Pritt, Tivian North Suburbs, Green Shade Town.
In the dead of night, a light drizzle falls over Green Shade Town. A cold, damp chill permeates the small streets, and under the dim streetlights, not a single pedestrian is in sight. However, the windows of house number seventeen are brightly lit.
In the living room, the warmth from the fireplace drives away the cold from outside. Sitting by the fireplace, Dorothy, dressed in comfortable home clothes, puts down the newspaper in her hand and gazes at the world map hanging on the wall. Her eyes linger on the location of the New Continent, pondering the prayer she just heard.
"That kid Kapak... he got caught? What happened? Did his reputation for healing and saving lives in the tribe grow to the point where others couldn’t tolerate it anymore?"
Dorothy murmurs to herself. In Kapak’s recent prayer, he claimed to be in danger, tied up with ropes and in a perilous situation. Previously, Kapak had expressed concerns about Sado and others in the tribe during his written exchanges with Dorothy. So, when this happened, Dorothy’s first thought was whether Sado had finally made his move.
“Regardless... I need to contact Kapak immediately using the information channel. Since it’s another remote rescue... I’ll use this identity again.”
With that, Dorothy uses the information channel to send a message to Kapak.
"Great Aka, Recorder of All Things, I have received a revelation that an innocent person is in danger. I beseech You to connect our consciousness so I may help him out of this predicament."
…
The New Continent, somewhere in a dark space.Bound hand and foot, with his mouth and eyes covered, Kapak has temporarily given up struggling after failing to break free. To conserve his energy, he leans against an unseen wall, breathing heavily.
Although he had just prayed to Aka and the Great Soul, Kapak doesn’t expect the gods to truly care about the fate of someone as insignificant as him. At this moment, he is still thinking of ways to save himself. But after failing to break free from the ropes binding him, Kapak feels a sense of despair. Just then, an unexpected, unfamiliar voice echoes in his mind.
“Aka... is this... another believer of Aka? My prayer to Aka... was heard by another believer? No... Aka has revealed my crisis to Their other believers!”
Hearing this voice, Kapak is stunned. He hadn’t truly expected to receive any help from Aka. In his eyes, Aka is a powerful spirit, akin to a god, with whom he can exchange knowledge. Beyond knowledge, Kapak never expected to receive any direct assistance from Aka. But now, Aka has revealed his predicament to Their other believers, sending them to help him!
Kapak is momentarily overwhelmed with shock. Just then, the unfamiliar voice he heard earlier speaks again in his mind.
"Hello, native of the New Continent. I am a loyal believer of Aka, sent by ‘Scholar’ to help you. You can call me... ‘Detective’... We are currently connected through Aka’s consciousness. You can communicate with me by silently thinking your words."
The unfamiliar voice resonates in Kapak’s mind. After hearing it, Kapak is momentarily stunned before finally processing the information.
Detective? A believer of Aka? Sent by Scholar? This person is here to save me! He’s using Aka to connect with my consciousness and communicate. So Aka has this kind of function too?
Kapak is astonished. After a while, he finally gathers his thoughts and silently communicates with Detective.
"Detective... you’re also a believer of Aka? You said you’re here to help me... because Scholar asked you to?"
"Yes, Scholar said you two had good conversations, and he learned a lot about New Continent shamanism from you. So when Aka revealed your crisis, he asked me to help you. Among the Rose Cross Order, my abilities are well-suited for this kind of work."
Hearing this, Kapak is momentarily stunned, and many thoughts begin to flood his mind.
“The Rose Cross Order? Is this the organization Scholar belongs to? It seems like a secret society dedicated to worshipping Aka, somewhat similar to the invaders’ churches.”
Suddenly, Kapak gains a new understanding of Aka’s faith on the mainland. Scholar and Detective are members of the Rose Cross Order, a mysterious organization that worships Aka. They seem to address each other by codenames within the organization. The one he communicated with in writing was Scholar, and now the one speaking in his mind is Detective. Their commonality is their devotion to Aka, and they are colleagues within the Rose Cross Order.
“Scholar asked his colleague, Detective, to contact me through Aka to save me. I feel so ashamed... I haven’t even repaid Scholar for the medical knowledge he exchanged for me, and now I owe him another favor…”
Kapak thinks to himself. Just then, Detective’s voice echoes in his mind again.
"Kapak, now explain your situation to me in detail, including why you were captured and your current predicament. I need to fully understand before deciding how to help you."
"Yes, Detective..."
Kapak then uses the information channel to relay everything that happened to him today to Dorothy. Sitting by the fireplace in Green Shade Town, Dorothy listens and can’t help but stroke her chin.
