North Suburbs of Tivian, around the Royal Crown University, Green Shade Town.
The overcast clouds still loomed above Tivian’s skies. Within House No. 17 of Green Shade Town, Dorothy, dressed in a casual home gown, sat on the sofa in her living room, sipping a cup of hot coffee while gazing at a letter in her hand. Similar letters were scattered across the coffee table in front of her—these were all correspondences exchanged between Vania and Dorothy over the past few days regarding the mysterious Wolfblood contact.
“Mother of the Chalice be praised… I’m glad to hear that you’re safe, Sister White Prayer. It’s a relief to my heart that had long been burdened with worry. I sincerely don’t wish to see something happen to someone like you, someone who, after so long, finally emerged within Radiance—a true interpreter of the Great Mother’s creed…”
…
“You say my worry is overblown? No, no, Sister White Prayer, you do not understand. I’ve seen too many truly devout people in the Church suffer cruel treatment because of their pursuit of divine truth. And in you, I already see the shadows of those people. I don’t want you to repeat their tragic path.
“The Church’s cruel burnings are a form of persecution against progressive theology. In my opinion, it is a suppression of theological advancement. Our cause is to pursue the true will of the gods and let that truth shape the world. But some people are desperate to obstruct that. They twist the divine will. And what we must do—is to bring the true will of the gods back to this world once more…”
…
“You ask me what the divine will truly is? Then perhaps I may try to explain. Have you ever thought about this: the Holy Mother resides above, loving all of humanity, yet only the Pontiff of Holy Mount can hear Her true voice. None of Her other followers, no matter how sincere or devout, are able to perceive even a trace of Her will. Don’t you think that’s a bit laughable? Why must the existence of the Holy Mother be interpreted to us by someone else?
“If the Holy Mother loves all people, then why does She not speak to them directly? Even if She needs a messenger, couldn’t She send more of them to the world, so more could hear Her voice and understand Her will? But reality is different. The high and mighty Pontiff of Radiance is the sole representative of the Holy Mother. Not only that, but he’s also the sole spokesperson for the Holy Father and the Holy Son. Even the Seven Living Saints have no authority to hear divine will. If this happened in one of our three Great Afterbirth faiths, it would be utterly absurd.
“With this letter, I’ve enclosed a book titled Secret History of the Muddy Stream, which documents the atrocities Radiance committed during the Muddy Stream War. Hundreds of thousands perished under religious trials, millions were forced into exile, and all of Ivengard was turned into a living hell. Sister White Prayer, I know you are a devout follower of the Holy Mother—you even said once you revere Her as your own mother. But then let me ask: what kind of mother treats her children like this? Slaughtering them simply because they do not believe in Her? Can Radiance… can Holy Mount truly justify their actions under the name of the Holy Mother?”
…
“Ah… yes. I think you’ve finally started to see it. A god’s representative is not a god. What gives the Pontiff of Holy Mount the authority to interpret divine will alone? All divine decrees of Radiance come from his mouth—aren’t the Trinity in heaven being overly partial? Radiance has seven saints and billions of followers—why should the Trinity favor only him? He launched so many wars, caused suffering for countless innocents—can this truly be the Holy Mother’s will? I don’t believe She would slaughter Her own children simply because they do not believe in Her.
“I’m glad, Sister White Prayer, that you now agree the Holy Mother’s creed should not be interpreted solely by the Pontiff of Holy Mount. We should seek other ways to understand Her will. It is our task as theological scholars to correctly interpret the divine will—not blindly follow doctrines written by others. As it happens, I know of a way to potentially glimpse the true will of the Holy Mother.
“To my knowledge, in the restricted book vault of Tivian’s Church, there exists a mystical text that interprets the Holy Mother from another perspective. It may become one of the key references for our understanding…”
…
“You’re right, Sister White Prayer. It would be difficult for you to enter the restricted vault alone, and I won’t push you on that. Let’s do this—I will never ask you to do something as dangerous as sneaking in and stealing that mystical text. You only need to provide us with a detailed route to the vault. If possible… it would be best if you could even draw a map of the Tivian cathedral district…
“Once you’ve provided that, leave the rest to us. Oh, sweet Sister White Prayer… after all our correspondence, I do wish to meet you in person. Once everything is over, if you are willing, you can officially leave the Church and join us. I would be honored to personally guide you to witness the Crimson, step into the Crimson, and ultimately taste the Crimson…
“Ah, one more thing. About the former Archbishop Francesco in your church… is it true, as rumored, that he was sent to Holy Mount to recover? Is the one now overseeing the Hymn Cathedral really just that so-called legendary nun—Vania Chafferon? If it’s truly her, could you tell me a bit about what kind of person she is? What’s her capability like?”
…
Seated calmly on the sofa, Dorothy’s gaze was quite serious as she looked at the pile of letters placed on the table before her. Every one of them was written by the Wolfblood contact arranged to liaise with Vania. In just a few days, Vania had already exchanged several rounds of letters with the individual—and their intentions were laid bare between the lines.
“As expected. If the ones targeting the Tivian Church are the Wolfblood Society… then their objective can only be one thing—the mystical text sealed within the Hymn Cathedral’s restricted vault: the Crimson Holy Mother.”
Dorothy thought this with perfect clarity in her heart. A year ago, the Wolfblood Society had corrupted then–Historical Scripture Department head Cork in an attempt to infiltrate the library and steal the mystical text Crimson Holy Mother. That plan had ended in failure because Dorothy had intervened.
But they had not given up. Since then, their cadre stationed in Tivian—the werewolf Smith—continued scheming to acquire the Crimson Holy Mother. And back then, Dorothy had used him to establish contact between the Wolf-Blood Society and Vania, in order to lure them into corruption.
