Lord of the Mysteries

Under the sunlight, the Golden Dream emitted golden lusters as if it was a mobile treasure.

Danitz stood inside the captain’s cabin, pacing about endlessly. He attempted to recall everything that had happened over the past few days in a bid to find a clue.

Three days ago, his captain, Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina, wanted to do a study in which she might not appear for ten to twenty hours. Therefore, all corresponding classes were canceled. In regards to this, Danitz and company didn’t find it odd. These happened frequently.

They were delighted that they didn’t need to attend classes; hence, there was drinking, singing, and a bonfire party held on the ship. They were only short of burning down the Golden Dream, but they had a great time.

But with the passage of time, everyone gradually felt that something was amiss, including the somewhat slow Danitz. Their captain, who should’ve finished her studies within 24 hours, didn’t appear the next day. She didn’t even get anyone to send her food or light beer which was used as water!

After patiently waiting for half a day without seeing Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina, the sailors mustered the courage to knock on her door. To their horror, there wasn’t any response.

Under the first mate, Bru Walls’s lead, the pirates opened the captain’s cabin and found it empty!

They then went to the collector’s room and other places, but they failed to find her.

Based on past experiences, their initial guess was that their captain had suddenly thought of something and left the Golden Dream in a rush while using some mystical technique or emulating someone else’s Beyonder powers without leaving a letter behind.

Later, Danitz and company attempted to contact her using methods like the Soulfall Ritual, but they failed to receive a response. All they could do was search the captain’s cabin and other places as they convinced themselves to wait patiently.

Three days passed, but Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina didn’t appear nor reply. It left the sailors panicking.

“Dogsh*t, any results from your divination? Didn’t you claim to be an expert?” Danitz turned towards Flowery Bow Tie Jodeson in frustration.

Jodeson, with his black hair that was dyed gold, rubbed his temples and said in a rather mellow voice, “They failed. Every divination method used to find her has failed.

“But for now, it can be confirmed that Captain is still alive. It’s just that her whereabouts are unknown.”

The first mate, Walls, who had short, grayish, curly hair, nudged his monocle and said, “We need to seek help. None of Captain’s collections have been lost. She didn’t even bring her essential mystical items with her when she left. This means that the situation was very sudden and unexpected.”

“Whose help can we seek?” another boatswain whose waist was swollen, Bucket Daniels asked anxiously.

Bru Walls raised his silver-patterned knife to his aquiline nose and said, “Return to the western shore.”

Between the lines, he was hinting at seeking the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom that backed Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina.

“That won’t do. To go from the pirates’ playground to the western shore, we will need to pass the Sonia Sea, the North Sea, and the Berserk Sea. Then, we will cruise through the Fog Sea for a very long period of time. Captain can’t wait that long! Anything might happen to her at any time!” Flowery Bow Tie Jodeson said. “We have to immediately find someone we can quickly contact and provide us with help on short notice.”

Danitz wanted to curse “dogsh*t,” when he suddenly had a “light bulb” moment.

There was only one person he could quickly contact, and that was Gehrman Sparrow. Furthermore, this crazy adventurer had never hid the fact that he was good at divination and also had a mysterious background!

Perhaps that madman can find Captain. He’s often able to do the impossible… Danitz tugged at his collar as he felt his worry and frustration ease a little.

He raised his chest and looked around. Then, he cleared his throat and said, “I have a candidate. I can immediately contact him. Besides, he’s very good at divination…”

Just as he said that, Gourmet Bru Walls, Flowery Bow Tie Jodeson, Iron Skin, Barrel, and company turned their heads at him in unison. With their eyes red, they roared, “What are you waiting for!?”

“…” Danitz silently left the captain’s cabin and returned to his room.

He unfolded a piece of paper, picked up a fountain pen, and followed his captain’s teachings by writing a greeting followed by some pleasantries.

Suddenly, he stopped writing. He felt that the excessive politeness and small talk didn’t match his goals for seeking help.

“Dogsh*t!” Danitz cursed as he tore up the piece of paper.

Right on the heels of that, he wrote on a new piece of paper:

“Help!

“Captain has vanished!”

“Well… Although Gehrman Sparrow is a madman who can’t be comprehended with common sense, he probably won’t be able to understand such a letter… Dogsh*t!” Danitz cursed himself again as he ripped up the second letter.

He calmed himself down and contemplated for a few seconds before penning a third time.

This time, he simply wrote what happened after his captain’s disappearance. He also included the location of the Golden Dream, and he minced his words by asking Mr. Gehrman Sparrow if he could provide help to a cooperating partner.

“Divination needs something…” Just as Danitz folded the letter, he suddenly realized that he had forgotten something. He rushed back to the captain’s cabin and found a pearl earring that Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina often wore.