“Colonists attacked the wild spirits of the New Continent? These people can control ghosts and manipulate skeleton soldiers armed with guns and explosives? And they seem to have bribed or turned a shaman apprentice named Banu? Interesting…”
“Controlling large numbers of ghosts and skeleton soldiers... this is clearly the work of a Silence-aligned secret society. Skeleton soldiers using guns and explosives... this is definitely a mainland Silence society. What are these people trying to achieve by attacking the wild spirits of the New Continent natives? From what Kapak said earlier, the wild spirits and spirits of the New Continent are products of Silence spirituality. These societies might be trying to accumulate spirituality by harvesting the wild spirits and spirits in some way.”
Sitting by the fireplace, Dorothy quickly pieces together Kapak’s current situation. She then continues to communicate with Kapak through the information channel.
"Bound hand and foot, with your eyes and mouth covered? That’s a tricky situation... Kapak, I asked Scholar, and he mentioned that he once instructed you to draw a mark on your body. Is that mark still on you?"
"The mark? The one Scholar told me to use to check the picture book information? Yes! It’s still on me! It’s on my calf!"
Kapak immediately responds. Hearing this, Dorothy breathes a sigh of relief. The marionette mark is what Dorothy uses to send reminders to her contacts, so all her contacts have this mark on them.
"Good. Since you can’t see right now, focus on feeling the location of that mark in your mind. If you feel anything unusual, don’t resist it."
Dorothy continues to instruct Kapak. Although Kapak doesn’t know what Dorothy plans to do, he follows her instructions without question, as she is currently his only hope for rescue.
By the fireplace, Dorothy uses the sensory sharing provided by the information channel to locate the marionette mark on Kapak’s body. She then extends a spiritual thread to connect to it and takes out a Devouring Sigil from her magic box. After consuming some Chalice spirituality, she attaches the sigil to herself and uses the spiritual thread to transmit its effects to Kapak.
Suddenly, Kapak, tightly bound in the confined space, feels a surge of warmth flow through his body. His entire body feels invigorated and strong, and even the wound on his head stops hurting.
Before Kapak can marvel at this sensation, he feels something strange happening within his body. Following Detective’s earlier instructions, he doesn’t resist this strange feeling. He feels his body being guided by something, moving and exerting force on its own.
"This is..."
Before Kapak can finish his thought, he realizes his body is suddenly exerting tremendous force. A strength he has never possessed before bursts forth from his arms. Kapak feels a sharp pain in his wrists as his body, under someone else’s control, begins to struggle against the ropes.
Snap!
With a crisp sound, the ropes binding Kapak’s wrists are broken by the immense force. Kapak is astonished to find that his hands, now free, are moving with a strength that isn’t his own. But that’s not all. Next, Dorothy manipulates Kapak’s body to break the ropes binding his feet.
“What... what is this power? Is this Detective’s ability? To suddenly grant me such immense strength and control my body? Is this the power of a Beyonder in the Rose Cross Order? It’s completely different from shamanic abilities…”
Feeling his body being controlled by someone else and breaking free with strength that isn’t his own, Kapak is amazed. Meanwhile, Dorothy manipulates Kapak’s now-free hands to remove the cloth covering his eyes and mouth. Kapak can finally see again.
What appears before Kapak is a small, dark space. He seems to be trapped in a one-meter-square iron cage. Outside the cage, a layer of wooden planks forms a box enclosing the cage. Kapak can’t see beyond the wooden planks, but faint light seeps through the cracks, bringing a sliver of illumination to the confined space.
“An iron cage? This is going to be tricky…”
Using Kapak’s vision to inspect the surroundings, Dorothy thinks to herself. The physical enhancement from the Devouring Sigil is only equivalent to that of an Apprentice-rank Craver. While the strength of a Craver is enough to break ropes that aren’t too thick, bending the bars of an iron cage is completely out of the question.
Kapak is trapped in a small iron cage, with a wooden box enclosing it. Dorothy can’t have Kapak bend the iron bars with sheer strength.
"Huff... huff... Thank you, Detective, for freeing my hands and feet. But besides the ropes, I’m still trapped in this cage... Detective, what should I do now?"
At this moment, Kapak silently communicates with Dorothy. Dorothy calmly responds.
"Don’t worry. The iron cage is a bit troublesome, but it’s not without a solution. Since they captured you instead of killing you immediately, there must be a reason they can’t let you die. If they left you in this place without care, you wouldn’t survive. So, someone will definitely come to check on you, either to inspect or to bring food. That’s our opportunity. For now, we just need to wait."
Dorothy analyzes the situation for Kapak. Hearing her words, Kapak feels that her reasoning makes sense and stops pressing the issue.
