"Thief K... Stop saying Thief K, Miss Dorothy..." In the restaurant by the water, by the window table, Naifnis frowned after hearing Dorothy's understated words and continued.
"Why can't you just steal things properly? Why do you have to be so arrogant? It feels really bad to make it known to everyone every time..."
Naifnis's tone was clearly anxious. It was obvious that when she saw everyone around discussing the rumors of Thief K, and when she saw Thief K's reputation soaring, she couldn't help but panic. She thought, shouldn't being a thief fundamentally mean being low-key? Being so high-profile... it's like being a bandit!
"Indeed... For ordinary thieves, the more low-key and unknown they are, the better. But for Thief K, her reputation is where she is effective. Letting people know that something is going to be stolen is the purpose of the name Thief K. It was like this on the Shining White Pearl last time, and it is the same in Adria this time.
"Although the name Thief K has become a bit more famous now, Senior Nefelnis doesn't have to worry about encountering any trouble. As long as you don't make a big deal out of it yourself, no one will connect you, a frail female college student, with the legendary great thief. Don't worry, I have a sense of proportion in all of this."
Dorothy said with a smile while taking a relaxed sip of coffee. Listening to Dorothy's words, Naifnis didn't say anything more. Although she was still a little afraid that the identity of Thief K might bring her danger and trouble, when she thought about the dangers she had encountered before, which were enough, but were all resolved by Dorothy, her originally panicked heart couldn't help but calm down a little.
Yes, even Miss Dorothy, a senior executive of the Rose Cross and a seasoned Extraordinary, isn't panicking, so what am I panicking about? If something makes even Dorothy start to panic, what's the use of me panicking?
Having figured this out, Naifnis's tension eased a bit. After experiencing so many things, when she looked at the calm demeanor of the girl in front of her, she couldn't help but feel much more at ease.
'Strictly speaking, Thief K is not just me, but both me and Miss Dorothy. She makes the plan and I am responsible for the execution. If I can't trust myself, can't I trust Miss Dorothy? Even if my ability is insufficient, if Miss Dorothy's ability is overly sufficient, then everything is fine.'
Naifnis thought this in her heart. Her initial panic and worry were due to the fear that her level combined with the reputation of Thief K would be very dangerous. Now that she had changed her logic, she was no longer worried about the issue of insufficient level, and she felt much more relaxed. So she grabbed a piece of cake from the table and started eating.
"Speaking of which, you've been in Adria for a while now, haven't you? How is your study tour here? Where are you going next?" Looking at Naifnis eating the cake, Dorothy continued to ask, and the other party answered directly.
"These past few days, the professor has taken us to visit all the historical sites in Adria, seen many excavation sites in person, and attended many classes. I think we'll be going to other places soon, but there's no final decision on where to go next. The professors seem to have some disagreements. Some believe we should head inland to Peizi, the capital of Iweig, to further understand Iweig culture, while others believe we should continue to travel by ship to other countries to learn about the cultures and histories of more countries, so that we have a wider range of topics to choose from when we write our papers later."
While eating the cake, Naifnis said to Dorothy. Listening to Naifnis's words, Dorothy took another sip of coffee, then continued to speak.
"If I remember correctly... wasn't your original plan to go to North Africa after going to Adria? What, did you change your plan?"
"This was just a possibility in the plan, but recently there seems to have been some trouble in North Africa, and the political situation is a bit unstable. For safety reasons, the professors leading the group have some disagreements about whether to go there. There is no final decision yet."
Naifnis said this. Listening to her words, Dorothy thought for a moment about the recent news in the newspaper. It seemed that there were indeed reports of political turmoil in North Africa. Several countries controlled by Main Continent colonists had varying degrees of unrest, which seemed to be caused by ethnic and religious issues. It was indeed not a good choice to conduct academic research in an unstable political situation.
"Hmm... Indeed, safety issues need to be considered first. Let me know after you discuss and come up with a result..." Dorothy said this. While speaking, she cut a piece of pastry and put it in her mouth, then continued to ask Naifnis.
"By the way, have you finished reading the secret transmissions I gave you last time? How is your Spirituality accumulating?"
