A Cry for Help

Rose!

Why was Rose here as well?

Olivia's thoughts drifted back to the orphanage, recalling that thin, frail little girl.

She had been an ordinary girl, not particularly eye-catching. However, after the orphanage incident concluded, Olivia was horrified to discover that, aside from herself, no one else remembered Rose.

Even reporting the matter was useless. Brittany, who should have known of Rose's existence, still forgot her, as if the girl had never existed in this world at all.

Fortunately, Olivia had the magic mirror. Through it, she learned that the problem didn't lie with her, but with Rose herself.

For some unknown reason, this little girl seemed to possess a trait that caused others to forget her. Only Olivia, with her own uniqueness, was immune to this effect.

'To think I would see her in Paradise...'

Olivia desperately wanted to approach Rose and find out what was going on, but she could no longer do so.

The vast Paradise began to twist and shatter before her eyes, finally vanishing from her sight.

Olivia felt a sinking sensation. By the time she recovered and opened her eyes, she was back in Rand's bedroom. The spacious room was bathed in a crimson hue by the moonlight streaming through the window.

As she opened her eyes, Ronan and Raymond did the same. Clearly, they had been expelled together.

"Were there any changes while we were asleep?" Ronan asked first.

Rocas could not speak, so the answer had to come from Vanessa.

"N-no... no ch-ch-changes," Vanessa stammered.

Ronan rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. He felt there was a flaw in his arrangements; he shouldn't have left only Rocas and Vanessa outside... No, his plan had been fine initially, but Olivia had insisted on entering Paradise as well.

Olivia couldn't tell if it was her imagination, but she felt as though Ronan gave her a look of mild resentment... It had to be a mistake, right?

Though Vanessa stammered, she was still the best choice compared to the mute Rocas. Ronan had no choice but to press on with his questions.

From Vanessa's answers, they gathered that nothing unusual had happened. After they entered Paradise, their bodies remained in a state of sleep. This differed from the previous day's entry. Although the entire team had entered Paradise yesterday, it was enough to deduce that they had entered with their physical bodies then. This time, however, was it their souls or their spiritual forms that had entered?

Ronan thought for a moment before asking Olivia and Raymond, "How many people did you manage to memorize, and what was your count of the tourist population?"

Raymond sighed. "We were expelled too quickly. I couldn't memorize many, and I didn't even get to count the tourists."

Olivia added, "I estimate there were over a thousand tourists... but that's just an estimate."

She didn't mention Rose. Past experience had taught her that mentioning anything related to Rose was pointless, as no one was destined to remember... unless they were a high-level transcendent.

The magic mirror had told her that only beings of that level could remember Rose's existence. But how many people like that actually existed?

"I'll try to enter Paradise again. This time, I'll go alone," Ronan said.

He asked Olivia for a Sleep Talisman. Under its effects, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

The others sat nearby and waited quietly, no one saying a word.

Less than three minutes had passed when Ronan opened his eyes again.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Ronan shook his head. "I saw a blurry image of Paradise, but the moment I saw it, I was expelled. I can't get back in. I don't know if I'm barred forever or if I just need to try at a different time. We'll have to keep testing it later... Let's head back for now."

The investigation for today was over.

The group didn't disturb Rand. Vanessa deactivated the barrier and wiped away the residual traces of the spiritual materials. Then, they silently departed through the Door of Infinity.

Rand Calvin, the merchant, would never have guessed that a group of clergy had quietly come and gone from his home.

After returning to the carriage, Rocas drove it at a steady pace back toward the cathedral.

The carriage interior was silent. Ronan and Raymond were busy memorizing the faces they had seen in Paradise, intending to draw them or describe them in writing once they returned to the cathedral to investigate their real-world identities.

Perhaps knowing the identities of the various tourists in reality would allow them to draw more inferences and gain a better understanding of Paradise.

Olivia, on the other hand, was in a complicated mood due to the discovery of Rose, so she wasn't in the mood for conversation.

However, the silence was soon broken.

As they approached Baker Street, a cry for help carried by the night wind shattered the silence of the evening.

"Help! Someone help me!"

The voice pierced the quiet night. In the residential areas on both sides of the street, lights flickered on in several houses, clearly showing that people had been startled awake.

Inside the carriage, Ronan couldn't help but pull back the curtain. He glanced in the direction of the cries and instructed Rocas, "Go take a look."

As clergy, they clearly couldn't turn a blind eye to a cry for help in the city.

Rocas nodded and sped up the carriage. Before long, they saw a young man with blood on his face, slumped by the roadside.

He looked utterly shaken, and his leg appeared to be injured. He tried to push himself up several times but failed.

Seeing this, Vanessa immediately pressed her hands together in prayer. Beams of holy light descended from above and landed on the young man, rapidly healing his injuries and soothing his emotions.

'Healing Spell and Serenity Spell...'

Olivia understood the ability composition of a Priest and recognized that Vanessa had cast two abilities in succession.

Under the healing effects, the youth's emotions stabilized quickly, and his leg injury improved enough for him to barely stand up.

"What happened? Did someone attack you?" Ronan asked.

"It wasn't a person, it was a monster! A monster attacked me!" Terror flashed across the youth's face again.

A monster?

"Where?" Ronan asked sternly.

"Right over there. If you go straight, you'll see a large building. It's inside there."

"What place is that?"

"A gallery, the Soltu Statue Gallery!" The youth, still trembling, drew a pentagram over his chest. "Goddess above, I was just passing by. Why did this happen to me?"

The youth's words caused Olivia's expression to shift.

A gallery?

The Soltu Statue Gallery on Baker Street? The incident that other church personnel had already intervened in?