Chapter 116: Two Heavenly Daughters

The journey through the Underworld continued, and Li En's group still marveled at the abundance of talent and rare materials there, while the surface world descended into new chaos.

"There's a major problem within the Shield Emblem Church," Talia S Daer said the moment she woke up, facing this cruel reality.

Even though she knew her "alliance" was utterly unreliable, learning that her primary supporter had issues made Talia's scalp prickle.

She could not expose this matter—she had to secretly resolve it while keeping it confidential.

The Three Good Gods Churches, centered on the Shield Emblem Church, were her strongest supporters and the most active among the True God Churches.

Talia absolutely could not accept scandals within their ranks, let alone internal traitors causing mutual suspicion.

Sitting before her vanity, letting her maid attend to her, Talia bit her thumb and fell into deep thought.

This matter needed quiet handling; if possible, she didn't even want the Church to know—but she dared not overtly interfere in Church affairs, for even justified intervention would make the True God Churches grow hostile and wary of the already weakened royal house.

In the hands of the kingdom and royal house, there were only bad cards and worse ones.

Every action must be weighed with the utmost caution.

Even her supporters were not loyal out of devotion—they followed only because the fallen royal house could offer greater benefits.

This wasn't inherently wrong; loyalty should be rewarded, even enhanced through rewards—but the royal house's coffers were too thin to offer sufficient incentives.

This wasn't because the royal house was poor; in truth, it remained immensely wealthy, its imperial-era accumulations enough to last generations—but it was truly poor in everything except money.

Fiefdoms, internal licensing rights, knowledge and materials for crafting top-tier transcenders—these were far more valuable.

Especially the True God Churches, many of which used their support of the royal house as a pretext to expand influence within the kingdom.

These churches had long been the royal house's most steadfast foreign supporters—and yet also its most dangerous outsiders.

"Appeal for aid again to the new capital? No, their situation is just as dire."

Not only was rescue unlikely, but worse—if her mother deemed her "unqualified," she'd likely face even stricter restrictions.

Talia didn't want to become a political pawn for marriage—she wanted to become the second queen.

"Your Highness, a visitor has arrived—an unfamiliar mage. He calls himself Shi Difen Feierlanqi, an alchemist and physician. Our people checked him—he carries no weapons."

"It's fine, we made an appointment. Have him wait for me in the reception hall."

Amid so many bad news, there are always some good things.

The greatest joy for Talia was the reopening of the Hall of Spirits.

Aside from everything else, for someone who desperately needed talent right now, these "promising and reliable youths" were invaluable.

Soon, this initial meeting, limited to Spirit Candidate candidates, ended.

This alchemist, Shi Difen, pledged loyalty to the future queen.

In this age, not all talents were as resolute as Li En and other Holy Knights.

In fact, most talents were classic "follow whoever feeds them"—the more they craved advancement, the more they lacked money, materials, and opportunity. The princess, holding both righteousness and wealth, couldn't recruit noble families or major factions who sought political leverage—but recruiting these independent, unestablished talents was not difficult.

The greatest challenge was actually how to make these talents lower their guard and reveal their true identities to Talia.

"I'm giving up this inheritance," was the princess's first words—and her choice after careful deliberation.

She clearly saw the man relax, and become more talkative.

The Kuku Spirit Inheritance inevitably causes mental fragmentation; a politically unstable individual is absolutely unacceptable—at least to any competent state.

Talia couldn't bear the cost of "another me" emerging—if that "other me" truly influenced her inner desires, causing her to reject her royal duties and become an ordinary little girl, what would happen to this country? Talia dared not imagine.

After relinquishing the competition (Talia: My goal is the next candidate!), she easily won the allegiance of this impoverished alchemist.

Perhaps he's worthless now, but if he truly becomes a Spirit Candidate, he'll grow powerful quickly—even if he fails to be chosen, his potential is certainly high.

"I will compete. I crave greater Tianfu and faster research progress. Extra personalities and thought lines should benefit me—I believe my new personality will also be an excellent researcher." The alchemist's burning eyes for knowledge seemed genuine.

"At least, one more talent gained." Talia estimated that among this round's seven candidates, at least one or two were from the surface.

But the agreed time had passed, and he still showed no intention of coming to her.

In her rational judgment, she even hoped Li En, this special Spirit Proxy, would continue to remain special.

Li En might not directly decide, but from what she'd seen of Sha Liman's situation, he truly could influence the final decision of the Spirits.

"I hope he still remembers he's an Ark." Yet for some reason, Talia felt Li En wouldn't blow the racial whistle as she expected.

At the very least, she hoped he'd remain neutral, not favoring the Underworld.

She subtly urged Sha Liman to accelerate certain progress—she was genuinely worried Li En might be bribed by the Underworld's dark elves, especially since that goddess had openly poached talent.

"Disgusting… that woman's clothing." Recalling the images of the goddess's attire and Sha Liman's recounting, the girl blushed furiously.

If Li En's identity were exposed, the Underworld candidates could offer equally tempting things.

The princess knew well: among the dark elf families, a knight and a concubine might be separated by only a thread.

"How shameless!"

Worst case, one of them might even have a status similar to hers.

Her greatest fear remained the inheritance falling into the hands of Underworld races—especially the dark elves.

Not just this time, but future Spirits as well.

That would truly be "arming the enemy." She had already deemed the entire Underworld an enemy.

In fact, Sha Liman's group had already completed their diplomatic mission.

Through talks with the city lord, they confirmed the dark elf city had no intention of war—this raid was merely the act of a radical faction.

This was the best possible outcome.

With the Underworld city lord's promise to suppress the restless radicals, Talia was quite satisfied.

She wasn't naive enough to form an alliance with the Underworld; dark elves were born traitors and oath-breakers—their words were utterly untrustworthy.

As long as war didn't break out now, giving her time to clear the underground bombs, that was her acceptable Dixian.

Talia didn't know that after tonight's sleep, she'd likely face another surprise: four potential Beast-Pattern Magical Girls weren't simple matters—just selecting and controlling the deer-girls in the city would be a major headache.

The same thing was happening in the Underworld.

In a certain street of Masodilka, a pure white fawn floated peacefully.

It effortlessly slipped past the dark elves, gliding through a window into a room where its "girl" should be resting.

"I've made arrangements with the slave trader—he'll bring the deer-girls to us tonight. When the time comes, we'll seize them. What are you doing?" If not absolutely necessary, the Beasts had no restraint.

Honesty? Oaths? Those were foolish, inefficient human thoughts.

The Beast-Prince was puzzled—his puppet-like Qiyuezhe wasn't sitting quietly on the bed, staring blankly as usual.

She sat at the table, holding a dagger, studying a blueprint, seemingly carving something.

"Making a weapon. I just learned."

The fawn fell silent. It couldn't comprehend why its controlled puppet was acting on its own.

But it didn't matter—perhaps she'd read some book.

The Beast-Prince floated upward, its black eyes silently observing its partner, sensing her state was fine.

It was quite satisfied to have so easily found a suitable candidate among slaves.

"Forget it—as long as it doesn't affect our plan. Go meet your slave kin. If this time still yields nothing, clean it up properly—don't dirty yourself again."

"I dislike red." That wasn't arrogance—it was the Beast-Prince calmly expressing preference: the Pure White Beast must remain pure and clean, not defiled by inferiors.

The "puppet girl" shuddered violently, then immediately calmed.

"Yes."

(End of Chapter)