Chapter 29:

*sigh*

"That was a heavy sigh…"

"You think?"

"You've been sighing a lot lately, what's up?"

"Nothing"

Compa and I are alone right now in our room sitting on our beds. Neptune and Iffy went out because they have something to do. Compa reads a medical book, that's a given since she's a nurse in training while I on the other hand haven't come into conclusion with myself. The result of this thinking has been making me sigh all day.

It's apparently been a week since our battle with Noire. And we've only accepted uneventful quests. From carrying a tray full of breads at a bake shop, delivering parcels, becoming a driver of some big shot that Lastation doesn't know who, killing a monster (cockroach) at some random girl's house, and doing some other work that I don't want to bother mentioning. Our money hasn't been a problem for now since the prize money that Avenir gave us hasn't lost its rays just yet. I sigh again.

"Hey, you know if you have problems Compa the nurse is here for you" Compa says so proudly. I thanked and turned down her offer for now.

I open my cell phone and go to the internet. The first site I went is Lastation's blog, who knows I might learn new information about Avenir and the cancelled (?) Tech Expo. As I scan through the blog about some guy making fun of their CPU on the net, I found that Noire has updated her blog. Let's see…

"Hey, been awhile. This is Black Heart, Lastation's CPU" hello their Noire, it's been awhile also.

"Today I'm going to focus on the education system of Lastation" oh? Honestly this could be interesting. I've already seen Planeptune's education system but seeing the Lastation's standards in their own turf might make me think twice about Lastation as a whole.

"Remember I said Lastation is sometimes called 'mechanic land'?" no.

"To surpass Planeptune, our main focus with education is to raise engineers and technicians" Planeptune again?

"Lastation offers affordable technology courses. The most affordable on Gamindustri" affordable you say.

"The students will soon become professionals and support Lastation's future proof growth"

"I suggest you come to Lastation if your dream is to become an engineer"

"That's it see you in the next update"

I facepalm at this. Is she serious? I sigh and ready my fingers to type a retort.

"Hello it's been a while, Black Heart. I was a bit happy that you are talking about the educational system then I eventually facepalmed myself when I read the rest. I have concluded that you really have inferiority complex and is in need of a good season with a doctor. And you say affordable? I believe quality education comes at a price. So meaning that your education system is as low as the tuition fees? And also future-proof growth doesn't exist in any way, shape, form, country, continent, world, galaxy, and the universe. It's just a dream. Lastly get some economists and politicians deployed in Lastation more than engineers, I believe that your Tech Expo has been cancelled due to bad governing and still your economy is slowly going down the drain. Just saying" and post.

The moment I posted, a hundred comments rained down under my post. Holy shit it's so damn many. I try to read them all.

"He's back!"

"Fuck him!"

"Is this guy seriously trying to challenge our CPU?"

"He's so cool XD"

"This guy is an asshole"

"The hell?"

"Well, I mostly agree to what he said though…"

"Well fuck you to! _!"

"This guy… XD"

"Thumbs up!"

Then all of a sudden the door opened and I saw Iffy, who looked like she ran a hundred kilometers, is at the doorway. She walked over to us; I quickly closed the cell phone and hide it in my pocket.

"He posted again!"

"W-w-w-what are screaming about Iffy?" Compa said in a surprise.

"Hey! People outside are running around like crazy!" I look at the door again and saw Neptune with a plastic bag dangling from her hand.

"Yo, what you got there?" I ask. She then went inside, sits in front of me and shows off her goods.

"It's pudding! Lots and lots of them! Plus some sweets and 4 boxes full of chocolate!"

"You're going to get fat. And anyway, where'd you get the money to buy all these?" their way too many.

"I used that…" huh? Did she say that? That that?

"Woman, are you trying to run us poor here?"

"Hrrr? I hon't how 'hat 'hou 'haying?" she already stuffed sweets into her mouth.

Translation: "Hm? I don't know what you're saying?"

"Goddammit woman" I take a tissue from the bedside table and wipe some chocolate's on her lips. Her lips eh… I find myself staring at that light pink membrane of hers. As I finish she said thanks and continued to munch down some more sweets.

"So anyway Iffy; What the hell are you screaming about in the middle of the day?"

"He posted again!"

"Say what?"

"Here!" she sticks her phone towards us and we all looked at the comment that I just posted.

"Wow…" I compliment myself. I got to say, this is some good stuff that I posted.

