**Identity 655**
In the northern suburbs of Tivyán, within the confines of Green Meadow Town No. 17, Nephnis sat in a warm living room, curiously examining the “new books” before her, searching for the one she desired.
“’The Legend of Wendigo’… ‘The Mystery of the Snow Monster’… ‘The Gloom of Innsmouth’… ‘Night Fog Horror’… Got it!” While searching, Nephnis kept putting books aside until she finally found the target she wanted. With a smile, she picked it up and turned to Doro, who was sitting in a single sofa by the fireplace, and held the book up.
“Miss Doro, this is the one I want!”
“Oh, that one? It’s an adaptation based on the legend of the Night Demon, and it was just published in Prit recently as part of the plan. I figured that’s the one you were looking for,” Doro said, lounging comfortably on the soft sofa, crossing her legs and sipping her tea. Nephnis then spoke again.
“Then, Miss Doro, I’ll borrow this for now, and I’ll return it once I get a new copy.”
“Go ahead. I don’t expect you to remember to return it. Just don’t stay up all night reading—get through your final exams first,” Doro continued, placing her finished teacup on the nearby table. Meanwhile, Nephnis smiled as she put the novel she had just acquired into the bag she brought.
“Ha ha, don’t worry, I’ll have self-control.”
Nephnis said with a laugh, then turned her attention to the other books in front of her, feeling a spark of curiosity at the titles.
“I never expected that after not inquiring for a while, Miss Doro, you’d have produced so many new books! But it seems like none of these books are being sold on the market. When do you plan to release them?” Nephnis asked Doro with curiosity, who waved her hand casually and replied.
“The books you see have actually already been released, just not within Prit.”
“Eh? Not in Prit… Miss Doro, are you still writing abroad?”
“Of course. After all, if too many excellent novels appear in the same reading market at once, they can hinder each other’s popularity. When one work becomes a hit, it can bury others, which isn’t helpful for overall popularity,” Doro explained slowly to Nephnis, glancing at the world map hanging on the living room wall.
“So, I’m releasing these novels I’ve created in different countries and different reading markets, allowing them to establish popularity in their respective markets before interconnecting and introducing them to one another, ultimately boosting their recognition. Right now, my plan is to make ‘Night Fog Horror’ popular in Prit’s reading market, and then follow that up by introducing ‘Frankenstein,’ which is currently popular in Faraluo… along with ‘The Legend of Wendigo’ and others that I’ve already released in Castilian Iwig.”
Doro said this to Nephnis, who couldn’t help but be stunned by her words, then she rubbed the back of her head and chuckled.
“Miss Doro… the number of novels you’ve created at once… is quite a lot. Is this what they call the genius mind of an ‘Extraordinary Being’? I feel like I struggle to write even a thousand words for a paper… and here you are, producing so many at once…”
“The ability of ‘Enlightenment’? I guess so… but more importantly, I’m standing on the shoulders of giants,” Doro said, waving her hand, smiling at Nephnis, which left Nephnis with a puzzled expression.
“Shoulders… of giants?”
……
Soon after, Doro waved goodbye to Nephnis, who was leaving to study, and returned to the warm living room, wearing slippers. After stretching lazily and rubbing her teary eyes, she waved her hand to prompt the zombie puppeteer in the house to start working again. The room was soon filled with the sound of typing.
Then, Doro sat back down on her single sofa by the fireplace, warming herself by the fire while sinking into deep thought, contemplating the new reading trends she had been building in different countries over the past few months and the revolution of horror novels.
The ability of Doro as a strange writer and the release of urban legends need local folklore that meets certain conditions to spread—preferably stories with an element of fear that fit the meaning of “Shadow.” However, such stories are not universally available across all regions, and even if they are, the degree and scope of their circulation vary greatly. This imposes limitations on Doro’s abilities, restricting the freedom with which she can manifest them.
Writing various horror-based novels and causing them to become popular worldwide allows urban legends to spread in the form of novels, thus facilitating Doro’s future ability to summon.
