Mystery: The Witch of Desire

Is the bound goddess female? Then who is the father of her child?

Why would His children oppose His rule and instead support the permissives?

Furthermore, Miss Messenger and Miss Sharon are teacher and student, yet Miss Sharon actually refers to Miss Messenger as "He"!

The messenger is an angel?!

Livre looked at the indifferent messenger in front of her in disbelief, and suddenly felt a chill on her neck.

I actually used a magic wand to do this to an angel...

Fortunately, the messenger didn't seem to mind... well, I guess I should be kinder to her...

Livre took a deep breath, walked up to the messenger, and said respectfully:

“Miss Renette, regarding the next steps, do you… have any suggestions?”

The messenger girl's four pairs of eyes all glanced over at the same time, and her four rosy lips spoke in turn:

I need one.

"具, 木, 乃, 伊."

mummy……

Livre nodded slightly. She didn't know what the messenger needed the mummy for, but she was certain it wasn't for male sexual purposes.

“Strong, big, of, wood, no, yi.”

The messenger added firmly, her four red eyes revealing a glimmer of hope.

Looking into the messenger's bright, blood-red eyes, Livre suddenly thought of Mrs. Michel's eyes; the two were so similar.

"Is that Ms. Michelle a descendant of the Tinicol family?"

Upon hearing this, the messenger's expression darkened, and then all four heads paused slightly at the same time.

Were the royal family of the Highlands originally from the Northern Continent? This could explain why the once-glorious Highlands royal family is now reduced to only a few descendants struggling to survive...

Livre couldn't help but feel a little wistful; time truly is the sharpest knife in the world.

However, she was also very concerned about some of Michel's words, so she asked the messenger:

"What do you know about the situation of the bound gods? Michel said their prayers have not been answered for three years."

This former follower of the bound god fell into deep thought, and after a long while, slowly said:

"He has already..."

Yes, I responded.

There's no response anymore. Could it be that the bound god has truly perished?

Before Livre could ask any more questions, the messenger frowned slightly:

"I have to go now."

With a swift movement, it vanished into the void, leaving behind only a faint, fragrant aura.

Is this... the aura of an angel...?

Livre swallowed hard, reminiscing about the moments she shared with the first angel she had ever known.

After reflecting on it for a while, she returned to Michelle's office and scrutinized the descendant of the Tinicol family.

Michelle felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze, awkwardly smoothing her tired, long blonde hair, and asked:

"Any news?"

Livre withdrew her gaze and smiled slightly:

"Tell me, which tribes do you currently have information on? I can contact them. Hmm, if there are too many, those two bounty hunters you hired can also be used."

"This is highly confidential, and I don't want to hand it over to bounty hunters."

As Michelle spoke, she stood up, closed the curtains and windows, and cautiously observed the surroundings.

Then, she took out an envelope from an old drawer where the latch was almost falling off. The envelope had a seal drawn with red liquid on its surface. Michelle infused a trace of spiritual power into it before she could open the seal.

Inside the envelope were rolls of yellowed parchment, covered in choking dust.

Michelle carefully brushed away the dust and handed the parchment to Livre, which contained the addresses of villages and tribes, and the names of indigenous people.

"These are only a small fraction of our organization's members, and much of the information is outdated..."

"If you can find them, please tell them my mailing address and the incantation to summon the messenger."

“And also, please tell them…” Michelle pursed her lips and whispered, “God has not abandoned us, and the bound God will eventually answer our prayers…”

Livre put the parchments away, and asked with some curiosity:

"You just gave them your mailing address like that? Aren't you afraid that one of them will betray you?"

This royal lady's behavior is inconsistent with her usual caution. Is she preparing to gamble everything after all her companions have been wiped out?

Michelle shook her head and said:

"The mailing address I left belonged to those two bounty hunters."

"After they receive the letter, they will leave it with me at the secret transaction point. Don't worry, they don't know the address 136 Whitewood Street, nor do they know my identity. Right now, the only one who knows my true identity is Miss Sharon, who is in the Northern Continent..."

As Michelle spoke, her expression became somewhat melancholic.

Livre nodded slightly, glanced at the information recorded on the parchment, and prepared to leave Michel's Foreign Trade Company.

At this moment, Ms. Michelle called out to Livre and said hesitantly:

"Um... do you have any spare cash? Could you lend me some money?"

