Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Letter

In the deep and narrow valley, the cold drizzle gradually weakened. At the scene of the tragic incident involving the carriage team, Dorothy sat on the ground, panting heavily in front of Edric’s corpse. It took her quite some time to regain her composure. Only when she staggered to her feet did she suddenly realize an important issue.

‘Right! Where is that dog of his?’

Thinking of Edric’s two hunting dogs, Dorothy quickly tightened her grip on the revolver and surveyed her surroundings. In her memory, those two strange hunting dogs had only been swept away; they should still be alive. If they woke up and sought revenge for their master, it would be troublesome. Due to the emotional turmoil from killing someone for the first time, she hadn’t thought about this matter earlier.

Dorothy held the g*n and looked around. Following the faint light, she found the traces of the two hunting dogs. They were lying motionless on the riverbank, not even breathing, like corpses. This scene made Dorothy pause.

‘Dead? No way… Just being swept away shouldn’t have killed them, right? Could such force from a dragon roar really do this?’

Seeing the two canine corpses, Dorothy was puzzled. However, due to the grotesque appearance of the two hunting dogs, which was quite frightening, she didn’t want to check them. Nevertheless, this doubt lingered in her mind.

‘Sigh… Never mind, let’s think about what to do next…’

Seeing that the hunting dogs posed no immediate threat, Dorothy sighed in relief and sat down. She pulled out a black umbrella and opened it to shield herself from the rain. Then, she pondered how to face this unfamiliar world.

Just having crossed over to this seemingly nineteenth-century foreign world and reincarnated as a girl who was supposed to d*e in a car accident, Dorothy felt extremely bewildered and didn’t know what to do. The new world and new body left her feeling lost. At this moment, she felt utterly confused.

After much deliberation, she decided to follow the original Dorothy’s life path.

‘Continue going to the city to find my brother… After all, he is the closest bl**d relative I have in this world. Family can always be trusted… This is also the little girl’s last wish…’

Sitting on the cold, damp stone with her chin resting in her hand, Dorothy thought this way. In her memories, her long-lost brother had been very affectionate towards her when they were young. Following the original Dorothy’s plan to seek him out seemed like a good choice… After all, wherever she was, finding a “home” should be her top priority.

‘My clothes are all wet, so cold… I need to find somewhere to change and eat something. According to the memory of what the coachman said, there should be a town nearby. For now, I’ll go there.’

Cold and hungry, Dorothy felt that before heading to the city to find her brother, she needed to find somewhere to change clothes and eat. According to the information she had gathered from her previous conversation with the coachman, following the path the carriage had taken would lead her to a town called Wokan soon. Since the bandits managed to find a place to descend, there must be a route leading back to the main road ahead.

Thinking this way, Dorothy rested for a moment and prepared to set off. Then, she remembered another problem—she had no money. To find food and shelter, she needed money! But she had none!

This time, Dorothy had come to the city with the help of a familiar carriage team arranged by Aunt Hannah. The travel expenses and living costs sent by her brother had been given to the coachman by Aunt Hannah to take care of Dorothy during the journey. Now, with the carriage team in trouble, the money from the other passengers and the coachman had just been collected and used as bait in the carriage. The carriage and the two hooked bandits had already fallen into the river.

Thinking this, Dorothy couldn’t help but pause. She rubbed her chin and scanned the area, eventually focusing on the bandit leader who had been shot dead.

Since he was a bandit leader, he must have some money…

Thinking this, Dorothy picked up a kerosene lamp and, without hesitation, ran to the body and began searching. Having searched other bodies before, she wasn’t too scared anymore.

Gradually, Dorothy found everything on Edric’s body: a dagger, a deck of cards, some paper money, a key…

She put away the useful items and then thought that perhaps she hadn’t searched thoroughly enough. She continued searching again and found some coins, a few cigarettes, and a box of matches… Just as Dorothy felt she had searched everything, she considered taking off Edric’s decent-looking suit jacket and pawning it for money. However, she suddenly noticed something unusual.

In the lining of the clothing, she felt something hard, like a piece of stiff paper.

‘There’s something hidden in the clothing lining? This must be something valuable! From the feel, it doesn’t seem to be just private money, does it?’

Dorothy’s eyes lit up. Immediately, she drew her dagger and cut open Edric’s clothes, then took out the item she had felt from the lining. Holding it in her hand, she saw it was two envelopes!

‘Envelopes? Are there letters inside? What kind of letter is so important that it needs to be carried in the clothing lining?’

Seeing that what she had taken out was not money but an envelope, Dorothy felt somewhat disappointed. Then, with curiosity, she opened one of the envelopes and took out the letter, holding it close to the kerosene lamp to examine it closely.

The letter was written in neat letters, and she was surprised to discover that she could read it!

‘Ahh… Wait, isn’t the language I learned sacrificed and exchanged for the Dragon Language? Why can I still understand it?’

Puzzled, Dorothy wondered why the knowledge she had sacrificed shouldn’t have disappeared directly. But why did she still possess it?

‘Perhaps… because knowledge is information, not an object. Information can be copied, while objects cannot. Sacrificing knowledge doesn’t mean losing it. Teaching someone a piece of knowledge doesn’t make me lose it… Maybe I didn’t exchange my language for Dragon Language, but rather exchanged it for understanding Dragon Language…’

Realizing this possibility, Dorothy felt relieved. She wouldn’t have to worry about becoming illiterate in this world.

Then, feeling elated, Dorothy continued reading the letter. The letter was written in Prit Language, the common language of the Prit Kingdom where Dorothy was located. The script was a typical phonetic alphabet.

And the content of the letter was quite unexpected.

…

Dear Mr. Edric,

We are honored to have received your letter. Based on your description in the previous letter, we can confirm that the extraordinary item you accidentally obtained is called the Zombie Puppet Ring. It has the ability to control newly deceased corpses. Using it to manipulate animal corpses was indeed a wise choice. We hope you can use it to carve out a larger territory in Wokan Town. Of course, we advise you not to be too ostentatious to avoid attracting the attention of the Hidden Security Bureau or the Church.

Regarding your expressed desire to join our organization, we are naturally delighted. As a leader of street gang members with an extraordinary item, you are qualified to join us. We believe that with your status in Wokan Town, the influence of our organization will extend further.

We welcome your joining, but before that, we have a small task for you to complete. This can be considered a test, a special test.

On the evening of April 8th, a convoy heading to Igewent will pass through the road from Purple Shirt to Wokan. There is a thirteen-year-old girl with white hair among the convoy. Capture her.

Please don’t misunderstand. Normally, our initiation tests for new members are not such kidnapping operations. However, this time it is a special situation. That girl is useful to us. We should have done it ourselves, but recently, the Hidden Security Bureau has been active, and signs of Hunter Teams have appeared in Wokan.

To be cautious, we decided not to act ourselves. Therefore, we need Mr. Edric to step in. As long as you handle this like any other kidnapping business, the Hunters won’t interfere with such cases without extraordinary signs. We believe that with your professional skills, you can handle this case flawlessly.

Of course, we won’t let you work for free under the pretext of a test. We have specially prepared a unique reward for this special test. For you, this reward is quite generous, sufficient to advance you significantly in the field of extraordinary abilities, and even give you considerable status within the organization.

If you accept this test, please reply promptly. We believe you won’t refuse this rare opportunity. May we dine together at the same table in the future and share the wonderful experience bestowed by the Great bl**d Cup.

…