When Sylvia returned to the Express, she immediately ran into a conductor who'd been pacing around in worry.
The interior of Sylvia's train had been newly fitted, and it hadn't been cheap. Pom-Pom treasured every part of it. Even routine cleaning meant dragging those two little bugs along and making sure every corner was spotless.
"Sylvia, you're back! Hurry and go take a look!"
"Okay, okay. Don't panic, Conductor."
The moment Pom-Pom saw Sylvia teleport back, they raised their stubby arms and started pushing at Sylvia's legs, trying to hurry her farther inside. They really did look anxious.
As Sylvia walked, she tried to reassure them. "If something's actually broken, we could always have the Family redo it. A Penacony-style room might be pretty nice."
"What're you talking about?! The conductor's worried about your room being safe! It's not about the money!"
Pom-Pom puffed up their cheeks and smacked Sylvia twice. Still, after being teased a little, they didn't seem quite as frantic anymore.
Sylvia reached the lounge car and tried the door to her room. Sure enough, it had been locked tight from the inside. She didn't expect much, but she still tried both the fingerprint scanner and the physical key.
Neither worked.
Silver Wolf had almost certainly tampered with the lock.
"Seriously..."
Sylvia shook her head with a smile, then simply teleported through the sealed door.
The moment she landed inside, she saw that her once-neat bed had become a complete disaster. Silver Wolf sat barefoot against a makeshift nest of pillows and blankets, surrounded by all kinds of opened snack bags.
Sylvia glanced toward the storage cabinet. Everything that had once been arranged in perfect order had been pulled out and tossed around. Even the sixty-inch curved screen had been dragged over to the bed with its mechanical arm.
Several games Sylvia had bought but hadn't even opened yet had been installed too. Silver Wolf had forced them all into split-screen windows and created save files in every single one.
When she noticed Sylvia had entered, Silver Wolf even shot her a challenging glare. Then she crunched loudly on a potato chip and started speed-running through the story, clearly determined to push each game's playtime past the refund limit.
"..."
'How childish can you get?'
Sylvia could only laugh. This was the kind of revenge you'd expect from an elementary school kid.
"What're you doing? I've conquered this place! Don't interrupt my speedrun."
"You're such a kid."
Sylvia walked over with a grin, making it look like she was about to haul Silver Wolf away. The moment she leaned down, though, Silver Wolf planted one foot against her chest and held her back without taking her eyes off the game.
"I'm still mad at you."
Her fingers kept hammering away at the controller without slowing down in the slightest. Silver Wolf tried hard to make her voice sound cold, but she didn't look especially angry.
At least she hadn't run away this time.
Sylvia caught her ankle and said, "You've wrecked my bed so badly that I've got nowhere to sleep tonight. I might have to steal yours."
Crack.
The controller made a worrying noise.
Silver Wolf stared stiffly at the screen, her cheeks turning bright red.
"...Creep."
The insult came out after a long pause, but it didn't have much force behind it.
"You're the one who trashed my room first."
Sylvia let go of her foot, kicked off her shoes, and squeezed onto the bed beside her.
"What're you doing?"
Silver Wolf eyed her with deep suspicion.
"What kind of look is that...?"
"How am I supposed to know what you're planning?"
"You're the one who came and took over my bed."
Sylvia reached over without the slightest bit of shame and pulled Silver Wolf back against the pile of pillows, squeezing in beside her.
"All right, keep playing. I can watch the story from here."
"..."
Silver Wolf struggled halfheartedly for a moment, then gave up when Sylvia wouldn't move.
Even though she'd more or less walked into this situation herself, she still made an excuse in her head.
'It's all Sylvia's fault!'
With that settled, she relaxed against the pillows beside Sylvia and focused on the game again. She even slowed down so Sylvia could follow the entire story instead of skipping through everything at top speed.
--+--
Around six or seven system hours later, Silver Wolf's gameplay had made Sylvia feel like she'd just watched an entire movie instead of playing a game.
"Haah..."
Sylvia lowered her head against the pillow and let out a huge yawn.
She was getting sleepy.
