---o---
In a dense forest, a young cat-eared girl sat on a large stone. She took out a crumbling piece of bread from her pocket, carefully tore off a small morsel, and popped it into her mouth. She then placed the rest back into her pocket with great care before pulling out another piece of dry, hard bread from her other side and taking a forceful bite.
As she chewed, Cipher took out a water canteen, opened it, and took a swig. She glanced down at the dry, black bread in her hand and couldn't help but complain.
"Who on earth came up with the idea of filling bread with sawdust? What a scoundrel!"
"Hehehe... Boss, you shouldn't complain. It's a miracle anyone can get a bite to eat these days. Besides, you gave all that good bread you stole to the poor, leaving just this kind for yourself. What can you do?"
A deep purple Spirithief suddenly phased through space, appearing beside Cipher. While teasing her, it pulled a letter out of its plump, pouting belly and handed it over.
Cipher held the black bread in her mouth as she took the letter from the creature, asking with a muffled voice, "Spirithief, who's this from?"
"Aglaea's," the Spirithief replied, then immediately began to complain. "Boss, I'm your little helper of trickery, not a delivery boy! Can't you two just use a Teleslate to communicate?"
Cipher shot Spirithief a disdainful eye-roll. "Idiot. That dressmaker woman can see through people's hearts. How could I possibly contact her directly right now? The fact that I can even maintain contact with her through letters is already incredibly bold! What if she secretly puts some trick on the letter? Wouldn't my thousand years of effort be wasted?"
Hearing her say this, Spirithief couldn't help but sigh.
"Boss, are you really going to keep this up? Is he really going to come back and find you? It's been over a thousand years. You should probably accept the worst-case scenario, right?"
"Shut up."
Cipher lowered her head, the hood of her cloak obscuring her face, making it impossible for Spirithief to read her expression.
"He will come back. Sooner or later, he will. I need him to personally take me and the others to see his hometown—that world where no one starves. The dressmaker woman and the others are smart. Once they've seen it, they'll surely be able to transform our world into a place like that. So, before that happens, I will protect this world in his stead."
Spirithief sighed. In the past thousand years, it had lost count of how many times it had this conversation with Cipher, but her attitude had never once wavered.
Cipher glanced at Spirithief. As if to convince herself, or perhaps to convince him, she spoke softly.
"My plan is perfect. First, if he comes back and discovers someone has assumed his identity and is walking around Amphoreus, he'll definitely come looking for me out of curiosity."
"Second, the Chrysos Heirs all agree that there was definitely a mastermind behind his disappearance. I don't know how that mastermind framed him, but if they discover that there's still a 'Fu Zhu' active in the world, they will come after me. As long as I can catch them, I can find out what happened back then."
"And finally... for the dawn of Amphoreus, 'Fu Zhu' must exist."
This was the plan Cipher had devised from the very beginning. To maintain the eternal day, to find Fu Zhu, and to find the mastermind, she had to do this, no matter how long it took.
Spirithief sighed silently. It knew this was the correct choice, but it still felt for this little thieving cat. Seeing that it couldn't persuade her, it decided to change the subject.
"Boss, what does the letter say?"
Cipher opened the letter and read its contents. A ripple disturbed the otherwise calm waters of her eyes.
"Okhema has found two other Nameless Guests. After verification by the dressmaker woman, they are confirmed to be Fu Zhu's companions!"
"Ooh!!!" Spirithief was overjoyed to hear the news. "Then, Boss, are you going to Okhema? I happen to miss the food there!"
"No."
But Cipher immediately vetoed Spirithief's idea. She stood up, took two leather garments from the cloth pack on her back, and put them on. Raising a hand, she stroked it across her face. When her hand fell away, her face and figure had transformed into that of Fu Zhu.
"We still have a troublesome 'tail' behind us. Besides, if I meet with the dressmaker woman, she'll definitely see through my lies. Therefore, 'Fu Zhu' can absolutely not appear in Okhema."
Listening to the masculine voice coming from Cipher's mouth, Spirithief couldn't help but sigh again.
"Alright, then what do we do? I'll listen to you."
Cipher thought for a moment. She was about to take out a pen and paper to write a reply when a dense rustling sound came from the forest behind her, making her frown.
"Hmph, they've caught up again so quickly."
Cipher turned around just in time to see a horde of Black Tide creatures emerge from the woods, charging straight for her without a second thought.
Cipher raised her wrist, and a 'Yamato' materialized in her hand. With a powerful swing, a wave of sword energy sliced through the charging Black Tide creatures, cutting them all in half at the waist.
However, a seemingly endless number of Black Tide creatures continued to pour out from behind. Cipher's expression remained calm, as if she had long grown accustomed to this scene.
Ever since three hundred years ago, these Black Tide creatures that could ignore the sun and attack under the eternal day had suddenly appeared.
Cipher had studied these creatures before and discovered that their priority for killing her was even higher than attacking common folk. As long as she revealed herself, these monsters would change their course to attack her, regardless of what form she took.
Because of this, Cipher had a faint suspicion that these monsters were connected to the mastermind. But what she couldn't understand was why, after three hundred years, the mastermind still refused to show themselves, only sending these small fries after her.
If they already knew she wasn't the real Fu Zhu, the lie should have been exposed, and she should no longer be able to appear in public as Fu Zhu.
Just what was going on?
Cipher fought as she pondered this question that had been on her mind for centuries. In no time at all, the Black Tide creatures before her were all slain.
That the battle ended so quickly this time came as a surprise to Cipher.
"Is that... all of them?"
Just as she was feeling puzzled, another set of footsteps sounded. From the sound of it, there was only one person.
Cipher's spirits immediately lifted, and she looked in the direction of the footsteps.
A mysterious person wearing a black hood, holding a longsword in one hand and a crescent-style sword in the other, slowly walked out from the thicket. When he looked at Cipher, he froze for a moment.
"You are... Who are you...?"