Sylvia's words helped Robin settle down—or rather, Sylvia's strength did. At the very least, even if the worst happened, things probably wouldn't spiral completely out of control.
Robin was still worried about the Family. She had no idea what the Charmony Festival would become by the end, but knowing Sylvia was here eased some of that fear.
Sylvia didn't stay with her for long. After resting in the room for about one system hour, she left to find Sampo.
--+--
Compared to Sparkle, Sampo was much easier to track down. He wasn't exactly responsible either, but at least he could usually be found somewhere around the Golden Hour.
Sylvia wanted to ask him where Sparkle had gone. That woman had vanished without a word and was clearly plotting something. Who knew what she'd try next?
More importantly, did Sparkle even remember why she'd come to Penacony in the first place? Silver Wolf had hired her to help Firefly.
Sylvia hadn't read the script, so most of the time, she'd simply respected Firefly's choices while doing her best to prepare a fallback plan. Yet Sparkle had been missing for ages.
Firefly had already been here for quite some time, but Sparkle hadn't done a single useful thing. Instead, she'd run off to stir up trouble for the Family.
Did she still remember Silver Wolf's commission at all?
Sylvia intended to ask her properly, but before she could even find Sampo, a familiar voice rang out.
"Were you looking for me? Hehe, you finally remembered me?"
Sparkle appeared from nowhere as usual. In the blink of an eye, she was sitting on a nearby bench with one leg crossed over the other. One of her sandals dangled from her toes by its strap, swaying lazily in the air.
She rested an arm on the bench and tilted her head back, blinking up at Sylvia with the same mischievous grin as always.
"Yeah, I finally remembered you," Sylvia said with a smile as she sat beside her. "You've been so quiet that I was starting to think someone had captured you."
"As if! There's still so much fun I haven't seen. How could anyone catch me?" Sparkle swayed her head from side to side, then leaned forward until her face was right in front of Sylvia's.
Her twin tails slipped over her shoulders, leaving her pale back exposed. "Though if it were you, little white-hair, maybe I wouldn't be able to escape."
"Is that so? Now that you've said it, it'd almost be rude if I didn't tie you up and carry you away."
"Oh my, look at you." Sparkle clicked her tongue and giggled. "I take my eyes off you for a moment, and suddenly you're out of my league."
She smacked her lips with an exaggerated sigh.
"No wonder little white-hair didn't want my mask. You already had something better."
Sylvia gave her a puzzled look. How had Sparkle noticed the change in her strength?
Even Mei had only known because their minds were linked. A person's Path couldn't normally be seen from the outside unless they actively drew on its power.
Sylvia didn't ask. Sparkle probably wouldn't give her a straight answer anyway, so she ignored the bait.
"What did you do during the Blue Hour?"
"You're interrogating me right away? That's awfully rude." Sparkle grinned at Sylvia's helpless expression. "I was helping you, wasn't I?"
Sparkle had learned about Sylvia's ascension from the Tavern. Or rather, the Aeon of Elation had deliberately allowed the information to spread there.
The candidate THEY had chosen not only refused the mask THEY'D bestowed upon her, but had somehow become the Emanator of two Aeons who'd died long ago.
How embarrassing!
That was how Sparkle had learned that Sylvia had quietly become a dual Emanator of Permanence and Propagation. Though calling her an Emanator wasn't entirely accurate. She was more like a dual-Pathstrider whose power surpassed an ordinary Emanator's.
Sylvia pursed her lips.
"I wouldn't dare interrogate you. Besides, wasn't Silver Wolf the one who hired you? Instead of keeping an eye on Firefly, you came here to cause trouble for the Family?"
"What're you talking about? I'm clearly carrying out little birdie's request!" Sparkle planted her hands on her hips and puffed out her cheeks. "You're the one who dragged me into this!"
She made it sound as though everything she'd done had been on Sylvia's orders.
"Don't talk like I told you to do any of this."
Sylvia reached over and pinched Sparkle's cheek, squeezing the air from her puffed-up mouth.
"So, did you do anything for Firefly? She's already—"
"Oh dear, now that you've found someone new, you don't care about your old favorite anymore." Sparkle pulled Sylvia's hand away from her face, then grabbed it and swung it from side to side. "As for your question, I'm not telling you! Hehehe. Take a guess. There's a prize if you get it right."
