Chapter 459

Chapter 357 – Moment

“Hehe, little Ischa is getting more and more articulate. Alright, the show has started, let’s not waste words. Let’s take a look.”

“Mmm…”

After a brief exchange, the two on the balcony turned their gaze to the distant stage. There, the first performance was already underway, with actors in exaggerated costumes performing comical actions that made the audience below burst into laughter.

“Hahaha… Dorothy, did you see how that clown fell just now? It was so hilarious!”

In the crowd, near the viewing stand, Gregor couldn’t help but laugh loudly as he watched the comical performance and turned to Dorothy beside him. Meanwhile, Dorothy quietly responded.

“Mmm… Yes, it’s really funny…”

Dorothy said this, though she found nothing amusing. Instead, her expression was solemn and serious. Although her eyes were fixed on the stage, her attention was completely elsewhere.

The reason for this phenomenon was the prayer she had received from Nephneis in her heart.

‘Great Akka, please convey to Miss Dorothy that we have preliminarily located the native named Sado. He should be somewhere in the northern part of the South District. We don’t know exactly where yet, but we are currently rushing over. We should know the exact location soon.’

Not long ago, after her promotion, Nephneis began searching for Sado by relying on the soul whiskers attached to her. With the abilities of a soul binder, the originally weak soul whiskers were amplified tenfold through Nephneis’s perception, allowing her to quickly sense Sado’s whereabouts. She then used a prayer to inform Dorothy, who immediately lost all interest in watching the performance upon hearing the prayer.

The reason wasn’t because of something else; it was precisely because the Bishop Square was in the northern part of the South District. If Sado intended to cause trouble during New Year’s Eve, the target would most likely be here!

This meant that Sado could very well be nearby, and his promised retaliation might occur at this very celebration.

‘cr*p… I didn’t expect this guy to actually want to stir up trouble here. Why choose such a significant place in Tivyan if not to target the people of Pritt rather than the government?’

With anxious thoughts, Dorothy considered this. Initially, she thought Sado’s revenge might target important government institutions in Tivyan, but instead, the target had shifted to the general public at the celebration.

‘This isn’t good. If those guys are nearby, they could launch a surprise attack at any moment. I can’t just wait here for Nephne and the others. I need to act quickly to find them…’

Dorothy thought to herself, continuing to pretend to watch the performance while manipulating the zombie puppet hidden among the crowd.

Indeed, among the crowd in the square, Dorothy had her flesh puppet. Her main goal at this celebration was to find a way to meet Duke Barret. Her plan was to use the final fundraising segment of the event to attract his attention by donating a large sum of money. To this end, she specifically arranged for a zombie puppet to hide among the audience to handle the donations.

Under Dorothy’s manipulation, the zombie man who had been waiting for the donation segment to begin started moving. He began pushing his way through the crowd and soon emerged from it, heading towards the shadows.

In a dark corner away from the crowd, the zombie puppet opened his small bag and several zombie birds struggled out, flapping their wings. These were the bird-shaped zombie puppets that Dorothy had prepared as a precaution.

Earlier, Dorothy had anticipated that there might be unexpected situations requiring reconnaissance. So, she had prepared the bird zombies on the donation puppet to be released at any time, since she was near Gregor and it was inconvenient for her to act directly.

After releasing the five bird zombies, Dorothy guided them into the night sky. Using spiritual threads to cover them with the effect of an illusionary ring, she made them circle above the square, attempting to detect any unusual activity. After failing to find anything abnormal from high up, Dorothy instructed the bird zombies to descend and conduct a closer search of the square. Soon, one particular area caught her attention.

It was a rooftop on the eastern side of the square, in a building. When Dorothy’s bird zombie approached, it noticed something amiss.

There was smoke seeping out from a window in the room on the rooftop. The smoke was concealed and could not be seen from the top of the building. Only Dorothy, observing from above, noticed a hint of this.

Observing this, Dorothy immediately directed the bird zombie to investigate closer. As it drew nearer, she heard several sentences, words that shouldn’t be spoken here.

They were in Spiritual Seal Language, the language of the natives of the New World.

Hearing the Spiritual Seal Language, Dorothy’s heart raced, and she urged the bird zombie to move closer until it stopped on the rooftop. Through the skylight, she observed the situation below.

Using the zombie’s vision, Dorothy saw a small room on the rooftop crowded with a dozen or so people with brown skin. They sat anxiously on the ground, some talking amongst themselves while others gathered by the window, smoking large pipes and exhaling smoke out the window.

‘I’ve found them…’

Seeing this, Dorothy thought to herself. Having spent a lot of time in the library, she knew that the natives of the New World had a widespread and ancient tradition of smoking. The habit of smoking in this world originated from the natives of the New World, who were the pioneers of tobacco use.

During moments of mental stress, people often turn to tobacco to soothe their nerves, which was true for the natives as well. Or perhaps, given their stronger tobacco traditions, they did so even more. Thus, when she saw the wisps of smoke, she immediately directed the bird zombie to investigate, and sure enough, she found the natives here.

Having successfully located the natives’ hiding spot, Dorothy began to carefully monitor and eavesdrop. Through the bird zombie’s perspective, she saw a tall figure sitting on the ground, smoking a pipe with a serious expression. Based on Kapak’s description, Dorothy recognized this person as Sado.

At that moment, Sado was sitting on the ground smoking, and next to him, another young native held a rifle, speaking anxiously to Sado.

“Sado, how much longer do we have to wait before we act? I can’t wait anymore. Shouldn’t we go out and sh**t them now?”

“Don’t rush. Akka and Pam have already infiltrated that large group of people. Once they reach the designated time and detonate their explosives, we will follow up and take down those fleeing in panic.”

“Do we have to make it so complicated, Sado? We could act now for revenge!”

“I understand your feelings, Uxiatu, but what we need now is patience. In a little while, the whites’ New Year’s transition will arrive. We must deliver the greatest pain to them at their most critical moment. This will give our actions more meaning.”

Taking a long drag on his pipe, Sado spoke calmly. Upon hearing this, Dorothy’s heart suddenly jolted.

‘These lunatics… They actually plan to plant bombs among the crowd!’