Dorothy’s Forbidden Grimoire

"The National Treasure Casket... what kind of thing is that?"

Sitting in the café, Dorothy glanced at the asset list in Nephthys's hands and couldn't help but feel a surge of curiosity. Just what was stored inside that so-called National Treasure Casket? For some reason, she found herself unusually fixated on it.

"Mazarr was the last prince of the Baruch Dynasty, and also the first crown prince. If the Baruch Dynasty hadn't been overthrown, he would've been the next king. So this National Treasure Casket is likely something passed down by generations of Baruch monarchs. For an item to carry a nation's legacy across hundreds of years—just what kind of treasure could it be?"

Rubbing her chin, Dorothy pondered with great interest. From Nephthys's asset list, it was clear that while Mazarr had a large fortune, most of it was mundane. Apart from this so-called casket, there was hardly anything that hinted at the mystical. That made Dorothy even more curious about what was inside.

After some brief thought, Dorothy decided to have Nephthys fetch the casket so she could personally examine its secrets.

After sending the instructions, Dorothy remained seated, drinking coffee and reading a book as she waited. About an hour later, a now-disguised Nephthys hurried into the café, made her way upstairs, and sat across from Dorothy. She exhaled deeply, then opened her eyes with an excited gleam.

"Miss Dorothy… we—we've really struck gold this time! That fat prince was loaded! With his assets, we could live comfortably for generations!"

Stars twinkling in her eyes, Nephthys blurted out, unable to hide her joy. Dorothy took a calm sip of coffee and responded coolly.

"Well, he was a prince. Even if the dynasty fell, he'd still have some reserves."

Nephthys continued in awe. Having gradually accepted her identity as a thief, something in her blood seemed to awaken—her fixation on wealth and treasure was clearly intensifying. Dorothy couldn't help but marvel.

"As expected from someone born into a tomb-raiding family."

After chatting a bit more, Dorothy, acknowledging Nephthys's contribution to the operation, gave her half of Mazarr's 3,000-pound cash inheritance as a reward. With 1,500 pounds in her pocket, Nephthys was now eager to go shopping. After receiving some final instructions, she hurriedly left the café, leaving behind a cloth-wrapped square parcel on the table. Clearly, this was the National Treasure Casket she'd just retrieved from the guild branch.

Glancing at the bundle on the table, Dorothy took her time finishing the last of her coffee. Then she picked up the package and headed to the restroom, where she placed the bundle inside her magic box. Afterward, she exited the café.

Soon, Dorothy hailed a carriage and rode swiftly back to her hotel. Once in her room, she placed the package on the desk and unwrapped it.

As the cloth unfolded, a large iron box adorned with intricate engravings was revealed. The carvings depicted the Baruch dynasty's guardian beast—the scorpion—the royal crest, and various symbols of authority. The box was quite large and heavy, and Dorothy grew even more curious about its contents.

However, she didn't open it immediately. First, she prepared a divination array on the spot to check whether opening it would trigger any traps or curses. Since the Baruch dynasty's anti-divination system had long been destroyed, and unlike Mazarr or Ma'ad, the casket didn't enjoy protection from external forces, Dorothy's divination succeeded on the first try. She confirmed there was no danger inside.

Finally, she attempted to open the box.

It wasn't easy. Her first attempt at simply prying it open failed—it didn't budge. Upon close inspection, she found a small hole on one side, shaped like a keyhole. Just as she began worrying she didn't have a key, an idea struck her.

Dorothy opened her magic box and rummaged through it until she pulled out a metal seal—the Baruch royal seal obtained from Mazarr. She had used it not long ago to stamp his will.

Fiddling with the seal for a bit, she twisted its stem with force, and sure enough, a key-like toothed metal piece extended from the head.

Dorothy inserted the makeshift key into the lock, turned it, and with a click, the mechanism released. She removed the key, lifted the lid, and revealed what lay inside—a bundle of beast-hide scrolls.

"A scroll, huh…"

Murmuring to herself, Dorothy unrolled the scroll for a look. It was densely filled with text. Thankfully, it was written in modern North Ufigan script, not the ancient script, so she could barely make it out.

