Aglaea's words were packed with information, leaving Feidric stunned. First, Okhema had agreed to cooperate, the place teeming with demigods, which sounded incredibly powerful, actually valued a few ordinary adventurers like them?
Feidric had initially dismissed Castorice's assurances as mere consolation, never imagining they were actually true.
Now, just a month later, Okhema had already sent someone to find them?
Feidric turned to Aglaea, asking, "So you are...?"
She had blocked the moon goddess's corruption from spreading across an entire city, and with Golden Threads, she had bound all the Artemis Priests and controlled civilians, rendering them utterly motionless. With such extraordinary power, coupled with her origin from the Eternal Holy City Okhema, it was impossible not to speculate about her true nature.
Aglaea replied, "My name is Aglaea. I am one of the Twelve Demi-Gods of Okhema—the Demigod of Romance."
Just as expected!
Feidric wasn't surprised by this revelation. However, he immediately heard Aria and Douglas beside him gasp in awe.
"A Demigod of Romance?!"
"Amazing!"
Feidric fell silent, his thoughts swirling.
One question lingered in his mind: would a Demigod truly mobilize personally for a few ordinary adventurers like themselves?
Wasn't that a bit excessive?
Wouldn't sending an ordinary person have sufficed?
They weren't exactly VIPs who warranted a Demigod's personal escort, were they?
Could this be related to the Silver Moon City incident?
Perhaps the Demigod was here to resolve that matter, and taking them to Okhema was merely a secondary objective?
Feidric then glanced at Cipher, who was wrapped in bandages like a silkworm's cocoon. "Cipher, you know this Demigod of Romance, which means..."
Aria exclaimed in surprise, "Sister Cipher, you're from Okhema?!"
Feidric gave Aria a surprised look, seemingly not expecting her to have grasped the connection so quickly. He then continued, "And Cifera, is that your real name?
Have you been using a fake name all this time?"
After living together for so long, she hadn't even revealed her true name, using a fake one instead?
And to think she'd kept such a huge secret from us all this time... it definitely feels like we've been deceived.
But Cipher quickly interjected, "No, no! Cipher and Cifera are both my names, there's no difference! In fact, I prefer Cipher now, it's what I've been using all along. Only that old fossil, the Seamstress, still calls me Cifera!"
"As for Okhema, it's true that's where I'm from, but does it really matter?
Just like Aria was born in the Grand Duchy of Kandela, Feidric comes from the Arcane Federation, and Douglas is from the Dragon Ember Empire, none of that affects our adventures!
I genuinely cherish the time we spend together!"
Aria nodded vigorously. "Exactly! Sister Cipher makes perfect sense. Where we come from doesn't matter at all!"
Douglas chimed in, "I agree completely. And honestly, Cipher sounds way cooler anyway."
Feidric glanced at his two teammates, who were both looking at him as if pleading on Cipher's behalf. He sighed, "Look, I just said it offhand, but I didn't mean to blame her. You're making me sound like the villain here."
Cipher chimed in, "Anyway, I'm really sorry for keeping some things from you guys!"
Aria glanced at Cipher, then at Aglaea, who had silently descended from the Golden Thread and was now standing on the ground, watching them quietly. Curious, she asked, "So, what's your relationship with her, exactly?"
It seemed only Aglaea still referred to Cipher by her old name, Cifera, while Cipher referred to the Demigod as "Seamstress."
She's a Demigod, for crying out loud! Aria thought. That nickname just doesn't sit right.
Hearing the question, Cipher paused, deep in thought. In the game Honkai: Star Rail, what exactly was Aglaea's relationship to her?
A caretaker who picked up a stray cat?
Or perhaps...
Adoptive mother?
Cipher paused, glancing sideways, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Our relationship... she's kind of like my mom, I guess..."
In the game, Cipher herself had even called Aglaea "Mama Aglaea."
To others, Cipher's expression might have seemed shy, but for her, it was the awkwardness of calling her own self "mom."
Douglas exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?! Your mom's a demigod?!"
No wonder Cipher dared to call a demigod "Seamstress"! They were mother and daughter all along?
That made sense.
Aria, however, looked at Aglaea with renewed curiosity, as if searching for hidden ears and a tail. "Eh? So Lady Aglaea, are you also a Catfolk?"
Slap. Feidric facepalmed, his expression exasperated. "It's obvious they're in an adoptive relationship, right?"
Aria tilted her head slightly. "Is that so?"
At that moment, Douglas turned to Cipher and said, "Wait, if your mother is a demigod, does that mean we can just waltz into Okhema and do whatever we want?"
After all, having a demigod as a backer was quite the advantage. But before he could finish, Aglaea interjected, "Actually, you don't need my connections. Given your relationship with Cifer-... Cipher, you'll already enjoy the highest level of preferential treatment in Okhema."
"After all, Cipher is one of Okhema's Twelve Demi-Gods."
After Aglaea's bombshell, the trio fell silent for several seconds. This revelation was more explosive than everything that had come before combined.
Douglas stared in disbelief at Cipher, who was now bound like a silkworm. "What?! You're a demigod too?!"
He recalled the other demigods he had encountered: Mydei, who could level entire landscapes with a single strike and annihilate an Imperial Army in the blink of an eye; Castorice in Chaos City, who could summon Dragons and resurrect the dead; and now Aglaea, who casually blocked divine corruption and controlled the entire city with Golden Threads. Each of them defied all logic and comprehension.
Looking at Cipher now, Douglas felt a profound sense of disbelief. "No way, sis! Seriously?"
