Flotz, North-Central Faloro.
In Flotz during the day, the sky was clear and sunny. In a suite of a high-end hotel not far from the city center, Dorothy, wearing a comfortable, padded dress, sat on a sofa with her legs crossed, using her Spirituality threads to control her Corpse Puppets far away.
These Corpse Puppets were gathered in a room elsewhere in Flotz. Under Dorothy's control, they were flipping through old documents, taking out yellowed texts from file bags to examine. Anyone who didn't know might think a group of scholars were conducting research together.
The information Dorothy's Corpse Puppets were examining was still related to the late Bourbons Dynasty, provided by Sansone. This information mainly concerned the Faloro Prime Minister during Robert's era, Dubois. It included records about Dubois, and even political decrees he personally issued and letters he wrote in his own hand.
Reading these ancient records, which were over a hundred years old, Dorothy gained a general understanding of Dubois, this greedy, cunning, and sinister last Prime Minister. While examining these documents, Dorothy was also attempting to use her ability to profile this Dubois.
Although a hundred years had passed and this last Prime Minister was likely no longer alive, Dorothy's character profiling could also be used on the deceased. While she couldn't hypnotize a Ghost, she could understand some information about the person before their death, especially regarding their personality and habits. Dorothy believed this might become a clue to finding Dubois.
After browsing through a lot of information about Dubois, Dorothy's character profiling finally began officially. However, not long after the profiling started, she couldn't help but frown. The profiling was showing some unusual circumstances.
It was very slow, extremely slow... Despite having ample written information, Dorothy had never felt this profiling was so slow. Only after Dorothy had read and used almost all the Dubois information provided by Sansone did the profiling progress slightly. It was still a significant distance from being completely finished. This situation made Dorothy's expression solemn.
One must know that the amount of information provided by Sansone was enough for Dorothy to profile two or three Chalk Extraordinary. But when applied to Dubois, the profiling progress only increased by a tiny bit. Dorothy understood very well what this situation indicated.
'Although I thought before that this Dubois should have connections with some hidden power and was an Extraordinary, I didn't expect him to be directly a Scarlet... Thinking about it, it makes sense. Holding the position of Prime Minister, a figure who stole a great nation's finances, how could he just be an ordinary person? It's also plausible that he was a high-level member of some hidden power...'
Dorothy thought this to herself. She wasn't too surprised by the current situation; she had already mentally prepared for the profiling to fail. Fortunately, her attempt at profiling wasn't a complete failure. Although the accumulated profiling progress bar wasn't much, it still had a tiny effect. The intensity of this effect was roughly equivalent to Dorothy being able to recognize this Dubois at a glance if she were to see him in a crowd again in the future. Although it was very little, it was better than nothing.
'If this Dubois is really a Scarlet, then he should still be alive now. If so, things are a bit difficult... A Scarlet with a backing power, and the profiling wasn't successful... How can I find him?'
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy muttered as she thoughtfully stroked her chin. After a moment of consideration, she silently took out her magic box, opened it, and retrieved the "wen hai hang zhi" from within.
Dorothy put her legs down and sat up straight on the sofa, placing the familiar Extraordinary item on the coffee table in front of her. She then turned the pages one by one. After turning to a certain page, she paused slightly and picked up a pen to write on it.
"Hello, are you there?" Not long after Dorothy's handwriting was written on the page, it immediately merged into the paper. In less than a moment, a perfectly neat printed sentence appeared before Dorothy.
"Knowing the answer, you still ask. Of course I'm here. It's been a while since you proactively contacted me, are you putting on airs after being promoted to Scarlet?" The response belonging to a certain clockwork person was reflected before Dorothy's eyes. After seeing it, Dorothy smiled lightly and then wrote back.
"Of course it's not a matter of putting on airs or not, it's purely that I really haven't had anything to look for you about lately. You're busy tinkering with things at home all day, I can't bear to bother you without reason. If you feel lonely, I can come over and chat with you for a while after I go back."
Dorothy responded to Beverly like this, and Beverly also replied with her own super-fast instant response.
"Forget it, forget it, I was just saying. Do you think someone like me who can stay in the lab for over a decade straight would feel lonely? Don't joke... Alright, let's get to the point now. Why did you proactively look for me this time? Is it to talk business? Or to ask for information?"
