Chapter 125: Behind Sigma

Lucia explained to Clara the process by which she and Nyx stole the Sigma Hero technology.

Then, on the way back to Lucia’s guest room with Sista, the contact between them made Lucia realize that particular fact.

Sista was a lady, not a gentleman.

That was why Lucia knew about this earlier than Clara did, even though both had had close encounters—yet the latter hadn’t noticed a thing, which was quite something.

Clara just hadn’t been a loli long enough.

When Lucia learned of it, she even felt a little disappointed. If Pure White Storm was a girl, the CP she’d wanted to ship couldn’t sail.

But on second thought, if she broadened her perspective, maybe force-shipping wasn’t entirely out of the question.

At that moment, Clara was stuffing two bite-sized custard buns into her mouth, cheeks puffed out as she chewed and spoke:

“Oh, that’s Miss Rabi~”

Clara did have some impression of the gray-haired beauty Lucia mentioned, and added:

“She’s a staff member here at the resort, and she was our guide when we arrived… Pretty easy to talk to, isn’t she?”

In Clara’s understanding, all the staff at the resort were from a Nitemare subsidiary.

Though she couldn’t be blunt about it with Lucia, they really were all colleagues from the same group—trustworthy, at least as far as Clara was concerned after meeting Miss Rabi.

“Oh, really?”

The danger Lucia sensed was just her sixth sense; she didn’t have enough reason to convince Clara.

“When I’m done with breakfast, I’m heading over to see Fran. I’ve got some questions for her…”

Clara said as she grabbed her glass of milk and gulped it down, washing down her food before swallowing.

“Cough, cough, cough!” She choked.

“Don’t drink cold milk like that—it’s bad for your stomach.”

Lucia said this as she stood up to pat Clara’s back and help her catch her breath.

Clara just wiped her mouth with a tissue.

“Let’s go, let’s go, I still have to appear on the variety show!”

It was, after all, a joint training camp. Joining the live variety show was work, and now that she’d recovered from the shock of the squid incident, she couldn’t just rest all morning, right?

She still had to show her face in the stream; otherwise, she’d disappoint the fans of “Magical Girl Clara”.

Clearly, she had developed at least some idol awareness.

The whole resort wasn’t very big, more like a neighborhood of wooden villa cottages. The guest rooms where Lucia and Fran stayed weren’t far apart; a couple of steps and you were there.

First, she peered into the open balcony to check inside. Once she confirmed that Fran was sprawled on the floor doing something, she pressed the doorbell.

“Coming!”

Fran, wearing glasses, rushed to open the door but, as she did, asked:

“Huh? Clara? Isn’t it recording time? Why are you here?” She looked past Clara, checking for any drone cameras.

“Had a little incident this morning, came back for a break… I have something to ask you.”

“Oh?”

Fran stepped aside to let her in.

“The layout here is the same as everywhere else, even the color scheme. Sit down in the living room first,” she said, motioning to the sofa on the first floor. Clara sat and glanced at the computer on the coffee table, where lines of data were rapidly streaming down the screen.

“What’s that?”

Fran pushed up her glasses and grinned, “I’m analyzing the Sigma Armor system. And… I’ve already figured out which big company is backing them.”

“Oh?” Clara made a show of listening intently.

“Don’t freak out when you hear this—it’s World Tree Technologies!”

【I knew it…】

Nyx’s voice echoed in Clara’s head, and at the same time, she appeared on the computer screen… in a chibi form, arms crossed in front.

“Nyx noticed it while scanning last night,” Fran explained, “but wasn’t totally sure back then—there weren’t any clear traces left.”

“Oh! Nyx-chan! So cute!”

Fran sat down beside Clara, then added, “Actually, I was lucky enough to work with the developer of this system for a while. I can recognize the guy’s coding style.”

“You worked at World Tree Technologies too?!”

Fran peeled the wrapper off a lollipop and offered it to Clara, but just as Clara opened her mouth to take it, Fran yanked it back and popped it in her own mouth.

The prank made Clara blush, but the victorious Fran just tapped her own head.

“Heh heh, this genius brain of mine is in high demand! But… what they really wanted was the patent legacy my dad left behind, so I left not long after.”

“That’s pretty scummy, huh?”

Though Dream Witch had been created by stealing from World Tree Technologies’ lab, even going after someone’s legacy was dirty business—those tech companies were never clean.

For a corporate giant like World Tree Technologies, investing in promising small and medium-sized enterprises was routine. It wasn’t just about capital investment—they’d also lend their own technical support.

It was a kind of investment strategy. As long as even one small company’s hero made a name for themselves, they’d profit indirectly; even if the investment failed, their losses were limited, and the project could still serve as a testing ground for new technologies and equipment, building up real-world experience.

“Since World Tree Technologies is behind them, we need to avoid having Nyx discovered. Otherwise, they’ll be on to us in no time.”

“Ah!”

Halfway through Clara’s sentence, Lucia suddenly slapped her forehead.

“Huh?”

Clara and Fran looked at her in confusion. Lucia scratched her head sheepishly and said,

“Hehe, last night I showed Miss Nyx to Miss Anya. She seemed really interested in Nyx’s capabilities.”

“You dummy! Don’t go showing off everything like it’s a new toy! Are you a grade-schooler with a new gadget?!”

Clara whacked Lucia with her little tentacle hand. Fran pressed her forehead and sighed.

“Sigh, now that’s a problem.”

Munching on her lollipop, Fran propped her chin and muttered,

“Anya’s an exoskeleton mechanic—she’s probably a technical specialist sent by World Tree Technologies. If she’s interested in your tech, she might report it to the company.”

“In that case, knowing World Tree Technologies, they’ll definitely send people after us Dream Witches. If they dig up any dirt, or if Nyx gets taken away…”

They had stolen the other side’s technology, but never expected to bring themselves even bigger trouble.

Lucia asked quietly, “Should we go talk to Miss Anya first, and ask her not to spread word about Nyx?”

“A verbal promise isn’t worth much. Don’t trust anyone you meet so easily, especially employees of those hero companies. At their core, they’ve been tamed by their corporations—no matter how friendly they act, if it comes down to company interests, they won’t care about your relationship.”

Fran had little fondness for other hero companies. Even when joking about headhunting, she hadn’t been friendly to the Sigma staff, and along the way, she hadn’t interacted with them at all.

Now that she knew World Tree Technologies was backing them, she was even more dismissive of Sigma Heroes.

“Alright.”

Realizing she’d messed up again, Lucia slumped her shoulders.

Fran sighed, then grabbed Clara’s little tentacle hand and placed it in Lucia’s palm to comfort her.

“Clara, so what did you come to see me about?”

Clara glanced at Lucia, hesitated, and whispered,

“There might be paparazzi hiding in this resort. I found surveillance and eavesdropping devices in my own room, and the culprit even used that little tool Miss Damo gave out—the one that blurs your silhouette.”

“Hmm? Now that’s interesting.”

Fran straightened up, frowning.

“Let me take a look at those devices.”