Edward turned his head and smiled. "The books here are written in some ancient languages. It's normal that you haven't seen them before."
He chuckled as he said, "You'd better learn Intis properly first."
Bernadette immediately objected, "Don't underestimate me! Daddy says my current level of Intis isn't much worse than his English Level Four back then."
"..."
Edward was silent for a few seconds. "Do you even know what English Level Four means?"
Her small face remained earnest. "No idea, but Daddy said it's an extremely, extremely high level of language skill—one in a million!"
"...Impressive."
"No, that's not what I meant!" Bernadette quickly said, "I've seen this script before—inside Daddy's diary."
"???"
"Exactly. Daddy said he invented a whole new language so that no one could guess what he wrote."
She waved the book in her hand. "But the text in this book looks exactly the same as what's in Daddy's diary."
Swish!
Edward snatched the book from her hands and flipped through several pages swiftly. The blocky printed Chinese characters mixed with pinyin caught his eyes, and he quickly confirmed his suspicion—it was a primary school language textbook!
At the middle of the book, the pages slightly bulged, as if something was hidden inside. Edward turned to that page and saw a flattened, bright red flower.
His heart jolted.
This was the same book Lilith had used to self-study Chinese!
And this was the collective dream of everyone in this sea area, which meant…Lilith was right here?!
At that moment, the textbook in his hands rapidly turned transparent. Then, a blinding light flooded the scene. Everything first shone dazzlingly white before fading and disappearing.
Edward suddenly opened his eyes, finding himself back in the captain's cabin. Outside, daylight had returned.
"We're back?"
Bernadette also sat up from the bed. She still looked a bit sleepy but there was a spark of excitement in her eyes. "It's so amazing! After falling asleep, you can go to another world. Even though it's a dream, it feels just like reality!"
"Huh? Mr. Sparrow, what's wrong?" She turned her head and saw Edward's expression—half joyful, half disappointed.
"Was it because of that book just now? Or the text inside it?" she asked.
She thought for a moment and then said, "Are you really interested in that kind of writing? Do you want me to sneak Daddy's diary out for you to look at?"
"No need."
At that moment, Edward wasn't in the mood to tease her, Daddy's little heartbreaker. He carried her in his arms and stepped across the spirit realm back to her room.
"I have something very important to attend to. I'll be off first," he said simply.
Without further ado, Edward teleported away again, leaving her scratching her head, full of curiosity: What exactly was written in that book that caused Mr. Sparrow to react so strongly?
So curious~
———
Sea of Ruins.
The moment Edward returned, he shifted into a spirit form and began flying swiftly through this sea area.
Divination still failed to locate Lilith.
So he resorted to the most primitive method, though he knew well it was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Throughout the journey, he encountered various pirate ships and adventure vessels, each of which he carefully inspected one by one. During this, he experienced several instances of darkness again, but never managed to find the library containing that elementary school textbook within the monastery.
This suggested that if it really had been Lilith's dream earlier, she must have already left the Sea of Ruins by now. Still, Edward held on to a sliver of hope: coming specifically to the Sea of Ruins must have a particular purpose, and having a purpose implied she wouldn't leave easily. Even if she left, returning remained a possibility.
In this era, there were no Four Kings or Seven Admirals yet, but many large pirate ships or fleets inevitably had the support of the Church or secret organisations. Edward specifically targeted six or seven pirate ships, captained by suspected Witch Pathway individuals, and conducted careful searches.
Unfortunately, he discovered no clue related to Lilith.
Thus, seven or eight hours passed in an instant, spent entirely in searching.
When Edward once again explored the black monastery and woke from the dream, he had to admit that this time, he had truly missed Lilith.
"Let's think positively..."
Edward gazed at the distant blue sea. "At least this further confirms that Lilith is still alive and well."
He smirked. As a god, Cheek had spent so many years searching for Lilith without success. Yet Edward had intersected with her in such a short time—a rather "remarkable" achievement.
Cheek...
The very thought of that name stirred a wave of irritation in Edward's mind.
Although at the very start of his return through time, Edward had been filled with anger and hatred toward that name, he soon deliberately tried to forget the existence of that entity.
Because Cheek was a true god.
Any amount of anger and hatred was nothing more than a self-inflicted torment. Edward knew deep down that, for a very long time to come, he would have no chance of opposing such a being.
The Evernight Goddess had schemed for thousands of years just to barely eliminate the unsuspecting God of Combat through Lilith's betrayal. Even if Edward someday ascended to Sequence 0, eliminating Cheek would still not be a simple task.
So the immediate priority was to find a way to advance his rank as quickly as possible.
Of the two potions, one was steadily progressing while the other had begun to take shape. Now, the biggest problem was clearly that both Sequence 3 Beyonder characteristics remained completely without clues.