After doing all of this, he took out his notebook that was filled with all sorts of mysticism knowledge. He flipped to the corresponding page and unfamiliarly set up a messenger-summoning ritual with his past experience.

After placing a gold coin on the altar, he took two steps back and recited in ancient Hermes, “I!

“I summon in my name:

“The spirit that wanders about the unfounded, the friendly creature that can be subordinated, the messenger that belongs to Gehrman Sparrow.”

Howling winds resonated as the candlelight on the altar rapidly burgeoned before being dyed a pale whiteness.

Reinette Tinekerr appeared at a decent speed, still wearing her complicated black dress while holding four beautiful and identical heads.

Danitz imagined that the messenger would bite the gold coin and the envelope containing the paper and earring like the last time. But to his surprise, the four heads in Reinette Tinekerr’s hand automatically turned around, surveying the area before finally looking towards the captain’s cabin.

A few seconds later, two of the heads in Reinette Tinekerr’s hand bit down onto the gold coin and the envelope.

After the strange messenger vanished, Danitz exhaled and wiped his forehead, feeling a baffling sense of pressure.

…

Oravi Island, in the room of another hotel.

Klein was just about to get Anderson Hood, who had won quite a fair bit of money, to purchase the tickets to City of Generosity Bayam when his spiritual perception was triggered.

He quickly activated his Spirit Vision and saw his headless messenger, Reinette Tinekerr, appear by his side at some point in time. In her hands were four beautiful heads.

She’s not like the skeleton messengers who I can detect the moment they appear. My spiritual perception is triggered only after she completely enters the real world… Klein received a letter from the teeth of one of Reinette Tinekerr’s head while in thought.

At the same time, he noticed that Anderson’s spiritual perception was no way weaker than his. He too had reacted.

“This is a… messenger?” Anderson asked in disbelief, as though he had heard of such things but had never seen them before.

Klein nodded without expression as he tore open the letter.

Eh, a pearl earring? Klein unfolded the letter in puzzlement.

By his side, Anderson came over out of curiosity as he sized up Reinette Tinekerr as he tsked.

“There’s an indescribable sense of bloody beauty…”

Just as he said that, his hands suddenly rose up to grab himself by the throat. The grip was so tight that his tongue extended out as he foamed at the mouth. As for Reinette Tinekerr, who had nothing above her neck, she didn’t show any further reaction.

Klein turned his head over and seriously studied the situation before looking at his messenger. He then silently mumbled, Resembles Miss Sharron’s abilities… Miss Messenger belongs to the Prisoner pathway? No, I can’t be sure. She’s a spirit world creature, so being good at such things is very normal…

Realizing that Anderson was about to suffocate, Klein leisurely said, “That’s enough, he still needs to lead me somewhere.”

One of the heads in Reinette Tinekerr’s hand turned over as she glanced at Anderson with her bloodshot eyes for a second.

Following that, each of the heads’ mouths spoke one after the other.

“Still…” “Can…” “Lead…” “You…” “By…” “Making…” “Into…” “Zombie…” ”

As she said that, Anderson’s hands finally stopped and left his own neck, leaving obvious, deep finger marks on it.

Phew… Phew… The Strongest Hunter panted as he bent his back, retching.

Klein quickly scanned the letter and saw that it was from Danitz. This “famous pirate” wrote to him, saying that Vice Admiral Iceberg had mysteriously vanished and was in need of help.

Just as he moved his gaze away from the letter, Klein was surprised to see Reinette Tinekerr was still around.

This doesn’t make mystical sense… Shouldn’t a messenger disappear after sending the letter, appearing only when summoned again? Klein deliberated and asked out of curiosity, “Is there anything else?”

“Awaiting…” “Your…” “Reply…” “Letter…” Reinette’s four head said one after the other.

“How do you know that I’ll reply?” Klein glanced at Anderson, who hadn’t recovered, and confirmed that the Strongest Hunter didn’t notice the words that didn’t match Gehrman’s persona.

The heads in Reinette’s hand said once again, “Her…” “Disappearance is…” “Very…” “Odd…”

“How do you know that?” Klein instantly imagined that Miss Messenger had secretly read Danitz’s letter.

The heads with the long blonde hair simply rolled up and said a phrase each, forming a complete sentence.

“I…” “Investigated…” “The ship’s…” “Situation…”

My messenger is a part-time scout? Miss Reinette Tinekerr, will you be a hired goon in the future? I wonder if I need to make additional payment… As Klein lampooned in thought, he said, “No rush. I’ll reply later.”

He planned on heading above the gray fog to use Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina’s earring to do a divination.

Reinette Tinekerr didn’t say a word as she vanished silently.

“Ahem…” Anderson finally recovered as he stood straight. He gave Gehrman Sparrow a flabbergasted look. “Your messenger… Your messenger is a demigod!?”