Chapter 585
Who Dares Misappropriate the Funds of a God?
Sherlock raised his staff and tapped the table where Eivass and Yunus were drinking. The crystal wine glasses vibrated, signaling for them to turn their attention to him.
“Think carefully, Mr. Yunus—”
Sherlock solemnly reiterated the problem.
—An elf girl named Anastasia, grateful for Yunus saving her life, left him an heirloom and invited him to visit her home.
—However, upon receiving the heirloom, her father directly told Yunus that she had died long ago and had never been to Avalon.
“Normally, shouldn’t he have questioned you first… about what happened specifically? ‘Why did you get that?’, ‘Is Anastasia not dead yet?’… or even suspected her body was desecrated by a Necromancer—although normally, petrification would lead to cremation, not leave a corpse. But he didn’t consider the possibility that Anastasia had become a Disciple of Candlemaster, or some other Phantom Demon, and was summoned into the Material Realm?
“He said Anastasia was completely petrified more than twenty years ago—but wasn’t he building houses in Horus more than twenty years ago?
“If you say he was overwhelmed by grief and had to throw himself into work… then why was he so uninterested in the information you brought?
“In what situation would a father who loved his daughter be completely uninterested in news about her?” Sherlock said meaningfully.
“There is only one truth—he has always been able to see Anastasia. And he also knows Anastasia’s recent situation… Because of this, he has been enthusiastically entertaining you and remained indifferent to your doubts and my investigation. He knows you saved Anastasia, but he cannot explain why he knew and understood this.
“He stayed in Horus for so long, and after returning, he went to Iris Flower for only a few years, and has only recently returned. Yet, he knows Anastasia’s recent situation? And he knows she met you in Avalon?
“This proves one thing—wherever he goes, he can see Anastasia.”
“—So the situation is obvious. Anastasia did not die from petrification, because she was secretly sent to the Fairy Kingdom… There is a Fairy Forest and even a Fairy Cave nearby. And Anastasia, at a young age, had her own surname ‘Moonlight.’ But according to your description, she was just a child—she didn’t have the chance to receive the complete inheritance, so how could she get a surname?
“Then it’s very simple. The ‘Moonlight’ inheritance could only come from Maxim or his wife’s maiden name. They later abandoned their family inheritance and inherited others’, which is why they changed their surname.
“And their child Anastasia was not yet at an age to begin receiving inheritances, so she could only temporarily use her original surname…”
—Just like Enlilys inherited the surname “Blossom.”
Eivass silently added this in his mind as he said this.
“And Maxim, two hundred years ago, had already helped the Star Antimony people build railways. Even then, he was already a ‘Rock Grappler.’
“Therefore…”
“—It was me.”
A sweet voice, like that of a young girl, suddenly came from the corner of the wall: “My previous name… was Grace Moonlight.”
The three of them turned their gaze.
There stood Grace Dry Leaf Butterfly, who had silently appeared there at some unknown time.
She wore a goose-yellow short dress and white stockings, with a primrose hairpin on her head—its color very similar to Nilim’s dress. In terms of appearance alone, she didn’t look like a mother, but more like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old young student.
At this time, Nilim was quietly perched on her raised finger. She lay there silently like a moth, fast asleep.
It was as if a butterfly had turned into a dead leaf. At a glance, her presence was invisible.
It was obvious that she had been standing there for a long time. At least since before Sherlock entered, she had been quietly waiting there… Nilim’s sudden disappearance should have been caused by her.
“I guessed it.”
Eivass nodded slightly. “When that underage Fey appeared, I had already guessed it. When I touched this hairband and confirmed it was a normal item, not a supernatural one, I understood most of it.
“Dry Leaf Butterfly is an inheritance of the Paths of Adaptation, Beauty, and Twilight, and also requires a considerable level of dancing skill. This means your Mastery of the Path of Beauty must be very high… And the main Path of the ‘Moonlight’ inheritance should be the Path of Beauty.”
“…You, as a Human, know this?”
Grace looked at Eivass with some surprise.
