Conquering the North Shore, Navaha.
As the moon set and the sun rose, daybreak arrived. After an ordinary night, this small coastal town once again welcomed the morning.
In the late morning, on a small hill in the northwestern suburbs of Navaha, lay a stretch of ruins. Broken city walls and incomplete watchtowers stood amidst scattered bricks and tiles, seemingly the remains of some ancient structure.
Within these ruins, several figures were looking around, appearing to be one or two elderly individuals accompanied by a group of young people.
"Students, this is the ruin of a military fortress. From the architectural style, it should be a product of the Fernando Dynasty, over five hundred years ago. At that time, the Castilla region was still embroiled in war…"
Walking among the ruins, Professor John from Tivian Holy Crown University was giving an on-site lecture to his students about the history of the ruins before them, and the students behind him were listening very attentively.
The exchange students from Holy Crown University had to transfer to a church ship and arrived in Navaha, a small Castilla town not originally in their plans, because the ship they were supposed to take to Iwig had a serious accident.
Although their original plan was disrupted, the touring teachers and students were not in a hurry. Their main goal was to attend a rare cultural relics exhibition in Adria, the city of Iwig, and there was still plenty of time before the exhibition. Therefore, they were not in a rush to find another ship to Iwig, but instead decided to stay in Navaha for two days to visit its historical sites and experience the historical and cultural heritage of Castilla.
As Professor John lectured, the archaeology students from Holy Crown University were touring the ancient ruins, which had been abandoned for an unknown period. Neffy, walking at the end of the group, was one of them. She looked at the desolate scenery around her and couldn't help but think to herself.
'I didn't expect the first stop of this study tour to be Navaha instead of Adria. I originally thought this was just a small city with nothing worth visiting, but after a careful inquiry, I found many ruins…'
Neffy pondered this in her heart. She hadn't expected that Navaha, though appearing small, seemed to possess a profound cultural heritage.
'Last night… Miss Dorothy contacted me overnight, telling me to pay attention to my sleep and try to use lucid dreaming to fall asleep, saying that there was a secret society related to dreams active in this city… A secret society that Miss Dorothy would take seriously, appearing in such a small city, I think this might be related to its relatively profound history…'
While listening to Professor John recount historical tales about Castilla, Neffy thought to herself. She now knew that beneath the city's surface lay surging secret currents.
With a hint of worry, Neffy looked around at the ruins, and as she looked, she saw a girl standing beside her, intently reading a newspaper. It was none other than Emma, her roommate, who had come with her on this study tour.
"Hey, Emma, the professor is lecturing. It's not good to be reading something else like that."
Seeing Emma reading the newspaper, Neffy walked up and whispered to her. Emma paused slightly after hearing Neffy's words, then turned to look at Neffy and spoke softly.
"Oh, come on~ It's fine~ It's just a small city, not much important history worth listening to, it's okay."
Emma said indifferently, then turned her face back to continue looking at the newspaper. Neffy was slightly stunned by her actions and said with some confusion.
"Emma… I remember you don't usually read newspapers, do you? Why are you so focused today? And you bought this in the city, right? Can you understand Castilian?"
"My grandmother was Castilian, so I can read a little… Although I don't usually read newspapers, today's newspaper is different. Look, this is the first time Thief K has been reported in the newspaper!"
With a hint of excitement in her eyes, Emma said this. After hearing Emma's words, Neffy was stunned again, then blinked and spoke with a surprised tone.
"Thief, Thief K? You, you call her that?"
"Of course! Someone as cool, elegant, and graceful as Thief K definitely deserves a respectful title. Is there a problem with that?" Facing her roommate's question, Emma said as if it were obvious. Her reply left Neffy momentarily flustered, unsure how to respond. After a long pause, she finally spoke again.
"There's a big problem! Emma… that Thief K is… is a thief! You actually call a thief 'Lord'?"
"Tsk tsk tsk… If you, Neffy, simply see Thief K as an ordinary thief, then you're too superficial. Have you ever seen a thief send out a warning notice beforehand to inform others before stealing? Have you ever seen a thief dare to openly appear in front of so many people? Didn't you see what happened that night? She practically treated the exhibition venue as her own stage, performing there! Instead of a thief, don't you think such behavior is more like a performer, an artist? And great performers and artists are worthy of praise, aren't they?"