Afterward, Dorothy begins to control Kapak’s body to carefully observe the surroundings. She has Kapak press his eye against the crack between the wooden planks to peer outside.
Through the limited view, Dorothy sees a quiet, deserted scene. In Kapak’s field of vision, she notices rows of wooden crates stacked in the distance. Some of the crates are labeled with words like "fur," "fabric," "fruit," and other Pritt letters. She doesn’t see a single person or hear any voices. Only the faint sound of waves can be heard in the distance.
“Is this... a warehouse? A seaside warehouse filled with cargo? Did the secret society throw Kapak into a crate and store it in a seaside warehouse? What are they planning?”
Dorothy wonders to herself. After observing the surroundings, she temporarily stops controlling Kapak’s body to conserve spirituality, keeping only the sensory sharing of the information channel active. She instructs Kapak, now free, to remain quiet and wait silently in the crate, while she quietly relays some instructions to him.
Finally, after more than half an hour, Dorothy hears movement outside. It’s the sound of footsteps, approaching from a distance. Hearing this, Dorothy immediately has Kapak get up and observe. Sure enough, through Kapak’s vision, she sees a man in some kind of uniform carrying a gas lamp, slowly walking toward them.
"Someone’s coming. Get ready as I instructed."
"Understood, Detective!"
Following Dorothy’s instructions, Kapak reattaches the cloth over his mouth and eyes, but loosely, so they can easily fall off with a slight shake. He then places his hands behind his back and lies down in a position that hides his hands, waiting quietly. Since the effects of the previous Devouring Sigil have worn off, Dorothy attaches another one to herself and transmits its effects to Kapak.
Thus, Dorothy has Kapak pretend to still be unconscious and wait quietly. Soon, she hears the sounds outside grow louder. A crisp click echoes, as if someone is unlocking the crate.
After a while, one side of the wooden box enclosing the iron cage is opened, and light streams in. A man in an unfamiliar uniform crouches outside, placing his gas lamp on the ground and peering through the iron bars at Kapak.
"Huh... looks like he’s still out."
The man murmurs as he observes the inside of the crate. Just then, Dorothy has Kapak suddenly spring into action.
Opening his eyes and shaking off the cloth covering them in an instant, Kapak quickly reaches through the iron bars. His hands shoot out and clamp over the man’s mouth and nose, while his arm wraps around the man’s neck, pulling him tightly against the iron bars. The man is completely caught off guard, not expecting Kapak to be awake, let alone to have freed himself from the ropes.
"Mmm... mmm! Mmm!"
Under Kapak’s swift actions, the man, unable to react in time, struggles in panic. But he is no match for Kapak, enhanced by the Devouring Sigil. Unable to cry out, the man soon passes out from suffocation, collapsing limply against the iron bars.
Kapak, a warrior in his tribe and now armed with medical knowledge, knows how to quickly incapacitate an enemy.
"Alright, Detective, as you instructed, this guy is out cold."
"Good job, kid. Do you have anything on you that can be used as ink to draw something?"
After seeing the man collapse, Dorothy asks Kapak. Still stunned by what just happened, Kapak hesitates before responding.
"No, Detective. The people who captured me took almost everything I had... If you need something to draw with, you can use my blood."
"Alright, then use your blood to draw the mark Scholar taught you on this guy’s body—the same one you have on you. Make sure to draw it on his skin."
Dorothy instructs Kapak, who doesn’t hesitate. He bites his thumb to draw blood, then rolls up the unconscious man’s sleeve and begins drawing the marionette mark on his arm.
Once the marionette mark is complete, Dorothy immediately extends a new spiritual thread, connecting it to the unconscious man. Under Kapak’s astonished gaze, the man stands up.
Using the spiritual thread, Dorothy links her senses to the man. The man, who had come to check on Kapak, opens his eyes again. Through his vision, Dorothy finally sees the surroundings clearly.
This is indeed a warehouse—a large one filled with stacks of wooden crates and various goods. The warehouse is dimly lit, with only a few hanging gas lamps providing light. Outside the warehouse windows, Dorothy can hear the clearer sound of waves.
Looking around, Dorothy notices that Kapak’s crate is in a corner of the warehouse. The crate imprisoning him is placed beside a stack of sorted crates. Besides his crate, there are dozens of other large crates piled together, covered with a large black cloth. A label on the cloth reads:
"Cargo—Animal Specimens, 42 crates (live specimens included). Origin—New Jacques Port. Destination—Dankt. Loading Time—December 5th, 6:00 AM. Loading Ship—Princess Jenna. Serial Number..."
Using the man’s vision to read the label, Dorothy takes in this information. She then carefully examines the stack of crates. Through her spiritual vision, she can see faint spiritual auras emanating from the crates—Silence spirituality.