To put it simply, Douglas had always perceived Cipher as exceptionally strong, definitely among the top adventurers. Her absurd speed had even led him to suspect she might be Legendary-grade. But there's a world of difference between Legendary and Demigod!
In contrast, Feidric found this revelation both unexpected and yet somehow made sense. A prime example was their encounter with the Travel Book in the Grand Duchy of Kandela. When the King of Kandela unleashed the book's power, causing everything around them to age rapidly, Cipher casually walked into the aging Domain, snatched the Travel Book without a scratch, and showed no signs of aging at all.
Looking back now, if Cipher were indeed a Demigod, it all made perfect sense.
Still, Feidric pressed on, "But if you're one of the Twelve Demi-Gods, why do Mydei and Castorice seem to not recognize you?"
Cipher explained, "It's because of my Authority. I snuck out to have some fun, and if they'd found me, it would have been bad. So I used a special method to conceal myself. As for Aglaea, her Golden Thread can see through any disguise, it's a perfect counter to my abilities, which is why I couldn't escape!"
Douglas interjected, "So, Cipher, what kind of Demigod are you? A Demigod of Extreme Speed? A Demigod of Slacking Off? Or something else?"
Cipher hesitated. "Um... my authority is rather unique. If I reveal it, it'll lose its effectiveness. Can I keep that part a secret? Also, even though I've kept so many things hidden, I genuinely love adventuring with you all. That's the truth. Please don't resent me!"
Aria immediately chimed in, "No, no, no, Sister Cipher! You're so amazing, we're just ordinary people. If anything, you should be the one not resenting us! How could I ever resent you? Besides, I absolutely love adventuring with you too!"
Long ago, Cipher had concealed her Demigod status out of fear that the vast difference in their statuses would create distance between her and Aria. But now that she knew Aria was Olivia reincarnated, that fear had completely vanished.
Olivia wouldn't care about anyone's status; after all, she had become close friends with Tribios even after she revealed her identity from the start.
As the group conversed, the remaining outsiders gradually left, leaving behind a sea of red-robed locals and several Artemis Priests still struggling and writhing as they hung suspended in the air.
Aglaea said, "If there are no further questions, I'll have My Teacher open a portal. You can enter directly and reach Okhema. As for me, I'll stay behind to handle this situation."
But truth be told, she hadn't yet figured out how to resolve it. Feidric interjected, "Although Artemis Priests and Believers are relatively few among the Twelve Demi-Gods, that's only in comparison to the other True Gods. Given the Alliance's vast population, there must be a considerable number who worship Artemis. The Artemis Festival couldn't possibly be limited to this one location; there must be many other places where it's being held. The festival is likely proceeding smoothly elsewhere."
In other words, countless ordinary people had likely already been corrupted. Thanks to the Golden Thread in her hand, Aglaea could sense the condition of these red-robed Believers and Artemis Priests to some extent.
These people were as if they had a hidden Second Personality imposed upon them. In their everyday lives, they seemed perfectly normal, kind neighbors, generous shopkeepers, showing no signs of anything amiss.
But at certain moments, the Second Personality lurking within their bodies could erupt, seizing control of their bodies and directly supplanting the Main Personality, as was happening now.
It was like a deeply hidden virus. You'd never know it was there until it manifested, and now, countless people across the Alliance were infected.
Consider that Artemis had been corrupted a century ago, and the Artemis Festival, a regular annual event, had spread this infection from person to person. After all these years, it was impossible to imagine how many latent carriers might now exist across the Alliance.
If that were the case, Aglaea thought, this city was no longer the primary concern. The best solution now would be to notify the Alliance and have them mobilize their forces to arrest all Artemis Believers and Artemis Priests within their territory!
The number of ordinary people infected remained unknown, but these Artemis Believers were undoubtedly compromised, not a single one could escape!
Yet, just as the disheveled man outside the Adventurer's Guild who had tried to disrupt the Artemis Festival had been beaten to a pulp, how could Aglaea possibly convince the Alliance to arrest all Artemis Believers?
Unless she could present irrefutable evidence... For some reason, the moment the word "evidence" came to mind, her first thought drifted to Melly's Elemental Reactor. Would that even count as evidence?
In any case, Aglaea knew it was futile to persuade the Alliance on her own. Perhaps summoning Okhema to manifest and engaging in diplomacy between nations might be worth a try?
With that in mind, Aglaea glanced at the Artemis Believers and Priests she had bound around her. For now, she would simply leave them restrained until daylight. When her Golden Thread vanished with the dawn, the city would return to normal...
At least, on the surface.
Though she knew these people were compromised, letting them go seemed absurd. But Aglaea couldn't simply slaughter everyone and raze the city to the ground, could she?
Wouldn't that be a blatant act of terrorism?
If the Alliance were to learn that Okhema's Demigod had launched a terrorist attack on their city and massacred its inhabitants, future negotiations between the two nations would become impossibly strained.
Therefore, if bloodshed was necessary, it should be carried out by the Alliance themselves, not by Aglaea.
Having resolved this, a triangular Golden Teleportation Gate materialized before them, gradually expanding. Aglaea declared, "Let's go. Through here, we can reach Okhema directly."
Cipher interjected, "So, can you release me now? I understand, I won't run. I can walk on my own!"
But Aglaea offered no response, striding through the gate first. A golden cat-shaped yarn ball floated behind her. Aria and her companions exchanged glances before following her into the portal.
Meanwhile, at the Adventurer's Guild inn, a Century Gate materialized for the three small animals as well. With a bewildered expression on her face, the Little Squirrel watched as the gate sucked all three of them inside.