Northern Shore of Conquest Sea, Adria. Inside a high-end suite at one of Adria’s hotels, Dorothy sat on a plush sofa with the thick Literary Sea Logbook resting on her lap. She had just finished writing her proposal to Beverly and now waited intently for a response. She did not have to wait long before text materialized on the logbook’s correspondence page: “A chance to take down a Crimson rank foe… Interesting. I never thought your luck was so good that you’d stumble on such an opportunity. But I don’t know much about your current situation, so I can’t decide right away. At least give me a general idea of what’s going on—some baseline to work with.” Observing Beverly’s reply, Dorothy could see that she was skeptical that a mere White Ash like Dorothy could manage to ensnare someone at Crimson rank. After a moment’s thought, Dorothy picked up her pen and wrote on the logbook’s pages: “Sure. I’m currently at Adria, looking for Azam’s donated items as per your intel, and I found out Garib was also here after the same collection. Because these donations are kept on Church property, I seized the chance to expose Garib in front of the Church. Adria’s overseen by Archbishop Antonio right now, and he can handle Garib. “I’ve already secured all of Azam’s donated treasures, so there’s no need for me to risk attacking Garib, given we have no personal grudge. But if you all are willing to offer payment, I don’t mind taking him on.” Dorothy wrote this in the Literary Sea Logbook and waited quietly for the response. Before long, Beverly’s neatly printed words appeared again. “Driving the tiger to devour the wolf, eh? That’s quite like you—though I never expected you to manage it on a Crimson scale. Well done. “All right, I can agree to your terms for compensation. I’ll talk it over with the Central Workshop later. A chance to eliminate a Crimson traitor is too good for them to pass up, so go ahead and proceed. If you succeed, there will definitely be a reward.” I’ve already succeeded… Dorothy thought, reading the lines on the page. She then wrote. “Understood. I’ll move into action immediately. Everything should be settled today. Keep an eye on Adria for developments.” “Don’t worry,” came Beverly’s next reply, forming anew on the logbook. “We have our own intelligence network. We’ll track Garib’s whereabouts. If anything happens to him, we’ll know. Once we confirm his fate, I’ll get back in touch with you.” After reviewing these words, Dorothy nodded in understanding. Lastly, she picked up her pen again. “In that case, I’m off. I look forward to your confirmation.” With that, she closed the Literary Sea Logbook, returned it to her magic box, and exhaled deeply before leaning back against the soft sofa to rest. Setting up Garib through the Crown of Emmanuel hadn’t been part of Dorothy’s original plan. She only meant to exploit the chaos while Garib and Antonio were preoccupied to steal Azam’s donated items. However, during the operation, she realized Garib and Antonio had vanished into the Netherworld and would likely remain entangled there for a good while. That inspired her to pit Garib against Antonio with the Crown of Emmanuel, ensuring he would land in serious trouble. And since she’d gone that far, she might as well profit from it. It would be a waste not to capitalize on ensnaring someone as important as Garib. “Now comes the waiting… waiting for Azam’s donations to finish cooling down, waiting for the Workshop to verify Garib’s fate. Honestly, I’m rather curious how things will end for him…” So mused Dorothy, settled into the sofa, gazing out at the setting sun on the horizon. … Afternoon. Southeastern Conquest Sea, off the coast of Adria. On the shimmering waters under the bright sun, three small- to medium-sized Church warships sped across the sea, trailing long wakes and smoke, bound for Adria at high velocity. In the cabin of the lead vessel, Antonio sat with a grave expression. In his hand, he held a small card, studying its words with a deep frown. “Thief K… Were we all dancing in your palm from the start?” Antonio muttered softly to himself as he stared at the card. It was now painfully clear that the events rocking Adria were orchestrated by an unseen mastermind: the Crimson-rank Beyonder he had been so focused on chasing was no Thief K at all, but rather a scapegoat Thief K had set up. In last night’s battle on the cathedral plaza, Antonio’s side managed to capture one or two prisoners. Because they urgently needed intelligence on the Crimson rank fugitive they were pursuing, the unconscious captives were brought aboard the warship. They finally regained consciousness not too long ago. Initially, they remained tight-lipped and loyal, but after witnessing the capture of their leader, their psychological defenses collapsed, and they revealed