CHAPTER 46: 46: ONLY THE WORTHY CAN SEE

Aria reached the group not long after, and a familiar figure caught her eye.

Standing in the middle of the three men was Vince, one of Gilbert’s team members.

He was someone who had once been restricted from stepping into the Destiny Gate Doors. Meeting him now, with a complete body, alive and well, filled her with quiet relief.

Vincent looked at the men surrounding him with a stern expression, clearly confused about why they were stopping him from moving forward. But the moment he saw Aria walking toward them, the frown on his face melted away, replaced by a smile full of relief and quiet joy.

"Miss Aria! I’m here!" Vince called out with a grin of easy familiarity, and Aria nodded back, waving her hand in return.

As she came closer, the three men assigned to guard the area by their boss quickly stepped aside to make way for her.

The moment her scent reached them, their expressions shifted ever so slightly.

It was a fragrance so soft, delicate, and enchanting, akin to roses kissed by the sunlight. The floral aroma seemed to wrap around the three men’s senses, drawing them in closer, even taking a step, until they found themselves unconsciously inhaling the air around her.

Vince raised an eyebrow as he watched the men’s strange behavior, and his expression went from smiling to flat as one word crossed his mind.

Perverts.

He could tell these men were exactly that, and he despised people like them.

With that, his impression of the three men turned even worse, and his fists itched to strike someone.

"You’re here. I presume you want something to do with my Train Station?" Aria went straight to the point with a polite, friendly smile. This time, there was a hint of familiarity in her tone, unlike the distant way she had spoken before.

Hearing that, Vincent gave an awkward smile, his hands scratching at his hair, revealing even his sharp, white tiger teeth.

"Miss Aria, of course. Look, I even brought more items to exchange for extra credits." With that, the man showed a bag filled with trophies, jewels, and even books, which made Aria raise an eyebrow slightly as she looked at him.

Are these things even valuable?

Aria wondered, but she nodded, seeing no need to ask further, and gestured with her hand, signaling him to go ahead.

"Okay, you can go on. Samantha is inside the station."

"Thanks, Miss Aria. Glad to see you again." Vincent gave a salute and was about to walk forward.

Then, as if remembering something, he stopped.

He turned around and looked at the Miss Stationmaster with a genuine smile, far from his usual polite one.

"I’m really happy that I’ve met you."

With those warm and unexpected words, he ran toward the Train Station gate like a child heading out on a vacation with his family, brimming with excitement and joy.

That... what had just happened?

Aria was completely clueless, unable to make sense of what the others were talking about or thinking.

A sudden click echoed in her mind, reminding her of something.

Gilbert and Jimmy!

She became aware of the question she most needed to ask Vincent.

Aria wanted to know what had happened to his two friends and, if something bad had occurred, why he didn’t seem angry with her for it.

However, just as she opened her mouth to speak, the man was already gone, running up the stairs at lightning speed.

Really so excited, huh? Aria thought, smiling a little helplessly, yet the smile on her lips remained.

Meanwhile, the three men around her witnessed something that once again shattered their sense of reality.

The man they had been stopping from moving closer to this place had simply vanished into thin air, leaving them completely silent and wide-eyed in disbelief.

After witnessing a similar sight before with their former lackeys, Mikey and Richi, their minds began to wander once again.

Why was this happening again?

What was it that they couldn’t see while others could? Or were they merely trapped in an illusion created by someone?

One of the men finally spoke up, his voice uncertain yet thick with curiosity, as if he couldn’t hold his question any longer.

His tone lowered, careful, trying to sound harmless.

"Miss Aria?"

Facing the man who had spoken, Aria watched him fidget nervously.

It was the first time these men had spoken to her normally.

"Yes?"

"Are you... a goddess?"

"Goddess?" Aria blinked.

What kind of imagination does this man have?

She wanted to laugh, or at least smile a little, but doing so might upset him. She knew she was standing there alone with a stranger.

So, there was a sense of security she needed to maintain. Even with Fluff Ball by her side, she remained cautious, keeping a few careful steps of distance between them.

"I am not a goddess. Why do you ask?" Aria tilted her head slightly, curious about what kind of thoughts were running through this man’s mind.

It was better to be aware, she thought. If his intentions were bad, at least she could plan how to counter them.

When she confirmed she was not a goddess, the man glanced at his companions.

Another one stepped forward, hesitation flickering in his expression before he spoke.

"Then why do you vanish and appear whenever you walk on the beach sand?"

They could only see the beach and the sea, and nothing else.

But their lackey, Mikey, once said there was a magical building here.

That was all they knew about the mystery of this place, one no one else had ever heard of.

At first, they did not believe such a thing existed.

Yet after seeing the children’s clothes Mikey and Richi brought back from their trip here, their curiosity and desire to take over whatever was hidden in this place began to take shape.

Now that they were standing here themselves, they saw nothing but a stretch of empty, and dirty beach.

"Ah, I see. So that’s what you meant." Aria said, nodding lightly, her eyes showing understanding as she caught the confusion in the man’s gaze.

There was a hint of reluctance in her expression, unsure if answering would be the right thing to do. Turning around, she began to walk away, her voice carrying softly as she moved farther.

"That is because only the worthy can see what we see."

"...."

Slowly disappearing from their sight again, Aria entered the Heavenly Train Station space.

She left the three men outside, lost in their own thoughts.

Then she began wandering below the building to check the facilities beside the locked elevator.

The Heavenly Train Station had two floors.

The first floor looked like a space, a wide lobby that resembled the kind of place where small stores or waiting areas could be set up, just like a normal train station back in her original world.

"Fluff Ball, why doesn’t this place have any signs saying people can’t enter the store area?" Aria asked, noticing the detail as she glanced at the floating system, waiting for an answer.

Those empty store slots inside the station on the second floor were places they couldn’t step into when she checked.

Each was marked with a sign that said Entry Not Allowed.

The system floated toward one of the doors, opening it as they stepped inside the empty store area.

"This area is for any stores the passengers might open, or for anyone you allow to start a business." The system replied.

"People can set up their stalls here for the station passengers to use."

"Ah... then I’m not allowed to set up mine?" Aria understood it that way.

"Yes. The system will not open anything here, unlike the clothing shop inside the station on the second floor."

Fluff Ball explained, then went silent again as the sound of vehicles approaching alerted Aria to the presence of other people.

The cars raced toward the area of the Golden Barrier, their movements hurried and tense, as if something urgent had happened.

Feeling that something was off, Aria stepped outside, wanting to see for herself what was going on.

Her eyes narrowed as she saw the leader of Base E leaning halfway out of the car window, holding a gun and firing at something chasing them from behind.

"Eh? What happened?" Aria walked closer to the three men who had noticed the problem at a glance.

Running toward their cars, the man who had spoken to her earlier drew his gun and rushed forward to join the others in firing back.

When all the vehicles finally crossed into the protected space of the Golden Barrier and came to a halt, what appeared before everyone made their blood run cold.

"This..." Aria stood frozen, shocked by the sight before her.

Outside the protective field of the Heavenly Train Station stood a gigantic snake, taller than a school bus.

It was so massive that anyone who saw it would question their own reality.

Aria stared at the creature, its enormous, thick body and terrifying presence pressing against the invisible barrier.

It kept slamming its head against what seemed to be a solid transparent wall.

Again and again, it tried to break through.