Ivengard, Adria Late morning, inside a quiet riverside café in Adria, Dorothy and Nephthys were seated together in a secluded booth. While sipping a cup of coffee, Dorothy quietly observed Nephthys seated across from her. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂 Before Nephthys was a thick book spread open. Holding a fountain pen, she was quickly writing across the book’s pages—pausing occasionally to examine the lines before continuing her scribbles. The book in front of Nephthys was none other than Dorothy’s Literary Sea Logbook. At this moment, she was using it to correspond with Nust, far away in Tivian. After all, the only person who could earn Nust’s complete trust was the young lady of the Boyle family—her. Only she could persuade the rescued Nust to cooperate with Adèle’s side of the operation. As time passed, Nephthys’s expression grew more focused, and her hand moved with increasing speed over the logbook’s pages. Meanwhile, Dorothy remained silent, leisurely sipping her coffee and admiring the view of boats drifting past the window. At last, after a stretch of intense writing, Nephthys tossed her pen aside and let out a long breath. “All done… I’ve convinced Grandpa Nust. He’ll fully cooperate with them from now on.” With that, she picked up the Literary Sea Logbook and passed it to Dorothy. Hearing her words, Dorothy turned away from the window and accepted the book. “Oh? Already? Well done. Thanks.” She responded simply and casually flipped through the pages before speaking again. Nephthys, seated opposite, also spoke up. “Not at all... I should be thanking you, Miss Dorothy. If not for you, Grandpa Nust might not have made it. I was so far away, completely unable to help.” To this, Dorothy replied with an easy tone. “It’s nothing, really. Just a small matter. Your butler still had your family’s notes with him—how could I let anything happen to him? Especially since those notes are key to your advancement ritual, right?” Hearing that, Nephthys’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t realized she held such weight within the Rose Cross Order. They had taken down a White Ash just to secure her advancement materials? But she was just a new Black Earth, wasn’t she? Did she really merit such importance? Had she somehow landed on the Rose Cross Order’s priority cultivation list? The thought that she might have caught the attention of the Order’s higher-ups left Nephthys quietly uneasy. Just then, Dorothy took another sip of coffee and said, “By the way, aside from convincing your butler to cooperate, did you ask him how he provoked those robbers? What was their goal in kidnapping him? Don’t tell me it was for your family’s scepter?” “It was the golden scepter. I asked Grandpa Nust. He said those relic thieves were being controlled by some ancient lich. Apparently, they ran into it during a tomb raid in North Ufiga and got cursed. The lich threatened them through the curse and forced them to come to Tivian to steal our family’s scepter. When they couldn’t find the hidden chamber, they kidnapped Grandpa Nust.” “So it was connected to that thing, huh?” Nephthys spoke plainly. Her words confirmed Dorothy’s earlier suspicion: the group had indeed been sent by the Prince of Tomb-Sands. But they weren’t his minions—they’d been coerced through curses. “That undead prince knew exactly where Nephthys’s family lived… probably figured it out during the brief lapse in the scepter’s protection last time, when the curse kicked in. Its curse even allowed it to pinpoint the cursed targets’ location. That’s pretty powerful. “Yet even after locating their house, the undead prince didn’t show up in person. He waited months and then forced a few grave robbers through a curse to do his bidding. That suggests one of two things: either he fears the threat of a Radiance Archbishop’s authority—or for some reason, he simply can’t travel freely and has no choice but to manipulate others. “Between the two… the theory that he’s unable to move freely seems more likely. Because if he were merely avoiding places where a Radiance Archbishop might be watching, he could’ve just expanded his forces in other areas and sent loyal subordinates to deal with the Boyle family. But he didn’t. Instead, he had to curse a few stray tomb robbers and send them thousands of miles for this task. “So… that undead prince must be constrained somehow. He might not even be able to form a proper faction. He’s stuck.” That’s what Dorothy thought. In her eyes, someone with that kind of power should’ve had no trouble forming a strong mystical cult. If the prince had loyal White Ash subordinates, he could’ve dispatched them the moment he pinpointed the Boyle residence and made a full assault for the scepter. But instead, he did nothing for months—then sent a handful