The secret treasure

"Water stains?"

Sifa quickly picked up on the key point in the writer's words. "You mean the water stains appearing around Harry were the same as the ones you saw aboard the ship. You suspect something from the Black Star has attached itself to Harry?"

Trollope gave him an approving look. "Now I understand why His Excellency Duvall entrusted this matter to you. You're very quick-witted."

That wasn't exactly hard to guess. You might not know this, but I watched plenty of horror movies in my previous life. The Insidious series was my favorite. Rather than letting the writer's praise go to his head, Sifa turned his attention to other questions.

"Actually, you don't need to worry so much. If there really is something aboard that ship—I mean ghosts and the like—the Church of Storms and the Kingdom Navy wouldn't simply stand by."

"Since they haven't taken action..."

"No!"

Trollope forcefully cut Sifa off, tugging at his light brown hair in agitation. "You don't understand. They have other reasons for not intervening."

"Other reasons?" Sifa gave him a look that invited him to explain.

Trollope stood up, paced around the room, then took a book from a drawer and turned to a particular page. "I found some letters aboard the Black Star. A passenger had intended to send them, but never got the chance, so they were preserved."

"These letters claimed that Lady Marnia had a secret treasure in her collection, something connected to Emperor Roselle. Judging by their contents, the passenger who wrote them was colluding with some organization or power."

"He was a spy. His mission aboard the ship was to locate this treasure, then coordinate with forces outside at the right moment to seize the Black Star in one fell swoop."

"Unfortunately, even after spending nearly a