Chapter 356: Letter

Reckton raised an eyebrow slightly, his gaze falling on the rather exquisite conch shell in his hand, and asked with some curiosity, "Are you picking out a gift for someone?"

"Why a gift for someone?" Phoenix asked in return.

Reckton chuckled and shook his head: "This kind of exquisite and colorful thing doesn't seem to suit you very well, and you don't seem like someone who enjoys collecting such crafts."

Phoenix fell silent for a brief moment, then gave a light nod in acknowledgment.

"You're right, I'm picking out a gift for someone."

Reckton observed his reaction for a moment but failed to catch any useful information from his face.

Losing the Prophet trait really is taking some getting used to—my observation and analysis skills have dropped quite a bit, he muttered to himself, then nodded toward Phoenix and took his leave with Tu Ba Ge.

With his movement, a pale yellow sheet of paper fell from the Spirit World, caught precisely by his raised right hand.

Blocked by his body, Old Ben, an ordinary person behind him, did not see this supernatural scene.

Walking forward a short distance, Reckton then unfolded the paper in his hand. It was a letter with no signature and no sign-off, but at a single glance he already knew who it was from.

On the pale yellow paper, neatly and elegantly written Dutan words were inscribed one by one:

"What have you done? Now the entire Witch Sect is hunting for you. Their movements are very covert—if I hadn't happened to run into an old friend, I wouldn't have known this news at all."

"You'd better be careful. Don't leave too obvious traces, and don't linger in one place for too long. That group of madwomen is very skilled at divination and tracking, and their methods are far more cunning and ruthless than those barbarians of the Storm Church."

"I originally wanted to find you to help me catch a follower of the Primordial Moon, but never mind now—you can barely protect yourself."

The Witch Sect—they hadn't made any moves, and I thought they'd already given up. Looks like they were making preparations. Truly worthy of assassins—they won't act easily without absolute certainty.

As he pondered, scattered starlight surfaced on his hand, wrapping around the pale yellow paper and dragging it into the Spirit World.

Can't stay in Bayam any longer. If another battle between demigods breaks out here, I'll become the Storm Church's most wanted criminal.

At the port of Bayam, Daniz wore a layer of skillful disguise and drove a carriage, parking it in a corner of the harbor.

He was tilting his ears to listen to the conversation in the carriage behind him, his mouth occasionally pulling into a somewhat lecherous smile.

The next moment, his intuition was triggered, and he looked warily toward his left side.

There, layered starlight suddenly permeated the air, pale blue light rippling outward like water waves, stirring up layers of ripples.

Soon, a layered door composed of starlight emerged, deep and dark starlight spreading outward as if connecting this place to some unknown realm.

Wh-what is that! Daniz watched the suddenly appearing Starlight Door with great wariness; on his left hand hidden behind his back, a faint crimson glow flickered.

In the carriage behind him, Klein, dressed as Gehrman Sparrow, and the red-haired Elaine sitting across from him both turned their heads at the same time, watching this scene through the carriage's glass window.

In the eyes of the several people—some surprised, some alarmed—a gray rabbit walked out, wearing a custom-made tailcoat, a tall black top hat on its head, a red bow tie around its neck, a pair of black gloves on its hands, and carrying a walking stick that looked like a tree branch.

Damn it! Why is it this damned fat rabbit again! I'm going to roast him sooner or later! Daniz's expression froze for an instant, and on his left hand hidden behind his back, the flickering crimson quickly faded away.

I knew it, Klein sighed silently in his heart, then turned his head expressionlessly to look at Elaine, who was staring at Tu Ba Ge with an incredulous face, casually took out a small metal vial, tossed it to her, and said:

"Use the liquid inside to remove the makeup on your face."

"Hmm? Why?" Elaine, coming back to her senses, reflexively asked in return.

"You don't need to know."

Klein said this expressionlessly; from the corner of his eye he had already caught sight of Reckton walking out of the Starlight Door.

