It was a stroke of luck that the timing of their meeting was so perfect. If they had been any later, the sisters' parents would have surely set out to find them.
No parent could ever rest easy knowing their children were in danger.
Unless they weren't their parents at all, or rather, were unworthy of the title.
When the weary-faced mother saw Caesar, she instantly understood that this new leader had saved her children. A look of immense gratitude washed over her face.
But before she could even utter a word of thanks, Susanna eagerly raised her hands and ran towards her parents, shouting at the top of her lungs:
"Dad, let me tell you! Big Sis Caesar cheated a man into coming back with her!!!!!"
Instinctively, Andrew reached out a hand to stop her, but Susanna was already gone in a flash. Caught off guard, all he could do was shout instinctively:
"Wait, Susanna! Let your big brother explain!!!"
The explosive opening completely overloaded the unprepared Caesar, leaving her stunned and speechless on the spot.
Although Andrew tried to explain, Susanna's outburst, amplified by the innocent conviction of a child, sealed the matter as fact.
The explanation became a cover-up, and the cover-up became the truth.
Within seconds, everyone present was convinced that Caesar, the leader of the Sons of Calydon, had suddenly tricked a man into coming back with her.
The people Andrew had rescued along the way with his Scoutflies began whispering to each other with a 'I'm only telling you, don't you dare tell anyone else' air, recounting what they had seen of him.
Then, those who had heard the tale would quickly turn to someone else who was out of the loop, adopting the very same 'I'm only telling you, don't you dare tell anyone else' attitude.
His performance of slicing through Ethereals like cutting vegetables, combined with how he interacted with Caesar, made the listeners' gazes grow increasingly approving.
Seeing that his explanations only made them more certain of their assumptions, Andrew gave up and pulled the brain-dead Caesar aside.
Andrew had to admit, he did have a bit of a soft spot for Caesar. After all, what man wouldn't like a woman as valiant and cool as her, yet with such a surprisingly cute side?
However, Andrew had no idea that Caesar had already started unconsciously casting him as the male lead in the romance manga she read.
After all, they had only officially known each other for two days! To be precise, they'd met yesterday at noon, and it wasn't even noon on the second day yet!
Not even a succubus's charm works this fast!
While he did feel a small, subconscious flicker of happiness at the suggestion, he didn't want to embarrass Caesar.
For him, a guy, such a rumor had practically no impact, but for Caesar, it was a different story.
He waved his hand in front of Caesar's face, trying to snap her out of it, but it was utterly useless.
Even the walking she'd just done was merely her subconscious body following Andrew's lead as he pulled her along.
[Caesar.exe has stopped responding. Wait for the program to respond?]
[Wait] [Close program]
Seeing that waving and calling her name had no effect, as if she had completely crashed, Andrew had no choice but to lean in closer to see what was wrong.
'She can't be suddenly showing symptoms of Ether corruption, can she?' That would be bad!
The thought made Andrew realize he'd been careless. He had no idea how strong Caesar's resistance to Ether was.
Since he'd never had to worry about such things himself, Andrew had subconsciously forgotten to even ask Caesar about it.
Growing anxious, Andrew didn't hesitate. He quickly moved close to Caesar and placed a hand on her forehead to check if her temperature was normal.
At the same time, he carefully scanned her face and body for any signs of Ether crystal formation.
Just then, Caesar's frozen mind, like a crashed computer that had finally responded after clicking 'wait,' rebooted. Her consciousness returned to its hardware—her body.
But the next moment, she felt Andrew's hand on her forehead and saw his face extremely close to hers.
For her, this sudden proximity was startling. In a subconscious panic, she immediately pushed Andrew away and took a step back.
Even though she'd pushed him away, her eyes darted all over the place, unable to look directly at Andrew.
Meanwhile, this chain of events made the eyes of the surrounding crowd shine even brighter.
Whispers erupted from the crowd, not even slightly suppressed.
"I'm so into this! So into this! I've never seen Big Sis like this before, it's amazing!"
"I told you! With my years of experience as a shipping-ologist, my judgment is flawless! And you didn't believe me?!"
"I believe you, I believe you!" "I believe you!" "You truly are a shipping-ologist, your instincts are spot-on!"
"A ten-year veteran fan here, no invitation needed. I've been into this stuff for a decade."
"This is so good, I feel like my corruption symptoms are cured."
Unconsciously, an atmosphere of 'shipping a couple' had emerged and was rapidly intensifying.
Faced with a situation she had never encountered or dealt with before, the usually bold and fearless Caesar was momentarily at a loss.
However, as the leader of the Sons of Calydon, decisiveness was one thing she never lacked.
Within a few short seconds, Caesar snapped back to reality. She looked up at Andrew and said with a helpless, slightly embarrassed tone:
"Sorry, Andrew. The Outer Ring doesn't have much in the way of entertainment, so the kind of fun they look for can be a little... weird."
Caesar scratched her head, her voice filled with embarrassment.
"Lately, they've even been getting together for these strange gatherings. I think they call it... 'proselytizing'?"
Realizing that in a place where theocracy and politics are rampant, the word 'proselytizing' could easily be misunderstood, Caesar hastily explained:
"But don't worry, Kasa and the rest of us looked into it several times. They're just sharing pictures and stories about couples, nothing weird."
As a transmigrator, how could Andrew not recognize what was going on? He facepalmed, speechless.
He never expected that even in this world, where entertainment wasn't exactly developed, the 'shipping-ologists' would still emerge.
"Of course I'm not worried about what you're saying, Caesar."
But seeing that Caesar was completely oblivious to what they were shipping this time, Andrew pointed it out:
"But Caesar, it looks like their target this time is the two of us."
Her subconscious denial shattered by Andrew's direct statement, Caesar's face instantly turned beet red. She immediately went all-out to stop these 'shipping-ologists' and their weird smiles.
Unfortunately, it had little effect.
Finally, after she asserted her authority as their 'Big Sis,' the open shipping of Caesar and Andrew completely vanished.
At least, it vanished from the surface.
Watching them go from loud discussions to quiet plotting, all Andrew could say was:
It was a little effective, but not much.
_____
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