Affiliation

Chen Miemie arrived at the gates of Sixiang City, where a trade caravan was already waiting for him.

The Candle-Shadow Trading Company was a newly established merchant association founded by a witch from the Moon Book Hall. On the surface, it dealt in ordinary goods, but in reality, its purpose was to deliver the resources needed to help the Seventh Seat grow in Sixiang City.

Half of the fifty people in this intercity caravan were witches.

“Greetings to the Third Seat Descendant. I’m Steamstill, the acting head of the Candle-Shadow Trading Company.” A blond witch stepped forward to greet him.

She had shoulder-length blond hair and looked to be in her thirties. Her gaze was sharp, and her clothes were plain, unlike those of other witches, who were usually covered in jewels.

Chen Miemie had never met this witch before. “Hello. You got here quickly. Have you found a place to stay?”

“We’re part of the witches’ armed forces, so we travel relatively quickly. We’ve already bought a base and can move in immediately.”

Chen Miemie nodded. “Is there anything you need my help with?”

“We can handle everything else ourselves. The main issue is communicating with the municipal government of Sixiang City. After all, we’re a large armed force from outside the city, and we’d like to establish a secret society.”

Witches had no shortage of wealth, resources, force, or manpower. The only thing they needed was official permission from the local government.

“All right. Leave that to me. Wait here for now.”

At City Hall.

Commander Sun was handling official business.

He had been in a good mood lately, and soothing music was playing in his office.

His secretary knocked and entered. “Commander, Chen Miemie is here to see you. He’s waiting outside.”

Commander Sun’s heart gave a jolt.

Here it comes, he thought.

“Send him in.”

Chen Miemie entered the office. “Old Sun, I’ve been out there for several months. I’ve missed you terribly. Here, I brought you a gift.”

The gift was a beautifully bound set of books from the Moon Book Hall.

Commander Sun knew at once that this meant trouble. “We’re on the same side. Just tell me what you want.”

“I have some friends who want to settle down and develop their business in Sixiang City. They’d like to establish a secret society, so I came to handle the paperwork.”

“Hasn’t the May-the-Moon-Endure Society already been established? Why do you need another one?”

“This time, they’re witch friends.”

Commander Sun was caught off guard.

“You’re not here representing the anomalies, but the witches? What are witches doing here?”

“Listen to yourself. We already have a Grand Witch in our city. She holds one of the seats representing human witches.”

Commander Sun curled his lip. “So what if she’s a Grand Witch? If they want to develop, they should go to the Moon Book Hall.”

“I don’t quite understand. Why does Sixiang City seem to be suppressing witches? Wouldn’t having a Grand Witch born here be a force we could unite with?”

Commander Sun’s expression turned solemn.

“It isn’t just Sixiang City. It’s almost every human city.

“All human cities are polite toward the Sun-Moon Church and the witches on the surface, but most secretly lean toward suppressing them.

“Human witches were born from humanity. We can let them live in our cities, but we don’t want to rule alongside them. Even the Moon Book Hall, which has such deep historical ties with the witches and is known as their ‘second capital,’ is full of conflicts.

“Humans don’t trust other races. We don’t even trust faith. We only trust ourselves.”

Chen Miemie nodded to show that he understood. “Fine. Then process the paperwork quickly. They’re still waiting outside the city.”

“No, I just spent all that time telling you that we’re unwilling to accept them.”

Chen Miemie nodded again. “You explained it clearly, and I understood you perfectly. But you don’t have to treat them as witches. Treat them as one branch of my new anomaly race. Then the problem you mentioned no longer exists.”

“They’ve really joined the new race?” Commander Sun pretended to look shocked.

“It’s me, Chen Miemie, who came today—not that Grand Witch, Amber.”

Commander Sun paced back and forth across the room several times. “You can go through with it if you insist. But as you said, their society must be affiliated with the May-the-Moon-Endure Society.”

Chen Miemie knew nothing about the finer points of the procedure. “What does ‘affiliated’ mean?”

“It means their society will be a branch or subsidiary society of the May-the-Moon-Endure Society. If they cause any trouble, the May-the-Moon-Endure Society will be held responsible as well.”

“What’s the point of doing that?”

“Chen Miemie, I know you want to copy the Moon Book Hall’s system and create an integration of the three races. But every city is different. You can’t force the same model everywhere.

