A little earlier.
Sparkle followed the Company's starship down to the surface, standing at the stronghold where Oswaldo Schneider was stationed. Grinning, she met the gaze of this arrogant, young-for-his-position executive.
A layer of amber shield held firm between the two of them.
The frigate's cannons, the most advanced personal weapons—none of it could breach the Preservation shield Sparkle had summoned.
"See? I told you, you couldn't break my defense."
Sparkle had one hand on her hip, the other tossing an amber crystal up and down.
"Is that so? To me, this power of yours doesn't seem all that strong."
Oswaldo Schneider wasn't flustered. Instead, he stared directly at Sparkle.
"This is the power of your Amber Lord, Oswaldo. Are you really going to shatter it?"
"A Masked Fool, using power stolen from who knows where. What if I do break it?"
Faced with his threat, Sparkle shook her head with a giggle.
"True, it wouldn't be much. But your competitors would absolutely love to use this against you. And also—"
BOOM—!!!
A terrifying tide of Imaginary energy began to surge from a single point.
The fleets parked beyond the atmosphere were the first to be hit, and they suffered the most severe losses.
Down on the surface, the factories and people just thought it was a sudden earthquake.
But the readings on the factory machines clearly told them:
This was no ordinary quake. A massive tide of Imaginary Energy was, for unknown reasons, churning inward toward the planet's core.
Changes beyond anyone's knowledge were occurring in that instant.
Even someone like Oswaldo Schneider couldn't help but change expressions.
Aeragan-Epharshel's mineral value was astronomical, involving business with countless zeros.
This planet could not be allowed to fail.
But…
Sparkle's teasing voice rang out again in the now-chaotic conference room:
"See? A certain change has already begun~ If you keep wasting time with me here, all your calculations are going to come to nothing~"
Everyone present looked at Sparkle.
Oswaldo Schneider, suppressing his anger, growled, "You'd better come clean about what you've done. Otherwise, I don't mind taking your life right now, Fool!"
He was never a patient man, nor one who liked to follow the rules.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have directly issued an extermination order for Boothill's people, or done those things on Aventurine's homeworld.
If Sparkle refused to talk, he wouldn't mind killing this Fool and then hiring a Memokeeper to dig the secrets out of her mind. It wasn't the first time he'd done something like that.
In this day and age, with enough money, enough power, and a low enough moral threshold, any secret could be unearthed.
"My, what an impatient fellow~ You'll miss out on a lot of treasures this way."
Sparkle put her hands behind her back and hopped around the conference table to Oswaldo's side. She looked at the complex imagery on the large screen.
"You'd better make yourself clear, Fool. I won't ask a third time."
"Sigh~ What a boring man. See this crystal in my hand? You can think of it as a key to unlock a treasure."
Sparkle pinched the crystal and waved it in front of Oswaldo's face.
"Treasure? Here?"
"That's right~ If I'm not mistaken, the commotion just now was probably the treasure being unlocked."
Sparkle closed her left eye, peering at Oswaldo through the crystal with her right.
The best part hadn't even arrived yet, but his shifting expression was already making it hard for Sparkle not to laugh.
"'Probably'? What do you mean, 'probably'?"
"Just probably. I don't know exactly what's going to come out."
"...Are you messing with me?"
"Gasp~ How could you say that? How would a tiny little Masked Fool like me dare to mess with a big shot from the Marketing Development Department~"
Sparkle put on a frightened expression, which, paired with her petite stature, almost gave off a 'poor little girl' vibe.
But soon, she couldn't hold back a giggle herself:
"This was left for me by the Aeon of Elation. Said there was a surprise, so I came here."
"..."
Oswaldo stared at Sparkle with a look that said 'what kind of nonsense are you spouting?'
The Aeon of Elation? Why would Aha give an amber crystal imbued with Preservation's power to you?
But just then, one of his subordinates seemed to remember something. He quickly signaled to Oswaldo, calling the department head over.
"Boss, you've been so focused on Aeragan-Epharshel you might not have seen this… take a look at this…"
Oswaldo took the tablet handed to him and opened a certain page.
Then… he fell into a silence that lasted several minutes.
Video, description, account, comments… He scanned through them all.
The speculation, the exposure of identities, the sheer impact of the video's content—all of it planted a seed of doubt in Oswaldo, who had initially dismissed Sparkle's words.
Could it be true?
He absolutely refused to believe a video like that was the work of the Masked Fool in front of him. Based on their earlier clash, she fit the image of a Masked Fool perfectly, but hadn't shown anything beyond that scope.
In fact, Oswaldo arrived at a conclusion similar to many others: the video was the work of the Aeon of Elation, and Sparkle was just a random agent chosen by Aha.
In that case… this crystal… might be a gift Aha left for that agent?
As for why Aha didn't make her an Emanator but gave her a Preservation crystal instead… well, it was Aha. Doing inexplicable things like that was perfectly normal for Them.
When it came to reputation, Aha certainly took the crown.
Of course, even though he was starting to believe it a little, Oswaldo couldn't show it.
"Perhaps what you say is true. However, this is important Company territory. I'm afraid I cannot allow you to explore here at will."
"Is that so~ What a shame. Looks like the locals here will have to claim that treasure, then."
Faced with his threat, Sparkle maintained her casual demeanor.
"It is something of Preservation's, after all. I'm not that eager to have it. But… Mr. Oswaldo, care to guess? If the locals here get their hands on that treasure, will it give you a headache~?"
Sparkle had nothing to fear. Because a man like Oswaldo would absolutely go looking for that 'treasure' to eliminate any potential threat.
As for what exactly that treasure's effect would be… Sparkle truly didn't know. Another version of herself had been about to say, but Sparkle had refused. She felt keeping some surprises would make the whole performance even more enjoyable.
"Hmph. Whatever you say, Miss Sparkle, I must ask you to stay within this base."
"My~ How hospitable, Uncle~ Friendly reminder: I'm not the only one who knows about this treasure hunt."
Sparkle grinned, her face openly mocking.
Oswaldo snorted coldly and said nothing more.
--+--