of cursed relic hunters. That made one thing clear: the undead prince couldn’t build a cult. All he could do was rely on the occasional tomb raider who wandered into his domain. Dorothy figured the undead prince’s range of activity was extremely limited—not just confined to North Ufiga, but likely to a few ancient ruins or tombs, far from civilization. The only living people he ever encountered were unlucky tomb raiders who stumbled into his area—people like Corpse-Sand Society’s Azam, or the ones who kidnapped Nust. Having reached this conclusion, Dorothy felt visibly relieved. After all, she’d soon be heading to North Ufiga herself. She had no desire to run into such a deadly figure there. Knowing the prince’s movements were limited gave her great peace of mind. As long as she didn’t have Azam’s luck and accidentally pick a ruin inside his territory, she’d never have to see him. With that thought, she took another satisfied sip of her coffee. Just then, Nephthys spoke again. "By the way, Miss Dorothy, there’s one more thing—Grandpa Nust has agreed to give me the rest of Grandfather’s notes. He said that now that things have come to this, it wouldn’t be right for him to interfere with my path as a Beyonder anymore. Unlike before, now he hopes I can advance as soon as possible." "He actually agreed to hand over the remaining notes? Huh... not bad at all. With those next notes, you can focus entirely on preparing for your advancement." Hearing Nephthys’s words, Dorothy chuckled as she replied. She wasn’t surprised by Nust’s change in attitude—in fact, she’d more or less expected it. Originally, Nust had refused to give Nephthys the next batch of Davis’s notes because he had been alarmed by how quickly she was advancing, worried something might go wrong if she rose too fast. That kind of mindset essentially stemmed from a distrust of the Rose Cross Order. Nust had concerns about the accelerated advancement method that the Rose Cross Order offered his young lady and was uncertain whether he should fully support Nephthys continuing her mystical studies within that framework. But now that he had been saved by the Rose Cross Order himself, his attitude had softened. And with the threat of the undead prince growing more urgent, he had no further reason to delay Nephthys’s progress. "Preparing for the White Ash advancement... hmm... feels like I’ve only been Black Earth for not even three months, and now I’m already getting ready for White Ash..." "Hey, Miss Dorothy—although I don’t know much about the mysticism world—don’t you think my advancement speed is a little fast?" Nephthys asked curiously, touching her chin, her expression tinged with excitement. Dorothy, seeing her like this, responded bluntly. "Fast? You think that’s fast? It’s already been three months and you’re only starting to prepare for White Ash advancement. Plenty of people are already White Ash by now. You’d better not slack off, Senior Nephthys." “Ugh... I see,” Nephthys muttered softly with her head slightly lowered after hearing Dorothy’s comment. Seeing her like this, Dorothy took another sip of her coffee and thought to herself: knowing Nephthys’s personality, the moment she believes she’s way ahead of others and strong enough, she’ll absolutely slack off again—most likely returning to her lazy ways and neglecting her mystical studies. So she had to instill some tension in her. After all, a bit of pressure was necessary to stimulate learning motivation. Nephthys didn’t really know what the average level in the mysticism world looked like anyway. It wasn’t such a bad thing to let her believe the standard was a bit higher than it actually was. ... After finishing coffee with Nephthys, Dorothy returned to her hotel. Over the next few days, she remained in Adria and continued to monitor the developments in Tivian. Once Nust’s injuries had stabilized, it was finally time for him to return to the Boyle mansion. But since the prior incident at the Boyle household had drawn considerable attention from the East District police, Nust’s reappearance also had to account for the potential scrutiny of both the police and the Serenity Bureau. So, at Dorothy’s request, Adèle helped by using corpse marionette tools to animate two of the deceased robbers, making them once again play the role of kidnappers who “abducted” Nust and loaded him into a vehicle. That night, they deliberately cruised through the East District until they encountered patrolling police. Because many East District officers had been instructed to keep watch for North Ufigan-looking foreigners, the patrolmen stopped the corpse-driven vehicle and conducted a routine check. Naturally, they “discovered” the kidnapped old butler. When the two marionette kidnappers saw their cover blown, they “fled.” One was promptly “gunned down” by the police. What followed was the classic scene of the rescued butler sincerely thanking the officers for their heroic rescue. Thus, within just a few days, a high-profile robbery and kidnapping case had been officially solved. The police in charge were thrilled—this was a huge feather in their caps. Of course, the officers didn’t forget the mysterious investigator who’d helped solve the case with his remarkable insight. It was thanks to his accurate profiling of the suspect that the patrolmen were able to make the identification and bust the case. Their chief had already contacted Serenity Bureau’s Center to confirm that the investigator was none other than Gregor. In Pritt, a Serenity Bureau investigator has the right to forcibly intervene in any mundane case they believe involves mystical elements. Previously, Gregor had used this authority to get involved in the Boyle case. In his report to the Bureau, Gregor said he happened to be off-duty and passing by the Boyle mansion when he found what looked like the ashes of a used sigil, which prompted his investigation. After Nust’s return, the Bureau sent a few agents to assess the case’s mystical relevance. In the end, based on Nust’s testimony and the evidence from the two corpses, they concluded that although the robbers had some contact with mystical knowledge, it wasn’t deep. Their criminal method seemed to involve stealing antiques from collectors and then selling them to buyers who specialize in extracting mystical items from old relics—criminals of this type had been caught by the Bureau before. To the Serenity Bureau, these robbers were likely newcomers who had only recently crossed into Pritt. The Boyle mansion had just happened to be their first target. In Nust’s statement, he claimed that they had originally intended to kill him, but he managed to convince them he knew the locations of more hidden collections, so they spared him and chose to take him hostage instead—until his recent rescue. In Nust’s account, the Boyle family had nothing to do with mysticism—their ancestor just happened to be fond of collecting antiques, which caught the attention of these thieves. Naturally, the Bureau didn’t take him entirely at his word. They performed mystical scans on both the Boyle mansion and Nust. Nothing was found in the estate. When Nust was stripped of all belongings and scanned with the Illuminating Beacon, he was also confirmed to be an ordinary person. After these tests, the Bureau concluded that the Boyles had no connection to the mystical world—they were just randomly targeted by robbers hoping to score mystical artifacts. The secret hidden within the Boyle mansion had been meticulously concealed by Davis. Even a veteran White Ash-rank robber like Atif couldn’t find it, let alone the Bureau’s temporary Black Earth-rank agents. As for Nust, he only passed the inspection thanks to Dorothy’s help—beforehand, he had drawn the Marionette Mark under his tongue, and Dorothy used spiritual threads to channel the effect of the Concealment Ring into him. This allowed him to pass the Beacon scan even without carrying any items. Once the Boyle case was officially classified, the Boyle family was no longer under suspicion. Gregor, having cracked the case and exposed a criminal group with light mystical ties operating in Tivian, was officially commended and awarded merit by the Bureau. Gregor was, of course, happy to accept the credit—but even happier with the spoils Adèle handed over afterward. After defeating Atif, most of the spoils—aside from the Soul-Storing Bone Fragments—were given to Gregor. These included a small amount of spiritual storage items aligned with Stone, Lantern, and Shadow; a handful of sigils such as Spirit Banishment, Spirit Sealing, Earth Listener, Pitfall, and Shadow Step; some strange looting tools; several vials of highly toxic poison; and several hundred pounds in cash. Among this collection of spoils, the item that interested Gregor the most—and was the most intricate—was Atif’s hidden dart mechanism. After carefully studying the compact elongated device, which could be equipped on the underside of the forearm and hidden beneath a sleeve, he discovered to his surprise that the mechanism was capable of transforming. This device was evidently some kind of mystical item. Though it appeared quite narrow, its internal capacity was unexpectedly large, seemingly crafted using techniques similar to those used in magic boxes. Not only could it store and fire numerous concealed darts, the device also contained a retractable sleeve blade just over an inch long for close combat. In addition to the blade and the darts, it even housed a spring-loaded grappling hook, which could be used to latch onto objects for climbing. It was a multifunctional mechanical box.