Aboard the Astral Express, Sylvia handed out the gifts she'd bought in Penacony to the rest of the crew.
She stayed for a while to chat with Himeko and the others, and she also warned them about the Lord Ravager, telling everyone to remain on guard.
Himeko told her that they'd probably be setting out for Penacony within the next day or two.
--+--
By the time Sylvia and Mei returned to the Reverie, they'd barely set foot inside before an invitation from Topaz arrived. Sylvia didn't enter the Dreamscape right away. Instead, she went to Topaz's room.
"Come in. I brought this wine from Pier Point. I'm quite fond of it, so give it a try."
Topaz swirled a glass bottle whose label was written in a script Sylvia didn't recognize. Whatever it was, the wine had a rich aroma.
"Thanks."
Sylvia accepted the glass, took a moment to smell it, then sat down on the sofa. Topaz settled beside her without hesitation.
"I thought you'd come with Ms. Acheron."
"Why?"
When Sylvia gave her a puzzled look, Topaz seemed just as confused.
"Haven't you heard the news about the Lord Ravager?"
Sylvia understood at once and smiled.
"I've heard. But we're not so far apart that we need to go everywhere together."
When Acheron had suggested that they stay together, she hadn't meant that they needed to remain joined at the hip. She only meant that the distance between them couldn't exceed the width of a single planet.
To Mei, there wasn't much difference between Sylvia standing in front of her and Sylvia standing on the opposite side of the planet. Their unusual mental connection would tell Mei the instant anything happened to her.
"Then I suppose you still don't know which Lord Ravager is coming."
Topaz crossed one leg over the other and relaxed against the sofa. Beside her, Numby quietly stole a few sips from her glass.
Sylvia paused with her own drink halfway to her lips and stared at Topaz in surprise.
"The IPC's intelligence network can even track the movements of a Lord Ravager?"
An Emanator wasn't like an ordinary target. Once one ventured into an uncharted region, anyone trying to follow or investigate them would be left wandering blind, forced to take long detours.
That was simply how unreasonable a universe divided by Imaginary energy could be.
Topaz only smiled at Sylvia's surprise. She neither confirmed nor denied anything.
In truth, luck had played a large part in obtaining this particular piece of intelligence.
Under normal circumstances, tracking a Lord Ravager would've been almost impossible, but Topaz saw no reason to explain that.
There wasn't any point in advertising the IPC's weaknesses.
"Would you like to know?"
"…Are you going to charge me Credits?"
"Of course not. I'm a member of the Strategic Investment Department, not someone who thinks about nothing but Credits."
Topaz tilted her head back and took a generous drink.
"Investment, returns, and mutually beneficial cooperation. That's the purpose of investment."
She wiped the corner of her mouth and got straight to the point.
"According to the IPC's intelligence, the one heading for Penacony is most likely Zephyro."
"The one who's supposed to rival an entire army by himself? I thought it'd be Celenova. Why him?"
Sylvia didn't know much about Zephyro. She'd only read the few brief records preserved by the Xianzhou.
Celenova served as a vanguard who led the Antimatter Legion into battle, while Zephyro was clearly the type who functioned as an army by himself. At least according to Xianzhou records, Zephyro preferred to act personally rather than let the Antimatter Legion sweep everything aside.
There was one other detail. Welt had once mentioned someone capable of setting whole star systems ablaze, and he might've been referring to Zephyro.
Whatever the truth, they were both Lord Ravagers, but Zephyro was undoubtedly stronger than Phantylia.
"I'm not sure why," Topaz said, shaking her head. "If it were Celenova, we'd expect a huge force from the Antimatter Legion to be heading for Penacony as well."
That went beyond what even the IPC could discover.
"Hmm…"
Sylvia thought it over. She wasn't sure which of the two was stronger, Mei or Zephyro.
Would they be able to kill him when the time came?
Back on the Luofu, if Phantylia had been more cautious and fled sooner, Mei might not have managed to cut her down so thoroughly.
Seeing Sylvia frown as she sank into thought, Topaz smiled.
"Would you like some help? Diamond, the head of the Strategic Investment Department and my direct superior, is every bit as formidable as Zephyro."
Sylvia gave her an unimpressed look. Diamond's actual strength wasn't even the main issue.
"…You think I can casually summon the head of one of the IPC's largest departments?"
"That's because you don't understand how we operate. We're the IPC. We're the Strategic Investment Department. Unlike the Xianzhou's generals, our department head would gladly act in person if the deal were worthwhile."
