Sylvia was suddenly tugged by the hem of her clothes. Turning around, she found Firefly's small hand clutching her outfit, grinning up at her with a somewhat silly expression.
Well, how to put it.
It was a little puzzling, but awfully cute.
"What's up? All of a sudden."
"Ahem…"
Probably realizing what she'd just done, Firefly quickly snatched her hand back.
She let out an awkward little cough.
Her restless hands rose to fuss with her bangs, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
Firefly opened her mouth, wanting to say that next time, she should handle the arrangements too.
But no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't find the right words.
Another few seconds of stalemate passed, but Sylvia remained patiently watching, waiting for her to continue.
And Sylvia couldn't help feeling that Firefly's current flustered, conflicted look was just utterly adorable.
If she kept being like this on their next date, Sylvia might end up completely smitten herself before she even managed to raise Firefly's affection.
"It's just…"
Firefly instinctively brushed her bangs again, adjusting the hairband on her head.
"Next time we meet… could I still be the one to plan it?"
For some reason, Firefly said this very cautiously—she was volunteering to take on the task, yet her request sounded almost timid.
Even though she hadn't done anything wrong, Sylvia suddenly felt as if she'd somehow let Firefly down. It was strange.
"Why?"
"Well, think about it—when it comes to picking places, it's more convenient for me. I can scout locations easily. If you had to do it, wouldn't that be a lot of extra trouble? There's no need for that."
That… made sense.
Sylvia's teleportation wasn't as free and direct as Silver Wolf's coordinate-rewriting.
But Sylvia couldn't shake the feeling that this didn't sound like Firefly's real reason—more like an excuse she'd come up with on the spot.
"…"
But seeing Firefly looking at her expectantly, clearly waiting for a nod, Sylvia didn't have the heart to press further.
Ah, well. If she really thought about it, they hadn't actually known each other that long.
They weren't at the stage where they could dig deep into every little thing yet.
So Sylvia simply went along with it and nodded.
"Alright then. I'll leave the next meeting to you."
"Hehe~ of course."
Firefly let out a relieved sigh, a hand over her chest.
The full curve of her chest rose and fell with her breath, and with her arm pressing against her clothes, certain lines were subtly emphasized.
It was… a little distracting.
"Then we should head out for dinner soon. Hehe, it's a place Silver Wolf helped pick out."
With that worry off her mind, Firefly relaxed again, smiling brightly as she pointed in a direction.
"The restaurant's that way. We can take a stroll along this road—there's a really pretty spot up ahead."
With that, she took Sylvia's hand and picked up the pace toward their destination.
--+--
The place Firefly had called pretty was a small cluster of classical-style buildings, next to a grove of trees whose leaves—or perhaps flowers—were a vivid, saturated red.
Together, they made a perfect picture.
Along the path, many people could be seen holding professional cameras, taking shots.
Sylvia hadn't originally planned on taking photos, but moved by the moment, she couldn't help but open her phone's camera.
Against the backdrop of the architecture and crimson foliage, she captured many lovely moments of Firefly.
After a while, Firefly turned the camera on Sylvia too.
And that seemed to flip a switch.
By the time they had finished dinner and were about to part ways, both their phones were filled with a small mountain of photos.
Some with scenery, some silly shots from during the meal.
Back at their original meeting spot, they had just settled on the sofa to rest when Sylvia retrieved a whole box of rolled cakes from her personal spatial device.
Portable spatial devices were relatively common in this universe, with many factions possessing similar technology.
A classic example was the Xianzhou's own delve arts.
With spatial folding tech, as the enclosed space expanded, both cost and energy requirements increased exponentially.
The Xianzhou's pocket realms were exceptionally high in both maintenance cost and technical sophistication.
The small spatial device Sylvia used was comparatively much cheaper.
Even so, spatial folding hadn't become commonplace for personal items.
After all, carrying one around meant constantly worrying about power, and once the spatial volume passed a certain point, it was hard to make the energy source both compact and portable.
Spatial folding was more often used for storage or travel—personal devices were somewhat niche, even impractical.
Sylvia used one because she could directly power it via her Herrscher core.
So she'd asked the Sky-Faring Commission to help her acquire a less common model.
"Here, these are the remaining Oak Cake Rolls. Should be enough to last you a while."
Sylvia set the cardboard box on the table. Firefly blinked in surprise.
"This many?"
A single cake roll could sustain her for quite some time. A box this large had to contain at least a hundred.
"It's not that much, right?"
Sylvia still instinctively thought of the cake rolls as snacks, so she replied offhandedly.
But then it struck her—for Firefly right now, these were like specialized medicine, each one lasting a long time. So yes, this was indeed a generous supply.
She quickly amended, "Well, having extra isn't a bad thing."
Firefly's gaze drifted back from the box. She had meant to thank Sylvia, but then remembered her reaction earlier—Sylvia probably didn't want to hear that today.
"I'll use them carefully."
Sylvia nodded. As long as they were useful, that was what mattered.
"I should probably head back soon. I had a great time today—thank you, Firefly."
"Huh? Aren't you going to wait for Silver Wolf? I already called her; she'll be here any minute."
Firefly grinned, then seemed to realize something and looked curiously at Sylvia. The Blue was quite far from the Xianzhou—how was she planning to get back so suddenly?
"No need to trouble her. I have a way to teleport back too."
Just then, Silver Wolf's projection happened to materialize in the room.
Sylvia's words reached Silver Wolf's ears perfectly.
"Since when do you have teleportation?"
Silver Wolf looked up suspiciously at Sylvia, who was preparing to leave.
The game controller she'd been holding was set aside.
According to Elio's words, after forming a contract with Sylvia, Sylvia's own abilities would also be enhanced.
But the specifics were unknown.
Could this be it?
Sylvia didn't plan on hiding it. The Aether Editing teleport function was far too distinctive in style.
Anyone who had seen it would recognize it; there was no point in keeping it secret.
"Not long ago. I can return to places I've been before."
With that, Sylvia opened her phone's keyboard, activated the skill, and pressed the 'B' key.
--+--
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.