“It’s here! Hurry!”
The squad leader shouted to the other city guards as he rushed ahead toward the source of the sound. He was a little scared. What he feared wasn’t a potential criminal, but that if something unexpected happened in his jurisdiction, he might lose his position and be punished.
In the Royal City, where every inch of land was precious, every step was exceptionally difficult. He had been on duty here for many years and only now secured the position of squad leader.
When the squad leader and the other guards under his command saw the scene beyond the iron gate, he felt a different kind of fear for the first time. It was a living hell.
Seven or eight corpses lay scattered haphazardly, two or three heads rolling on the ground, blood flowing through the cracks in the floor, and a pile of unrecognizable flesh barely distinguishable as once forming a human figure. A night wind swept through, carrying a nauseating smell of rust.
“Ugh…” One of the guards behind him covered his mouth with his gauntlet and gagged.
Not just that guard, but the hands of the others holding weapons trembled somewhat, the clanking between gauntlets and sword hilts especially noticeable even in the noise. The Royal City might indeed be worth its weight in gold, but such atrocious murders almost never occurred here.
Now the instigator of it all, a silver-haired girl covered in blood, still stood here holding a sword. At her feet, a girl in a black-and-white nun’s habit had collapsed into a heap, her fate unknown.
“Quick, go inform the other lords!”
The squad leader quietly ordered the guard beside him. The guard immediately ran outside as if relieved, but with a hint of reluctance in his glance back. Maybe this would be the last time they would see each other in this life.
The squad leader thought this, but led the guards swarming into the courtyard.
“Don’t move!”
The guards drew their swords and stood, their gleaming blades pointing at the blood-soaked girl.
The girl let out a sigh, causing all the guards to unconsciously step back. Any slight movement seemed enough to snap their taut nerves—such was her oppressive presence.
The girl raised her sword hand, but the blade didn’t swing at anyone—it clattered to the ground.
“It’s been a while since soldiers pointed swords at me.” The girl muttered, then looked up and raised her voice. “Stop pointing, I’ll go back with you right now. Just remember to have someone check these guys’ identities.”
Some people already recognized the girl’s face. Even if they didn’t, the Golden Leaf hanging on her chest was enough to prove her identity.
Thump, thump. The guards all knelt down.
In the squad leader’s lowered gaze, he could only glimpse the girl’s blood-stained shoe tips, but he let out a long sigh in his heart. At least his life wasn’t in danger anymore.
Lita tilted her eyes and sat on the bench in the church’s reception room, resting with her eyes closed. Of course the guards wouldn’t take her to prison—not even their boss, the guard captain, had that authority. Oh, right, that man sitting beside her seemed to be under maximum pressure just from sharing a room with her, even stealing glances at her from time to time.
The reason was understandable—her status was very high now. If she were sharing a room with a big leader who was resting with eyes closed, she’d be nervous too. Moreover, she was still wearing that bloodstained dress, having only wiped the blood off her hands and face with a hot towel, and covered her possibly unsightly bloodied clothes with a cloak.
The sword she had picked up stood by her foot—even if it might be an important piece of evidence, she wouldn’t feel safe coming onto Church territory without a weapon.
Lita still didn’t know what attitude the Church held toward her or the other princesses, but since she had killed a nun, it was only natural to discuss it on Church grounds. If they planned to harm Lilia, Lita actually wanted to rescue her a bit. Lilia was annoying, but kicking away a problem as soon as it appeared was a childish way of doing things. It would be best if they could resolve it in a more peaceful manner.
If she saved Lilia’s life, even if they didn’t turn hostility into friendship, she could hold it over her for the rest of her life. If Lilia tried to repay kindness with enmity, she’d have to think twice.
But compared to Lilia, Lita felt the Church was even more annoying. She couldn’t say exactly why, but no matter what she did, it felt terribly awkward.
‘Maybe it’s because holy magic is super effective against me?’ This time, Lita really experienced her race’s trait—poison and mental attacks were almost useless against her, but she didn’t even want to touch holy abilities. Even a little nun could do this much; what would she do if the Church leader threw Holy Light at her? So it was better to stay calm—there was no way she could fight her way out of a place like this with brute force.
After waiting a while, the reception room door opened, and two cardinals in red escorted a young girl as they slowly walked into the room.
“Pleased to meet you, Lady Lita. My name is Zefilan, a Cardinal.”
“My name is Shalibeier, a Cardinal.”
‘Whew, quite the turnout.’ Only one person would be escorted by two cardinals.
“Lady Lita.” The girl in the middle slowly began. “My name is Bai, Saintess of the Holy Church.”
Lita looked at the girl anew. Just like her name, the girl was white all over—white skin, a white variant nun’s habit, and even her long hair was as white as snow.
‘There it is! A character with the same weird appeal as me! Isn’t white hair in this world supposed to be exclusive to me?’
Complaints aside, Lita still stood up, hiding her bloodstained clothes, and bowed respectfully to the three. Then the three sat down one by one, settling directly opposite Lita.
The Saintess’s status was actually somewhat similar to that of the Holy Knights—theoretically infinitely high. However, Holy Knights obeyed the royal family, while the Saintess obeyed the Pope.
Holy Knights were actually plentiful, while there was only one Saintess. By the way, the Saintess’s status was actually not lower than the Pope’s, theoretically even higher, but the Pope was the actual administrator, while the Saintess almost never participated in matters large or small.
Sending the Saintess to negotiate with her showed that the Church placed great importance on this matter. But in reality, her side was the same.
Not long after, Cecilia slowly entered the room escorted by a man and a woman. The three took turns introducing themselves. Although Lita’s impression of those two was vague, she did know them. The man was named Zan’en, and the woman was named Nata—both were Crest Knights. After Lita’s previous battle with Xingxian, it was Nata who treated Lita.
Apart from the two groups who just entered, there were also some people Lita didn’t know sitting in on the proceedings. She had no idea what role they would play. But just this setup made Lita realize the matter was even bigger than she had imagined.
The nervous guard captain immediately stood up and frantically organized a stack of reports in front of him.
“Everyone, the identities of the deceased have been investigated. Eight of them have hidden true identities, but their other well-known identities are quite famous. These are elite assassins known as the ‘Eight-Claw Spider.'”
The guard captain introduced the backgrounds of the dead in order. They sounded impressive enough, but when she had taken them down in one go, she hadn’t felt they were that strong.
“And the last one…” The guard captain hesitated, his gaze drifting toward the Church representatives opposite.
“The last deceased is named Chun, a nun who joined the Church at age five.” Cardinal Zefilan introduced the last victim.
From his words, Lita could extract two key points. First, this nun was really from the Church, with a decent status and considerable regard. Second, she joined the Church at age five and was loyal, with no reason to attack Lita.
This was strange. Weren’t these words clearly saying that this was what a Church person did? But Lita still had to suppress these doubts and first tell her own account at the table.
“What Lady Lita says is reasonable. That property is indeed Church property, but the Church has no plans to sell it temporarily. Chun should not be the person in charge of such matters.” Zefilan pondered for a moment and replied.
“But she did open the door for me, and immediately after I was attacked. If I hadn’t been more skilled, I would be the one lying there.” Lita argued.
“Lady Lita, I may sound a bit rude, but these are only your words and cannot be verified.” The other cardinal, Shalibeier, said. “Moreover, Chun’s cause of death is suspicious. According to the Church’s investigation, she died from mental magic.”
‘So annoying. This is the one thing I can’t explain.’
The nun named Chun wanted to kill her and knew her secret—Lita couldn’t leave her alive anyway. It so happened that the other party used mental magic, her own specialty, and even used Soul Connection to temporarily link their souls. Lita had no choice but to reluctantly tear the other’s soul apart.
“We cannot imagine why a devout nun proficient in mental magic would die by mental magic instead. Lady Lita, do you happen to possess similar magic?” Zefilan’s eyes were sharp, his gaze peaceful but revealing deep distrust.
‘How should I answer this? Saying yes won’t do, and saying no doesn’t seem right either?’
“Lord Zefilan.” Nata, the female knight among the two accompanying Crest Knights, spoke. “If Lady Lita possessed such magic, she would probably have used it in the duel.”
Directly questioning a Crest Knight like that was indeed inappropriate. Shalibeier immediately tried to smooth things over. “Lady Lita, we naturally would not hold you accountable just because a nun died. However, we also will not let a devout nun die in vain.”
‘Isn’t that exactly holding me accountable? If I hadn’t become a Crest Knight, they probably wouldn’t be so polite!’
The Saintess Bai, who had been silent all along, raised her pure white eyelashes. “A Holy Knight should not be treated with such disrespect.”
Lita’s heart tightened. ‘She spoke? So this one wasn’t just here to act as a presence?’
“Enough.” Bai said, a faint light slowly rising from her palm. “The truth will be known with a simple test, won’t it?”