Neptunia: Merc's Involvement

Chapter 16: Lowee - Share Collecting

"Ram!?" Said both Blanc and Mina before the three of them ran to aid Lowee's CPU.

After taking Ram back to her room and putting her in bed alongside Rom, the oracle checked her condition.

"It's okay. She's sleeping right now." Said Mina.

"What happened to her?" Asked Alex.

"She seems to have passed out from exhaustion."

"Is she sick from the shares going down too!?" Asked Blanc with worry.

"It's possible." Said the oracle while looking at her.

"No way..."

Lowee's CPU lowered her head while making a sad expression as now both her sisters were in peril.

Alex looked at her for a moment before looking at Mina again.

"You said something about the root of the problem earlier, didn't you?" Asked Alex.

The oracle looked at Alex and nodded.

"That is right. I fear that unless we take care of said problem first, we won't have enough Shares to create a crystal capable of healing both of them." Said Mina.

"Okay. What are we looking for?" He asked.

Mina took a moment to think about the possible causes and recalled the reports she received during the last few days regarding the decaying state of the nation.

"Recently, there have been reports of crime being on the rise all around town. According to some of the rumors flying around, the ASIC could be involved behind it." Replied the Oracle to the young boy. "Piecing together this information leads me to believe that the ASIC could be doing some sort of illegal action to make people's faith sway towards Arfoire."

"How are you sure It's the ASIC?"

"At first I was skeptic, but the unstable state of the Shares confirmed it. No one else except the CPUs themselves or the ASIC are capable of making Shares sway in such extreme ways." Explained Mina.

"The other CPUs wouldn't do it. Even if they did, they would do it in a more open and direct way." Added Blanc while looking at Alex.

"I see. All we have to do is find the ASIC and stop them right?" Asked Alex.

"That is our only choice." Said Mina.

"Then let's go." Said Blanc to Alex before turning her head to look at Mina. "Mina, stay here and take care of Rom and Ram."

"Understood." Answered the Oracle while nodding.

Without any time to waste, Alex and Blanc ran towards the front entrance to leave the castle and search the town for the criminal activity.

Unfortunately for them, when Mina said 'crime', she didn't really bother to be more specific about what kind of crime.

Unsure of the exact thing they were looking for, the two of them decided to split up and scout around as much of the town as they could and meet up again on the same spot in a few hours.

Blanc transformed into White Heart to fly and cover more ground while Alex searched through the streets.

Although they searched for hours on end, neither of them saw anything out or the ordinary.

'It's like finding a needle in a haysack.' Thought the young boy while looking around him.

"H-Hey! Wait for me!"

"Come on, hurry it up! They could run out at any moment!"

Alex was about to go back to the meeting place, but the two people running past him at full speed quickly raised his suspicion.