Chapter Five Hundred Sixty-Four: The Oath of Fealty
In the dark of night in Moncala, Doro sat on the sofa of the hotel suite, thoughtfully stroking her chin as she absorbed the insights gained from Little Fox’s experiences in Roland’s dream.
“Edward’s distinguished guest… possessing a token from Edward’s piracy days… secret meetings and precautions against confinement… how interesting…” Various pieces of information from Roland flashed through Doro’s mind, and she communicated with Little Fox, still dreaming, through a consulting channel.
“Alright, that’s enough. Now exit the dream; we need to go elsewhere.”
In Roland’s dream, at the entrance of a spacious audience hall, Little Fox, who had just noted the location described by Roland, expressed her curiosity.
“You’re leaving just like this without finding out the whereabouts of that thing?”
“Edward’s caution exceeded our expectations, and continuing to question him won’t yield any more information. We need to change our approach… let’s head directly to the so-called guest’s prison.” Doro spoke to Little Fox in Ed’s voice and tone.
“Um… a change of location, I see. Well, you can go ahead in the carriage; I’ll catch up nearby…” Little Fox replied, a hint of distress in her voice. Unlike Ed, she didn’t have her own carriage standing by in the vicinity, so relocating would take her more effort. However, Doro’s reaction was unexpected.
“Do not separate; let’s ride together. The late night is short; we shouldn’t waste it.”
“Ride with you? Won’t that just reveal myself in front of you? That can’t be…”
“I already saw your main body, just to the left of the flower bed where Roland is sitting, on the rooftop of that three-story building selling grilled fish. You were wearing a cloak and had a cat with you.” Doro calmly responded, directly stating her findings from the reconnaissance of her miniature zombie puppet, startling Little Fox, who jumped up in disbelief within Roland’s dream.
“Ah! How did you discover me?!”
“Just some small puppets; it’s a common surveillance tactic. Now let’s not waste any more time; hurry down and get in the carriage. I won’t harm you.”
Upon hearing this, Little Fox drooped her ears, her entire demeanor shifted to one of disappointment.
“Um…”
—
On the dark streets of Moncala, under the dim street lamps, a skilled coachman was driving a pitch-black carriage rapidly along the cobblestone road. Inside the gently swaying carriage, Little Fox, Salia, who wore a hooded robe with her lower face covered by a scarf, sat on a seat with her hands in front of her, observing the well-dressed man across from her with a wary expression. Next to Salia sat her black cat, also gazing suspiciously at Ed.
Ed smiled as he looked at Salia, casually waving his hand.
“Relax a bit, Miss Fox; we are in a cooperative relationship. No one here will harm you; you and your pet need not be so tense.” Ed appeared to be trying to reassure Salia, but his words did little to alleviate her wariness. Instead, she responded quite sternly.
“Let me steal dreams while you search for my trace at the agreed location. Your cooperation isn’t exactly sincere.”
“Hah, Miss Fox, you may have misunderstood. I’m not specifically looking for your trace but merely utilizing puppet routine surveillance around the dream-stealing area to prevent any suspicious individuals from approaching. Finding you was purely coincidental; if you’re displeased, I’ll apologize now.”
Ed maintained the politeness and demeanor of a gentleman, speaking without rush. Salia, however, remained suspicious and continued.
“You think… I’d believe your words so easily?”
“Miss Fox has been in contact with us for a long time. We have never acted harmfully towards you. Ultimately, you sat in this carriage, which is also a sign of trust, isn’t it? Hehe… Besides, Miss Fox is acquainted with Lord Patunax, and given that you have dialogues with him frequently, we certainly cannot neglect you. If you were to report us to him, we below would certainly face the consequences.”
Ed continued speaking to Salia, who suddenly perked up upon hearing his words.
“Really… So talking with the great dragon is a rare honor?” Salia inquired, to which Ed cheerfully replied.
“Of course! He is the Dream Dragon… even I would need to expend considerable effort to listen to his guidance.”
Salia, upon hearing that an average member of the Rosy Cross would find it more challenging to contact Patunax than herself, instantly let go of her previous wariness and annoyance, becoming lively as she often was in dreams.
