Chapter 3: Demon Town, Demon Town

As for Edwina, she was saying goodbye to her sister Fleidetrika at the embassy because the envoy from the Holy Empire was scheduled to leave Sky Island tomorrow.

Not many people knew about the Abyss Tide being defeated because of Vilyric and the others destroying Demon Island. Apart from a few Winged People and the Wing Emperor who were there at the time, as well as high-ranking officials like Estira, only Edwina and Philena, who had closer ties with the Priestess, were aware of it.

At Vilyric’s request, Wing Emperor Aistini also took steps to keep this information under wraps to avoid causing unnecessary trouble for someone due to high-profile fame.

In addition, there was another rather troubling issue.

When facing the Withering Goddess, to prevent the Sky City from being wiped out by the Dead Mist, Vilyric used the 10th-tier magic, “Eternal Protective Light,” to shield the city. This resulted in many citizens being subjected to the information flow pollution of high-level magic at close range, witnessing the divine illusion in the sky.

Although not many people knew that was actually Vilyric, it was said that recently, a group named “Light Worship Cult” had emerged in Sky City. Most members were citizens of the Winged City who should have perished in that disaster but were saved by the sudden miracle.

Clearly, those were individuals who had witnessed the brilliance of the 10th-tier magic up close.

They insisted the miracle of light a month ago did not come from the God of Sky or the so-called Light Goddess of the Church of the Goddess, presenting a vaguely sensed name, “God of Radiance,” and even crafted an idol based on the divine illusion for worship.

So this got pretty awkward…

Vilyric indeed had thoughts about experimenting with the so-called Power of Faith, but while the Aibus world was one thing—she couldn’t see what was happening there—this was the world she currently resided in. If a bunch of followers suddenly swarmed around, shouting and crying at the appearance of the Priestess, that would be a total headache.

Moreover, the name God of Radiance overlapped too much with that of the Light Goddess worshipped by the Church. If not careful, she could end up being criticized as a cult, resulting in all sorts of problems.

After all, Edwina, a devout believer from the Holy Empire who was by her side, had long recognized the true identity of this so-called “God of Radiance.” Although the Holy Knight probably wouldn’t snitch or anything…

Eek, just thinking about it made her scalp tingle with embarrassment.

This was also one of the reasons Vilyric decided to make a quick getaway from this cursed place.

Pushing open the door to her room, it was dark inside; no light was lit.

To cultivate the Little Dragon Daughter’s independence, Vilyric occasionally went out without bringing her along and acted solo. Meanwhile, the Giant Dragon Miss had found a new pastime aside from sleeping.

The second resident in the pet space, her junior—or in a sense, her little sister, the Snow Wing, was training her in combat.

Although Snow Wing was created by Vilyric and boasted an extremely high level of 90 and considerable intelligence, she didn’t have many combat skills. After all, she was a completely new special life form, entirely separate from the game systems, and everything had to start from scratch.

The Aibus world might not be safe, and Vilyric couldn’t always stay by Snow Wing’s side, so mastering combat and self-defense was vital, and Xiao Guang voluntarily took on the task of training her.

Vilyric was quite eager to see this little one’s future, after all, it was a life she had personally created.

At this moment, it seemed the two sisters were probably getting along harmoniously in the pet space.

…

After two more days, Vilyric and her companions said goodbye to Sigrid, Xi Fu Lin, Estira, and the others who had come to see them off, and departed Sky Island on the Cloud Soaring Falcon.

There weren’t many travelers; aside from Vilyric and her pet Miss, there was only Leila Renée, who had decided to continue following the Priestess, along with Edwina and Tilysha, who had become a blessed of the Life Goddess.

With Edwina being this wingless individual, and Tilysha also being unable to fly, having mounts became quite necessary. Their small number allowed them to ride the soaring falcon directly to the nearby floating island with a “Portal,” where they could quickly teleport north.

While the “Invisible Space Portal” could lead directly to the capital of the United Kingdom, the City of Courage, it was a small-scale portal and was bound to its user. Except for the Little Dragon Daughter, who could cleverly follow through summoning, others couldn’t use it.

So, they had to obediently make their way.

After all, Vilyric wasn’t in a hurry to do anything, and flying mounts were much faster than land creatures, so there was no need for the long journey like on their way here.

Thus, the six of them spent several days safely leaving the borders of the Kingdom of Azure, soaring over the southern Wasteland that hadn’t yet revived from the Abyss invasion, crossing the northern Kingdom of Kwei, and returning to the southern border of the United Kingdom, the Wangyuan City.

After that, they continued traveling through the air and took about another week to cross the vast territory of the United Kingdom from south to north, arriving at the first major city in the north, also the hub guarding the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons: Demon Town.

The name certainly felt quite familiar and hostile, fitting the United Kingdom’s typical attitude toward foreign races.

Although their aim was to travel to the Mountains of Demons and investigate matters possibly related to the Demon God Olivya, unfamiliar with the place, Vilyric didn’t plan to just fly straight in. Staying in Demon Town for a while to gather intelligence before making a decision seemed more prudent.

Moreover, the catalyst of the event, it was said that the Moonshadow Royal Family Youngling who received the blessings of the Demon God had also gone missing near Demon Town, making it a highly valuable lead worth investigating.

Commanding the long-distance flying falcon to gradually descend in the southern outskirts of Demon Town’s forest, Vilyric fed it some food and water, then set an automatic counter-magic for its safety before sending the falcon back.

Although Sigrid said it could be kept for transportation, the Cloud Soaring Falcon was originally a specialty magical beast of the Kingdom of Azure, not suited to this region’s climate and environment. It would be quite troublesome to settle such a big fellow, so it was best to let it fly back slowly on its own.

With her feet on solid ground and gazing at the tall city walls and familiar architectural styles in the distance, even Vilyric couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia.

“I didn’t expect to take a detour and end up back in the United Kingdom; let’s head into the city first.”

On this trip north, Vilyric didn’t plan to become too involved with the United Kingdom’s official matters. Although she might say hello to her friend Liliya, who was the queen, she hadn’t made it clear what she intended to do.

Vilyric and Liliya were good friends, but they were not partners of the United Kingdom. How to proceed next and from what position, would still depend on the circumstances.

It was afternoon when the six of them arrived at the line at the southern gate.

There weren’t many people waiting here, but security checks seemed unusually strict. Everyone entering the city underwent thorough searches, taking quite some time, even with female soldiers and some special instruments assigned specifically for checking women.

   

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