"Oh, I've finished reading them! And I've asked Aka to clear the Spirit Sight for me. Now I can feel that my primary Spirituality,'Silence', is full, and my auxiliary Spirituality, 'Cup', is more than half full. It completely meets your requirements, Miss Dorothy."
Listening to Dorothy's words, Naifnis immediately sat up straight and replied, just like a student who actively answers the teacher's questions.
After hearing this, Dorothy nodded. Since she was the one who had been helping Naifnis clear the Spirit Sight, she was still clear about Naif's current Spirituality situation. Asking this was just to lead to the next topic.
"It's already full? That's great. Then the only thing left for you to advance to Chalk is the ritual, right? Is your butler uncle still not planning to give you the remaining notes?"
"You mean Uncle Nu Nuo Te... This... maybe he can't accept my progress yet. He always tells me to go slower and be more steady, so he's been unwilling to give me the remaining notes..."
Naifnis continued to respond to Dorothy. Her Soul Appender advancement ritual was found in her Grandpa's notes, and now the lower half of those notes is still in the hands of their old butler, Nu Nuo Te. It seems he believes that the first half of the notes is enough for Naifnis to digest for a while, and for safety's sake, he is still holding onto the second half of the notes.
"Ah... He still hasn't agreed to give it to you. Haven't you told him that you've already advanced to Black Earth and are now only missing the Chalk ritual?"
"I told him, but Uncle Nu Nuo Te wasn't happy that I became Black Earth. Instead, he seemed scared, and then he became even more determined not to give me Grandpa's notes right away. He seems to say that my Extraordinary path is going a bit too fast, and he keeps telling me to slow down, as if he's afraid something will go wrong with me."
Spreading her hands, Naifnis said to Dorothy with a hint of helplessness. Listening to Naifnis's words, Dorothy couldn't help but frown slightly.
'Naif's advancement speed is too fast, which scared her old butler... That's understandable. Naif only became an Apprentice from an ordinary person around October last year, and she advanced from Apprentice to Black Earth in two months. This speed would scare any normal person, right? I remember that old butler is only an Apprentice... He sees his young Miss's advancement speed is too fast and is worried that something will go wrong...'
Dorothy thought this in her heart. With her method of reading, as long as there are enough secret transmissions, the speed of Spirituality accumulation is very fast, so it's no wonder that ordinary hidden world individuals can't accept it. Nu Nuo Te's cautious idea is also reasonable, because in his opinion, Naifnis is walking too fast on the Extraordinary path, and the secret society called the Rose Cross that Naif is in contact with is too unfamiliar to him. Without understanding Naif's cultivation method, it is natural to have such worries.
After all, if a school's education management is quite opaque, parents will also be worried, right?
'It seems that Naif needs to communicate with Nu Nuo Te to get the remaining notes. It might be appropriate for Naif to reveal some information about the Rose Cross to Nu Nuo Te, and even mention the existence of Aka.
'Hmm... As long as he believes that your young Miss is safe and sound in our society, and that there are no risks in either cultivation or daily club activities, and that the Rose Cross is a harmless and excellent society, then there should be no problem.'
Dorothy thought this in her heart. After thinking it through, she continued to speak to Naifnis.
"Regarding your old butler, I will talk to him if I have the chance. As long as I can make him feel a little more at ease, he should give you the things. This shouldn't be too difficult."
"Miss Dorothy... do you want to communicate directly with Grandpa Nu Nuo Te? Hmm... then I'll trouble you. Actually, there's no need to rush the advancement. Even if I get the Chalk advancement ritual now, it will probably take some time to prepare for the ritual."
"So you should get the ritual method faster, prepare earlier once you get it. Don't worry, Senior Nefelnis, you've helped me a lot again this time. I will do my best to help you when you advance."
While speaking, Dorothy drank the coffee in her hand in one gulp, and Naifnis across from her couldn't help but nod after hearing Dorothy's words.
"Hmm... Then I'll trouble you..."
...
After finishing the meal with Naifnis, Dorothy paid the bill and walked out of the restaurant. The two did not stay together on the street for long before saying goodbye and returning to their respective residences.
Taking a small boat, Dorothy returned to her residence, a hotel next to the church square. After glancing at the square, which was still under lockdown, and the top of the distant church, which had lost its shine, she walked into the hotel building and went upstairs all the way back to her room.
