In Adria at night, on the Church Square, in front of the Net Flow Church, Antonio, who had been looking disheartened, was stunned after hearing Oliver's words. He then looked at Oliver with a surprised expression.
"Didn't clear the Beacon? How is that possible? How could they steal something like the Crown of Emmanuel without clearing the Beacon on it?" Paul on the side said with surprise. For Church treasures like the Crown of Emmanuel, there is definitely a Beacon Sigil imprinted on them for a long time. The thieves should be even more aware of this. How could they steal it without clearing it?
"This... maybe he forgot to clear it, or maybe we used a Deep Memory Beacon on the Crown of Emmanuel, which is difficult to clear with ordinary methods. Maybe he used a common method to clear it but failed?" Listening to Paul's words, Oliver responded thoughtfully, while Antonio spoke directly.
"That's unlikely... that thief is a Scarlet. It's unlikely someone of his level would forget something as important as clearing a Beacon. As a Scarlet-ranked thief, he definitely has the means to clear a Deep Memory Beacon. There shouldn't be a situation where he can't clear it. There must be some other hidden reason..." Antonio muttered with a frown. At this moment, he was beginning to realize that the theft he was experiencing was probably far from as simple as it seemed on the surface. Perhaps there was a deeper reason behind it.
Speaking of this, Antonio fell into thought for a moment, and at this moment, Oliver on the side couldn't help but ask.
"That... Captain Antonio, that Beacon is now rapidly moving away from us to the southeast. Are we going to chase or not?"
Listening to Oliver's words, Antonio paused slightly. He then temporarily put aside the confusion in his heart, and after firming his expression, he spoke.
"Chase. We will go to the port now, board the Surging Wave and pursue at full speed! No matter what, the Crown of Emmanuel is related to the spiritual sustenance of the people of Adria and cannot be lost. We will chase after it."
Antonio ordered sternly. In Adria, there happened to be a military port for the Church fleet, where a large fleet that had just escorted pilgrims back was currently docked. This military port not only had a large number of Church military Extraordinaries but also many high-speed ships specialized for speed that could be used.
To be safe in case this was a trap, Antonio decided to mobilize all the high-speed ships and a group of Church navy Extraordinaries to pursue with the strongest force and the fastest speed.
This matter concerned the face of the Church, and he would not let that audacious thief get away!
...
Late at night, over the Conquest Sea.
Relying on the soul of a shark, Garib, in his half-shark form, swam at high speed in the water. His shark characteristics combined with the power brought by the third-tier "Cup" allowed Garib to swim extremely fast in the sea. No ordinary fish, ship, or even soaring bird in the sky could surpass his speed. However, even so, Garib did not dare to stop for a moment.
Faster, must be faster! Further, must be further! What Garib was thinking at this moment was to make every effort to get as far away from Adria as possible, away from Antonio. He had to escape his detection range before Antonio emerged from the Spirit World. And the perception range of a Scarlet-ranked "Light" Extraordinary was so vast, his rank's vision could even cover an entire super-large city. Therefore, he dared not relax in the slightest during his escape, using all his strength to swim forward desperately, just to get rid of Antonio quickly.
In the battle in the Spirit World, Garib had suffered significant injuries. Although he was an Extraordinary with a supporting "Cup", he was not as strong in self-healing as those of the Blood Darkness Path and the Holy Mother's Path. Therefore, his wounds had not fully healed by now, and he had no time to focus on self-healing. Consequently, he could only endure the pain of his injuries and swim intensely, with countless blood flowing from his wounds into the seawater.
Swimming, swimming, swimming non-stop. Under the enhancement of the "Cup" power, Garib had already been swimming in the sea for several hours continuously. Logically speaking, he should have already escaped the range of Antonio's rank vision, but even so, he still did not stop, but continued to maintain his posture and swim forward. To be safe, he could not stop now.
Garib swam tirelessly in the sea until the bright moon in the sky set below the western horizon, until the eastern sky was tinged with the light of dawn, until the sun rose from the eastern sea and climbed to mid-air, illuminating the world. Only then did Garib's speed gradually slow down. Swimming at high intensity with injuries from night to day, even a third-tier "Cup" couldn't endure it. Garib felt the soreness of his entire body's muscles.
And at this moment, before Garib's eyes, on the distant sea, under the morning light, a lush small island appeared. Seeing this, Garib immediately lifted his spirits, enduring the pain all over his body, and swam towards the small island at extreme speed. Finally, after a few minutes, he stepped onto the beach of this uninhabited island.
Upon stepping onto the beach, Garib immediately released his reliance, releasing the shark soul and sealing it back into the bone piece. Then, he himself walked forward shakily on the beach, panting, for a while. After reaching under a tree, he finally sat down due to exhaustion, leaning against the tree trunk, panting and resting. It was clear that he was utterly exhausted at this moment.