Holding the newspaper, Emma spoke to Neffy as if it were obvious. Listening to Emma's words, Neffy was momentarily at a loss for what to say. After another long pause, she finally spoke with disbelief.
"Performer… artist… Is there really such a way of putting it? No matter what, she's still a thief. Isn't it a bit inappropriate to give a thief such a title and evaluation?"
"Why is it inappropriate? Being both a thief and an artist isn't contradictory. Besides, this way of speaking isn't my invention; it's written in the newspaper. Here, look here and here… these are all articles about Thief K. The author of the article is a famous Falaro poet who was also on the White Pearl that night. In his article, he highly praised Thief K's art of thievery, considering it the best performance he had seen in several years, and found it very romantic. I completely agree with his statement, you know."
After listening to Neffy's words, Emma explained to her with some indignation, pointing to the news reports in the newspaper as she spoke. Listening to Emma, Neffy didn't know what to say again. She clearly hadn't expected that her act of stealing could be commented on in such a way. While she found it incredibly unbelievable, she also felt a strange sensation in her heart.
"There, there are such reports, such articles… can they actually be published in newspapers?"
Neffy spoke with a hint of speechlessness. Just then, Professor John's gaze turned towards them, and he spoke with a slightly stern tone.
"Miss Boyle, Miss Baker, this is still class time. Please do not whisper to each other. Not being in a classroom does not mean there is no discipline."
"Sorry, Professor…"
Listening to John's reminder, Emma and Neffy panicked, then immediately apologized. Emma also immediately put away her newspaper, and both of them quietly prepared to listen attentively.
After seeing Emma and Neffy quiet down, John nodded, and then he continued to explain, gesturing towards a broken wall.
"Do you all see the relief on this wall? This relief depicts a moth. This moth shape, and another even rarer butterfly-shaped symbol, are often seen in many ruins in southern Castilla. Therefore, many people believe that this might have been a noble family that once resided in this area…"
In front of everyone, John explained in great detail. Listening to John's words, Neffy also focused her gaze on the extremely blurry, double-winged insect relief that John was pointing to, and couldn't help but think to herself.
"Moths and butterflies, huh…"
...
In the late morning, also in the suburbs of Navaha, on a certain hillside.
On the high hillside, Dorothy, dressed in a small nightgown, sat on the grassy slope, silently gazing at the seemingly calm city before her.
After what happened last night, Dorothy decided to start investigating the secrets hidden beneath the city, and for now, her best entry point was the mental hospitals in the suburbs. The fact that so many people in Navaha suffered from Slumbering Sickness was clearly due to the hidden secret society operating underground. She might find crucial clues there.
Sitting on the hill, Dorothy controlled her small corpse puppets and simultaneously infiltrated two mental hospitals, conducting a thorough investigation to find any clues. This new round of investigation had been going on for some time now.
Just like her first investigation of the mental hospitals, Dorothy still hadn't found any substantial clues. Apart from the patients' symptoms being highly consistent, there were no other suspicious points in any of the hospitals. The hospital staff all seemed normal, no one made unusual movements, and there were no hidden affairs related to secrets within the mental hospitals.
Manipulating the small corpse puppets, Dorothy monitored the mental hospitals for several hours, but found no clues. Seeing this, Dorothy slightly changed her strategy and chose another method for investigation.
Dorothy used her small corpse puppets to sneak into the mental hospital's archives, secretly reviewing various file information one by one, and finally obtained useful clues.
During her review of the patient roster, Dorothy discovered a phenomenon: many of these patients shared the same surname, and a significant portion of them were related by blood!
"Enrique Lacias... Diego Lacias... Raul Lacias... Diaz Castejon... Alfonso Castejon... Julio Castejon..."
"Tsk... So many people with the same surname... Does this mean many of these patients are blood relatives? Many of them are actually relatives? Could this so-called Slumbering Sickness be a hereditary disease?"
Dorothy murmured with a serious expression, feeling very curious about the phenomenon of these mental patients appearing in various family circles, and her first thought was the possibility of a hereditary disease.
'If it's hereditary, then there's a new direction for investigation. Investigating the families of these people might lead to new discoveries.'
Dorothy thought to herself, and then she immediately acted on it. Unable to find more in the mental hospitals, she shifted her investigation direction to the families of these patients.
