Chapter 78 - The Era of Gambling Dogs Begins

"Besides, you'll also have the chance to live with a stunning older sister."

Sensing the changing looks in the girls' eyes, though Mei was puzzled why C.C—who'd spent the most time with Nagami and had the best chance of being the "main wife"

Remained so calm, but even the girl stare didn't stop Himeko from fanning the flames with mischievous delight.

"Oh, right—there's even a personal maid included!" she added gleefully.

Rita's visit had already been discussed beforehand.

One of her purposes was to gather intelligence, and being able to keep an eye on things at the same time was even better.

What role could be more convenient for surveillance than a personal maid?

And who could possibly refuse a flawless, elegant maid?

Perfect!

"That won't be necessary—Nagami's daily needs are already taken care of by me,"

Mei said, her tone calm yet resolute, cutting off Nagami's agreement before it even left his lips.

Nagami's smile froze on his face.

The little tuna's expression turned panicked as though some massive weight had suddenly come crashing down on her head.

Her ice-blue eyes blinked rapidly, darting between Mei and Nagami.

She didn't know who to look at.

'This was wrong!'

'Something was definitely wrong!'

'When did these two…?'

"Since Miss Mei is taking care of Nagami-sama's daily life, this humble maid will take care of Lady C.C, then~"

To avoid stirring up the Third Herrscher's wrath, Rita quickly switched her target.

Both of them were equally mysterious, so it didn't really matter which one she focused on first.

Besides, avoiding conflict with Mei would make it easier to blend into the group—and to gather information.

"Such an honor for me," C.C replied, pretending not to notice the icy glare the heiress Kiana and the tuna shooting her way. "I'll be counting on you, Miss Rita."

"Please use me as you see fit, Lady C.C~"

With a soft smile, Rita gave a graceful curtsy.

Her demeanor was so refined, it was hard to believe she'd just said something so scandalous.

'You're hiding a sword in there, too?'

Nagami's eyes instinctively drifted to Rita's ample chest, silently complaining.

Maybe he should visit the world of Guilty Crown and borrow a tube of that void genome to test out—there were two, after all, one for him and one for Inori.

Perfect.

Since Nagami didn't say anything to object, Rita was sure he was fine with the arrangement.

It seemed Nagami wasn't the only leader in this little group.

The heiress Kiana could only glare at him, powerless against the graceful, confident Rita.

Nagami, for his part, just used Mei as a shield to block the lady's line of sight.

'Can't see… I can't see~'

Looking at Mei's relieved face and the tuna's shocked expression, the heiress Kiana could only hold her forehead and let out a miserable sigh.

'This is no different from not stopping it at all!'

'K423, wake up! If you don't, it'll be a three-hat stack next!'

If she could've found a solid reason to oppose this, she'd have spoken up loudly long ago.

But objecting without a valid reason would only raise suspicions about Nagami's relationship with C.C—and that would be worse.

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As they chatted, time slipped quietly by.

Dusk fell, painting the clouds red as the sun sank low on the horizon.

A massive battleship-class airship cruised slowly across the sky, carrying the group—who'd finalized their discussions—to the deck.

"Oh wow! A boy on the Hyperion! So cool!"

Of course, there were far more Valkyries on the Hyperion than in the game's storyline—there were over twenty just on the bridge.

The news that Nagami and his group were onboard had already spread throughout the ship, and quite a few Valkyries had come just to catch a glimpse of him.

This alone said a lot about the status of men in the world of Honkai.

At first, their attention was indeed on Nagami.

But as time passed, more than half of them ended up staring at C.C!

The setting sun turned the clouds a deep, blood-red, streaming across the sky like brushstrokes on a grand painting.

A cool breeze stirred, lifting C.C's long green hair and framing her exquisitely beautiful face in the fiery glow of dusk.

The mysterious, elegant green-haired witch carried an aura so intense it felt like Cupid's arrows had been loaded into a Gatling gun—spraying the whole Hyperion indiscriminately.

'What the hell? Enough already!'

Feeling that his male pride had been thoroughly crushed in the Honkai world, C.C leapt nimbly to a high perch atop the battleship where no one could reach her.

She leaned back against the wall with a lazy stretch, showing off her perfect figure, then let her mind wander to the chat group.

For the past few days, she'd been running around non-stop.

The results had been good, but it was exhausting.

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[Nagami]: Did you all miss me?

[Shiraori]: Alo, you're finally online! What've you been so busy with?

[Itsuka Kotori]: Nagami hasn't been online for two whole days? That's rare.

[Nagami]: I've been swamped trying to stop the Honkai outbreak—barely had time to pop in here.

[Kiana Kaslana]: Nagami, where's C.C?

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The heiress Kiana was right next to him, but she still chose to ask in the group chat—she loved the feeling of having a shared secret.

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[Akemi Homura]: C.C? Kiana, she's with Nagami in his world, right? Who is she?

[Kiana Kaslana]: Uh… can I tell them?

[Nagami]: Of course. In this chat group, that's not exactly top-secret.

[Shiraori]: C.C is Nagami!

[Shiraori]: [Photo]

[Kiana Kaslana]: …

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Kiana's ice-blue eyes went blank, her arms dropping limply to her sides.

Such explosive news, and someone else had broken it first!

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[Kal'tsit]: ???

[Accelerator]: ???

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Even Accelerator, who rarely spoke, popped in.

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[Yuzuriha Inori]: This is Nagami, everyone. Didn't you know?

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Nagami had told Inori about it from the start—she was the one person he'd never used any schemes on.

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[Accelerator]: Hold on—are you saying that the green-haired girl up there is… Nagami?

————————————————————————

Accelerator, lounging on the couch, looked stunned. This revelation hit him like discovering Aleister Crowley could unleash a tenfold Big Bang.

And he wasn't alone—everyone in the chat group, aside from Shiraori and Inori who already knew, was equally dumbfounded.

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[Kiana Kaslana]: Exactly! Here's how it happened…

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Though someone else had scooped her on the reveal, Kiana wouldn't let anyone steal the glory of the explanation!

Thanks to her lively retelling, everyone slowly accepted the idea of Nagami's two-in-one existence.

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[New Member Joined Chat Group]

[Lumine joined the chat group]

[#$%^]

[(Blank)#$% joined the chat group]

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"…"

C.C's eyes widened slightly, then curved in a sly smile as she shifted into an even more comfortable pose.

"Two new arrivals at once, huh… But what the hell is that last line? Did the group glitch out?"

Before she could ponder further, notification sounds exploded in her head as the group was flooded with system messages.

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[Chat Group has reached 10 members, unlocking new features]

[Group Store fully opened]

[Group Live Broadcasts enabled]

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[Special Feature 'Card Pool' unlocked]

[Note: Members can invest any number of points. The Card Pool will return items or abilities based on the amount spent.]

[PS: Luck can't change fate, and no amount of spending can save the unlucky!]

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