"Hoo... hoo..."
Breathing heavily, Garib, who had been swimming for a long time, finally got a chance to rest. Amidst the soreness of his entire body's muscles, he sat under this tree for half an hour. After finally recovering a little strength, he couldn't help but look at the boundless vast sea in the distance, thinking that he had run so far, he shouldn't be found again.
'Hoo... I'm safe... I wonder how many of Selimu and the others managed to escape. This period of recuperation will probably take a considerable amount of time... I didn't expect to encounter such an accident this time. How did that old guy Antonio know about me!'
Garib thought to himself. He had originally planned to get the divination tool now and then go to steal from a Book Repair Society ruin in April. However, given the current situation, his trusted subordinates should have suffered heavy losses, and perhaps they would not be able to organize enough strength to go down to the ruin for a while. After this wave, he needed to spend enough time to recuperate and prepare.
'Although unexpected events occurred frequently, at least I got the item. As long as I am still here, as long as this item is here... then everything is fine...'
Garib thought this in his heart, and then he looked at the bag hanging on his waist, which contained the spoils he had stolen at a great cost, the most tempting legacy of Azamu.
Staring at the bag on his waist, Garib, who had recovered his breath, decided to open it and take a look. So, he took the small bag off and held it in his hand, opened the mouth of the bag, and looked inside, taking out the cultural relics and antiques one by one.
Wine cup, earrings, dagger, arrowhead... Garib carefully examined each item he took out. As a seasoned treasure hunter, he had a certain ability to appraise treasures and could tell the cultural origin and approximate age of these cultural relics.
In Garib's impression, although he had never seen Azamu's divination tool, he vaguely knew that he had dug it out from North Wu, so it should be in the style of North Wu culture. Azamu's donated collection was also mainly from North Wu. However, Garib appraised for a long time here, and he saw very few items from North Wu among the cultural relics he saw. Instead, the majority were collections of Iweig's own culture.
As he examined the cultural relics in the bag, Garib's brows furrowed slightly. Just as a slightly ominous premonition arose in his heart, he finally finished taking out all the items from the bag, leaving only a small cloth bag placed at the very bottom of the bag.
Seeing this small cloth bag, Garib's confusion deepened. He picked up the cloth bag with doubt and examined it, wondering why his young subordinate would specifically wrap this item.
With confusion in his heart, Garib opened the cloth bag, but when he saw the light overflowing from within the cloth bag, his eyes couldn't help but widen directly.
Untying the cloth bag, what Garib saw was a Light Church style crown that emitted a visible faint light. The entire crown was made of intertwined glossy metal wires, and the front of the crown was inlaid with a large, crystal-clear diamond, emitting a gentle radiance under the sunlight.
"This is... the Crown of Emmanuel!"
Seeing the crown before him, Garib couldn't help but blurt out in shock, almost dropping the item in his hand. He hadn't expected that the bag of his young subordinate would contain something like the Crown of Emmanuel! A Light Church treasure like this would undoubtedly have a strong Beacon Sigil imprinted on it. No matter where it was stolen, it would be tracked.
You can't steal this thing!
Why? Why is the Crown of Emmanuel in here! Didn't I say to only take Ebeni's things? I didn't tell them to steal this thing!
Looking at the crown in his hand, Garib thought with immense shock. At first, he thought his subordinate was insatiable, and when looking for Ebeni's donations, he also wanted to gain something, so he audaciously stole the Crown of Emmanuel? But after thinking about it again, Garib realized that things didn't seem so simple. His actions this time were full of surprises. Encountering Antonio, who should have left, was one thing, but now there was suddenly something that absolutely shouldn't have been stolen among the stolen items. This directly gave Garib the illusion that he was being targeted. For a moment, he felt like he had fallen into some kind of great conspiracy.
Looking at the Crown of Emmanuel before him, feelings of anxiety and excitement surged up in Garib's heart. Just then, he saw something pressed under the Crown of Emmanuel in the cloth bag. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a small white card.
Seeing the card, Garib's eyes immediately fixed on it. He then picked up the card and opened it before him. What he saw on the card was... a message written in Iweig.
Staring at the message on the card, Garib's breathing became more rapid, and his pupils also narrowed. After breathing heavily for a while, he finally gritted his teeth and uttered a name.
"Thief... K..."
Understanding that he had been set up, Garib fiercely punched a nearby tree, directly breaking it and causing it to fall. He then threw the Crown of Emmanuel to the ground, wanting to run away immediately. Since he wasn't there to steal the Crown of Emmanuel in the first place, he hadn't prepared anything to remove the sigil from the beginning. Now, he could only continue to run to avoid the Church catching up.
