South Tivian, somewhere by the roadside.
After briefly assisting with rescue and maintaining order in the chaotic square, Gregor returned to where Dorothy was waiting. He took her away from Bishop’s Square and headed toward other parts of the South District, far from the square.
Leading his sister by the hand, Gregor wandered through the streets of the South District. After some effort, he finally found an inn that was still open on New Year’s Eve. He booked a room for Dorothy, paid the fee, and completed the necessary procedures. Standing at the door of the room, Gregor spoke to Dorothy with a serious tone.
"Dorothy, rest well here tonight. When it’s daytime, head back. I have a lot of work to do, so I won’t be able to come and pick you up. Once you’re back at your school dorm, remember to send me a telegram, okay?
"Tonight is a bit dangerous. Once you’re in the room, go straight to sleep. Don’t come out, understand?"
Gregor spoke with a serious expression, and Dorothy nodded obediently in response.
"Mm... I understand. I can take care of myself. Don’t worry, Gregor. Be safe."
"Hah, Dorothy, you’re really becoming more and more sensible. I knew you’d listen."
Seeing Dorothy’s response, Gregor felt reassured. After patting her shoulder, he turned and walked out of the inn. Soon, he disappeared into the night.
At the entrance of the inn, Gregor lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and looked into the distance, toward Bishop’s Square, where the sound of wind and chaos could still be heard."Sigh... I thought... I could have a leisurely New Year’s..."
With a sigh, Gregor, heeding the call of the distant turmoil, set off toward Bishop’s Square in his capacity as a Hunter.
“The Eight-Spired Nest, the royal family, the Serenity Bureau, and that mysterious organization that worships Aka... The waters of Tivian are much deeper than those of Igwynt. I hope the choices I make here won’t be wrong.”
As he pondered this, Gregor’s figure disappeared into the dark distance of the streets. Meanwhile, perched atop a streetlamp above him, a black crow silently watched Gregor’s departure.
"Big brother’s gone. Time to slip away..."
Inside the inn room, Dorothy, who had been using a corpse marionette to monitor the situation outside, saw that Gregor had left for his night shift. She immediately stood up, opened the door, and slipped out, heading downstairs.
Using the corpse marionette to distract the front desk by pretending to inquire about room rates, Dorothy successfully sneaked out of the inn. She ran through the dark streets and soon arrived at a crossroads. There, she waited, rubbing her hands together in the cold night breeze. Before long, the sound of hoofbeats echoed from the end of the street.
Dorothy looked in the direction of the sound and saw a black carriage pulled by two horses. Driven by a coachman, it quickly approached and soon stopped in front of her.
After the black carriage came to a halt, the coachman immediately jumped down and opened the door for Dorothy. She stepped inside and entered the familiar carriage.
"Let’s go. It’s time to head to the Duke’s mansion..."
Sitting in the familiar carriage, Dorothy murmured to herself. She then took control of the coachman marionette, who returned to his seat and drove the carriage through the dark streets, heading into the distance.
When Dorothy had come down from Green Shade Town yesterday, she had been riding in her own carriage. After arriving at the meeting point with Gregor, she had the carriage marionette park nearby so she could use it at any time. Now was the time to put it to use.
Dorothy wasn’t heading just anywhere—she was going to Duke Barrett’s mansion in the suburbs. According to Barrett’s ghost, his research materials on the Mirror Moon Statue, including a holy symbol, were stored in a hidden room in that mansion. Dorothy needed to go there overnight to retrieve them.
Going to Barrett’s mansion to search for items had to be done quickly now that Barrett himself was dead. There were two reasons for this urgency. First, once the royal family and the Serenity Bureau discovered that Duke Barrett was dead, they would likely search and seal off all his residences to investigate his death. If the holy symbol and research materials fell into the hands of the Serenity Bureau, Dorothy would have to go through a lot of trouble to retrieve them.
More importantly, if Dorothy’s speculation was correct, the Eight-Spired Nest’s goal was to stop Barrett’s research on the Mirror Moon Statue. To completely halt this research, killing the researcher alone wouldn’t be enough. They would need to destroy all the research materials to prevent anyone from continuing the work.
Therefore, to prevent the royal family and the Serenity Bureau from taking over the research after finding Barrett’s materials, the Eight-Spired Nest would likely also go to Barrett’s mansion to steal or destroy those materials. Given their level of infiltration into the Serenity Bureau, they probably already knew the location of Barrett’s research site.
Due to the Eight-Spired Nest’s advantage in intelligence, their actions would be faster than the Serenity Bureau’s. If the research materials, including the holy symbol, fell into their hands, Dorothy would have almost no chance of retrieving them.
So Dorothy couldn’t afford to wait. She had to hurry to Barrett’s mansion and retrieve the materials before the Eight-Spired Nest arrived.
“I need to hurry. Otherwise, I might be forced to confront those guys again. The problem is, this time I’m going alone. Without Vania and the others to help, any conflict would be very tricky…”
Inside the carriage, Dorothy thought to herself. Due to various reasons, she now had to go to Barrett’s mansion alone.
Vania, as the first to discover the royal assassination and the lead healer and commander at the scene, had too much work to do with the Serenity Bureau and couldn’t leave. Gregor had also been summoned back by the Serenity Bureau at this critical moment and couldn’t help. Nephthys had already overused her abilities and couldn’t be put in danger again. As for Kapak, he was only an Apprentice of Silence and wouldn’t be of much help in this situation. Besides, he had a group of fellow believers to comfort.
With no additional manpower available, Dorothy had to go to Barrett’s mansion alone. Her only hope was that she could move fast enough to reach the destination before the Eight-Spired Nest.