How to obtain the Wanderer and the Dream Weaver characteristics?
Oh right, there was that ritual too—making the characters from the story step into reality.
If only he could return to the Harry Potter world, it wouldn't seem too difficult. But…wasn't it impossible to go back?
Just as the thought occurred, Edward's mind suddenly sparked.
"Huh, when I met Pallez yesterday, didn't I overlook a crucial clue?"
———
Back at Villa No. 7, Rose Street, the moment Edward sat down in the study chair, his spirit immediately alerted him that someone was at the door. Thanks to the enhanced intuition gained after ascending to Demigod, his mind automatically conjured an image of Dubois pacing anxiously at the door.
With a wave of his hand, the door opened automatically, and Dubois rushed in almost immediately, shouting, "Mr. Sparrow, something's happened!"
"What is it?"
"Miss Akasha has been arrested!"
"???"
Edward was momentarily stunned but not entirely surprised. "Arrested? Who did she provoke outside?"
"It wasn't that she provoked someone…" Dubois explained, "It was the other way around—someone provoked her and ended up getting 'disciplined' by her."
"Tell me everything."
"We're moving to the house on Emerald Street in a few days, right? That villa is considerably bigger than this one, so I figured we could hire a few more people. But the daily expenses for the villa were all managed by Miss Akasha, so I asked her to come with me…"
"Wait!"
Edward interrupted immediately. "I already gave you the money. How is it in her hands?"
"Ah? But in noble households, the female housekeeper generally manages the finances. So I transferred the money to her a few days ago."
"You…you gave the money to her? Isn't that like throwing meat to a dog?"
"Ah?"
"Forget it, continue."
"When we got to the market district, our standards for picking people differed. I thought we should look for strong, capable workers, while she insisted on recruiting those with good looks. So we split up and planned to let you decide in the end."
"When I came back with my picks, I found her already in a fight with some man. The cause was that the man seemed to mistake her for a streetwalker and tried to lay his hands on her, which enraged Akasha."
Such a classic…cliché plot.
"Akasha immediately incapacitated the man's bodyguard and even dislocated his arm. The man furiously threatened her, and in turn, Miss Akasha angrily stepped forward and kicked him in the groin…right as the police arrived."
"Originally, Miss Akasha wanted to fight the police too, but I managed to persuade her. After that, she was taken away."
Edward frowned. "And you? You just stood by and watched the whole thing?"
"Of course not!" Dubois hurriedly replied. "I tried to help too, but was quickly subdued by the bodyguard. I'm certain that bodyguard must have been a Beyonder—no normal human could possess such strength."
Edward knit his brows. "But wasn't the other party clearly in the wrong first? Harassing a woman in public—doesn't Intis law cover such cases?" He paused and asked, "Wait, what exactly was she wearing at the time to make someone mistake her for a streetwalker?"
"Uh…a suit with a short skirt and black stockings."
"…"
Damn you, Roselle! What kind of nonsense ideas did you spread to the people of this world?!
Dubois explained, "Publicly harassing women is considered a minor crime, typically punished with apologies and compensation. But Akasha's behaviour crossed into deliberate bodily harm."
"Isn't it self-defence?"
"The person she hit was a noble's grandson. Given the actual situation at the scene and the fact that Miss Akasha boasted about knocking down the police as well…it would be hard to convince anyone it was 'self-defence.'"
Edward was silent for a moment. "Would going to Roselle even help in such a case?"
"It's probably difficult to use privilege to release Miss Akasha directly. I've already inquired. The person she injured is the grandson of Count Clair—a highly influential noble in Intis," Dubois paused seriously, "and the only grandson."
"This Count Clair is among the few who despise and hate Roselle, because many of Roselle's inventions and creations have undermined his interests."
"Furthermore, if Miss Akasha's kick truly caused irreparable harm, Count Clair's revenge might not stop at Akasha alone but could extend to you as well."
"Count Trier?"
The name sparked something in Edward's mind, and he quickly recalled where he had heard it before:
Twilight Hermit Order!
During the meeting's conclusion, Hermes had proposed three tasks for the future. The last one specifically mentioned Count Clair of Intis's conservative faction, suggesting he might even act against Roselle to protect his interests.
And Roselle was the key figure, endorsed by the Russian priest, to drive the tide of the era forward. Naturally, no one could be allowed to threaten him. Although Edward always remembered this matter, he had no intention of getting involved.
After all, he had just joined and preferred to observe how the elder members operated—to learn the ropes and avoid making mistakes.
Yet unexpectedly, while he hadn't intended to interfere with Count Clair, it was Clair's grandson who came knocking on his door.
———
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