Sylvia couldn't understand why Firefly wanted to live out here in Dream's Edge. Her identity was completely legitimate now, but Firefly insisted, and Sylvia couldn't exactly object. The place was deserted anyway, so she could pick any room she liked.
Before leaving, Sylvia used the techniques Black Swan had taught her to shape a few pieces of furniture for Firefly. A simple bed, table, and chairs soon took form under her hands.
"Wow, Sylvia, you know how to do Dreamweaver stuff too?"
"I only learned recently, so I'm still not very good at it."
Sylvia studied the simple bed, table, and chairs, then pressed a hand against the mattress. At least she'd managed to recreate the right texture. It was usable, and that was good enough.
"This is already great! The mattress is so soft. Hehe~"
Firefly picked up a pillow and flopped onto her back without a shred of concern for appearances. The soft mattress swallowed her whole.
"Get some rest, then. I'm heading out. Remember to contact me right away if anything happens."
"Mhm, I'll be sure to."
Firefly nodded and waved with a smile, watching Sylvia teleport away.
"Haaah—hehehe~"
Once Sylvia was gone, Firefly kicked off her shoes and rolled across the bed before throwing herself into the mattress.
She covered her face with the pillow, replayed everything that had happened that day, and let out another giddy laugh.
--+--
Sylvia hadn't actually gone far. She'd only teleported to the open section of Dream's Edge because she wanted to find an old man.
Unless she remembered wrong, there was a missing genius around here whose consciousness had been kept inside the Dreamscape by the Family. He was an old man with some memory problems, but what was his name again...?
Sylvia scratched her head. He was an NPC disconnected from the main story, and to make matters worse, his name was foreign. With every possible memory debuff stacked against her, remembering that he existed at all was already impressive.
The genius had plans for a weapon in his head that could devastate an entire star system.
In terms of raw destructive power, he'd probably rank pretty high even among Emanators. Helping him would earn her a favor from Herta.
Of course, the real reason was that Sylvia wanted to meet Screwllum. She'd tested several versions of the Simulated Universe by now, yet she still hadn't met him once. Somehow, she missed him every single time.
Even Sylvia thought it was getting ridiculous. It was one thing for the game to keep teasing Screwllum without delivering, but surely reality wasn't going to leave him trapped in preview limbo too.
She hadn't expected to remember this little side story, but now that she did, she might as well use it as a chance to meet Screwllum and make herself known. Maybe one day, once she found the time, she could even visit Planet Screwllum.
As she was thinking this, a tall young man with blue hair appeared from who knew where. The moment he spotted Sylvia, he called out, "My friend!" and strode over.
Sylvia nearly attacked on reflex, but when she turned and looked, she recognized him. Well, would you look at that. It was Sampo.
Hadn't Sparkle said he was busy arranging the auction? What was he doing here?
"Sampo?"
"Shh! Shhh! Oh, come on, keep your voice down, my friend. You can't let anyone hear you!"
Sampo's face fell the moment she said his name. He hurriedly shushed her and waved for her to lower her voice.
"...What're you doing? Why're you sneaking around like this? Sparkle said you were handling the auction. Don't tell me you cheated the Family and plan to run off with the money."
"Hey now, don't believe Sparkle's slander! Your old pal Sampo has always lived an honest, upright life. When have I ever done anything so rotten?" Rubbing his hands together, Sampo walked closer with a cheerful grin.
"Well, at least we can skip the introductions. Hehe, my friend, you've no idea how hard I worked to find you. I searched all Twelve Hours, only to discover you'd run off to a forgotten corner like this. Though, hey, it's a pretty good place to hide someone."
"What're you here for?"
Sylvia took a wary step back. Her impression of him from the game had followed her into reality, and that smiling face always made her feel as though he was seconds away from scamming her.
"My friend, did you seriously just take a step back?"
Sampo put on a wounded look, but he quickly moved on. "Fine, fine. Let's get down to business, my friend. Just don't panic when I tell you."
He bent forward like he was about to share some juicy underground gossip and lowered his voice on purpose. "I, Sampo, am being hunted by unknown assailants! Can you believe it? I'm an honored guest of the Family right now, yet someone has the nerve to hunt me on the Family's own turf!"
"..."
Sylvia had listened seriously through the first half, but by the end, her eyes had gone flat. "Considering the things you do, it's perfectly normal for someone to come after you."
