Dream Eater

The Empire's border has been very unsafe lately!

It was so unsafe that Ethan was woken up and called to a meeting after sleeping for less than four hours. Ivy's living room now had a blackboard, obtained from who-knows-where, plastered with documents sent from Gear City. She had even prepared name cards, listing the codenames "Head Wolf" and "Chicken Keeper."

But before the meeting began, Madam Rose had to clarify one issue.

Her beautiful eyes were filled with confusion. "Why are you gnawing on hardtack again?"

Before Ethan knew it, he was almost synonymous with hardtack, as if he was born with a piece in his hand.

"Because I came without eating breakfast... Huh? Are we not allowed to eat breakfast during meetings?"

"Breakfast? It's almost afternoon now!"

Realizing Ethan had led her astray, Ivy continued, "I didn't say you can't eat during the meeting, I just asked why you're only eating hardtack. How much do you even like hardtack?"

If people didn't know better, they'd think the Brookwood Town Containment Bureau's intelligence station had terrible benefits and that she, the station chief, was mistreating her subordinates. If anyone in the Imperial Capital who knew her found out about this, the Margaret Family's reputation would be ruined by her.

"Reporting, Madam Rose, it's because last time I went to the store, they were having a buy-ten-get-three-free promotion, so I bought too much!"

Fortunately, Miss Chloe was never a picky eater; she was happy with whatever she was fed. Ethan had even observed that if she couldn't find food, she'd eat tree bark.

Ivy rubbed her forehead. The buy-ten-get-three-free was clearly a promotion for hardtack that wasn't selling well, and only Ethan would act like he'd found a treasure.

It seemed she'd have to invite him over more often to improve his meals.

"Early this morning, the Containment Bureau in Gear City sent a letter asking us to temporarily halt all investigative work. They also warned the residents of Brookwood Town not to leave the town lightly."

"What happened again?"

Ethan's heart tightened. Brookwood Town had experienced more major events in the past few days than in the previous two years. Could it be that Miss Becky and her seven old butlers had won a group resurrection match and were coming to film 'Becky's Revenge Season 2'?

"A few days ago, Containment Bureau investigators spotted the whereabouts of two 'Dream Eater' members on the Empire's border. They seemed to be trying to enter the Empire through a border town."

The crunching sound stopped. Ethan, his face pale, handed the remaining two-thirds of the hardtack to Miss Chloe. She accepted it without hesitation, swallowing the entire piece in one go, her small face puffed out.

"You're talking about that Dream Eater?"

Ethan felt that only by adding dots between the words could he convey the seriousness of the question.

"What else?"

Ethan knew that, according to the script, he should be falling into a memory now.

The first time he saw Dream Eater in the Gryphon Daily, it left an extremely deep impression on him. It was a murder case in Gear City. The victim was the deputy director of the Containment Bureau, who died in his mistress's home. His and his mistress's bodies were cut into 316 pieces with some sharp instrument and scattered throughout the crime scene.

What was worse was that the Gryphon Daily's illustrations were often animated, like old black-and-white films, allowing Ethan to witness the high-end apartment filled with bloodstains and human tissue from a first-person perspective.

This case happened shortly after he had transmigrated, leaving an indelible shadow on his young mind.

Since then, "Dream Eater" occasionally appeared in the Gryphon Daily. Every time they appeared, it was invariably accompanied by a sensational major case. No one associated with this organization survived, even if they hired the best local guards and strengthened their manor's defenses to an unimaginable degree, it only resulted in a few or dozens more corpses at the scene.

And usually, all victims killed by Dream Eater died very creatively.

The crime scenes were generally scenes rarely seen even in B-movies.

If he had to describe it, the gap between Miss Becky and Dream Eater was like the difference between a sole proprietorship and a Fortune Global 500 company.

Over time, enthusiastic citizens like Ethan, who also read the newspaper regularly, couldn't help but ask a question.

Why is there a group of murderers targeting Imperial nobles, department heads, and high-ranking Holy See officials, killing them indiscriminately, yet no one has been able to capture them?

At least in the two years he had been in Brookwood Town, not a single Dream Eater member had been apprehended or killed.

Thus, a theory began to spread among the populace.

Every member of Dream Eater was a Saint who believed in an Evil God, so wherever they went, it was as if the Evil God descended upon the mortal realm to spread disaster.

And two such evil Saints appeared on the Empire's border at the same time?

Ethan felt a sense of foreboding and asked tremblingly, "With so many files sent from the branch, are you planning to have us deal with those perverted murderers?"

"Of course not. After receiving the report, the Empire is mobilizing an elite Knights Order, which should be heading to the border soon. Our duty is to receive them in town and help them understand the local situation. Now that I think about it, the Witch probably hasn't made a move on Brookwood Town because she's heard about Dream Eater."

"Most likely!"

Ethan immediately agreed. "Speaking of which, those important figures like Dream Eater, they wouldn't trouble us ordinary folk, right?"

"It's hard to say."

"...What do you mean 'hard to say'? I recall the Gryphon Daily never published reports of them massacring civilians."

"But they are hunting people from the Containment Bureau."

Ethan's expression immediately turned serious. "Madam Rose, I have a plan, but I don't know if I should say it."

"Say it."

"Is there a way for us to withdraw from the Containment Bureau, revert to our status as ordinary residents, and then re-register the Brookwood Town intelligence base station after those perverted murderers leave?"

"It wouldn't help even if you withdrew. The Gear City branch received a message this morning that a researcher who was expelled from the headquarters several years ago died in Fireplace Bay. In fact, quite a few former Containment Bureau investigators who have retired or changed careers have also been assassinated."

Seeing Ethan's increasingly grim expression, she added a crucial piece of information. "However, they are mostly A-Class investigators or above. I felt there was something strange about these cases, so I had the branch send over the relevant case files. Since there's nothing else to do before the Kingdom Army arrives, we can use these files to pass the time."

Ivy's very obvious dark circles under her eyes said it all.

Ethan could tell with his toes that she must have been so excited upon receiving the case files that she couldn't sleep and got up early to investigate.

Logically, as a B-Class Investigator at the Brookwood Town intelligence station, he had no authority to review these files, but this was the power of the Margaret Family.

"Any clues found?"

"Three years ago, there was a severe containment breach at the Containment Bureau. To suppress the rioting contained entities, the former Director led a team into the quarantine zone and died inside."

"I know about that."

The former Director was the author of the Encyclopedia of Cursed Items, and he died at the age of 33.

"The former Containment Bureau investigators targeted by the Dream Eater were all more or less involved in that containment breach."

Ivy stared at the case summary posted on the blackboard, lost in thought.

Compared to a terrorist attack, this felt more like a highly targeted purge.

A purge of the A-class investigators who had survived the containment breach.