Inside a warehouse somewhere on the New World's coast, using a puppet mark drawn with fresh blood, Dorothy controlled the man Kapak had knocked unconscious, making him stand up. She looked at the label on the cloth covering in front of her, and her main body, sitting by the fire, nodded in understanding.
'New Jacques? If I remember correctly, this is Prit's colonial city on the New World's east coast, right? So, this is the port of New Jacques Port now?'
Thinking this, Dorothy controlled the man's body and walked to the warehouse window to look outside. Using the man's vision, Dorothy saw a silent dock under the scattered night lights outside the window. In the distance, she could see the blurry outlines of several parked steamships. There were a few security guards in uniform patrolling the dark dock, and in some areas, she could still see workers pulling all-nighters moving things.
'It really is a port... If I recall correctly, New Jacques Port should be one of Prit's largest ports in the New World colonies. Are those guys trying to ship Kapak and this batch of goods with ""Silent"" Spirituality out?'
Dorothy by the fire thought this. Then she controlled the man to move his gaze away from the port outside the window and began to carefully examine himself. She found that the Living Puppet she was controlling this time was wearing a dock security personnel uniform, and it wasn't quite the same as the other security guards he had seen outside.
'It seems this guy is still a security guard. However, since he just specifically came to check on Kapak, and he has the key to the wooden box outside Kapak's iron cage, this proves that he is connected to the society that attacked Kapak and the Wilderness Spirit.'
Dorothy looked at the security uniform on the Living Puppet. Dorothy thought this. Then she made this security guard Living Puppet start searching himself. After a while, he pulled out a series of items: a pistol, a small knife, talismans, bone artifacts, identification, keys, and two iron coins...
There were two types of these talismans, both with ""Silent"" Spirituality. One type Dorothy recognized; it was a Spirit Sealing Talisman, which could suppress and seal a spirit body within an artifact. Dorothy had seen this item on the assassin Kim previously on the train to Tivian. Dorothy didn't recognize the other type. She didn't have a way to make the puppet use active skills, so she couldn't appraise it with Appraisal.
In addition, there were obvious traces of ""Silent"" on the bone artifact found. Dorothy, who had seen a Bonecrafter before, knew that a spirit was attached to it. It should be a spirit that this security guard carried with him for combat, but it was ambushed and knocked unconscious before he could release it. As for the two iron coins, they were clearly storage items of ""Silent"" Spirituality.
Finally, there was the identification. Dorothy checked the identification on the security guard and found that he was named Tom. He was not just a security guard, but also a security Captain, responsible for the night security of the warehouses in the New Jacques Port area.
'Tom... Heh, with so many Extraordinary-related things on him, this security Captain is an Extraordinary, at least a ""Silent"" Apprentice. That society probably wanted to ensure the safety of the goods, which is why they developed the security Captain into a member.'
'After all, if they want to conveniently transport so many goods across the ocean, they must use large ports. Using these mundane ports means using mundane warehouses. Their Extraordinary materials will be mixed with ordinary goods, so naturally, they need to put some security measures in place.'
After checking the items on the security Captain, Dorothy thought to herself. Having brushed up on the world's geography knowledge in the Crown University library, she knew that Dankoto was located in the Principality of Brito on the Main Continent. Shipping it from New Jacques required crossing the ocean, which was quite a long distance.
Just as Dorothy was using the security Captain Tom to observe the surroundings, Kapak, who was still locked in the cage, finally couldn't sit still. He lowered his voice and called out to the standing figure in front of him.
"Hey, you, are you... Detective Mr.?"
"Oh... so it's Kapak. I almost forgot about you. Wait a moment, let me see if I can let you out."
Hearing Kapak's voice, Tom, under Dorothy's control, said understandingly. Then he walked to Kapak's cage, squatted down, picked up the keys found on Tom, and started trying them on Kapak's cage lock. After a while, he finally succeeded in opening the lock, successfully releasing Kapak. After Kapak was successfully free, he immediately crawled out of the cage, took a few deep breaths, and stretched his limbs.
"Phew... Thank you, Captain, Detective Mr.. If it weren't for Captain, I really don't know what I would have done today!"