“Now that the former Archbishop Francesco of the Tivian Church is absent, it’s a tremendous opportunity for the Wolf-Blood Society. There’s no way they’d let it slip by. That’s why they’ve stepped up contact with White Prayer, accelerating the process of corruption and trying to turn her to their side. They’re probably in the midst of preparing some operation to seize the Crimson Holy Mother, and they need White Prayer to supply them with internal intelligence.
“I really wonder—what exactly is written in the secret content of this Crimson Holy Mother that makes the Wolfblood Society so desperate to get their hands on it? It’s clearly of great importance to them, yet the Church doesn’t seem to understand its value. They’ve sealed it away like any ordinary restricted mystical text in a local parish library. If the Church truly knew how valuable the Crimson Holy Mother was, they would have sent it straight to Holy Mount for safekeeping… I also wonder—through what channel did the Tivian Church obtain this mystical text in the first place?”
Dorothy mused inwardly, her thoughts shifting from the Crimson Holy Mother itself to the Wolfblood Society.
“The immediate priority is to figure out what the Wolfblood Society is really after. And for that, I first need to find their operative. It’s unrealistic to rely on the White Craftsmen’s Guild for information—fortunately, I’ve just acquired a new ability that can help.”
As she thought this, Dorothy refocused her attention on the pile of letters on the coffee table. Among them were not only the recent correspondence between Vania and the Wolfblood Society but also all the letters exchanged between them over the past year.
“Letters are communication; communication is a medium. Through the medium of information, information itself can be acquired…”
Dorothy mentally recalled the contents of every letter exchanged between Vania and the Wolf-Blood Society’s contact, extracting faint clues from between the lines.
“Over the past few days, their replies to Vania have been swift, which proves that the Wolfblood member in contact with her is able to receive and respond to her letters quickly—he must be located in Tivian and able to easily access the guild’s base to send and retrieve mail.
“For some time, I’ve had corpse marionettes stationed to monitor the perimeter of Gold Covenant Bank, hoping to match the timing of the letters sent to White Prayer’s account with someone entering or leaving the bank. But I didn’t find any recurring individuals on the days she received letters—this suggests the contact used different subordinates to deliver the letters each time.
“I also did short-term surveillance on everyone who visited the bank on those days, but none of them had any known ties to the Wolfblood Society. This may mean the contact didn’t use actual subordinates, but temporary hired agents—each time a different one. That makes tracking him through his couriers practically impossible. He’s a very cautious person.
“In the earlier letters with Vania, he was extremely polite and restrained. His handwriting was elegant, his word choice refined, and he avoided direct hostility toward the Church when discussing sensitive matters—carefully probing Vania’s attitude step by step. He presented himself like a refined gentleman rather than a Chalice cultist.
“But in later letters, as he became more certain that White Prayer had been thoroughly ‘corrupted,’ his tone grew bolder. His writing lost its elegance, replaced by open hostility and arrogance toward the Church—eventually even exposing some of the twisted nature of Chalice believers…”
Dorothy began compiling a psychological profile of the Wolfblood contact based on the letters, using mystical ability to extend that profile beyond her thoughts—she could feel the information reaching into the deep layers of the Inner Realm, into the Cognition Realm.
Though she couldn’t see the Cognition Realm itself, she knew that the clues she had formed were actively drawing in related information from within that realm. It was as if the details she extracted from the letters were bait she had cast into the Cognition Realm—and like a fisher, she pulled up new pieces of information from it.
Once the “caught” information entered her mind, Dorothy began organizing it immediately.
“This Wolfblood contact… is a man. On the surface, his demeanor is calm and composed. He presents himself in public as a courteous gentleman, usually dressed in a distinctive suit and trousers during this season, wearing a dark red tie and a tall top hat, carrying a cane, and walking with a steady pace. He deliberately cultivates an air of gentlemanly refinement—but because he lacks genuine ease and poise, his posture and movements appear slightly stiff. While he may seem elegant and affable at first glance, careful observation reveals a hidden sense of repression and gloom.
“Beneath the gentlemanly exterior lies a bloodthirsty madness. Internally, he is a textbook Chalice cultist, craving raw, sensory thrills like a devourer. He lives alone in Tivian, and likely received strict orders from above not to cause trouble or draw attention. That’s why he keeps his desires in check and acts like an honest, ordinary citizen. But when his urges build up to unbearable levels, he still attempts limited outlets.
“Therefore… there may be traces of him in some of Tivian’s hidden red-light districts. With his repressed and brutal nature, there’s a high probability that he’s caused violent incidents in such places.
“More than mere lust, what he truly craves is fresh flesh—especially human flesh. But because of the restrictions imposed on him, he doesn’t dare hunt freely. Instead, he frequently visits slaughterhouses to buy raw animal offal to eat, but that still doesn’t satisfy his hunger. When he reaches a breaking point, he turns to hospitals or graveyards, stealing freshly deceased or newly buried corpses to gnaw on. Thus, there should have been cases of corpse theft reported around the graveyards and hospitals near where he resides.”
Dorothy mentally organized all this chaotic information. Once she finished, the psychological profile was complete—and from it, she had gathered enough leads to begin her search for the contact.
“Red-light areas where violent incidents are common… slaughterhouses frequented by lone offal buyers… graveyards or hospitals with records of corpse theft… upper-class residential districts…”
Muttering softly, Dorothy began analyzing every district of Tivian against the map she had long since memorized, scanning each area in her mind.
Tivian may be large, but places that meet all these criteria simultaneously are few. With Dorothy’s information processing skills, narrowing them down would be a simple task.