As Acheron eyed her up and down like a piece of meat on a chopping block, Sylvia quickly spoke up.
"'Work and play, each in its proper time'—you said that yourself! Do you really want to knock me out so you can sneak around and do something?"
Hearing Sylvia's complaint, Acheron thought that even if Sylvia weren't already out cold… honestly, who could stop her from doing whatever she wanted right now?
Just look at Sylvia, limp and sprawled across her lap.
So Acheron very politely offered a faint smile, perfectly ignoring the question altogether.
Sylvia got worked up on the spot, but getting worked up didn't help one bit.
You simply had to admit when you were outmatched.
And admit it she did.
--+--
The next day.
Sylvia slept in as usual and didn't head out until she woke up naturally.
Only today, she wasn't going about her ordinary business—instead, she was meeting up with Silver Wolf to travel to some backwater planet and fulfill a contract.
Last night, while gaming, Silver Wolf had sent her a file.
It detailed a remote planet that followed both Preservation and Harmony, one that had only recently joined the credit point system.
Isolated and relatively underdeveloped, leaving a few records there wouldn't draw much attention.
Besides an introduction to the planet's civilization and its geographic location, the file also included a fabricated identity profile and electronic credentials for Sylvia.
Apart from the name and appearance matching Sylvia's, the rest was pretty much all made-up nonsense.
Silver Wolf's side was likely the same.
This kind of modernized yet still planet-bound civilization was a relatively good choice.
Once fully integrated into the galaxy, many civilizations—to preserve their traditions and history amid the flood of new information—would vigorously promote their own cultural heritage.
That approach was fine, of course, but for Sylvia and Silver Wolf, embracing tradition meant the contract would require a lot more effort.
But a civilization like this, freshly joined the IPC's economic system and not yet detached from its planetary mindset in many ways, would actually trim down and simplify many cumbersome traditional customs to achieve a more straightforward, efficient ceremonial style.
After heading out, Sylvia idly strolled over to the Exalting Sanctum and pinged Silver Wolf on her phone.
[Sylvia: Quack quack quack quack, how do I get there now?]
[Silver Wolf: Stop yapping. Just tap the link to open the warp.]
[Silver Wolf: [Link]]
Sylvia stared at the glowing blue link, blinked, and resisted the urge to tap it immediately.
[Sylvia: Don't I need a… discreet corner or something?]
[Silver Wolf: Doesn't matter to me. If you get spotted, you're the one who has to explain it.]
"..."
Sylvia pursed her lips, found a sparsely populated park nearby, and stepped onto a path hidden by trees and bamboo before tapping the link Silver Wolf had sent.
Then, a pixel-style wormhole expanded from her phone screen, rapidly growing until it landed right in front of her.
At the same time, a tiny pixelated Sylvia figure appeared, holding a pixel arrow pointing into the center of the wormhole, posed mid-step—the meaning was obvious.
Sylvia stepped inside. Immediately, a sense of spatial dislocation washed over her.
By the time her feet touched solid ground again, she found herself standing in a room with a peculiar style.
And Silver Wolf was sitting on a nearby couch, a lollipop in her mouth as she mashed buttons on a controller.
Sylvia peeked at Silver Wolf's screen from beside her, then poked Silver Wolf's arm with a grin.
"I actually thought you'd handle the contract inside a game."
She'd always figured doing it in-game was exactly the kind of thing Silver Wolf would go for.
"What's the big idea? Elio specifically said it's better to do it in reality. You think I wouldn't prefer otherwise? Coming here means I have to forge identities too."
Silver Wolf swatted Sylvia's finger away, shot her a glance, and sighed.
How much gaming time was this extra work going to eat up?
"Is that your real body today?"
Sylvia was a little curious—was this Silver Wolf in the flesh, or just another projection?
"…What do you want?"
Silver Wolf fixed her with a grumpy kitten-face stare.
"Come on, Duckie, we're like this, right?" Sylvia chuckled, raising a hand to poke Silver Wolf's soft, round cheek.
The childlike, plump cheeks felt wonderful to touch.
"Pfft, how immature can you get?"
Watching Sylvia just poke her cheek and give it a little pinch, Silver Wolf almost couldn't hold back her expression.
After all this, that's all you want to do?
So childish!
"Let's get moving. Once we're done, I'm going back to my game."
Batting Sylvia's hand away, Silver Wolf stood up and headed outside.
Pushing the door open, the street lay not far from the standalone building.
It was clear that many ads on the street came from various planets across the cosmos, especially the Interastral Peace Corporation, whose advertisements seemed to dominate every billboard.
Pedestrians wore all sorts of exotic outfits; Sylvia even spotted some attires from the Xianzhou.
Looked like this planet was still in a pretty novel phase.
Not far ahead, a hall served as the place to process the contract.
In the center of the hall stood a sculpture depicting Preservation and Harmony side by side. Sylvia could even sense a faint trace of Path energy emanating from it.
Pretty remarkable, really.
"Hurry up, you're not here for sightseeing."
Silver Wolf urged impatiently, then without another word grabbed Sylvia's hand and strode inside.
--+--
The contract process was surprisingly straightforward.
Checking credentials, registration, photography, and so on—
And once registered, Sylvia's system responded:
--+--
[Target: Silver Wolf (Updated)]
[Affection: 66 (Satisfied)]
[Relationship: Partner (Updated)]
['Even if it's just a transaction, congratulations—you finally have your first legally contracted intimate partner.']
['Oh, and since rewards were exceptionally upgraded last time, don't expect that kind of luck again.']
[Reward: One Purple Draw / Additional Reward: A pair of earrings inlaid with deep blue gemstones]
--+--
Sylvia was taken aback by the reward.
Why earrings this time instead of a ring?
How did it decide what type of accessory to give?
Puzzled inwardly, Sylvia slipped her hand into her pocket, pretending she'd prepared in advance, and retrieved the earrings from her system.
Then she opened her palm, presenting them to Silver Wolf.
"Here, a pair of earrings. One for each of us, perfect."
"…?!"
But upon hearing this, Silver Wolf's head jerked up, eyes wide.
Her gaze locked onto Sylvia's, pupils shaking intensely!
What are you trying to pull, you punk?!
Seeing Silver Wolf's expression, Sylvia was genuinely baffled.
"What's wrong?"
As she spoke, Sylvia already took Silver Wolf's hand and placed one of the earrings into her palm.
Having gone through this once before, Sylvia figured these system-bestowed earrings probably had some hidden effect too.
"No, you…"
Silver Wolf was still reeling, momentarily stumbling over her words.
But soon, a staff member whose eyes practically glittered with excitement hurried over and eagerly explained the reason behind Silver Wolf's shock.
"I never thought I'd see someone willing to exchange a Vow's Kiss with Sapphirine earrings today. I shall bear witness for you before the Harmony! After all, most people nowadays prefer Amberite stones that represent the Amber Lord."
--+--
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.