Chapter 291

【Young Lady, you again...】

The man felt dizzy and disoriented,

and when he finally came to his senses again,

he realized he had forgotten what he had just been doing.

【Take this gift, little guest.】

【This is a gift specially prepared for you by the family.】

【Hold onto it tightly, and when the Harmony Festival opens, then...】

【At the climax of the performance, press this button together with the person beside you...】

【Who knows... something very interesting might happen?】

Stelle: "So the reluctant little firework finally can't keep up the act, huh?"

Stelle: "Now you're not even pretending anymore—just going straight for the dirty tricks?"

Hu Tao: "What else can I do?"

Hu Tao: "You saw it yourself—he's completely impervious to reason."

Hu Tao: "I'm here for fun, not to be someone's babysitter."

Hu Tao: "Since he won't listen, I'll just make him listen—heehee~"

Himeko: "It seems that even in dreams, not everyone believes the family's story."

Welt: "But unfortunately, such people are extremely rare—harmless."

March 7th: "And after Hu Tao's meddling, even that tiny minority is gone now."

Furina: "Hu Tao acts entirely on whim—there's not a trace of method or logic to her actions."

Hu Tao: "Isn't that the truth."

Hu Tao: "At first, she quietly helped Young Lady Stelle uncover the truth of the dream."

Hu Tao: "Then she reminded Mr. Sandgold on how to learn the truth of the dream."

Hu Tao: "Now, she's helping the family resolve its troubles and calm frightened civilians..."

Hu Tao: "You simply have no idea which side she's really on."

Silver Wolf: "She's a Masked Fool—what side could she possibly be on?"

Silver Wolf: "She's only on the side of fun!"

Silver Wolf: "Wherever there's fun, she temporarily stands there."

Silver Wolf: "That's the true Fool."

Truth Doctor: "Well said. The faithful of Joy are like this."

Amber: "I'm still more concerned about..."

Amber: "Is this button Hu Tao sent out really a bomb?"

Amber: "If it really is..."

Amber: "Then when the Harmony Festival begins, if someone presses this button..."

Amber: "Then it would be..."

Hu Tao: "Boom!!!"

Hu Tao: "Then it'll be rivers of blood, hahaha~"

Stelle: "Whoa, that's intense?!"

March 7th: "Intense???"

Stelle: "Cough, I mean—that's inhumane?!"

Stelle: "But I don't believe you'd really blow up Penacony."

Stelle: "Because if you did, you'd be hunted by every major power in the universe."

Stelle: "And instantly branded the universe's greatest villain!"

Stelle: "At that point, you'd have no way to escape!"

Hu Tao: "Wahhh, I'm so scared~"

Hu Tao: "But... I'm an expert at hide-and-seek!"

Hu Tao: "Don't you believe they'll never find my trail~?"

Stelle: "I don't believe it."

Hu Tao: "Hah, little gray-hair, don't believe it then~"

The video continues.

The scene shifts to Stelle and Firefly.

【Everything returns to the beginning. You once stepped here into the 【Golden Moment】, and now you will step here into true Penacony.】

【I'm glad to walk beside you once more.】

【Now, at last, I can reveal all the truth to you.】

【As you see... my other name is Sam, the Star Core Hunter.】

Firefly faced Stelle,

and began explaining the reason behind it all.

【Are you... Firefly's soul?】

Stelle looked at Firefly,

feeling it was unreal.

【I know you have many questions...】

【Do you remember how we encountered death in a strange dreamscape?】

【At that time, I was held in the grasp of the meme...】

【In the instant it was about to strike, I saw the reflection of another patch of dreamscape in that terrifying pupil.】

【Following the script's hint, I formed some hypotheses about that meme. Lu】

【So I had Silver Wolf send out invitations, guiding you all to the hotel within the dream...】

【I originally planned to summon death before you, using a more direct method to reveal the truth and draw you into the game.】

【But things did not go as planned—I could not defy the script. I didn't even have time to explain to you.】

【As you saw, I was pierced through by the wing-blade of death.】

【The crushing weight of thick memory-essence... it exploded in my mind, as if real.】

【But after the brief paralysis passed, I found my body untouched and whole.】

【I am indeed still alive—and, as I suspected—I have arrived at a place utterly unlike a sweet dream.】

【Beneath Aventurine's dreamscape lies another, more primal and chaotic memory-realm—its name is... the Exiled Land.】