Chapter 3 The Letter

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In the secluded and gloomy river valley, the cold drizzle gradually subsided. At the tragic scene of the carriage massacre, Dorothy sat on the ground, gasping for breath as she faced Ed's corpse. It took her quite a while to come to her senses. When she staggered to her feet, she suddenly became aware of an important problem.

"Right! Where are this guy's dogs?" she wondered.

Thinking of Ed's two hunting dogs, Dorothy quickly tightened her grip on the revolver in her hand and grew alert, scanning the surroundings. In her memory, the two strange hunting dogs had just been sent flying. They ought to still be alive. If they got up to avenge their master, it would be bad. Previously, since it was her first time shooting someone, her emotions were too erratic and she didn't respond to this matter in a timely manner.

Dorothy held the gun and surveyed her surroundings. By the dim light of the lamp, she located the two hunting dogs. At this moment, they were lying motionless on the nearby riverbank. There wasn't even a sound of breathing. They resembled corpses. This scene made Dorothy stunned.

"Dead? No way... Just being sent flying couldn't have killed them directly, could it? Does a blast of Unrelenting Force, the The Roar of the Dragon, possess such power?"

Upon seeing the two dog corpses, Dorothy was filled with doubts. However, since the appearance of the two hunting dogs was too exaggerated and strange, and they looked extremely terrifying, Dorothy had no intention of going to check them out. But this doubt remained in her heart.

"Whoosh... Never mind for now. Let's first figure out what to do next..."

Seeing that the hunting dogs were no longer a threat, Dorothy heaved a sigh of relief and then sat on the ground. She picked up the black umbrella that had fallen beside her, opened it to keep the rain off, and then pondered how she should face this strange world next.

She had just time - traveled to this world that seemed to be a foreign country in the 19th century and was reborn as a young girl who was supposed to have died in a car accident. Dorothy was extremely confused at this moment and was at a loss as to what to do for a while. The new world and the new body left her feeling at a loss. At this point, she felt completely lost.

After thinking things over on the spot, she decided to follow the original Dorothy's life rhythm first.

"Let's first go ahead and continue to the city to find Dorothy's brother... After all, he's the closest blood relative I have in this world. Family members are always someone you can count on... This was also the little girl's last wish..."

Sitting on the cold, damp stone, propping her chin with her hand, Dorothy thought to herself. In Dorothy's memory, her brother, whom she hadn't seen for many years, had loved and taken good care of her when they were children. According to the original Dorothy's idea, it was a good choice to go and seek refuge with him... After all, no matter where you are, the first thing is to find a "home".

"My clothes are all wet. It's so cold... I need to find a place to change. According to what Dorothy heard from the coachman in my memory, there should be a town nearby. Anyway, let's go there first."

Cold and hungry, Dorothy felt that before going to the city to find her brother, she needed to find a place to change clothes and eat something. According to the information Dorothy obtained from talking to the coachman in her memory, if she walked along the lane where the carriage had traveled before, she could quickly reach a town called Wokan. Since these bandits could find a place to stop, there must be a passage back to the main road in front of the riverbank.

With these thoughts, Dorothy took a short rest and got ready to set off. Then, after thinking for a while, she came up with another problem. That is, she had no money. She needed money to buy food and find a place to stay! But right now, she didn't have any!

This time, Dorothy was going to the city with the help of a familiar caravan, as entrusted by Aunt Hannah. The fare and food expenses sent by her brother before were all given to the coachman by Aunt Hannah. She asked the coachman to take care of Dorothy during the journey. Now that the caravan had met with misfortune, she had just collected the money from the other passengers and the coachman and used it as bait in the carriage. Now, that carriage and the two bandits who took the bait had fallen into the river.

Thinking of this, Dorothy couldn't help pausing. She stroked her chin and scanned the area ahead. Finally, her gaze settled on the bandit leader who had been shot and fallen to the ground.

Since he was the bandit leader, he must have some money on him, right...

With these thoughts in mind, Dorothy picked up a gas lamp on the ground. Without hesitation, she ran over to the corpse and started searching it. Since she had already searched the other corpses and got used to it, she didn't feel much fear.

