The Origin of Lamia

"Lamia?" Hearing this name, Lady Closfia was somewhat surprised. She gave Ebner a puzzled look, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Where did you hear this name?"

Ebner, already prepared, handed her a photograph and briefly recounted his adventure with Judy, Carl, and the others in that valley.

As a high-ranking member of the Church of the Earth Mother, Lady Closfia was clearly qualified to know the details of that operation.

Of course, Ebner deliberately omitted the parts about the "Cursed Tudor Badge" and Mr. Azik.

Lady Closfia carefully examined the group photo while listening to Ebner's account. Finally, she nodded and said, "So that's how it is... I understand now."

After speaking, she scrutinized Ebner once more before organizing her thoughts and explaining:

"The woman in this photo is indeed Lamia... and the man, if I'm not mistaken, should be Giuseppe Castia.

"Lamia was an orphan, taken in by the Life Church in Feynapotter City as an infant. She was a natural-born 'Druid' and joined my husband's 'Desolate Ones' team after coming of age..."

"Wait!" Ebner suddenly interrupted, "You said she was an orphan and also a natural-born 'Druid'?"

Is she the abandoned child of some demigod or angel? A illegitimate child? But would a figure of that stature care about reputation? Or is there some other big figure involved who needs to keep this hidden? Or is there some other secret?

For a moment, the tragic stories of protagonists like "Xu Zhu" and "Yun Feiyang" from martial arts novels flashed through Ebner's mind.

"I know what you're suspecting... In fact, many people in the church were dissatisfied back then, hoping that a certain figure would step forward and take responsibility. After all, abandoning a baby is a serious violation of the Earth Mother's teachings and a desecration of 'life' and 'new birth.'

"But in the end, the Pope suppressed the matter, and afterward, all the higher-ups stopped investigating Lamia's origins."

At this point, Lady Closfia didn't elaborate further and instead continued:

"After joining my husband's team, Lamia grew very quickly, though she was somewhat reclusive. Aside from my husband, the team leader, she didn't get along well with others, as if she had some emotional deficiency...

"Well, these are all things I found out later by asking around, so they might not be entirely accurate... After all, she was fifteen years older than me, and I never actually met her.

"Then, when she was around twenty, she suddenly left the church and the 'Desolate Ones' team, disappearing without a trace... But strangely, the church's higher-ups seemed to tacitly allow this act, which was akin to betrayal. Aside from my husband's team privately searching for her, no one else pursued the matter.

"Later, thirty years ago, Lamia suddenly returned to the church with a child she claimed was her adopted son. After leaving the child and several notebooks containing her experimental findings, she left again... and there has been no news of her since."

This aligns with what I already knew, but there are more details now... Also, the attitude of the Earth Mother Church's higher-ups toward Lamia seems a bit off... Does she have something special about her? Could she be the child of a corrupted angel from the church?

But no, if that were the case, she wouldn't have been given so much freedom. At best, she would have been imprisoned underground in the church for life...

Lost in thought, Ebner asked curiously, "The man in the photo is Giuseppe Castia? You know him? Who is he?"

"Giuseppe is the older brother of the current Earl of Seville, the eldest son of the old earl, and a member of the Feynapotter royal family... Well, in terms of seniority, he should be my nephew... although I was only four or five years old when he disappeared." Lady Closfia pointed at the photo and added, "I only saw him when I was a child, but aside from his eyes being different, he hasn't changed much..."

So Lady Closfia, your original surname is 'Castia,' and you're also a member of the Feynapotter royal family... No wonder, even as a high-ranking member of the Earth Mother Church, you were able to join the 'Psychological Alchemy Association's' council and become 'Miss Sloth.'

After all, her identity itself holds significant value to be exploited.

"But... disappeared? Why did Giuseppe also disappear? Is there any connection between his disappearance and Lamia's?" Ebner thought this and asked it outright.

"Speaking of which, Giuseppe's disappearance and Lamia's vanishing did indeed happen in the same year... though Giuseppe's was slightly earlier... But there should have been no connection between the two of them, and no one ever linked the two incidents... However, this photo now shows that their relationship was far from ordinary."

Staring at the photo in a daze, Lady Closfia recalled for a moment before continuing, "I remember the royal family conducted an investigation and found that Giuseppe had obtained a clue about something, so he secretly went to Backlund but never returned...

"Who would have thought he might have eloped with Lamia?"

At this point, Lady Closfia's eyes sparkled with curiosity and a desire to investigate.

Ebner, however, fell into deep thought. He had previously speculated whether the man in the photo might be a transmigrator brought by the "Pure White Eye," and that Lamia's "calligraphy" and the special plants she cultivated might have been influenced by him.

Following this line of thinking, Ebner gradually pieced together a hypothesis:

The clue Giuseppe Castia obtained was likely related to the ruins where the Red Angel resided. Therefore, after going to Backlund and entering those ruins, he naturally met his demise...

After his death, the power of the "Pure White Eye" descended, implanting a transmigrator into Giuseppe's body, much like how Dennett, killed by the "Rose School of Thought's" indulgence faction, was "resurrected."

He picked up the "Cursed Tudor Badge" in those ruins and managed to escape.

Then, he encountered Lamia, who had left the church, and they secluded themselves in that valley near Bayam?

But this final deduction... seems a bit far-fetched...

As Ebner pinched his chin in thought, he heard Lady Closfia say:

"By the way, when Lamia returned to the church for the last time, aside from submitting some of her research findings, she also handed over the seeds of a special plant to my husband...

"That should be the prototype of the clone Judy sent to find you."

Clone... Plant Lady...

Ebner furrowed his brows, and a sudden flash of insight struck him, as if he had grasped a crucial connection. He couldn't help but ponder:

Wait, Lamia didn't know Giuseppe before, and she didn't leave the church immediately after Giuseppe disappeared...

Let's make a bold assumption here... What if she left after the transmigrator arrived? What if her target from the very beginning was the transmigrator?

The special plant used to create clones...

Hmm... I remember something. In a book I read in my past life, it mentioned that the name Lilith was translated as Lamia in the Latin Bible's Book of Isaiah... This book also described Lilith as the initial... prototype of the vampire progenitor...

Add to that the Earth Mother Church's strange attitude toward Lamia...

Could it be that she is actually an avatar of that ancient god?!

(End of Chapter)