Chapter 50: The Invisible Thread

“Hey, I wonder how Edwina is doing now. Although that girl often does things that raise my blood pressure, I do miss her a bit without her around.”

Sitting in the carriage that had resumed its journey, a girl with a white fox mask let out such a low sigh.

Not far away, Renée was meditating quietly in a corner, exuding a faint magical aura, while her sister stood silently by her side, guarding her without a word. On the other side, a certain girl dragon was fixated on the chessboard in front of her, crunching the black pieces in her hand, indecisively. Only Tilysha, who was playing against her, took some time to respond.

“Miss Edwina should be in the City of Angels in the Holy Empire right now. It’s said to be one of the strongholds of the Church of the Goddess, managed by the Lambert family, one of the three major divine lineage families. The highest decision-making body of the Holy Empire, the Holy Church, is also located there.”

“Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to ask, why do the Lambert and Summerfield families control such major cities as the East Capital and the West Capital, while the concurrent Cecelia Family seems to have no fixed location? Doesn’t that make them appear weak?”

“Haha… the Cecelia family is anything but weak! In a way, Edwina might actually be the true embodiment of a super-highborn lady.”

Seemingly piqued, Vilyric put down the seemingly endless book she was reading, raised a finger, and swayed it as she explained.

“The Cecelia family, while being a divine lineage, is also a business family. They may not have a fixed base like the other two divine lineages, but they possess hundreds of branches and merchant associations almost all over the world.”

“Not only in the Holy Empire, but even in the United Kingdom and the Ost Empire, they have outposts in the farthest frozen snow countries and many small countries. Tilysha, think about it—this is far more impressive than being confined to a single city, right?”

At this point, Miss White Fox proposed another hypothesis.

“Both the Lambert and Summerfield families are rooted in religion, sharing a relationship of mutual benefit with the Holy Nation, but the Cecelia family is different. Even if the Holy Empire undergoes drastic changes and the political system led by the three divine lineages collapses, they can still thrive steadily. This, my dear, is the advantage of being a business family.”

“Oh~”

The blue-haired girl nodded as if she understood, then suddenly exclaimed as if struck by a thought.

“Wait? Does that mean Miss Edwina is super rich!? But… I didn’t feel that at all before…”

“Haha… maybe as a Holy Knight, she’s intentionally maintaining a frugal and economical lifestyle. After all, one of the Church’s doctrines is ‘No arrogance, extravagance, or indulgence.'”

“I see…”

“Hey, it’s your turn to make a move.”

The voice of the girl dragon, slightly impatient, came from behind, prompting Tilysha to hurriedly turn around, saying, “Sorry, sorry!” as she clasped her hands in an awkward gesture before starting to observe the situation on the board.

With her chatting partner gone, Miss White Fox could only smile helplessly and continue sorting through the information she had gathered during this time, as well as the hidden messages from their recent encounter on the Holy Spirit Path.

To be honest, since they entered Holy Star City and met Ming Lan, who claimed to be from the Lingyin Clan and associated with the Lingyin Merchant Association, this journey within the Holy Empire had gradually become more and more mysterious and unpredictable.

First, the other party had somehow guessed her false identity and easily referred to her as the “Mask of the God Fox,” stating that “Xī” was a long-lost “Spiritual Fox Priestess” in their clan and even mentioned the revered god “God Fox,” a deity Vilyric had never heard of before.

To verify this, she later contacted Life Goddess Xi Fu Lin, who was far away in the Kingdom of Azure, to confirm that among the past gods, there was indeed no deity named “God Fox.” It was more probable that this was some mysterious entity claiming to be a “god,” active only in a small scope, or a divine incarnation with a false name.

Putting aside the matter of “God Fox,” the origins of the Lingyin Merchant Association remained particularly elusive. According to Ming Lan’s description, this association was established by those who originally crossed the ocean to Lingyin Island, now managed by their successors, with the Lingyin Clan providing some assistance.

However, the issue lies in the fact that, despite being such a wealthy and large organization—comparable to the world’s top conglomerates—there were absolutely no records regarding its founder?

That’s right, absolutely none.

Not only by informal means, but Vilyric even specifically went through the “Invisible Space Portal” to Courage City to seek out Liliya, the queen, yet even within the archives of the United Kingdom’s royal documents, there was no record of the Lingyin Merchant Association’s founder as if it had sprung into existence out of thin air.

The most bizarre part was that nobody seemed to question this astonishing reality? Even when Vilyric pointed this out to Liliya, the queen merely suggested, “Perhaps they were just an obscure small merchant association at the beginning, so not many people paid attention?” … such a hypothesis.

In fact, according to records, by the time the Lingyin Merchant Association really began to gain notoriety, the leader at that time was indeed already in the second generation.

Yet even so, Vilyric didn’t believe that someone capable of undertaking such a grand journey across the ocean to seek Lingyin would be a mere nobody who couldn’t even leave a name in history. Surely, there was some hidden secret within.

To clarify this issue, it seemed the only way was to head to the Lingyin Merchant Association headquarters in Mingguang City and meet their current leader.

Besides that, the action of the Holy Knight Claycius, the commander of the Temple Knights in Holy Star City, killing his fellow knight to rescue the Demonized Girl, as well as the rumors swirling within the Holy Empire regarding the unresolved demon disturbances in the east, all hinted at some strange trends and information.

This sudden arrival of demons was perhaps not accidental but a part of… a large-scale operation borne of organization and planning.

However, Vilyric was curious about the position of the Lingyin Merchant Association and the Lingyin Clan in this matter. Were they merely a completely parallel and unrelated third party, or were they actually involved behind the scenes?

There were also the still mysterious matters of the road between Holy Star City and New Astra City, which had been damaged by battle fallout, the emblem obtained by Leila after her advancement, and the bizarre magical puppeteer and mechanical spheres they had encountered not long ago, hidden beneath the Holy Spirit Path.

These elements seemed unrelated at first glance, but Vilyric had a faint feeling that there was indeed an invisible thread connecting them all in some form, just like… just like the divine spark fragments of the Earth Mother Goddess Xi Fu from the Kingdom of Azure back then.

“Hmm… an invisible, untouchable thread, huh…”

   

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