Since no one knew when the "night" designated by the Duke would arrive—the Old World's concept of time had long been thrown into disarray by the war—Yi Chen had no choice but to call for Golden Mask and ask,
Even Golden Mask, the Duke's left hand, surprisingly didn't know either.
He merely told Yi Chen that the Duke's own definition of time would never be disclosed to anyone. However, half an hour before the auction began, there would be an obvious announcement in the guild district.
Since that was the case, Yi Chen had nothing to do staying in his room, so he took Thirteen out into the streets to resolve the matter of her thirst for knowledge ahead of time.
When they found the Candle Puppet shop again, Boss was packing things up and clearing out the goods. Large numbers of candle puppets were involved in the process, carrying big and small bundles as they prepared to head to the Duke's Merchant Guild.
Yi Chen got straight to the point and said he wanted books related to candle puppets.
The other party didn't care about such things at all and simply brought them out. According to Boss, every bookstore in the City of Lights carried similar books on candle puppet craftsmanship.
There was even a school dedicated to the Lantern Festival. Countless young people wanted to become Candle Puppet Masters, but very few could ultimately turn that knowledge into practical applications.
At the same time,
Boss naturally noticed the changes in the candle puppet behind Yi Chen, but he was busy moving and didn't ask any further questions.
Back in the guild district,
Thirteen held an old book with curled, worn edges and read its contents with great interest.
Every page was covered in neat notes. Some draft diagrams