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Sylvia had obviously not been expecting that answer, and was left completely dumbfounded.
Emilia couldn't help but giggle. "Is it really so shocking? Anyway, if you really need to know, I can always ask her for you."
Sylvia obviously had no way to know whether Emilia really didn't have Crystal's contact information, or if she was just unwilling to share it without consulting the other girl first, but either way, she couldn't help but feel inexplicably upset.
"N-No thanks, actually… now that I think about it, I'll ask her myself."
The dark-haired girl's smile was a little strained, and Emilia could only shake her head in amusement as she watched her run away to avoid being further questioned. 'Why is she so embarrassed over such a little thing?'
Emilia continued on her way to the apartment, but her thoughts remained stuck on the heroine's behavior. 'For Sylvia to feel like this about Crystal… does it have something to do with the fact that they're both the 'heroines' of their respective world?'
Her partner's question wasn't so easy to answer, and Cynthia hesitated for quite a while before deciding to share some of her 'insights' into the matter. "I can't tell you much, but it's true that they're somewhat related to each other through a 'distant fate'."
Finally back in her apartment, Emilia pondered over her partner's statement carefully.
Given how long Cynthia had taken to respond, it was impossible for her answer to be casual, and Emilia wondered if there was some profound meaning hidden in her words that she just failed to grasp.
But no matter how hard she tried, Emilia simply couldn't figure it out.
In the end, she could only admit her defeat with a helpless smile. "What does being related by a distant fate even mean?"
Cynthia sighed. "Well, let me tell you a story to make it easy for you to understand…"
Emilia listened intently as her raven-haired partner told her a tale about a powerful entity in ancient times, one that existed far before her era. Born far superior to even cosmic entities that could rule the space they existed in from birth, it held both unimaginable power and unrivaled fortune.
But nothing could last forever, and eventually the time of its inevitable fall arrived.
Cynthia didn't 'know' how it ended, but the entity was finally torn apart into an unknown number of tiny little pieces, with no possibility of ever making a comeback.
Of course, although each of these pieces could only hold an infinitely small amount of the great entity's 'fortune', it was still far from being useless.
"This is only my guess, but just as the world wills are able to consume their 'fate' through an artificial child of luck in the form of the hero, it should also be possible for the 'children of fortune' to consume each other and strengthen themselves." Cynthia smiled. "Of course, given how far apart they usually are, it's very rare for them to ever have this opportunity."
Given that most of the heroines were in completely different worlds and timelines, that was an understatement. Unless they could learn how to travel through both time and space, it was almost impossible for them to ever meet another one of their kind.
Emilia frowned. 'Wait, so you're telling me that Sylvia has that urge to 'hit' Crystal because she subconsciously wants to 'consume' her?'
If so, maybe it was a really bad idea to have Crystal join her in Arcadia, or even bring her along to this world in the first place. After all, even though she might have struggled a lot more on her own, Emilia would much rather crawl on the ground until her skin was scraped to shreds than risk stepping on the heads of those she loved.
Cynthia chuckled. "Well, you don't have to be so alarmed. After all, not to mention that Sylvia doesn't know what she really 'longs' for from Crystal, but even if she did, she has no way to pull it off."
Emilia thought about it for a while, then nodded in relief.
Aside from being slightly awkward, Sylvia was actually quite a normal girl, and didn't seem like the type to do anything crazy like trying to 'eat' her teammate. Plus, with Emilia around to watch the situation, it was impossible for her to allow the dark-haired heroine's thoughts to stray too much.
"You're right. I just need to make sure to guide them well, and not to mention eating each other, they might even become friends." Emilia smiled.
Although Sylvia's attitude towards her wasn't particularly good in the beginning, she was still a very valuable teammate, and the crimson-haired girl believed it would only be a good thing to get along with everyone more.
Cynthia watched her partner happily plan a 'team building' activity to carry out parallely with the next day's mission, and she couldn't help but sigh. 'It's for your own good to not know what you shouldn't.'
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Meanwhile, far from Emilia's apartment, Darryl leaned back in his chair while listening to Colman's report on Emilia.
Knowing that the girl had agreed to follow his instructions obviously made him pleased, and even if Emilia wanted to be a bit willful in a few things, the hero didn't really mind.
After all, having never met her in person, he never had the chance to properly convince her, and it was good enough to have this type of impact with just his name and image.
Darryl already had a lot of pawns all over the world, but he still knew a potential stock when he saw one.
Had Arcadia only been a normal game, Emilia would just be a slightly above average girl in terms of ability, with only her outstanding appearance being worthy of note. But with Arcadia's ability to transform gaming and athletic ability into real strength, it was inevitable for this girl to become a future powerhouse.
Being able to recruit her now, while she was still just a little bug, Darryl couldn't help but smile. 'Another brick to lay down the foundation of the new world…'
Nothing, and no one, could be allowed to stop him from achieving his goal.
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