And so, wrapped in a blanket, Dorothy sat in the dimly lit carriage, controlling the marionette to drive the carriage swiftly toward the outskirts of the city. As the night deepened, waves of drowsiness occasionally washed over her, causing her to yawn repeatedly as she forced herself to stay alert and continue controlling the carriage.
If it weren’t for Dorothy’s strong mental fortitude as a Scholar, which allowed her to effectively suppress her drowsiness, her fatigue from driving would have caused problems sooner or later.
The sound of hooves clattering on the smooth streets and wheels rolling over cobblestones filled the air as Dorothy’s carriage sped southwest. Having memorized the entire map of Tivian and using a bird-shaped marionette in the sky for navigation, Dorothy had no fear of getting lost. She chose the most direct and shortest routes, allowing her to leave the city quickly.
After nearly two hours of travel, Dorothy’s carriage finally left the city. After another hour on dirt roads, she finally approached her destination.
Since Dorothy’s control range for a small number of marionettes extended to nearly ten kilometers in radius, she had sent her bird-shaped marionette ahead to scout the area. After several hours of travel, the bird-shaped marionette, now nearly eight or nine kilometers away from Dorothy’s main body, flew to Shield Hill.
Through the vision of this distant bird-shaped marionette, Dorothy could now see the large mansion at the northern slope of Shield Hill. From the sky, she could clearly see the brightly lit building amidst the dark grassland.
“Why is it so bright...? The servants in the mansion shouldn’t be turning on so many lights at night when the master isn’t home... Unless…”
Seeing the brightly lit mansion below, Dorothy felt a sense of foreboding. She then lowered the altitude of the bird-shaped marionette to get a closer look at the scene. What she saw made her heart sink.
In the brightly lit mansion courtyard, several bodies lay scattered about. These bodies were all wearing uniforms, and though their deaths varied, they were all gruesome.
Some had their limbs torn off, their faces frozen in terror. Others were covered in blood, their bodies mangled. The bodies were scattered across the courtyard, with large pools of blood everywhere. Beside the bodies were scattered firearms. Judging by their uniforms, these people were likely the mansion’s guards.
“Damn... All the guards have been killed... Those guys have already been here... Did I really not make it in time?”
Seeing the scene in the courtyard, Dorothy frowned. Since the Eight-Spired Nest’s assassination of Barrett had been planned for a long time, their raid on Barrett’s mansion must have also been prepared in advance. Compared to Dorothy, who had rushed here after receiving the news, the Eight-Spired Nest, already prepared, could obviously arrive at the destination faster.
Dorothy had thought about this on the way here. She knew the chances of arriving before the Eight-Spired Nest were slim, but she had quietly hoped that the Eight-Spired Nest would encounter some mishap and arrive late. But now, it seemed that no miracle had occurred.
Looking at the bodies in the courtyard, Dorothy felt a heavy weight in her heart. However, she didn’t give up. Instead, she had the bird-shaped marionette fly toward the mansion, perching on a streetlamp and looking through the brightly lit windows. What she saw made her eyebrows rise.
Through the bird-shaped marionette’s vision, Dorothy could see several figures moving rapidly inside the mansion. Upon closer inspection, they were a group of black-clad, masked individuals, scurrying around the rooms in a hurry.
“These guys... are they from the Eight-Spired Nest!? They’re still here!? Still searching the mansion for something!?”
Through the bird-shaped marionette’s vision, Dorothy’s eyes lit up. She had assumed that after killing the people and finding what they needed, they would have left immediately. But it seemed they were still here.
Seeing this scene, Dorothy’s mood improved slightly. She controlled the bird-shaped marionette to fly up again, circling the mansion and observing through various windows. She noticed that many black-clad, masked individuals were rummaging through every room, turning the entire mansion upside down.
The interior of the mansion was in complete disarray. Everything had been knocked over, vases were shattered, and every book on the shelves had been thrown to the ground. In some places, even the walls were broken. Among the chaos, several bodies lay on the floor. Their deaths were similar to those of the guards in the courtyard. Judging by their attire, they were the mansion’s male and female servants. In addition to these servant corpses, Dorothy occasionally spotted a few black-clad bodies—likely members of the Eight-Spired Nest who had been killed in the skirmish with the mansion’s defenses.
Seeing this scene inside the mansion, Dorothy decided to conduct further reconnaissance. However, she didn’t risk sending the bird-shaped marionette inside for a closer look. Instead, she used the bird’s vision to locate the corpses inside the mansion and turn them into marionettes.
After turning the corpses into marionettes, Dorothy didn’t make them move. Instead, she had them remain motionless, continuing to play dead. Using the marionettes’ auditory senses, Dorothy began eavesdropping on the sounds inside the mansion.
Through her eavesdropping, Dorothy noticed that the people inside the mansion weren’t talking much. They were all focused on rummaging through every corner of the mansion.
To gather more information, Dorothy switched control between the marionettes in different parts of the mansion, continuing to eavesdrop without making any major movements.
Finally, after taking control of a young maid’s corpse that had died near the staircase in the entrance hall, Dorothy heard a voice—a man’s voice.
In the center of the entrance hall, amidst a large pool of blood, stood a black-clad man in a trench coat and mask. He was speaking to a human-faced spider in his hand, his tone filled with obvious anger.
"What? You still haven’t summoned Barrett’s spirit!? I’ve been waiting here for over an hour!? I need the exact location of his research room! And you’re telling me you haven’t succeeded in summoning his spirit yet? What the hell are you doing!?"