As the setting sun vanished and dark clouds and haze turned the sky somber, Valo followed Finney into the small chapel on the second floor of the Clock Tower.
Under the cover of night, there were no invisible ghost nuns in habits suddenly popping out from the corners of the chapel this evening.
Finney quietly closed the doors.
After confirming with utmost seriousness that the area was safe and they were alone, she led Valo slowly toward the stone statue of the Goddess at the very front of the chapel.
“Mama, when the sun rises tomorrow, I hope you will forget everything you are about to see.”
After saying this, the young girl took a deep breath and reached out to touch a specific spot on the Goddess Statue.
Accompanied by a surge of magic similar to a fingerprint scanner, the stone statue moved aside with a dull rumble.
A passage leading diagonally downward became clear as the holy candles on both sides lit up one after another.
Valo was very obedient — she didn’t even spare a glance at how Finney had activated the hidden switch.
She knew how to do it even with her eyes closed.
There were certain [Hidden Areas] in Valorant that could only be opened under special conditions, and this one in the chapel on the second floor of the Clock Tower was a classic.
In reality, an observant student in the tower could have noticed something was off.
While the ceiling height of the ground floor was that of a normal house, the ceiling height from the second floor onward was nearly double…
This was because a mezzanine secret room existed between the first and second floors. The Great Sage had been quite the civil engineer.
“Please follow me, Mama.”
As the Goddess Statue slid back into place, Valo followed Finney down the stairs, hearing nothing but the sound of her own breathing and her daughter’s.
The secret room was illuminated by the bright yellow light of the candles, and the air smelled of old wood.
Though it was called a secret room, the ceiling was simply lower; its total area was nearly the same as the chapel above.
There were no tables or chairs, only candelabras and various ritual supplies.
It was quiet, heavy, and oppressive — everything was filled with a cold, majestic sense of pressure.
From the moment she stepped into the secret room, Valo felt an uneasy sensation of being watched.
She knew exactly where that feeling came from.
At the end of the red carpet, a pendant was suspended quietly on a stone pedestal.
It looked exactly like the Millennium Eye from Yu-Gi-Oh, and its eye-shaped silhouette was pointed directly at Valo.
The Hero’s serious voice rang out at that moment.
“Mama, this is the [Goddess’s Eye] I mentioned to you.”
Valo nodded. Her bad premonition had come true — Finney wasn’t just trying to scare her; she had actually brought her to a lie detector.
The [Goddess’s Eye] was one of the Holy Relics in the game.
One of its abilities was to listen to the statements of anyone who met its gaze, peering into their hearts to distinguish truth from falsehood.
However, the Goddess’s Eye could not speak; it could only provide a binary judgment of “Yes” or “No.”
If a question wasn’t clear, situations like this would occur:
“Are you a duck?”
“No. (Down the hatch!) Because I’m a pelican.”
At this moment, Valo clenched her small fists, her palms already slick with sweat.
Facing a lie detector, it would be a lie to say she wasn’t nervous.
She wasn’t worried about her identity as a transmigrator… Just how high would Finney’s “cheating” parameters have to be for her to even ask a question like that?
What she was worried about was this: in a situation where she couldn’t hide behind lies and could only answer with a “Yes” or “No,” what if her answer triggered Finney?
What if it caused a misunderstanding that maxed out Finney’s [Justice Value]?
What would she do if she triggered the matricide ending right then and there, where the daughter kills her kin for justice and then takes her own life?
Time wouldn’t wait for her!
Finney had already begun to urge her.
“Mama, please look into the Goddess’s Eye and answer my next questions.”
Finney’s voice was trembling slightly, as if silently proving that the girl herself was incredibly nervous!
“If the Goddess’s Eye proves you aren’t lying, then I will believe you have no ulterior motives.”
‘What do I do, what do I do!?’
‘Should I try to charm the [Goddess’s Eye] so the Holy Relic goes easy on me?’
However, the moment Finney took a deep breath and asked her mother the first question with an extremely serious attitude, Valo realized something.
“Mama, is there any thought in your heart about reviving the Demon Clan and becoming the Demon King again?”
…
…
‘Did I overthink this?’
‘The question is that specific?’
She had just been worried that Finney would ask a “death trap” question like “Mama, are you hiding something in your heart?”
She had been outplayed by a novice. It seemed the Hero was only thinking on the simplest level.
“Mama?”
“Ahem!” Valo puffed out her chest and looked directly into the Goddess’s Eye.
She wasn’t panicked at all anymore. “I don’t have a single thought of that, Finney.”
She naturally didn’t need to lie because she hadn’t taken the Holy Relics for the sake of revenge or reclaiming a kingdom.
She just wanted the protection of the Holy Relics to avoid a Bad Ending. She wasn’t a duck because she was a pelican.
The [Goddess’s Eye] immediately glowed with a golden light — this meant the speaker had told the truth!
Beside her, Finney’s body swayed, and her gaze was visibly shaken!
But the girl immediately gritted her teeth and persisted, asking the second question in a trembling voice!
“Mama… your care and concern for me… do you have ulterior motives? Is it so… that I won’t have the heart to crusade against you? Is it to turn me against my cause!?”
‘Huh? What kind of bizarre question is that?’
Though confused, Valo’s answer was even faster.
Without even thinking, she shook her head. “I’m not, and I don’t.”
Her attitude toward the Hero from start to finish had only one goal — severing her identity as the mother.
As for “ulterior motives,” failing every point on a trick question was its own kind of success, wasn’t it? If the hacks weren’t off, they were on.
The Goddess’s Eye lit up once again.
But this time, the girl beside her didn’t even look, as if she already knew the answer in her heart.
Valo breathed a sigh of relief. She had passed every part of the lie detection.
Half the credit for passing the test so smoothly went to the two strange questions Finney had asked. As it turned out, all the girl cared about was whether Valo was a good mother who cared for her daughter without any alternative motives.
In that case, she was incredibly honest. Until she officially severed her mother-daughter relationship with Finney, she was absolutely a good mother.
“Finney, does this prove it to you?”
Looking at the silent girl, Valo spoke in a gentle tone, smiling as she leaned in to comfort her.
She was waiting for Finney to cry and shout, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have doubted you, Mama!” before diving into her arms. Then Valo would say with a smile, “It’s okay, Mama doesn’t mind.”
It was the perfect script for motherly love and filial piety.
Her favorability with Finney would probably skyrocket!
However, the response she got in the next moment was the girl’s frantic, panicked breathing!
Inside the [Nurturing Panel], Finney’s [Justice Value] was like a roller coaster! One moment it climbed to the max, and the next, it dropped to 0! Back and forth, pulled between extremes!
“That’s right… that’s great.”
“But it shouldn’t be like this. She is the Demon King, a Demon King who took the Holy Relics… and I should be fulfilling my mission… Ugh…”
Before Valo could figure out what was happening, Finney muttered a few more words and then threw off Valo’s hand, running away at full speed!
By the time Valo snapped out of it, Finney had already sprinted out of the secret room, leaving her alone with the [Goddess’s Eye].
Three eyes stared at one another in the silence.
‘No, wait, my daughter?’
‘I haven’t even gone out yet!’
‘Are you using the same routine you used on the Great Sage on me now?’
She hadn’t even opened her mouth yet. What kind of internal conflict was Finney going through?
‘Is this some kind of special worry only a daughter could have?’
In that instant, Valo truly felt the powerlessness of being a mother who couldn’t handle her daughter.
‘Sorry, Great Sage. I spoke too loudly about you before.’