"My friend, my dearest comrade! A man's life is at stake here. Don't scare your old pal Sampo like that. Heaven and earth are my witnesses—I've always treated everyone I meet with kindness."
"Are you sure you don't act kind to their faces, then cheat and swindle them behind their backs?"
"Outrageous! What a false accusation! I knew Sparkle never had anything good to say about me!"
Still wailing, Sampo rummaged through his pockets, found a small box, and shoved it into Sylvia's hands.
"What's this?"
"Why, it's the grand prize of our little event."
"Huh?"
Sylvia opened the box. The mask that should've been with Sparkle was lying inside.
More importantly, perhaps because Sylvia had once given it away, its energy fluctuations had grown much clearer. She could almost feel the mask calling to her, urging her to put it on right now.
"My friend, you've no idea what I've been through. Plenty of people have been coming after this mask lately. Your old pal Sampo fought tooth and nail to break through their encirclement, all so I could deliver our merchandise safely!"
Sampo wore the proud look of a man who'd performed a great service for the organization. He even seemed ready to keep boasting until Sylvia understood just how hard he'd worked to protect the mask.
"I don't know where those people came from, but they already knew I was a Masked Fool. They charged straight at me without saying a word. If only I'd had my own mask, I'd never have needed to trouble you, boss."
Snap.
Sylvia shut the box, cutting off the aura leaking from the mask, then gave Sampo a strange look. "...You didn't bring this to me just to redirect all the trouble my way, did you?"
"Oh, listen to you! How could I ever do such a thing? Does your old pal Sampo look like that sort of man?"
Sylvia didn't answer. She simply stared.
It didn't take long for Sampo to crack.
"Don't look at me like that! I didn't have a choice. Who knows who those people are? If I get beaten up, that's one thing, but if we lose the merchandise, then we're really in trouble."
"Did Aha alter the mask somehow? Otherwise, why would anyone care enough to steal a mask that only exists in a dream?"
"Oh, that sharp eye of yours never misses a thing! The mask has become a memetic entity now. You can wear it inside the Dreamscape!"
Sylvia wanted to retort, but in the end, she decided it wasn't worth the effort. "So Aha manifested again?"
Sampo hadn't expected that to be her main concern. He spread his hands helplessly.
"Yep, and THEY did it right in front of the Family's senior members. Otherwise, the Family wouldn't have cooperated with me so readily. I'm guessing that's also where the news leaked."
"...Does the Aeon of Elation have nothing better to do? Why would THEY bother watching something this minor?"
"Ahaha~ Well, THEY wouldn't be the Aeon of Elation otherwise."
With that said, Sampo was already preparing to leave. Before he could slip away, however, a faint hum of steel rang from another rooftop nearby, followed by several muffled impacts.
"Oh no. Don't tell me those people caught up with me! Boss, you've got to save your old pal Sampo!"
Despite standing a full head taller than Sylvia, the man was completely useless in a crisis. He ducked behind her at once, boldly protecting Sylvia by placing her in front of himself.
Sylvia raised a foot as though she was about to kick him in the rear. Only then did Sampo retreat with an awkward laugh and stand off to the side.
A few seconds later, a familiar figure walked out from behind the building. She looked as calm as ever and had even put away her long blade.
If Sylvia couldn't faintly see the people sprawled in a heap behind Mei, she might've thought Mei had wandered over during a casual stroll.
Before Sylvia could speak, Mei hurried closer and asked, "What happened?"
"..."
Sylvia stared at her in confusion. Wasn't that supposed to be her question?
"You suddenly knocked out a whole crowd, and now you're asking me what happened?"
"I heard them talking about a 'mask' and an 'auction.' They also mentioned your name, so I assumed it had something to do with you."
Mei had only been passing through on her way to find Sylvia, but she'd stumbled onto the scene by chance. To save herself the trouble, she'd simply taken everyone down first.
Sylvia immediately turned and glared at Sampo, who was already edging away. "Sampo! Did you bring them here?"
"Ahaha... Of course not—"
Clang.
The Subspace Lance emerged from the void and aimed straight at Sampo's head, cutting off his laughter.
"Hey, mercy! Show a little mercy! I'll talk. I'll tell you everything!"
Sampo carefully leaned away from the Subspace Lance. Mei, meanwhile, looked at Sylvia with curiosity.
"Who is he?"