"I'm already a month behind on rent, and Susan's salary too..."

Liviel paused, her lips trembled slightly, and she suppressed the urge to retort.

Life is really tough for the resistance organization...

After lending Michel £100, Livre walked out of the door of 136 Whitewood Street and roughly flipped through the parchments.

The parchment records approximately 30 villages and tribes that worshipped the Bound God, most of which were located in the Pass Valley. The most recent ones were just outside the Highland City.

One of the tribes is located in the Shadow Forest north of Highland City, which is considered a relatively close settlement of the Bound Ones.

Liviel set off from Gate 3 on the north side of East Highlands City, embarking on her journey to the Forest of Shadows.

Liviel concealed herself behind a cargo wagon, hitched a ride, and after arriving at the outskirts of the Shadow Forest, walked into the interior of the Shadow Forest.

This forest reminded her of the forest on Shorttail Island where the Altar of the Mother Tree of Desire existed. The trees there grew in a similarly twisted manner and had black scales on their bodies, but the twisting was far less pronounced than that of the trees on Shorttail Island.

By asking a native hunter, Liviel learned that this tree was called a Shadow Tree, a common tree species in the Southern Continent. In the customs of many tribes, the Shadow Tree is a tree that can harbor the soul of a person. If a relative's coffin is buried under a Shadow Tree after death, the relative's soul will reside in the Shadow Tree, protecting the family from harm and ensuring they have enough to eat and wear.

Therefore, the Forest of Shadows could also be called the Forest of Graves...

In an instant, Livre felt a chill on the back of her neck, as if something was watching her from all around. After using her spiritual vision to investigate, she determined that it was probably just her imagination.

After walking for about half an hour, Livre saw fireworks in the distance, and the surrounding trees began to thin out, showing obvious signs of logging.

A middle-aged indigenous woman with layers of brightly colored cloth wrapped around her head was picking mushrooms under a shadow tree. She walked very carefully, always staying within a certain range of the shadow tree and never straying too far, as if the shadow tree was her protective umbrella.

Liviel didn't pay too much attention, concealed herself and passed the woman, and continued forward. Before long, she saw a settlement that could barely be called a village. Compared to the villages in the rural areas of the Northern Continent, it lacked brick and stone houses. Most of the dwellings were built with thatch, and some were simply enclosed by an animal skin, which could not even provide basic shelter from the wind and rain.

The situation within the tribe was better than Liviel had anticipated; there was no obvious unrest, and apart from the deep-seated poverty, there seemed to be no major problems.

Some men were even carrying stones and wood to build something resembling a stove in the open space in the center of the tribe. A large iron pot, taller than a person, stood to the side, its interior clean and shiny.

I wonder what kind of prey they'll cook later? Pigs, sheep, or the takin unique to the Southern Continent?

As Liviel pondered this with interest, she looked around at the passing natives, trying to find the tribal chief.

Just then, she saw four burly men, shirtless, carrying a sedan chair on their shoulders, walking towards the open space in the center of the tribe.

Livre's eyes widened in shock: because a young woman was hanging from that sedan chair!

Her hands and feet were tied to a sedan chair, and she was carried like livestock by four men to the large pot and put down.

Then, some villagers came up and, together with the four men, lifted the large pot onto the stove and set it up. Some women began to add water to the pot in buckets in turn. When the pot was half full, they added some leaves and various spices and vegetables.

Several more women placed candles in front of the large cauldron, drew a six-pointed star pattern, and sprinkled black blood that emitted a foul stench.

At this moment, a dark-skinned old man with gray hair and a beard that reached his legs walked out of a thatched hut.

A man immediately handed him a torch. The old man took the torch, glanced at the girl hanging on the sedan chair, and a complex expression flashed in his cloudy eyes.

The young woman kept her eyes tightly shut, avoiding the old man's gaze, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

After a long while, the old man sighed deeply, and shakily approached the large pot, lighting the firewood piled up under the stove.

In an instant, the villagers who had been watching all knelt down, muttering in a language that Livia couldn't understand, praying with tears streaming down their faces. Some even pounded their chests and tore at their hair.

After a prayer, the four men stood up again, untied the young woman from the sedan chair, and helped her step by step toward the large pot that was being roasted by the flames.

