Millennium Witch

Book 3: Chapter 252: She Will Become the Mastermind!

Once Yvette realized she might be about to found the first decentralized, blockchain-style church, she immediately tossed aside the half-written doctrine in her hand and stopped writing.Not that she’d ever planned to write it properly anyway. She’d already been gearing up to take the True Gods’ doctrines, copy a bit here, plagiarize a bit there—but now she could even skip the copying step, which suited her long-standing “energy-saving” philosophy just fine.

This really was exactly the kind of easy, low-effort church she needed.

Didn’t that mean the Apostles could just go off and play on their own? She only needed to hand out a serendipitous encounter. As long as the Apostle publicly claimed their power came from the Silver Witch’s serendipitous encounter, and the masses believed those encounters were real, there was no need to do anything especially complicated, was there?

So—

She would become the mastermind behind the scenes!

That suited her style perfectly.

She nodded to herself in secret.

And if an Apostle failed to perform, and used the Benediction they’d received to do evil, that would be the time for the Saintess to take the stage and pass judgment. That would both give Lucia some room to train herself and have a deterrent effect.

The next day, a fine, drizzling rain fell over the streets of Adelock. Perhaps because of the weather, mist hung over the roads and there were far fewer people outside. Hardly any adventurer liked going out in the rain, after all. It only added unnecessary risk to everything, whether you were hunting magical beasts in the Great Forest or exploring a labyrinth.

For now, the Sunflame Sect and the Cloudpeak Sect were still negotiating their joint operation, and the rumors about the Lightning Apostle remained the hottest new topic in the roadside taverns. Lucia, as the young Saintess, was still suffering through the torments of her rune studies coursework.

In the morning, after eating at the Old Oak Inn, Yvette went out alone with an umbrella and headed to the Silverwind Trading Company’s headquarters, which was likewise located in the Gem District.

It was a three-story building with dark green paint, standing just off the main street of the Gem District, its banner embroidered with a silver spiral wind pattern. Right next to it was another famous trading company, the “Obsidian Union,” whose emblem was a black iron hammer.

If the Silverwind Trading Company, whose headquarters were in Lindus Hill, the Elven Kingdom’s royal capital, was the symbol of the Elven Kingdom’s foreign trade, then the Obsidian Union, headquartered in the dwarves’ main city of “Blackstone City-state,” represented the Free Alliance’s commercial power. Both were among the five great trading companies of the Eastern Continent. In terms of influence, Silverwind ranked third, while Obsidian held fifth place.

After showing her Councilor’s Token, Yvette smoothly made her way to the top floor of the Silverwind Trading Company’s Adelock branch. Pushing open the finely carved redwood door, she saw Leilani Vales sitting behind an ebony desk, reviewing documents.

Because no one had come up to announce a visitor, it wasn’t until the office door opened that Leilani stood up in surprise and said, “Councilor Nameless? What brings you here? I was just about to pay you a visit.”

“I’ll be leaving Adelock before long, so I came to ask if there’s any news of her,” Yvette said.

The Academy of Truth’s summer break ran from July through August, but she wasn’t planning on going back to attend classes afterward. She meant to treat the Academy as a transfer point on an airship route, then head straight for the Snowfields.

Of course, to avoid unnecessary trouble, she might ask Professor Margaret to file a leave of absence for her. As for Lucia, if Lucia wanted to go back and attend classes, she could. If she wanted to go with Yvette to the Snowfields, she could do that too—she could even go out adventuring as the Saintess of the Silver Witch Church, helping Yvette scout suitable candidates for serendipitous encounters along the way.

At that time, Yvette would morph one of her flesh-and-blood markers into a ring and have Lucia wear it on her finger. That way, no matter where Lucia went, Yvette would be right there by her side. It’d basically be a super cheat-ring mentor setup—even if an Eldritch God dragged Lucia into its divine realm, Yvette could teleport her straight out. On top of that, Lucia could take high-level courses in rune studies, conceptual magic, or mathematics anytime, anywhere. Extremely reassuring.

But considering that a ring form would be inconvenient in many ways, and that she also wanted to save on Aberrant Mana, it was more likely she’d simply use Mind Magic to teach Lucia in her dreams at night.

“I’m very sorry, Councilor.” Leilani spoke with a hint of regret. “The news we received last night is that the Windspeaker Councilor has gone to the Western Continent, with no set date for her return. That’s actually what I was just preparing to report to you.”

“She went to the Western Continent?” Yvette raised her brows slightly.

“Yes. This information came from another Councilor, Lady Nightshade Lan, after she learned you had appeared. She asked me to tell you: if you have any questions regarding the Windspeaker Councilor, you can go to the company headquarters in Lindus Hill. She can answer them for you there.”

“All right.” Yvette nodded, thinking that the Wandering Wind Ranger had been missing from the Eastern Continent for many years already. Could it be that Moga had gone to the Western Continent a long time ago?

What did she go to the Western Continent to do?

After Yvette had assassinated the previous Blood Moon Demon King, the new Night Demon King had taken the throne. The war between humans and demons (of the Western Continent) ought to be in a ceasefire period, with no sign of reigniting for the time being—surely Moga wasn’t planning to go knock off the Night Demon King as well, all in one go.

Still, given all the years that had passed, Moga had probably had some contact with Lant already. Her going to the Western Continent might well be related to Lant—

After running through this series of possibilities in her mind, Yvette nodded and said, “Then keep a constant eye out for when Moga comes back. I’m heading to the Snowfields next. If she returns while I’m there, have her come find me in the Snowfields.”

“Understood, Councilor Nameless,” Leilani said.

With that, Yvette turned to leave.

Leilani showed a hesitant expression, then couldn’t help calling out, “P–please… please wait a moment, Honored Divine Emissary.”

“What is it?” Yvette turned back to look at her.

“May I ask you a few questions? About your church.” Thinking of the dossiers she’d recently read from her intelligence officers, Leilani spoke with some hesitation.

After first meeting Yvette last month, she’d temporarily moved her office to Adelock, so she could handle business here while also having more chances to interact with this Councilor Nameless who fascinated her so much.

After all, Councilor Nameless’s relationship with the Wandering Wind Ranger was suspected to be unusual. Their looks weren’t all that similar, and Yvette lacked elven traits, but that didn’t stop Leilani’s mind from running wild—illegitimate daughter, adopted daughter, personal disciple, and so on.

Considering that the Wandering Wind Ranger was the most powerful Councilor and the only founding elder, if this Miss Loxivia really did have a special connection to her, wouldn’t that make her essentially the Silverwind Trading Company’s crown princess?

Of course, those were just speculations Leilani didn’t dare to say out loud.

Back to the point.

During her time working out of Adelock, because Yvette had casually mentioned her connection to the Silver Witch Church, Leilani—though feeling that the whole thing sounded suspiciously like Miss Nameless playing church—had still instructed her intelligence officers to keep an eye on related matters, then promptly forgot about it.

But she had never expected that in just a few short days, the title of the Lightning Apostle under the Goddess’s throne would be ringing all around Adelock, spreading via passing travelers, adventurers, merchants, and so on to distant adventurer towns and all across Adelock’s inner city—everywhere people were talking about the “Goddess’s manifestation.”

Now Leilani could no longer sit still. If the Silver Witch really existed, and had truly begun casting her gaze down upon the mortal world, handing out serendipitous encounters—then when she refused Yvette’s attempt to preach to her that day, hadn’t she essentially slammed the door on a serendipitous encounter herself?