Dorothy returned from the suburban hill to the city, then found a restaurant near the city hall and ordered some dim sum to eat. While eating, she had her small corpse puppets infiltrate the city hall.
Soon, Dorothy found Navaha's population archives and began to review and search them.
After several hours of searching, Dorothy, with her efficient information processing ability, quickly found the family information of the admitted patients, knowing the specific addresses of all members of these families in the city, whether they had been admitted or not. And in this process, she discovered another strange phenomenon.
While reviewing family relationships in the population archives, Dorothy found that a large number of patients who were initially thought to be relatives in the mental hospital were actually married couples. It was just that the wives took their husbands' surnames after marriage, so Dorothy initially thought they were blood relatives based on their names alone, but in reality, they were indeed spouses.
'Spouses... If so many of them are spouses, then the hypothesis that Slumbering Sickness is a hereditary disease needs to be reconsidered. In most cases, spouses are not blood relatives, and hereditary diseases do not spread between them. Moreover, from these files, many affected families seem to have marital ties, with one family's admission time earlier than another's. It feels like this disease can spread between non-blood-related families, from the husband's family to the wife's family, and vice versa. It doesn't seem like a hereditary disease...'
Sitting in the restaurant, Dorothy thought to herself. After reviewing all the files, she slowly retrieved her small corpse puppets and then started walking around the streets.
During this process, Dorothy's investigation entered its next stage. Based on the address information obtained from the city hall, Dorothy dispersed her small corpse puppets into the homes of those suffering from Slumbering Sickness, attempting to find useful clues in their houses.
Soon, Dorothy's various small corpse puppets silently infiltrated more than ten households across the city and began searching these homes. During the search, Dorothy found that some of the patients' homes were completely empty and messy, while others still had a few lonely relatives living there. They all seemed somewhat listless and in poor spirits, some directly staring blankly out the window, feeling like early symptoms of Slumbering Sickness.
'Indeed... rather than Slumbering Sickness being a hereditary disease, it's more like a familial infectious disease...'
After a preliminary understanding of the general situation of these dozen or so patient families, Dorothy manipulated the small corpse puppets to conduct a deeper investigation, and in just half an hour, her investigation yielded results.
It was a messy room that no longer had occupants, the entire room was covered in dust, chairs overturned, and bedding torn. From the setup, it seemed to have once been a family of three, but now, presumably, everyone in the family had contracted Slumbering Sickness and been sent away.
In this home, which had been uninhabited for who knew how long, Dorothy found a large wardrobe tightly sealed with a lock. Dorothy had a small mouse corpse puppet chew through the wooden board and then crawl inside the wardrobe. Through the cracks and holes where light shone in, Dorothy saw the following scene.
On the inner wooden board of the sealed wardrobe, there was a strange pattern drawn with dark pigment. Upon closer inspection, it was clearly an abstract moth with outstretched wings.
On its bloated, thick body were flat symbols segment by segment. On its outstretched, flawed wings were drawn dizzying spirals, and short antennae grew from its head, curving towards each other into two crescent moons.
Beneath this large moth print, on the bottom board of the wardrobe, were candles of varying lengths. A small table was placed in the middle of the candles, with some unknown powder on it. All of this arrangement clearly held some mystical significance.
'This setup is... an altar? Is this wardrobe a hidden altar? Was this family worshipping something before they got sick and were sent away?'
Looking at the scene before her, Dorothy thought to herself. Having considerable knowledge of mysticism, she clearly understood that the arrangement before her was obviously a makeshift altar, and the presence of an altar in a place invariably indicated some form of worship.
'Since this is an altar, it means this family was worshipping something. Perhaps the cause of Slumbering Sickness isn't due to the spread of a disease, but rather this worship involving mysticism?'
'Because this worship is a hidden belief, it can be secretly spread among relatives and friends, which is the truth behind the familial spread of Slumbering Sickness?'
Dorothy thought to herself, and then she began to carefully observe the moth print that served as the central subject of the altar. After several careful observations, she found several knife marks not far from the moth print.
These knife marks spelled out an unfamiliar Castilian phrase, which Dorothy tried to read and understand, finding the content to be this:
"May Pan-Moth bring beautiful dreams, may beautiful dreams comfort my heart."