Yarin's POV:
There wasn't much time for pleasantries; soon, I came face to face with my former enemies.
Marty had aged, and his irritable temperament made him look like a rotting piece of wood about to collapse.
Next to him was the merchant who had first defected, named Dildis. He had that slickness about him that merchants often do. It was our first meeting, and he greeted me without any reservations, even showing me a brooch.
It looked familiar.
"Speaking of which, my niece used to travel to your country as a child," Dildis said. "This brooch is hers. It's said that Prince Heller gave it to her. Childhood friendships are so pure; it's been so many years, and those kids have all grown up."
Heller blurted out, "Denise?"
"That's my niece. Unfortunately, she's studying in Asia now; otherwise, she would have been honored to meet you."
This was truly an unexpected coincidence. Childhood playmates and cultists - it was hard to imagine how these two completely opposite terms could be connected by blood.
We learned almost everything about the Lily of the Valley with Marty's complete defection. Over the centuries, Linda hadn't just been going mad while holding Azazel's idol daily; the Lily of the Valley was just the tip of the iceberg, with countless industries intertwined. Some were legal, some illegal, some visible on every street corner, while others catered only to a small societal elite.
This situation had lasted for hundreds of years, but with Azazel's decline, everything had fallen apart.
"Linda refused to accept that her dear father was dying. At first, she just wanted more people for her rituals, but later, she didn't spare even the believers. But those dignitaries were not so easy to control, especially when self-interest drove them, and there wasn't much piety to begin with. So, many aspects started to unravel as they searched for an escape route after Azazel's decline.
"This undoubtedly infuriated that crazy woman and all defiance was seen as betrayal. The Lily of the Valley started a massive internal purge, and many believers became fuel to sustain that being.
"More people fled because of this, and that being's condition worsened. Linda has to change her body every three days; she can no longer maintain its freshness, and it rots and stinks within three days.
"If you want to do something, I have to say that now is the best time. A completely desperate person can do anything, and Linda still has one card - she said she obtained Azazel's divinity through certain means while he slept.
"At first, she ordered us, the officers, to harvest souls to nourish it, but that was just wishful thinking on her part. All of us, except her, knew it was useless. But a divinity is like a nuclear bomb with ten thousand times the power, understand? If it can't create more gods, Linda will use it to destroy everything. Her exact words were, 'It's an honor for ordinary people to accompany my father.""
So, the situation immediately became urgent. None of us had previously thought that Linda possessed such a devastating weapon. Moreover, with her insane state of mind, she definitely wouldn't care about anyone's life, not her own.
Naturally, another dilemma appeared before us now - should we cooperate with the Jasperian authorities regarding the Lily of the Valley?
After all, we were on their turf, and if things got noisy, it could turn into a diplomatic incident if we didn't communicate in advance. However, as Marty mentioned, the Lily of the Valley had many connections with the upper echelons of Jasper. Therefore, the official attitude was not so trustworthy.
In the end, we chose to conceal the truth because the Lily of the Valley's headquarters had already been abandoned. When the werewolf warriors investigated the situation based on Marty's information, the unremarkable villa had already been deserted. Apart from layer upon layer of bones in the astonishingly large basement, only a note was left, "Meet at the border."
Not the border city, but the border.
At this moment, a chilling thought suddenly appeared: 'When Linda mentioned 'accompanying her father', what if it referred to humans living in Jasper?
She hated werewolves to death, so during her final madness, wouldn't she think of taking the people she hated the most down with her?
Among the werewolf pack, who did she hate the most?
"Mom... Aunt Dorothy..."
There was no doubt; it must be Mom, who was Azazel's 'biological daughter', and Aunt Dorothy, who had been born from divine blood.
I had always felt something was amiss with this operation. Marty had clearly escaped in a hurry, without helpers, and hadn't gained any powers beyond human capability. So, was it really that difficult for Linda to capture him?
Leaving aside everything else, with her ability to take over other people's bodies, she wouldn't have been able to stand before us completely unscathed if there had been even the slightest chance of contact with Marty.
Now Marty had led us to Jasper, and Linda had run away. It seemed that our relentless pursuit of Marty before had all been an illusion.
We had been outwitted. This was a trap to draw the tiger away from the mountain.