Kapak said gratefully to Tom, who was controlled by Dorothy. Having experienced his body being controlled, he knew that the controller of the person in front of him was clearly the Detective. Dorothy also made Tom nod in response.
"Well, if you want to thank someone... go thank Aka and the Scholar. I am merely entrusted by others and enlightened by a higher power." Through Tom's mouth, Dorothy responded to Kapak. After hearing this, Kapak also closed his eyes and began to pray seriously, thanking Aka. After Dorothy heard Kapak's thanks again in her mind, she spoke again.
"You are free now. What are your plans next?"
"I must return to the tribe immediately! I will return to the tribe and report that scoundrel Banu to Teacher Uta, so his tribe can see his true face, and I will immediately ask Teacher Uta to see how Lord Wooden Hoof is doing now!"
Kapak said eagerly to Dorothy. Hearing the other party mention the Wilderness Spirit Wooden Hoof, Dorothy raised an eyebrow slightly and made Tom glance sideways at the large pile of crated goods next to them, ready to be shipped to Dankoto, which emitted faint traces of ""Silent"".
"Regarding the Spirituality on this pile of things... do you feel anything?"
Dorothy had Tom point to the pile of stacked boxes. Kapak was slightly startled upon seeing this, then walked a few steps closer to the wooden boxes. After carefully examining them, his brows couldn't help but furrow slightly.
"This feeling... this feeling is essences, it's Lord Wooden Hoof's essences! These... these are essences trapped inside!" Using the Seer's sensitive perception of spirits, Kapak quickly discovered the problem within these boxes. He saw that what was inside the boxes was none other than the essences he was most familiar with.
"Are they all essences inside... Hmph, it seems these guys' purpose is quite obvious."
Looking at the pile of wooden boxes in front of her, Dorothy by the fire snorted coldly and said. Then she controlled Tom again and spoke to Kapak.
"I think... the Wilderness Spirit named Wooden Hoof you are looking for, and the essences around it, might all be sealed inside these boxes now."
"What? Captain, Captain, you mean Lord Wooden Hoof was sealed inside here by those invaders?" Listening to Dorothy's words, Kapak was stunned for a moment. Then he looked at the pile of wooden boxes nearby and spoke again.
"Why would those invaders do that?"
"Heh... Eight out of ten times, it's for Spirituality. You might not know about the various Extraordinary societies on the Main Continent. A considerable portion of these guys are completely unscrupulous when it comes to advancement and Spirituality."
Dorothy made Tom let out a cold laugh and say. By now, Dorothy had seen quite a few evil Extraordinary societies. The biggest difference between these evil societies and official Extraordinary organizations was their unscrupulous methods of accumulating Spirituality. They would do whatever was most efficient, without any moral constraints. For example, the group on the Placenta side used the Blood Food method to eat people, so she wasn't surprised at all that there were people who directly ate souls in the ""Silent"" society.
In fact, because Dorothy was working on the Holy Emblem recently, she was occasionally consulting Beverly and Adele for information on the major societies. The Netherworld Coffin Society was a key focus among them. In the rough information Dorothy had learned from Beverly, the Netherworld Coffin Society had a huge influence within the ""Silent"" society. They used a Soul Refining method that directly refined souls to obtain Spirituality, and used this to gain Spirituality. Therefore, Dorothy had reason to conclude that these essences were captured to be refined.
"Spirituality... These Extraordinary among the invaders attacked our Wilderness Spirits just for Spirituality? Damn it... Then I must release Lord Wooden Hoof and the others before I leave!"
As soon as he heard that Wooden Hoof and the spirit bodies of other essences might be inside this pile of boxes, Kapak's heart grew anxious. He immediately stepped forward, preparing to open those wooden boxes. Dorothy did not stop Kapak but had Tom watch silently from the side.
The loading time for this batch of goods was 6 AM on the fifth. Dorothy calculated the time difference; the time on the New World's east coast was currently around 1 AM on the fifth. This meant that in just a few more hours, this batch of goods would be loaded and set off for Dankoto. If they wanted to rescue the essences inside, they could only do it now.
Under Dorothy's gaze, Kapak used the remaining Life Devour effect on his body to forcibly pry open a long, rectangular wooden box. What appeared inside the wooden box was a wooden black coffin in the style of the Main Continent, with spell inscriptions carved on it. Seeing this wooden coffin, Dorothy's brows furrowed slightly.
According to the information Dorothy had received, the Netherworld Coffin Society was called that mainly because they heavily used various Extraordinary items in the shape of coffins. Among these, the most important was the Soul Restraining Coffin, which could confine souls. Seeing the coffin before her eyes, Dorothy immediately suspected that the society was likely the Netherworld Coffin Society.
'Well, I was just studying them, I didn't expect to encounter them in the New World...'
Dorothy was thinking this, while Kapak continued his actions, preparing to forcibly open the Corpse Coffin immediately. However, as he exerted force to open the coffin, something unexpected happened.
Just as Kapak was pulling a gap in the Corpse Coffin, several inscriptions on the coffin lit up. Immediately after, a pale white female Ghost drilled directly out of the coffin lid. With a knife stuck in her neck, she glanced at Kapak in front of her and Tom not far away with indifferent eyes, then opened her mouth, as if to let out a piercing scream. Her entire spirit body floated upwards.
Seeing this scene, Kapak was stunned in place. Fortunately, Dorothy was quick-witted and immediately controlled Tom's body. By consuming Spirituality reserves, she then slapped the female Ghost that drilled out of the coffin lid with the Sealing Spirit Talisman in her hand, placing the talisman on her forehead. Before she could fly up, and before her scream could fully escape, the female Ghost was directly slapped back into the coffin lid and resealed. The talisman in Tom's hand also burned to ashes.
"Hide quickly! Hurry!"
After pressing the female Ghost back, Dorothy had Tom say to Kapak. Kapak paused slightly after hearing this, then immediately listened to Dorothy's words and hid behind a pile of goods. Dorothy then had Tom close the box containing the Corpse Coffin again and waited silently in place. After waiting for a long time with no movement, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew... Come out, it seems like they didn't notice."
Tom said to Kapak, and after Kapak came out of his hiding place, he looked at the box with lingering fear, then said to Tom.
"Detective, that Ghost just now was..."
"I'm afraid it's some kind of early warning measure. That Ghost should have been sealed on the coffin lid. If the Corpse Coffin is forcibly opened, it will trigger its release to scream everywhere and attract people with Spiritual perception who can hear it. These guys spent some effort to prevent their things from being stolen."
Dorothy had Tom reply to Kapak. If she hadn't reacted quickly and acted in time just now, letting that female Ghost fly out and scream everywhere, the other society members near the port would definitely have rushed over after hearing it.
Besides Tom, there must be other people hidden in various places around here. However, only Tom has the identity of a Security Captain, which makes it convenient for him to move freely. If the others are not official port staff, it is inconvenient for them to move around the port late at night. This is the port of the Prit colonial government. If these society members don't want to attract the official Extraordinary organizations here, they cannot act openly here, but covert vigilance is definitely indispensable. They absolutely have personnel responsible for emergencies in hidden places near the warehouse.
It is clear that the "Silent" society put in a lot of effort to prevent accidents with the goods waiting to be shipped in this warehouse. Not only did they arrange an Extraordinary as the warehouse security Captain, but they also arranged a Ghost as an alarm mechanism attached to the coffin lids. From the looks of it, each of these forty-odd boxes containing sealed essences has a Ghost alarm. It seems now that the other talismans on Tom, which he still doesn't understand, are probably used to notify other society members.
Because this batch of goods is going through secular maritime channels, these society members cannot stay by the goods and guard them completely the whole time, but that doesn't mean they don't have security measures. If Dorothy had been slow to act just now, that Ghost might have gone screaming to find its controller, and the other party wouldn't be too far from here.
"Detaining spirits for early warning? These guys actually have such methods?" Listening to Tom's words, Kapak frowned, looking at the large pile of boxes in front of him, and then spoke.
"So many boxes... do they all have that kind of early warning measure? Detective, in that case, won't we be able to release the essences and Wooden Hoof Mr. and them freely? If that's the case, I might as well go back to the tribe first and let Teacher Uta contact Shamans from other tribes to deal with those invaders!"
"No... there's no time for you to go back now. In a few more hours, these goods will be loaded onto ships and sent to our continent."
"Loaded onto ships and sent away? This..."
Kapak's voice faltered with worry. He scratched his head with a dejected expression, thinking of a solution. Tom also looked at the pile of boxes in front of him with a serious expression. If they rashly opened the Corpse Coffins now, they would have no way to deal with the warning Ghosts. Tom only had one Sealing Spirit Talisman on him, and it had just been used. If they opened the coffins again now, they would have no means to deal with these warning Ghosts.
Kapak is just an Apprentice Seer. He can communicate with ordinary lone Ghosts, but he has no way to deal with Ghosts controlled by Black Earth or even Chalk-tier "Silent" Extraordinary. Not to mention Dorothy, who only has one Living Puppet here.
Unable to deal with the Ghost's warning means they cannot open the Corpse Coffins to release the essences. In a few more hours, this batch of goods will be loaded onto ships and set sail for Dankoto, and they will lose the opportunity. The security measures on that ship will only be stricter.
'Trouble... If I release these essences now, it will definitely attract all the Netherworld Coffin people. If I don't release them, they will be directly loaded onto the ship and sent away. Although Kapak was successfully rescued, it's a bit unwilling to just give this batch of essences to the Netherworld Coffin Society cult like this...'
Dorothy thought this in her heart. Her combat power here in the New World is only one Living Puppet, so she definitely doesn't want to have a head-on conflict with the Netherworld Coffin Society. And now, due to time constraints, there's no time to call for reinforcements.
'Hiss... It's a bit tricky. I can't open the Corpse Coffins directly to release the spirits, I can't call for reinforcements, and I only have a few hours... How can I prevent such a large pile of essences from falling into the hands of the Netherworld Coffin? I can't just openly move all forty-plus boxes out... Stealing from the warehouse so brazenly will definitely be discovered by people outside... Hmm, moving boxes?'
Suddenly, sitting by the stove fire, Dorothy had a thought. She began to control Tom, carefully examining the other piles of goods in the warehouse.
This port warehouse is very large, with many goods inside, all sorted and packed into piles. In Dorothy's observation, she found that these goods were all shipped from New Yak Port to various countries on the Main Continent, and were almost all loaded onto ships between early morning and morning today.
Through the labels on the goods, Dorothy discovered that these goods were sorted according to the different ships they were loaded onto, and the destination of each ship was different, heading to different countries and ports.
After realizing this, Dorothy had an idea in her mind. She controlled Tom to search carefully within the warehouse, checking the label information on each pile of goods one by one, while Kapak looked on in confusion.
Finally, Dorothy found a pile of goods not far from the essences. After looking at the label information on it, her eyes lit up.
"Cargo - Tobacco 45 boxes, Origin - New Yak Port, Destination - Tivian, Loading Time December 5th 4 AM, Loading Ship - Endeavor, Serial Number..."
Looking at the labels on this batch of goods, Dorothy looked at this pile of goods again. The rectangular wooden boxes stacked on top were almost identical to the boxes used by the Netherworld Coffin Society to pack Corpse Coffins. The number was not much different, and they were stacked to about the same height.
"This is it..."
Looking at the pile of goods in front of her, a smile appeared on Dorothy's lips by the stove fire. Then she controlled Tom to walk quickly to Kapak, who was still looking troubled. After patting his shoulder, she said.
"Hey, kid, there's work."
"Work?"
Listening to Dorothy's words, Kapak looked at Tom with a puzzled expression, and Tom then pointed his thumb at the pile of tobacco not far away that was to be sent to Tivian, and then spoke.
"Now, the two of us will immediately move boxes. Swap the positions of this pile of goods, that pile of goods, and that pile of goods over there. Remember to be quiet and don't make any noise."
...
Well... as you can see, I'm severely stuck on writing again. The result of constantly being stuck is that it takes longer and longer each day to slowly grind out chapters, and then my schedule collapses again.
So, I'll take a day off as usual every month. I'll take a day off tomorrow to see if I can ease the writing block and schedule.