Topaz was exaggerating, but she wasn't exactly lying. The IPC was still the IPC. If a sufficiently valuable opportunity appeared, there was a real chance Diamond would personally take action.
Sylvia's current value simply wasn't high enough to justify it. Topaz was making an attractive promise that she couldn't yet guarantee.
She also knew that Sylvia had a good relationship with the Xianzhou, so she'd deliberately used its generals as a comparison. The previous crisis had occurred on the Luofu, which was why the General of Divine Foresight had joined Sylvia in fighting the enemy.
This time, however, the crisis was unfolding in Penacony. Given the Xianzhou Alliance's circumstances, it clearly wouldn't send one of its generals to provide free assistance.
From Topaz's perspective, the arrival of a Lord Ravager was also an opportunity she could exploit. Whether the Family could stop him or not, one careless mistake might leave Penacony in ruins, and the Family wouldn't even have anywhere to go and cry about it.
If the IPC could intervene somehow, it wouldn't need to accomplish much. Simply entering the Asdana star system with a military force would create a breach in the Family's defenses.
All in all, Topaz was extremely pleased with the chaos surrounding Penacony. The Family still had a firm grip on the situation, and it had kept opportunistic bounty hunters and terrorists outside, preventing any serious unrest.
Even so, Penacony would clearly become much livelier in the near future. That would give her the perfect chance to fish in troubled waters.
Topaz could tell that Sylvia wasn't especially interested in forming an alliance and probably had plenty of secrets she had no intention of sharing. Still, the thought that Sylvia had helped create the current situation made Topaz extremely fond of her.
An alliance would be ideal, but it didn't matter if Sylvia refused. As long as she kept doing what she was doing, Topaz would eventually find an opportunity she could seize.
Besides, Sylvia was even cuter in person than she'd appeared in the recordings. Topaz almost wanted to pull her into a hug and ruffle her hair.
Sylvia couldn't possibly guess everything going through Topaz's mind, but it wasn't hard to tell that Topaz's proposal had to benefit the IPC. Otherwise, she wouldn't be promoting it so eagerly or borrowing Diamond's reputation to make the offer sound more convincing.
Topaz's pitch was built on two assumptions: that she didn't know the true extent of Sylvia's forces, and that Sylvia was genuinely worried about handling the Lord Ravager.
In reality, Sylvia wasn't in any hurry to devise a plan against Zephyro. No matter how appealing Topaz made the offer sound, Sylvia gave her no commitment.
There was no chance she'd use those terms to establish cooperation with Topaz. She'd immediately place herself in a weaker position, and the IPC's interests would inevitably take priority.
Clink.
Their glasses met in the quiet room.
"Cheers."
Despite everything running through their minds, the two of them drank together quite happily.
After seeing Sylvia's reaction to the news about Zephyro, Topaz realized that she must still have another card to play. She simply couldn't tell what it was.
The IPC wasn't all-powerful. Sylvia tended to appear in places like the Xianzhou Luofu and Penacony, neither of which the IPC could infiltrate at will.
Topaz knew that Sylvia seemed to be involved in a major project at Herta Space Station and had dealings with several members of the Genius Society. What she didn't know was that Ruan Mei was currently conducting research on Sylvia's planet and had even modified Sylvia herself.
"Come to think of it, you've been in Penacony for quite a while," Topaz said as she drank. "Have you solved the mystery of the Watchmaker's Legacy yet?"
She'd nearly forgotten about that particular puzzle.
Some people outside Penacony had connected the recent chaos to the Watchmaker's Legacy, but Topaz knew those stories were only rumors. No one had yet uncovered what the legacy actually was.
"Hmm…"
Sylvia had heard about it from Micah. Once he'd learned that she was a member of the Astral Express, he'd told her that the Watchmaker's Legacy lay behind the cemetery in Dreamflux Reef.
Sylvia simply hadn't gone there yet. She intended to wait until Himeko and the others arrived.
After all, Himeko was the Astral Express's navigator in this generation. Both sentiment and reason suggested that she should be the one to witness it.
"I've found a few clues, but I haven't uncovered it yet," Sylvia said, shaking her head. "I'm planning to wait until Himeko and the others reach Penacony. Right now, I'm more interested in the auction."
"The auction…"
Topaz gently swirled the wine in her glass. Even now, she still couldn't figure out what Sylvia was planning.
Surely she wasn't doing all this just to hold an auction.
