The Mystery

Himeko furrowed her brows upon hearing this. "But this makes no sense, nor does it follow any logic. The Penacony side has absolutely no reason to do something so thankless and exhausting. To offend an Emanator of such significant influence for no reason—no sane person would commit such a bizarre act."

"Indeed. Unless the one who sent this invitation is not the current leader of Penacony, yet possesses the power to force them to acknowledge it... Regardless, let's see what is actually written in this invitation." Xiao Xi lowered her gaze, her hands moving without pause as she tore it open.

"Greetings upon reading this letter:

To the stranger I have never met, hello. Although this is an invitation to the Charmony Festival, I imagine that the moment you first laid eyes on it, you already sensed that something was amiss.

Before anything else, I wish to declare that I do indeed have a goal I wish to achieve, but it is not an act of malicious provocation. To reach my end, I exchanged a memory from a Memokeeper, a task that cost me quite dearly, though fortunately, it was worth the price.

It is the memory of a high-ranking officer of the Moon Sky Planet resistance. As he stood on the verge of death, he sought out that Memokeeper and asked her to preserve his memories. His original intention was simply to ensure that everything regarding Moon Sky Planet would not be forgotten by all, and a Memokeeper is clearly the best candidate to store such a memory.

Having said this, I believe you should now know what my bargaining chip is. I do not need you to do anything more; as long as you are willing to attend this Charmony Festival, I will present this memory to you with both hands.

I harbor no grand ambitions; the ones who truly hold ambition are 'The Family' currently in charge of managing Penacony. My only goal is to fulfill the final wish of someone who has already passed away.

Additionally, please allow me to once again offer my sincerest apologies for my offense toward you. I look forward to our meeting, Miss Xiao Xi."

After reading the contents of the letter, Xiao Xi and Himeko exchanged glances. "This... the amount of information here is truly quite overwhelming. The 'Family' managing Penacony and the person who wrote this invitation are clearly not on the same side."

"So, the reason this so-called grandest Charmony Festival in the galaxy invited so many important figures from such complex and diverse factions is because the one who invited them wasn't The Family at all, but this mysterious letter-writer?"

Himeko's tone was equally heavy. "What's more troublesome is that even with the other party acting in such a manner, The Family actually bit the bullet and acknowledged it. This means that what the other party said in the invitation is likely not entirely fabricated. The Family must truly be hiding something, though I do not know if it is as he claimed—that The Family harbors inappropriate ambitions within Penacony."

"And if the person who sent the invitation does not belong to The Family, then the issues surrounding the invitation previously received by the Astral Express become even greater."

"The invitation received by the Astral Express also has problems?" Hearing Himeko's words, Xiao Xi was startled and quickly pressed for an answer.

"Yes." Himeko nodded, producing a music box from somewhere and setting it to play. "We deciphered a secret code from it—a code that circulates only among the Nameless. And once this code was parsed, it turned out to be a distress signal."

"...What's worse is that after everything we have experienced, we cannot even determine whether this distress signal is real or fake."