Silver Wolf tilted her head toward her, looking unbearably smug. "No way, you're tired already?? It's only been a few system hours."
"Yeah, yeah. Silver Wolf's amazing. Staying up all night is nothing to you—haaah..."
Sylvia mumbled the praise with half-closed eyes, only to break into another yawn before she'd even finished.
This time, Silver Wolf's hands paused.
She shifted around restlessly before speaking without looking over. "Why don't you sleep? I'll head back."
"Hm? Nope. You're not leaving."
Sylvia's eyes stayed half shut, but she made no move to let Silver Wolf escape.
"Hey..."
"I already said I'd steal your bed tonight. You might as well stay."
Sylvia grinned, then rolled over and tugged the blanket across both of them.
"Hey! Don't get in my way! I'm still playing!"
"Quit already. If you keep going, even Pom-Pom's going to get mad."
Sylvia reached around, found the controller, and snatched it from Silver Wolf's hands before tossing it onto the floor beside the bed. A couple of jackets and other bits of clothing that had been buried under the blankets went with it.
"Don't mess with my stuff! I knew you were up to no good!"
Silver Wolf's embarrassed protests echoed through the room as she fought to get the controller back. Every so often the blanket bulged as she kicked underneath it.
Unfortunately for her, every room on the new train had excellent soundproofing.
Nobody outside heard a thing.
Silver Wolf didn't make any serious attempt to use her Aether Editing, either. She didn't even summon Prometheus.
If she'd genuinely wanted to leave, Sylvia would've let her go at once. But Silver Wolf seemed far more interested in continuing their petty wrestling match than escaping.
Sylvia finally caught the edge of the blanket and pulled it over them both.
"All right, Wolfie. Sleep. Have you even looked at the time?"
A pillow promptly smacked her in the face.
The room went silent for a second.
Then Silver Wolf lunged forward in outrage and grabbed Sylvia by the cheeks.
"Sylvia! I'm deleting all your save files!"
--+--
The next day.
"Sylvia... hehe... scared now, aren't you..."
Sylvia lay flat on her back, asleep on the bed, while Silver Wolf had somehow sprawled across her in the night, one arm and one leg draped over her. She smacked her lips and muttered nonsense in her sleep, occasionally letting out a strange little laugh.
Her trademark ribbon lay beside the pillow. Her normally neat curls had turned into a tangled mess after a night of tossing and turning, making her look like she'd been struck by static electricity.
Sylvia woke first.
Seeing that Silver Wolf was still completely out cold, she carefully moved the girl's arm and leg aside and slipped out of bed. After taking a quick shower in the room's bathroom, Sylvia changed clothes and sent a message in the Express crew's group chat asking where Himeko was.
She soon learned that Himeko and the others had stayed at The Reverie the previous night instead of returning to the Express.
Sylvia told Pom-Pom she was heading out, then left the train.
As for Silver Wolf...
She could keep sleeping.
Who knew when she'd wake up?
--+--
Sylvia found Himeko in her guest room.
Mei and Robin were there as well, and judging from the timing of Sylvia's arrival, the three of them had been discussing something.
"Himeko, Mei. Robin, you're here too."
"Sylvia, there you are."
Himeko greeted her with a smile and a nod.
Mei looked Sylvia up and down for a moment, but didn't say anything. Robin gave her a friendly wave. She looked much better than she had before.
Sylvia walked over and stopped between Robin and Mei.
"Himeko, has the arguing between the Family and the IPC gone anywhere yet?"
"Not yet."
Himeko shook her head.
"But we've reached a preliminary agreement. What's left should mostly be the finer details."
Matters like this couldn't be settled in a day or two.
Even after everyone agreed on the broad direction, Penacony involved too many different interests. Drafting a full set of terms alone would take plenty of time.
Himeko didn't complain about the trouble.
After all, Penacony was tied to three senior Nameless. As the Astral Express's navigator in this generation, Himeko felt she had both a duty and a responsibility to see matters here through properly.
Robin smiled and explained what had come out of yesterday's meeting.
"The current proposal is for the Family to give up part of its stake in Penacony. Some will go to the IPC, some to you, Sylvia, and then the Family, the IPC, and the Astral Express will jointly oversee Penacony."
