Somewhere in the Conquest Sea, in a remote sea area far from the main shipping lanes, lies the main island of the Xiatree Islands.
The Xiatree Islands are a sea area with more than a dozen islands of varying sizes not far apart. The largest main island is quite vast, almost comparable to half a county in Prit. Within the dense forests of the main island, ancient towns are hidden, inhabited by an ancient ethnic group called Natsuki.
The most spectacular sight on Xia Shu Island is the towering giant tree, nearly a hundred meters tall. Compared to the low forests on the island, this giant tree is remarkably conspicuous, standing out like a crane among chickens. During the day, it is even more prominent than the island's lighthouse. Below this giant tree, the largest town on the main island of Natsuki is hidden.
In this ancient town hidden within the dense forest, roads paved with irregular stone slabs crisscross through the woods. Simple houses line both sides of the roads, mostly two or three-story wooden buildings with vines climbing their walls, and low stone houses built with rough stones. The stone walls of the houses are covered with moss, and occasionally, some simple wooden carvings can be seen placed beside the roads. The carvings are almost all abstract, full-figured female images, and the pillars of many houses are carved with traces of lush trees.
This town built among the forests exudes a harmonious natural atmosphere everywhere. If it weren't for the tension pervading the town, it would surely be refreshing.
On the stone-paved roads, weeds grow from the cracks between the stones. People wearing characteristic simple robes walk back and forth on the roads. Some carry fruit, others carry fish baskets. A hint of worry is revealed in everyone's eyes. Occasionally, some people stop on the street, discussing something with uneasy expressions. Some stop when passing the female wooden carvings, praying devoutly with uneasy expressions.
Somewhere in a large house in the town, a group of young people were having dinner around a burning bonfire. In front of them were abundant grilled fish, fruit, roasted meat, and even some strange noodle products, and even some wine-like drinks. These young men were almost all warriors who participated in hijacking the Church's ships. Under Bahoda's leadership, they raised their cups and drank heartily, enjoying the food in front of them.
At the banquet, the celebrators talked and laughed with each other in a warm atmosphere. Although smiles were evident on everyone's faces, deep within each smile, there was a hidden unease. However, no one expressed this inappropriate emotion at what should have been a lively banquet.
Finally, as time passed, the sun in the sky completely sank below the distant sea surface. The twilight Xia Shu Island welcomed the night, and the Natsuki warriors' banquet, after continuing for a while, finally came to an end. Just as the banquet was concluding, a man who had been drinking in silence with a furrowed brow throughout turned to look at Bahoda and then spoke.
"Bahoda, do you think the Shining Light Church will really agree to our conditions and respect our faith?"
Listening to the man's words, the banquet scene, which was about to disperse, suddenly fell silent. For a moment, all eyes were focused on Bahoda. After a slight pause, he slowly opened his mouth.
"I don't know... Although I cannot confirm what Light's attitude will be, what I am certain of is that no matter what, Natsuki cannot do without the Fertility Goddess's favor. We have been protected by the Goddess for a thousand years; Natsuki has long been inseparable from her.
"This operation, we can only say that we have grasped a ray of Light in despair, but as for the final outcome, I think you should all be mentally prepared."
Bahoda said this, and then he left the gathering place alone, leaving the warriors at the scene to look at each other a few times before also getting up and leaving one after another.
After the banquet ended, the participants left the scene one after another and walked onto the town streets. They did not linger too long but returned to their respective homes. Due to the tense escorting in the past few days, they were mentally exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately upon reaching home. Soon after, they all entered dreamland.
And just as they fell into deep slumber, a hidden extraordinary power influenced them from the other side of the distant sea. Among these sleeping warriors, three suddenly opened their eyes. They slowly got up from their beds, walked to the window, and looked out at the street scene with dull eyes.
"Finally... the moment when they all fell asleep on their own has arrived. Now, this body will be temporarily handed over for me to use..."
In the city of Truva on the distant opposite shore of the sea, Dorothy, wearing pajamas, sat in her hotel room and murmured. At this time, she used the puppet marks embedded in the three people's bodies, taking advantage of their sleep to control them to get up, becoming puppets completely controlled by Dorothy.
After controlling the three Living Puppets from a super long distance, Dorothy immediately had them all leave their houses and come to the town under the trees to conduct reconnaissance activities. With Vanya currently imprisoned, Dorothy, who is far away, can only rely on these few Living Puppets to collect information for her rescue plan.
Although she knew that the Church would likely organize a rescue operation as well, Dorothy did not intend to place all her hopes on them. In this change, she had to at least ensure Vanya's safety.
