"...Marriage? What does she mean?"
Acheron, hidden in the shadows completely undetected, had just witnessed almost the entire exchange between Sylvia and the Stellaron Hunter.
Naturally, she had also caught the key phrase from Sylvia's chat with Silver Wolf.
She understood the meaning of the word perfectly well, but she couldn't fathom why Sylvia would be involved in such a matter.
Reading Silver Wolf's message triggered an instinctive feeling of revulsion in Acheron. She wouldn't deny that she enjoyed having Sylvia by her side.
The thought of Sylvia becoming intimate with someone else, of her leaving Acheron's side... Before receiving the ring, Acheron probably wouldn't have cared.
But now, she did.
"So the friend Sylvia knows is actually a Stellaron Hunter? The Slave of Fate... Their methods are never accidental. I need to find an opportunity to sound them out."
Acheron frowned slightly, feeling somewhat troubled that the Stellaron Hunters had made contact with Sylvia.
Her mood was rather complicated at the moment.
Logically, aside from her worry, Acheron should feel happy for Sylvia.
She knew Sylvia had no one else to rely on in this universe, no other companions she could trust besides Acheron herself.
Acheron had no particular issue with the Stellaron Hunters; after all, she was a regular on the Interastral Peace Corporation's most-wanted list herself. Sylvia making more friends was a good thing for her.
Yet now, Acheron found that, mixed with her concern, there was a part of her that actually hoped the Stellaron Hunters had some ulterior motive towards Sylvia.
Why?
Acheron gently pressed a hand to her chest, puzzled by this emotion that contradicted her own logic.
While she could clearly identify her own thoughts and feelings, she had long forgotten how to react to them, how to process them.
Finding no answer through contemplation, Acheron could only set it aside for now.
Her original plan had been to wait for Sylvia to disembark the starskiff and then find a moment to reveal herself, but she temporarily suppressed that idea as well.
She wanted to observe a little more.
She had suddenly realized that the Sylvia she knew was only one part of the whole, that there were many facets of her she had yet to discover.
Upon realizing this, Acheron couldn't help but feel a desire bloom within her—a desire to understand Sylvia more deeply.
--+--
Meanwhile.
Inside the starskiff, Sylvia had just put away her phone when an inexplicable shiver ran down her spine.
It felt like a strangely unnerving sensation had just brushed past her, so intense she almost thought Phantylia was launching a surprise attack.
Sylvia remained on high alert for a good while, but nothing happened. Relying on the detection skills and intuition honed by Acheron's... rigorous training, she scanned the surroundings of the starskiff but found nothing amiss.
"What's with you all of a sudden?" Qingque looked curiously at Sylvia, who was peering around and muttering to herself.
One moment she was on her phone, the next she stashed it, stood up, and started inexplicably inspecting the starskiff.
She gave Qingque and the Cloud Knights on board quite a fright; they thought the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus were attacking.
"No... it's nothing. Probably just my imagination. I felt like I was being watched just now," Sylvia explained hesitantly.
Hearing this, Qingque instead made a strange face. "Considering what you've been up to, isn't it normal for the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and that Emanator to have their eyes on you? Why are you still surprised at this point?"
Sylvia blinked, thought about it for a second, and realized Qingque had a point. Maybe that was Phantylia thinking about her just now.
"...Harsh but true. Maybe it was Phantylia having me on her mind. Looks like I need to be extra careful these days."
Outside the window, Acheron, leaning against the wall, couldn't help but curl her lips into a slight smile.
It seemed Sylvia's training was paying off quite well; she'd managed to catch that fleeting trace of Acheron's aura the moment her focus wavered.
Acheron felt a sense of pride, thinking it was all her doing.
But who was this 'Phantylia' she mentioned? That Emanator behind the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus? The Luofu was quite efficient, to have already uncovered this much.
Acheron pondered silently. Could the danger she sensed be because Sylvia actually planned to get involved in the conflict between the Emanator and the Luofu?
She'd only been gone a few days; how did things accelerate so quickly?
Thinking this, she observed Sylvia, who was still chattering away with Qingque.
She really did need to keep a close eye on her.
No... she still couldn't just walk away so easily...
--+--
Seeing the starskiff Sylvia was on head towards the Artisanship Commission didn't surprise Acheron; Sylvia had complained before about her greatsword always having its own 'background music.'
What did surprise Acheron was that Sylvia wasn't there to buy a sword. Instead, she produced a warrant from Jing Yuan, the General of the Luofu.
Following that, the masters of the Artisanship Commission patted their chests and guaranteed they could deliver a longsword to Sylvia's satisfaction within a week, at the latest.
And that wasn't all.
During this time, Sylvia's phone chimed with message notifications every so often. Acheron 'accidentally' caught glimpses of a few.
They were all official emails from the Luofu, containing things like permanent residency rights, status as an ally of the Xianzhou...
This series of preferential treatments left Acheron utterly bewildered.
"What in the world has she been doing on the Luofu these past two days??"
This question lingered in her mind, persisting even after Sylvia left the Artisanship Commission, was contacted by Fu Xuan, and proceeded to the Divination Commission. Acheron still couldn't figure it out.
But at the Divination Commission, Acheron found something else even more noteworthy.
The Divination Commission was relatively harder to enter without being noticed. But the prerequisite for Acheron being discovered was Fu Xuan raising her guard and specifically using her Third Eye to look.
Otherwise, relying solely on broad divination, it was difficult to account for an existence on Acheron's level.
--+--
Inside the Divination Commission.
Sylvia met Fu Xuan, who looked somewhat weary.
"You look tired?"
Fu Xuan nodded but didn't elaborate on the question. Instead, she turned to gaze at the massive Matrix of Prescience.
"Using the clues you provided, We performed a divination. It actually did allow us to trace some faint traces. That Phantylia has already been to the Luofu; otherwise, the Matrix wouldn't have yielded clues so easily."
"However, what agreement Phantylia and the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus have reached, or what transaction they've conducted, remains unknown. This matter is of great importance. We did not dare wait, so we called you here to assist directly. Our apologies for the abruptness."
Sylvia was quite casual about it. She waved her hand and walked directly into the Matrix of Prescience, smiling.
"Looks like you're in for an exhausting day today, Master Diviner. Perhaps later I could help you relieve some of that stress."
Fu Xuan's cheeks flushed slightly, but she didn't refuse. She just gave a somewhat embarrassed nod, too shy to voice her agreement.
Divining the whereabouts of an Emanator was no easy task, especially since Fu Xuan was simultaneously using the power of her Third Eye to meticulously unravel the threads.
The reason she had summoned Sylvia now was because Sylvia was currently one of the known targets most likely in Phantylia's sights—the other one being Tingyun.
Tomorrow, Fu Xuan would naturally invite Tingyun as well to perform another divination.
Hidden in the shadows, Acheron's eyes suddenly turned sharp upon seeing Fu Xuan's expression, and her hand holding the sword tightened slightly.
Could it be... that this Master Diviner had also received one of Sylvia's massages?
--+--
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.