“To think that she’s this popular…” Gaius asked, his eyes on the figurine on stage. It was as tall as the real Xanadu, but unlike the stoic gentleness Gaius usually felt from her, the figurine was radiating a business-like aura. Even though the figurine of Xanadu wasn’t moving, he could faintly feel an air of restraint that surrounded her, like the threat of an unsheathed sword.

“What do you think?” Pinnacle Kolya asked.

The two of them, along with Isabelle, Nakama, La-Ti and the Oracle, were sitting in a theatre of sorts. The little group was currently occupying a private room and looking down on the audience and the action on the stage right now. This was the unveiling of the next-generation Displays, but what had taken Gaius by surprise was just how many people were crowding around the foot of the stage.

“I think this is going to be a big hit,” said Gaius. “You borrowed Xanadu’s mannerisms and words and used them in this intelligent assistant embedded inside the Display…this is a world’s first.”

Kolya made a grunt. “Dear, I’m a genius, right?”

Galina tossed a chocolate at him. “Here’s your reward!”

Gaius watched the two odd fellows interact, and then sidled over to Isabelle.

“What?” Isabelle asked, a little grin on her face.

With one look, Gaius immediately understood that she knew the reason behind his sudden approach. He didn’t mind, though; Isabelle had this uncanny knack for picking up on his more…delicate thoughts at times. Especially when these thoughts were related to the Pinnacle and the Oracle.

“No, nothing.”

It had been one month since they got together, but nothing much had changed…on the surface, anyway. With Isabelle’s help, the trend of Nakama regaining her dependence on him had been reversed; his little sister now had her own social circle that Gaius didn’t know about.

And that was fine.

It just proved that she was growing and learning on her own. With Nexus around, Gaius would know about any worrying developments, but beyond that, he made sure not to intrude in her life. After all, everyone had their right to privacy. It was one thing if Nakama were to share her own stories, but…

“Is that so?” Turning to Nakama, Isabelle asked, “Do you believe him?”

“No!”

Gaius didn’t quite know how to respond, so he returned his attention to Kolya and cleared his throat. The couple’s flirting stopped for a moment.

“What?” Kolya asked. “Need something?”

“Just wondering about this Hall of Guardians thing you guys came up with,” Gaius replied, deciding on the hottest topic of the month. “It’s basically something that tracks one’s contributions, right?”

“What of it?”

“Well,” said Gaius, “I recall that Ark City used to have something similar to it too, along with the East. Why is that the case? Why do such mechanisms seem to be everywhere?”

“Why? You ask why…” Kolya shrugged. “Well, isn’t it like trading meritorious service for benefits? This is the best way to go about doing it, right?”

“But who came up with the idea first?”

“You’ll be interested to know that such an idea was first created by the Sentinel of Space, during the First Extermination,” said Galina. “At that time, the concept of tracking kills was already well known, but since only the four Cardinal Champions were capable of killing the demons, it became a competition between the four.”

“Who won?” Gaius asked.

“Who knows?” Galina shrugged. “It’s not an answer I can give you. After all, whatever technology that was used to track their kills was insufficient to the task. Something called a counter overflow or something apparently happened, so that…uh, leaderboard stopped working.”

“I expected a more thrilling answer,” Gaius muttered. “But this whole contribution points thing was started by the Sentinel of Space then?”

“Evidently so,” Galina replied. “As to where the idea came from, we aren’t exactly sure, but the nature of Hereward probably enabled him to see ideas from other worlds and to bring it over.”

“When put this way, one can’t help but think that Hereward’s quite incredible,” Gaius said. “Pioneering this otherworlder schtick for everyone else to copy.”

He hadn’t quite forgotten about how one of Hereward’s familiar spirits were stuck in Cybral, and how the Church of Space had drummed up immense support. Of equal note was Aldnath, who had also somehow penetrated into Cybral, even apparently descending into that virtual world.

How were these deeds made possible? Gaius had a feeling that using ‘Because they’re gods’ isn’t enough of a reason. After all, what about the elemental gods and the Human God? Why weren’t they trying to stake their claims in that virtual world?

The crowd around the stage bubbled up, and in a sudden wave, boiled over into an uproar as a young man took the stage. Dressed in a formal suit and a monocle that reminded Gaius of Kolya’s own, the young man gestured elegantly, eliciting cheers as two boxes floated towards him.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming by to Monocle Online’s first unboxing of the Display M3 and C2! I am Pavel, the most skilled unboxer in the whole of Orb!”

His words drew cheers and laughter, which persisted for a moment, before he waved his hands a few times. “Alright, alright. Pipe down. Today, I’m going to show off the extent of my connections, and just how awesome the next-gen Displays are! Huge improvements have been made, and I can’t wait to share them with everyone present!”

For some reason, Gaius had a feeling that such a style was not suitable for unveiling a new piece of technology, but since he wasn’t on stage and saying these things, that was none of his problem.

“The way he speaks is a bit embarrassing, though,” Isabelle murmured.

Right, there’s this ultra-sensitive partner of mine…Gaius rubbed his nose. “You’re really vulnerable to second-hand embarrassment, aren’t you?”

“Do you want to sleep on the cushions tonight?”

Gaius let out a nervous smile, and moved to placate Isabelle. Only when the crimson receded from her face did he relax, returning his attention to the uproarious crowd outside. Checking through his weapons and equipment — Kolya had told him to come fully armed for some reason — Gaius leaned back and closed his eyes.

Even if he was the Abyss Sovereign, the mouth was still the source of calamity…