Dorothy's core goal for this operation was to ensure Vanya's safety. On the premise of achieving this core goal, she would try her best to ensure the safety of the other pilgrims.
Although Dorothy felt that these natives fighting for freedom of belief were somewhat pitiable in a sense and had considered whether she could save them so that they would not suffer terrible disasters under the Church's retaliation afterward, after much thought, Dorothy could not think of any way to save this ethnic group. She did not know how to handle such sharp religious conflicts.
In short, although Dorothy also wanted to save more people and prevent disasters from happening, with her current abilities, she was powerless to interfere in such a large matter. Ensuring Vanya's safety was the minimum requirement.
Then, Dorothy manipulated the three Living Puppets to wander the streets of Xia Shu Island at night, collecting information at various locations, confirming the specific information about where the pilgrims and Vanya were being held. The conclusion she reached was not good.
From the reconnaissance information obtained from different perspectives, Dorothy could roughly determine that the pilgrims from the three ships had all been brought ashore and were divided into several groups and held at various locations on the island to prevent the Church from rescuing them all at once.
These natives had left sufficient guards at each location. If one location was strongly attacked and rescued, the hostages at other locations would likely be killed. In this situation, even if the Church came to rescue, it would probably be difficult to rescue everyone at once. The result of a forced rescue would likely cause considerable casualties.
Currently, Vanya is being held alone in a cabin on an island lake. The location is very hidden, and the security is very strict. If the Church attempts a forced rescue, the risk of Vanya being killed is very high.
Around this cabin, which is surrounded by water on all sides and can only be accessed by boat, an unknown number of Water Manipulators are guarding it. The enemy has a significant terrain advantage.
Currently, Vanya does not have a handy weapon by her side. The danger of Dorothy trying to enhance Vanya and have her forcefully break through is very high. Previously, Vanya was able to possess the ability to resist Chalk level power largely by relying on the Mad Banquet rune, but now Dorothy's Mad Banquet has been used up, and without a sword, Vanya's swordsmanship is also difficult to display. Escaping from the custody of a group of Water Manipulators in such a water-surrounded environment is extremely difficult.
'This is troublesome... With the way these natives have arranged things, not to mention the other pilgrims, even Vanya will be difficult to escape. If the Church comes to rescue, it feels like they won't be able to save many people...'
After the initial reconnaissance of the situation at the scene, Dorothy thought with a slight headache. As things stood, without her main body being there, the possibility of safely and successfully rescuing Vanya was very small.
Although she wasn't very clear about the situation with the Church, based on the current circumstances, if they didn't deploy extraordinary power at the Scarlet level, it would likely be very difficult to rescue everyone. However, the Church's Scarlet almost all have the role of guarding major cities and deterring large cults, so the possibility of them personally rushing over is very low.
Facing the situation before her, Dorothy couldn't help but furrow her brows slightly. From the information she currently possessed, Vanya's situation was extremely dangerous, and the success rate of her forcefully attempting a rescue was very low. As for the Church's plans, she was completely unaware, and she wouldn't place her hopes on things she couldn't control.
'It looks like I need to investigate more thoroughly to see if I can find any other usable clues.'
Dorothy thought this in her heart, and then she let the Living Puppet she controlled continue to move forward in the town of Xia Shu Island, searching for other useful clues.
Since this town was located at the foot of the prominent giant tree on the island, Dorothy also had one of the puppets move towards the giant tree. While actively avoiding the sight of the Xia Shu residents, one Living Puppet controlled by Dorothy finally approached the towering giant tree.
Afterwards, beneath the giant tree, Dorothy discovered a scene that surprised her. Beneath this giant tree was actually a large open-air temple! This was the island's place of worship!
At the foot of the giant tree was a wide plaza. Around the plaza stood tall logs, one after another, with intricate patterns carved upon them, like tall pillars that had lost their roof.
In the center of the plaza was a huge burning bonfire, and the braziers around the plaza also illuminated the surroundings brightly. Beside the giant tree was a huge wooden statue of a goddess that seemed to have grown naturally from underground.
The statue of the goddess had a full figure and a blurred face, and seemed to be holding something in its arms. In the four corners of the plaza stood four altars.
Seeing such a scene, Dorothy's expression froze, and then she immediately controlled the Living Puppet to carefully approach. Through the Living Puppet's vision, Dorothy could see many indigenous residents coming and going in the plaza. Even though it was already night, many people were kneeling in front of the statue of the goddess, seemingly performing some kind of devout prayer. The surroundings of this open-air temple also had strict guards.
