Gloomy Depths - Creed

Various signs indicate that the Creed has long been involved in affairs within the Gloomy Depths.
Cedric, a priest posing as an ordinary traveler, doesn't seem as rigid as other Creed Priests in these matters. In him, a rare flexibility can be seen.
Perhaps it is this very flexibility that allows the ecosystem of the Gloomy Depths to endure, while also perserving the Creed's authority.

But based on the available clues, the Creed isn't merely regulating the underground trades here. The Crimson Marrow incident offers a glimpse of what is really going on: although changes in the quality of Crimson Marrow have become common lately, Cedric only fulfilled his duty to warn and didn't press further. But once the matter involved the Cabbage Mission and Legacy excavation, the Creed immediately became alert and cautious.

This was confirmed by Priest Cedric himself. He stated that the Cabbage Mission was digging everywhere under the guise of archaeology, while actually excavating Bapharian Legacies. Though their methods seemed clumsy, they hit their mark every time. He suspected that another faction might be secretly guiding the mission from the shadows.
This makes it easy to understand why the merchants, usually left alone, were targeted by the Creed after partnering with the Cabbage Mission.

Looking back at everything that has happened recently in the Gloomy Depths, an unsettling hypothesis emerges—the Cabbage Mission might have actually found something.
The influence of that something made the Creed nervous enough to search the entire highlands, determined to find it even if it meant looking somewhat ungraceful.
The seemingly chaotic transactions between the merchants and the mission may be nothing more than a smokescreen.