“Hah… So it’s that hard for you all to see the great dragon? Actually, I can tell you he’s quite easy to talk to; there’s no need to be so tense with him. By the way… do you have any golden fruit candy on you? The kind you often see sold on the streets? If you give me some, I might share a bit about the great dragon with you…”
“Meow!”
“Hiss! Hey, little black! What are you doing?!”
Salia quickly turned to Ed, her attitude shifting, but at that moment, the black cat beside her seemed displeased and jumped on her lap, clawing at her hands, prompting Salia to struggle and shove the cat aside.
Observing the girl entangled with the black cat before him, Ed maintained his smile and continued speaking.
“On another note… I truly didn’t expect that a young girl could invade others’ dreams to steal memories and toy with the Black Dream Hunter Group while being a key figure left over from the Dream Knight faith. Such remarkable accomplishments at such a young age are quite rare… I may have slightly grasped one of the reasons why Lord Patunax values you…”
Hearing Ed’s praise, Salia felt a wave of relief wash over her, her expression brightening further.
“Hah, of course, after all, I… hey, little black, stop it! Hiss! Don’t actually scratch me; it hurts…”
As Ed quietly nods at the scene with the cat, through Ed’s gaze, Doro’s attention subtly shifted to the mischievous cat that was troubling Salia, her expression appearing to contemplate something.
—
After a while of traveling, Doro’s controlled carriage gradually approached the outskirts of Moncala’s city center. Checking the map of Moncala laid out on the coffee table of her hotel suite, Doro confirmed that they had arrived near their target point.
Next, Doro drove the carriage into a narrow alley and gradually stopped, instructing Ed to escort Salia and her black cat out. Salia’s controlled dream puppet had moved to a safe distance and released its hold. Doro simultaneously controlled Roland to return to his residence.
Though Doro could continue controlling Roland to facilitate the secret prison guards’ departure, doing so would risk Edward confronting Roland after sunrise, leading to Roland realizing he had been controlled at night. Hence, Doro decided to infiltrate the secret prison herself.
“The secret prison holding the distinguished guests that the young master spoke of is nearby… are we to subdue the guards and infiltrate?”
In the dark alley, Salia covered her hand, marked with scratches from the cat, and softly spoke to Ed, who responded with a serious tone.
“There’s no need to provoke those guards. We merely need to get close. By the way, how far can you release your dream-invading ability?”
“Um… that would be approximately 250 meters from my center. Within that range, as long as I sense where the target is, I can hypnotize or enter their dreams.” Salia thought for a moment before replying to Ed. At that moment, her black cat let out a small sigh nearby, while Doro, upon learning about Salia’s ability radius, quickly drew a circle on the map and located a suitable spot within it.
“Let’s go ahead…”
Following that, Ed led Salia through the desolate, chilly alleyway, stopping after a short while in a corner.
“This should be the spot… Let’s hide here and not move…”
Hiding with Salia in the corner, Ed said this, and then Doro dispatched her miniature zombie puppets towards the nearby secret prison.
The so-called secret prison appeared outwardly as a normal building. Upon entering through a window using her miniature zombie puppets, Doro saw brightly lit rooms containing several plainclothes guards. Some stood watch while others gathered around to drink and play cards, creating a lively scene.
Avoiding the guards, Doro’s miniature puppets flew to the basement, where she sensed the illumination of the Radiance Lamp. Fortunately, Doro used the Veil Ring to conceal the puppets, then directed them deeper into the basement. After passing through an iron barred door, they arrived at a tunnel, continuing their exploration until Doro spotted a cell beside the tunnel.
A sturdy iron-bar gate separated the cell from the tunnel, and inside the cell was a well-furnished room equipped with a bed, wardrobe, bookshelf, and desk—an elegant cell indeed. Inside, a figure in a robe was laying on the bed, sleeping soundly without covering. Doro instantly recognized him as the “distinguished guest” from Roland’s memory.
“Good… he’s asleep at this hour, too…”
Upon seeing the scene in the prison, Doro murmured, and then she controlled Ed, speaking to Salia.
“My puppet has found the person. He’s currently asleep. Now I will share the information my puppet has seen with you through Akka; you can enter his dream with this.”
“Eh… share?”
