Iweig, Adria.
At night, in a high-end restaurant in Adria, Dorothy sat in a private room, looking intently at the ""wen hai hang zhi"" in front of her, gazing at Naifnis's handwriting on it, and pondering the important information obtained from Davis's notes.
'According to Davis, promotion to the Chalk stage of the Spirit Pathway requires a ritual to be held within a suitable spirits field, and the requirements for this spirits field are quite numerous. Currently, most large spirits fields are either under the control of official Extraordinary organizations and Churches of various countries or in the hands of the Netherworld Coffin Society and are heavily guarded. It would likely be quite difficult to enter a spirits field and release ghosts for a ritual right under their noses. Therefore, it is a better approach to choose a spirits field that is not under the control of a large power for promotion.
'Currently, spirits fields not controlled by large organizations are only found in the New World and North Africa, two areas relatively marginal compared to the Main Continent's Shining Light Church cultural zone. The New World seems to be wild forests where Wilderness Spirit gather, while North Africa consists of ancient tombs.
'Logically speaking, for Neff, going to a spirits field in the New World seems safer, as Kapak and his Tupa Tribe are there. With Old Shaman Toto's connections, finding a spirits field to use should not be a problem. However, the key is that I currently have no plans to go to the New World. If Neff wants to be promoted, she would have to go there herself. It's very far from here to the New World.
'As for North Wu, although I don't have any influence there and don't know which tombs have spirits fields or if they are dangerous, my current itinerary is heading in that direction. If Neff wants to go to North Wu, she can come with me, and we can look out for each other. It's just uncertain if we can find a spirits field; Neff might end up making a trip for nothing.
Gazing at the handwriting on the ""wen hai hang zhi"", Dorothy thought this to herself. After defeating A Tiff, Dorothy had seized several soul-hiding bone fragments, which could be used in the promotion ritual. She just needed to communicate well with those spirits. This meant that the most crucial condition Neff was currently lacking for promotion was a spirits field. As long as a usable spirits field was found, everything else would be simple.
'I should ask Neff what she wants to do later... After all, this is her own promotion issue.' Thinking this, Dorothy closed the ""wen hai hang zh""i in front of her, then lay back on the sofa and stretched.
"Hmm... I'm finally going to Africa. After traveling and resting here for half a month, I feel a bit reluctant to leave..."
After stretching, Dorothy looked out at the charming water and night scenery of Adria. To be honest, this place was indeed quite suitable for tourism. She had rested here for quite a long time, and she felt much more relaxed recently.
'What a great place... However, I've finished waiting for what I needed to wait for, everything is ready, and it's time to leave.
'But before leaving, let me relax one last time.'
Dorothy thought this to herself, then she sat up straight on the sofa and looked towards the center of the dining table. There, a small, very exquisite custom-made cream cake was placed, adorned with fresh fruit and beautiful decorations.
After examining the cake, Dorothy's gaze fell beside it. There lay an unfolded telegram, with only a few brief Prit words on it.
"Happy birthday, Dorothy."
"Speaking of which, I just recently sent my older brother a Chalk equipment set and some credit. Does that mean I don't need to send him anything next time he has a birthday?"
Picking up the telegram sent by Grego, Dorothy smiled and murmured to herself. After putting the telegram aside, she shifted her gaze to the small packet of candles next to the cake. Dorothy reached out and picked it up, then took out one colorful thin candle after another, inserting them one by one onto the small cake. After inserting fourteen candles, the already small cake looked a bit crowded.
'The cake is too small, these candles are a bit crowded... No choice, after all, I'm the only one eating it, heh... Remembering my true fourteenth birthday in my previous life, the cake was big then, and there were many people eating with me...'
After a slight sigh inwardly, Dorothy took out the matches prepared nearby, lit one candle after striking a match, and then used this candle to light all the other candles.
After doing all this, Dorothy looked at the flickering points of light burning on the cake in front of her and thought about today's date, March 27th. This was the day the girl Dorothy Mesi Horse was born.
Gazing at the flickering candlelight on the cake, Dorothy spoke softly after a brief silence.
"Anyway, happy fourteenth birthday, Dorothy."
After speaking, Dorothy blew out all the candles on the cake with one breath.
...
During the daytime, with clear skies and a bright sun, on the boundless Conquest Sea, the sea breeze howled, and the waves surged. On the vast sea in early April, a large white passenger ship was cutting through the waves, sailing south.
On the deck of the passenger ship, Naifnis, wearing a long dress and a headscarf, stood there, gazing at the distant horizon under the sea breeze. From time to time, she shielded her eyes with her hand to look at the dazzling sunlight in the sky, then spoke with furrowed brows.