"He hus' he' hic' i' 'he hed" the fuck woman. Chew on them before you talk.

Translation: "He must be sick in the head"

"But he's really amazing isn't he?"

"Hm? What's so amazing about it?" Compa asked.

"I mean he's got guts saying all this in Lastations blog. He's probably provoking Black Heart so they could fight?" oho, that sounds like an idea I might consider.

"C'mon woman, if he really does plan to challenge the CPU. Wouldn't this method be a little too cowardly since the whole people of Gamindustri can see this?"

"So he must be pretty bold then?" Compa said.

"Or bald. Anyway, when did this guy become a craze?"

"About the time when we went on a meeting with Chian. He really pulled the wrong strings back then but he doesn't seem to care"

"So that's why those people are running like headless chickens. So anyway…" I pick up three puddings and gave it to both Iffy and Compa. And we started eating.

"What are we going to do here? We still haven't had any info about that Key Fragment?"

"Well, we can't do anything about it. Neptune did say that there is one in every landmass. So whether we skip this one or not, we'll eventually have to look here" she does make a point.

"But we don't have any info on us" Compa said.

"Yeah, and we've been making no progress at all about the Avenir thing also"

"Did Chian ever called us?"

"Nothing"

"Hrm…"

We're wasting time here. As long as that Key Fragment exists here in Lastation we don't have any reason to go. And regarding Avenir, I have no freaking idea what they're planning. If I had to guess, they're trying to implement their font in MS-DOS. But that would be plain stupid. We need info fast.

"Hey, I want to ask?" Neptune seemed to be finished chewing down her sweets.

"This guy…" she pointed over the post I made.

"Hm?"

"…maybe he was a Lastation citizen trolling over his CPU?" -!. ! I forgot that piece of info!

"Heh" I smirk.

"Huh?"

"How the hell did I miss that?" I want to laugh so much on my own stupidity.

"Ah… Iffy what's happening to him"

"Don't know. But he must have lost it"

"The Basilicom…" I whisper.

"Haa? Didn't we get kicked out from that place?"

"That's not what I meant. The people who used to work at the Basilicom"

"Haa?"

"Heretics" then I see Iffy's eyes widen a little when I say it.

"Anything wrong Iffy?" I just have to ask.

"No, nothing" her reaction is a millimeter off. But I don't want to pry any longer.

"Heretics are those who don't believe in the Basilicom's teachings, right? Where can we find one?" Compa asked.

"Oh, I didn't expect you to know about that. I guess you did attend a Planeptune school. They've got some good teachers"" Iffy complimented.

"More specifically, they were kicked out of the Basilicom for worshipping another goddess"

"So the Basilicom gave 'em the boot for lavishing another goddess with attention instead of the one on their landmass?" that's some harsh description from Neptune right there.

"You make it sound like a love affair… Nep-Nep, it's inappropriate to refer to the goddesses in such a way" Compa might be shocked when I refer to them in such a way.

"Uh, sorry… But watcha gonna do after we find one of these heretic folks?"

"Well we can't ask them about the Key Fragment"

"It's gonna be a waste of time if we do" since no one, especially the books I read in the library, doesn't have any idea what a Key Fragment is, so…

"We'll ask them for internal information about the Basilicoms. I'm sure they'd know a lot, having been former members" oho, it's impressive how Iffy can pick up my ideas.

"Yes. What we lack is information. Reasons! The Basilicom kicked us out and cancelled the Tech Expo" it seems Compa picked it up as well. She might not be as a pure air-head as I think she is.

"What if they don't wanna talk to us either?" nice question Neptune.

"Then we'll threaten them with your gun, of course"

"Say what?" I could not help but react.

"I'm just kidding. But anyway where can we find one? I assume you have some idea?"

"Well, that's the hard part…" because it's bad news for me.

"Hm? You don't know?"

"I know…"

"So where?"

"In an abandoned mine. Not far from here" I say it.

"Ah, so that's why…" good thing Iffy got the gist of this. It's not that I'm afraid of caves it's more on the side of I hate them so much.

"Well, let's go to sleep we have a job to do tomorrow"

We finish the last of our sweets, throw the remains into the trash bin and we turned off the lights. All of us went into bed and I allowed my body to enter slumber mode. Then all of a sudden, someone whispered into my ears.

"Good night" it was soft and sweet. And it smells like sweets as well.