Hearing Ed’s words, Salia was somewhat puzzled by his meaning until she felt a slight pain in her head and an influx of unfamiliar information appeared in her mind. Suddenly, she felt as though she had additional eyes outside of her own, from which she could see a scene illuminated in strange colors, yet very clear. In that image, she could see the figure lying in the cell. Doro had processed the visual information from her arthropod-like miniature puppets and converted it into a form understood by ordinary people.
“Ah… I see it… this is… shared vision? Akka can do this too?” Salia exclaimed, astonished by what she saw, while Ed continued speaking.
“The mysteries of Akka are vast and numerous. Now, let’s not waste time; enter that guy’s dream and find out what he’s doing in Moncala!”
“Okay…” Listening to Ed’s words, Salia nodded, closed her eyes, and began to enter the dream from a distance, overcoming countless obstacles.
—
In a flash of colorful, radiant colors, Salia returned to the dream world in the form of a white fox. Once she successfully set foot in the twisted, vibrant space, everything around began to clarify and stabilize, transforming from a kaleidoscopic vision into an endless ocean, with Little Fox standing on a ship sailing upon it.
Beneath the overcast sky, the sea surged with waves. Amidst the tumult, a large black-red ship advanced, its deck bustling with numerous sailors. Various bizarre sea beasts with dismembered bodies, along with n*ked human corpses, were suspended from the mast, creating a gruesome scene. Thick bl**d flowed across the deck, and all sorts of entrails piled up at the ship’s edge, indistinguishable from human or fish, as a foul stench spread.
Upon seeing this surrounding scene, Little Fox couldn’t help but furrow her brows, suppressing the urge to vomit. Resolutely, she flew into the air, approaching the dream’s master—a robust, bald man sitting atop a pile of bl**d, holding a drink in one hand and a raw rib from an unknown creature in the other.
“What’s your name? Where do you come from? What’s your purpose in Moncala?”
Addressing the man, Little Fox directly inquired, to which the man replied after taking a swig of his drink.
“Hey, a talking fox? A white one, no less; how rare and interesting. I wonder what your meat is like…”
“I can’t be eaten! Now answer my question.”
“Alright, alright, keep it down; such a noisy ingredient. My name is Tonik… raised as an orphan by the cult, so I don’t have a surname. I’m from bl**d Bay, here in Moncala on a secret mission from the cult to negotiate with the old pirate of Moncala.”
“The cult you speak of… is it the Abyss Cult?”
“Of course, it’s the Cult of the Lord of the Abyss—the great Eternal Thirster.” Tonik admitted openly, and then Little Fox continued to ask.
“What do you want with Edward? What business does the Abyss Cult have with him?”
“The cult desires that despicable old pirate to return to the path of following the Lord of the Abyss. If this great traitor can repent, then the cult can overlook his past sins!” While drunkenly speaking and drinking, Tonik’s words made Doro furrow her brows as well.
“Edward was originally a follower of the Abyss Cult… they now want him to return? On what basis?” Little Fox found Tonik’s words hard to believe, but Tonik continued.
“Due to the Fountain of Eternal Youth! That old thing is at d*ath’s door, having one foot in the grave! He wants to prolong his life, and only the waters of this fountain can save him! If he repents and signs the oath of fealty for the cult, they would compassionately allow him to extend his life for another fifty years!”
With a hint of mania, Tonik exclaimed loudly, and Little Fox’s expression turned serious.
“The oath of fealty… what oath?”
Hearing Little Fox’s question, Tonik drunkenly swayed his head before responding.
“Ah… that oath of fealty is… the so-called benevolent nun gaining popularity in the church lately… Vania Chafelin…”
—
Uh… before I knew it, the end of the month crept up again, and once more, it’s the serious period of writer’s block. Looking back over this month, while I maintained a cumulative word count meeting the requirement of one hundred twenty thousand words, I regretfully fell short of the daily update requirement due to numerous reincarnations, so the attendance mark is gone and thus, my full attendance this month is lost.
Since full attendance is already off the table, but the total word count has reached the target, I’ll take a break on the last day to rest and brainstorm ideas for the upcoming writing, aiming to reduce reincarnation frequency next month for a more stable routine. For instance, I managed to stabilize my schedule for three days recently, which felt extraordinary.
Alright, that’s it for today; I’ll take a break tomorrow and continue the day after. If there are any grievances, please forgive me.
