The next day, the sun rose as usual, leaving all troubles behind in the night.
The assessment was basically over, and Cecelia didn’t have much left to do, so she naturally had a few days off.
These days off were also because the examiners themselves needed rest. After trekking over mountains and rivers repeatedly, even if the examinees weren’t tired, the examiners certainly were.
Dorothy was still as elusive as ever, and Angus was busy out of his mind yesterday due to the possible beetle invasion. In contrast, Cecelia had nothing at all to deal with.
“Let’s rest a few more days in Sorus City. Once the results are out, we’ll have to leave.” Cecelia instructed. Although Rita had already heard these words, her mood now was completely different.
During the day, Rita first returned to her own room, carefully organized the clothes Cecelia had bought for her, and then took a good nap to recover her spirits before officially heading out.
Rita’s first stop was to visit Promi. On the way back, Promi had already discovered the recording stone was gone, and everyone had taken turns comforting her, saying things like it was already good enough to come back alive.
Although Rita had used her succubus powers to save Promi, she still felt a little guilty for ruining Promi’s assessment. She could only hope everything would go smoothly.
Promi was staying at a high-class hotel in the city; the rooms were on par with the guest rooms of the city lord’s mansion, or perhaps even better.
Speaking of which, Rita had been curious about why Cecelia stayed in that regular inn on the first night. It was only after she herself had stayed there that she realized it was just an ordinary inn.
“It was a last-minute decision. Besides, staying there for a night wouldn’t cause any trouble. If others found out I entered the city, I definitely wouldn’t have had a peaceful first night.” What she said made some sense, but what was past was past, and Rita didn’t dwell on it.
When Rita arrived at Promi’s room, she saw Promi was already up and had packed most of her things, just waiting for the assessment results to leave.
Seeing Rita, Promi was momentarily surprised, but quickly invited her in.
“Rita, what brings you here so suddenly?”
“I came to check on you.” Rita sat on the sofa. “How’s your injury?”
Promi lifted the hem of her clothes, revealing her flat little belly. The gruesome wound that should have been there had now completely disappeared.
“Much better. I asked a Nun from the Church to heal me. I’ve almost fully recovered now, though I still need to rest for a few more days.”
“The Church? Isn’t their healing free?” Rita thought of the rather large Great Cathedral in Sorus City, a place she had never visited, and didn’t know much about.
She only knew that during that one night in Sorus City, many soldiers had received the Church’s aid, and she was sure it was free of charge.
Originally, Cecelia had wanted Rita to receive treatment as well, but at that time, Rita hadn’t suffered any injuries, and as a succubus herself, she didn’t want to go to such a holy-sounding place.
Besides, she never liked places like the Church anyway.
Before coming to this world, Rita had once been dragged into a church to attend a lecture, but she’d fallen asleep within the first five minutes.
When it ended, they handed out snacks, but told her, “You haven’t been baptized, so the sacrament won’t be given to you,” and didn’t give her any.
So Rita never had any fondness for churches, and she carried that bias into this world as well.
And anyway, what’s with all these Archbishops and Popes—if they aren’t at least bosses in a game, it’s a waste of the Church setting.
“Of course not. Although the money doesn’t end up in anyone’s private pocket, Healing Magic isn’t free. Ordinary Lesser Healing Spell can only heal minor wounds. For an injury like mine, only a Greater Healing Spell would work…”
Alright, here we go again with Promi’s familiar explanations. In short, there are several types of healing spells, and the stronger the effect, the better.
Anyone who’s played an RPG would know this!
After the healing topic, Rita finally steered the conversation back to the thing she most wanted to know.
“Your recording stone is gone, so about the assessment… what will you do?”
“No idea, I’ll just leave it to fate. But… maybe there’s some backup plan or something?” Promi’s mood sank. Rita could tell she was also quite troubled.
“It should be fine, right? Lady Cecelia will surely see everything clearly. After all we did, there’s no way we’d be disqualified, right?” Rita tried to comfort her.
Since there was so much trickery in the Holy Knight assessment, and so many people had run away, there’s no reason why she and Promi—both with high scores—shouldn’t pass.