"No. Keep it to yourself, then."
Sylvia had only come to see whether she could pry out a little information. She had a way to deal with the enemies above, but she still had no clue who was lurking beneath the surface.
Elio was guarding against her and refused to give her any chance to see the script. Asking Sparkle had only been a gamble, and Sylvia hadn't expected much from it.
"Huh? You've gotten boring, little white-hair."
"...I'm not eager to become your entertainment."
Sylvia leaned against the back of the bench and looked up at the starry sky locked forever at midnight. It was fake, but it was still beautiful.
Sparkle didn't mind Sylvia's complaint. The sandal hanging from her foot slipped free and landed on the ground with a soft slap.
"Oh, right! Little white-hair, you're not going to the auction in person, are you?"
"What're you planning?"
Sylvia's guard rose at once.
"Don't be so wary. I just think it's a shame you won't get to see it." Sparkle's grin widened. "Someone spent their entire fortune buying a treasure, only to discover they don't know how to use it. Watching them fall apart would be hilarious."
"You Masked Fools really are all the same..."
Sylvia sighed, then caught the implication in Sparkle's words.
"Wait. Are you saying the mask doesn't work?"
"That's my guess. It'd be more fun that way, wouldn't it?"
"Then I'll guess the mask does work. When it does, I'll make sure I'm there to laugh at you."
"Hehe."
Sparkle laughed, then suddenly stood. She stumbled slightly as she stepped back into the sandal she'd dropped.
"Well, since little white-hair is willing to make a bet with me, Lady Sparkle will tell you a tiny secret. Come on, hurry up. Bring your ear closer."
She stood before Sylvia, bent down, and raised a hand beside her mouth as though preparing to share something truly confidential.
"...I never agreed to bet with you. Fine. What's the secret?"
Sylvia started to object, but one look at Sparkle's gleaming eyes told her that a one-sided refusal wouldn't stop the woman from having her fun. With a sigh, she leaned closer.
"This secret is..."
Sparkle lowered her voice, making it deliberately sweet and teasing. She sounded like such an insufferable little brat that Sylvia's fist tightened on instinct.
"If you win, I'll tell you what's going to happen to your little girlfriend."
"..."
Sylvia's fist tightened for real this time.
"I'm kidding! You're so cute when you're angry." Sparkle giggled and drew back. "I'll stop teasing you. Your little girlfriend will be fine this time, though she'll go through something dangerous first. It's all thanks to Lady Sparkle's hard work."
"Really?"
"Mhm. Or maybe not. Take a guess." Sparkle took two taunting steps backward and waved. "I'm leaving, little white-hair. Remember to think of me if you can't sleep tonight."
A burst of flame rose around her, and she vanished. Several playing cards fluttered to the ground in her place, making her departure look like a stage magician's trick.
Sylvia stared at the cards and didn't get up right away. She remained there for a moment, lost in thought.
--+--
A slender, devilish tail slipped out from behind her and quietly curled around her arm. A moment later, someone leaned against the back of Sylvia's head, warm and close.
Without turning around, Sylvia spoke.
"If you'd stayed away any longer, I'd have assumed you'd run off, Constance."
"The Family protects its important records well. I had to move slowly if I didn't want anyone to notice me."
Constance gazed at Sylvia with open hunger. She wanted to pry open Sylvia's mind and memories just as she'd pried open the Family's secrets.
Sylvia ignored that familiar, burning look.
"Did you find anything?"
"What a cold woman."
Constance leaned down, her fitted dress tracing the graceful lines of her figure. Sylvia was the only person close enough to see her like this.
"I did find something about the Stellaron. Or rather, I inferred a secret."
A soft laugh escaped her, thick with mockery.
"What secret?"
"Although the Dreammaster was the one who advocated using Penacony's Stellaron back then, actual control over it eventually fell into the hands of the Family's main branch."
"The main branch?" Sylvia frowned. "That doesn't make sense. The Dreammaster came from the main branch himself, and the Family in Penacony is almost autonomous. The main branch has never seemed to interfere."
The Family had helped establish Penacony's current order, and the Dreammaster served as its representative. Why would control of the Stellaron have been handed over to a distant main branch?
