The confluence of the Srenzo and Ryan Rivers created a fertile valley region in the Trier district, with villages and estates dotting it like jewels, strung together into what was considered the most beautiful and expensive necklace in all of Intis.
Vival Town was one of the most peripheral towns in the Trier district, quite ordinary in both geographical location and resources, and had never received much attention.
In the basent theater of the Wild Rabbit Cafe, though there was no puppet show at the mont, twenty to thirty spectators had still gathered.
So were clearly townspeople, while others seed to have just arrived from the surrounding countryside, with mud spots still visible on their trouser legs.
Under the yellowish light of the gas wall lamps, the cafe owner Dalberro, standing at center stage, looked around before raising a black and white photograph in his hand.
"You've all seen Niel's death photo very clearly.
"He tried to betray us, and then the great Malady God brought down punishnt."
In the photograph, a man in his thirties had his eyes wide open, frozen in fear, his face showing obvious signs of decay in several places, with white bone visible in many areas.
Dalberro was a typical Intis gentleman, with beautiful blue eyes, slightly curled brown hair, neatly trimd beard, and a ruddy but thin face that made him popular with ladies.
But at this mont, his expression was unusually gloomy and cold as his gaze swept across the face of each Malady God follower.
Those caught in his gaze involuntarily lowered their heads, muttering, "Welco the Malady God, drive out disease!
"Welco the Malady God, drive out disease!"
Dalberro finally withdrew his gaze and nodded gently.
"Disease has long been scattered throughout this world. Through the great Malady God's grace, they haven't devoured most humans, only dealing with those who abandon the deity.
"I saw with my own eyes how Niel died in pain and regret, tornted to the point of breakdown by an incurable disease.
"Rember, devotion is the best dicine, devotion alone can keep you away from disease!"
After completing the daily sermon and receiving offerings from each follower, Dalberro had the congregants leave in batches to avoid drawing attention.
Then, he returned to his bedroom upstairs and placed the newly acquired money in a tal safe.
After finishing all this, Dalberro was about to head for the door when he suddenly saw his reflection in the full-length mirror undergo a strange transformation.
The person in the mirror quickly beca a woman, wearing a black robe with the hood down.
The woman appeared to be only around twenty years old, with cascading black hair, each strand glossy but slightly thicker than normal, and eyes like highland lakes—clear, bright, and dreamlike, making Dalberro's soul seem to drown in them.
For a mont, Dalberro forgot to be surprised, forgot to be cautious, forgot to be afraid, and just watched as the lady in the mirror walked out and approached him, giving him the feeling that a beautiful dream had finally co true.
"Oh, goddess of my dreams, angel more beautiful than the entire Trier valley, my soul, my heart, what can I do to serve you?" Dalberro reflexively praised her, expressing the burning in his heart.
You Trieriens… even after worshiping an evil god, receiving boons, and having your personalities altered, it doesn't stop you from spreading your peacock feathers in situations like this? Lumian showed a slight smile.
"Are you a Disease Envoy?"
Franca had already obtained so information about the Malady God from 007, learning the nas of several boon Sequences.
Among them, Sequence 9 was Patient, also called Rotting Patient, Sequence 8 was Secretary, Sequence 7 was Vermin, also known as Corruptor, Sequence 6 was Disease Envoy, Sequence 5 was Child of Decay, and Sequence 4 was Dood One.
Dalberro suddenly shuddered, breaking free from the beauty's charm through his faith in the Malady God. "I don't know what you're talking about." He knew he should try to find a way to escape contact or suddenly attack and control her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Lumian curled his lips and said, "Would you like to hear how I found this place?
"First, I used Magic Mirror Divination to determine the general area, then infiltrated official channels to get data on disease-related deaths from recent years for comparison. After that, I had inconspicuous Beyonders ask around bars and such about anyone who had fallen seriously ill but suddenly recovered in the past few months. Finally, I checked the bodies in the hospital morgue.
"Perhaps blessed by the gods, I had good luck and discovered Niel, who died with his entire body rotting.
"That doctor and those two orderlies are followers of the Malady God, right? Thanks to them, similar punishnts were never exposed, and afterward 'helping' with cremation requests was no problem."
Dalberro swallowed hard with difficulty and complexity. "Wh-what do you want?"
"I am a Demoness, you know what a Demoness is, right?" Lumian asked with a smile.
Dalberro suddenly understood. "I know a little, no wonder…"
No wonder she has such great charm!
Just her appearance, figure, and temperant make one want to worship!
