"Huh?"
Black Swan had not expected Setsuna to be so generous, and she looked somewhat stunned.
"Commander, you're willing to share your memories with me?"
"Some of them, and only while you're here. You can't take these memories out of the Starsea Empire or share them with anyone else."
Setsuna answered lazily.
"Otherwise, something unexpected might happen."
"..."
Black Swan thought for a moment. The memories of an Aeon were extraordinarily precious, so having a few restrictions attached was only natural.
She nodded and agreed.
"Then what would you like me to do? Are there any conditions for the exchange?"
"Nothing for now. If I think of something in the future, I'll tell you. You won't refuse, right?"
Setsuna asked.
"Mm..."
She thought about it again.
As a mere information-based memetic life-form, the only things she could offer Setsuna were divination and the information and memories she had collected from other worlds.
Beyond that, there was not much else she could do, so she agreed to that as well.
"In that case, I believe we should find somewhere quiet? Preferably somewhere with only the two of us?"
"Sure."
Setsuna found a secluded room, and the two sat facing each other.
Once she had received permission, Black Swan could barely contain herself, faint excitement appearing on her face.
The memories of a god who commanded two Paths and had traveled across countless worlds were enough to drive every Memokeeper mad with desire, perhaps even Fuli Themselves.
Even if she were annihilated immediately after glimpsing Setsuna's memories, Black Swan would accept it willingly. This was a rare opportunity and a feat almost unheard of in existence.
"Could I ask you to hold my hand?"
She moved a little closer and knelt before Setsuna.
Removing her glove, she revealed pale, delicate skin.
"When we were in another universe, I once took the liberty of using divination on you and the Starsea Empire, but both the process and the result were invariably disrupted, producing nothing but complete chaos."
"I can only use my own existence to record your memories."
Before this god from another world, she employed every ability at her disposal and showed him the greatest respect she could offer.
"All right."
Setsuna gently took her hand.
He felt a connection form between himself and Black Swan. It was not physical contact. Instead, he had touched the "meme" that constituted her existence.
The next moment.
"!!!"
Black Swan felt a scorching force surge through their joined hands.
An unimaginably vast torrent of information erupted in an instant. Countless complex images intertwined with strange, chaotic sounds, crashing over her consciousness like a raging tsunami.
Bzzzt...
If an ordinary person's memories were a book that she could record page by page, or skim through ten lines at a glance to read their entire life, then Setsuna's consciousness and memories were an endless sea of stars.
She saw enormous fleets sweeping across the cosmos, hyperdimensional warships blotting out stars, bizarrely shaped Transformers on mechanical planets, and the God of War seated upon a throne in the world of No Game No Life, looking down upon everything beneath Them...
Images from countless worlds, bizarre and fantastical, overlapped and intertwined until she could scarcely process them all.
"These are... the Commander's memories!"
Black Swan stared in shock at the vast universe around her. She had been pulled into his realm of consciousness.
Had Setsuna not deliberately restrained his mind, the flood of information crashing into her in that single instant would have been enough to shatter her very form.
"My god... So this is what an Aeon is like..."
It took her some time to calm herself.
The consciousness of a god was far too vast and overwhelming, beyond the imagination of mortals.
She was the first Memokeeper qualified to touch a god, and the first to enter an Aeon's realm of consciousness. The realization filled Black Swan with overwhelming delight.
Within the boundless sea of stars, she began exploring the memories Setsuna was willing to share with her.
"Here."
She cautiously stepped into one of the fragments of consciousness. It was a piece of Setsuna's past.
Whoosh—
The surrounding space unfolded like a scroll.
Black Swan saw Setsuna commanding an army of Bulins across Earth during the earliest days of the Starsea Empire.
At the time, the capital was still nothing but ruins. Shipgirls and Bulins bustled everywhere, constructing the framework of a city across the wasteland before gradually filling it with buildings.
"Oh, this is when the Starsea Empire was founded?"
Black Swan understood.
"This civilization is much younger than I imagined. Many civilizations that have developed for thousands or even tens of thousands of years have never reached this level."
Setsuna's memories were not merely his personal memories. They were also the history of the Starsea Empire's development.
She watched with great interest as buildings rose one after another and the outline of a prosperous capital gradually emerged.
After that came the formation of expeditionary forces and campaigns into other universes.
"Hmm... the first universe the Commander encountered was the world of shipgirls, humans transformed from warships? Fascinating..."
"'Sustainable overexploitation'? Uh, is that his governing policy toward vassal worlds?..."
"Heroic Spirits manifesting from myths and legends?! So Miss Ritsuka Fujimaru is also a Master. Interesting..."
Black Swan carefully recorded and observed every detail.
Following Setsuna's memories, she felt as though she were personally experiencing countless different worlds.
She traveled aboard starships beside him, fought massive naval battles against Siren fleets across the ocean, rescued a dying dragon maid pierced through by a holy sword, then raced into space and crossed the sea of stars.
She watched him bring millions of little girls back to the capital and build a new home for the Cursed Children, chat and laugh with strangely shaped Transformers on Cybertron, and use the Transwarp Key to cross the barrier of light speed...
"So those children came from here. No wonder they're so close to the Commander..."
