Chapter 85: The Captain Who Did Not Return
At this thought, Sylvia relied on the connection of the contract between them to roughly locate the other party.
The next moment, she closed her eyes and opened them again without speaking, because she discovered that the adventurer was still in the City of Alova.
Good, he hadn’t run off.
However, she then recalled that he had once said he and his teammates were about to leave the Kingdom of Savia for the Kingdom of Ulpus.
So much time had passed, yet they still hadn’t departed.
Perhaps it was because of their captain that their journey had been delayed?
If that was the case, what about the follow-up ritual for her warrior path?
…
Six hours later.
Just as she was placing the witch mask over her face to finalize the improvements to the lust path, the door was knocked upon.
“Enter.”
While removing the mask from her face, Sylvia responded calmly.
As the door opened, Kakilis, who had recovered and returned to work, stepped inside.
Striking his right fist against his left chest with a silent thud, he loudly reported:
“Your Grace, someone has come to see you.”
“Hmm? Who?”
Leaning back slightly, Sylvia asked with interest.
“Anwendeika, the adventurer from the Southern Cross Constellation.”
“Oh?”
At that moment, a faint smile appeared on the gray-haired puppet’s face.
Truly, speak of the devil.
“Let him in.”
She spoke in a flat voice while lightly tapping her fingers on the table, producing a rhythmic knocking sound.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Receiving the instruction, Kakilis left the room and, a few minutes later, returned to the office with the adventurer who had once been mistakenly captured.
The moment Anwendeika saw Sylvia, a restrained smile surfaced on his face.
But even so, the gray-haired puppet still noticed the obvious worry and urgency written there.
“What is it?”
She skipped any pleasantries and went straight to the point.
“Ah?”
Anwendeika was momentarily taken aback before he realized what she meant.
He quickly put away the courteous smile and said directly:
“My apologies, milady. Our transaction might have to be postponed.”
“Hmm?”
With a smile on her face, Sylvia let out a questioning hum through her nose.
Seeing this, Anwendeika fell silent for a moment, then his expression turned somewhat bewildered:
“Our captain… has gone missing.”
Missing?
Hearing this, even Lakdevo, who was crouched atop the backrest of the chair, and Kakilis, who stood by the door, perked up with interest.
“Explain in detail.”
Sylvia tapped the tabletop, signaling him to continue.
After gathering his thoughts, Anwendeika spoke in a tone tinged with confusion:
“Before the new year, the captain departed from Antrelard Port in the Kingdom of Falrope to carry out a week-long coastal expedition. The target was a derelict sunken ship.”
“By all rights, she should have already returned, but in reality, that hasn’t happened.”
“It’s as though… she simply vanished. Whether we sent people out to search the sea or tried to contact her through mysticism, we couldn’t find any trace.”
“For this, we’ve already waited an entire week. No matter if we acted on our own or sought help from the Church, we haven’t obtained any meaningful clues.”
“And all the squads of the Southern Cross Constellation have been ordered to remain in place and seek any assistance they can get.”
Hearing this, Sylvia narrowed her eyes slightly.
“So you came to me?”
Anwendeika let out two dry laughs, then nodded.
“Yes, milady.”
“In my view, you are someone who stands on the same level as our captain.”
“And even for us, it is exceedingly difficult to approach extraordinary beings as powerful as you.”
“After all, in the Radiance Church, only a cardinal responsible for an entire nation is considered to be on that level.”
Sylvia nodded thoughtfully, then after a moment’s consideration, she asked:
“Then what is it you wish me to do?”
“And your payment?”
Anwendeika’s expression brightened, and without the slightest hesitation, he said:
“A complete chain of the warrior path—but you must agree not to share it beyond this room.”
“No problem.”
Sylvia replied with a squinting smile, then tapped her fingertip lightly on the tabletop, indicating he should answer her first question.
At that, Anwendeika tried to calm the excitement rising in his heart.
“Milady, we hope you could divine our captain’s location.”
Divination?
At the mention of that word, the corner of Sylvia’s mouth almost twitched.
In this world, divination was typically accomplished by relying on the special nature of the Manifest Realm.
As a unique world that gathered all information of reality and the memories of every living being, sending one’s spirituality into contact with it purposefully could yield certain revelations.
Beyond that, more advanced divinations borrowed the power of fate to glimpse the past and the future.
But no matter which approach, she was not proficient in either.
The first method—because she was an Apostle from outside—her spirituality interacted extremely poorly with the Manifest Realm.
Even if she leveraged her own rank to suppress and amplify the process, the results were mediocre at best and might even cause undesirable side effects.
As for the Right Eye of the Gloomy Moon in her possession, it was of little use in domains unrelated to the God of Death.
It was merely an amplifier for abilities of the God of Death’s domain.
As for prophecy, that was not among the authorities she commanded.
Though she could improvise one on the spot, the results likely wouldn’t be particularly reliable.
Unless she was willing to invest a great deal of time and energy.
At that thought, she turned her head to look at Lakdevo, giving him a silent signal with her eyes.
The fat crow understood instantly. Its scarlet eyes shifted, and its spirituality began to interact with the Manifest Realm.
In that moment, a profound, mysterious deep purple turned into countless sigils swirling within its crimson pupils, immediately drawing Anwendeika’s attention.
The next second, Lakdevo’s eyes returned to normal, and its voice followed:
“The ship has been lost within an endless storm. A blurry figure falls forward upon the deck, but his finger still points toward the path of hope stretching on and on.”
After speaking, Lakdevo shook its head and added:
“That is all the revelation. The divination was met with strong interference.”
Hearing this, Anwendeika was puzzled why it was the crow delivering the divination, yet his heart still surged with emotion.
Previously, they had asked the Radiance Church’s cardinal in Falrope to divine the captain’s whereabouts, but had obtained no revelations whatsoever.
Today, although the clues were rather vague, at least it was a direction they could pursue.
“Thank you…”
He blurted out his gratitude without knowing whether it should be directed at the crow or at the lady before him.
Although the crow had performed the divination, it was obvious it had done so at her instruction.
Seeing this, Sylvia smiled and waved a hand to interrupt him.
“You may report this message to your group’s leadership.”
“I will be expecting your news—and the payment I am owed.”
Seeing she had relieved him of the awkwardness, Anwendeika let out a long breath, then nodded at once.
“Yes, milady.”
“Once our vice-captain completes the verification, the complete chain of the warrior path will be delivered into your hands.”
“Good.”
“I look forward to hearing the good news of your captain’s return.”
With that, the gray-haired puppet tapped her finger on the table, and Kakilis, who was standing by the door, led the adventurer away.