"It feels like the weather is getting hotter and hotter. If it were in Tivian, there couldn't be such sun at this time of year."
"Yes, North Africa has a desert climate, so it will definitely be much hotter than Tivian. Right now, there's still a sea breeze blowing on the sea. Once we get ashore, that's when it will really be something to bear."
Standing beside Naifnis, Dorothy followed up on Naifnis's words and spoke. Hearing Dorothy's words, Naifnis paused slightly, then continued with some excitement in her eyes.
"Is the weather very hot? Oh, that means some of the summer clothes I prepared can be worn! Those include some of my favorite outfits, and right, beachwear and things..."
"Summer clothes? Are you serious, Senior Nefelnis? Many of your summer clothes expose your arms and legs. You'll get sunburned directly in North Wu. The sun there is not the same concept as the summer sun you know. Also, the traditions there are much more conservative. Something bad could happen if you wear revealing clothes. Just buy some local clothing after we get there."
Hearing Naifnis's words, Dorothy turned her head directly to look at her and spoke. Listening to Dorothy's words, Naifnis's expression froze, and she sighed helplessly.
"I see, hmm, I did forget about the situation here in North Africa. What a pity..."
Naifnis sighed like this. Dorothy, who was beside her, blinked after looking at Naifnis, then continued to speak.
"The situation in North Wu is unstable right now, so it's best for us to proceed cautiously. However, I also didn't expect Senior Nefelnis to directly choose to come here with me. Compared to the New World, searching for a spirits field in the ancient tombs here carries considerable risk."
Dorothy said this to Naifnis. When she had previously asked Naifnis for her opinion on where she wanted to hold the ritual, the latter had chosen to go to North Wu with almost no hesitation, which surprised Dorothy.
"Tsk... How should I put this? Although there's risk, Miss Dorothy, you're here too, aren't you? You're also in North Africa. If I go with you, even with risk, I feel much more at ease. But if I go to the New World alone, even without risk, I feel uneasy..."
Tapping her chin, Naifnis responded to Dorothy like this. And after hearing Naifnis's words, Dorothy couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth slightly.
"I see..."
"Yes, that's the main reason. If I had to say there's any secondary reason, it would probably be that I also want to come to North Africa myself. After all, this is where my Grandpa developed his career and made enemies, where he found my Grandma, and a place I've constantly heard about since I was born. I really want to come and see it."
Looking at the distant sea, Naifnis's expression became very solemn, and she spoke with a hint of melancholy. Hearing her words, Dorothy was silent for a moment before speaking again.
"So, have you made arrangements with your school?"
"Yes, I had Grandpa Nu Nuo Te send a telegram to the school saying that I had important family matters to attend to and needed to return to Tivian alone. I promised that if anything unexpected happened during the return journey, I would not hold the school responsible. So, I left the teachers and acted on my own."
Naifnis said this to Dorothy. Dorothy nodded slightly after listening. After all, the situation in North Wu was not good at the moment, and a student group on an educational trip would naturally not go to such a high-risk place. Therefore, Naifnis could only leave the group alone. However, not being with the group would make her subsequent actions much more convenient.
Afterward, Dorothy chatted with Naifnis on the deck for a while, then they walked back into the ship's cabin together, returning to their respective rooms. After returning to her first-class cabin, Dorothy sat down by the window. After sitting down, she turned her gaze to the newspaper on the table in front of her and saw the most eye-catching headline news.
"Regarding the Adus internal conflict, the Holy Mountain has issued a statement, advocating for all parties to exercise restraint and strive for peace under the name of the Three Saints. As long as the principles of the doctrine are upheld, the Holy Mountain will make positive efforts for peace in Adus."
"To this end, the Holy Mountain has dispatched a special envoy to Adus, with Sister Vania Chafilun, a renowned evangelist, serving as the head of the delegation, aiming to ease tensions and strive for..."
Looking at the newspaper in front of her, Dorothy's expression became solemn. Her gaze was fixed on Vania's name in the newspaper. This was not the first time she had seen her name in the recent newspapers.
Many days ago, when Dorothy was still on a leisurely trip in Adria, she saw reports in the newspaper about the internal conflict in Adus and the possibility that the Church might send Sister Vanya, who had performed meritorious service in the Natsuki incident, to Adus. After reading those reports, Dorothy immediately contacted Vanya, who was still conducting various promotional activities in the Holy Land, acting as a political figurehead, and asked her if the Church intended to send her to Adus as a special envoy. However, Vanya said that she knew nothing about it and that the people around her had not mentioned anything similar.