a wealth of information. It was this new intel that made Antonio realize he had been utterly outplayed. According to the captives’ testimony, they belonged to the treasure-thieving organization known as the Corpse-Sand Society, led by a man named Garib. They had come here to steal several artifacts donated by their former leader to the Pure Flow Cathedral, not the Crown of Emmanuel. Their plan had been to strike right after Antonio left Adria; they never expected that Antonio would suddenly alter his schedule and remain in town, completely disrupting their plans. Garib definitely wasn’t Thief K. After reading these confessions, Antonio finally understood the truth. Why would a Crimson-rank master thief “forget” to remove the beacon sigil from the Crown of Emmanuel? Clearly, he’d been duped by the brazen Thief K. His original objective had never been the Crown at all, and the conflict between himself and Antonio had obviously been engineered by the true Thief K behind the scenes. Inside the ship’s gently swaying cabin, Antonio studied the captives’ statements and Thief K’s card, his face stern and silent, rage seething within him. In his decades of authority as an archbishop and a figure with a centuries-long lifespan, rarely had he encountered anything so infuriating. “Hmph… A thief so audacious… but don’t get too complacent,” Antonio muttered coldly. A robber bold enough to use the Church as their tool would not be allowed to get away with it. Once back on shore, Antonio planned to immediately attempt a divination on Thief K. Yet he had little hope of success. Anyone daring to manipulate the Church so openly would likely have countermeasures against standard-level divination. A higher-level ritual would require submitting a request to the Holy Mount, and though the incident was infuriating, it hadn’t truly caused damage of a magnitude to warrant that. After all, there had been no major losses for the Church: in the end, the Crown of Emmanuel was reclaimed, and they had actually captured a Crimson-rank offender, effectively bringing down a criminal treasure-thieving society. In a way, their achievements outweighed their losses in the eyes of the Holy Mount—never mind how much being exploited still galled Antonio on a personal level. Thinking it over, Antonio realized that a string of coincidences had led him to remain in Adria, but that so many coincidences piling up at once was suspicious. Because of the letter from Summer Tree, he had canceled his original itinerary, deciding to stay half a day longer in Adria. Then, due to Thief K’s calling card, he extended his stay yet another half day. Initially, he thought Thief K’s postcard was sent under the assumption that he would be out of town, but it now seemed Thief K knew he was still in Adria—knew that Garib would act that very night—so she deliberately keep him in Adria to clash with Garib. As for Summer Tree’s letter, Antonio had used multiple methods to verify with them and confirmed that the letter had indeed been sent by Elder Anman. Besides, the Abyssal Church intelligence they provided was quite valuable. For centuries, Summer Tree had been an isolated archipelago with minimal contact with the mainland; it was almost impossible to link them to a high-profile mainland thief like Thief K. If Summer Tree had intended to keep him in Adria to deal with Garib, they could have simply asked him to stay until afternoon or evening rather than just midday. Ruling out Summer Tree as the cause, the key question became the Church’s internal affairs. Thief K could only have sent the morning’s calling card because she knew that Antonio hadn’t left Adria, but remained behind, awaiting a telegram. She also knew that he was only staying for the morning, which was why she specifically chose that time frame to mail her notice. Given that he had not publicly announced his change of plans, someone inside the Church must have leaked his temporary stay. That likely meant Thief K had an informant nearby. This informant might be among his own entourage, or they could be inside the local Church in Adria—perhaps the Deep Concealment Squad or even the Sacrament Knight Order stationed at the naval port. People in these organizations knew he was postponing his departure. Thief K must have learned of it through one of those channels and, armed with that knowledge, sent her calling card precisely to keep him in town until night. Seated where he was, Antonio mulled this over. He dismissed the idea that the pilgrims themselves were responsible, since ordinary pilgrims had no access to the classified information that he’d postponed his departure. Nor did he suspect the nun who delivered Summer Tree’s letter: it was written in the Summer Tree language, incomprehensible to most anyone else. Antonio had learned it personally