Chapter 86: The Serpent’s Trail

After thinking for a moment, Vilyric asked again, “Since you’ve seen this Summoner, does he have any particularly noticeable physical traits?”

“It’s hard to say, Milady. He usually covers his appearance with a cloak, and even when he meets with Leader Aileen privately, he wears a special half-mask. I only know that his hair is pretty long, he doesn’t talk much, and his skin is as white and soft as a woman’s… Oh! Speaking of skin, there is one thing!”

Seemingly remembering something suddenly, Oliver quickly added, “That man has a very strange serpent-like tattoo on the back of his right hand! It’s green and looks quite scary, but he usually doesn’t show it off. I only noticed because I interacted with him quite a bit.”

“…?”

Vilyric frowned, pondering for a moment before taking out a peculiar black-gray token from her backpack and displaying it in front of the man. “Is the green serpent tattoo you saw something like this?”

“Eh?”

Carefully taking two steps forward, Oliver stared intently at the pattern carved on the face of the token in the black-haired girl’s palm. After a long pause, he nodded in surprise, “It really is! Although there are some differences in the details, it looks very alike! Milady, you… cough, nothing.”

He had probably instinctively wanted to ask Vilyric where she got this item, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he recalled the deep fear brought to him by the Priestess and quickly shut his mouth.

“Engraved with the ‘World-devouring Serpent,’ but not part of the Dusk Council, could this Sylvester…?”

Without revealing too much thought in front of others, Vilyric merely nodded, her tone becoming a bit softer. “You continue. What happened next?”

“Well… as for the later part, one day, Leader Aileen suddenly found me and said there was a big job that needed reliable brothers to handle. You know what kind of business we do… I didn’t think much of it at the time, until I went to meet the liaison as per Aileen’s instructions and found out that they were actually the City Lord of Demon Town’s trusted aides; that’s when I realized something was off.”

“But how to put it, the reason why our brothers could mix in Demon Town so smoothly relies heavily on the authorities turning a blind eye to our business. If we offend the City Lord, I’m afraid we’ll be visited by the Internal Guard in a few days.”

“I had no choice but to follow the Leader’s orders and accepted the City Lord’s job.”

“That job was to capture a special cub from the Moonshadow Clan, one of the three pillars of the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons. I’m not clear on the specifics since I didn’t lead the team directly, but I arranged for over sixty experienced brothers to act together, and the itinerary was personally arranged by Leader Aileen. I suspect… that man called the Summoner might have also participated.”

This time, it was Miss Lan, who had been listening, that interjected suddenly. “You’re lying. Don’t think I don’t know. Even though the Ghost Thieves suffered heavy losses during that hunting operation, at least five or more managed to return safely to Demon Town. Otherwise, how could they have brought Princess Noviya back to your base? What happened back then can be made clear by simply asking the returning members of the operation. As the actual manager of the Ghost Thieves, how can you overlook such an important operation’s details?”

“Um…?”

Seeing the black-haired girl’s eyes narrow again, the man trembled all over and quickly shook his head and waved his hands in a loud rebuttal. “No! No, no! Milady, please listen to me! Among those sixty brothers, there were indeed a few who successfully brought back prey to the base! But at that time, I was outside handling other matters; it was Leader Aileen who received them. By the time I returned, those brothers had already vanished! You know the situation of the organization at that time; I wouldn’t dare to ask Aileen about their whereabouts, so I just…”

“…”

Vilyric and Lan exchanged a glance, and they already had the answer in their hearts.

Murder to silence.

If what Oliver said from start to finish was true, then such a scenario was indeed possible. Perhaps Aileen purposely had him leave to facilitate the disposal of those few Ghost Thieves members who knew some secrets.

This little girl… She looked so gentle and kind before, yet her methods are rather ruthless?

It seems no more information can be obtained from Oliver. Although he effectively controls most of the Ghost Thieves’ operations, this organization is probably just a handy pawn for Aileen, or rather, for the Summoner Alchemist Sylvester.

I wonder where they have run off to now. If I had known, I should have put some tracking on that little thing used to send word…

But given Aileen’s cunning nature, she probably discarded that magical item as soon as they escaped.

Oh well, if they are capable, they should just never show their faces again.

After exchanging some inconsequential information, Vilyric and a few girls left, heading out while Oliver, who seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief, remained behind.

At least they had gathered some useful information. Although she had originally planned to see Lan’s father, the former City Lord Tyler Tuls, also imprisoned in Demon Town, from what Oliver revealed, it seemed he wouldn’t know much either, or Lan wouldn’t be so clueless.

Tomorrow is the negotiation date scheduled with the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons. Just in case, I should check the City Lord’s Mansion to see if Mona has returned and pass on some of the valuable information gathered.

Though it feels somewhat redundant for the little princess, who is a [Seer], Vilyric indeed had another matter to discuss with her and Lan, the Acting City Lord.

Walking back to the City Lord’s Mansion while holding her sword, Miss Lan, who had appeared somewhat silent all along, finally couldn’t hold back her curiosity about halfway and turned around suddenly.

“Vilyric, how exactly did you put Oliver in that near-fake death state? In any case, that amount of bleeding should be impossible for a person to survive, right? Was it an illusion or some kind of cognitive interference magic? But I clearly…”

Looking at the two-tailed girl’s baffled and confused expression as she struggled to analyze, Vilyric couldn’t help but chuckle and shake her head.

“It’s not as complicated as you think; I just stabbed him to the brink of death and then healed him right away. I can’t just wear my Priestess robe all day for show, can I?”

“Just like that…? No, you’re downplaying it too much. Besides, Oliver had already stopped breathing back then; what healing magic could…”

Lan was still trying to dig deeper, but the Priestess merely smiled, not intending to explain further.

Her feeling wasn’t wrong; that Oliver had indeed been stabbed to death by Vilyric, but when she acted, she also cast a delayed resurrection spell.

For a level 110 Priestess, such tricks are merely basic operations. If he hadn’t truly died once, how could he experience such a profound terror of death?

However, it’s best for as few people as possible to know about Vilyric’s ability to resurrect the dead. After all, everyone has some existence they value highly; once certain situations arise, wanting to save them is only human nature.

And in this world, the existence capable of genuine resurrection magic is exceedingly rare. Even now, apart from herself, the only other person Vilyric knows of is the Redeeming Saintess of the Holy Empire, whom she has yet to see in person.

The significance she represents, of course, goes without saying.

   

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