"…"
Alina's mood went heavy as she heard what [Asteria] just said, with her eyes suddenly becoming downcast.
Queen Mother's expression became heavy too, while Professor Frances looked to be extremely interested, probably due to the talks about body clones.
It took Alina some seconds to compose herself before she could ask [Asteria] a question.
"Asteria, even without the assistance of my eyes, I can feel that you are telling the truth. Since I feel that you are not lying to me, then I shall believe you for now. But even with that, there is still something that I could not understand about your story."
"Oh? And what could that be?"
"If Alex was a defective product, then why was Alex still possessed by Emperor Litch earlier?' Alina said as she gave [Asteria] a suspecting glare. "Why waste time on Alex, if it will be hard to possess him? He's the only clone with consciousness, right?"
Professor Frances nodded behind Alina, as if she could perfectly understand what Alina was talking about.
"I, with my background in bio-sculpting, can understand Alina's point." The Professor said as she tapped her chin. "Since Alex, who was supposed to be a Vessel, suddenly gained consciousness, the difficulty of overriding his mind with the mind of Emperor Litch will be exponentially difficult. Choosing Alex as a target for possession is just inefficient, in terms of time and effort."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Uh well… I actually have no idea about that." [Asteria] sheepishly replied as she rubbed the back of her head. "Everything that I know about Alex's past only reached the point where he developed consciousness as a clone. As for what happened after that… the Endless Monarch himself blocked that information."
"Tsk, so even we already knew about his past, we still do not know why that Emperor possessed him now? I don't know if this will be of great help to us…" Alina said as she rubbed her temples.
"Well, at least you now know why Alex was like that earlier." [Asteria] said as she shrugged her shoulders. "Now, maybe we can think up of something that we can use to help Alex later."
"But…" With her mind still affected by what happened to Alex, Alina could not help it but snarl at the blond fairy.
"But what can we even do now? Do you have any idea on what we can d-"
Alina's rebuking words were cut short when a sudden announcement came out of [Asteria's] mouth.
[[[GREEN MOON SUCCESSFULLY DESTROYED BY TRAVELER ALEX. 125 YEARS OF LIFESPAN REWARDED FOR TRAVELER ALEX. NO COMPANION HELP WAS DETECTED. NO CONTRIBUTION POINTS WILL BE REWARDED.]]]
[Asteria's] voice was heard by Alina and her companions with clarity, with their minds finding it hard to comprehend what [Asteria] just said.
"!!!" Alina's face turned pale as she heard what [Asteria] just said, while Queen Mother and Professor Frances started to wear expressions of shock on their faces.
"Oi, little fairy, what did you just say right now? Is it like what I just think it is?" Queen Mother haltingly asked [Asteria] as her eyes widened in confusion. "Did Alex really just…"
"Well, technically speaking, it was not Alex who destroyed the Green Moon." [Asteria] said as she shook her head. "In my opinion, it was Emperor Litch who destroyed the Green Moon… It was only registered as Alex, since Alex and Emperor Litch had similar bodies before…"
"I don't care who did what. What I care more was the fact that Alex was being used by that Emperor in this way!" Alina shouted as she glared at [Asteria]. "Alex… I am not sure what he is feeling right now, but he must be suffering!"
"Well, Alex might not be suffering at all…"
"Shut up! Even if Alex is feeling great right now, we cannot just let his whole body taken over by that Emperor! Because once that happens, even if we can stay alive, the Alex that we knew will be gone forever…"
"…"
"[Asteria], if we don't' do anything now, the whole situation might just get worse!" Alina said with finality as a steely expression appeared on her face. "Earlier, I was not able to help Alex because that Emperor used some kind of ability to stop me from moving. But now that I am free, there will be nobody that can stop me from going to Alex now! Not even you, [Asteria], will be able to stop me from leaving!"
"…."
"Queen Mother, Alex had helped you before with your problems regarding the race that you created. Now that he's the one who needs your help, you should join me on saving him!" Alina said as she gave Queen Mother a pleading look.
"As for you Professor Frances, I know that you don't really think of Alex as an ally, but I am sure that you are interested on his situation as a body clone." Alina gave the Professor a withering look as she said these words. "I know… that you want to save him just for scientific purposes."
Before these two women could give their reply, Alina let out a deep breath as she looked at the crowd of Symbolists, who were looking at Alina and her companions with wariness and confusion.
Alina knew that it was right for them to be this wary, as Alex just did something that was unfathomable to them.
But even with that kind of wariness, Alina knew that she can convince these people to help her out.
Alina was about to say some words to reassure the Symbolists, but before she could do so, someone beat her to the punch.
"Everyone, I know that you are confused with what is happening right now. However, be assured that we are still safe and in the lead." The one who said these words was Astria, who gave Alina a wink. "You might have been scared on what had happened with Mr. Alex earlier, but don't worry about that. That was just an act by Mr. Alex so that he can fool our enemies."
"Mr. Alex did that thing?"
"Yes, Mr. Alex did that."
"But Miss Astria, are you really sure about tha-"
"Do you think I can be easily fooled? If I say that Mr. Alex is still our ally, then he is still our ally. Do you understand that?"
"Yes we understand, Miss Astria…"
"Good, now all that we have to do is to make our move!" Astria said as she raised her right arm in the air. "Right now, Mr. Alex is most probably doing his secret task… Since he's risking his life, we should also be risky too! You don't want to be overtaken by Mr. Alex in terms of contributions, right?"
"No, we don't, Miss Astria!"
"In that case, follow the lead of Miss Alina!" Astria shouted with conviction as she pointed her finger at Alina, who could only gave Astria and the Symbolists a dumbfounded look. "She is Mr. Alex's right hand, and she's the one who has an idea on what we should do. Please listen to her well!"
"Oh you sneaky little b***h…" This was all that Alina could think right now before all the Symbolists swarmed towards her. "Once I am done with all of this, I will really beat you until you're black and blue…"