After scanning several lines, she understood the general content.

"The Royal Sacrifial Book… it's a ritual guidebook…"

What Dorothy now held was a sacrificial manual, detailing a rite known as the Royal Offering. The object of this ritual: the founding king of Baruch, Rachman Baruch.

It was said that over nine hundred years ago, the Dofen Dynasty, the original rulers of Addus, had firmly supported the True Radiant Lord in the Holy War against the invading Radiance Church in North Ufiga. Thanks to the nation's unwavering faith and formidable military strength, the Dofen Dynasty became one of the main forces in the North Ufigan coalition resisting the Radiance Church's crusade.

However, the power disparity between the North Ufigan alliance and the Radiance Church, which had already seized control of the entire central continent, was immense. No matter how valiantly the alliance fought, they couldn't halt the crusaders' advance. Just when despair was setting in, the Radiance Church—suffering heavy losses of its own—offered a concession: they would allow recognition of the True Radiant Lord as unified with their own Radiant Savior. This was a calculated move to pacify and win over the northern nations.

Faced with the overwhelming might of the Radiance Church, most North Ufigan countries compromised. Only a few chose to continue fighting in defense of the true faith—among them, Addus under the Dofen Dynasty.

Eventually, the defiant Dofen Dynasty was annihilated by the crusaders. The Addus region fractured into chaos, falling into lawlessness and anarchy. Warlords ruled, banditry flourished, raiders roamed unchecked, and conflict was rampant. In just two centuries, four successive dynasties rose and fell—leaving the land in utter turmoil.

It was during this era that Rachman lived. Legend holds that he was originally a humble shepherd, who became a Beyonder after a fateful encounter during one of his herding expeditions. Harnessing this newfound power, he formed a militia called the Civilian Protection League to shelter common folk amidst the bloodshed, all while clashing with various other factions across Addus.

After years of war, Rachman advanced the ranks and eventually reached Crimson rank—becoming a formidable Beyonder. With overwhelming strength, he eliminated the armed factions across Addus and founded the Baruch Dynasty. Rachman ruled Baruch for nearly fifty years before retreating into seclusion, silently protecting the realm for another two centuries. He eventually died at the age of nearly three hundred.

According to his will, Rachman was secretly buried in the location where he had once received his mystical encounter. A massive mausoleum had been constructed there in advance, and from that day on, it became the sacred site of the Baruch Dynasty.

From the Royal Sacrificial Book, Dorothy learned that every Baruch king's coronation had to be held at Rachman's tomb. It was there that each monarch received the symbolic transfer of Addus's supreme authority from Rachman himself.

The location of Rachman's tomb was a tightly guarded secret known only to the royal upper echelon and the court ritualists. When a new monarch was to be crowned, they would secretly bring the Royal Sacrificial Book and the royal seal to the tomb, conduct the ritual to obtain legitimacy, and only afterward return to Yadith to perform the public coronation ceremony.

It was said that within Rachman's tomb, the new king would face Rachman's spirit and undergo a trial. If the trial was passed, the heir would be allowed to ascend. If they failed, the succession would pass to the second heir, and then the third, and so on until a worthy successor emerged. Thus, this rite was also known as the Royal Trial.

"The Royal Trial, huh… To think a dynasty as rotten and nearly dead as Baruch still maintains this kind of tradition. I wonder what kind of heir it takes to pass. If the trial is truly strict—only allowing worthy rulers to pass—how did Baruch rot into this mess?"

Gazing at the Royal Sacrificial Book, Dorothy couldn't help but muse. She couldn't fathom how someone like Mazarr could've passed such a trial. And it didn't seem like Ma'ad was any better. If these were the ones undergoing the trial, how stringent could it really be?

With a sigh, she returned her attention to the book. Besides recounting the origins of the ritual and the tomb's exact location, it also detailed the steps of the rite, including how to unlock the tomb and prepare ceremonial implements.

Among these ritual items, one in particular caught Dorothy's attention: the Goblet of Nether Guidance. It was described as the most important item in the entire ceremony.

