Free Web NovelChapter 315: Chapter 315 Cheers_1
"Hasn’t this place become a land of disputes all because of you?" Aiden glared at Melissa as he spoke.
His contact with the witch gathering was due to pursuing Presia of Blood Moon Cult. Harvest Mother Cult’s involvement was half because of the witch gathering and half in search of the "diviner" Melissa. The old Blood Moon Cult was after the annihilation of the Harvest Mother Cult. Meanwhile, Melissa was secretly negotiating with the progenitors of the vampires, likely always stirring the pot behind the scenes.
These powers related to authority have been popping up one after another in the autonomous region, all traced back to the belief in Melifilia of the Blood Moon Cult and Melissa, who is regarded as an embodiment of Melifilia.
"A whale will make waves no matter which pond it’s thrown into. How can a place ruled by a dominator remain calm?" Melissa replied composedly.
"If you were simply selling jewelry here, could there have been so many problems?" Aiden retorted, "Can I take that to mean... you’d die if you didn’t cause some trouble?"
"To be fair, the things I do are just that—a few. The vast majority of the problems are caused by other mortals pursuing power, aren’t they?" Melissa said with an innocent expression.
"I seem to have heard something similar from the guy who guards the dungeon... but most troubles also have the likes of you fanning the flames behind the scenes, right?" Aiden said.
"Are you trying to accuse me?" frёewebnoѵēl.com
"I never blame those whose moral compass is completely twisted since it’s pointless," Aiden answered, "I’m just venting my frustrations, you wouldn’t mind that, right?"
"When venting, one should drink," Melissa pushed another glass of wine towards him, "You wouldn’t mind that, right? Hmm? I think I just read a ’purpose’ flashing through your mind? But it seems you’re hesitating; it isn’t very clear... Let me guess, are you considering getting me drunk?"
"At this rate, I feel like there’s no need for me to speak at all," Aiden commented, somewhat helplessly.
As Aiden had anticipated, the Wordless Code indeed limited Melissa from reading every single one of his thoughts clearly, but whenever a certain "purpose" emerged in his mind, Melissa could sense it. The stronger the intent, the clearer Melissa could read it.
"Actually, we really don’t need to speak verbally. The power of the Throne of Spirit allows people to read each other’s thoughts meant to be spoken, what you’d call... a meeting of minds," Melissa "said".
This time, when she "spoke," she did not move her lips but allowed her voice to resonate directly within Aiden’s mind.
"Isn’t this the ’Heart-communication Technique’?" Aiden thought, knowing Melissa could hear him.
This kind of advanced spirit-based dark magic could achieve such an effect. Though difficult, it wasn’t rare. A master of spirit-based spells like Presia could easily manage it.
"Also, I advise against entertaining such foolish ideas; the power of ’Wisdom’ can keep the spirit unhindered by the body’s condition," Melissa said with a slightly sinister smile on her face, "If it comes to drinking against me, you’ll be the one to fall first. And then, I can’t guarantee what might happen the next day."
"You’re smiling like a thug who has spotted a lone girl," Aiden responded calmly, "Don’t worry, it was just a passing thought. I’m not foolish enough to think a mere bottle of wine could bring down a goddess..."
"Yet you are already contemplating rebellion against a goddess. If you compare the strength, such a thought is very foolish," Melissa suddenly interjected.
"Believing that it’s normal to not want to be controlled by an erratic deity like you should be a sentiment any sane person would have," Aiden replied composedly.
Faced with such an abrupt revelation of his thoughts, Aiden was not too surprised. After all, Melissa had been aware of the wariness and hostility emanating from him right from the start.
Upon learning of the machinations by the "Goddess of Conspiracy," it was plain what kinds of thoughts Aiden Galahad would develop—there was no need for mind-reading, simple deduction was sufficient.
Aiden had always felt that he was being tugged by the invisible threads spun by Melifilia, and they were getting tighter and tighter. However, he hadn’t thought much about how to fight back, given that Melifilia was already in his prison. After all, one cannot strike down a person who’s already lying on the ground, not until he had confirmed the true identity of the fortune teller Melissa through several incidents.
Melissa was the trump card Melifilia had set up outside, to break free from Melifilia’s scheme, one just needed to deal with Melissa.
But without thinking, it was evident there was a despairing power gap between sovereigns and mortals. The reason why Melifilia would reveal her trump card at such a time was that she simply didn’t care.
However, Aiden saw this perhaps as an opportunity. "The Conspiracy Goddess" was the sovereign of two realms, unimaginably powerful, but precisely because of that, she had no sense of crisis at all, as can be seen by the fact that she locked up half of herself in prison and turned the game into the unknown.
Before the game was over, his situation was still relatively safe—at least for now, it wasn’t time to confront this goddess.
"Well, watching a pet trying to jump out of the cage might also be a pleasure. Just be careful... don’t kill yourself against the cage." Melissa lifted her wine glass, "After talking so much, won’t you have a drink? You don’t really think I’d poison the wine, do you?"
"I’ve got work this afternoon," Aiden said.
"One glass," Melissa replied.
After a moment’s thought, Aiden picked up the wine glass and clinked it with Melissa’s.
"To sovereignty," Melissa said.
"To be honest, I don’t feel like toasting to anything right now," Aiden responded.
They both drained their glasses in one swallow.
The cold liquid slid from the tip of the tongue into the throat, as Melissa had chilled the wine to just the right temperature.
Aiden carefully savored the taste of this expensive liquid, smooth at first taste, sweet but not cloying, refreshing and pleasant, with the flavors of flowers, fruits, and aged oak barrels forming a perfect balance—though he’d like to say that, Aiden was no sommelier, and he merely thought it tasted quite good. But to spend several months’ salary on this thing... definitely not.
"What are you planning next?" Aiden asked, placing the wine glass down.
"Still making arrangements, be patient. That man’s progress is fast but not yet at the final step, you still have time."
"Progress is fast? You mean he’ll soon find a way to kill me?" Aiden’s heart sank.
From her words, it seemed Mr. Bloody Robe would be making a comeback before long.
"Killing you isn’t difficult, but to pull off the revenge takes some doing," Melissa replied, "after all, it is ’our’ legacy to him." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
"So, what kind of fail-safe have you guys left in place? And what method is he planning to use to kill me?" Aiden asked, seizing the opportunity to voice his most pressing concern.
Just then, the bell above the door rang—a customer pushed open the door and entered the shop.