The woman's mouth was not gagged, but she didn't utter a single cry or howl. It was as if she had already accepted her fate, and she walked steadily to the pot step by step.

At this point, the four men picked up various ropes and tied the already bound woman up again and again until she was bound like a rice dumpling, with all the skin and flesh on her body bulging from the ropes.

The elderly man with gray hair and beard stood up and cried out in the Dutan language with a sorrowful voice:

"What a magnificent divine bird!"

"From today onwards, we formally relinquish our faith in another God and return to Your embrace."

"Please forgive our sins, forgive the lost sheep!"

"Now, in accordance with your will, let us offer you sacrifices that demonstrate our sincerity..."

As the old man shouted, the candles placed in front of the large pot spontaneously combusted, emitting a foul and distorted odor.

Liviel finally understood that the people of this tribe had been influenced by the 'divine bird', abandoning their faith in the Bound God and converting to this false god.

The woman who was bound tightly represented the 'Bound Goddess'. The tribe's inhabitants were going to throw her into a large pot and cook her to death, which represented their betrayal of the 'Bound Goddess'.

Even Michel hadn't received a response from the bound god for three years, let alone these residents. It seems understandable that they converted to other deities.

However, what kind of good god would incite believers to cook and sacrifice living people?

Liviel was certain that this 'divine bird' was neither one of the seven righteous gods nor an evil god in the usual sense, but rather a 'false god' that was very common in the southern continent and the sea.

The powerful among these 'false gods' typically possess a Sequence 4 or Sequence 3 level status, capable of responding to the prayers of believers within a few cities, performing 'miracles' sufficient to deceive ordinary people, seizing a large number of believers, and using their lives and sacrifices to satisfy their own selfish desires.

The weaker 'false gods,' some even only of mid-ranking status, cannot respond to the prayers of their followers remotely. They must rely on ritualistic or magical procedures to establish contact with them. These false gods typically control only a few villages.

Liviel suspected that the 'divine bird' in front of her had not reached the level of a demigod, because it responded to these natives in a way similar to ritual magic, and its own aura was not strong.

This also suggests that he was very likely lurking nearby, watching this absurd sacrifice.

After a brief preparation, Livre anchored herself to the blazing flames beneath the large cauldron.

Whoosh! A gust of wind blew by, extinguishing the flames instantly. Even the candles placed in front of the cauldron were blown over, their pale yellow flames rubbing against the ground and going out, leaving a wisp of pale blue smoke.

Immediately, all the villagers looked up, staring in astonishment at the large pot, wondering what had happened.

At this moment, a villager appeared in the middle of the crowd who looked somewhat familiar, but no one could recall his name.

This villager was none other than Livre in disguise. She knelt down with a thud, raised her hands, and shouted loudly in the Tutan language:

"It is the response of the bound god! He does not want to see us convert to evil gods!"

Immediately, Livre began to loudly recite the name of the bound god and chant some prayers of praise and supplication.

At the same time, she switched her writhing hunger to the priesthood of light, casting a holy golden filter over the sky, enveloping the entire tribe in a peaceful and serene atmosphere. She also secretly tossed out sparks of black flame, adding a touch of mystery.

Although these images do not conform to the authority of the bound god, Liviel firmly believes that these villagers, who are most likely not even extraordinary beings, should not be able to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

As expected, led by Liviel, the villagers knelt down one by one, calling out the name of the bound god and begging for His forgiveness and blessing.

At that moment, Liviel sensed a violently fluctuating emotion approaching, located in the Shadow Forest about fifty meters west of the village.

It seems that the divine bird was very unhappy about its interference in stealing the believer's place.

Liviel concealed herself, preparing for battle.

Seconds later, a piercing scream echoed through the forest, shocking all the villagers.

Trees were knocked down, a stench filled the nostrils, and disheveled feathers flew everywhere. A giant bird, as big as an elephant, swooped down, with floating vengeful spirits circling around it. Everything in its path was tainted by the filthy aura of death.

Extraordinary creatures of the Death Path, probably at Sequence 5...

Right now, Livre has no choice but to 'cosplay' the Bound Goddess.

Taking advantage of the moment when the large black bird was unleashing its lewd power, she suddenly appeared from the void, her body covered in snow-white spider silk, like a mummy that had just crawled out of a grave.