win it all? Aventurine really is a crazy gambler, so crazy he doesn't even care about his own life."
Having just finished an important meeting, Topaz and Jade left the exclusive conference room of the Ten Stonehearts. In the moment before closing the meeting room door, Topaz's gaze fell on Aventurine's seat.
Yes, Aventurine had been absent from today's meeting. This meeting, originally convened jointly by the Ten Stonehearts, had only eight attendees this time, while another had likewise gone to carry out some secret mission.
"What's wrong, little Karina? Are you worried about Aventurine? Hehe, that's understandable. A crazy gambler staking everything—how could it not cause worry?"
Following Topaz's line of sight, Jade's gaze naturally also landed on the seat that originally belonged to Aventurine.
"Jade Sis, do you think our bet this time might be a bit too crazy?"
Staring at Aventurine's chair in a daze, Topaz suddenly spoke.
"Crazy? Hehe..."
At this, Jade gave a soft laugh. She reached up to adjust the slightly crooked brim of her hat, leaned on her cane with one hand, and turned her gaze toward the faintly visible setting sun outside the building's window.
"It is indeed a bit crazy. The Emanator of Preservation 'Diamond' divided his authority into ten, turning them into Cornerstones and bestowing them upon the Ten Stonehearts."
"Therefore, each Cornerstone is a portion of the Emanator of Preservation's authority, and each Cornerstone is unique."
"...Yes, the Preservation's Cornerstones are unique, yet for the sake of one Penacony—one former frontier prison of the company—we've wagered three Cornerstones. In a sense, we're the same kind of crazy gamblers as that guy Aventurine."
Topaz pronounced mercilessly, her eyes filled with indifference. The girl raised her hand, gazing at the imprint on the back of her hand that represented Causality, momentarily lost in thought about something unknown.
Observing Topaz's actions, Jade pondered for a moment before gently taking the hand with the imprint and softly stroking the mark.
"The energy in the imprint is almost depleted. It seems you've used the power inside it several times recently."
Sensing the scant remaining power of the Path of Causality in the imprint, Jade gently closed her eyes. "Haven't you found a way to resolve it yet?"
"No..."
To replenish the imprint's energy, our Miss Topaz had tried many methods—even the Emanator of Preservation 'Diamond' had personally attempted it.
Unfortunately, perhaps due to the compatibility between their Path powers, as soon as Diamond's power entered the Causality imprint, it was completely devoured by the remnant Path power within, yet the energy in the imprint showed no increase whatsoever.
After that, the unwilling Topaz had hurriedly taken a ship overnight to the Herta Space Station. There resided one of the rare Pathstriders of Causality in the galaxy—Asta.
After hearing Topaz's purpose, Asta enthusiastically offered to help her.
But regrettably, perhaps because Asta's Path power was not pure enough and had not reached Emanator level, her power also could not recharge the imprint.
After trying numerous methods to no avail, Topaz was about to give up and reluctantly go find that guy Yun Fan, asking him to recharge her imprint once more—though in doing so, she might lose some precious things.
But from the perspective of an exchange of interests, it might still be worth it.
However, just as Topaz was preparing to set out to find him, an entirely new piece of information suddenly appeared in the girl's view, temporarily putting her original plan on hold.