"Why am I the only person listed separately?"
Robin gave her a look that practically said, 'Isn't that obvious?'
"Why else? You're the only Emanator among the three sides who can personally back them up."
The Family's Emanator could only be called upon through the Harmony.
Even if the IPC acquired shares, the people actually responsible for the project would still most likely be Jade, Topaz, and Aventurine.
Diamond was the head of the Strategic Investment Department. There was no chance he'd personally step in over a single deal handled by his subordinates.
If Sylvia hadn't appeared aboard the Astral Express, then everything could've remained a straightforward agreement between three organizations.
But the Express just happened to have gained an Emanator of Elation.
Sylvia's complicated position couldn't simply be folded into the Astral Express, at least not in the short term. So her name had to be listed separately as its own category.
In practice, the Astral Express would still take part in management and receive part of the profits. Publicly, though, Sylvia's name would definitely appear on its own.
"And thanks to your reputation, both the Family and the IPC were willing to step back," Robin added. "That's why we reached common ground so quickly."
Robin was more than satisfied with how smoothly things had gone.
Now that Sylvia had made it clear she wouldn't abandon Penacony or favor either side, both the Family and the IPC had reason to be pleased.
From the Family's point of view, they already had to divide the pie. They'd rather give Sylvia a larger share than hand everything over to the IPC.
Sylvia was a Nameless now, after all.
Given Penacony's history, that was a much easier outcome for the Family to accept. It also sounded better in public, and with the right handling, they could even turn it into some positive attention.
The IPC saw things differently.
Jade had never expected to swallow all of Penacony in one move. The Family's prestige had taken a hit, but its strength hadn't vanished.
If the situation grew completely out of control, that wouldn't benefit the Ten Stonehearts either.
Being able to weaken the Family's hold over Penacony without personally forcing the issue was already a profitable result.
And if the Family was willing to give Sylvia more shares, Jade had every reason to cooperate.
It would even earn Sylvia some goodwill.
More importantly, Jade understood the Astral Express perfectly well.
There were only a handful of people aboard it. Where would they find enough people to run an entire world?
In the end, they'd still need the Family and the IPC to handle much of the actual administration.
That meant the more shares Sylvia held, and the more authority she possessed, the more room the IPC would have to operate.
Robin and Himeko could naturally see what both sides were thinking at the negotiating table.
They didn't mind.
They were acting as a neutral party, and more importantly, as a neutral party standing on the Watchmaker's side.
Competition between the Family and the IPC was unquestionably a good thing.
Robin had no desire to ever see Penacony fall under the control of a single dominant faction again.
As for Himeko, it might mean extra work, but it would also give the Astral Express a steady and generous source of operating funds.
Madam Herta's commissions weren't something they could rely on whenever they pleased.
The Express had times when money ran short too. If the crew hadn't been so small, with equally limited expenses, keeping enough travel funds available would've been a constant headache for Himeko.
Sylvia, the person most directly affected by all of this, didn't object after hearing Himeko and Robin's explanation.
She wouldn't have to manage Penacony herself anyway. With the Swarm Meme around, she also didn't need to worry much about either the Family or the IPC trying to mislead her.
"So now you're just working out the details?"
"That's right. We should be finished before the Charmony Festival. Once that's done, I can finally relax a little."
Robin still had to host the Charmony Festival.
After that, she wouldn't have any major responsibilities tying her down.
Whether she stayed in Penacony or boarded the Express with Sylvia would be entirely up to her.
As for Sunday, they'd already reached a rough agreement.
The public announcement would say that Sunday had voluntarily stepped down and left Penacony alone in order to pursue the path of Harmony.
The Family wouldn't continue holding him responsible.
Neither would the IPC.
Of course, Sylvia's influence and Robin's efforts had both played a part in that decision. But Sunday's own willingness to accept reform had mattered too.
The former head of the Oak Family had firmly abandoned Order and was even beginning to show signs of embracing Harmony again.
That gave the remaining four Family heads enough room to accept a compromise without losing face.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL