North Shore of Conquest, Navaja.
Inside the dim room, the woman named Garcia sat on a single sofa, listening grimly to the words of her subordinate before her. Because of her concern about the presence of the Church's fleet in the port, she had specifically sent someone to inquire about the Church's purpose in coming to Navaja, but the result was quite unexpected.
"You mean... Judge's Inquisitors are on their way now? The Church is gathering people in Navaja?"
With a solemn expression, Garcia spoke to the young man before her, and the other party answered with certainty.
"Yes! Earlier, Pablo and I were looking for dream cocoon targets outside the Church. Pablo chose a Sister in a white habit, and I chose a military officer. In the officer's dream, I asked him the reason why the Church fleet had been docked in the port and hadn't left. He replied that they were waiting for the Inquisitors from Truva. Just as I was about to ask him for more details, Pablo screamed, waking me up. After that, to avoid the people in the Church, I immediately ran back.
"Madam, if there were no signs of otherworld and pagan activities, the Church would not easily send out Inquisitors! Since they are heading here, it must be that we have exposed something and they have detected it..."
With a nervous and worried tone, the young man said to Garcia. After listening to his words, Garcia fell silent for a moment, then, after letting out a sigh of relief, she continued to speak to the young man before her.
"Alright, I understand the general situation. You may go down first."
"Yes..."
Responding to Garcia's words, the young man relaxed his tense expression and retreated, leaving the room shortly after. After the young man left, Garcia turned her head to look to the side. Not far from her, stood Gómez, who also had a serious expression.
"Gómez... do you think... the Church has really detected us?" Garcia said to Gómez, and Gómez slowly replied with a worried tone.
"Judging from the information Pablo and the others gathered tonight... the Church has probably really caught our tail. According to the Church's tradition, if they send Inquisitors to a place, it means they have almost confirmed that there are otherworld and pagan issues that need to be dealt with in this place. This entire Navaja... besides us, there are no other hidden forces..."
Gómez muttered with a worried expression. Because the Church fleet in the port belonged to the Knights, who were military personnel, Gómez had initially thought that they might not have been exposed and that the fleet had come to Navaja for other reasons. But now that even the Inquisitors had been dispatched, such a belief was completely unfounded.
"Hmph... Given the current situation, to say that we haven't been exposed at all is just deceiving ourselves. I didn't expect that after all our effort to conceal and hide, we still revealed a flaw. I wonder to what extent those Fanatics have grasped our information?"
Garcia snorted and rubbed her forehead, speaking with an anxious expression, while Gómez beside her pondered and spoke.
"From the looks of it, although those Fanatics have detected our existence, their understanding should not be too deep, otherwise the Fanatics in the port would have already come knocking. They wouldn't have specifically called for Inquisitors...
"I think there must have been a mistake in our concealment measures somewhere, which caused the Fanatics in the port to notice something was wrong, and then they immediately notified the Inquisitors to come here to investigate... They might even roughly know who we are and what abilities we possess now, and thus are prepared for dream traps. I suspect Pablo died because he ran into their defenses. The Sister he chose for the dream trap is very likely an important figure among this group of Fanatics."
Gómez analyzed calmly. After listening to Gómez's words, Garcia paused slightly, and the anxiety in her eyes deepened.
"So... perhaps those Fanatics in the port were just here to disembark when they first arrived, but in the process... somehow they detected us, and now, in order to investigate us further, they have started calling for Inquisitors to come... Damn it... where did it go wrong?"
Garcia gritted her teeth and muttered. At this moment, Gómez beside her continued to speak with a solemn expression.
"Ms. Garcia, our top priority now is to find a way to deal with those Inquisitors from Truva. Although the Fanatics in the port may not be able to do anything to us for the time being, the situation will be different when the Inquisitors arrive. They are professionals in dealing with hidden organizations like us!
"Ms. Garcia... I think we should withdraw from Navaja while those Inquisitors are not yet in place!"
