The Old Shinkotsu dazzled in the soft amber glow of the paper lanterns washing over the empty cobblestones while two figures strolled down the center of its roads.
Nom-Nom walked with her violet eyes glazing over slightly as she tilted her head to listen to the voice echoing across the spiritual bond.
"So basically... " She repeated aloud, dropping her voice an octave to mimic the Nico’s tone before looking at the woman walking beside her, "... cultists who wanna speedrun the end of the world via the Night of the Red Moon and worship an Eldritch god?"
"Yes." Peko nodded, keeping her gaze fixed on the path ahead. "They are an ancient cult composed of the wealthy elite. They believe the end is inevitable, and if they hasten it, their god will grant them a place in the New World to live as kings."
Nom-Nom transmitted the answer back across the bond before her expression slowly shifted into a grimace.
"Master is taking deep breaths... I think he is panicking... and cursing quite creatively. Do you want me to say exactly what he is saying?"
"No," Peko replied flatly, not breaking stride.
Nom-Nom nodded, listening for a beat before resuming the impersonation.
"And you got this off of Luger? Is he a member?"
"No," Peko answered, her brow furrowing slightly. "He didn’t even know Arlath was a member. And most of what Luger said was far-fetched conspiracies and rumors."
"Okay. I need you to write down those conspiracies and send them to my inventory later."
Peko offered a sharp nod of acknowledgment before glancing sideways at the dragon.
"So, what do we do?"
Silence stretched between them for a moment, the only sound being the rhythmic click of their boots on the stone, before a grin spread across Nom-Nom’s face.
She rolled her shoulders, adopting a lazy slouch as she channeled her inner Nico.
"I need you to answer a few questions," she said, the grin widening as she sensed the gears turning in Nico’s mind. "First... How seriously does Shinkotsu take Entropy’s threat?"
Peko allowed a small, cold smile to touch her lips as she recognized the pivot.
"Rather seriously. From what I have come to understand, Entropy is shrouded in secrecy. Everyone has conspiracies regarding them, but no one denies their existence. They have made the threats they pose known many times before."
"Second question," Nom-Nom continued without missing a beat. "Did you spoof your Mana Frequency when you interrogated Luger?"
"Yes."
"Third... set of questions. Where’d you nab him? Was he with people? Who were they? Did anyone see you take him? Has he run back to them?"
"He was drunk, stumbling out of a tavern with his party members," Peko replied calmly. "He walked down an alley to relieve himself, which is where I snared him. He could still be curled up in that filth... he seemed rather... traumatized. Or he may have run back to his friends. But I assure you, he will not breathe a word of this to anyone."
Nom-Nom paused, her eyes losing focus again as she listened to the response.
"Okay," she muttered Nico’s exact words, rubbing her chin in a perfect imitation of Nico’s thinking pose. "So this is how the chessboard looks... Ahh... I need to pee."
Peko shot her a withering glare in response to which Nom-Nom broke character instantly to let out a giggle, saying, "He said that!"
"Okay... here’s what we’re gonna do," Nom-Nom resumed, beaming as the voice in her head laid out the plan.
But the smile froze.
The playful light in her violet eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a sudden, confused stillness as his next words echoed across the bond.
Peko noticed the shift immediately.
"So? What did he say?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.
Nom-Nom lowered her hand, her posture stiffening as she looked at Peko with a somber expression.
"Peko... I need you to go back to Luger. And do away with him."
Peko stopped dead in the middle of the street, her mouth falling open slightly as the weight of the command settled between them.
She blinked, searching Nom-Nom’s face for a trace of the earlier humor, but the Dragon only shook her head.
"And if he managed to get back to his party..." Nom-Nom added, her voice dropping the mimicry. "I need you to follow them. Wait until he isolates himself with someone, and then do away with both of them."
The silence that followed was suffocating while the amber light of the paper lanterns seemed to grow colder as Peko processed the shift in the Young Master’s morality.
This was the same man who had strictly forbidden them from taking lives during their desperate escape from Pantheon, yet now he was ordering a double homicide without a tremor in his voice.
"That... attempt on his life seems to have-"
"Yeah," Nom-Nom cut her off with a sharp nod, her violet eyes narrowing. "Wait, Master is saying something..."
Nom-Nom listened for a beat, her expression hardening before she began to recite the words echoing across the bond.
"I know what you two are thinking... Maybe there is a better way to do this, or maybe not. But this is what I got."
Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Make sure not to leave any bodies behind. And once you’re done, I need you to take that Pendant I recovered from Arlath and give it to Elena, our resident bug."
Peko’s eyes widened as the scope of the plan began to unfold.
"Tell her about the attempt on my life orchestrated by Luger. Tell her that I got the pendant from Arlath’s body."
Nom-Nom continued, her voice gaining a ruthless cadence.
"That would make Entropy no longer our problem for the most part. The Night of the Red Moon is just a few months away, and Entropy popping their head out right now... in the capital of Fugen at this time? We’ll score some brownie points with the General and make sure our would-be enemies will have their hands full."
A terrifying smile that didn’t reach her eyes bloomed across Peko’s face as she continued to listen.
"Who knows, we may even be able to profit from it somehow... Maybe the General will start trusting us more... and that would go a long way if we decide to permanently settle here."
Peko stared at the Dragon, her mind racing as the pieces of the strategy clicked into place.
He was handling the emerging threat of the Cult, the constant surveillance and distrust of the General in a single, bloody move, all while opening options for potential profit.
[He is the worst kind of enemy one can have...] she thought while a shiver of genuine fear and the exclamation ran down her spine.
Even Nom-Nom’s eyebrows shot up as she relayed the final part of the script.
"Look, the plan is to make it appear as though Luger went to Arlath for that hit job, not knowing he was with Entropy. But when I killed him, Entropy found out, moved, and contacted Luger... possibly having recruited him to take Arlath’s place. But that loud-mouthed idiot spilled the beans to the first person he was alone with."
She paused, checking the details.
"It would appear as though Entropy went back and silenced him and the witness, leaving no trace behind. This total absence of evidence will cause further confusion and be perfectly on brand for an organization of that size. As far as the General knows, both the last person Luger was with alone and Luger himself could have run away, been silenced by Entropy, or maybe even joined them. But if you find him still in that alley, just do away with him then and there... It could be spun as Entropy just straight up spirited him away... Sounds roundabout, yeah, but it falls like a perfect domino."
Nom-Nom took a deep breath before continuing with the timeline.
"Meanwhile, I told Nom-Nom what happened while you two were on your midnight stroll, right around the time I had ’supposedly’ killed Arlath. And you, Peko, rushed to me to take that pendant before going straight to Elena. While I, contract-bound to that job and not having enough funds to pay off the fines, carried on my way. This will help match the timeline as to where you two were when Luger supposedly disappeared. And it would cause further confusion as to how Entropy was able to move so fast. Which we might be able to exploit further depending upon how things play out."
Taking another deep breath, Nom-Nom looked at the Phoenix, who was staring at the ground with her lips parted slightly in a terrifying smile stretching on her face.
"Doubts?"
Peko straightened, turning her gaze back toward New Shinkotsu, and spoke just one word, "None."
Nom-Nom nodded, her eyes glazing over for a second before repeating the words Nico spoke.
"Kay... Gotta go," she murmured, relaying the final message. "I just reached the Dungeon."