Black Swan could not help feeling pity for the little girls, but when she thought about how they would later become a core scientific force within the Starsea Empire, she felt somewhat relieved.
"Cybertron? Hmm... the form this civilization takes is very unique. I should record it separately."
"And Chaldea too. They possess many valuable memories. I should find time to ask Miss Ritsuka Fujimaru about them..."
"Fallen Star Lance? My god..."
A treasure trove.
Setsuna's realm of consciousness was a treasure trove.
He was the very core of the Starsea Empire, connected to the countless worlds the Empire had conquered and entangled with the causality of innumerable people.
To understand him was equivalent to understanding the entire Empire, along with the history and memories of everyone and every world connected to it.
Black Swan felt that if he allowed it, she would gladly live inside Setsuna's realm of consciousness from now on.
Within the infinite sea of stars, she tirelessly explored one memory after another.
Only when her mind began to grow weary did Black Swan finally let out a long breath and reluctantly prepare to rest.
"Commander, that's enough. I'm preparing to leave..."
"Wait."
Just as she was about to withdraw from the realm of consciousness, a strange thought suddenly occurred to her.
She had spent all this time watching the history of the Starsea Empire's development and conquests. It had certainly been magnificent, and it had given her a far deeper understanding of both the Empire and her companions within it.
Yet there were remarkably few "close-ups" of Setsuna himself within those memories, and they barely touched upon his private life.
Aside from managing cities and waging wars abroad, what does the Commander normally do?
The thought flashed through Black Swan's mind, giving rise to an overwhelming curiosity.
Just as Herta and Ruan Mei had used the Simulated Universe to investigate the so-called "secret histories of the Aeons," she too became intensely curious about Setsuna's personal life.
"May I... look at a little more?"
She asked cautiously.
"..."
There was no answer within the realm of consciousness. The god seemed to tacitly permit her choice.
"Ah..."
Black Swan cautiously stepped into another fragment of consciousness, intending to take a look at Setsuna's private life.
Boom—
The realm of consciousness suddenly trembled violently, and the environment around her twisted and transformed in an instant.
When she blinked again, she found herself inside a starship.
"Eternal Snowfall?"
Black Swan looked around and roughly understood the situation.
"The Commander really does enjoy spending time here. What does he normally do aboard the ship?..."
Then, step by step, she entered the inner section of the bridge.
The sounds of playful feminine laughter immediately drifted into her ears.
Setsuna sat with shipgirls in his arms, Spirits against his chest, and girls from various worlds such as Heroic Spirits gathered around him, all of them behaving affectionately with one another.
Every so often, he teased them until they let out coy, embarrassed protests.
"Oh, so gods possess ordinary emotions and desires too."
Black Swan watched with fascination.
Setsuna was completely different from Aeons who devoted themselves entirely to their Paths and almost never interacted with ordinary people.
In the eyes of his companions within the Starsea Empire, he was remarkably approachable. They could joke with him freely and fool around without restraint.
"Commander, you're awful—"
"Your hands are wandering again, Commander~ At least wait until we're back in the room..."
The girls' alluring expressions made Black Swan's cheeks grow somewhat warm.
And the situation seemed to be becoming increasingly intimate and increasingly explicit.
"Hiss..."
Black Swan felt heat rise to her face. Ever since abandoning her physical body, she had never even thought about such things.
She originally intended to leave this fragment of consciousness immediately, yet her feet seemed rooted to the spot, unwilling to move.
She repeatedly tried to convince herself internally,
This is also part of an Aeon's memories. This is part of his memories...
I should observe as much of his memories as possible. Mm... I'll treat it as learning more about him...
"Phew—"
After struggling with herself for quite some time, perhaps driven by some instinct and curiosity buried deep within, she decided to keep watching.
After all, from the perspective of Setsuna's consciousness and memories, she was merely an observer.
She even deceived herself by moving a little farther away.
"The Commander shouldn't mind, right? Ah..."
Just as she was murmuring to herself,
Setsuna, who had been sitting there with girls in both arms within the realm of consciousness, suddenly raised his head and stared directly at her.
"What's the fun in just watching? Come join us."
"?!"
"Me?!"
Black Swan jolted in shock.
At first, she thought Setsuna had been speaking to one of the shipgirls in the memory, but she quickly realized that he was pointing directly at her.
"Ah!—"
As though she had seen a ghost, she hurriedly backed away several steps and collided with the sealed cabin door.
"Yes, you."
Setsuna looked at her with a smile.
"Wait, isn't this your realm of consciousness?! Logically speaking, these are your memories. How could you... how could you?!"
"How can you talk to me from inside your own memories?!"
Overwhelmed by shock, Black Swan could barely speak coherently.
It was no different from watching a movie only for one of the characters inside it to suddenly break the fourth wall and start talking to her.
"You're only a Memokeeper, yet you can transform yourself into information and memes and enter other people's consciousness."
"Do you think it's difficult for an Aeon to manifest inside their own realm of consciousness?"
Setsuna leaned back on the sofa and examined her.
"I figured you wouldn't be able to suppress your curiosity and would eventually come snoop around my private life."
"Perfect timing. I'll give you a chance to experience it for yourself."
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