"My dear Clara~ Have you missed me?"
About half a system hour after Sparkle hid Clara away, Lynelle arrived at the Robot Settlement.
"Ah, it's big sister Lynelle!"
Sparkle's voice was unusually saccharine. Upon hearing Lynelle, she immediately dashed out of the house and clung to Lynelle's arm.
While she didn't know exactly how Clara usually interacted with Lynelle, considering Lynelle's ridiculously strong affinity, acting more intimate was definitely the right move.
Sparkle, who knew Lynelle quite well, thought to herself with full confidence.
Then, the confident Miss Sparkle met Lynelle's suspicious gaze.
"Wrong."
"Huh? W-what's wrong?"
"Before, Clara would always hug me right away and give my cheek a big 'mwah'."
Lynelle half-covered her face, putting on a hurt expression. "Sigh... has the feeling between us faded after all...?"
"?"
Sparkle shot an incredulous look at Svarog. It seemed this large robot was something like Clara's guardian.
Without Sparkle actively controlling him, he would treat Sparkle as Clara for communication.
However, under Sparkle's stunned gaze, Svarog nodded.
"Correct. Clara, you normally do act in this manner."
This lolicon hasn't been arrested? There's no justice!
Who would've thought Lynelle's meetup with a little girl involved getting a kiss first? Is she not afraid of getting 'knifed' by her harem? Would it still work if I gave her a kiss now?
Sparkle grumbled indignantly in her heart, completely ignoring the fact that she herself had a loli-like physique.
"Th-this…"
Just as Sparkle, steeling herself with a 'spare the child and spoil the wolf' mentality, prepared to plant a kiss on Lynelle, Lynelle suddenly, as if deliberately teasing her, smiled and defused the situation.
"Never mind, never mind. Maybe our little Clara is growing up, it's normal to be a bit shy now."
Tch... All that internal struggle for nothing. How is this girl's personality still so awful...
Miss Sparkle, feeling an inexplicable pang of regret, let out a sigh of relief. But soon, Lynelle's next casual remark nearly made her slip and fall again.
"Oh, by the way, Clara, did you do your exercises today?"
"Exercises? What exercises...?"
"Physical exercise, of course. Belobog's environment has low temperatures, you need to exercise regularly to avoid getting sick... Clara, don't you usually run circles around the house while shouting 'I'm the strongest Clara!'?"
"Huh?!"
Sparkle blinked in bewilderment, looking again to Svarog nearby, hoping to hear from him that Lynelle was joking.
However, the red light in Svarog's eyes flickered slightly as he stated firmly, "Affirmative. This is Clara's essential daily exercise. Clara, you have indeed not exercised today. Shall we commence now?"
"Th-this, n-no, let's not..."
Sparkle struggled to suppress the twitch at the corner of her mouth. She really couldn't understand it.
Had this place been isolated for so long that the children's upbringing had become completely warped?
What kind of deviant habit was this? It felt like it was specifically designed to torment someone!
"Th-that, Mr. Svarog, I'm not feeling very well today... How about we put the exercise off until tomorrow..."
"Oh? Is Clara feeling unwell?"
Before Svarog could respond, Lynelle immediately asked with concern, "Did you catch a chill from running around in the snow these past couple of days?"
"Mmm... that's possible."
Hearing the topic finally steer towards a normal direction, Sparkle quickly nodded.
"Aiya, I told you to wear your shoes, but you insisted going barefoot was more comfortable... But it's perfect timing, I came prepared."
After ruffling Sparkle's hair, Lynelle started rummaging around under Sparkle's puzzled gaze. Then, she pulled an ordinary-looking box from her system space.
"I recently saw a pair of shoes on the company's shopping site that looked perfect for you, so I bought them for you... I didn't expect you'd need them right now. Let me put them on you, see if they fit~"
Wow, did this girl finally grow a conscience?!
After such an abstract meeting, Sparkle was almost moved by Lynelle's normal behavior.
She originally thought there were no normal humans left here, but it seemed Lynelle was at least a little bit reliable.
Then, she stopped finding it funny.
Because, just as Lynelle was slowly guiding her snow-white, delicate foot into the boot, Sparkle suddenly felt a strange sensation.
With a look of disbelief, Sparkle glanced at the other boot, still not worn.
Inside the black boot, a pinkish interior structure was visible, looking soft and squishy, and it seemed to be... writhing?
Wasn't this the same stuff those tentacle-suits were made of?!
No fair!
By now, even if Sparkle were the slowest, she'd have realized something was wrong.
Forget the fact that Lynelle's own personality wasn't nearly this aggressive; even if she explained it away with their special relationship, Sparkle refused to believe Lynelle's character was so deviant as to buy a pair of tentacle-boots for a child.
So, the only possibility was...
"Ehehe~"
Lynelle swiftly slipped the other boot onto Sparkle's foot.
"Miss Sparkle, you fell for it~"
"You!"
Flustered and annoyed, Sparkle quickly retracted her foot, instinctively trying to stand up.
However, the strange sensation coming from the soles of her feet—a tingling, numbing feeling of wrapping and a slight sucking feeling—instantly made her legs go weak, her face flushing red.
"Svarog, find a way to restrain her!"
With several flashes of golden fish phantoms, the idling Svarog's eyes immediately glowed red.
A giant mechanical hand assembled itself from behind him.
Anyone who frequently sparred with Svarog would recognize immediately that he was about to use this thing's powerful magnetic field to grab an unlucky individual.
So, who would that be?
Before Sparkle, who had reverted to her original form, could recover from the strange sensations in her feet, a peculiar feeling of weightlessness filled her surroundings.
"Wait, Svarog, why are you grabbing me?! I specifically set up defenses against Lynelle's abilities!"
