Inside a high-end guest room, upon hearing Oswan’s words, Goffrey sat in a chair, pondered for a moment, and then responded.
"Maybe... When I was toying with those black dogs, some other Beyonder did intervene. I was probably discovered by them. Once my position was exposed, I got bitten by the black dogs." Goffrey spoke through gritted teeth.
Then, after taking a bottle of liquor from a nearby cabinet and taking a sip, he continued, "It might be a Chalice... someone who can manipulate flesh marionettes. But as for their rank, I’m not sure. However, they should at least be at the Black-rank." Goffrey speculated.
Though he had never actually seen this hidden Beyonder of the Chalice pathway, he believed that since they were able to put him, a Black-rank, at such a disadvantage, they were likely at least of the same level.
"Chalice... Chalice pathway Directors are rare among the Black Dogs. Their mainstream should be Shadow instead... But you’ve been fighting them for so long, and no Stone abilities interfered? Based on our previous assumptions, that brat might be connected to our target..." Oswan furrowed his brows in thought as he continued speaking.
"No Stone. From start to finish, I never saw any other Stone interfere besides myself. Either that old man has incredible patience and won’t act unless the brat is in real danger, or he has no connection to that brat at all, meaning our assumption was wrong!"
Goffrey replied irritably. For him, getting injured by the Hunters’ counterattack was secondary; the real problem was that he had failed to achieve his goal.
Capturing Anna, inspecting whether she bore traces of Stone healing, then using her as a lead to find the healer. Or, during the process of threatening Anna, forcing out the Beyonder of the Stone pathway to confirm their existence—this was Goffrey’s primary objective. But in the end, he failed on both fronts. He neither captured Anna nor provoked any Stone interference, leaving him furious.
"Investigations inevitably run into obstacles. It seems your side isn’t going well, so why not hear about my findings?" Sitting down on a chair himself, Oswan spoke to his companion. They had each been investigating different leads but were working toward the same goal.
"You made progress?" Goffrey asked in surprise upon hearing Oswan’s words.
Oswan, in turn, smiled and nodded.
"More or less. I tried using some... less mystical methods for my investigation, and it actually led to a few clues."
"Less mystical methods..." Goffrey’s expression turned puzzled at Oswan’s words.
Meanwhile, Oswan picked up a stack of documents from a nearby table and handed them to Goffrey.
"Take a look at this."
Goffrey accepted the documents and carefully examined them. He soon realized they were several purchase orders. After scrutinizing them for a while, he saw that they were all orders for stone materials.
"Stone material orders? Where did you get these from? And what are they for?" Goffrey asked in confusion, looking at the documents in his hand.
Oswan then explained.
"These orders were obtained from the city’s stone processing plants. They handle raw stone harvested from the mountains, cutting and processing it into various specifications for use across the city."
As he spoke, Oswan lit a cigar, took a couple of puffs, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and continued.
"According to Mr. Deer Skull, the target we’re looking for follows the Spiritual Sculpture path. That means they must frequently carve stone statues, and for that, they would need large amounts of suitable stone. So, it’s highly likely they’ve been making bulk purchases of carving stone from the stone factories."
After Oswan finished, he flicked the ash from his cigar into a nearby ashtray. Goffrey paused briefly, then suddenly understood.
"You’re right… If we check where the stone materials from the factories are going, exclude those used in construction, and focus on those used for sculpture, we can roughly pinpoint their location."
"Exactly. I’ve already visited the city’s stone factories and gone through most of their order records. I filtered out all buyers who purchased for non-construction purposes. They… should all be acquiring materials for sculpture. The list is now in your hands."
Oswan continued speaking while smoking. As Goffrey listened, he began flipping through the orders one by one, noting that the buyers were mainly stone carving workshops and tombstone engraving factories. He also noticed that certain orders had been marked with red crosses.
Seeing these marks on the documents, he asked, "You marked them? Have you verified these locations?"
"Yes. There was nothing unusual, so I crossed them out. Except for this one."
As he spoke, Oswan took an order from his pocket and handed it to Goffrey. Goffrey, after reading the document, spoke in surprise.
"Saint Amanda School?"
"Heh… A middle school, needing such a large amount of stone? And all of it is high-grade material? That’s quite unexpected. This place is completely different from the others," Oswan said with a smirk, watching Goffrey’s astonished expression.
Goffrey, in turn, looked at him seriously and asked, "You think… Mr. Deer Skull’s great enemy is hiding within this school?"
"The probability is very high. I think… we should report our findings to Mr. Deer Skull and have him prepare accordingly."
Taking a deep drag from his cigar, Oswan exhaled smoke and spoke with a smile.
Outside the high-end hotel, on a nearby street, a black carriage was parked in the darkness.
Inside the carriage, Dorothy slowly opened her eyes, a hint of astonishment appearing in her expression. Through a small corpse marionette she had secretly sent into the guest room, she had overheard some surprising information.
"Who would have thought… these guys weren’t actually after Anna."
Dorothy was taken aback. She had been wondering why Beyonders were targeting Anna, but now it seemed that their attack on her was just a mistake in judgment—their real target was someone else.
And based on the newly obtained information, Dorothy knew exactly who that target was.
"Looks like our dear and beloved headmaster is in some trouble…"