Millennium Witch

Book 3: Chapter 258: The Mission

Maybe it was because they now shared some deep memories, or because they hadn’t seen each other for two months, but under the influence of fruit wine, everyone except the ever-quiet Yvette loosened up. Lucia, Anya, and Palea were all talking nonstop, taking turns animatedly recounting their adventures over the summer break.Their vivid chatter blended with the laughter of the other diners; silver cutlery glinted under the chandeliers. The reflections overlapped and intertwined, filling the entire restaurant with a bright, warm, cheerful atmosphere.

Yvette, as usual, sat at the table saying little, eating with a pair of bamboo chopsticks. Anya was also using chopsticks. For residents of the City of Truth, being able to use chopsticks had always been a point of local pride and identity. So the fact that Yvette not only used chopsticks, but was so skilled with them, was something Anya paid very close attention to; she was convinced this mysterious witch must have been a local once upon a time.

If that was the case, then why the witch had saved her life that night was easy enough to explain—because she was a good person, obviously.

Anyone who could use chopsticks was a good person, Anya decided with absolute certainty.

A little later, Yvette once again spotted a familiar figure: the vice dean of the Elemental Sanctum, Hills Heller, a Saint Realm powerhouse, who liked to eat on the second floor of the Sapphire Health Restaurant.

Of course, judging from the rune siphon effect, he still only registered as a standard 10,000-unit Archmage.

That often made Yvette quite curious: once someone reached the Saint Realm, did their mana core continue to grow at all?

She hadn’t understood before, but now she had a rough grasp of it. The main difference between an Archmage and someone at the Saint Realm was the existence of a domain.

Was it possible that she alone had a mana core that kept increasing, and that once others hit 10,000 mana, everything afterward was about cultivating their domain?

As she was thinking this over, Vice Dean Hills passed by, gave them all a friendly smile, then took his usual seat on the second floor and ordered several dishes.

“Has your vice dean been… a bit different lately?” Anya was the first to notice something odd and asked, puzzled. “Didn’t you say he was a vegetarian?”

“He used to be. These last two months, the vice dean said he suddenly realized that a balanced diet is healthier, so he gave up vegetarianism.”

“Balanced diet?” Lucia glanced at the mountain of meat dishes on Hills’s table and swallowed. She was having trouble seeing where the “balance” came in.

“The vice dean said he’s eaten so many vegetables over the years that he’s already finished the ‘vegetable portion’ of a balanced diet, so now he has to start on the ‘meat portion’—uh, those were his exact words,” Palea said awkwardly.

“…Wow.” Lucia and Anya stared at each other.

Yvette, however, didn’t have much of an opinion. Her constitution might not be quite human, but she still knew that for a Saint Realm powerhouse, it was almost impossible to ruin their body with an unhealthy diet. This was probably just the vice dean getting sick of vegetarian food and wanting a change of pace.

She didn’t bother with such side details, and instead drew a bit more out of Anya, asking about other Snow Country legends until she’d heard enough.

At the end of the meal, Yvette told them she would be taking a leave of absence from the Academy of Truth and heading for the Snow Country.

Lucia had known about this for a while already. She was reluctant, of course, but it didn’t hit as hard as it could have. After all, she now had the mysterious ring her teacher had given her, which let her talk with the teacher from afar, like spending hours on the phone, and also forced her into online classes in her sleep. Even if they were apart, it felt more like… not really being apart at all—there was none of that sharp, final ache of a true farewell.

Palea was very surprised, but didn’t ask much. She had always been careful about boundaries in her relationships with others and rarely took the initiative to pry into anyone’s private matters unless they chose to share them on their own.

Anya, on the other hand, was very hurt. She clearly remembered inviting the witch and Lucia to the Snowfields for a hot spring trip before the summer, and being turned down. Now that she’d just come back from the Snow Country, the witch was going there? What was that supposed to mean—was she being looked down on?