“Witches are different from anomalies. As far as humans are concerned, everyone knows that anomalies are the inevitable trend of the New Era. Their strength is overwhelming, and no one can oppose them. But witches aren’t nearly as powerful. People aren’t afraid of them. If you let them come and take a share of the pie for no reason, everyone will resist.

“If you want integration, then integrate them completely. As you said, place the witches entirely within the new anomaly faction and tie them to it permanently. If you agree to that, I’ll process the paperwork right now.”

The problem had been thrown back at Chen Miemie.

“I don’t have a problem with it, but the witches will have to agree.”

Commander Sun smiled. “The witches have made such a grand entrance outside the city. Do you really think the city commander doesn’t know about it? Chen Miemie, their first stop in Sixiang City was you, not Amber. What do you think that means?”

Chen Miemie realized what was happening a moment too late, and an instant headache struck him.

He cursed inwardly: Chenpi, Silence, what kind of people did you send? They start causing trouble the moment they arrive.

While he had been at the Moon Book Hall, he had already learned that most witches did not recognize the current Seventh Seat and obeyed only Silence’s orders. He hadn’t expected the people sent here to be just as rebellious.

Chen Miemie felt as though he had already boarded a pirate ship.

“Fine, fine. Do it. It’s already come to this anyway.”

Commander Sun smiled. Only then did he take out the documents he had prepared long ago and stamp them with the official seal right in front of Chen Miemie.

Chen Miemie: …

That old fox. So the documents had already been prepared—he had just been waiting to trap me into agreeing.

“Chen Miemie, this is good for you. Tying the witches to you will increase your influence within the new race. It’s good for you, good for the witches, and good for Sixiang City.” Commander Sun grinned cheerfully.

Chen Miemie took the documents and his eyes shifted.

Instead of leaving the city immediately, he pulled out his watch and began calling for reinforcements.

He messaged his old classmate, Mian Ruyan:

Great Emperor Ruyan, I need to see your sister Amber. Urgent, urgent, urgent. Let’s meet at the entrance of your family’s Red Leaf Auction House.

Fifteen minutes later.

At the entrance of the Red Leaf Auction House.

After several months apart, Chen Miemie saw his blind-date partner again.

Mian Ruyan had actually come too.

“Chen Miemie, you’re so aloof. Your second date invitation took several months to arrive,” Mian Ruyan mocked.

Chen Miemie immediately shot back, “It’s more than a date this time. I brought the betrothal gifts with me. And what are you doing here? This is an adult matter, so stay out of it, kid.”

Mian Ruyan glared at him. “Is that how you talk to your future sister-in-law? Believe me, I can tell everyone about all the embarrassing things you did back in school.”

Chen Miemie immediately fell silent.

He didn’t remember anything about his school days, and he had no idea whether Mian Ruyan was telling the truth. He had no confidence to argue with her.

“All right.” Amber patted Mian Ruyan on the head. Then she turned to Chen Miemie. “What do you want with me?”

“Amber, there’s a group of witches outside the city whom the Moon Book Hall has sent to bolster your forces. Since you’re not strong enough yet, they’ll need to be affiliated with my society for now. I won’t interfere with them. What do you think...?”

“Sure.” Amber smiled brightly.

Chen Miemie was a little surprised. “You’re really that trusting? These people will be the foundation of your power in the future.”

Amber didn’t seem to mind. “Right now, both I and the Mian family need to focus on ourselves. When we’re not strong enough, there’s no point worrying about too many other things—we wouldn’t be able to do anything about them anyway. We might as well devote ourselves to improving our strength.”

“That’s true. Very wise.” Chen Miemie approved.

In Chen Miemie’s eyes, Amber’s biggest problem was her lack of strength. She was still too young, and remained stuck at Mystery 5. For a Great Witch, that level of power was simply embarrassing.

In theory, the Seventh Seat’s Great Witch should be the strongest among all human witches. Even if she wasn’t number one, she should at least rank among the top three.

Amber let out a faint sigh. “I wanted to try breaking through last year, but the family couldn’t afford to be left unattended. If I failed, my useless little sister wouldn’t be able to hold down the fort.”

Mian Ruyan flew into a rage. “Who are you calling useless?”

“Who else? You graduated six months ago, yet you spend every day at the auction house handling logistics. What a slacker of a little sister.”

Seeing that the sisters were about to start bickering again, Chen Miemie hurriedly cut in.

“Working behind the scenes has a future too. Mian Ruyan, why don’t you join the society behind me and come work with me?”