Chapter 594 – Honeyglow Vine

The witches treated Hermits as tools for resisting the erosion of Holy Light — a mindset that greatly comforted Mo Lan, who had been thoroughly vexed by the Hermits:

“So it seems my impatience with the Hermits actually helps me blend in while staying clearheaded around them, so I won’t be assimilated by the Holy Light?”

“Exactly! That’s the best way to think about it,” Bella said.

“Don’t worry! With us around, you couldn’t get assimilated even if you tried!” Garona said.

Mo Lan thought about the rules in the Eight-Times-Speed Gossip Alliance group chat — if you didn’t speak up for a day, the members would bombard you with calls, and if you didn’t participate in gossip discussions for three days, they’d show up at your door. She nodded in agreement.

At that frequency of communication, if anyone started being assimilated by the Holy Light and showed signs of emotional suppression, the others would notice immediately.

At that stage, the assimilation wouldn’t be severe yet. All it took was someone intervening with activities that stirred her emotions, and she’d return to normal.

Even if the assimilation had progressed to the stage of developing phototropism, where one’s very outlook had changed, they could simply bundle the person up and dump them outside the Sacred Mountains for a while, and she’d break free of the influence and return to normal.

The White Witches treated the Holy City and the Sacred Mountains as blessed training grounds, yet to this day, not a single witch had been assimilated into a Hermit by the Holy Light. This was entirely the result of the Eight-Times-Speed Gossip Alliance members watching over and helping each other.

“Everyone’s here. Does anyone have fresh news to share today?” Garona asked.

Everyone shook their heads. “If anything happened, we’d have already discussed it in the group chat. There really isn’t anything new.”

“Nothing new on the Holy City side, but there’s plenty from the Dragons!” Euphemia said. “I heard from a friend that the brass Dragon Krotack, lord of Delicacy Island, has started recruiting chefs from all across Valen for the first time in ages. The terms are exceptionally generous, with only one requirement — they must be able to cook dishes he specifies. A lot of spellcasters looking for a patron have started studying culinary arts.”

“As the lord of Delicacy Island, he’s actually short on chefs?” Garona said.

“Apparently it’s to complete a recipe left behind by a Five-Star Chef,” Euphemia said. “And I heard that chef was a witch who captured the Dragons’ palates, yet only stayed on Delicacy Island for a month before vanishing into thin air!”

“No wonder!” Camilla said. “Other than a witch, what chef could go to Delicacy Island and actually leave? Unless the Dragons can’t overpower them, anything that catches their interest either gets snatched back to decorate their dragon lair or gets dragged back as a slave.”

“…” Mo Lan felt a pang of guilt. She seemed to have forgotten to turn all those dishes she’d designed for the Dragons into gourmet cards and list them on the Dawn Society.

This really wasn’t her fault. She’d originally planned to list them once she reached the Sacred Mountains.

But the moment she laid eyes on the Sacred Mountains, she’d been captivated by the terrain, landforms, and ecosystem that were completely different from any other mountain forest.

The Dragons? Long since tossed to the back of her mind.

Now she was the White Witch Moira, staying in the Holy City at the foot of Heaven’s Peak. The Angels had a track record of secretly deploying Light-Shadow Sprites as eyes and ears. Chatting with everyone in Witch language or sending messages via Communication Cards was fine, but openly summoning the Book of Cards was still risky.

So the gourmet cards simply couldn’t be made right now.

“Moira? What’s wrong?” Garona noticed Mo Lan’s subtle expression.

“Um, that witch… was probably me…” Mo Lan didn’t bother hiding it. Based on her understanding of the witches present, even if she didn’t say anything, they’d sniff out the gossip and piece together the general picture anyway.

“Wow~” Evelyn dramatically covered her mouth. “A Five-Star Chef?”

“That’s you alright! The rumors aren’t exaggerated in the slightest,” Bella said.

“You could totally open an Angel sweets shop!” Melinda suggested. “I recently looked into Light-Shadow Sprite theft cases in the Holy City over the past century, and aside from the hair-care potions at Edwen’s barbershop, the most commonly stolen items were various candies. I think it’s very likely the Angels were stealing them to eat.”

“Angels? Sweets?” Bella said. “I really can’t picture it.”

“I know! The Hermits in the city have diminished appetites and material desires. When it comes to clothing, they do choose whiter, holier, more radiant garments to get closer to the light they worship. But when it comes to food, they truly eat only to fill their stomachs. At this point, aside from bakeries, no other food or beverage shop in the Holy City has any fertile ground to survive on. Would Angels really like candy?” Agnes said.

“Light-Shadow Sprites aren’t even an autonomous race anymore — they’re just energy constructs the Angels use to spy on the mortal world. If Light-Shadow Sprites are stealing candy, it’s absolutely for the Angels. That says a lot,” Melinda said.

“Wait! In the Holy City, I think the only place where Honeyglow Vines grow on the Holyglow Trees is in the Sacred Cemetery!” Evelyn said.

“That’s right! Every time I used to go to the Sacred Cemetery to collect Holyglow Tree sap, I had to sing along with the swaying rhythm of the Honeyglow Vines before they’d move aside. Eventually, I just got too lazy to bother going,” Agnes said.

“The Honeyglow Fruit that grows on Honeyglow Vines can be boiled down into syrup and made into Honeyglow Candy. But the candy is sickeningly sweet, and if you eat too much, your tongue starts glowing, so very few people can handle it…”

Mo Lan spoke while recalling what she knew about Honeyglow Fruit:

“Holyglow Trees are a species the Angels brought to Valen. Originally they only existed in the Holy City, but gradually spread throughout the Sacred Mountains. The parasitic vines that originally clung to the Holyglow Trees mutated, and that’s how Honeyglow Vines came to be.

Honeyglow Vines love to coil around Holyglow Trees as they grow, but they’re not good for the trees at all. The Honeyglow Vines drain nutrients from the Holyglow Trees, causing them to grow slowly and become malnourished.

Normally, Honeyglow Vines only appear on wild Holyglow Trees…”

The witches’ eyes lit up — the familiar scent of gossip had arrived!

“I know, I know! The Honeyglow Vines in the Sacred Cemetery were planted by that Hermit who lives in the cemetery!” Bella said. “Once when I was collecting Holyglow Tree sap, the Holyglow Trees in the cemetery begged me for help. They wanted me to rip off all the Honeyglow Vines, but Luwen stopped me. He said he liked Honeyglow Vine flowers, that he thought they were as dazzling as the Holy Light, so he’d specifically transplanted them from the Sacred Mountains!”

Luwen was the Hermit who lived alone in the Sacred Cemetery.

“Other than him, I’ve never seen a single Hermit who liked Honeyglow Vine flowers. Hermits all share the same tastes — he’s definitely suspicious!” Garona said.

“There are no candy shops in the Holy City. Don’t tell me he’s growing those for the Angel behind his Light-Shadow Sprites!” Camilla voiced what every witch was thinking.

“I’ve decided — I’m going to open a magic candy shop in the Holy City!” Mo Lan declared.