“But do you really not remember what happened back then? Without the recording stone, just my account isn’t enough to explain the situation.”
This was Rita’s main purpose for coming here.
It was a bit awkward to just come and ask, but she really didn’t have a better way.
Just watch for any hints—see if Promi acts strangely!
But of course, there was nothing odd.
“I just remember everything going black, then I didn’t know anything. Later, I woke up in some pitch-dark place. I only remember you were beside me, we talked about something, and then I lost consciousness again. The next thing I remember, I was already on the way back.”
Hearing Promi say that—whether true or not—Rita felt most of her worries fade away.
After bidding Promi farewell, Rita wandered around the city for a long, bored while, then headed for her next target.
“Ahh! This place really does have the best beer! Just drinking the cheap beer I brought, my tongue was getting numb!” Momoka leaned back, drinking heartily from a wooden mug of the pub’s recommended beer, then slammed the mug onto the table.
Rita sat smiling across from her, drinking along and watching her target enjoy herself.
Unlike Promi, Momoka was easy to get talking—Rita just had to wait.
As expected, before long Momoka was completely drunk, swaying sleepily in her chair.
Rita seized the chance to ask her about their battle in the forest. Momoka, without reservation, poured out all her thoughts.
From Momoka’s words, it was clear she was telling the truth, without exaggeration or hiding anything.
“Sigh… What a shame. I thought I finally had the chance to personally hunt that succubus! But she still got away. At that time, even Albert teamed up with me… Such a pity! I don’t even know where that succubus came from.”
“So, didn’t Albert analyze the succubus’s information with you? Like where she might be hiding? Could she have come back to Sorus City?”
“We thought about it, but couldn’t figure it out at all. We just know she’s the… the mastermind behind that assassination… those bugs… Yes! She’s the real culprit behind it all!”
Sitting in the tavern, and out of nowhere, she gets blamed!
“And, Valphis—has she also fallen victim? If I get the chance, I’ll avenge her!”
No, absolutely not. At the moment, Rita couldn’t think of any creature that could possibly make Valphis fall victim. If anything, there was a certain succubus who’d ended up crying ‘Mama, what does this mean’ after running into Valphis.
Though Momoka’s words were a bit disjointed, Rita still received her dissatisfaction loud and clear.
Now that she was this drunk, Momoka definitely wouldn’t hide anything, and from her tone, Albert didn’t seem to have any suspicions about Rita, either.
Phew, this side is safe too—thank goodness.
“By the way, Momoka, why are you so obsessed with hunting succubi? It doesn’t seem like you just want to protect the people.”
“Huh? You saw through me?” Momoka gaped, then took another huge gulp of beer. “Actually, I have a secret past…”
Cecelia had mentioned Momoka’s family background was a bit unusual. Seeing how much she hated succubi, Rita almost imagined some drama like, “Our Noble Family declined because of a succubus!”
“My old man, for some reason, got obsessed with succubi, and spent all our money on… succubus brothel services… I really don’t get what’s so great about succubi!”
The details were a little different, but Rita’s imagination wasn’t far off.
It was just that Rita didn’t know how rich Momoka’s father actually was—otherwise, she’d be crying out, What a waste of wealth!
Although, after this, she might just want to shout at Cecelia: Not enough money, we need more!
“Wait, succubi can do brothel work? Aren’t they high-level demons?” Rita spotted something odd.
If there was a way she could just live openly among humans, wouldn’t she have to stop living in fear, always hiding?
“There is! As long as a Slave Mark is put on them, there’s no creature that can’t be controlled. Succubi are especially expensive, too,” Momoka replied.
No, that won’t do—absolutely not!
After finishing their drinks, night had fallen, but Rita felt more relaxed than ever.
Her secret being exposed wasn’t something she had to worry about for now. Aside from Albert, who was hard to approach, the other two witnesses weren’t at all suspicious of her, and those two recording stones were lost in the wilderness—no one would find them.
Now, she could go home and get a good night’s sleep.
Wait, no—not just a good night’s sleep. There was something even more important to do. She still hadn’t properly looked into what Valphis had left her.