Amid the endless ruins, two suns scorched the earth.
Legion creatures and Fragmentum monsters roamed the completely dead world.
A tall woman with deep blue hair, holding an enormous odachi-like blade, moved among them, her expression so placid it seemed utterly vacant.
Her blade remained sheathed as she casually swept the scabbard through the air.
Wherever she passed, every monster was instantly sliced to pieces in the blink of an eye.
"This place... has a Stellaron."
Having temporarily cleared the nearby monsters, Acheron, her face half-obscured by her bangs, looked over the carnage, her expression still eerily calm and empty.
So that's why she'd gotten stuck here while traversing the galaxy—a Stellaron was blocking the path.
But it didn't really matter. To the woman, the Stellaron's influence ended there; it had merely slowed her down a little.
She'd just need to spend a bit more time to leave its area of effect.
As for these Fragmentum creatures and the Legion, they were nothing but annoying gnats.
Just then, directly above Acheron's head, a small wormhole opened without warning.
A white-haired girl tumbled out of it, falling straight down.
Acheron watched the falling girl. Sensing no danger or malice from her, she chose to raise her hands.
Thump—
Sylvia fell squarely into Acheron's embrace.
Acheron's arms barely shifted, effortlessly absorbing the impact of the fall.
"...Huh?"
Sylvia, who had just been unceremoniously snatched away by the system, had assumed she'd splat on the ground after falling through the wormhole.
She never expected to feel a human's body warmth instead.
When she opened her eyes, they met a pair of beautiful yet dull-looking eyes that seemed to hold nothing at all.
Holy crap, Acheron!
Sylvia's first reaction was excitement. The real Acheron was even prettier than her 2D version!
Her second reaction was shock. Did she... just fall into Acheron's arms? And was she being carried bridal-style?
--+--
[Random teleportation complete.]
[Target detected. Honkai Casanova System officially activated.]
[Target: Acheron]
[Favorability: 50 (Friendly)]
[Relationship: None]
[Newbie Mission: Profess your love to Acheron. The more passionate your feelings, the deeper the impression you'll leave.]
[Reward: (No established intimacy required for Newbie Mission) One random card draw.]
--+--
Sylvia stared at the system's task, momentarily speechless.
Alright, fine. So that's how we're playing.
A freaking 'Casanova System'? But she was the Champion of Pure Love!
She'd just been at home, enjoying hotpot and singing, watching Acheron's two animated shorts, when this damned system kidnapped her.
Sylvia desperately wanted to grab this system and punch it right in its face. Was this stupid system trying to make her act crazy? It was clearly trying to get her killed!
Acheron seemed pretty easy-going right now, but that was only because of her memory loss, making her seem a bit spacey.
Who knew when she might suddenly spend a 'Technique Point' and slice her in two?
That's pretty much how the Duke Inferno just... vanished.
Just as Sylvia was gritting her teeth, cursing this stupid system, a spine-chilling sense of dread washed over her.
Sylvia immediately turned her head and saw that enemies from the Antimatter Legion had appeared on all sides, seemingly out of nowhere.
But before Sylvia could even react—or rather, before she could even process Acheron's speed—all she saw was a flash of blade light, and every approaching enemy was torn to shreds.
"Gulp..."
Witnessing this ultimate violent artistry, Sylvia's heart began to pound uncontrollably.
How the hell was she supposed to handle someone like this?
Before Sylvia could even sort through her thoughts, she felt Acheron gently set her down.
As her feet touched solid ground again and she looked up at the tall Acheron, she suddenly realized that she seemed to be standing slightly shorter than her.
Did that damn system give me a new body and steal a few inches of my height in the process?
"@＃%..."
Acheron's voice was beautiful, but unfortunately, Sylvia couldn't understand a single word.
It took Sylvia a moment to remember: the stage of Star Rail was the vast galaxy, with countless races and countless languages.
Without a Synesthesia Beacon, communication was impossible.
Crap.
