Chapter 404
The Faith of the Children of the Moon
Although Eivass had initially only come for equipment, he suddenly realized… he seemed to have already obtained the evidence.
Minister Griffith was indeed very cautious.
He destroyed all incoming letters immediately and left no evidence at his home. The Ritual Arrays in his basement could only confirm that he had attempted to summon a demon, but could not determine anything else—after all, trying something out that didn’t succeed wasn’t illegal. Minister Griffith himself was not of a Transcendent Path level, so he couldn’t explain what rituals he had performed.
And the Star Antimony Kingdom clearly hadn’t provided him with any abnormal funds. Like his predecessor, he, as Trade Minister, had all his assets in Star Antimony. His wealth would only be truly realized when he decided to flee. Of course, if he didn’t live long enough to flee, these assets would be as good as empty checks.
Thus, Minister Griffith’s finances were in order, his letters were in order, his itinerary was in order, and his Path was in order. It seemed impossible to find any evidence.
However, the Sacred Relic Eivass retrieved from his shrine was proof in itself. Undoubtedly, Avalon, which held considerable influence within the Church of the Nine Pillar Gods, would not be able to find the faith of Sister Sasha. Such Sacred Statues could not be bought in Avalon.
Only two countries would worship Sister Sasha: one was Iris, and the other was Star Antimony. He hadn’t visited Iris. As long as the Inspection Department investigated a little, it would be very easy to find out that he obtained it from Star Antimony. Such items would definitely be reported when passing through customs. Otherwise, he wouldn’t dare to display them openly at home.
Soon, Lixia got the result—Minister Griffith had brought it back as a “souvenir” under the guise of a “gift from a friend.”
As is well known, Sister Sasha is the mother of the Blood Heavenly Envoy, and the Blood Heavenly Envoy is the progenitor of the Children of the Moon. Born under the moon, the Children of the Moon are favored pets of Hengwo. The fundamental reason for this is that the Children of the Moon are born from corpses, a miracle of “death giving birth anew.” Just like the moon, after falling to the earth and rising again, becoming a crescent moon and then becoming full again.
However, as the progenitor of the Children of the Moon, the Blood Heavenly Envoy chose the Heavenly Envoy path of the rebellious Pillar Gods. This directly led to the internal division of the Children of the Moon. The Blood Heavenly Envoy himself was the ruler of the Blood Domain, his position even surpassing that of his father, the Banquet Master. After all, as a Dragon, the Banquet Master neither drank blood nor ate people. Although he inherited his father’s banquet inclination, the Blood Heavenly Envoy’s banquet path leaned towards sacrifice, flesh and blood, pain, and desire, unlike the proper feasts enjoyed by dragons with meat, wine, and wild singing. The Blood Heavenly Envoy was also the source of the Children of the Moon’s bloodthirsty urges.
From this perspective, the Children of the Moon actually had four different faiths. The Blood Heavenly Envoy represented the most cruel and decadent lineage, who had to harm others for their own satisfaction, even taking pleasure in harming others, possessing extreme aggressiveness. The Banquet Master was a pleasure-seeker who hid his identity and blended into the world, using his immortality to indulge as he pleased, focusing on self-entertainment. As favored pets of Hengwo, the Children of the Moon who directly believed in Hengwo were currently the fewest; their characteristic was dedicating themselves to love, and going mad for love.
Those who had no clear inclinations would worship Sister Sasha. Since she was not a Pillar God, an Apostle, or a Heavenly Envoy, believing in Sister Sasha did not constitute taking sides, and she herself would not issue any missions or give any orders. This was essentially maintaining neutrality, finding an excuse not to be bothered by other factions of the Children of the Moon.
In the past, the Children of the Moon who believed in Hengwo were the most numerous. As a nation of mages and Children of the Moon, the Daffodil Duchy’s former faith was the Pillar God Hengwo. It was said that Duke Dracula of Daffodil died for love—although this could not be considered orderly, as the phases of the moon represented chaos, there was still “love” involved. In other words, everyone was a love-struck fool. After the demise of the Daffodil Duchy, the scattered Children of the Moon generally harbored resentment towards Duke Daffodil, who led to the duchy’s downfall. Therefore, except for the Children of the Moon who still lived in the Daffodil Duchy, almost no one believed in Hengwo anymore.
A considerable number of Children of the Moon turned to worship the Blood Heavenly Envoy, and they were the most powerful lineage. This was because the Blood Heavenly Envoy himself was very powerful, and his response to the prayers of the Children of the Moon was very fast, and he was very protective. The drawback was that he issued many missions and demands, much like the head of a feudal family.
The Children of the Moon who did not wish to be dominated by the Blood Heavenly Envoy all worshipped Sister Sasha. Worshipping the Blood Heavenly Envoy made them prone to assassination and讨伐 (punishment/crusade). Worshipping the Banquet Master required wealth—the Banquet Master was a very generous god. He disdained stingy misers. The minimum requirement for the blessings and shelter provided by the Banquet Master was to hold a lively banquet to entertain numerous guests every week. However, longevity did not guarantee wealth, and many Children of the Moon might not live long.