"Just asking you a little something. By the way, do you know this person, Armand Dubois? He was the last Prime Minister of Faloro's Bourbons Dynasty, he should be somewhat famous."
Dorothy wrote the question on the page, and soon after, she received Beverly's response.
"Armand... Dubois? The last Prime Minister of the Banquet Wine? Interesting... Since you're asking me about him, it means you must know something about the messy affairs of the late Banquet Wine..." Beverly's neat font quickly wrote itself before Dorothy's eyes, and Dorothy also picked up her pen to respond calmly.
"Yes, I am currently in Flotz. Some time ago, due to a friend, I got involved in the affairs between the local Extraordinary powers and the Placenta, and learned some secrets about the Bourbons, and also found a little clue about the First Dynasty. However, this clue ultimately pointed to Dubois, so I came to ask you about his background. If I'm not mistaken, you should know something about him."
"Of course I know. This so-called Dubois, whose more commonly used name is Frederico, is one of the Dark Gold Society's several 'General Managers'. More than a hundred years ago, through an act of national theft, he made a large sum for the Dark Gold Society in Faloro. Among the current General Managers of the Dark Gold Society, he is considered to have relatively significant influence."
Beverly seemed to respond to Dorothy quite seriously, writing. Looking at Beverly's response, a hint of realization appeared on Dorothy's face.
After hearing Sansone talk about Dubois's deeds, she immediately noticed several key points: Dubois was born a merchant, entered Robert's court through donations, served as Minister of Finance and then Prime Minister, during his tenure he frantically encouraged Robert to extensively accumulate wealth and finally took the wealth away, and was able to provide Robert's court with a certain level of'Shadow' protection.
Swindler, wealth, Extraordinary, merchant, Shadow... After hearing this series of keywords, Dorothy immediately thought of the Dark Gold Society organization. After all, in the entire hidden world, apart from the White Stone Craftsmen's Guild, only they were so closely linked to money. After realizing this, Dorothy thought of consulting Beverly about this Dubois, as the Craftsmen's Guild is the one that understands the Dark Gold Society the most in this world, and the result was indeed within Dorothy's expectations.
"Frederico... Is that really the name of the last prime minister? As expected, he's a member of the Dark Gold Society. How could the Dark Gold Society intervene in a country's internal affairs this way? What is their objective?" Dorothy continued writing on the page, asking, and the other side quickly responded.
"Isn't the objective very simple? Naturally, it's wealth. Members of the Dark Gold Society, just like us, are active all over the world, running various businesses, engaging in various speculations, acquiring wealth through various means, and accumulating assets. In fact, purely in terms of business acumen, the Dark Gold Society is stronger than us. Although we have a slight edge in Extraordinary transactions, in many other areas outside of Extraordinary transactions, the Dark Gold Society holds a greater advantage."
"The Dark Gold Society is the behind-the-scenes financial backer of many large companies, international hot money constantly seeking opportunities, and the invisible force that subtly influences this capitalist world. They conceal themselves through nested layers. Unlike our Craftsmen's Guild, in the mundane capitalist world, the Dark Gold Society often does not directly participate in controlling a specific industry. Instead, they seek opportunities in the market and proactively strike, using various investment methods to earn profits. Sometimes, even without opportunities, they will personally create them."
"Currently, the Dark Gold Society is led by the Black Coin Noble, with several chief managers below him responsible for various regions, each with their own expertise. Some will maliciously disrupt the stock market, stir up the market, and even trigger a country's financial crisis before bottom fishing on a large scale. Some will actively intensify internal conflicts within a country to cause economic turmoil, triggering wars, and then profiting from the opportunity. Some are responsible for carrying out secret transactions that the Craftsmen's Guild is restricted from conducting, such as large-scale human trafficking and various types of slave training."
"And others... will focus on corrupting and infiltrating a country's administrative institutions, controlling key financial positions through various means, and stealing the nation's wealth... Just like this Frederico. A hundred years ago, he seized the opportunity when Faloro's Banquet Dynasty was on its last legs, personally participating in it, and while accelerating the Banquet Dynasty's demise, he made a large sum for the Dark Gold Society."
Beverly's extremely neat handwriting appeared one after another on the page in front of Dorothy. Looking at the words before her, Dorothy's expression was serious, and then she picked up her pen and wrote.
"What exactly does the Dark Gold Society want to do by accumulating such vast wealth and assets? This money is basically all mundane; is it really that important to them, these Extraordinary?"
