Iggwente Upper City, Knight Road.
In the morning, by the green area surrounding Knight Road, Dorothy was strolling with Anna. Listening to Dorothy's recent plans, Anna raised her big, blinking eyes and said to Dorothy:
"Teacher Mayshouse, are you going to Tivian soon?"
"Yes, the sea of learning is boundless. Perhaps it is time to go to a wider place," Dorothy said as she walked beside Anna, and a hint of disappointment appeared in Anna's eyes.
"Is that so... Then can I still see Teacher Mayshouse in the future?"
"Of course you can. I'm just going to school. If I have a long holiday or something, I can still come back to Igwinte, and then I can see you, Anna. And... if you really miss me, you can also read books."
As she said this, Dorothy took out a brand new thick book from her bag and handed it to Anna. When Anna took it and looked, she found it was a collection of fables.
"This is..."
"This is an item exchanged among the believers of Aka. Page 212. If Anna has anything she wants to contact me about, just write it on that page. At the same time, if I have anything I want to find Anna about, my words will also appear on that page. Take good care of this book."
Bending down, lowering her head, Dorothy quietly said to Anna. Anna was slightly stunned after hearing this, then nodded affirmatively and said:
"Okay! I understand, Teacher Mayshouse."
...
After sending Anna back to No. 26 Knight Road, Dorothy said her final goodbyes and left. Then she took a carriage at the end of the street. On the carriage, Dorothy began to think about Anna.
With the secret help of the An Yin Bureau, Anna had successfully won all the lawsuits, defeated all the contenders for the inheritance, and successfully established her position as the first heir of the Field family. The inheritance procedures would be handled immediately, and then Anna would officially become the new Viscountess Field, the largest noble in all of Igwinte.
Of course, successfully inheriting the title does not mean Anna can successfully obtain all of Viscount Field's property. Because she is still young and does not have legal capacity, most of Viscount Field's assets are currently temporarily held in trust by professional institutions. Anna can only control a very small portion.
Because Anna was, in a sense, saved by Dorothy in the name of Aka, Dorothy used the book-sea navigation record to create a communication book for her to keep in touch.
After writing on the book-sea navigation record, by controlling the amount of ""enlightenment"" input, one can control the range within which the fish characters swim to a certain extent. When a fish character stops on a certain text, it creates a connection between that text and the navigation record.
So, by simply surrounding the navigation record with a circle of books, and then injecting a tiny bit of ""enlightenment"" into the characters written on the navigation record, allowing the fish characters to swim only a short distance to the pre-arranged texts, one can create a remote communication tool that can connect to the navigation record. The book of fables given to Anna was created this way. In addition, she also made several more for unexpected needs.
While making the small communication books, Dorothy also had a sudden idea. She infused a little more ""enlightenment"" into a few fish characters, making them swim further, to distant texts that she couldn't even see, to see if she could replicate the situation with Vanya last time, find a few fated people, and trick them into contributing their secret transmissions to her.
"I wonder... where exactly can those characters swim to?"
Sitting in the carriage, Dorothy murmured to herself.
...
Time flew by quickly, and soon, a semester had passed just like that. At the end of the semester, as the summer holiday arrived, Dorothy, who had only attended classes for less than a week, achieved the best overall grade in the class. When the results were announced, a group of teachers and students suddenly realized when they saw the name in first place that there was such a person in their class.
Looking at the top-ranked results, many students and teachers wondered if they would have a chance to meet this mysterious girl who had never attended class but had excellent grades in the next semester. However, they no longer had this opportunity.
Igwinte Train Station, morning.
Beneath the wide steel frame roof were bustling platforms. Beside the platforms, a long steam train was parked on the tracks, quietly waiting for the departure time. Inspectors were performing final checks on this rugged steel beast.
In the square in front of the train station, under the scorching sun of July and August, people came and went. Dorothy was standing here at this moment. She was wearing a cool dress with short sleeves and a thin shirt, sandals, and a sun hat. Beside her was a large suitcase. After spending most of the summer holiday in Igwinte, it was finally time for Dorothy to leave and set off.
"Listen, Dorothy, remember to close the compartment door on the train. If there's nothing important, just stay in the compartment. Don't wander around. Don't go to the seatless cheap carriages. Don't respond to strangers who strike up conversations. Take good care of your belongings. Don't wander around at night. Remember to send me a telegram when you arrive in Tivian, understood?"
Standing in front of Dorothy, Grego instructed her very seriously, and Dorothy nodded in response.
"Don't worry, Grego, I can protect myself. You don't need to worry so much."
"Hoo... Alright then, be careful on the road. To be honest, if it weren't for the huge amount of handover work here and you needing to rush back for the start of school, I could have gone to Tivian with you."
Putting his hands on his hips and sighing, Grego said. His promotion and his sister's transfer were both to Tivian. This double happiness had made Grego excited for a whole month. Just when he thought he could go to Tivian with Dorothy, some other issues arose.
Due to various handover tasks, he couldn't go to Tivian for a while, and Dorothy needed to report to school before the new semester began, so she had to leave first.
"Okay, then goodbye, Grego. I'll wait for you in Tivian."
"Goodbye, be careful on your journey."
Waving goodbye to Grego, Dorothy dragged her large and heavy suitcase towards the train station, while Grego watched Dorothy's figure disappear into the crowd.
After entering the train station and passing through the ticket gate, Dorothy dragged her luggage and climbed a long flight of stairs. When she was out of breath and wanted to immediately stick a Life Devour on herself, she saw the station porters in the crowd. After giving them a few copper coins, she had the porters move her luggage onto the platform.
'Hoo... It's really a pain that Knowers don't get any physical strength, but thankfully I have money... otherwise, I'd be exhausted to death here today...'
Standing on the platform, Dorothy grumbled to herself inwardly. Then she looked up at the quietly parked steam train in front of her and couldn't help but murmur:
"Tivian, here I come..."
...
Preet Kingdom, in the central-southern part of Preet Main Island, on the edge of a mountainous area with complex terrain and dense forests.
Located on the edge of the mountains, in a peaceful and tranquil small town, in a remote two-story wooden house, a middle-aged man was sitting at his desk, quickly writing something on a piece of paper with a fountain pen.
"To the Directorate General of Tivian, the preliminary investigation into the rumors of abnormal cult worship in Razor Mountain has yielded results. The detailed situation is as follows..."
"Relevant evidence information has been specially dispatched by a dedicated person to the Directorate General. He will travel from Alster to Tivian by train and is estimated to arrive on the morning of No. 23. Please prepare for reception."
After finishing what he was writing, the middle-aged man reviewed it, confirmed it was correct, and put it into an envelope. Then he got up and left. He needed to convert the information on it into a telegram and send it out.
Just as the man opened the door and stepped out of the room, he felt a chill in his chest. After looking down in astonishment, he saw a small knife protruding from the area of his heart.
"Ugh..."
The man tried to yell something, but his mouth and nose were covered by a large hand from behind. He fell down, his eyes wide and lifeless. The envelope he was holding dropped to the floor and was picked up by that hand.