Eivass nodded and humbly said, “I just read a lot…”
—In a sense, he was telling the truth this time.
Because he had indeed seen it in books, and not “mysterious information” whose source he couldn’t reveal.
“You guessed correctly… Archbishop Eivass. 【Moonlight】 is an inheritance related to Fey and illusions, a domain of beauty and adaptation, and has a good relationship with Queen Titania. I only mastered the Dry Leaf Butterfly inheritance in the past few years.”
Madam Grace sighed softly and bowed slightly to the three of them. “But please let us go…”
“…Let us go?”
Yunus murmured.
“It’s probably because ‘petrification’ is considered a sacred act in the Church.”
Sherlock reminded him from the side. “After all, it’s nearing the Ancestors.”
“Not entirely.”
Eivass shook his head.
At least judging by the attitude of the current Eternal Saintess, she personally did not see the Eternal Pope’s petrification as a good thing. The same went for the other Cardinals… almost no one truly regarded this as an honor.
But in a sense, openly speaking ill of petrification was impossible.
In the Church, this was a form of “political correctness”: The Giant Tree created the Fey race with its flesh and blood, and then offered its own body to them, becoming the Kingdom of Giant Trees that carried the Fey. If one’s life form approached that of the Giant Tree, and replicated the miracles of the past Giant Tree, entering the Dream Realm and coming to the side of the Giant Tree and Candlemaster, what could be wrong, what could be bad about that?
“…But whether it’s me or Maxim, we have a more pragmatic attitude.”
Grace said softly. “We don’t want… Anastasia to ascend to the Dream Realm through the blessing of the tree without even experiencing her childhood.
“I want… at least to let her play happily and healthily for a few decades. And Maxim simply doesn’t want his daughter to die.
“More than twenty years ago, a Human friend reminded me, and then I thought of this method—sending Anastasia to the Fairy Kingdom. When we want to see her, we summon the Fey and manifest her using true illusions. As long as she doesn’t return to the Material Realm with her physical body, her petrification won’t worsen to the final stage. She can still play happily…
“…And in the Church, we declared that Anastasia had been petrified, and we had cremated her petrified body and personal belongings.”
—However, whether it was falsely claiming death by petrification, or forcibly preventing petrification through supernatural means… these were forbidden acts in the Church, absolutely not allowed. Especially the latter… It would be equivalent to a Fallen Heavenly Envoy using a Mark of Sin to abduct Sister Sasha, who had not yet entered the Dream Realm, and turn her into a Succubus.
Eivass and the other two fell silent.
And Grace said sincerely, “The Anastasia Mr. Yunus saw was not a real illusion; it was the real Anastasia—she somehow, inexplicably, fell out. It seems she was passing by the Fairy Cave and was sucked out. Thanks to Mr. Yunus rescuing her from the bandits, the Fey were able to find her again, otherwise…
“—We are not trying to keep Anastasia forever! We just want her to live happily for a few more decades—our efficiency as elves is usually lower, and it wouldn’t be too late for her to return and be petrified again and ascend to the Dream Realm after she’s had enough of playing…”
Eivass understood.
Grace and the others were trying to create a time difference.
They were taking a huge risk—even the risk of their souls being punished by Candlemaster—to allow Anastasia to stay for a few more decades.
This wasn’t a long time.
In the elves’ perception of time, it was only equivalent to a few years for Humans.
And this time was just to allow Anastasia to have a happy childhood.
After fifty years, when Anastasia returned and was petrified… then the “accounts” on the Church’s side would match.
This could also be considered a form of misappropriation of public funds—only in this case, it was the misuse of a god’s Disciple.
Who would dare instigate the Grace couple to do such a thing…
Who could that person be?
What was their purpose?
…Wait, instigate?
“By the way, that Human friend…”
Eivass suddenly had a premonition, and asked anxiously, “What was his name?”
“…I actually never knew his full name. He called himself ‘Spider’.”
Grace shook her head. “And Queen Titania called him ‘James’.”
(End of this chapter)