Dorothy asked Beverly this way, and after a moment, the other party's answer appeared on the paper.
"The so-called mundane and Extraordinary are merely definitions given by many arrogant people who think they are above the masses. In fact, in essence, there is no boundary between the mundane and the Extraordinary in this world. Everything is just about the depth of involvement with the world, and the activity and abundance or scarcity of Spirituality. You cannot say that the mundane is the shallow layer of the world and exclude it from the world, nor can you say that mundane objects have inactive, lazy, or scarce Spirituality and thus consider them to have no Spirituality. Quantitative change leads to qualitative change... When the Dark Gold Society's assets accumulate to a certain extent, their significance is capable of creating effects comparable to that of a deity."
Dorothy looked at Beverly's response on the paper and couldn't help but furrow her brow slightly, then immediately wrote back.
"Effects comparable to that of a deity... Do you mean that the Dark Gold Society is accumulating assets on such a massive scale because they are planning something big?"
"Ah... well, that's not very clear. Anyway, our topic has drifted a bit. What you should be concerned about now isn't the Dark Gold Society's objective, but finding Frederico, right?" Beverly's response appeared before Dorothy like this. Looking at her answer, Dorothy completely disbelieved that she would be completely unaware of the Dark Gold Society's objective, but since the other party didn't want to talk deeply about it, she didn't press.
"Yes, I'm looking for him now. You've dealt with the Dark Gold Society for so many years, do you have any leads on him?" Dorothy continued writing, and Beverly quickly responded.
"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you with this. Unlike the Church's Archbishops, the whereabouts of the higher-ups in those hidden organizations are very difficult to figure out. These members of the Dark Gold Society are among the most difficult to trace. They have no fixed strongholds, frequently change locations, and are extremely hard to track. The last time we confirmed Frederico's whereabouts was twelve years ago, during the Soko Duchy's civil unrest."
"You don't know either, then if I want to find him, I can only do it myself?" Looking at Beverly's response, Dorothy couldn't help but write with a tightly furrowed brow, but the other party's reply still disappointed her.
"I'm afraid that's the case. Even we don't have any leads on Frederico for now. If you can find him later and want to take some action against him, perhaps we can help a little. If you cause him significant trouble without our help, we can also give you some rewards. But the premise for all of this is that you can find him, although I'm confident you have that ability. I believe in you."
'Easier said than done...' Dorothy looked at Beverly's response on the page and couldn't help but inwardly complain. After realizing she couldn't get any more useful information from Beverly, Dorothy chatted briefly with her for a couple more sentences before saying goodbye. After closing """wen hai hang zhi""", she leaned back on the sofa and let out a long sigh.
"Phew... The Craftsmen's Guild doesn't have any reliable leads either. What should I do now?"
With a puzzled expression, Dorothy, leaning on the sofa, murmured. Immediately after, she began to think carefully, wondering if there was any way to continue chaining together the fragile lead on Frederico and find the lost maria's light.
After deep contemplation, Dorothy opened her magic box again, took out the Golden base obtained from Sansone, and held it in her hand, playing with it. Looking at the neat and complex patterns on it, a thought couldn't help but emerge in her mind.
'This Golden base plus those four crystals should be a combined version of a high-level Key of Insight, and the characteristic of a Key of Insight is that it doesn't inherently possess Extraordinary significance. Only after the Great Library grants it authorization will its obvious Extraordinary characteristics appear.'
'The base part of this Key of Insight hasn't shown any Extraordinary features for over a hundred years, likely because it was disassembled and couldn't properly receive authorization from the Great Library. In essence, the Spirituality of a Key of Insight comes from the Great Library's remote bestowal. The Key of Insight itself is an Extraordinary item capable of receiving the Spirituality of 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment), but it's different from some other Extraordinary items. It has an extremely high Spirituality conversion rate and an extremely low residue rate, becoming like an ordinary object after use. So, what if I were to bestow Spirituality upon it now, on behalf of the Great Library?'
Looking at the Golden base in front of her, such a thought suddenly arose in Dorothy's mind. She then began to experiment, injecting her """enlightenment""" into this item.
As Dorothy's Spirituality was injected, the open eye on the Golden base flashed with a faint purple glow, and then a slight Extraordinary characteristic appeared in Dorothy's eyes.