Gómez suggested to Garcia, but Garcia gave him a cold look and immediately spoke.
"Withdraw? Are you kidding, Gómez... Yes, we can withdraw, but don't forget, the chrysalis cannot be withdrawn. If we all withdraw and leave the chrysalis in Navaja, that's equivalent to giving it away to the Fanatics' Inquisitors for free! All these years of hard work would be completely wasted!"
Garcia said sternly to Gómez. Listening to Garcia's words, Gómez immediately responded.
"Yes... If we withdraw now, it's equivalent to directly abandoning the chrysalis, but Ms. Garcia, if the Inquisitors arrive, they will combine with the Knights in the port to form a powerful force that we cannot resist. Under such a force, it is impossible for us to guard the chrysalis. If we forcefully try to guard it, the final outcome can only be that we and the chrysalis are destroyed together by them!"
Gómez explained urgently to Garcia, hoping that Garcia would agree to his suggestion and withdraw from Navaja before the Inquisitors arrived. After listening to Gómez's words, Garcia did not immediately respond, but pondered for a long time with a serious face, and then slowly opened her mouth to answer.
"No... we cannot abandon the chrysalis..."
"Don't abandon... but Ms. Garcia, if we don't abandon..."
"If we don't abandon it, we also have a way to save the chrysalis... and even save ourselves..." With a solemn expression, Garcia looked at Gómez and said. After listening to Garcia's words, Gómez was slightly startled, and then asked.
"Ms. Garcia, you mean..."
"Gómez, I have decided, I want to accelerate the growth of the chrysalis, and immediately hatch the chrysalis. As long as the thing inside can break out of the chrysalis ahead of time, not only can we retreat unscathed, but we don't even need to care about that group of Fanatics in the port..."
Garcia said to Gómez in an extremely serious tone, and Gómez was stunned for a while after listening, and then slowly spoke.
"Prematurely hatching the chrysalis? Ms. Garcia, doing this carries a great risk. Let's not talk about whether the acceleration will be successful. Even if the acceleration is successful, the thing that breaks out in violation of the normal process will definitely have a lot of inherent problems... The result is uncontrollable... Do we really want to do this?"
"Of course... For both us and the entire organization, the chrysalis must never be easily abandoned. Instead of giving it to those Fanatics and letting it be destroyed, it's better to let it yield results now... no matter what the result becomes..."
Garcia said to Gómez with a serious expression, her expression carrying a sense of desperation. After seeing Garcia's reaction, Gómez nodded silently and said.
"Alright... In that case, we need to move quickly. We must strive to complete the acceleration before the Inquisitors arrive. I wonder if the current number of dream cocoons captured by the chrysalis is enough to support it to complete this acceleration..."
Gómez sighed and muttered. Since he didn't know when the Inquisitors would arrive in Navaja, the work of accelerating the chrysalis had to be started immediately.
...
Navaja at night, the port where many Church ships were moored.
Somewhere in the port, under a bright street light, a group of men in Knight uniforms were standing. Among them, the leading officer, Jode, was looking at the scene before him with a solemn expression.
At this time, a stretcher was placed on the ground in front of Jode, and a male corpse with bleeding from the seven orifices and a horrified expression was lying on the stretcher, his eyes full of fear staring at the sky, as if recounting some unimaginable and terrifying scene.
"Has his identity been verified now?"
After looking at the corpse before him twice, Jode asked, and the Vice Captain beside him immediately replied.
"Reporting, Captain... We have asked the residents around the Church to identify him, but no one knows him, so his specific identity cannot be confirmed for the time being.
"The only thing we can understand now is that he is definitely not an ordinary person. We found a rune with the meaning of'Shadow' on him, so he must be someone involved in something hidden."
The Vice Captain reported seriously to Jode. After listening to the Vice Captain's words, the expression in Jode's eyes became even more solemn.
"An extraordinary person suspected of being a'Shadow', suddenly died violently near the Church with bleeding from the seven orifices... I've been sailing for so many years, and this is the first time I've seen a situation like this..." Jode said, while taking a cigarette from his pocket and putting it in his mouth. Then he lit it with a match and started smoking. The Vice Captain beside him spoke seriously.
"Captain... could this guy be a remnant of the Sea Abyss Church in this city? Are they currently investigating everywhere, looking for an opportunity for revenge?"
"I don't think so. People related to the Sea Abyss Church are generally engaged in marine-related professions, and most of them are drifting at sea. This guy's skin clearly doesn't look like someone who often goes out to sea. In addition, Sea Abyss Church followers generally have water breath runes on them, but this guy doesn't. Instead, there are some obscure'Shadow' runes, which also don't fit the style of Sea Abyss Church followers..."
Jode said, exhaling smoke and making his judgment. Listening to Jode's words, the Vice Captain beside him spoke with some surprise.
"Not the Sea Abyss Church... Then where did this guy come from? Why did he suddenly die?"
"I don't know about that. The only thing that is relatively clear now is that this small town we casually chose to stop at is far from as simple as it looks...
"It seems that there will be more issues to hand over later."
Jode muttered while turning his head to look at the dark town next to him. The sudden death of the man before him had already made him realize the hidden clues in this ordinary small town.
"When will those guys from the Judge arrive?"
Jode turned to ask the Vice Captain beside him, and the Vice Captain immediately replied.
"According to the news from Truva in the evening, the Inquisitors have just set off and are expected to arrive here in two days."
"Two more days? I hope they can come as soon as possible. Now... it's not just the matter of the Sea Abyss Church that needs them to handle."
Jode said slowly. At this time, he had almost determined that there was a hidden organization in Navaja that was not the Sea Abyss Church. Now he just needed to wait for the arrival of the Inquisitors and hand over all the clues to them. With this sudden incident, Jode could already foresee how busy the Inquisitors would be later.
...
Navaja at night, in a high-end hotel.
Dorothy, who had just finished bathing, was sitting by the warm fire pit. Having just helped Vanya expel the threat in her dream, she was thinking about everything that had just happened. She hadn't expected that in this ordinary coastal town, there would actually be other hidden organizations.
'I felt like this city was a bit off before. I didn't expect that there was actually an organization hidden here, and it's a ""Shadow"" organization that can invade other people's dreams.
'These guys suddenly invaded Vanya's dream, desperately searching for information about the Church. It seems they were intimidated by the sudden arrival of the Church fleet. The presence of the Church fleet made them feel uneasy, so they wanted to use this method of pulling people into dreams to confirm the Church's purpose... But unfortunately, they chose the wrong person when selecting the target...'
Dorothy sighed in her heart. At this time, she roughly understood why the mental hospital in the suburbs suddenly wanted to change its sign. This was because they didn't want the Church people to notice that this city strangely had three mental hospitals.
'Based on the current situation, the Narcolepsy and mental hospitals in Navaja are all related to this organization, huh... Unknowingly, I've encountered another organization. Do I have some special constitution?'
Dorothy thought to herself, complaining like this in her heart. However, she didn't dislike this too much at this time. After all, Dorothy was currently short on Spirituality and needed some kind-hearted organizations to contribute. Isn't this exactly what she needed, delivered right to her doorstep?
'Perfect, the Church fleet is still in the port now, so I have a nearby reporting target. With the help of the Church's power, dealing with this organization won't be difficult.
'I just need to find these guys and lead the Church to them. When those guys clash with the Church, I can take advantage of the chaos.'
Sitting by the fire pit, Dorothy thought to herself, a smile appearing on her lips. It had been a while since she had encountered a situation where she could report so conveniently. As long as she found the base and successfully reported it, Dorothy could make a fortune in the chaos, just like she had done before.
'The Church fleet won't stay in the port for too long, so I need to hurry. The mental hospital is the most direct clue right now, I'll start there tomorrow.'
Dorothy thought, rubbing her hands together. She felt that it was time for her to return to her role as an enthusiastic citizen.