At this point, Dorothy realized that something was not right. Many newspapers reported that Vanya might go to Adus, but Vanya herself had no information at all. This either meant that unscrupulous media were using baseless speculation as news to attract attention, or that someone was secretly creating momentum. Since more than one media outlet reported that Vanya might go to Adus at the time, Dorothy concluded that the possibility of someone secretly creating momentum was greater.
As Dorothy expected, Vanya was indeed sent to North Africa as a special envoy. Vanya herself was suddenly appointed as a special envoy with almost no prior notice. She, who was still serving a publicity role in the Holy Land as a figurehead, was suddenly packed up and sent to the Church military port in Adria, and then set sail directly for North Africa with the fleet, just one day after Dorothy departed.
Faced with this situation, Vanya was completely caught off guard and was sent onto the ship bound for North Wu by a group of people, looking utterly bewildered. Dorothy, on the other hand, sensed a hint of abnormality from the unusual circumstance of Vanya being urgently appointed without prior notification, thinking that this was probably the result of some political struggle among the high-level officials of the Church.
'Although Vanya is just a figurehead in the eyes of those high-level Church officials, she is still one of the focal points of the current struggle, so being affected should be normal. She should have gone to Adus after being affected. A certain faction among the high-level Church officials probably wants to achieve some effect over there through Vanya.
'In any case, Vanya is now directly involved in the internal conflict in Adus, and coupled with the fact that I am also going to Adus, I should take this opportunity to get a clearer picture of the situation there.'
Thinking this, Dorothy took out her magic box, then drew out the """wen hai hang zhi""" from the magic box, and after placing the """wen hai hang zhi""" on the table, she opened it and turned to Beverly's contact page.
Looking at Beverly's contact page, Dorothy thought for a while, then picked up a pen and wrote directly on it.
"Are you there? I have something I want to ask you."
After writing, Dorothy planned to wait for a while, but after only a few seconds, printed text appeared on the page.
"What is it?"
Seeing this almost instant reply, Dorothy was slightly startled, then picked up her pen and wrote.
"That fast? Are you just happening to be near the book right now?"
"No, no, I'm not near the book, I just created a special mechanism container for the book you gave me. This container is connected to my consciousness and has a built-in typing function. I can see and reply to the messages you write now no matter where I am."
Looking at the words Beverly had written in front of her, Dorothy paused for a long time, then thought to herself that she was indeed an inventor and craftsman, solving any trouble by building things.
After processing the information, Dorothy picked up her pen again and wrote on the page.
"What a convenient invention... I'm contacting you this time because I want to ask if you have any recent news about Adus in North Wu?"
"Adus? Of course I know. It's been quite lively over there recently, so I looked into it. What do you want to ask? We also have clients there, and I won't answer questions about client information."
Beverly's printed text appeared on the blank page before Dorothy at an extremely high speed, several times faster than normal handwriting. This made Dorothy unable to help but picture a typewriter operating at high speed without anyone controlling it.
"Don't worry, I won't ask for any in-depth information. I just want to know some general information about the situation there, um... some information that is relatively public in the local occult world. That should be fine, right?"
Dorothy wrote this on the page, and two or three seconds after she finished writing, Beverly's words appeared directly before her.
"Information that is public in the occult world, that's fine. Let me tell you some things about the situation there. In general, the Baruk Dynasty that originally ruled Adus was not a good thing. Not only was it corrupt, but it was also highly infiltrated by powerful countries on the Main Continent and acted as their puppet, oppressing the lower classes and selling out national interests, which led to a rebellion."
"A corrupt dynasty selling out the country and causing a rebellion, that doesn't sound very related to the occult." Looking at the text on the page, Dorothy wrote in response, and Beverly quickly wrote back.
"Not very related to the occult? That's just how it looks. In reality, the hidden connections are quite significant. This rebellion has religious overtones. Various clear pieces of information now show that the rebel side has used the power of the Shining Light Church otherworld, the Savior Descends Faction, to gather popular support and resist the Baruk Dynasty's military Extraordinary. That's why this rebellion has such a large scale, and the rebels have even captured the capital there. And precisely because of the existence of the Savior Descends Faction, the Shining Light Church must respond to the events in Adus."
"Savior Descends Faction? This is an otherworld faith of the Shining Light Church, right? Are they active in North Wu?" Seeing the information before her, Dorothy wrote with some surprise. In her original impression, North Wu should be a place where """Silent""" societies like treasure hunting organizations were active. She didn't expect there to be an otherworld of the Shining Light Church there as well.
"Not just active, they are extremely active. North Wu is the most rampant place for the faith activities of the old Savior Descends Faction, because this otherworld faith has a very good fit with North Wu's own culture."