After returning to her room, Dorothy sat directly on the sofa. After resting for a while, she began to summarize last night's actions.
'Using Natsuki Vanya and Thief K's pre-announcement letter to keep Antonio, then letting Garib, who came to steal, bump into Antonio, and finding an opportunity in the melee, temporarily designing for Garib to mistakenly take the Crown of Emmanuel. Overall, last night's operation was quite successful. Not only did Azamu's donation come to hand, but the Spirituality consumption was not much. I only used 2'Shi' (Stone) when shocking those two Adria hidden police officers and Hai Sha Society henchmen, and adding the preliminary reconnaissance, I also used about 2'Shadow'. This consumption is not much.
'Indeed, as long as I don't personally take action and make full use of leverage, the Spirituality consumption is relatively low.'
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy thought this in her heart. Afterwards, she began to calculate her Spirituality consumption, and soon came up with her current remaining Spirituality.
28 cups, 9 stones, 20 shadows, 4 lights, 14 silences, 40 enlightenments.
Among them, Dorothy's "Shadow" was paid from storage. She now has 2 "cup" and 2 "shadow" left in storage. The "Shadow" storage given by the Lady Knight of the Anying Bureau is almost used up. And recently, she has been having a great time traveling in Adria, spending about 20 pounds on travel and transportation. She still has 1830 pounds left.
After calculating the Spirituality consumption, Dorothy was slightly satisfied. Then she took out her magic box and took out small bags one by one from it. After opening them, she took out the contents and placed them on the coffee table beside her. There were cups, necklaces, earrings... all kinds of ancient artifacts, mostly jewelry, and the style was almost all from North Africa.
After arranging Azamu's donation that Naif stole back, Dorothy used Spirit Sight to observe, but there was no abnormality, which proved that the cooldown period of the divination tool was not over yet. In mid-to-late March, she would have to wait two more days.
Dorothy, who was not in a hurry, put these things back into the bags and then back into the magic box. Then she took out a thick book from the magic box, which was "wen hai hang zhi".
Taking out "wen hai hang zhi", Dorothy opened it, flipped all the way to Beverly's communication page, and began to write on it.
"I have a deal here. Garib's Hai Sha Society publicly violated the agreement with you and is so close to the Dark Gold Society. Aren't you unhappy with Garib? I have found an opportunity here that can make Garib suffer a great loss. With good luck, he can disappear from the hidden world forever. With bad luck, he can also be severely weakened.
"Since Garib has broken the contract, you don't need to be neutral with him. As long as you give me some chips, I can take the risk and use this opportunity. Are you willing?"
Dorothy finished writing this, and just as she was about to close "wen hai hang zhi" and wait for a reply, Beverly's printed text appeared in front of Dorothy.
"What opportunity? Tell me about it?"
Seeing Beverly's reply, Dorothy's eyes lit up, and she immediately continued to write.
"Don't ask about the specifics. Time is urgent now, and the opportunity is fleeting. Just tell me if you're taking this deal or not.
"The reward I need won't be much, just some ritual materials that might be used when an Extraordinary of'Silence' advances."
Dorothy wrote this paragraph and waited with anticipation for a reply. For her, tricking Garib was actually an unexpected gain from utilizing the battlefield situation. And since she had already tricked him, she naturally couldn't do it for nothing. She had to exploit Garib's value, otherwise, it wouldn't be worthy of his status as the head of a society, right?
...
In the afternoon, far to the southeast of Adria, on the vast and boundless sea.
Rocks shattered, trees broke, the ground cracked... The peaceful uninhabited small island on the Conquest Sea had become a mess, as if it had just gone through a great disaster.
On the edge of this broken island, on the fine sandy beach, the sea washed away the bloodstains. Garib, covered in blood and flesh, was lying here, his life or death unknown. And beside him stood Antonio, his clothes torn and small wounds on his body healing at a visible speed.
At this time, Antonio was holding the shining Crown of Emmanuel in his left hand and a small white card in his right hand, his expression extremely solemn as he focused on the card, staring at the frivolous notes on it.
"As agreed, I have come to behold the Crown of Emmanuel. Unfortunately, this is not what I need, so I will leave it to others who are interested.
"--Thief K"