Chapter 417

Chapter 335: Thief

Sitting by the hearth in her home, Dorothy felt a surge of thoughts. Meanwhile, in the distant warehouse, Tom had zoned out, and Kapak curiously inquired.

“Hey, Detective, is something wrong?”

“Ah… it’s nothing, just thinking about a few things.”

As Dorothy snapped back to reality, she directed Tom to survey the warehouse. After a brief search, they found a goods register hanging on the wall, accompanied by a pen. Dorothy instructed Tom to pick up the register and, after flipping through a few pages, came across a blank one. She began to write on it, and once finished, she tore that page out completely.

Next, Dorothy instructed Tom to take the torn page to a stack of goods tagged as animal specimens, but in reality, it was tobacco. After lifting the cover, he affixed the written paper to one of the inner wooden boxes. After completing this, he approached Kapak, who looked confused, and said:

“Kid, we’ve done just about everything. It’s time to leave, but there might be spies from those other guys outside the warehouse. It’s not wise to leave boldly like that. Here’s the plan: find a place to hide, and wait until the day breaks and the dock gets busier. Then, you can slip into the crowd. Got it?”

“I’ll listen to your orders, Detective.”

Kapak responded to Tom, and then Dorothy had Tom find a worker’s outfit for Kapak and helped him change. She then provided Kapak with all of Tom’s extraordinary items and his handgun, assuring him that he would keep them hidden.

Once Kapak was concealed, Dorothy needed to deal with Tom’s next steps. She instructed him to leave as the security captain, chatting with other night security and workers outside before walking away alone.

Under Dorothy’s control, Tom, an apprentice of the Underworld Coffin Cult, accidentally found himself by the seaside of the dock. After tying a stone with a rope, he jumped into the dark sea without anyone noticing.

Time passed quickly; Kapak, now in worker’s clothes, silently waited in the shadows of the warehouse. As seconds ticked by, the noises outside grew noisier, and although the sun had not yet risen, more people began to stir outside, with various sounds filling the air and the occasional distant sound of a ship’s whistle.

As the noise became increasingly chaotic, the warehouse doors swung open. Before the sun even rose, workers began entering the warehouse to move goods. The flow of people increased as they began transporting items based on the labels on the covered stacks. Kapak watched as ordinary dockworkers wheeled out a pile labeled as tobacco, which actually contained wood hooves and other essences.

Seizing the opportunity, Kapak mixed in with the workers and escaped. The pile of essences disguised as tobacco was successfully transported to the Princess Jenna, heading towards Tivyán, while the real tobacco remained in the warehouse, still labeled as animal specimens, waiting to be shipped to Dankdo.

“Woohoo~~ finally, a temporary resolution. It’s time to go to sleep…”

Back by the distant hearth, seeing Kapak leave safely, Dorothy yawned, extinguished the fire in the fireplace, and went upstairs to change and sleep. As she lay in bed and glanced at the dawn sky, she tucked her head under the blanket and murmured herself to sleep.

“So… when will those guys contact me?”

…

As night turned to day, and the moon set as the sun rose.

In the morning, between the Main Continent and the New World, the vast and misty ocean was illuminated by bright sunlight, reflecting the shimmering waves.

The steamship named Princess Jenna was puffing black smoke, trailing a long white wake as it sailed across the blue sea. On the deck, passengers were out walking and sunbathing, enjoying the fine weather on the voyage.

However, not all were in high spirits; some passengers carried heavy hearts.

In the cargo hold beneath the Princess Jenna, seven or eight people stood, some dressed as ordinary passengers while others were crew members. They wore grim expressions as they bowed their heads, facing a heap of opened wooden boxes filled with fine tobacco from colonial plantations, while two individuals busily opened other boxes.

Amidst the dejected crowd stood Larina, dressed as a noblewoman, her eyes fixed with intensity on the boxes of tobacco, her face dark with anger. Surrounding her, invisible vengeful spirits howled, causing the temperature around them to drop several degrees.

At this moment, members of the Underworld Coffin Cult aboard the Princess Jenna had gathered together, and the minions dared not make a sound in the presence of Larina’s brooding demeanor.

“When were these… swapped out?”

Facing the mountains of tobacco before her, Larina spoke coldly, while one of the men beside her trembled and replied.

“Lady Larina, it was not like this when we boarded… we discovered the change during our first inspection! It must have happened at the port, while they were storing it there!”

“The port… don’t we have people stationed there? How could it be swapped out without anyone noticing?! What are you idiots doing?! If you lack wells of essence in your bodies, just pull them out and use them for a little spirituality!”

Suppressing her inner fury, Larina reprimanded sternly, while the stunned subordinate continued to respond.

“I-I don’t know! We can’t contact the main person in charge at the port; we suspect he might already be dead. We’re preparing to have someone still on land set up a summoning ceremony at the port…”

Just then, those two men searching through boxes suddenly called out.

“Lady Larina! Look what we found!”

One of the men came running up to Larina, holding out a paper he had just pulled from the tobacco, handing it to her. After receiving it and glancing over, she furrowed her brow.

The torn paper was scribbled in Prit Writing.

…

“Dear members of the Underworld Coffin Cult,

By the time you read this note, you must be troubled over some lost items. But do not worry; since you have seen this note, there’s still a chance to remedy the situation.

To be honest, due to certain reasons, some of your goods have come to my attention. Everything that you have lost is now in my possession, and rest assured, I have kept them in good condition; nothing has escaped.

Frankly, I am not one to forcibly take others’ belongings. The cargo you have is… not particularly useful to me. If you can provide a reasonable offer, I will gladly return everything that belongs to you, untouched. Of course, we would need to discuss the specifics of this exchange in detail.

If you wish to reclaim your items, please contact me within seven days using the recently established confidential mailing service of the White Stone Craftsmen Guild. Just reach out to ‘Thief K’… I eagerly await your response.”

…

“Thief…”

In the cargo hold of the Princess Jenna, Larina stared at the note in her hand. After muttering a couple of phrases, she suddenly clenched her fist, crumpling the paper in her grasp, her already dark expression growing even heavier.