This is what Doro had been doing for the past few months; she first wrote “bl**d Source Legend” based on the horror tales from Tivyán. It was initially serialized in newspapers, and after attracting enough popularity, she began cooperating with publishers to release physical books, achieving considerable success.
The reading market in Prit could not meet Doro’s demands, so she quickly found a versatile local to help her, utilizing the influence of the Artisan Guild worldwide for publishing her new books and sharing revenue. Although the Artisan Guild rarely engages in publishing, Beverly agreed to assist Doro after hearing that sales were guaranteed and after she personally offered a hefty deposit, deciding to let the guild start publishing Doro’s novels in various countries.
Initially, the Artisan Guild collaborated with local foreign publishers, but after testing the waters and finding the sales satisfactory, they set up their own publishing house to release Doro’s works directly, investing additionally in advertising and promotion. The result was that nearly every region had a successful sales outcome in just a few months, and it seemed that Beverly used Doro’s works as an opportunity for the Artisan Guild to officially enter the regular publishing industry.
Of course, the underlying factor behind this series of successful sales was the quality of Doro’s works. Doro was confident in the quality of these pieces, which allowed her to fearlessly enter such a collaboration with the Artisan Guild. As long as there were adequate sales and promotional channels, they would not worry about not selling; her confidence stemmed from the pieces themselves, all of which were classic works from her previous life in the horror fantasy genre, having already withstood the test of time and readers in another world.
Doro planned to swiftly incite a surge in horror novels across the civilized world but did not want to create a major author whose creation abilities seemed too outrageous. Therefore, aside from a few novels she wrote based on the rumors of Tivyán, she credited all the other adapted novels to their corresponding original authors, reserving her own pen name “Ait,” which was borrowed from a female author she had read about in a manga. The works she created that were popular in Prit were mainly published under this pseudonym.
“Phew… not only did I raise the profile of urban legends, but this also brought in quite a bit of manuscript fees; this wave can be considered a double win. I didn’t work hard for nothing these past few months.”
After taking a deep breath, Doro softly murmured as she sat on the sofa. Due to writing and waiting for urban legends to disseminate, she had spent a relatively peaceful and stable segment of time. During this period, she had not ventured elsewhere, and Tivyán had not seen any other major events, allowing her, a newly minted Extraordinary Being of the Red Tier, to enjoy some leisure.
Throughout these months, neither the Wolf bl**d Association nor the Eight Pinnacle Nest had made any moves; the Secret World of Tivyán was calm, with the Bureau Chief of the An Yin Bureau having recovered, and a new Archbishop also arriving at St. Hymn Cathedral to take office. Gregor had successfully been promoted to White Chalk, becoming a stationed captain in the An Yin Bureau, a prodigy who advanced just a year after joining.
On another front, Misha’s plans for establishing a Prit Vigilance faction were progressing smoothly. She had already secretly approached several members of the An Yin Bureau and members of the nobility, actively organizing her forces to confront the Eight Pinnacle Nest. Vania, after the new Archbishop arrived, relinquished her role as Acting Archbishop and reinitiated her duties to lead the pilgrimage.
After Vania completed her first round of pilgrimage, she unexpectedly received a divine order from Sacred Summit, instructing her to report back there. Vania and her team had arrived at Sacred Summit about a month and a half ago, where she began to be arranged for purification and to receive the high-spiritual value sacrament.
This action indicated that the Church was helping her quickly accumulate spirituality, signifying that preparations for Vania’s advancement were underway. She would soon be able to advance to the Red Tier, and now it seemed her promotion was a done deal; it was only a matter of following through with the procedure.
Regarding Vania’s promotion, Doro was honestly a bit taken aback, as while Vania had significant merits, she was still too young. In a huge institution like the Church, seniority was particularly important. That she could secure the position of a sacrament bearer was already a somewhat exceptional promotion.
Doro had originally expected Vania to stay in the sacrament position for at least a few years but didn’t expect her to advance in less than a year. Faced with this oddity, Doro could only attribute it to the deepening of the power struggles within the Church. This was similar to the previous delays in appointing a new Archbishop at St. Hymn Cathedral.
