Chapter 124: The Ancestor of Moonshadow and the Secret of the Puppeteers

Before Miss Vilyric could urge her, Aiste took the initiative to continue explaining.

“Our Moonshadow Mage Wolf Clan can draw power from the essence of the Silver Moon to refine our form and magic cores; in other words, the moon is the source of our strength.”

She glanced around at the confused faces of those seemingly oblivious to the sound barrier, only showing perplexity as Leila calmed them, then the Mage Wolf turned back and continued.

“In fact, the gods we worship in the Moonshadow Clan number two. One of them is undoubtedly the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons, the great Demon God. He is the foundation of our faith and our origins as magical beasts, this is beyond doubt.”

“But besides that, there is also a goddess we highly revere. She is said to have once been on good terms with the Demon God, symbolizing purity and nobility, wielding power over the night and the Silver Moon. This is Lady Luna, the Moon Goddess. She intervened to save our Moonshadow Clan when we were on the brink of destruction in our early years and granted us blessings, which is why we Moonshadow Mage Wolves inherit the talent to absorb essence from moonlight.”

“The Moon Goddess Luna?”

Miss Vilyric repeated this name several times, not saying much else. She simply pulled out a chair to sit down, resting her chin on one hand, posing a ‘you continue, I’m listening’ demeanor, signaling Aiste not to stop.

“Well, actually, our royal family…”

“Wooof! Wooof!”

Just as the Mage Wolf was about to speak, a silver-gray little wolf cub that had just spotted the black-haired girl on the table suddenly lit up with excitement, cutely howling and dashing forward. It hilariously leaped and burst through Vilyric’s sound barrier, pouncing straight into Priestess’s arms, rubbing its head against her not-so bountiful chest with impressive fervor, even pulling off some indescribable astonishing antics.

“Whoa! What are you doing, you little perv? Rubbing is fine, but don’t lick, you rascal!”

“Wooof!”

“V-Vilyric-sama?!”

After a flurry of chaotic commotion, the little rascal, acting as recklessly as a real puppy, was finally dragged down and held tightly in Aiste’s arms.

Though Noviya was still restlessly shifting around, her eager gaze directed toward Vilyric, the Priestess, just recently ‘attacked,’ would surely not let her get away with it again.

However… this little guy seems surprisingly capable; the barrier Vilyric set, albeit casually and mainly to obstruct their conversation from leaking out, still possessed some actual defense abilities, right? Yet this clueless little wolf cub managed to ignore it and charge right in?

Thankfully, due to the Priestess’s arrival and their conversation about secrets, others had spontaneously moved a good distance away at Leila’s arrangement, preventing too many eyes from witnessing such an embarrassing scene.

After finally suppressing her awkwardness and the flush on her face, Vilyric steadied herself, pretending nothing had happened, putting on a serious expression.

“Ahem! You can continue talking.”

“Uh… okay, sure.”

While controlling the mischievous little wolf cub, Aiste threw a somewhat surprised and confused glance at the Priestess’s not-so-obvious hills before politely shifting her gaze away, rushing back to the previous topic.

“Actually, this counts as one of our clan’s secrets. I wouldn’t normally disclose it unless something like last night’s events had occurred… In fact, the original royal family of our Moonshadow Mage Wolves drank the divine blood of Lady Luna under her grace long ago.”

“The blood of a god is a holy artifact more miraculous than all the rare treasures in the world, containing unimaginable great power. The miracles it grants not only saved the nearly extinct Moonshadow Mage Wolves at that time but also allowed our ancestors to transcend, fundamentally changing the entire clan conceptually.”

“As descendants of the ancestors who personally drank the divine blood, the royal family has the closest connection to the power of the moon within the clan. Therefore, every year during the night of the triple moonlight in March, on the night when the moonlight is strongest, the wolf with royal blood can voluntarily bathe under the moonlight to achieve further breakthroughs. This is also one of the main reasons why the royal family is stronger than ordinary Moonshadow Mage Wolves.”

“It was only last night that I noticed this, which is why I placed the little princess’s cradle by the window before resting, hoping she might gain some benefit from it, but unexpectedly…”

Holding the dramatically changed little wolf cub, Aiste looked down with the anxious expression of a child who felt she had done something wrong.

“Vilyric-sama, so what exactly happened last night? How did the Princess suddenly…?”

Seeming afraid of not being clear enough, the Mage Wolf took two steps forward and quietly leaned in toward Vilyric’s ear, instinctively whispering in a voice only the two of them could hear.

“Could it be… related to the Source of Magic?”

The two quickly parted, and the Priestess, with sincere pupils devoid of pretense or hypocrisy, locked eyes with Aiste for a moment before finally shaking her head.

“It’s hard to say. I only solved the problem temporarily; I haven’t drawn any conclusions about the deeper causes yet.”

It seemed Aiste wasn’t lying.

The incident last night was perhaps genuinely a result of numerous coincidental overlaps, and the other party was merely fulfilling her duties, or perhaps she was just as clueless about the information concerning the “Source of Magic.”

Or maybe… there was still some hidden inducement they hadn’t noticed yet?

But for now, at least from Aiste’s perspective, the “Source of Magic” couldn’t be entirely equated with “Crown Prince Noviya,” what kind of relationship could there be between the two?

While discussing this matter, the leaders of the Puppeteer Clan, Chief Iwen and the self-proclaimed third-in-command Iriush, had already rushed to the scene.

The magical energy incident had undoubtedly had the most severe impact on the Puppeteers. If we were to draw an analogy to robots, they would definitely notice something amiss upon waking, what with the prolonged blackout and malfunction, resulting in blank entries in the database.

But since they only just arrived now, it suggested they had only recently restarted.

With the leaders present, Vilyric called out to the Little Dragon Daughter in her space, briefly explaining the situation and some of her speculations regarding last night’s events.

However, there were specific details concerning her magical energy levels and replenishment that Vilyric didn’t want to draw too much attention to in front of so many people, so she simply mentioned using some rare one-time item and glossed over it.

Upon hearing this, everyone’s expressions varied, looking somewhat incredulous, but Iriush and the seemingly thoughtful Iwen exchanged glances and elbowed each other quietly.

“Hey, number two, do you think it’s related to that?”

“Huh? Related to what?”

The voice asking the question was not Iwen but rather Miss Vilyric, who had suddenly appeared before the two Puppeteers.

“Wah! Can you not suddenly pop up and scare me? Do you have a sound receiver in your ears? So sharp?!”

“Isn’t it your own voice that’s too loud?”

Vilyric spread her hands helplessly and turned to the frowning leader who had been silent, saying earnestly.

“Miss Iwen, if you know something, I hope you can tell the truth. According to reliable information, Noviya is likely connected to something very important, possibly involving a huge disaster that has yet to be revealed.”

“I once heard an ancient saying: ‘If the skin doesn’t exist, where will the hair attach?’ This is similar to the relationship between your Puppeteer Clan and the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons. If it is indeed a significant secret, we can discuss it privately; I guarantee I won’t leak a word.”

“It’s a serious matter, so please think it over carefully, okay?”

   

---