"Because, this isn't Svarog at all~"
Lynelle walked over to Sparkle with a giggle, gently poking the girl's cheek, which was puffed up like a steamed bun.
"The real Svarog was hidden away by us long ago. This robot is just a same-model prototype we found in the underground armory."
"Actually, if you knew a bit about mechanical theory, Sparkle, you should have been able to tell the difference between this robot and the real Svarog. But I guess you're not very knowledgeable in that area?"
"As for why you couldn't detect my ability... Hehe, why don't you think carefully? As a follower of Elation, what kind of power could deceive you in the very area you excel in?"
"Dammit, it's Sampo..."
Sparkle instantly understood Lynelle's implication.
After all, only an Emanator of the same Path could perfectly fool Sparkle's perception in such a situation.
Even if Sampo hadn't retrieved his mask yet, ultimately, the mask was just power granted by Aha. It's the classic 'I have no mask ≠ I have no power' equation. Checkmate.
Watching Sparkle squirm under the control of the mechanical hand, Lynelle couldn't help but feel a surge of satisfaction.
It was clear Sparkle actually had the ability to break free from the mechanical hand.
But perhaps because she knew Lynelle would just catch her by other means even if she broke free, or perhaps because a part of her was secretly enjoying being the center of this 'joke'... in any case, Sparkle's resistance seemed extremely half-hearted.
She was clearly more curious about Lynelle's situation than about escaping.
"So, how did you find me? Don't say Sampo told you. The Bronya you met from the very beginning was me in disguise."
"You clearly thought of the Masked Fool identity when you saw Topaz outside the city... It's not just the Fools who can stir up trouble in the universe. If you suspected me just because of that, it'd be too far-fetched."
"Sigh, little Sparkle, oh little Sparkle..."
Lynelle playfully stuck out her tongue, her finger tracing a path from Sparkle's cheek down to her chest.
"Haven't you figured it out yet? What if it's possible... that I never lost my memories at all? Your little 'Vita' sister might just have wanted to see you make a fool of yourself, you know?"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Sparkle instantly rejected that answer.
"Oh? Why?"
"Ahem, because..."
Sparkle subconsciously tightened her slender, pale legs a little.
"If you hadn't lost your memories, then the methods you used to tease me just now wouldn't have been so... childish..."
"...So that's how you figured it out?"
The corner of Lynelle's mouth twitched.
She originally thought Sparkle was just a relatively close friend to Vita and herself in the first run, but judging by the current situation, the events that transpired back then might differ from the crossover storyline she remembered.
At the very least, their relationship seemed... not so simple...
"So, you definitely have amnesia! It's just maybe not as complete as it seemed!"
Seeing Lynelle fall silent, Sparkle immediately became cocky again. "Hehe... Nothing escapes the eyes of the great Sparkle!"
"Is that so?"
Lynelle revealed a smile that made Sparkle feel a bit uneasy.
"Then, my dear Miss Sparkle, could you tell me... back when I didn't have amnesia, what methods would I usually use to deal with a brat like you?"
Lynelle brought the bag from her back around to the front. It was filled with all sorts of strange little trinkets she'd bought while passing through some indescribable planets.
"For example, this marker whose ink takes a whole week to fade... Or this collar that transforms pain into an... indescribable sensation..."
"...?!"
Seeing this backpack full of "secret weapons," Sparkle's smile instantly vanished.
"Uhh... Can we settle this peacefully?"
"Right here, right now? You must be joking."
With a 'creepy' smile, Lynelle walked towards Sparkle, who looked horrified but seemed to harbor a faint trace of anticipation.
"Sparkle-chan, I still have a full two system hours before I'm supposed to meet up with Stelle and the others."
"Although we can't do anything too... adult on Svarog's turf, giving the mischievous Sparkle-chan a little punishment shouldn't be a problem~"
--+--
Two hours later, at the Goethe Hotel.
"Reporting, ma'am! The troublesome Masked Fool has been apprehended by me!"
"Good! Very spirited!"
Stelle played along perfectly, not stopping to consider that the word "apprehended" might carry some less-than-savory connotations.
"Eh? Really, that fast?"
With Dan Heng absent, March was forced to engage her brain. "Could there still be any hidden dangers?"
"Don't worry, there won't be any problems. At least, none that will affect Bronya's side."
Lynelle gave a thumbs-up. "I tied up that shal—ahem, that audacious Masked Fool in a certain mechanical contraption and set it to auto-release in twelve hours."
"Topaz should have rushed back to Belobog by now, right? With this incident, finalizing the contract within twelve hours is practically a done deal."
"Restraint device..."
March muttered the words. "Won't she escape?"
"She won't. During the restraint period, she'll be completely weak and powerless."
"Alright then..."
Although she didn't know what methods Lynelle had used, seeing the girl so full of confidence, March 7 decided not to press further.
"Oh, by the way, Lynelle, don't worry about Bronya's side. Just before you got back, Bronya sent us a message updating us on her progress. Actually, the negotiations with the Company are already over."
"Over?"
Lynelle was stunned. "That fast? How much did the Company ask for?"
"Just the principal."
Stelle spread her hands. "I underestimated the weight of the 'genius' title in the Company's eyes... I thought they'd at least charge interest for those two hundred years of the contract period."
"Anyway, the Company wasn't just unbelievably generous about the debt, they also tried to push through a whole bunch of aid agreements in various fields. Bronya didn't agree to some of them, though."
"She explained that there were some key areas where she couldn't let outsiders get involved..."
"But the real Topaz was very cooperative and didn't insist. She's probably touring the Everwinter City Museum with Bronya right now... the one we managed for a few days before we left last time."
"That's normal too."
Lynelle nodded, unsurprised. "After all, credit points are just numbers. If they can buy even a sliver of goodwill from a genius with those numbers, the Company is definitely making a profit."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! 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.