Outside the carriage, Tu Ba Ge's deep crimson eyes glanced disdainfully at Daniz, as if already seeing through his inner thoughts. Daniz glared back, then his gaze fell on Reckton standing behind Tu Ba Ge: "Why are you here? Looking for Gehrman Sparrow? He's in the carriage having a tryst with a woman... and she's someone from the Disease General's faction!"

Daniz's tone of sharing explosive gossip made Reckton raise an eyebrow. His gaze turned toward the carriage behind him, and through the reflection on the glass, he could clearly see Klein and the red-haired Elaine inside—one with an icy expression, the other with an unpleasant look.

Reckton slightly lowered his eyes and chuckled:

"Just a friendly reminder—the soundproofing in this carriage isn't very good."

Daniz's expression stiffened, his face going deathly pale. He felt a layer of cold sweat suddenly break out on his back. Am I going to be silenced by this guy Gehrman Sparrow? And possibly targeted by the Disease General too.

Reckton cast a somewhat amused glance at Daniz, and only spoke after the other's expression gradually recovered: "I'm here to find you, Mr. Big Pirate worth 4,500 pounds."

"Huh? Me?" Daniz was taken aback, not paying attention to how Reckton had addressed him afterward—he had long grown accustomed to Gehrman Sparrow's intimidation.

Under Daniz's astonished gaze, Reckton slightly raised his right hand. Beneath him, shadows suddenly surged upward like flowing water, resembling a fountain endlessly spewing forth pitch blackness.

A stack of neatly arranged exam papers, bound books, and several pale brown ambers with mercury flowing inside were spat out from the pitch-black fountain.

"What is this?" Daniz watched the scene in surprise and asked, somewhat puzzled.

Reckton chuckled and explained: "The lessons you missed during your time away from the Golden Dream. Edwyna asked me to bring them to you, and to remind you—make sure to read and memorize everything. She'll check when you return to the ship."

Upon hearing that these were from the captain, Daniz instinctively moved to bend down and pick them up, but Reckton's following words froze his movement mid-air.

After a pause, Daniz withdrew his bending motion and said in a somewhat fawning tone:

"Uh... that, I think, I could go back to the Golden Dream right now. There's nothing for me to do alone in Bayam anyway... and it's dangerous."

"You can travel through the Spirit World, right? Could you take me back to the Golden Dream?"

As Daniz said this, he also glanced at the carriage behind him—it was unclear whether the danger he spoke of referred to the Storm Church or to Gehrman Sparrow.

Reckton looked down at the books and exam papers that Daniz was unwilling to pick up, gently rubbed his fingers, summoned an invisible giant hand, scooped up the exam papers, books, pale brown ambers along with some dirt from the ground, and stuffed them into Daniz's arms.

Having done all this, he rubbed his fingers once more, dispelling the invisible giant hand he had summoned, and spoke amid Daniz's expression of anger he dared not voice:

"Taking you back to the Golden Dream is fine, but I think even if you go back, you'll just be sent out again."

"Definitely not. Our Golden Dream only has one ship, and I'm the Fourth Boatswain on board—why would they send me out?"

Daniz shook his head firmly, indicating he didn't believe it.

While the two were talking, the carriage door was opened from the inside.

The red-haired Elaine, dressed in men's attire and carrying a suitcase, carefully stepped down from the carriage, her gaze fixed warily on Reckton, who had just walked out of the Starlight Door, and Tu Ba Ge at his feet.

Reckton looked at her with curious eyes and said:

"Are you planning to flee from the Disease General?"

Elaine pursed her lips without speaking, only sizing up Reckton with a glance before quickly withdrawing her gaze and walking toward a ship moored at the nearby port.

Before Elaine left, Reckton spoke up again and asked:

"Are there any other Witches on Tracy's Black Death?"

"What's a Witch?" Elaine stopped in her tracks and turned back in confusion to ask.

Reckton chose his words carefully and explained, "They're a group of psychologically twisted women, yet they possess an abnormal charm—men and women alike are drawn to them."

(End of this chapter)