Hearing the captain's instructions,
...
As a "Mystic," she also had her own messenger now.
"Fine," Nina puffed out her chest. "After all, I'm the most mature and stable one on the 'Future.'"
Having said that, she asked with a hint of curiosity, "Captain, what are you going to do in Loen? What mission did you take on? Going to do some sabotage behind enemy lines?"
Nina had Feysac blood, and Cattleya was half-Intisian. In the current war, they naturally had some tendencies, so Nina guessed that the captain might have established contact with the Intis intelligence department.
"...You could say that," replied "Star Admiral" Cattleya, being very tight-lipped.
In a sense, Nina's guess wasn't wrong. She had indeed taken on a mission to cause trouble in
Moreover, she had a chance to see the Queen. She probably hadn't left Backlund yet, not until after the New Year... Thinking about this, Cattleya suddenly felt a little excited.
Since leaving the "Dawn," she hadn't actually met the "Mysterious Queen" in person, just exchanged letters, or been on the same ship, but for various reasons, they had no communication.
Nina didn't dare to press further and pointed at the door.
"Captain, is there anything else? If not, we'll head out."
"Star Admiral" Cattleya nodded, signaling that the boatswain of the "Future" could leave with her subordinates.
Just as Nina grabbed the doorknob and began to turn it, Cattleya suddenly remembered something and quickly called out, "Nina."
"Huh?" Nina, whose blonde hair was tied in a high ponytail, turned around with a look of "bewilderment."
"Don't drink excessively," "Star Admiral" Cattleya emphasized seriously. "When I return to the ship, I'll let you drink to your heart's content."
A charming smile immediately spread across Nina's face: "Deal!"
Cattleya thought for a moment and then added, "Aside from Frank Lee, keep an eye on Xio's condition. Don't let him get curious about unknown voices, and don't let him get too tired. Also, drag Orlov out of his room regularly, control the frequency and amount of his contact with occult knowledge, and..."
"I know, I know! Don't I know them well enough?" Nina waved her hand and agreed.
Only after the boatswain and her subordinates left the captain's cabin, closing the door behind them, did Cattleya turn her gaze out the window, looking out at the still-invisible Backlund.
A few minutes later, she drew a card from the Tarot deck in her hand.
It depicted an old man holding a glass lamp and a staff, groping forward alone.
The "Hermit" card.
............
Late at night. Backlund, Queen's District,
Audrey, dressed in a white gauze nightgown, suddenly opened her eyes. She grabbed a blue cloak and draped it over herself.
She then got out of bed and walked over to the full-length mirror in her room. Under the crimson moonlight streaming through the curtains, she carefully examined herself: Her jewel-like emerald eyes seemed to glow on their own, moist and clear, allowing every detail to be seen clearly.
Audrey closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, all traces of the anomaly had vanished.
The corners of her mouth slowly lifted, forming shallow dimples on her cheeks. Her brows curved gently, her eyes shimmered, and she silently praised herself in her heart: "Audrey, you've finally reached this step~!"
She had completely digested the "Dreamwalker" potion.
According to Audrey's own estimates and predictions, she thought she would finish digesting the potion sometime after February. Who would have thought that during this period, she would encounter multiple bizarre, completely different dreams?
These included multi-layered dreams, dreams caused by mental illness, lucid dreams, dreams influenced by evil spirits and vengeful souls, and the dreams of several demigods.
Under normal circumstances, as a "Dreamwalker," Audrey could roughly determine the level of the being whose dream she was about to enter, avoiding danger. However, those demigods were so well hidden that Audrey only noticed hints upon entering their dreams, which gave her a fright.
Fortunately, she wasn't discovered any of those times. Instead, she gained experience, and by carefully traveling, wandering, observing, and analyzing within the demigods' dreams, she greatly accelerated the digestion of her potion.
Furthermore, the other special dreams gave her entirely different experiences. Afterward, she tried constructing her own multi-layered dreams, hiding behind the scenes to skillfully guide their development, subconsciously interfering in reverse, curing the dream owner's mental illnesses, or dispelling the corruption brought by evil spirits and vengeful souls.
This somewhat violated her self-imposed rule of only observing and recording without interference, but it oddly sped up the digestion of her potion.
This led her to formulate a new rule: "...If intervention is truly necessary, act as a behind-the-scenes schemer and guide. Even when the goal is achieved, no one should notice."
In this, Audrey did very well. Those few people with relatively severe mental illnesses, after having five or six somewhat strange dreams, unconsciously recovered.
And it is perfectly normal for a dream to be strange and difficult to understand.