Millennium Witch

Book 3: Chapter 250: New Star

Professor Evans’s subversive theory took Yvette a little by surprise. She had practically read through every surviving document related to Rosalyn in the College of General Studies, yet had never seen any record of this.She guessed it was largely because this view clashed too sharply with the mainstream mythic narrative—that the Witches’ betrayal caused the destruction of civilization—and even faintly brushed against the boundary of True Gods’ authority. As a result, written records must have been strictly controlled, leaving the theory to spread only by word of mouth among scholars who buried themselves in old paper.

After obtaining the information she wanted, Yvette took Lucia and left. Though she was very interested in the Ultra-ancient Ruins here, this simply wasn’t her field of expertise. Staying any longer would only disturb others and waste time. It would be better to wait until after Professor Evans finished his Adelock expedition and then ask what he’d found.

Back at the Old Oak Inn, she used faith magic to send the cult-related intel she’d received from the Silverwind Trading Company in the form of a letter. Of course, for this she planned to come up with a pretext—pretending to pray as the Throne to the Goddess, thereby “achieving” long-distance letter transmission and voice communication—so Ezra wouldn’t think the deity was personally handling all the busywork.

You still had to maintain a certain level of mystique.

“Ezra.”

When Yvette’s deliberately elevated and impressively dignified voice rang directly in his heart, Ezra was on a clearing in the woods near Lute Village, surrounded by lightning-struck trees, practicing control of his lightning power. Upon hearing Yvette’s voice, he stopped immediately and looked around in confusion. “Honored Throne, are you here?”

“Mm. This is a voice of intent bestowed upon you through the Goddess’s grace, in answer to my devout prayers. From now on, you can also pray devoutly in this way to report directly to me.”

“I see.” Ezra believed it at once—or rather, as a rural boy in his early teens, he had no real reason not to.

From a god’s perspective, what miracle could possibly be impossible?

“This is a dossier containing information on all cult activity in the area around Adelock. I am entrusting it to you now.” In her room at the inn, Yvette spoke across the distance as she tossed a bundle of documents into a transparent doorway.

The tone she used when playing a god and when playing the Throne wasn’t quite the same. If she had to put her finger on the difference, then when acting as the Goddess, she leaned more toward a truly divine air, whereas in the role of the Throne, she had to sound more like a professional holy charlatan.

As for what counted as “divine” and what counted as “charlatan,” roughly speaking, the former meant staying aloof while minimizing emotional fluctuation—like a robot, which suited her well—while the latter was trickier: it had to be dignified yet still show devout reverence toward the deity, with more of a human touch.

Still, she felt she was good at both. Maybe this was just her natural talent shining through.

What, you’re saying it all sounds super cringey and over-the-top?

You talk too much.

“These villages have long suffered under the ravages of evil. The Goddess is merciful, and has chosen you to save them and spread Her glory throughout the region around Adelock.”

As soon as her words fell, the air before Ezra distorted. A transparent doorway, faintly shimmering with silver light, quietly opened, and a thick scroll floated out steadily. Ezra dropped to one knee at once and extended both hands reverently to receive it. “I shall obey the holy decree!”

When the Throne’s voice faded, he looked down at the dossier in his hands, and an indescribable excitement flashed in his eyes.

In truth, he had already been waiting for a mission like this for many days.

Ever since the Cult of Omniscience in Lute Village had been destroyed, thanks to his father Old Yarrow’s tireless running about, many locals who had fled to other villages or hidden in Adelock’s outer districts had begun returning in dribs and drabs—bringing a few newcomers with them and gradually restoring life to the village.

At the same time, with the construction crew’s arrival and the start of work, the bustle of the temple’s construction replaced the old oppressive atmosphere. The mood in the village grew visibly livelier, and everything was moving in a better direction.

But for Ezra, who now wielded powerful Benediction-granted strength, it left him feeling a little pent up. Before, he’d been driven by a deep-seated hatred for the Cult of Omniscience, burdened with the pressure of vengeance and the need to protect his sister. That had forced him to mature and remain level-headed, taking on the responsibilities a big brother should.

Now that his father had returned, although the weight of responsibility was still there, much of it had lifted from his shoulders, leaving him suddenly more relaxed—and a bit at loose ends. He trained every day to better control this lightning power that excelled in speed, yet he couldn’t help hoping he might find a place where his strength could truly be put to use.

Of course, if you asked whether there was a hint of wanting to show off, well, as a teenage boy, that was probably inevitable. But it was undeniable that he also genuinely wanted to uphold justice, save more ordinary people who had suffered at the hands of evil the way he once had, and spread the Goddess’s glory.

Now, the opportunity had finally arrived.

Over the next two days, Ezra finished a simple outline for his own operations.

As a famous adventurer city on the Eastern Continent, Adelock actually wasn’t even in the top five in size among the Free Alliance’s city-states. It was hard-pressed to scrape into the top ten. Its permanent population hovered around three hundred thousand, and its charm lay in the endless stream of adventurers—every day, countless adventurer parties chasing dreams of fortune arrived and departed, providing a steady flow of people to the surrounding villages.

Around a city like this, the surrounding villages and towns could roughly be divided into three rings.

First was the inner suburban belt within twenty kilometers of the city, where Lute Village lay. There were more than forty villages and towns here, ten of which were large settlements with populations between five hundred and two thousand. The rest were small villages like Lute, not enough to catch the eye of any church. But for Adelock, these villages played crucial roles as waystations, farms, or craft villages, and the daily traffic that passed through them was quite substantial.

Next, from twenty to fifty kilometers out, was the resource belt—the location of the adventurer towns where adventurers frequently gathered. Most clustered around the edge of the Adelock Forest, each with a population of at least five thousand—six in total—serving as forward bases for expeditions and transportation hubs.

Finally, beyond fifty kilometers lay the border belt of the Adelock city-state. That was simply too far—dominated by independent border towns and not worth dwelling on.

After consulting with his experienced father, Leon Yarrow, Ezra ultimately identified several small villages suspected of harboring cult activity as his targets.

Larger towns might also hide filth, but they usually already had small outposts of righteous-god churches. According to the Throne’s directive to “start quietly and avoid conflict,” it wasn’t wise for him to get involved there too early.

Besides, small villages were the easiest places for cults to bury themselves. As a Lute Village native, Ezra understood that all too well.

And so, in the latter half of July, while Lute Village zealously built its temple and preached the miracle of the God of Serendipity’s manifestation to travelers passing by, Ezra began to roam about—posing as an ordinary village boy, investigating suspected cult activity in different villages one by one, and once he confirmed it… delivering lightning judgment.

In the process, he not only turned many long-suffering villagers and passing travelers from casual supplicants into devout followers of the Silver Witch, he also made the name “Lightning Apostle” ring out like sudden summer thunder across the region around Adelock—like a newly risen star, drawing the attention of all sorts of powers.