The Charmony Festival in Penacony had, against all precedent, extended invitations to a slew of outside factions.
That even included the Galaxy Rangers, who'd vanished without a trace for ages, and less-welcome groups like the Masked Fools.
The IPC was naturally on the invite list, too.
So, the Corporation's intention to make a move on Penacony during this Charmony Festival was, of course, an open secret.
Sylvia's words seemed like a simple observation of the Company's motives.
But if, at that very moment, Diamond was deciding which of the Ten Stonehearts would be put in charge of Penacony operations...
And Topaz just happened to be one of those Ten Stonehearts...
For Sylvia to be feeding Topaz intel on Penacony right then?
It was hard to chalk that up to mere coincidence.
It felt more like she was deliberately using it as leverage to get what she wanted.
But even so...
Topaz still agreed to Sylvia's terms.
"...Well then, here's to a pleasant cooperation."
"Pleasure doing business with you."
A planet's restoration and reconstruction project.
For a Company employee of her caliber, it was nothing special.
Compared to a little thing like this, the IPC cared far more about the value Topaz could create.
Hell, if the intel Topaz brought back proved useful, Diamond would probably be more than happy to write off the credits.
Though Topaz herself might not even want to file the expense.
Sylvia couldn't care less what Topaz did after she got back.
With Topaz agreeing to her terms, this call came to a temporary end.
Drawing up a new contract wasn't something that happened in the blink of an eye, anyway.
She ended the call.
Just as Sylvia was thinking about going to find Sparkle...
Sparkle popped out of nowhere.
In a flash, she'd spun around right in front of Sylvia.
"Jeez~ making a girl wait this long isn't very gentlemanly, you know."
Sparkle tugged at Sylvia's arm, complaining with a giggle, but Sylvia wasn't buying it:
"I'm a girl too. Besides, you never even told me where to find you."
"Huh? For real?"
"You tell me."
Sylvia shot Sparkle a look. This girl was playing dumb.
With that grin plastered on her face, she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag.
"So, what did you drag me out here for?"
"Hehe, just follow me first, 'kay?"
Sparkle didn't answer, just pulled Sylvia into a secluded alleyway.
--+--
Dreamflux Reef.
Sylvia stared at the room absolutely stuffed to the gills with a chaotic mess of parts.
Her expression twitched.
"...You drag me all the way out here to Dreamflux Reef, being all cryptic, just to have me work for you off the books?"
Sylvia looked at Sparkle beside her in disbelief.
Watching her pull out a little stool for herself, Sylvia was speechless.
But she sat down on the tiny stool anyway.
"Now that's just not true. 'Working off the books'? Don't make it sound so bad~" As she spoke, Sparkle whipped out a pretty little button, then took it apart in two shakes.
This girl, all mysterious, had called Sylvia over...
Just to handcraft bombs together.
Honestly, it was a bit much.
You'd think she'd just find a contract factory to run a production line.
"Well, if you're bored anyway, might as well find something to do. Otherwise, I'll die of boredom."
Sparkle's grin suddenly shifted to an exaggerated look of shock, like she was genuinely about to be bored to death.
"Ugh... and this isn't boring?"
Sylvia sighed.
"Not when I've got you here with me~"
"The things you do for a laugh... you really go through a lot of trouble."
Sylvia thought she'd already mentally prepared herself for dealing with those Masked Fools, but today, when she saw Sparkle willing to handcraft tens of thousands of button bombs just for kicks...
She realized she'd still underestimated just how committed the Masked Fools were to chasing their fun.
Sighing, Sylvia still picked up some parts and started learning how to put the little bombs together.
She was here, after all.
"Hehe~"
Just then, Sparkle, beside her, rested her chin in her hands, staring at Sylvia with a secret little smile.
And right before Sylvia's eyes, Sparkle's affection data appeared:
--+--
[Target: Sparkle]
[Affection: 70 (Brimming with Interest)]
[Relationship: Partner in Crime]
['That's just how fun-seekers are. If you're watching the show with them, you're one of them.']
['If you're willing to go looking for that fun with her? Well, then you're basically family!']
[Rewards: One Green Draw, One Purple Draw]
--+--
"…"
Sylvia was at a loss for words. This affection was... something else.
She'd known Sparkle for a while now; they'd been through several rounds of shenanigans, and not once had her affection score popped up.
Sylvia had just assumed that was how all Masked Fools were.
Acting chummy on the surface, but in reality, they treated everyone the same—just part of the joke.
She'd practically given up on ever getting Sparkle's affection.
Who knew that hiding out in this little den and making Sparkle's bombs with her would suddenly rocket her affection to seventy?
Were fun-seekers this abstract with their affection, too...?
Sylvia didn't get it, and frankly, she was pretty amazed.
So this was a Masked Fool? Yeah, that was a state of being Sylvia couldn't even begin to reach.
"What's up?"
Sparkle leaned in, curiously studying Sylvia, who had suddenly spaced out.
"Nothing..."
Sylvia looked away, stared at Sparkle for a good, long moment, and finally just gave up.
She looked down and went back to puzzling out how to assemble this little bomb.
Trying to read what was going on inside Sparkle's head from her face was, admittedly, a bit of a fantasy.
While she was figuring it out, Sylvia also went ahead and used those two draws.
First, the green one.
A flash of green light, nothing surprising.
What appeared before Sylvia was an unpretentious skill card:
--+--
[Sparkle's Close-Combat Technique]
['Don't let her looks fool you; her hand-to-hand skills are no joke!']
['If you two went at it barehanded, honestly, it's anyone's guess who'd win.']
--+--
Hmm...
Sparkle really didn't use weapons.
Or rather, the only thing in Sylvia's memory was... well.
Although Sparkle's signature ability was her unpredictable trickery, her hand-to-hand skills probably weren't bad.
Otherwise, with her bratty personality, she'd have been caught and properly taught a lesson long ago.
Soon, a wealth of techniques for unarmed combat flooded into her mind.
This time, though, compared to those Light Cone techniques or whatever from before, it was way gentler.
After all...
They were both humanoid. Hand-to-hand combat techniques, when you got right down to it, were pretty finite.
The real key was in-the-moment application and experience fighting enemies.
Sylvia took a moment to feel it out.
Even though it was just a green card, it still filled a gap in Sylvia's ability to fight unarmed.
Before this, she'd relied entirely on her raw stats to overpower people.
Not bad, not bad.
Sylvia's mood immediately lifted.
Most of her resentment about handcrafting bombs melted away.
Sparkle beside her watched Sylvia's expression shift rapidly, curious as hell, wondering what this girl had been thinking about in such a short time.
One second she had that amusingly twisted look, and the next, it was like she'd suddenly figured something out.
She'd even thrown herself into this boring, dull work with an enthusiasm Sparkle couldn't fathom.
After all, Sparkle was just using Sylvia as a source of amusement to keep her own boredom at bay.
Now, it was Sparkle's turn to be baffled by how Sylvia's brain worked.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.