What exactly had Elise done?
Sylvia knew absolutely nothing about that, but she could make a rough guess.
Since that mysterious organization had kidnapped her teacher, Ursula, it definitely couldn't be a good organization. Sylvia knew her own teacher better than anyone, didn't she?
After all the years Ursula had spent guiding Sylvia, her understanding of her had never changed.
Moreover, after Ursula woke up, the two of them had discussed these matters together.
The result had shocked Sylvia immensely. Ursula actually knew nothing at all? And her memories even seemed to have stopped several years ago?
That was simply impossible...
Wait, perhaps it wasn't impossible?
The world of Asterisk War wasn't an ordinary, peaceful world. It was a near-future technological world with supernatural powers.
The Starpulse Generation existed in this world, along with certain individuals who possessed special abilities—Dantes and Stregas.
Sylvia herself was a Strega, and one whose ability was even described as omnipotent, so she could understand this kind of situation very well.
That mysterious organization must have an extraordinarily powerful psychic ability user, someone definitely stronger than Sylvia herself. Otherwise, there was simply no way they could have controlled Ursula for so many years!
People like that were extremely rare in the world, so investigating them wouldn't take much time.
That was why Sylvia hadn't told her teacher about this matter. Instead, she had quietly investigated it on her own.
Originally, she had also intended to tell Elise, but she was afraid of dragging her into the mess, so she hadn't explained the situation immediately.
But soon afterward, as Sylvia's investigation continued, the truth gradually began to reveal itself before her eyes.
At that moment, every clue pointed toward her friend—Elise.
If Sylvia could be called omnipotent, then Elise was all-powerful. At least so far, there was almost nothing Elise couldn't do.
That plunged Sylvia into endless confusion. She didn't know what she should do, because Elise was her friend.
It was like Kudo Shinichi investigating a case, only to keep following the clues until they led straight to Ran.
But Sylvia was still a person with a conscience. She strongly suspected that Elise had either been blackmailed or had some unavoidable reason for doing these things.
That was why she had come to the Church headquarters this time. She wanted to ask for the truth, yet she hadn't expected to overhear such a phone call.
Judging by the voice, the other person was definitely a man. Sylvia couldn't completely rule out the possibility of a voice changer, but those devices usually produced certain recognizable vocal characteristics.
As the world's number-one songstress, Sylvia could easily distinguish the sound of a voice changer. That was why she could be certain that the man hadn't used one at all. That was his real voice!
With her ability, Sylvia had already memorized that voice. If she heard it again, she would definitely recognize it!
And that wasn't all. Sylvia also had a strange feeling...
She seemed to have heard that voice somewhere before.
As for exactly where, she would have to figure that out herself.
"What's wrong, Sylvia?"
Elise's voice came from beside her, directly interrupting Sylvia's thoughts.
"Mm, it's nothing."
Sylvia took a sip of her milk tea and returned her attention to Elise.
"Come to think of it, Ely. You've really changed a lot!"
Elise's aura had changed tremendously. It could even be said to have surpassed the limits of humanity. But that sort of change couldn't be seen or touched. It could only be sensed through intuition.
However, what Sylvia was talking about right now was the physical change in Elise's body, especially that particular part...
Her eyes!
"When we first met, I really thought you couldn't see. I even wanted to help you pick out underwear!"
And even now...
It seemed that Sylvia's first encounter with Elise had begun because she wanted to help her due to her eyes.
Although Elise had said that she wasn't actually blind, Sylvia had never once made eye contact with her.
She hadn't expected that wish to be fulfilled so easily today.
"Mm. Some things happened, and now I can finally see you with my own eyes, Sylvia!"
There wasn't the slightest trace of falsehood in the sincerity on Elise's face. At that moment, she truly was happy that she could finally see her friend.
Seeing Elise like this, a ray of sunlight seemed to pierce through the dense fog covering Sylvia's heart, but she quickly noticed something odd.
Elise had said...
Some things happened?
What happened?
Combining that with the information she had already gathered, Sylvia's mind instantly reconstructed what she believed to be the entire sequence of events...
Could it be that Elise had obeyed those people behind the scenes because of this?
