Chapter 3321: Acting, The Underground Operation Begins

As long as the Illuminati does not cause any major commotion next, Osmanthus will likely be willing to keep his secret and arrange a secret visit to the Fanxing Library for him; after all, their goals are highly consistent: to eliminate the Illuminati.

As for the possibility that Osmanthus might have been persuaded or controlled by the Illuminati during the two days he was away, such a possibility exists, but it can be almost entirely ignored.

While Xia Duo certainly dislikes variables, he considers this level of risk acceptable.

Besides this reason, there is another important factor in Xia Duo's choice of Osmanthus: the Advanced Rank reading Permission Level for the Fanxing Library he currently possesses was obtained through Osmanthus.

Although he does not know how the other party managed it, it is almost certain that once he uses this permission, Osmanthus will likely know about it.

If the other party discovers that the person reading is not him, but someone with a hidden identity, misunderstandings will inevitably arise, and explaining them would be troublesome, so Xia Duo simply approached Osmanthus directly.

As for whether Osmanthus can help, Xia Duo has no doubts.

Being able to serve as a plenipotentiary Ambassador to a foreign country and arrange for people to enter a library to check information—if there were any issues with that, Osmanthus would not have remained in that position until now.

Just like Tili'ao, Netheril's representative to the Alliance, although he does not possess voting rights in the Seven Cities Council, he is endowed with many permissions within the Council due to the special nature of his position.

This includes searching for classified information at various levels, and this search does not necessarily require him to do it personally; he can authorize others to search on his behalf.

Similar is the case with Xia Duo; he could also fully authorize others to help him search for information, while he himself might not necessarily check in real-time whether others are present in person or if they used an Agent.

At most, he would periodically check the reading records of the relevant information to see if there are any violations, or conduct a retrospective investigation after an incident occurs; generally, he does not need to intervene personally.

In the Elf World, such operations are everywhere, even more common than in Netheril; it is merely a matter of whether those with the relevant permissions are afraid of trouble or dare to take responsibility.

The risk here is actually very small; if Xia Duo really wanted to cause trouble in the Fanxing Library, he would never seek out Osmanthus, a typical Yierlan power-holder.

The Advanced Rank reading permission for the Fanxing Library might be difficult for outsiders to obtain, but within Yierlan, it is not necessarily a rare power.

Those Upper Families not in the mainstream, or even some small and medium-sized families, might possess such permissions; it is just that Xia Duo is in a hurry and is not familiar with others, which is why he approached Osmanthus.

To a certain extent, this is also showing his sincerity to Osmanthus, as if to say—look, if I really wanted to cause trouble, I certainly wouldn't come to you; coming to you means I trust you, and you should also trust me!

……

In the end, Osmanthus made the decision to agree to help within the time it took to finish a glass of honey wine; this did not exceed Xia Duo's expectations, as even the entry permit and the Advanced Rank reading permission itself were provided.

Now it is just a small favor to let Xia Duo enter the Fanxing Library with a hidden identity; even if he didn't agree to this, if Xia Duo really wanted to cause trouble in Yierlan, could Osmanthus really distance himself from it?

It is better for him to arrange it himself, so as to avoid Xia Duo seeking out others and causing too much of a stir, adding another layer of chaos and variables to the already sensitive situation in Taiweimansa.

As long as it is handled properly, it can be treated as if Xia Duo had never been to Taiweimansa.

Osmanthus never imagined that Xia Duo had already found the hiding place of the Moonshadow Family, an Illuminati-involved family that is also officially wanted in Yierlan!

If he knew, he probably wouldn't have agreed so readily; instead, he would have tried to persuade Xia Duo to leave Yierlan, or urged Xia Duo to hand over the clues he discovered so that the Yierlan side could take over.

But in reality, there are no "ifs"; although Osmanthus had already overestimated Xia Duo's capability and investigation results, he still failed to reach the Reality that Xia Duo had attained.

Now, he simply leaves behind the words, "Someone will come later to take you to the Fanxing Library," and then quietly departs.

……

While waiting in the tavern for the person sent by Osmanthus, Xia Duo also received news from both the Divine Envoy Richi and Tili'ao that the Divine Envoy Taide had already arrived in the Underdark.

Upon learning that Netheril had dispatched an Advanced Rank Priest to the Underdark for an on-site investigation, the Danzo side attached great importance to it, not only completing all entry procedures in the shortest possible time but even sending a Prince to personally take charge of the escort.

After all, the area where the Abyssal Land Embryo is located is not exactly peaceful; there are large numbers of demons entrenched there, and Danzo only managed to scatter those demons again, but was unable to eliminate them all.

If a Netheril priest were to die in the underground, it would not be so easy to get Netheril to send people again next time, and most importantly—once such an incident occurs, it would greatly delay the serious task of purifying the Abyss.

If there is anyone in the Main Plane who least wants to see that Abyssal Land Embryo evolve into a true Abyssal Land, it must be Danzo.

That Abyssal Land Embryo is right in the Underdark; if it evolves into a true Abyssal Land and a large number of demons rush out from within, the first to bear the brunt would inevitably be Danzo, which is the closest.

Of course, there are other underground forces that do not want to see this situation happen, but currently, Danzo has the greatest influence on the Surface in the underground, and only Danzo is most likely to summon reinforcements from the Surface.

Therefore, this trip of the Divine Envoy Taide to the Underdark can be considered a meeting of minds between the Surface and the underground, and Danzo will certainly not regret this decision in the future, because Taide is not just going there to report on the investigation, but will personally eliminate the danger of the Abyssal Land.

Even if the Danzo side were more proactive, Taide might even be willing to help eliminate those scattered demons as well.

Of course, if one only eliminates demons in the Main Plane, it cannot reach their essence, unless there is a Spellcaster skilled in imprisonment assisting from the side to imprison the essence of those demons within their Mortal Plane Projections.

In this way, eliminating demons in the Mortal Plane might be even easier than in the Outer Planes, which would also increase the enthusiasm of the Divine Envoy to help; after all, if the demons cannot be completely eliminated, the actual Divine Grace obtained would be very limited.

Helping out once or twice in passing is fine, but if they had to respond to the summons every time, they might not be so enthusiastic.

Thinking even more darkly, some Divine Envoys might even prefer to let those demon projections run rampant in the Mortal Plane, so that when the situation worsens and forms an Abyssal Land Embryo, they can obtain more Divine Grace by intervening then.

Of course, Taide is certainly not such a Divine Envoy who has already wandered to the edge of corruption.