"Exactly. The main branch didn't stay out of Penacony because it chose not to interfere. The Dreammaster rejected its attempts to dictate his actions. The price of that independence was control of the Stellaron." Constance laid out her findings one by one. "There's a good chance none of the five Family Heads know about this."
Sylvia could hardly believe what she was hearing.
"Is control of the Stellaron really that important? What could anyone even do with it remotely?"
Robin's information hadn't mentioned any of this. Otherwise, Sylvia wouldn't have spent so much time wondering what to do with the Stellaron after pulling it out.
"It's more important than you imagine. That Stellaron can be activated remotely and made to perform its original function."
"Its original function? You mean causing a Stellaron disaster?"
Sylvia's dry remark helped her understand why control of it could've served as a bargaining chip.
The Dreammaster had traded that control for autonomy, ensuring the main branch wouldn't interfere in Penacony's affairs. In return, the main branch could activate the Stellaron at any time, turning the wall that protected the city into a prison that sealed Penacony shut.
It probably couldn't kill the Family, but blocking the flow of visitors would be enough to cripple Penacony's profits.
"But why?" Sylvia asked. "Maintaining contact with the main branch wouldn't have been that terrible."
She understood what the Dreammaster had done, but not his motive. Had such an extreme measure really been necessary?
The Family might not have been as devoted to Harmony as it claimed, but Penacony's branch wasn't exactly in good shape either. And if the Dreammaster truly distrusted the main branch, why would he place Penacony's lifeline in its hands?
What had he hoped to gain?
Sylvia fell into thought.
Yes. What exactly had the Dreammaster wanted?
Was allowing Penacony's Family to develop without outside interference so important that he didn't care if Penacony itself was destroyed? He didn't seem like that kind of person.
That reasoning might've made sense for the Watchmaker, but not the Dreammaster.
According to Mikhail, the conflict between the Dreammaster and the Watchmaker had centered on freedom. The Watchmaker sought freedom but had little talent for governance, which had given the Dreammaster an opening to seize control.
That meant the Dreammaster must've been plotting something—something he could only carry out without the main branch interfering.
"No detailed motive was preserved in any Memory Bubble or written record," Constance said. "Extracting the Memoria didn't produce any fragments that could be analyzed either. The Dreammaster must've used some method to prevent others from prying into it."
Constance had no intention of thinking through the matter for Sylvia. She merely reported what she'd found.
Whatever the secret was, it had clearly mattered a great deal to the Dreammaster. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to block the sight of Memokeepers. Plenty of other information had been left with far weaker protection.
"That's fine..."
Sylvia waved a hand, showing no intention of blaming her.
Then, as she spoke, she suddenly remembered the chaos Sparkle had caused earlier, as well as what Robin had told her about the delicate relationship between Harmony and Order.
What if—
Just possibly—
The Dreammaster had been willing to hand control of the Stellaron to someone else because he needed Penacony to remain autonomous.
Because he was the greatest follower of Order within Penacony's Family.
Even Maeven had been certain that the traitor belonged to Order. At the very least, that piece of intelligence was probably reliable.
Judging from Sylvia's earlier experiences, there was also a good chance that the Dreammaster and Sunday were working together.
First, assume the Dreammaster truly worshiped Order.
The exposed follower of Order had also happened to belong to the Oak Family.
That made the situation much more interesting.
What if the followers of Order hadn't spread evenly throughout the entire Family? What if the Dreammaster had stood at the top and converted the Oak Family from the highest ranks downward?
In their panic, the other four Family Heads had assumed the worst possible scenario. That mistake might've allowed Sunday and the Oak Family to slip past suspicion.
It was entirely possible.
Logically, there was a strong chance that the Dreammaster followed Order.
And if Penacony fell completely under his control, then the moment he found an opening, he could replace the Path of Harmony with the Path of Order.
The Family's main branch wouldn't have time to send aid. Worse, if no one discovered the plan before it was complete, then activating the Stellaron might actually help him.
The Stellaron's ability to obstruct the surrounding stars would buy the Dreammaster all the time he needed. With the Family's vast numbers, once a new Order had been established, they could gather enough power to suppress the Stellaron and the Fragmentum once again.
And now, with Robin and Sylvia interfering, the Stellaron posed even less of a threat to the Dreammaster.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL