After finishing breakfast, the trio immediately set out.
They took a gondola, then transferred to the Sky Messenger to leave the city and arrived at Whisperwind Haven.
Whisperwind Haven was far less bustling than Ragunna — just a small village where the number of Echoes greatly outnumbered the people.
Once they arrived, Phoebe became much more familiar with the area. She naturally took over as guide and began leading Noah and Zani on a leisurely stroll.
Fortunately, Zani was in the party. If it had been just her and Noah alone, she definitely wouldn't have been this relaxed.
"It's called a human village, but honestly, this place should really be called the Village of Echoes."
Phoebe thoughtfully explained:
"I have so many Echo friends here."
"Echoes? Friends?"
How could a human possibly be friends with Echoes? They couldn't even communicate in the most basic language.
Zani gave Phoebe a surprised glance. In an instant, her gaze turned pitying.
Poor little yellow cake… so lonely that she has to treat Echoes as friends?
"Rabi, Beni, I'm here!"
A joyful voice interrupted Zani's thoughts. She turned her head and saw that Phoebe had already been completely surrounded by several plush toy Echoes.
"You're saying Spotted hasn't come back? It probably just went out to play. Don't worry — I'll look for it in a bit."
"…" Zani stiffly turned her head toward Noah beside her and asked uncertainly:
"She can talk to Echoes?"
"Obviously."
"She can understand what Echoes are saying?"
"Obviously."
"My god… do you realize what this means? If reality were a play, she would practically be the uniquely blessed princess of the Kingdom of Echoes!"
"I know."
Compared to Zani, whose worldview seemed to have suffered a severe blow, Noah wasn't shocked in the slightest.
Roccia of the Troupe of Fools could communicate with other Echoes through her own Echo, but that was merely Phoebe's passive talent as a "friend of Echoes."
"If we're following the plot, Cristoforo should appear around here."
Noah looked left and right, spreading his perception. After searching for a while without finding Cristoforo, he did find several crates marked with the Fisalia family insignia.
Having memorized the storyline, he naturally knew that the Fisalia nobles were secretly colluding with the Order to deliberately sabotage the smooth running of Carnevale.
Therefore, the Echoes near Whisperwind Haven were gradually being captured by Fisalia noble Gilberto, hidden inside crates, and controlled using the flowers provided by Fractsidus's Phrolova.
When the Carnevale preview performance began, they would make these captured Echoes go berserk, causing destruction.
At that point, the Order would step in to resolve the incident, declare it "divine wrath" brought about by holding Carnevale, then blame the Montelli family and cancel the festival.
But in the original plot, this conspiracy was foiled ahead of time by Rover and Zani. Fisalia noble Gilberto was used as a disposable pawn and arrested on the spot.
Now it was Noah's turn to run through this segment.
He directly played his cards face-up to Zani —
"Come on, want to open some blind boxes?"
"What blind boxes?"
Bang!
A crate bearing the Fisalia mark was smashed open by Noah. A rampaging giant plush Echo burst out.
Thump.
Before Zani could even act, the rampaging giant plush was knocked unconscious by a single strike from Phoebe's staff.
"Sorry, I didn't scare you, did I?"
Phoebe withdrew her staff and apologized sheepishly:
"This giant plush is called Moni. It wasn't always this aggressive. I've already lulled it to sleep. This will help with purification."
"Knocking it on the head with a stick — and you call that purification?" Zani's eyes widened.
"Yeah."
Bang!
Another crate shattered.
Thump!
Another Echo fainted.
Soon, all the crates were opened, and Echoes lay scattered across the ground.
"Sorry, a lot of Echoes have become a bit abnormal. I'll contact the Order to come investigate."
"It's fine. Don't overthink it. Someone will take care of it."
Noah reassuringly patted Phoebe's shoulder, his gaze flicking toward Zani in the distance.
Sure enough, Zani had already pulled out her terminal and was quietly reporting all her findings to her superior.
Noah didn't listen closely, but he still caught words like "Fisalia," "Echo runaway," and "lack of witnesses."
Lack of witnesses?
Just arrest him.
After dealing with the Echo blind boxes, Noah directly led Zani and Phoebe to the spot where, in the plot, Fisalia noble Gilberto would come to pray.
"What are we doing here?" Phoebe asked, puzzled.
"We're squatting in the grass here." Noah explained.
"Why are we squatting in the grass?" Zani asked, puzzled.
"I'm the boss, I make the rules." Noah refused to explain further.
Not long after, a figure appeared in their field of vision.
Without needing Noah to give the order, Zani recognized at a glance that this was the culprit behind yesterday's Echo runaway incident — Gilberto.
She snatched Phoebe's staff, crept forward silently, and swung it down hard. Gilberto was instantly "lulled to sleep."
"This bird-head staff is surprisingly handy. Thanks, Acolyte."
"Huh?"
Phoebe stared blankly at the staff being returned to her, her gaze shifting back and forth between the unconscious Gilberto on the ground and Zani.
"Um… Miss Zani, according to doctrine, deliberately harming someone carries a three-month confinement."
"Phoebe's right, Zani. How could you just hit someone like that?"
This time it was Noah's turn to cover for Zani. He pointed at Gilberto on the ground:
"Quick, use your terminal to call someone to rescue this gentleman. Try to get his forgiveness, earn leniency."
"That's a good reminder."
Zani exchanged a glance with Noah, immediately understood, pulled out her terminal, and began contacting Montelli family members to come take over Gilberto's arrest.
Phoebe scratched her head. She vaguely felt something off about these two, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what.
Not long after, a group from the Montelli family hurried over. The middle-aged man in a suit leading them enthusiastically patted Zani's shoulder:
"Zani! I knew I wasn't wrong about you. Even on your day off, you're still working for the Montelli family. You've caught the real culprit behind yesterday's Echo runaway incident!"
"He's the real culprit behind the Echo runaway?" Phoebe exclaimed belatedly:
"So Miss Zani was just acting in the name of justice!"
Hearing Phoebe's words, Zani couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth.
As an outsider with demonic horns, she had always disliked the Acolytes of the Order of the Deep.
Even Phoebe — she had initially been quite resistant toward her. But after spending just this short half-day together, she found herself completely unable to dislike this naturally dense Acolyte.
She was just too innocent.
Regaining her composure, Zani nodded toward her superior and said modestly:
"You flatter me too much, Mr. Alberto. It's all thanks to your guidance."
One sentence, and her superior was beaming with delight. He patted Zani approvingly:
"Good, good, Zani. I'll report your achievements truthfully to the higher-ups in the family. Don't get arrogant — keep improving yourself."
When a superior reminds you to improve your abilities, it means you're about to get promoted.
Zani understood immediately. The corners of her mouth were about to lift when Alberto's next sentence froze her smile in place:
"So… would it be convenient for you to tell me exactly how you uncovered the Fisalia family's conspiracy and successfully used your wisdom to capture this culprit?"
I… I don't know…
We just… went for a casual walk outside the city, suddenly found a crate marked with the Fisalia insignia, with an Echo inside, and Gilberto just happened to be nearby.
Physical evidence, witnesses, and even a third-party witness from the Order of the Deep — everything lined up perfectly and naturally.
Zani instinctively glanced at Noah. The latter turned his head away, pretending to whistle innocently.