because he was tasked with addressing Summer Tree’s issues diplomatically in his capacity as Ivengard’s archbishop. The nun, a visitor from Pritt, was unlikely to know Summer Tree’s language at all—she had relied on translators for her interactions there. With the pilgrim group ruled out, Antonio had narrowed down the suspects. He decided that once he returned, he would inform the top brass of the Deep Concealment Squad and coordinate with them to root out the leak within Adria’s local Beyonder forces. He would also investigate those in his own circle and the Sacrament Knight Order. If they found Thief K’s informant, they could trace it further and uncover more about Thief K’s identity. “Such arrogance… You’ll pay for your conceit eventually,” Antonio murmured gravely, staring out at the roiling sea. … Time passed swiftly; the sun set and the moon rose, then the moon sank and the sun rose again. Another day dawned in Adria. As morning arrived, residents living near the cathedral plaza noticed a striking change: at the top of the Pure Flow Cathedral, the familiar radiance of the Crown of Emmanuel—absent for an entire day—had suddenly reappeared. Though the plaza remained cordoned off and the church’s doors stayed closed, and no official announcements were made, everyone already understood: the missing the Crown of Emmanuel had been recovered at last. Amid the countless rumors about Thief K, the Crown’s return landed like another bombshell in the public conversation. The people of Adria—locals and travelers alike—were once more abuzz with excitement, discussing the Crown’s disappearance and rediscovery. Opinions and explanations were everywhere. Some claimed Thief K had been caught. Others insisted she had not, that she had merely abandoned the Crown to divert pursuers. Still others said the Crown of Emmanuel had never been truly found, and that the one on the church rooftop was a fake meant to save face. Others believed Thief K herself had returned the Crown, simply because she didn’t like it… Various speculations spread rapidly through Adria, but they all quietly agreed on one point: if Thief K had indeed gotten away with stealing the Crown of Emmanuel after sending a calling card in advance, she was indisputably a legendary thief! … While rumors about Thief K ran rampant among the people of Adria, Dorothy—one of the two individuals most closely connected to Thief K—had no interest in listening to any of it. At that moment, she sat on the sofa in her room, eyes fixed intently on her palm, which held a pendant featuring golden trimmings in the North Ufiga style and a beautiful amethyst charm. This crystal pendant was one of Azam’s donated items. As of yesterday, it had been a colorless crystal ornament showing no spiritual traces. But early this morning, it transformed into an amethyst crystal, and under Dorothy’s spiritual sight, it gently radiated the glow of Revelation spirituality. This was a mystical Revelation artifact—the hidden divination tool among Azam’s donations, the very object Azam had built his fortune on, the linchpin behind his founding of the Corpse-Sand Society, and the item Garib most desired to acquire. Observing the pendant, Dorothy had a good idea how to use it: for pendulum divination. Through this pendant, she could divine the location of anything related to the Star Numerology Scriptorium. … Elsewhere in Adria, discussions about Thief K continued to spread. Dorothy, having found the divination tool, paid them no heed; Nephthys, likewise, had no attention to spare, because she had received an urgent telegram early that morning. In another upscale Adria hotel where she and her study group had been staying for over a week, Neph had been awakened at dawn by knocking on the door. Sleepily rubbing her eyes, she tried calling on her roommate, Emma, to open the door. But after getting no response and noticing Emma was still fast asleep, she reluctantly rose, still in her nightclothes, slipped on her slippers, and trudged to the door. When she opened it, she found a young hotel attendant who eyed her and spoke in somewhat halting Prittish. “Are you Miss Boyle?” “Ah, that’s me… Is something wrong?” “Well, it’s like this: a rushed telegram arrived for you earlier from the telegraph office, addressed here in Adria. It’s from Pritt—Tivian, specifically.” The attendant held out a translated telegram. Nephthys took it, blinking in confusion, wondering who in Tivian would send her something urgent, and reasoning that the only ones there who knew her current address were her family. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦 Did something happen at home that would prompt them to send an urgent telegram? She opened the envelope and read the note. After a few moments, her eyes widened dramatically. “Grandpa Nust… is missing?!”