Dorothy had the Living Puppet enter the open-air temple to observe more carefully. She first examined the patterns on the pillars that resembled flourishing plants, and then examined the statue of the goddess that seemed to have grown spontaneously. The more she looked at these things, the more a sense of familiarity arose in her heart. She felt like she had seen this kind of thing somewhere before.
'Strange... Have I seen something similar before? Have I encountered the faith on this Xia Shu Island before?'
Dorothy thought this in her heart, and then she controlled the Living Puppet to go to the four corners of the open-air temple to examine the four altar-like structures.
Dorothy carefully observed the altars in the four corners of the open-air temple and found that they all had similar structures but differed in details. Their main bodies were thick wooden platforms. The bottom of the wooden pillars was carved with fine patterns, while the top of the pillars was carved with reliefs. Four different images were carved on the four platforms.
These images were, respectively: a sailor with a bare upper body, stepping on waves and gazing into the distance; an old man holding a wooden staff and stirring a crucible; a hunter holding a bow and arrow and wearing furs; and a graceful dancer dancing lightly.
In front of the altar with the sailor image, several fresh, large sea fish were placed as offerings, as well as a basin filled with clear water. The water in the basin was slightly disturbed without any force driving it, forming a small, continuously rotating vortex. Around the sailor's platform, brightly colored flowers were blooming, and some young people were also worshipping before this altar.
In contrast, the other three platforms had no offerings, no one worshipping, and although there were flower buds beside them, they hadn't opened at all. Compared to the statue of the goddess and the sailor's altar, the other three altars appeared quite desolate.
When she carefully saw these four altars and the four images on them, Dorothy immediately understood where her sense of familiarity came from. She had seen these things before in a secret transmission, specifically in the secret transmission of Adele's teacher, Dalena.
Among the hanging scrolls Dalena had collected, and in the large amount of notes she had written, Dorothy had once caught a glimpse of the faith on the Xiatree Islands. This was precisely the faith of the Fertility Goddess! It was suspected to be the "Cup" divine system from before the Placenta!
"So that's it... It turns out this group of indigenous people, like Adele's teacher, are contemporary remnants of the Fertility faith. No wonder this open-air temple looks so familiar..."
In the hotel room, Dorothy stroked her chin and murmured. Regarding the general appearance of this temple, the style of the statue of the goddess, the decorative patterns, and the four altars... Dorothy had actually seen descriptions of all these in Dalena's notes.
The mountainous border region where Dalena was born, just like this Xia Shu Island, was a remnant of the Fertility faith in this world. She had conducted thorough research on the Fertility faith she believed in, and her notes contained a lot of detailed information about Fertility, including descriptions from the artistic style of the temple's appearance to daily rituals. Dorothy had only caught a glimpse of the appearance of the Fertility faith between the lines of Dalena's notes before, but now she had finally seen it with her own eyes.
'Dalena once described in her notes that the Fertility faith is a faith that advocates harmonious coexistence between humans and nature? There is indeed such a vibe on the streets of this Xia Shu Island. I didn't expect that these Xia Shu indigenous people actually worship the Fertility Goddess. In a sense, this also explains where their extraordinary ability of the Wave Path comes from, right...'
Witnessing the scene of the distant temple, Dorothy thought with understanding in her heart. After confirming that the object of worship of these Xia Shu indigenous people was the Fertility Goddess, a thought arose in her mind.
'Perhaps... I can try this. Although it carries a bit of risk for Vanya, it's at least better than just sitting there waiting to die as a hostage.'
Dorothy thought this in her heart. After thinking for a while in the room, she immediately took out her magic box, took out "wen hai hang zhi" from it, and after opening it to a certain page and thinking for a moment, she picked up a pen and began writing information on it.
...
Tivian East District, Feiteng Grand Theater.
In the night of Tivian, the wonderful performance in the theater was ongoing as usual. The audience's cheers and applause rose and fell, and tonight, like previous nights, was a sleepless night.
Backstage at the theater, in the exclusive independent luxurious dressing room, Adele, wearing a bright red dance dress, was in front of the mirror, carefully applying makeup to herself.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, Adele raised an eyebrow. She then put down the eyeliner pencil in her hand, looked at her charming self in the mirror, and murmured with a slight smile.
"After traveling for so long, she finally knows to send me a message~
"But knowing her personality, it's probably not a greeting, but rather some troublesome extraordinary event..."
With a light smile, Adele took out a magazine from under her dressing table. After flipping to a certain page, Adele saw a line of text on it that had only recently appeared.
After examining the text for a short while, Adele rubbed her chin with interest and then spoke softly, murmuring.
"Regarding the faith and rituals of my teacher's hometown... Heh heh, where has the little Detective gone now..."
...