Bitter Cup spoke calmly. "But she was willing. She knew the price. She did not believe losing a god granted talent ant losing her future. She believed she could create her own skills and her own future. She would not regret it."
Drumr stated the facts of that year objectively. "She knew exactly what she was doing. You were the one who, in order to let her awaken Faded Holand, forcibly made that option impossible to choose, leaving her no choice but to settle for Grand Farewell."
Captain heard the disapproval beneath their calm voices. He clenched his back teeth, lips pressed tight, but still failed to swallow the anger that ca from nowhere. He spoke coldly.
"The choice I planned for her was the best one. As long as she shattered Forest Sea with her own hands, Grand Farewell would allow Forest Sea to join Lania Kaia without suffering defeat penalties, and it would also awaken the Faded Holand I prepared in advance."
"As long as you look far enough ahead and stop acting on emotion, you would choose Grand Farewell."
"aningless persistence only moves yourself. It only fulfills yourself."
As he spoke, the last layer of his disguise fell away. His straight hair like a waterfall curled into tight waves, and a small section of vividly colored coral erged at his right temple.
After venting all of this, without waiting for Drumr or Bitter Cup to respond, Captain vanished from the tavern.
Rather than not wanting to argue, it felt more like soone who knew they could not win an argunt and chose to block everyone in a panic.
The entire tavern fell silent.
"He probably thinks you were subtly persuading him to let go of his wrong choice back then," Graffiti said suddenly. He had been quietly drawing nearby. As he spoke, he turned his painting around for all the gods in the tavern to see.
The painting showed a small black haired figure with curled hair and a piece of coral at the temple, sitting on the ground and wailing while clutching a shell broken cleanly in two.
"That is not it at all," Drumr said, shifting her gaze to Bitter Cup. "I only wanted to tell him not to impose his current thinking onto other players. It feels like he is bullying his past self."
She intended to change to a less heavy topic, but noticed Bitter Cup staring blankly at the spot where Captain had disappeared.
She asked curiously, "What is it?"
Bitter Cup said with regret, "I have always wanted to know where he got that skill that lets him straighten and curl his hair at will. He never tells ."
At the ntion of hairstyles, Drumr imdiately abandoned the idea of changing topics. "Before BS Rita, I always thought Captain’s preference for players was simple. He likes curly hair. Rember before Mountain Isles shattered, when Winter Sea Frenzied Shark was too busy to take care of his hair, it was curly too."
"That is true. Then did BS Rita ever have long curly hair before the invasion?"
"That you should ask Foolishness next door. She would know."
"...I was first."
"Ah, Spring Deity should know."
"Before the invasion, BS Rita’s job required her to change hairstyles often. There was a period when she did have long curly hair."
"Then that settles it. Look. Long curly hair attracts Captain."
...
Leaning against the balcony railing, Maple Syrup spread her palm and stared quietly at the strand of wind circling between her fingers.
"You ever thought about this. Since Forest Sea is already shattered, why not join Dawn. For you, Lania Kaia and Dawn are not that different, are they?"
From across the room, DawnCicada’s voice ca from the right.
Maple Syrup smiled silently. The logic made sense.
If she was no longer Forest Sea Maple Syrup, then being Lania Kaia Maple Syrup or Dawn Maple Syrup did not truly matter.
Since joining Lania Kaia, she had been invading other worlds under that na for so long that she had nearly forgotten what it felt like to be invaded.
"Is that so, Lania Kaia Fat Goose."
Fat Goose above did not respond, but Mistblade beside him asked with interest, "Then what can you offer them?"
DawnCicada replied, "Living space. And the lives of their own kind."
Maple Syrup laughed out loud this ti. She turned her head to look at DawnCicada. "What about defeat penalties? If I join Dawn, do I still have to follow the defeat clauses?"
"I believe I have already shown enough sincerity," DawnCicada said, gently but firmly dispelling her illusions. "I am giving you a chance for more of your people to survive. Even if you refuse to surrender, the victor will still be Dawn."
"So the defeat clauses still apply," Maple Syrup said.
She closed her fingers around the strand of wind and stopped looking at DawnCicada, turning her gaze toward the distant dock instead. She was surprised by how calm she felt.
She heard herself say, "Then you should go persuade Candlebeast first. Oak Owl does not need to follow defeat clauses in Lania Kaia. Even if they join Dawn, they only bear one layer of penalty. But Candlebeast and Moon Fox might not endure double penalties, being stripped twice."
The world went quiet.
DawnCicada did not try to persuade her again.
Maple Syrup did not stay on the balcony. The war cruise ship balcony had been boring lately. She simply left the room and went to the dining hall to get sothing to eat.
While choosing food, she heard a familiar na.
"Oh, so the older one went further? Wasn’t it said before that little Rita had better results?"
"At first, yes," ca the voice of BS Rita’s teacher. "Even though the ga keeps reminding that my first key player did sothing foolish out of naive fantasies about how things would turn out."
"So what did you do?"
"So I bought two personality tags for the older one. The sa two little Rita had. Her performance imdiately improved."
"Ah, is having beautiful fantasies about the future really that important?"
"I think having strong vigilance mattered more."
"...If she had been that cautious when she was young, you would never have been able to take her out of Kaladom back then."
"I could have just grabbed her."
Maple Syrup did not stay to listen. The two teachers clearly noticed she was eavesdropping. She grabbed two bottles of iced wine and left the dining hall.
On her way to the deck, she stopped again when she heard that na once more.
So persistent.
And the voice calling her did not sound like any of the usual BS ones. Did Mistblade sell her communication slot again?
"She is asleep? At a ti like this, BS Rita can still sleep?"
"If you have sothing to say, you can leave a ssage. When she wakes up, I will inform her."
"...Forget it. It is nothing important."
"Understood. When she wakes up, I will tell her that Tiger Ear Kessa called."
"No. Do not. Just pretend I never called."
"There will still be a record. And I am her B80, not yours. I will not hide anything from her."
Maple Syrup peeked her head into the communication hall and t Tiger Ear Kessa’s gaze. Kessa was looking around guiltily, clearly checking if anyone was eavesdropping.
Maple Syrup and Kessa both thought the sa thing.
This is awkward.
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