Hadn’t she already pledged herself as the witch’s loyal subordinate? She still remembered that night’s life-saving grace as clearly as ever.

So Anya stayed quietly miserable all the way until dinner ended. Once they reached the Sapphire Health Restaurant, Palea left first. Anya was just about to go when Yvette stopped her. Looking at the completely bewildered Anya, Yvette said unhurriedly, “Hold on a moment—I’m about to give you a long-term mission.”

Anya blinked. She had no idea what the mission was, or what benefit it might bring her, but the witch was finally giving her something to do. For some reason, she suddenly felt a little excited; even her normally limp pink hair seemed to perk up and grow more vibrant.

The mission Yvette planned to give Anya was, of course, closely tied to the development of the Silver Witch Church.

As a native of the City of Truth, Anya had never been “contaminated” by other religious beliefs. Her faith in the Silver Witch and the Legendary Mage was pure and devout, making her a relatively trustworthy candidate for helping grow the church.

Although, so as not to scare anyone off, the church’s main direction of future expansion should be heading south toward the Free Alliance and the Southern Alliance, the City of Truth was also crucial—they needed to lay the groundwork early.

So Yvette put Anya in charge of finding people who were devout believers in the Silver Witch, whose lives were relatively difficult, and whose character was at least decently above average. She was to compile a list of names.

There were plenty of such people in the Outer Eaves District beyond the city, which theoretically no longer fell under the Academy’s jurisdiction—a true lawless zone where cults, gangs, and criminal groups often lurked. It was the dark underbelly of the light, and the perfect place for her to display miracles and forge new Apostles.

It was a task that would take time, but it wasn’t difficult. Naturally, Anya asked, curious, “—Witch-sama, what exactly is our goal in doing this?”

When Lucia explained Yvette’s identity as the Throne, Anya looked utterly lost. The explanation had clearly hit a bit too hard. No matter how loyal she was to the witch, it wasn’t easy to believe something like that on the spot.

Not even professional scammers would dare spin a story that outrageous.

Not daring to question the witch, Anya turned to Lucia. “What about you, Lucia? What’s your position in the church?”

Lucia lifted her chin a little, visibly proud. “I’m the Saintess!”

“…,”

Yeah, at that point, not having doubts was basically impossible.

Still, as the witch’s devoted subordinate, even though she now suspected they might actually be running some kind of scam, Anya decided she would complete the mission to the best of her ability.

Before she left, Yvette quietly granted Anya a Benediction, forming a girl-shaped mark near her collarbone at her chest.

This was for emergencies, to turn Anya into an Apostle at the right moment. And what would count as the “right” moment? Probably when she ran into danger—because it was only in those moments of crisis, when miracles were revealed, that an Apostle’s devotion and gratitude would be at their deepest.

After that, Yvette gave Lucia a mission as well: to place a statue of the Silver Witch in each of the City of Truth’s nine districts, to serve as faith collectors.

What if Tertia found out?—Yvette felt that was actually unlikely.

First of all, the natural generation of faith-element was already extremely sparse, and if it wasn’t collected, it would slowly change into ordinary mental-element on its own. Without a focused investigation, there was nothing to discover. Second, even if someone did investigate and notice, all they would find were little statues—there wasn’t exactly a surveillance system attached.

Lastly, the Academy of Truth didn’t have any containers or devices designed to collect faith-element in the first place. That made her suspect that Tertia didn’t understand faith spells at all.

If Tertia really didn’t understand faith magic, then Yvette could probably siphon faith-element directly from devout believers right in front of her, and Tertia still wouldn’t notice a thing.

Once she’d laid the groundwork for these basic tasks, Yvette went to the College of General Studies the next morning to find Professor Margaret and apply for a leave of absence. The reason she gave was that a relative had gone missing in the Snow Country and she needed to go look for them.

It was a very convincing excuse, and in under half a day, her request was approved.

So early on the third morning, carrying almost no luggage, Yvette headed alone to the aerial port and began her solo journey to the Snowfields.