Chapter 118: Chapter 116: What Does the Holy Daughter’s Deeds Have to Do with Me, Hilia?

"Wow! Mr. Rose, you’re so bad!"

Upon seeing her small purse lying intact with exactly 50 gold coins inside, Hilia realized she had been tricked.

She glared angrily at Rose, whose spiritual power had condensed into a virtual image, and hugged her small purse tightly. "This is my life! I won’t let anyone steal it!"

Rose chuckled, "Your life came too easily."

"My life isn’t just 50 gold coins, it’s many, many gold coins, it’s all the gold coins in the world!" Hilia emphasized immediately.

"Alright, alright, you’re a reincarnated dragon, hurry up and get up, the Lord has invited the Divine Hall’s High Priest."

"The High Priest?" Hilia was slightly confused, "Why did he invite the High Priest? Does it have anything to do with me?"

The girl touched her face; the appearance she used to check into the inn was not hers, but Doris’s.

And when she was tracking Anarce and hunting the Flame Sun Association, she had Mier’s appearance.

Rose smiled slightly, "It does have something to do with you, don’t you want to take down the High Priest of this town?"

Hilia showed a clueless expression, "Why would I want to take down someone’s High Priest for no reason?"

"Of course, it’s because, behind the Flame Sun Association, is the High Priest of the Frost Divine Hall."

"What?"

Hilia immediately jumped off the bed and tied her hair up.

"Really?"

Rose nodded with a smile, "Of course, yesterday you rushed away without searching the president’s place for anything; I specifically went to retrieve the ledger and other evidence linking the two."

He pointed to the various old books lying on the table beside him, "These are records of the Flame Sun Association’s interactions with the Frost Divine Hall’s High Priest."

These things were well hidden by Frandy, but they couldn’t escape Rose’s spiritual scan.

Late last night, after Hilia returned and fell asleep immediately, he summoned Magic Puppets to go and bring back these ledgers and such.

A small town’s gang surely wouldn’t be clean behind the scenes; even if there was no shadow of the Lord behind them, they must have some sort of deal with the Lord.

Or they have a backstage support that can rival the Lord.

After reviewing the records, Rose confirmed that the hidden support of the Flame Sun Association was the High Priest of the local Divine Hall.

Small town Divine Halls don’t have a bishop; the High Priest is the highest authority.

The minimum requirement to become a High Priest is to be a Tier Three Mage, a tier already able to contend against the local Lord.

As the saying goes, two tigers cannot share one mountain. With evenly matched forces, both would surely fight openly and covertly, compromising in certain areas.

The Flame Sun Association was born from such compromise, with the High Priest secretly controlling the Flame Sun Association, overseeing most of Frost Town’s black market activities, while publicly appearing disconnected from the Lord, focusing solely on his role as High Priest.

Later, their struggle became the High Priest sending the Flame Sun Association to collect protection fees from the Lord’s businesses, while the Lord brought along the Sheriff to crack down on the Flame Sun Association’s black market activities.

The two had always been in sync.

Yesterday Anarce made such a big commotion because there was an external intervention by Nosen, they didn’t respond much, as the death of those gang members meant as little to them as roadside rats dying.

But Hilia’s action of taking down the Flame Sun Association’s entire upper echelon at night was different.

This effectively broke their sync. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Initially, Rose did not show these things to Hilia, intending to first observe the actions of both sides.

Now it appears that the Lord, having learned the news, decided he cannot simply let it go, hence putting aside the barriers to confer with the High Priest.

In Rose’s perception, he knows they are planning to lock down Frost Town, not allowing anyone to leave, and to conduct individual screenings to find the culprit who took down the Flame Sun Association.

"The Lord has bounced back from yesterday’s shock; he feels your power doesn’t quite resemble that of a Tier Four, hence he took the giant sword to a blacksmith for identification, learning that the giant sword was frozen broke rather than broken by brute force."

"Thus, he’s now preparing to team up with the High Priest to find you, to test your power. If you are a Tier Four, they will compensate you; if not, they want you to be taken down."

Rose said smilingly.

Hilia was seriously reviewing the ledger and records. As she read, her expression grew darker and darker.

"That High Priest is even worse than the previous two High Priests!"

The girl pointed to the records, angrily reddening her cheeks, "How can he sell the Water of Bewitching, which is strictly cracked down upon by the Holy Court?"

Water of Bewitching, a peculiar potion appearing as ordinary water, is extracted from and mixed using juiced materials from various plants and spices that can calm and focus the mind, brought to a boil at high temperatures. The steam released has a sweet scent, capable of assisting mages to enter meditation.

Later, it was discovered that direct consumption also calms the mind but could result in addiction; long-term consumption leads to mental confusion, gradually detaching both body and soul.

This is the effect on mages.

The effect on ordinary people is even more dreadful.

A tiny sip, and even the firmest of wills will become addicted, unable to quit or treat the addiction; missing a dose would immediately induce madness, loss of awareness, akin to sleepwalking, coupled with violent tendencies.

Even continuous use merely alleviates symptoms; over time with accumulated toxins, severe mental issues leading to death will develop in less than five years.

Subsequently, this mind-calming potion was deemed illegal by the five Empires, and cultivation of its primary ingredient was banned.

Therefore, this irremovable addiction-inducing potion has skyrocket in value, becoming the "obedient water" many nobles use secretly to control servants and slaves.

In the magic world, many substances and potions that are toxic to ordinary people exist; those capable of immediate lethality are never banned, only those with incurable addiction are prohibited due to the serious public security issues they bring about.

"Selling 50 milliliters can warrant a direct trial and death sentence, yet he sells a barrel per month?"

Hilia’s breathing became rapid, her eyes ablaze with anger as she clutched the ledger.

"And secretly cultivating illegal herbs; even if he doesn’t come after me, I’ll trouble him just for these alone!"

As noon approached, Hilia neglected even to eat and set aside Anarce’s matters for the moment, then headed out the inn toward the Divine Hall.

At that moment, a militia in armor stopped her.

"Miss, please present your identification; we are conducting a check..."

"Get lost!"

Hilia pushed him aside and continued forward angrily.

The militia, nearly stumbling, furiously stomped his foot.

"These mages are so lawless, without any manners, always pushing and kicking. There ought to be a law to punish these bastards! Even if pretty, punishment should ensue, 10 gold coins each time!"