Ever since she'd come to Penacony this time, Black Swan had felt as if her luck had taken a turn for the worse.
As a Memokeeper, and a fairly capable one at that, Black Swan's greatest passion and line of work was collecting all kinds of memories.
No matter how you looked at it, a memory that was both interesting and grand enough was a rare treasure for any Memokeeper, the sort of thing you couldn't count on finding just because you wanted it.
With that hope for fresh memories in mind, Black Swan had come to Penacony. The Family would be holding the Charmony Festival here, and hidden beneath the festival was the Watchmaker's Legacy.
On such a vast stage, truly excellent memories were bound to be born. Most important of all, this stage should've been safe.
After all, it was called the Charmony Festival, but the one in charge of it, Sunday, was only a tuner of the Fourth Scale.
That meant he was still an individual person, not an existence like those of the First or Second Scales, who had almost no personal will left.
By the same measure, the Annihilation Gang, who were planning to stir up trouble, weren't that strong, and the envoy sent by the IPC was only one of the Ten Stonehearts.
From the look of it, the overall power level of this dispute didn't even seem to reach the level of an Emanator.
So for Black Swan, whose strength wasn't weak even among Memokeepers, going to Penacony naturally shouldn't have counted as a dangerous trip.
Yet once she arrived, she found that this place seemed a little different from what she'd imagined.
Putting aside the strange environment and dense Memoria covering the whole Asdana star system, Duke Inferno, whom Black Swan had been keeping a close eye on, gave poor Swan a nasty shock right out of the gate.
Before he'd even reached Penacony, he'd put on a clean, simple performance of crashing and dying.
That startled Black Swan. Duke Inferno might not have been an Emanator, but he absolutely wasn't weak. The fact that he'd died so quietly meant the person who'd killed him had to be no ordinary figure.
So, following that clue, Black Swan investigated all the way down the line and soon found the suspected killer of Duke Inferno: the Galaxy Ranger, Acheron.
That got poor Swan excited. To start with, the Path of The Hunt normally shouldn't specialize much in the mind.
Even if it did, judging by Acheron's blank look, she didn't seem like the type who was skilled in that area.
The memory of a strong person's fall might not count as a full feast, but it was more than enough to be called a pre-meal dessert.
Add in the fact that Acheron herself was a beautiful lady, and as the garnish on that dessert, she'd no doubt be a delight to the eyes.
So Black Swan made her move.
As for what happened afterward, Black Swan didn't want to say much.
In short, exhausted in both body and mind, she realized Penacony's waters seemed a little deep, so she decided to change direction for now.
That was when she remembered a message one of her Memokeeper friends had sent her some time ago.
[That certain Lynelle from the Astral Express has a deep secret hidden inside her. I tried to probe once, but one of our own kind was nearby, so I couldn't succeed. If you run into her alone on Penacony, you can try looking into her memories. Trust me, there's absolutely a surprise in there you won't expect.]
In other lines of work, the saying "people in the same trade are enemies" might apply.
For Memokeepers, that wasn't the case.
Memories could be shared, and aside from completing one's own quotas, it was common for several Memokeepers to join hands when it came to precious memories.
So Black Swan didn't doubt her colleague's words at all. She only assumed the other party had been unlucky and hadn't found the right chance.
But now, hadn't that chance arrived? Her target, that certain Lynelle, was wandering through Oti Mall.
Under Black Swan's gaze, the pink-haired girl seemed a little tired from shopping, so she chose a local specialty, an Oak Cake Roll and a Thousand-Layer Sundae (Zero Calories), preparing to enjoy the taste of the dreamscape first.
Good. Lynelle could enjoy her delicious cake and sundae, while Black Swan would go enjoy delicious Lynelle. How harmonious and friendly.
With that thought in mind, Black Swan put on a confident smile and walked toward Lynelle.
--+--
Meanwhile, on the other side…
"Cough, cough, cough… Why does this Oak Cake Roll taste so bad…?"
Lynelle looked at the delicate cake in front of her, which somehow only filled her mouth with the taste of crumbs, and her expression turned stiff.
Honestly, if she'd known this thing tasted like this, she would've rather gone to eat one of Firefly and Stelle's disaster meals than try something that could stand shoulder to shoulder with soda bean juice.
"Hehe. In the world of dreams, people don't lack all kinds of happiness and beauty. Once their desire for pleasure has been satisfied, they naturally start moving toward stranger and stranger novelties."
"For example… the 'Pika White Grape Soda' and 'Sliced Cake "Stargazer"' currently being sold in that same display case."
Just as Lynelle was staring at the cake with no idea where to start, like Tokugawa in a members-only restaurant, a gentle female voice sounded beside her.
Lynelle looked up in surprise and found an elegant woman holding a tray, her air mysterious and mature, smiling warmly at her.
"Hello, adorable little sister. Would you mind sharing your table with me?"
Why's she here…
Lynelle was a little dazed. At first, she hadn't noticed anyone coming over, but now that she looked closely, wasn't this the certain lady with a purple veil, who could summon unspeakable mysterious giant hands, attacked enemies like an evil medieval witch, yet somehow never actually hurt anyone—the powerhouse main carry of DoT teams, Madam Black Swan?
Why wasn't she off spying on Stelle right now? Why wasn't she matching wits with Sparkle? Why had she come over to Lynelle instead?
And looking at her like this, she felt oddly familiar… Wait. She couldn't be thinking of making a move on me, could she?
The moment that thought crossed her mind, the corners of Lynelle's mouth, which had finally calmed down after being lifted for ages thanks to Sparkle, started showing signs of flying right back up again.
"Hmm? Could it be that you don't want to…?"
Black Swan tilted her head in slight confusion.
She wouldn't go so far as to call herself some rare beauty of the universe, but at the very least, Black Swan believed she should be the type who grew more pleasing the longer one looked at her.
So why had Lynelle looked like she wanted to laugh the moment Black Swan sat across from her?
Surely she hadn't reached the point where people wanted to laugh just from seeing her… right?
"Ahem, it's nothing. I just remembered something happy." Lynelle rubbed her cheeks and worked hard to make herself look a little calmer. "I'm just curious. There are clearly plenty of empty seats here, right? Why did you choose to share a table with me?"
"Food can usually bring only the pleasure of taste, but a beautiful enough dining companion can stir one's appetite." Black Swan smiled. "You can think of it as a personal hobby of mine. I've always enjoyed finding beautiful ladies or girls to accompany me. It puts me in a pleasant mood."
"Not long ago, I shared an unforgettable dance with a truly wonderful lady. I hope that today, the two of us can also gain an encounter memorable enough to leave an impression."
"…"
What should I do? Black Swan really does seem to be here for me. What do I do if I can't hold back my laughter?
For some reason, the moment Black Swan opened her mouth, Lynelle felt that holding back her laughter was more painful than being stopped right at the last second.
"Fine…" Lynelle worked hard to make her expression look normal. "Then… enjoy your meal."
And then, deep in her heart, the girl began to call out.
"Kiana-chan, time to clock in!"
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL