"What the hell is the Cult of Entropic Lies?" Edrick had never heard of this organization. He thought that the three-way struggle between the Pureblood Order, the royal family, and the Ordo Solis Eclipse was already exciting enough in the vast city of Stellaxis. How could there be another cult?
"The Cult of Entropic Lies is one of the seven officially recognized cults," Lacus explained. "There are countless heretical religions on Arcanis, but only seven have been recognized as major cults by the Luminous Pontificate. These are seven extremely evil organizations that the Church will stop at nothing to destroy under any circumstances."
Edrick knew that the streets of the Rust District were filled with rumors and boasts among the laborers, including tales of the seven major heretical cults. However, no one truly knew what these cults were.
After all, this was something the Church went to great lengths to conceal. They wouldn't be foolish enough to publicize their enemies, and the common people were well aware that any faith not aligned with The Luminous One was considered heretical and likely destined for the stake.
"The Cult of Entropic Lies has very few followers, all of whom are one in a million lunatics. They are skilled at deception and enjoy doing so. Even I don't know what the purpose of this group of lunatics is. They seem to be passionate about playing with others and destroying their plans... Well, especially those who oppose the Holy See."Lacus winced at the mention of these madmen, "They don't even know each other and rarely communicate, so even if we capture one or two, it won't do any good."
"You don't know their purpose…?" Edrick was taken aback, "You just said that Gray was a follower, and she doesn't know either?"
"No one knows. Although they preach to their followers that they worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster, they have never held any rituals or prayers. They just keep... playing pranks. They have no stance, no creed, no inclination. They are obsessed with negating everything, using lies to undermine everything and destroy everything. They aren't good at fighting, but they are masters of scheming."
"Ms. Gray looks like she can fight." Edrick recalled Ms. Gray's exaggerated height and mechanical equipment. The Golden-ranked Hero had always been highly praised in the newspapers.
"Adrian's fighting skills are not due to the Cult of Entropic Lies, but to her other identity," Lacus explained. "Before joining the Cult of Entropic Lies, she was a battle sister of the Lumina Steel Vow Sisterhood. Later... she joined the Cult of Entropic Lies in search of her missing sister."
"Sister? Isn't she your sister?"
"She has another half-sister from her mother's side, so this sister has no blood relation to me." Lacus waved her hand dismissively, as if it were a commonplace matter. "Don't be surprised; it's quite common among nobles."
Your nobles' private lives are really messy.
Edrick felt emotional, but at the same time, he felt it necessary to keep his distance from this large family. Otherwise, with his status, he would likely become cannon fodder in this melodramatic soap opera, and he wouldn't even know how he died.
"So, Gray's weakness is his identity as a member of the Cult of Entropic Lies?"
"That's right. Even though she has defected, once the church finds out, she's a dead woman." Lacus said, pouring herself another cup of tea. As one of the most powerful people in Stellaxis, Lacus had tasted countless expensive teas, and normally would not have looked at the cheap tea leaves drunk by commoners, but she hadn't had tea in three years and now it was like a treasure to her. "By the way,could you help me buy some Medovník, Moravian Red Wine, Olomoucké tvarůžky, and marjoram roast goose later?"
Edrick's temples throbbed. "We may have some initial funds, but we're not exactly wealthy. The things you mentioned would cost enough to feed all of us for a month!"
Lacus sighed softly, took another sip of tea, then looked up at Edrick: "Can't we just rob one or two gangs?"
Edrick sighed heavily: "Let me think about it..."
The laundry business they had just purchased was struggling, barely enough to support everyone. Their daily expenses far exceeded their income. Edrick had been planning to send the children who could still find their way home back to their families based on their memories, but this was a long-term task. In the short term, they needed to support 17 girls, 13 adult "witches," and three disabled young boys, including the Croft sisters and Lacus, the money-eating monster.
"Accountant!" Edrick shouted, and Miryam appeared out of nowhere.
"Weekly food expenses: 140 shillings... that's 7 pounds. Soap, lye, starch, charcoal, and water: 20 shillings (1 pound) per week," Miryam put on a single-lens eyeglass, took out a gold-plated pen, and started scribbling on the paper.Of course, all of this was looted from Broken Barrel. "Laundry tubs, stirrers, repairs, and other miscellaneous supplies cost 5 shillings, but the laundry room's stable income is only 5-6 pounds. After deducting taxes and the original wages of the female workers, we only end up with 3 pounds. There's a deficit of at least 4-5 pounds every week."
After purchasing the laundry, they bought some necessary furniture, clothing, and kitchenware, and gave gifts to the local sheriff. Now, they have almost no cash left, and disposing of the remaining loot is troublesome. They need to sell it in batches at multiple locations to avoid arousing suspicion.
After all, the Vatican's assassins were certainly searching everywhere for their whereabouts, so they only sold some items like pocket watches, wallets, belts, scarves, and hats—things that were hard to trace—through a general store and flea markets.
"At this rate, we'll be penniless in three months," Miryam said seriously.
The young girl was clever and quick-witted, with an astonishing talent for mathematics. She handled the various tax policies with great responsibility, something ordinary people couldn't possibly calculate. This forced merchants to hire accountants or seek help from professional tax firms, but Miryam managed everything flawlessly, even Lacus couldn't help but praise the girl's intelligence.
"Did you teach her to read and write?" Lacus knew that poor families couldn't afford to send their children to school.
Edrick was also surprised, as Miryam hadn't had the opportunity to demonstrate her talent in this area before: "No, but... she could already read and write when she came to our home."
"What?"
"You should be able to tell, right? She and I…" Edrick pointed to Miryam's innocent, delicate face and then to his own, "We don't even look like family. We adopted her three years ago."
Now that they had their own business and were respectable people, Miryam no longer had to deliberately make herself look dirty, but the little girl didn't bother to clean herself up too much either. She just washed her face and looked as cute as a doll.
As for Edrick... well, he looked very much like someone from the Rust Belt.
Thinking of this, Edrick couldn't help but envy the transmigrator who had crossed over into the body of the fake Bishop Lacus. How could there be such a big difference between two transmigrators? She had just arrived and was already a high-ranking member of the church (albeit a fake one), possessed a wealth of knowledge and powerful abilities, and even as a fake Bishop Lacus, she had a beauty that ordinary people could only dream of.
In comparison, Edrick was just an ordinary laborer who couldn't be any more ordinary.
Speaking of which, Edrick was planning to investigate the transmigrators after entering university. He had only been here for a short time and had already encountered another transmigrant. Either it was really a coincidence arranged by fate, or there were transmigrants in this world... Perhaps there were far more than just the two of them.
"Adopted three years ago?" Lacus was taken aback by the news. She looked at Miryam's ears, which were extremely ordinary human ears, then interrupted Edric's thoughts. "Tell me more about what happened three years ago."
Seeing Lacus's sudden serious expression, Edric realized something as well. He sent Miryam back to her room; it was best not to let her know about this yet.
"I want to hear too!" Miryam protested.
"I'll tell you later. It's better if you don't know now." Edrick ruffled Miryam's messy hair. "The matter we're about to discuss is best kept confidential. It's not that we don't trust you, but it concerns your safety."
After calming Miryam down, Edrick returned to the counter: "Speaking of which, you were also imprisoned three years ago… I don't know much about what happened before Miryam was adopted. This girl has no memories of her life before adoption. I remember it was winter when her mother found her on the way back from the lead factory and brought her home. We all thought she wouldn't survive that winter."
"Did she have any belongings or markings on her?" Lacus asked.
Edrick shook his head. "We tried to find her family. After all, she looked like a noblewoman's daughter. But after sending away a few unscrupulous human traffickers, we stopped searching."
Lacus recalled Miryam's appearance, and her thoughts drifted back to three years ago, the event that had led to her complete break with her mother and her subsequent imprisonment in a dark dungeon for three years.
"What exactly happened three years ago?" Edrick asked. He hadn't had the chance to ask before, but he knew that Lacus and the Church had gradually become opposed to each other, and there must have been a trigger. And now it seemed that this trigger was very likely related to Miryam's background.
"I don't know the whole story. If I could understand the whole situation, maybe I would have been alert to what happened later," Lacus said slowly as she gathered her thoughts. "What happened three years ago directly led to Adrian's defection from the Cult of Entropic Lies. I only got a rough idea after talking to Adrian just now."
You two talked about so much!? How long was I unconscious? Edrick was stunned.
"Coincidentally, that incident took place in a textile factory in the Rust District. You might have heard of it. What did Adrian call that place... John Harrison & Co., Linen Manufacturers?"
Edrick immediately thought of the boiler room where his father died, where he fought with the thugs, where he first met Adrian, where he ordered Griff to dig up manure, and where he fought the Ghost Loom.
"I'm afraid these two things are not a coincidence." Edrick's consciousness returned to the Sanctum of the Village Deity.
The Flower Maiden smiled maliciously: "Of course it's not a coincidence. It's precisely because you absorbed the Divine Authority of the textile factory that this Mama was able to sense the wraiths under the Vatican. Hmm, the Divine Authority of the textile factory should be the avatar of that mechanical wraith. Oh, right, you destroyed the looms before, but you didn't solve all the pollution, so you must have alerted those... people who have been watching that place all along."