Even though Sister Sasha was very gentle towards her children, normal humans would not worship her. Unless they were “spiritual Children of the Moon” with impaired brains. According to the common sense of normal Extraordinary beings, they actually knew that the Children of the Moon and the person themselves were not the same individual—this World had souls. The souls of the deceased could be summoned back; experiments had long been conducted to prove that they were not the same person. As new life born from remains, most people would tend to think of them as “strangers who had stolen one’s relationships and social status,” much like a shapeshifter who had absorbed all of one’s memories, killed oneself, and stolen one’s identity. A normal human would only feel fear from this.
Minister Griffith, as a diplomat close to Star Antimony who returned from Star Antimony, and who received a “gift from a Star Antimony friend,” now discovered that this gift contained a priceless Sacred Relic. Minister Griffith himself possessed adaptability to the Path of Love. This was enough to form a complete chain of evidence. No one would pay the price of a Sacred Relic to frame a dead person. There were only four Sacred Relics of Sister Sasha in the entire world, and they were basically all lost. If someone could find a Sacred Relic, the Children of the Moon with their long lifespans and vast wealth would surely be willing to pay a huge price for it, and might even gain their friendship.
Although few people knew about the Children of the Moon, this information was not impossible to find. At the very least, writing to the Church would yield an answer. The Iris people would likely be happy to provide information to stir up trouble.
After confirming that he would not be double-crossed, Eivass bypassed the verification stage and told Lixia this knowledge, letting her act as a guarantor and definitively determine the matter. Furthermore, starting from this angle, Eivass could search for religious items in all the ministers’ homes. This was very reasonable and made perfect sense. After all, they had just found conclusive evidence from a minister’s home, who had no evidence linking him to Star Antimony, by examining a Sacred Statue. After all, information could be destroyed, evidence could be destroyed, but who would dare to easily destroy a Sacred Statue? If the Sacred Statue were handed over to the Church, the Church could use rituals to determine how many times it had been worshipped in the past year. If they really investigated thoroughly, few ministers would be completely clean.
Why haven’t people worshipped the Silver Crown Dragon for a long time? Why do they worship their ancestors more often than the Crown Lords? Why are there Sacred Statues of other Heavenly Envoys in their homes? They could find fault in many ways, but that would be pushing them too hard. Moreover, such matters would not cause fatal damage. If arrested, they would not be sentenced to many years, only suffer embarrassment. Ultimately, it would only offend people—this was equivalent to checking all web browsing records and call records from the past year without prior notification. Everyone had some unspeakable secrets… for example, the rituals of the Banquet Master could have an aphrodisiac effect. If this were discovered and publicized, it might not be illegal, but it would certainly lead to social death.
Therefore, at the Round Table Conference the next day, Lixia, as Eivass’s spokesperson, submitted the evidence and merely warned the Knights without taking any real drastic action. This was enough. As long as Her Majesty the Queen showed an attitude of potentially investigating thoroughly, the High Tower Faction would inevitably back down. After all, they were called the High Tower Faction because they had all taken money from the Lloyd Society and formed a complete community of interest. With the Lloyd Society itself being less than clean, a thorough investigation would certainly uncover something.
Looking back, Griffith could no longer clear his name. Eivass was currently flawless. He was not easily manipulated like a young person; instead, he was like a mad dog, biting whoever he encountered. Minister Griffith had a private meeting to scold Eivass at noon, and by evening, he was dead. The next day, his home was raided. By the morning of the third day, substantial evidence of treason had been presented. For the Round Table Hall, where the average age was over fifty and a proposal to “increase the match tax by 1%” could be debated for three months, Eivass’s efficiency was too high. So high that it was terrifying. Young people nowadays had no integrity. Perhaps with a moment’s distraction, an old friend was gone.
However, after the High Tower Faction fell silent and calmed down, they were surprised to find that Minister Griffith’s own faction, the Chocolate Faction, had completely sided with Eivass. Not only were they not hostile towards Eivass, but not a single person spoke up for Minister Griffith. They even repeatedly praised Eivass’s high efficiency with great acclaim. In fact, just the day before—when Eivass returned to the Silver and Tin Hall from Griffith’s manor—he had received over a dozen letters, all from the ministers of the Chocolate Faction. Without exception, all of them had conceded. The situation Eivass had previously anticipated, “if someone did not write a letter,” never occurred. It could be said that they were, after all, experienced ministers. Compared to the younger, more arrogant High Tower Faction, they were indeed more pragmatic. They had clearly been waiting for a reply for a long time. If Eivass didn’t reply, they might lose sleep from anxiety. Thus, Eivass had written replies to all of them overnight, praised them, and pointed out that “since everyone wrote a letter, this matter ends here.”
The next morning, the ministers of the Chocolate Faction were visibly more relaxed. In this situation, the Knights of other factions immediately sensed the shift in the wind. Although they might not have fully understood the specifics, they were opportunists. At the Round Table Hall, there were no longer any attacks directed at Eivass or dismissive remarks about Isabel. Some even politely invited Eivass to the meeting through Lixia, their attitude much friendlier than two days prior; they were like different people.
And this was only the third day of Isabel’s succession to the throne.
