Chapter 1088 – #259_gatpapa – DeepL
#1082
1.
Travel back in time to when Dorothy was seven years old.
After roughly recovering, Xiu made his way to the ‘Vault Bank’ in Ars Magna Town.
The ring Lydia had left with her will.
He would use it to confirm what she wanted to give him.
“Baron Xinxiu. It is an honor to meet you. Would you please wait in the parlor for a moment?”
“Yes, of course.”
Despite its unassuming name, the Vault Bank has a fairly ornate exterior.
All of the buildings in Gehenna’s upper towns are aesthetically pleasing, but this is what it would look like if you spent more money there.
The assets of the Vault Bank are enormous.
In exchange for the secrecy, reliability, and personalized care they provide, they charge their clients storage fees rather than interest.
Wealthy witches preferred to keep their money in a safe deposit box rather than in the real world, where anything could go wrong, so it’s no wonder that after 600 years of Gehenna’s history, the Vault Bank is so wealthy.
Thanks to a loan to start the Hesed Society, Xiu has become a VIP in his own right.
As he sipped his tea in the special clients’ parlor, which was decorated to look like the far reaches of the imperial palace, a staff member appeared.
“Baron Xin Xiu, the procedure for determining the forgery of the ‘key’ you requested has been completed, please follow me.”
Safe Deposit Boxes The most preferred service offered by banks is the personal safe deposit box.
Operating with high security, privacy, and magical preservation procedures, these vaults have a reputation for not showing their contents to anyone in Gehenna.
The authentication process is also very strict, with a pair of keys, one held by the bank and one by the client, which can only be opened by using both keys simultaneously.
The ring returned to you by the well-dressed employee was your ‘key’.
Safe deposit boxes come in all sizes, but Lydia’s was oversized.
It’s almost the size of a large room.
“Take your time.”
The employee bowed politely and retreated.
Despite the vast size of the vault, the only thing inside was a small wooden box.
“Open it.”
I drew my magic into my unwilling body.
There was no guarantee that Lydia’s legacy wasn’t a trap for retribution.
Perhaps a powerful trap, poison, or bond awaits Xiu.
-Click
Keeping my guard up, I open the chest to reveal a few papers, a shiny magnetic card, and an artifact of a round table.
The papers wrapped around the card included an account transfer agreement with Lydia’s signature, identification, account information, and contact information for her personal banker.
The funds, presumably Lydia’s own, totaled about $80 million, split between four Swiss banks.
That’s a lot of money, and it will help fund the Hesed Society, but that’s not what’s important right now.
-Boothruk
Xiu took out Lydia’s will.
With a faint surge of magic, Xiu’s name filled in the blanks of the will.
=Upon confirmation of Lydia Magnus’ death, all children of the House of Angels will be returned to their birth mothers.
=After the death of Lydia Magnus, Cynthia will inherit all rights and duties as Godmother of Las Werpanas, with full access to all funds of the organization.
=All Werpana swear absolute loyalty to Cynthia and will obey her every command.
=If Cynthia’s orders, like Lydia’s, are not respected, the member will be excommunicated immediately.
=Xinxiu’s succession to power is confirmed by the artifact ‘Roundtable’.
.
.
.
In its clerical, dry prose, Xiu could see why Lydia had spoken of “daughters” when there would be no apprentice witches.
Las Werpanas were an elite unit incubated in the House of Angels and blindly following Lydia.
Like the Mafia, Lydia was their godmother and controlled them through a bond that was more than just a hierarchy.
“…….”
This is strange.
Why would she give the handle of her sharpest secret weapon to the man who killed her?
At first glance, it’s just cold, calculated madness, but Xiu sees beyond that.
The second item in the will.
‘Cynthia inherits all the powers and duties as Godmother of Las Werpanas….’ This is the part that struck me.
Not just ‘powers’, but ‘duties’.
Isn’t this the only part of the contract that has any emotion in it?
Maybe Lydia was the last one to show the way for her daughters, who were blindly following her.
“I’m supposed to contact you through this….”
I lifted up the artifact of the round table.
The ’round table’ mentioned in the will.
Roughly a remote communication artifact that could not be traced back, judging by the flow of magic within.
“What?”
The round table glowed in a pale light, and a moment later, a vision began to fill the vault.
A whitish figure, seemingly molded from mist, saw the ring on one of Xiu’s hands and fell to his knees.
“Nairi Dervana, Witch of Heaven. Godmother…. I answer the call of my godfather.”