According to the Royal Sacrificial Book, the Goblet of Nether Guidance was a sacred relic blessed by a deity and acquired by Rachman during his lifetime. It was the core of the ritual—without it, the rite could not begin.

"A deity-blessed item—that's a divine artifact! And from the name alone, it's clearly a Silence divine artifact! The Baruch royal family actually held onto something like this?!"

Dorothy's eyes lit up as she read, her heart pounding with excitement. She hadn't expected to uncover clues to a Silence divine artifact here—let alone that it belonged to the Baruch royal family.

"All I need to know now is which royal holds it. Then I can just… pay them a visit. With how pathetic the Baruch family is these days, that shouldn't be too hard."

With that thought, she scanned the Royal Sacrificial Book for details about the Goblet's whereabouts—but her hopes were soon dashed.

The book recorded that, because of the goblet's irreplaceable importance and deep integration with the ritual, it was stored directly within Rachman's tomb. Each time a coronation was held, the goblet was retrieved from the tomb, used in the ritual, and then returned and sealed away until the next time.

In other words, the Goblet of Nether Guidance was not in anyone's possession—it was quietly resting within the royal tomb. To acquire it, the tomb itself would have to be opened. Fortunately, the Royal Sacrificial Book included both the tomb's hidden location and the method of opening it.

Staring at the text, Dorothy fell into thought. After a long silence, she muttered to herself.

"Looks like I really will be sampling North Ufiga's intangible cultural heritage firsthand—good old traditional tomb raiding. After so many dealings with local grave robbers… I didn't expect I'd become one myself."

…

While Dorothy was examining the National Treasure Casket in her hotel, on the outskirts of Kankdal City, in a forested district, a dark-skinned man in a North Ufigan robe was sprinting swiftly through the woods—his speed far beyond that of any normal human.

As he ran, he glanced back toward the trees. In the distance, black smoke rose into the air—it looked like something was burning. The direction he looked toward was none other than the location of Robert's secret villa on the outskirts of Kankdal—the very place where Mazarr's soul had once been imprisoned.

"Huff... huff… Why… why did the Inquisitor suddenly raid the place? What went wrong on Robert's end? Why did he suddenly fall out with the Inquisitor?! Weren't they on the same side regarding the Mazarre affair?"

After a long sprint, the man finally came to a stop, leaning against a tree as he gasped for breath, muttering to himself with a look of exhaustion and confusion.

"No… I have to report this right away…"

Clenching his teeth, the man forced his tired body to kneel on the ground and quickly drew a ritual array. Then, from within his robe, he pulled out a test tube containing a small amount of white powder.

Kneeling beside the circle, the man began chanting an incantation. Once he finished, he opened the tube and scattered the powder into the air. The powder spontaneously ignited above the circle, producing a thick white smoke. The smoke gathered into a humanoid silhouette—faint and ghostly in form. The figure glanced at the man and spoke.

"What's the rush, Yakaru?"

"There's been an incident, my lord! The Inquisition just raided Robert's stronghold! I happened to be outside the base, saw something was wrong, and escaped! I don't know why, but Robert seems to have fallen out with the Inquisitor from Holy Mount!"

The man spoke hurriedly, his explanation prompting a flicker of surprise from the smoke-formed figure.

"What? What about Sadroya? Where is she? Why are you alone?"

"I don't know. Sadroya suddenly disappeared without a trace earlier. I was actually out looking for her when the Inquisition arrived. Not long after I stepped out, they came. Everyone else in the stronghold was captured. I was lucky enough to get away and have been on the run since. I haven't seen any sign of Sadroya."

The man responded to the figure, who fell silent in contemplation for a moment before speaking again.

"And the item? Did Robert and Ma'ad deliver what we wanted?"

"T-That still hasn't happened yet, my lord. According to Robert, the item is a Baruch royal treasure—something that only the first crown prince can possess. Before his death, Mazarr had stored it with those sly merchants at the Craftsmen's Guild. After he died, they were planning to retrieve it by going through the proper inheritance procedures. But those procedures are extremely cumbersome, and they still haven't finished them. So the item is still in storage."