Gradually, Dorothy rummaged out the things on Ed's corpse one by one. A dagger, a deck of playing cards, a few banknotes, a bunch of keys...

Dorothy put away the useful things. Then, after thinking for a while and feeling that she hadn't searched thoroughly enough, she continued to search carefully several times. She found some more coins, a few cigarettes, and a matchbox... Just as Dorothy thought she had searched almost everything and was considering whether to take off Ed's seemingly nice suit jacket and pawn it somewhere for some money, she suddenly noticed something strange.

She felt something in the inner lining of the clothes. Judging from the touch, it seemed to be some kind of stiff paper-like object.

'There's something hidden in the inner lining of the clothes? It must be something good to be hidden like this! Judging from this touch, could it be some secret money?'

Dorothy's eyes lit up. Then, she immediately took out the dagger and slit open Ed's clothes. Then, she took out the thing she had felt from the inner lining and looked at it in her hand. To her surprise, they were two envelopes!

'Envelopes? Are there letters inside? What kind of letter is so important that it needs to be carried in the inner lining of your clothes?'

Looking at the envelope in her hand instead of money, Dorothy felt a bit disappointed. Then, with doubts, she opened one of the envelopes, took out the letter paper from it, and brought it close to the gas lamp to observe carefully.

There was a series of neatly written letters on the letter paper. And she was surprised to find that she could actually read them!

'Ah... something's not right! Didn't I sacrifice the language the original Dorothy had learned in exchange for Draconic? Why can I still understand this now?'

Dorothy thought in surprise. In her opinion, the sacrificed knowledge should have disappeared directly.

'Perhaps... because knowledge is essentially information, not an object... Information can be replicated, while objects cannot. When I sacrificed knowledge, it doesn't mean I lost it. When I teach a piece of knowledge to someone else, it doesn't make me lose that knowledge... Maybe just now, I didn't exchange my language for Draconic, but rather exchanged it through communication...'

Thinking of this possibility, Dorothy felt relieved. Fortunately, she didn't have to worry about becoming illiterate in this world in the future.

Then, Dorothy, feeling a surge of delight, continued to read the letter. The letter was written in Prit, the common language of the Prit Kingdom where Dorothy was located. It used a typical phonetic alphabet.

And the content of the letter really surprised her.

...

Dear Mr. Edric,

We're honored to receive your letter. From your description in the previous letter, we can confirm that the extraordinary item you chanced upon is called the Corpse Puppet Ring. It can control newly deceased corpses. It was indeed a wise choice for you to use it to manipulate the corpses of wild beasts. May you achieve greater success in Wokan Town using it. Of course, we also advise you not to be too ostentatious, so as not to attract the attention of the Hidden Security Bureau or the Church.

Regarding your desire to join our society, as expressed in the letter, we are naturally very delighted. As a street leader who possesses an extraordinary item, you are certainly qualified to join us. We believe that with your status in Wokan Town, you can further expand the influence of our society.

We welcome your joining, but before that, we have a small task for you to complete. This can be considered a test, a special one.

On the evening of April 8th, a convoy headed for Ygwynte will pass by on the road from Yew to Wokan. There is a white-haired girl around thirteen years old on the convoy. Seize her.

Please don't misunderstand. Our initiation tests for new members aren't usually such kidnapping operations. But this time is a special case. That girl is of use to us. We should have taken action ourselves, but unfortunately, the Hidden Security Bureau has been quite active lately, and there are signs of hunter squads showing up in Wokan.

For the sake of caution, we have decided not to show up. Therefore, we need Mr. Edric to take action on our behalf. As long as you handle this like an ordinary kidnapping job, the hunters won't bother with a case showing no signs of the extraordinary. We believe that with your professional skills, you'll be able to handle this case perfectly.

Of course, we won't let you work for nothing in the name of a test. We've prepared special rewards for this special test of yours. For you, this reward can be said to be very generous. It will be sufficient to enable you to make a big leap from a novice who knows little in the extraordinary field you long for, and you'll even gain a significant status within the society.

If you accept this test, please reply ASAP. We believe you won't reject this rare opportunity. May you and we enjoy a grand feast together at the same table in the future and jointly experience the wonder bestowed by the great Blood Cup.

...