Although the Church always emphasized that Demonesses were enemies, establishing connections wasn't impossible—any faction could cooperate briefly if their current interests aligned!
"Then you should also know that we Demonesses are classified as a cult by officials and suppressed everywhere," Lumian said with rather helpless eyes. "We can barely stay in Trier anymore and want to cooperate with you."
"Cooperate?" Dalberro was willing a thousand tis over in his heart, but still maintained basic vigilance based on his faith in the Malady God.
"Yes, the Primordial One hopes to receive the great Malady God's protection in the future, She is even willing to beco the Malady God's consort," Lumian said with an ambiguous smile.
Before Dalberro could respond, he slightly raised his chin and said, "Report to your superior. You certainly can't make decisions about this matter."
Dalberro imdiately felt stifled, which gave rise to an impulse.
Kill the superior, beco the superior, then gain the qualification to properly discuss cooperation with the beautiful Demoness before him!
How could he let her look down on him?
Final rationality made Dalberro control himself, and he said sincerely, "I-I will find an opportunity to report this."
His hidden aning was that he couldn't do it under her watch, and he needed to find a safer environnt.
Lumian nodded slightly and smiled. "Are you secretly spreading disease, trying to weaken and control ?"
Dalberro's face instantly turned red, and he stamred, "I-it was just an instinctive choice.
"You ca so suddenly, I had to do this."
"I can understand," Lumian said with a smile. "But I should warn you, diseases have little effect on Demonesses."
After speaking, his figure suddenly faded and disappeared right before Dalberro's eyes.
This was just a projection that Lumian had manifested through the mirror world!
She's so nice, even warning … Dalberro gazed longingly at the full-length mirror in the room and where the Demoness had stood, feeling that a faint fragrance still lingered in the air.
After fifteen or twenty seconds, he finally managed to break free from his current state. Looking at the bright sunlight outside, he quickly left the master bedroom and ca to the study, opening a secret room.
The secret room was empty, with bare walls, peeling paint, showing signs of decay.
Dalberro lit a white candle, locked the secret room's door, and carefully checked his surroundings.
After confirming there were no abnormalities, he knelt down, assuming a posture of penitent prayer.
Then, he chanted in an ancient and desolate language that seed to be losing its very aning, "Envoy of Depravity and Corruption, Witness to Humanity's End, Child of Rot and Disease, Palm of the God of Decay, the great Malady God…"
He was praying and beseeching his superior—the first few lines were directed at them, but the Malady God part wasn't—his superior had deliberately borrowed their worshiped deity's alias to conceal their true na, saying they could respond based on proximity using the previous four descriptions and current environnt.
As Dalberro chanted devoutly, the already dimly candlelit secret room grew darker, the candle fla flickering, about to go out.
anwhile, in a room opposite the Wild Rabbit Cafe.
Lumian held a plain silver mirror, reflecting the cafe and the building above it.
In reality, pedestrians were coming and going on the street, and the cafe had neither many nor few custors, but in the mirror, only the corresponding buildings and rooms existed, with no traces of humans or other living beings.
No, there was one.
In a windowless secret room sowhere in the mirrored building, Dalberro was kneeling before an increasingly yellow and dim candle fla, praying devoutly.
In reality, the secret room in the building still existed, but there was no lit candle, nor was there Dalberro.
When Dalberro finished chanting the honorific na, Lumian imdiately felt information trying to drill out from the mirror, establishing so kind of mystical connection.
He neither blocked nor influenced it.
Soon, Dalberro heard a low, hoarse voice: "What is it?"
Dalberro imdiately reported, "A Demoness has found ; she represents the Demoness Sect in seeking cooperation."
"Demoness…" Dalberro suddenly heard his superior curse with anger, "Idiot, damn it!"
Uh… Before Dalberro could co to his senses, his body began rapidly decaying, intense pain stabbing into his mind.
He was already certain to die.
But before this, Lumian in the real world had already sensed consciousness drilling into the mirror world along the previously established mystical connection, falling toward Dalberro.
He imdiately reached out his right hand and stroked the surface of the silver mirror.
The consciousness from afar instantly left traces in the mirror world.
Beside him, Franca held another mirror, using it to perform Magic Mirror Divination by questioning her own spirituality, "Where is the source of the traces…
"Where is the source of the traces…
"…"
In the blink of an eye, Franca's mirror reflected a scene: Darkness, enclosed, seemingly the interior of a coffin, seemingly containing a corpse that hadn't completely decayed yet.
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