Chapter 41: The Attack Without Trace

“Miss Vilyric! Outside, outside…”

“What are you shouting about… Calm down.”

With a face full of exasperation, I pinched Tilysha’s plump little cheeks to stop her nonsensical ramblings caused by her panic. Although I had known this little girl was afraid of ghosts, I never expected it to be this ridiculous. Fortunately, we were still inside the carriage, where the soundproofing was good, so we probably weren’t overheard.

No matter what secrets regarding Xī’s identity and the visions from Lexia’s advancement there were, the initial plan of the Priestess wouldn’t change, so too many people shouldn’t know that Xī is Vilyric.

“Let’s go outside and take a look. It seems… something interesting has finally appeared.”

When we stepped outside, the merchant caravan had temporarily stopped. The guards belonging to the White Dove Merchant Association were working hard to maintain order, while in the most chaotic area, Afuri, the caravan leader, was asking a few passengers about the situation.

As Vilyric and the others got closer, their exceptional hearing easily carried the conversation to Miss White Fox’s ears.

“Can you say that again? What exactly happened at the time?”

“There’s a—a monster, a monster! Boss Pierre said he wanted to relieve himself, so he went into the bushes alone, and then… then suddenly there was a rush of wind, and he—he just vanished! There’s definitely a monster in this forest!”

“Shut up! By the Goddess, remember that this is the Holy Spirit Path. Even if something mysterious lurks here, it is surely the blessing and envoy of my Light Goddess. You all heard that guy scream; he clearly stated that he was punished by the spirit of this place for desecrating the Goddess’s shrine—he brought this upon himself!”

When Vilyric and the others arrived nearby, Afuri was loudly warning everyone, “Stay respectful, praise devoutly, and you will be safe,” while Miss Fox chose not to interrupt him. She glanced at the large patch of bushes crushed by some external force and those deep gash marks on the sturdier tree trunks, pondered for a moment, and then approached the man whom the caravan leader had initially questioned.

This man, Vilyric had seen a few times in the caravan—a half-beastman. His ancestry was likely some kind of cow or deer, as suggested by the long ears on his head.

Additionally, if she recalled correctly, he had always been the servant of a rather rotund merchant who dressed ostentatiously and spoke quite aggressively. The two always acted together, but now, the latter had mysteriously vanished.

Clearly, that guy was the victim.

I patted the man’s shoulder from behind, startling him like a startled bird. “Wow!” he exclaimed as he turned around, but Miss White Fox got straight to the point without any awkwardness.

“You just said that a gust of wind dragged your boss away. What does that mean? Was the speed so fast that you only saw an afterimage, or does that thing not have a physical form at all?”

“You scared me to death… Who are you? A little girl wearing a weird mask asking about this stuff?”

“Mmhm…”

The uncooperative attitude of the servant was entirely within Vilyric’s expectations. She had a plan. Under her little fox mask, she made a light chuckling sound and casually said, “It seems you’ve been working for that Pierre for quite a few years, huh? I’m guessing… he hasn’t paid your wages yet? And look over there; you really think this caravan will take the time to look for that missing boss? The only ones who might help you now are us~”

“Ah…? This…”

The clearly somewhat simple-minded servant quickly took a sneaky glance at Afuri’s back, who was already moving off into the distance to regroup the caravan, preparing to set off again. He then suspiciously turned his gaze over to the few distinctive young ladies in front of him, especially lingering on the white wings behind Lexia and Renée for a long time, as if he were pondering something.

It wasn’t long before Vilyric heard the answer she wanted, which was also what she anticipated.

“What is this all about…? Well, to be honest, I did sign a five-year labor contract with boss Pierre, and we’re almost at the end of these months—just when it was about to be settled. He can’t just disappear like this…”

Shaking his head in despair, as if recalling something, the young half-beastman, looking no older than twenty, cautiously lowered his voice, covering his mouth with his hand.

“In fact, the situation I told Mr. Afuri just now isn’t accurate. The gust of wind was just a rough summary… You see that patch of bushes? Boss Pierre was right there relieving himself, and I was standing nearby, so I saw it clearly.”

“While I don’t know what boss Pierre did at that time, a sudden rush of wind swept past me, and those trees just fell over without reason! But I didn’t see anything! Next, I heard boss Pierre’s screams! So rather than a monster, it felt more like a ghost or a spirit!”

“Ew!”

Tilysha turned pale at this description, instinctively trembling and scooting closer to Miss Fox. Vilyric nodded pensively, deep in thought.

“A gust of wind and something that cannot be seen or touched…”

Ignoring the young girl’s quiet musings, the man looked around nervously and cautiously added, “That’s all I know. Additionally… although boss Pierre can be a bit stingy, has a bad temper, and is a bit fat, he has his good points, too. In any case… even if it’s not about the wages, I still hope you can help save him. After all, it’s a human life. Of course, if it’s too dangerous…”

“Uh… you have quite a generous heart. No wonder you can get along with such a guy…”

Shaking her head in disbelief, the girl with the white fox mask nodded slightly.

“If possible, we’ll try to rescue him, but if that guy has already bitten the dust, then there’s nothing we can do. By the way, do you believe in the Light Goddess?”

The half-beastman servant blinked in surprise.

“Believe? Uh… haha… actually, I’m not religious…”

“I see, okay, thanks for your cooperation.”

After concluding the somewhat meaningless conversation, Vilyric signaled to her companions with her eyes and led the way to somewhere else.

Not long after, the most curious Tilysha, perhaps to distract herself from the fear of “ghosts,” quickly initiated a conversation.

“Miss Xī, how did you know that Pierre owed this worker wages? And what was the purpose of asking if he believed in the Light Goddess?”

Before Vilyric could answer this simple question, Lexia, walking on the other side, smiled and helped explain.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’ve seen that fat guy named Pierre before, dressed in fancy clothes and quite plump, so he certainly isn’t short on money. Plus, he wore a holy emblem, marking him as a formally registered Church of the Goddess member.”

“As for this guy, a servant accompanying Pierre, he appears thin, has patched clothing, and isn’t a member of the Church of the Goddess. With such a vast gap in wealth, aside from being a slave, the only possible reason left is low-wage hiring and unpaid wages. If he were poor due to some bad habits, that shrewd fat guy would never keep him around to maintain the image of a Church of the Goddess member.”

Nodding in agreement, Vilyric added, “Even so, this guy still speaks well of his exploiting boss; to put it nicely, you could call that magnanimous, but harshly speaking… he deserves to be drained. It seems only in this theocratic Holy Empire could such situations arise. Moreover, he looks quite unconcerned, so this doesn’t seem to be an isolated case.”

As she spoke, the little fox behind her mask let out a meaningless chuckle.

“Haha… it appears even the representative of the Light Goddess cannot erase the greed and malice in some people’s hearts.”

   

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