Sylvia's face fell instantly as she thought this.
Acheron looked at the white-haired girl standing before her.
For some reason, whenever she saw those sky-blue pupils, she felt an involuntary sense of closeness.
Watching the girl's expression shift constantly, she found it oddly endearing.
But seeing the other's confused look, Acheron realized something.
This girl didn't have a Synesthesia Beacon.
Remembering this, Acheron fumbled in her clothes for a moment and pulled out an injector.
Immediately, she saw the girl's face twist into sheer terror, as if she wanted to flee. But Acheron simply reached out, her immense strength easily holding the girl in place as she smoothly administered the injection.
"Now, can you understand me?"
The garbled noise suddenly transformed into a language Sylvia could comprehend.
Sylvia's struggles ceased immediately. She looked at the injector now discarded on the ground.
"Is this... a Synesthesia Beacon? Thank you."
"Mhm. You're welcome."
Sylvia resisted the urge to ask. In this world, the Synesthesia Beacon was like a standard vaccine given to every newborn.
What normal person carried one around on them?
"I am Acheron. They call me a Galaxy Ranger. You may address me as such. Who are you, and how were you able to open a wormhole directly into a Stellaron's area of influence?"
Acheron could naturally tell the difference between a ship falling here due to a Stellaron disrupting its course, and someone intentionally opening a wormhole to this location.
Her tone was flat, but Sylvia could sense her curiosity.
The moment Sylvia heard 'Stellaron', she inwardly groaned.
She had thought the Legion earlier was just drawn to Acheron. Who knew it was because of a Stellaron?
This is trouble. If it were just an ordinary world, Sylvia wouldn't necessarily need immediate power for self-preservation.
But in a world corrupted by a Stellaron, having no power meant you truly couldn't take a single step safely.
Neither the Fragmentum monsters nor the Antimatter Legion were enemies a half-baked amateur like her could hope to defeat.
Yet, Sylvia also didn't dare travel with Acheron for long.
The current intel on Acheron was incomplete; her state was unstable. While she seemed nice normally, Sylvia didn't dare gamble her life on whether or not her inner persona was completely insane.
After all, Sylvia didn't even know the trigger conditions for that white haired state.
Thus, the plan of shamelessly latching onto Acheron clearly wasn't safe enough.
If possible, Sylvia wanted to get one or two card draws from Acheron, gain some level of self-preservation ability, and then part ways.
"My name is Sylvia. I don't know why I was sent here. I didn't open that wormhole."
Sylvia shook her head, responding to Acheron's question.
Her mind, however, was racing, trying to see if she could salvage this situation.
When the system issued the mission, it also provided some additional information.
Aside from the newbie mission, as a 'Casanova System', Sylvia could earn card draws by establishing intimate relationships with suitable targets.
The level of the card draw depended on the depth of the relationship established.
From 'Ordinary Friends' all the way up to 'Marriage', the draw levels were clearly different.
The system didn't specify if failing to meet the required Favorability would affect the draw level.
Maybe it did, maybe it didn't.
But!
Considering the vast difference between worlds and across the galaxy, the customs from her previous life on Earth were definitely not the same as those out here in the cosmos.
There was no way Acheron's mind contained any data on the marriage rituals Sylvia was familiar with.
And even if, by some crazy coincidence, they overlapped, Sylvia could just explain it away as 'the meaning of rituals differs between races.'
As long as she avoided saying certain key phrases outright, getting Acheron to participate in a marriage ritual with her might actually be easier than establishing something like a 'companion' or 'close friend' relationship.
After all, marriage required a ritual to be considered valid as husband and wife.
In other words, all they needed was to perform the ritual. Even if the Favorability wasn't high enough, they could become spouses in name!
If the system judged it as cheating and downgraded the reward, she'd at least get one basic draw.
But if she gambled and succeeded, it would be like turning a bicycle into a motorcycle!
So Sylvia decided,
She would just marry Acheron. Directly.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, 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.