And just as Garib stood up from under the tree, he saw a despairing scene in the distance.
On the distant horizon, thick smoke was rising. Beneath the smoke, the silhouettes of several warships had appeared on the sea and were rapidly heading towards the island.
On the sea far from the island, three slender Church warships of moderate size were cutting through the waves and sailing at high speed. Within these lightly armed, high-speed warships with streamlined hulls, the priceless Extraordinary engines built by the White Stone Craftsmen's Guild were burning Spirituality reserves, providing powerful propulsion for the entire ship to move forward rapidly.
On the warships, the Church's naval soldiers were ready for action. At the bow of the leading ship, Antonio, with his robe fluttering in the sea breeze, stood there. As an Extraordinary of the "Lamp," his gaze could already see Garib's terrified face on the distant island.
...
The scene returns to Adria.
Night turned to day, and soon this pearl of Iweig, a well-known tourist city in the North Conquest Sea, welcomed a new morning. Amidst the calls of seabirds, the residents and tourists of Iweig left their homes as usual to begin a new day of work and tourism. The Net Flow Church, a key tourist spot, welcomed its first batch of tourists early in the morning. However, this batch of tourists found that the Net Flow Church was a little different today.
Seals and police, this was the scene at all entrances to the Church square. Both streets and bridge entrances were guarded. The Church square, where the citizens of Adria often gathered, was completely sealed off at this moment, and no one was allowed to enter. The reason given was that the square was undergoing extensive renovation and could not be accessed. Faced with this unprecedented situation, the citizens of Adria immediately became agitated.
Sealing off a square for renovation so tightly, and even having the police present to prevent anyone from passing, this is deceiving ghosts!
For a time, on the streets, in the alleys, and in the restaurants, people were discussing what had happened to the Church square that it was suddenly completely sealed off? For a time, many rumors flew everywhere. Some said that there was a large-scale gang fight in the square last night, and dozens of people died, the reason being that there were many loud noises in the square last night. Some, after seeing many Church personnel freely entering and exiting the sealed area, said that the famous Sister in Adria had disappeared in the square and they were now looking for her.
Among these many claims, the most sensational and widely spread one was that the Crown of Emmanuel of the Net Flow Church had been stolen! And it was done by Thief K, who had been in the newspapers not long ago!
This claim came from some people in the Church and a certain insurance company in Adria. They mysteriously said that yesterday morning, these places suddenly received many letters and postcards, stating that Thief K was coming to admire the Crown of Emmanuel, the treasure of Adria. Since there were quite a few postcards sent at that time, the front desk services of the insurance company and the Church, which were generally for ordinary people, couldn't handle them all at once. Not only did some ordinary employees see them, but some ordinary customers and donors who came to do business also saw them.
After this incident, the insurance company and the Church internally required the ordinary employees and customers who had seen the content of the postcards to keep them secret. However, since quite a few ordinary people saw them, this matter was leaked out not long after.
This kind of confidentiality requirement, when put into practice, was roughly in a state of "I'm telling you, don't tell anyone else. If you tell someone else, don't say I told you."
At first, many people didn't believe this rumor, but after the square was sealed off this morning, the speed at which this claim spread began to soar, instantly overshadowing other rumors and becoming the main one.
The reason is simple: the sparkle belonging to the Crown of Emmanuel, which the people of Adria could see almost every day on top of the Church, had now disappeared. They used telescopes to look towards the top of the Church and could only see the thick, closed rolling door of the small attic. This was absolutely uncommon for the people of Adria.
The disappearance of the sparkle on the top of the Church seemed to confirm the rumor that the Crown of Emmanuel had been stolen. For a time, many places throughout the city were discussing the news of the legendary Thief K, who possessed both strength and daring, and the Crown of Emmanuel, including in a certain restaurant.
At noon, in a window seat of the restaurant, Naifnis, dressed in a purple veiled dress, sat at one end of the dining table, looking around at the discussions and conversations happening throughout the restaurant. With a slightly anxious expression, she spoke to Miss Dorothy in front of her.
"That... Miss Dorothy, when you send warning letters, can you make less of a fuss and only send one or two specific ones? Don't make so many..."
"How can I make less of a fuss? If I only send one, it's easily considered a joke and directly ignored by the person at the front desk who receives it. So, I send more to make their superiors pay attention and be more careful."
As she spoke, Dorothy ate a mouthful of noodles and then looked at Naifnis, continuing to speak in prite language.
"After all, for the people of this world, sending a warning before stealing something sounds too incredible. They need to gradually adapt to this legendary method, don't you think? Miss Thief K."