To everyone else, Elise, the Saintess of the Church, was a perfect existence admired by countless people. That even included Sylvia, someone who was herself admired by countless others.
But such a perfect person possessed one major flaw—she couldn't see!
Although Elise had always insisted that she wasn't blind, everyone had treated those words as nothing more than reassurance.
Sylvia had also looked into Elise's eyes before, and the answer she'd received at the time was that they couldn't be cured through medical treatment.
And so the matter had simply been dropped. Elise's daily activities hadn't been affected in any way.
But was that really the whole story?
Sylvia clenched her fists. Elise... must have cared deeply about it, right?
That was why she had cooperated with those bad people. Her goal had been to heal her own eyes!
But during that period, the innocent Elise had accidentally been deceived by them and given them leverage over her, leaving her no choice but to continue cooperating with those villains!
From the phone call just now, Sylvia had been able to hear more than urgency in the man's tone. There had also been obvious impatience! He seemed to despise Elise quite a lot.
Then my friend's situation must be terrible. Even if I really asked her, she'd never tell me... just like how I didn't want to drag Ursula and Elise into these matters.
How pitiful...
The thought of her friend enduring such cruel circumstances caused tears to gather at the corners of Sylvia's eyes.
Elise: ???
Wait, why are you crying?
"Sylvia?"
"I'm fine, Ely."
Sylvia wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes, and her gaze gradually became resolute.
"You must have had a really hard time lately, right?"
"I suppose it's been a little difficult, but they're all minor matters. I can handle them."
Even now, she still doesn't intend to drag me into it...
"I understand. Thank you for the milk tea, Elise. I still have some things to take care of, so I'll see you in Asterisk next month!"
After saying that, Sylvia walked away without looking back, leaving Elise standing there utterly bewildered in the wind, along with Mana, who was mourning the wasted milk tea off to the side.
Don't worry, Elise...
Sylvia didn't look back. She merely made a firm decision in her heart.
She, Sylvia, would definitely rescue her friend from that dark world!
No matter what price she had to pay...
...
"Looks like it worked?"
Inside Rewolf Black Institute, Dirk sat at his desk, quietly watching the scene displayed on his screen.
Without a doubt, it showed Elise and Sylvia!
Even though they were all the way at the Church headquarters, Dirk still had his own methods of monitoring them!
From the moment Sylvia made her move, Dirk had already guessed what she intended to do—find Elise and confront her face-to-face about the Golden Bough Alliance.
That was something he absolutely couldn't tolerate. If their activities were exposed, the Integrated Enterprise Foundation would inevitably hunt them down!
Even the captain of Stjarnagarm would probably come to arrest them, because that woman possessed an unbearably strong sense of justice!
Come to think of it, wasn't Elise also an honorary captain of Stjarnagarm? Yet in the end, hadn't she joined them anyway?
"Forget it. There's no point worrying about that. With that person's help, no one should be able to find us now."
Sylvia going to see Elise was something Dirk hadn't expected. Originally, he had intended to stop her.
For example, he could have arranged for the world's number-one songstress to die in a plane crash, but after thinking about it carefully, that was completely unrealistic.
Besides, Elise's relationship with that person was unusual. If something really happened to Sylvia, Dirk might end up losing his own life on the spot.
In that case, he might as well turn around and make use of Sylvia instead.
All he had to do was choose the right moment to call Elise. He didn't need to reveal much useful information. Just exposing the fact that Elise had some connection to a mysterious organization would be enough...
After that, the kindhearted Lady Songstress would definitely investigate, wouldn't she?
That was precisely one part of Dirk's plan.
As long as Sylvia knew that Elise was involved, she would only investigate privately. At most, she might form a small group. She would absolutely never publicize the matter widely.
Because if the Integrated Enterprise Foundation found out about this, none of them would end up well. After all...
Sylvia, you wouldn't want your friend to be killed by the Integrated Enterprise Foundation, would you?
To ensure Elise's safety, Sylvia would absolutely never reveal this secret to too many people.
"At the same time, their relationship will gradually grow more distant..."
It was truly a plan that killed two birds with one stone!