Was it some grand gathering for the Masked Fools?
Given the Masked Fools' usual behavior, that wasn't impossible. Still, as far as Topaz could tell, Sylvia wasn't the sort of person who'd willingly sit at the same table as them.
--+--
At the same time, a starship built in the distinct style of the Xianzhou entered the Asdana star system.
"Ugh…"
The moment they entered a region saturated with Memoria, one of the passengers pressed a hand to her forehead as discomfort swept through her body.
Yukong, who represented the delegation on this trip, glanced toward an elderly man beside her. Despite his perfectly ordinary appearance, he showed no signs of discomfort.
The young girl he'd brought with him wasn't doing as well. She held her forehead and looked as though she might be sick.
"Ha ha, Yunli, there's no need to force yourself if you're feeling unwell. You can return to your room and rest."
"I-I'm not—ugh! I'm fine! I just need a moment."
Yukong pressed her lips together to hide a smile as she watched the child stubbornly endure it.
She was rather cute.
"Oh, so this is the Asdana star system? Yunli, come over here and let me have a look at you."
Bailu had been leaning against the observation window, staring outside. She hurried over to Yunli in a few quick steps and raised her gourd, ready to examine her.
"Ah… Thank you, Lady Bailu."
Despite Bailu's small size, Yunli showed her no disrespect.
Yukong watched Bailu's tail sway from side to side. The young Vidyadhara was clearly in an excellent mood.
What Yukong couldn't understand was how Jing Yuan had managed to persuade the Vidyadhara Preceptors to let Bailu leave the Xianzhou alone. Not a single Vidyadhara attendant had accompanied her.
There was only a Vidyadhara woman from the Zhuming. Since she also studied medicine, she'd grown close to Bailu over the past few days.
To be honest, Yukong had felt from the beginning that Jing Yuan was deliberately removing Bailu from the situation on the Luofu. Her instincts told her that he was probably planning something.
Bailu, as usual, hadn't given it a second thought. The moment she heard that she'd be allowed to leave the Xianzhou and even visit Sylvia, she'd been beside herself with joy.
Yukong watched Yunli's symptoms ease and silently sighed.
Whatever Jing Yuan was planning had nothing to do with the Helm Master of the Sky-Faring Commission.
What troubled her more was whether the current situation was truly serious enough to require the personal presence of a Xianzhou general. Weren't they only answering Sylvia's invitation and traveling to Penacony to join the festivities?
That was what Jing Yuan had told her at the beginning.
Yukong had prepared accordingly. She'd only brought a handful of people Sylvia already knew, intending to travel under the Luofu's banner and enjoy a quiet vacation in Penacony.
Then Jing Yuan had introduced the unassuming elderly man accompanying them.
He was the general of the Zhuming.
The revelation had nearly made Yukong jump out of her skin. He didn't look anything like the recordings she'd seen.
He claimed that he was merely taking his granddaughter out to see the wider universe. But if sightseeing was really all he wanted, why would he choose an event like this?
Why had he also joined the delegation anonymously?
Whenever Yukong remembered that she was somehow supposed to lead a group containing someone like him, her head began to ache.
Her concern only deepened after they heard that a Lord Ravager intended to cause trouble in Penacony.
Surely two Emanators weren't going to start fighting there.
Probably not…
The Xianzhou had countless delves separating its spaces, yet the sudden eruption of the Ambrosial Arbor had still nearly torn the Luofu apart. Yukong couldn't imagine what Penacony would look like if a Lord Ravager arrived with an army.
The Xianzhou delegation itself was small. Even including the three people from the Zhuming, they numbered fewer than ten.
That was mostly because the Xianzhou didn't share the IPC's long history of conflict with the Family. Bringing a few extra people shouldn't cause any problems.
Once they reached Penacony, Yukong planned to speak with Sylvia first and learn what was really happening. Rumors had been spreading everywhere lately. One claimed that an Emanator had descended, while another claimed a battle had already begun.
Some people said a Stellaron would soon appear in Penacony and cut the planet off from the rest of the universe. Others claimed that the Family had betrayed its principles and become followers of Order.
Yukong could dismiss some of those stories, but others were impossible to judge. She couldn't tell how many had been spread by the Family and how many had come from people with their own agendas.
Even the story Jing Yuan had told her about the mask of an Emanator of Elation being placed up for auction sounded absurd.
Would anyone truly believe something like that?
Then again, if it was true, Yukong didn't dare imagine what they might encounter during this trip to Penacony.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL