Tivian North Suburb, Green Shade Town, outside the East Gate of Royal Saint Crown University.
In Green Shade Town during winter, the sky was cold and gray. A thin layer of white frost quickly formed on the road and lawn where light rain had just fallen. The road became slippery in places due to the partial freezing, requiring extra caution when walking to avoid falling.
As the New Year approached, some houses in Green Shade Town began to decorate for the New Year. Leaf rings woven from green leaves and tender branches were hung under the eaves, and a simple altar to one of the Three Saints, roughly carved from wood, was placed by the door. Small flags printed with the sun emblem were also hung on the rooftops.
In the tradition of the Shining Light Church, the New Year is considered the day when the Radiant Savior successfully expelled the evil gods and achieved a great victory. Legend has it that the Shining Light Church set this day as the beginning of the new year. The first Sunday a month after the New Year is the day when the Radiant Savior officially returned to the Sun Palace, leaving the world to be guarded by the Three Saints, into whom he had transformed during the process of saving the world. Therefore, this day is also known as Ascension Day and is an important festival for the Shining Light Church.
Although there were some households in Green Shade Town that decorated their doors for the New Year, they were not many. This was mainly because most residents here were students from wealthy families at Crown University, and Crown University had holidays during the New Year, so students would go home for the festival. Thus, there was no need to bother with decorations. Among the very few houses that had simple decorations, Number 17 was one of them.
A cold wind blew through the streets of Green Shade Town. Inside House Number 17, which had a simple Holy Mother altar placed at the door, a crackling fire in the hearth was driving away the chill in the living room.
Dorothy, her long silver-white hair loose, wearing a light blue padded housecoat and white wool slippers, was sitting on a single sofa by the fireplace. On the coffee table in front of her was a steaming cup of coffee. Beside the coffee were several scattered books. Dorothy herself held an opened, yellowed old book and was currently reading its contents with a focused expression.
What Dorothy was reading at this time was a secret transmission, sent by the An Yin Bureau through the White Stone Craftsmen's Guild. Yesterday, after Dorothy parted ways with Misha, the latter quickly fulfilled her promise. The Bureau provided three secret transmissions previously confiscated from societies as payment and sent them to the "Detective". The postal service of the White Stone Craftsmen's Guild was quite efficient; the secret transmissions were delivered to Dorothy the next day for same-city mail.
Misha followed the previous agreement with Detective Ed. The secret transmissions sent were those Dorothy currently needed for Spirituality. Out of the three secret transmissions in total, two were for 'Lamp' and one was for'Shadow'. The one Dorothy was holding at this moment was one of the two 'Lamp' secret transmissions, titled "Faith and Holiness".
...
The author of this book, "Faith and Holiness", was a Scholar who was very familiar with the otherworld. He was very interested in the development and attitude of the Shining Light Church's faith, so he conducted some research.
In this secret transmission, the author stated the Shining Light Church's unquestioning and absolute support for the faith of the Three Saints. For them, anything that touched upon or attempted to change the faith of the Three Saints was absolutely not allowed. In areas influenced and radiated by the Shining Light Church, any sign of otherworld or otherworld faith spreading among the populace would provoke a strong reaction from the Shining Light Church.
In the text, the author cited several actions taken by the Shining Light Church due to issues with otherworld and otherworld faith, ranging from eliminating a society to launching a war. They launched purges and even replaced a country's government, all aimed at ensuring the absolute mainstream status of the Three Saints' faith in that country.
Among the examples pointed out in the author's text, the largest scale one was against the peninsula country of Iweig. Several hundred years ago, because its Royal Family had long inherited the Wave Path, it was corrupted by the Ebergrass Church for a long time, leading to the open worship of the Abyssal Serpent. The Shining Light Church organized the surrounding countries of Iweig to launch a holy war against Iweig and successfully defeated it. After purifying the country of the Abyssal Serpent faith, they supported other factions within the Royal Family to take power.
In historical records, the traces of this holy war were downplayed. The names of the Ebergrass Church and the Abyssal Serpent were erased, and it was explained as a normal military conflict that broke out between Iweig and its neighboring countries.
'The Shining Light Church really places high importance on otherworld and otherworld faith. It's fine if these otherworld and otherworld faiths develop slowly hidden within the otherworld, but once they cross the boundary and spread from the otherworld to the mundane populace, they will immediately face severe suppression. This suppression can even reach the level of war. Even if the Ebergrass Church successfully controlled a country, it couldn't win a holy war against the Shining Light Church...'
After finishing the secret transmission in her hand, Dorothy thought to herself. She mused that the Aka faith she had established only had a few followers so far, which was far from reaching the level of importance that would concern the Shining Light Church. As long as she wasn't crazy enough to preach to the masses, the people from Light would essentially not come looking for her.
"From the current intelligence, although the Shining Light Church will also actively attack and clear out societies of otherworld and otherworld divine faith, their intensity won't be as high as a national government agency like the An Yin Bureau. However, once otherworld and otherworld divine faith develops to the point of preaching to the masses, they will immediately strike hard, showing strength much greater and more violent than government agencies like the An Yin Bureau. To eradicate other faiths that have grown large, they can even resort to launching wars..."
Dorothy summarized and murmured in her heart. Then she placed the finished secret transmission on the coffee table in front of her. After picking up the coffee from it and taking another sip, she picked up another 'Lamp' secret transmission with one hand and began to read it.
This secret transmission was an incomplete translation, translating part of another secret transmission titled "Holy Fire".
...
"Holy Fire" was originally a secret transmission written in the empire language. The translation provided by Misha translated some of its content, which can be summarized.
The original text of "Holy Fire" was a hymn, praising the Light King. The hymn described a world-shaking battle of the Light King in the Dawn War. His opponent was called the World-Burning Giant.
In the description of the hymn, the World-Burning Giant was a giant countless times taller than mountains, with his entire body burning with raging flames. Wherever he went, he would burn the sky and the earth, turning everything into fire. He was inherently warlike and once challenged and wrestled with the Lord of Mountains. After being defeated, he was trapped deep within the earth by the Lord of Mountains. He spent thousands of years melting through the seal and almost evaporated the young tides. In the battle with the Light King, he was completely defeated and fell.
...
'The World-Burning Giant... sounds like a divine being from the Flame extraordinary path within the 'Lamp' domain, and a rather ancient, fallen god at that. Since the record says he was defeated by the Light King in the Dawn War, then this World-Burning Giant was at least a divine being from the Second Epoch.
'And it also mentioned the Lord of Mountains... According to Beverly, this is another name for the Stone Prince. And that tide... sounds like a divine being from the Wave Path before the Abyssal Serpent, possibly also fallen now...'
After finishing "Holy Fire", Dorothy thought to herself. After reading this secret transmission, she also had some guesses about the situation in the Second Epoch.
'This World-Burning Giant went looking for the Stone Prince to fight, and also went to evaporate the tides... and was finally dealt with by the Light King. It feels like the divine beings of the Second Epoch were the type who would fight at the drop of a hat, clashing quite intensely with each other...'
Dorothy speculated like this in her mind. Then she closed the "Holy Fire" in her hand, placed it back on the coffee table, and picked up the third one from it, which was also the last'Shadow' secret transmission sent by Misha.
After opening it and taking a look, Dorothy found that this was also a type of hymn-like secret transmission, titled "Crown of the Wind King".
...
This book, "Crown of the Wind King," can be said to be an ode specifically written for the Prit Royal Family Despenser. It directly and highly praises the Prit Royal Family Despenser. In the secret transmission, Despenser is referred to as a descendant of the 'Wind Knight,' a noble and distinguished bloodline.
The secret transmission highly praises Despenser, claiming that they will eternally keep their vows, guard the land of Prit, and feel sorrow and regret for a certain 'chaotic event.' Afterwards, it expresses excitement for Despenser's ability to rise again after that 'chaotic event,' and finally specifically emphasizes that Despenser will forever be the unchanging ruler of Prit.
...
'This is actually a secret transmission about the Royal Family. Despenser, the so-called bloodline of the Wind Knight, is quite interesting. What exactly does this Wind Knight refer to? And what is the 'chaotic event' mentioned above? By the name, it sounds like a turmoil...'
After finishing the last secret transmission, Dorothy thought this. She had read the secular history of Prit at the library, and there were indeed some turbulent eras in it, but she didn't know which specific one of these turmoils the 'chaotic event' referred to here?
"Hmm... anyway, I've finally finished reading... These secret transmission information are a bit fragmented, and I can't restore anything yet. Anyway, let's extract the Spirituality first~"
Stretching, Dorothy closed the secret transmission in her hand and placed it back on the coffee table, then leaned on the sofa, closed her eyes, and began to extract Spirituality.
After a while, Dorothy finished extracting the Spirituality from the three secret transmissions. Among them, "Faith and Sacredness" had 3 points of "Light" and 1 point of "enlightenment". "Sacred Fire" had 4 points of "Light", 2 points of "Stone", and 1 point of "enlightenment". And the Spirituality in "Crown of the Wind King" was 2 points of "Shadow", 1 point of "Stone", and 1 point of "enlightenment".
Adding up the original Spirituality, Dorothy's current Spirituality accumulation is as follows.
10 cups, 16 Stone, 6 Shadow, 9 Light, 23 Silence, 30 enlightenment.
'The Spirituality has accumulated almost enough. It's just a little bit short of'Shadow' and 'Light'. I should be able to get it by just buying some. The key now is indeed the Holy Emblem, the Holy Emblem of'Shadow' and 'enlightenment'...'
After checking her current Spirituality status, Dorothy thought to herself. There is already a clue for one of the two missing Holy Emblems, and she is just waiting for that New Year's Eve party.
'The New Year's Eve party not long from now is my chance to get clues about the'Shadow' Holy Emblem, but the key is that I need to come into contact with Duke Barret. How can I create an opportunity to come into contact with a Duke?'
Looking at the flames in the fireplace, Dorothy was seriously thinking in her mind, carefully considering how she should act more than ten days later. Just then, a familiar voice sounded in her mind, and a long prayer was received by her.
"This is... Kapak's prayer?"
Listening to the sound echoing in her mind, Dorothy unexpectedly murmured, then she began to listen carefully to the content of Kapak's prayer, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly.
'The people from Kapak's tribe ran to Tivian to take revenge? Why did this suddenly happen when the New Year is approaching?'
Dorothy thought to herself with quite a bit of surprise. Kapak's prayer just now was for Aka to relay to the Scholar. In this prayer, Kapak explained the unexpected situation that occurred in his tribe. Several radical tribe members were suspected of being fooled by someone and ran to Tivian to cause trouble. Now Kapak is being called by the Shaman of the tribe to also rush over, hoping to stop them and bring them back.
Kapak is currently on his way to the coastal colonial city and doesn't have time to write, so he is contacting the Scholar by relaying a prayer, hoping that he can help him when he arrives in Tivian.
After completely listening to Kapak's prayer, Dorothy immediately responded to him as the Scholar, telling him to turn around and rush over, and that she would meet him when he arrived in Tivian. After responding to Kapak, Dorothy couldn't help but stroke her chin thoughtfully and ponder.
'The New Year is approaching, and several New World natives were fooled into coming here to cause trouble... and they were suspected of being fooled by people from the Corpse Coffin. There are many activities in Tivian during the New Year. If these guys really want to carry out some kind of terrorist attack, there are many opportunities... Such a big safety hazard cannot be ignored...'
Dorothy thought this way. A group of New World natives with strong revenge psychology coming to Tivian during the festival. Thinking about it, nothing good will happen.
'Although Kapak is rushing over here, I don't know if he can make it in time. Anyway, I'll first warn the An Yin Bureau over there to strengthen their defenses.'
Dorothy planned this in her mind. Tivian is so big, and Dorothy's current strength definitely can't manage it all, so this matter still has to fall on the An Yin Bureau.
'Afterwards, I'll write another letter to Misha, asking her to remind the General Bureau and the Church to focus on strengthening security during the New Year period to prevent incidents from happening, after all, only they can manage the entire city... At most, I can only help with a little fortune-telling then...'
After thinking about Sado's matter, Dorothy began to tidy up the secret transmissions on the coffee table. When she put all three scattered secret transmissions into the magic box, she unexpectedly found an envelope on the coffee table.
'This is... my letter? Oh... I remember now, this letter seemed to be inside when I took out the secret transmission from the mailbox before. I planned to read it after finishing the secret transmission, I almost forgot...'
Dorothy looked at the envelope on the coffee table and thought to herself. Then she picked up the envelope and carefully observed the information on it, finding that it was sent by Grego.
"It's actually big brother's letter... We just met not long ago, what does he need from me?"
Looking at the letter in her hand, Dorothy murmured, then she opened the envelope, took out the letter inside, and began to read it. After a while, she finished reading the entire letter.
The content of Grego's letter was very simple. It said that the New Year was coming, and he planned to invite Dorothy to come down to the City to have a meal with him on the 31st and spend the New Year together. After all, in this huge Tivian, Dorothy was Grego's only relative, and it was normal for relatives to spend the New Year together.
In the letter, Grego also invited Dorothy to go see the New Year's Eve party together after dinner. On New Year's Eve, there are many party activities throughout Tivian, and Grego chose a relatively eye-catching one, which was the New Year's Eve party hosted by Princess Isabel, and it was also the one Dorothy wanted to take the opportunity to contact Duke Barret at.
"This... means I also have to go to the New Year's Eve party in person?"
Looking at the letter in her hand, Dorothy murmured with a frown. She had originally planned to just let the Corpse Puppet attend, and she would control it remotely as usual, but with Grego's invitation, her main body also had to move. After all, she couldn't meet Grego with a Corpse Puppet, could she?
Looking at the letter in her hand, Dorothy hesitated whether to accept, but after thinking about it, she didn't seem to have any reason not to accept.
After all, if you don't spend the New Year with your family, what else would you do?
"Hmm... it's just a party, it shouldn't be a big deal..."
Stroking her chin, Dorothy said this while looking at the letter paper.