Of course, doing this also carried risks. If Elise discovered that Dirk was responsible, she would never let him off easily...
But Dirk held a very special position within the Golden Bough Alliance. Most of the miscellaneous work was handled by him, followed by Madiath and Valda, while Elise did the least. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say she did nothing at all.
If Dirk died, all those troublesome matters would fall onto the others.
Given Madiath's identity, it was extremely inconvenient for him to handle such matters. Valda's identity was even more unusual, making her unsuitable as well.
That meant Elise would have to deal with everything herself.
But from what Dirk knew about Elise, she seemed to absolutely hate troublesome work.
"That's perfect. It means my safety is guaranteed too..."
"To think I'd end up preserving my life in this way. The world truly is a strange place."
Dirk had racked his brains to ensure the plan could continue smoothly.
"Just in case, I'd better arrange some insurance in advance. Korona!"
"Yes, I'm here, President!"
The instant Dirk finished speaking, a bespectacled girl with pale green hair hurried over.
"Do a divination for me, Korona."
"Huh? Ah, yes! Understood!"
The girl named Korona hurriedly pulled a set of cards from her pocket and immediately performed a divination for Dirk.
What would the result be?
Dirk simply stood where he was and silently watched.
As the student council president of Rewolf Black Institute, he naturally knew exactly what Korona's ability was.
Divination.
After Dirk discovered her ability, he had altered her intention to join the academy without the slightest hesitation, forcibly making her his vice president.
It almost resembled one of those "domineering CEO falls in love with me" stories. Unfortunately, Dirk didn't possess the handsome appearance of a domineering CEO. In fact, he was rather overweight...
Otherwise, perhaps an amusing romance novel plot would have unfolded inside Rewolf Black Institute.
The unreasonable nature of this divination ability was simple... its results were always the exact opposite of reality.
As long as Korona divined a terrible outcome, everything would go smoothly for Dirk.
But the moment she obtained a favorable result, trouble was guaranteed to occur.
Unfortunately, even Korona herself had no idea that she possessed such an ability. She merely treated fortune-telling as a hobby.
After obtaining Korona, Dirk, who had already made very few mistakes to begin with, became even more formidable. Whenever he encountered life-or-death situations, he relied on Korona's divinations to turn disaster into good fortune.
So... what was the result?
Noticing the Prana around Korona disappear, Dirk immediately asked for the outcome.
"President... it would be best if you didn't go out for a while. Otherwise, a terrible disaster will befall you..."
"Is that so?"
Korona's voice was timid and weak, but Dirk was inwardly delighted.
For the divination to produce such a result clearly meant that everything would go smoothly for him afterward!
Knowing that was enough to satisfy him.
...
Time flew by, and another month passed.
Asterisk welcomed the beginning of a new semester. The students here were probably quite happy as well, weren't they?
After all, they could finally see their new juniors again.
Just as countless new students were considering which academy to join, a private plane slowly landed inside Asterisk.
"It's been so long since I came back to the Hexagonal City!"
"Yes. You've been away for two months, after all. It's only natural that you would miss this place."
Mana appropriately picked up Elise's remark from beside her, but Elise merely smiled and didn't say anything more.
In everyone else's eyes, it had only been a two-month summer vacation. But Elise had genuinely experienced several entire worlds.
Added together, nearly ten years had passed for her. It truly had been a long time.
If she went through a few more worlds before returning, she might completely forget the plot here.
That was why she had to bring this world's story to a complete conclusion while she could still remember it.
Her World Analysis absolutely had to reach one hundred percent. That was also something she had promised Hikari.
"Since the students are still deciding which academy to join, let's take this chance to wander around for a while, Mana!"
Because outsiders required special procedures to enter the city, and Mana wasn't part of the Starpulse Generation, she couldn't remain in Asterisk for very long.
Besides, this place was extremely dangerous for ordinary people.
Even a moderately powerful member of the Starpulse Generation could easily destroy an entire building, to say nothing of the strongest among them.
Fortunately, Elise was here. Even if something happened, she could immediately stop it.
"So until you head back, make sure you stay close to me!"
"Yes, Lady Elise!"