“…….”
“May you generously forgive my magical rudeness without meeting me in person.”
It was an abrupt turn of events.
But it makes sense.
Assuming this is not a trap, the Godfather of Werfanath will henceforth be known as Xiu.
This apparition here is a guide of sorts.
An illusion so sophisticated that its emotions can be read in its facial expressions.
Nairi looked up at Xiu, her mirror-like eyes reflecting her unwavering loyalty.
“Godfather, may you grant me a kiss of oath.”
But there was a catch.
“But before I do, I have a question.”
“I will answer anything that I know.”
Nairi lowered her eyes and replied in a low voice.
Yes, this is what’s weird.
She understood that Lydia had run Las Werpanas like a family-oriented mafia.
She had named Xinxiu as her successor, and she understood that it had been agreed upon by the rest of the organization.
But it was Xiu who killed Lydia.
Las Werpanas and Xiu are enemies to say the least.
Even with Lydia’s orders, it doesn’t paint a picture of them purely following Xiu.
“The Godmother’s command is absolute, and whoever she names as her successor, it will all be according to her will. You are the rightful heir and successor of Lydia Magnus, the true godfather who will lead us, Las Werpanas, so please give me the kiss of your oath.”
At this point, Xinxiu, who was going to say, “Oh, I have a lot of girlfriends, so I don’t need to kiss you,” was already dead.
I held out the back of my hand, and Nairi crawled to my lap and carefully kissed the back of Xiu’s hand.
“Aaah….”
The teary-eyed look on her face was creepy, like that of a devotee loyal to a cult leader’s successor.
“Mother….”
At the same time, the moment I realized that those tears were not just tears of happiness, but tears of longing for Lydia, my mood turned eerie.
Wiping the tears away, Nairi bowed her head again in silence.
“I’m sorry. I was rude.”
“…It’s okay.”
It didn’t matter.
I’ll take what I can get after this, I decided.
As Lydia had said, now that she was dead, war with Hexenacht was an inevitable task.
To use her ‘legacy’ to stop the war, or at least reduce the damage.
She was prepared to use anything, even Las Werpanas, to do so.
I asked Nairi all the questions I could without getting carried away.
To summarize Nairi’s answers, here’s what she told me
1) The Werpana is a private organization of about 40 witches loyal to Lydia and her now godfather, Xiu, each assigned to a major project at the top of Solidus.
2) However, despite being one organization, they have little information about each other.
3) Even Nairi, the capo, knows only the biographical details of the four members of the House of Angels.
It’s an uncomfortable structure for Xiu to see, but the flip side is that it also means that security is tight.
After all, the invisible sword is the most terrifying.
“That’s what this roundtable is for. Since you’ve called the roundtable, the other capos will have been contacted, and within seven days, all of them will have responded to the meeting. Only you will be able to confirm that aspect.”
“Okay, I understand. If I have any further questions, can I page you on this?”
“Yes, I can call upon Godfather at any time through the magnetic magic ‘Mist Welcome’.”
“Okay, you can go home for the day.”
I don’t fully trust Lydia.
Even Lydia’s reasoning for handing over her inheritance to Xiu is suspect.
But if she’s really going to be Xiu’s faithful hound, she’s not going to have much power.
Even if this is Lydia’s maneuver, she’s used it to its fullest extent and then discarded it.
End of conversation.
Nairi didn’t back down, though, and continued to stare at Xiu.
When I stare at her questioningly, she tilts her head, bites her lip, and stammers.
“If there’s something you want to say, do it.”
“No, I’m sorry.”
“Do it.”
After a few prodding, Nairi bowed her head in contrition and opened her mouth.
“How did your godmother end up…?”
As Nairi asks this question in a thin, trembling voice, without a hint of resentment, I feel a cacophony in my chest once again.
It’s the same reason I can’t seem to get my head around the enormity of the legacy I’ve swallowed.
Lydia and Werfana’s perverse bond.
A love you can’t tell is true or false.
Cynthius served as the pinnacle of a twisted bond simply because he was named heir.
The whole situation seems to turn into Lydia’s voice, asking.
“Do you think you can handle it?
After a long silence, Nairi took the first step back.
“…I’m sorry. I guess that was a rude question, and I look forward to seeing you next time.”
Taking Xiu’s hand in hers one last time and kissing it, Nairi dispersed like mist and disappeared.
Only Xiu remained in the vault.