Confronted with the ongoing anomalies in the Church, Doro gradually began to feel a sense of concern. After several months of stability, she finally started to think about reinitiating her actions, formally putting her pursuit of the Golden Tier on the agenda.
Sitting by the fireplace, Doro controlled the typing of the zombie puppet while pondering her future plans. She mulled over where she should start gathering information on the method of Golden Tier promotion. At that moment, it seemed she sensed something, raising her eyebrows slightly.
Doro took out her Magic Box, opened it, and withdrew her copy of the Navigation of the Literary Sea. After flipping through several pages, she saw a few elegant characters newly appearing on the pages.
“Are you free tonight? I have an important matter to discuss.”
Seeing the familiar handwriting on the page, Doro couldn’t help but furrow her brow and murmured, “An important matter… let’s hope this time it’s genuine.”
……
Time flew by, and soon day turned to night.
In the evening at East Tivyán, inside a regular bar, Doro, dressed in a thick cotton cloak and a wide-brimmed hat, walked slowly down a long corridor amidst the somewhat noisy sounds around her.
After a while of walking, Doro stopped in front of a booth, turned to look at the door, breathed a sigh, and pushed it open. Just as she entered, she felt an arm encircle her waist, lifting her off the ground.
“Oh, my darling detective, you finally made it! I’ve been waiting for so long!”
Dressed in a dark red women’s coat, Adele held a glass of red wine in one hand and lifted Doro’s petite frame off the ground, smiling at her as she twirled around in the small booth.
“Put me down, Adele… I’m not your doll,” Doro said quietly in response to Adele’s actions, but the latter clearly had no intention of complying.
“No way! I finally caught you; come on, let’s finish this glass of wine and then I’ll let you down.”
Looking at the beautifully delicate face of the silver-haired girl before her, Adele swirled her wine glass and continued speaking. Doro, seeing this situation, couldn’t help but let out a small sigh, extending her hand to snap her fingers.
With a slight sound, Doro’s figure suddenly twisted and swiftly disappeared, leaving Adele’s eyes widened slightly in astonishment. Just then, Doro’s voice sounded again from within the room.
“I said, I’m still a minor and can’t drink alcohol.”
Adele turned to look at where the voice was coming from and saw that, unnoticeably, Doro was already seated at the table, brewing the tea that had been prepared beforehand while leisurely speaking. Seeing this, Adele shrugged her hands with a hint of helplessness.
“Yeah… my little darling is now a Red Tier, unlike before when I could catch you easily. What a pity.”
As she spoke, Adele sat back down at her position, directly across from Doro, who had already prepared her first cup of tea in front of her and was looking at Adele seriously.
“The reason you called me to meet this time isn’t just to have fun with me again, right?”
“Of course… this time it really is for something important that might relate to what you are looking for,” Adele said, settling into her seat, and Doro raised an eyebrow in response.
“Care to explain further? What is the matter?”
“Sure… Miss Detective, you might have already noticed, but I’m not from Prit.” Adele placed a hand on her chest and spoke, to which Doro replied plainly.
“From some of the hints you’ve dropped previously, along with your habits and name, Miss Adele, you should be from Faraluo, right?”
“Correct, I am from Faraluo. In fact, to some extent… I’m not an ordinary Faraluo person,” Adele said, her expression turning serious, shedding the lightheartedness and teasing from earlier.
“I’m a remnant of the Bourbon Dynasty of Faraluo. Over a hundred years ago, during the Cold Moon Revolution, my ancestors escaped from the brutal purge aimed at the Bourbon family, avoiding the fate of being sent to the guillotine. Since then, they changed their surname and have been hiding, cut off from any political ties with Faraluo.
“However, not long ago, someone sent me a letter revealing my identity as a remnant of the Bourbon Dynasty and invited me to return to Faraluo to inherit the vast inheritance left by the Bourbons. Miss Detective, don’t you think that’s strange?”
……
Well… thanks to the big shot for the treasure.