"Sampo. He's the Masked Fool Sparkle brought in to coordinate with the Family."
"Ah, my noble heroine, you heard what those people were saying just now. You must know this has absolutely nothing to do with your old pal Sampo."
"..."
Mei neither nodded nor answered. Those people had indeed been pursuing Sampo and had only happened to spot Sylvia, but he was still a Masked Fool. Who knew whether he'd deliberately led them here to shift the trouble onto someone else?
"Please say something, my noble heroine! I really only came to deliver the mask. Too many people were looking for me today, and I was worried something might go wrong."
You only needed to believe half of anything Sampo said. Sylvia wasn't too concerned about that part, though.
"Then why didn't you go to Sparkle? She appears and disappears whenever she likes. Wouldn't she be a better choice?"
The moment Sampo heard that, he shook his head over and over, his face turning miserable.
"Absolutely not. If this mask fell into Sparkle's hands right now, I couldn't even imagine how much chaos she'd cause. Boss, the fact that you dared to leave it with her in the first place means I'll have to buy you a drink at the Tavern someday."
Wasn't the boss being far too biased this time? Surely Sampo's moral standards were higher than Sparkle's.
How could she trust Sparkle so much, yet treat Sampo like a criminal the moment she saw him? Was it only because Sparkle was pretty? Sampo wasn't bad-looking either!
Sylvia fell silent for a moment. In truth, she'd given the mask to Sparkle partly because she wanted to see whether Sparkle would stir up some chaos.
The auction was one plan. Letting Sparkle run wild with the mask had been another backup option. Sylvia had fully expected her to cause trouble.
Who would've guessed that Sparkle really was bored, yet instead of making trouble herself, she'd called Sampo over and dumped every bit of work on him?
"I actually did expect Sparkle to go looking for some fun... but when it comes to being unexpected, Sparkle somehow never surprises me."
"..."
Sampo was speechless. Then, right in front of Sylvia, he raised a thumb.
Now that was impressive. No wonder she got along with Sparkle. She was another person who loved watching chaos from a safe distance.
The Aeon of Elation really hadn't chosen wrong this time. Their new boss looked respectable on the surface, but deep down, she'd gladly watch the whole world descend into mayhem.
After listening to their pointless exchange for long enough, Mei couldn't help poking Sylvia in the shoulder. Once Sylvia turned toward her, Mei addressed Sampo.
"Do you know which faction those people belong to?"
"Uh, no. They broke into my room and came straight at me. They didn't exactly give me time to ask questions. I was too busy running."
Sampo shook his head again and again, but his answer made Sylvia frown.
"There's actually a faction willing to carry out a terrorist attack in Penacony?"
"Come on, boss. Didn't you and Sparkle blow up the Penacony Grand Theater a few days ago? Uh, I'll shut up. Hehe~"
Sampo's complaint died halfway through when Sylvia threatened him with a look. Grinning, he mimed zipping his mouth shut.
Mei didn't seem too bothered. "Let the Family investigate. We can wait for their report."
"Good point. I'll contact Gallagher."
Sylvia sent Gallagher a message. Not long afterward, several members of the Bloodhound Family arrived and carried away everyone Mei had knocked unconscious.
"Well, if there's nothing else, your old pal Sampo will be on his way. Boss, keep that mask safe. We're counting on this auction to make us a fortune."
With that, Sampo slipped away. Sylvia knew his abilities went far beyond what he'd shown here. If he'd taken those pursuers even slightly seriously, there was no chance they could've kept up with him.
"Mei, did you come looking for me for some reason?"
"...You haven't heard the rumors today?"
Mei wondered where Sylvia had been all day. She seemed as though she'd lost access to the entire network.
"What rumors?"
"The Xianzhou Luofu and the IPC have both sent people to Penacony. There's also a rumor that a Lord Ravager has set their sights on this place."
"Huh? They aren't coming after me, are they?"
Sylvia froze and looked at Mei, clinging to a faint hope. Mei only smiled and patted her on the head.
"Stop dreaming. They're coming for you. To a Lord Ravager, death would be far more dignified than being imprisoned by you and used as a battery."
At least death could still count as carrying out the destruction of the self. Being sealed inside one of Sylvia's Fullbottles and turned into an on-demand, Emanator-grade power bank was nothing less than a complete humiliation of the forces of Destruction.
Of course they wanted revenge.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL