“Fighting is meaningless.”
The Dark Saintess shook her head and returned to the front of the goddess statue to continue her prayers.
The old priests breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly pulled White Feather Dove back.
“Child, you are now officially a Saint Candidate.”
“We will take you to your resting room.”
The old priests led White Feather Dove away from the mysterious Small Chapel and arranged a place for her to stay.
“Tomorrow, come and report to me.”
After they left, the voice of the Dark Saintess drifted over once more.
This surprised the old priests quite a bit. The Dark Saintess was solitary and eccentric, rarely appearing or making contact with others.
Now, she was actually willing to teach the child skills? This was wonderful news.
“This is great, child. Her Eminence the Saintess is willing to become your Instructor,” the old priest said.
“I have my own Instructor. I cannot take anyone else as my Instructor,” White Feather Dove said in a dead serious tone.
“How can you be so rigid, little one? Just learn as much as you can. No one said you had to perform a formal apprenticeship ceremony.” The old priest was left with no temper by her stubbornness.
What the old priests arranged for White Feather Dove was a mini chapel.
Since she was the only one living there, it could be called extremely luxurious—only the top-tier apprentices were qualified to stay in such a place.
The large Dormitory buildings nearby had to house several magic apprentices each, and they even had to share a Magic Workshop. Their treatment was very average.
A Magic Workshop was vital for a Magician. Any important research data would be stored inside.
Therefore, one could not be officially called a Magician without their own independent workshop; at most, they were just people who had awakened Magic.
When White Feather Dove, a strange girl wearing a suit of light knight armor, arrived and immediately received her own independent mini chapel, those snobbish magic apprentices were dumbfounded and utterly confused.
“Can I go back?” White Feather Dove asked.
“Child, you are a Saint Candidate now. I know you are worried about your companions. We will help explain things to the Old Hero. She will surely be proud of you, but you cannot leave the Magic Department whenever you please. Don’t worry, though; we have vacations. You can go back and visit when you are on Vacation,” the old priest explained.
“Alright…” White Feather Dove felt like she was in prison.
Even though she was only a candidate, she was given plenty of importance.
This was because sometimes simply becoming a Saint Candidate meant one had already soared to the top; one didn’t necessarily have to become the Saintess.
Thinking carefully, the current Saintess was something of a zealot.
She was merely the enforcer of the Holy Church’s combat power and their public face; she wasn’t needed to manage the Holy Church.
The Saint Candidates, on the other hand, could take a step back and help manage the Holy Church and handle official business.
Consequently, several Purple Bishops with actual power and strength were former Saint Candidates. Even one of the female Cardinals had once been a Saint Candidate.
This was considered a major characteristic of the Holy Church.
Many high-ranking female Saintly Officials had once been overshadowed by a Saintess, but since the Saintess didn’t manage anything, she was just a mascot for the Holy Church.
It was somewhat like the Hero, who couldn’t participate in internal politics. If their strength was too great, things would fall into chaos.
White Feather Dove sat down in the Small Chapel and felt an immense loneliness. Fortunately, she was a Magician.
Sitting down to begin Meditation allowed her to kill time.
—
Back at the outskirts of Saint Lisha Academy, Heiqi Long was doing exceptionally well within the Holy Knight Order.
Her daily classes involved thrashing the Knight Apprentices, and they even had to thank Heiqi Long after getting beaten up.
Heiqi Long’s strength was far too great, but the Knight Apprentices didn’t feel like anything was wrong. Didn’t they suspect her identity at all?
One could only say that the identity of the Hero was effective. Because she was the Hero, no one doubted her strength.
Qingshamu was simply slacking off, waiting for her daughter to explore and find the Holy Sword on her own. This matter couldn’t be rushed.
If White Feather Dove found clues about the Holy Sword, she would naturally come back to find her.
It could only be said that having a daughter who was too reliable wasn’t always a good thing; it left Qingshamu with nothing to do.
“Knock~ Knock~ Knock~”
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
The person who arrived gave Qingshamu a fright. It was actually an old acquaintance, her former teammate, the priest Camilla.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were back?” Camilla, dressed in a set of magnificent Saintly Official robes, asked with a smile.
“I…” This question really stumped Qingshamu. For a moment, she didn’t know how to answer.
“Won’t you invite me in?” Camilla asked.
Qingshamu brought Camilla to the adjacent courtyard and brewed a pot of tea for her. She brought out some low-level snacks for her to try.
Camilla reached back and pulled out a box of Senior Snack, inviting Qingshamu to eat something better.
“I heard you went off to perform a secret mission.” Camilla ate a biscuit and asked, “Was the mission successful?”
“It was successful, but I can’t tell you the details of the mission,” Qingshamu said.
“I heard you were removed from your position as a Hero, but you brought back a New Hero.” Camilla asked.
“Mhm.” Qingshamu nodded.
“Coincidentally, my status as a Saint Candidate was also removed,” Camilla said.
“Why?” Qingshamu asked.
“Because I have already become a Bishop candidate. I was never suited to be the Saintess anyway. The Saintess needs to be a Magician, not a priest,” Camilla laughed.
“That’s a good thing.” Qingshamu congratulated her and poured more tea.
“Our other teammates have their own paths for the future. Soke joined the management of the Adventurer’s Association, and Sonia joined the Central Sanctuary Knight Order. We might still see each other in the future,” Camilla said emotionally.
“Mhm.” Qingshamu nodded.
“You look like you have something on your mind,” Camilla asked.
“Removing your title and having you here as a Swordsmanship instructor is very unfair. If you want to resist, Sonia and I will definitely help.”
“You’re overthinking it. I’m very satisfied with the current arrangement,” Qingshamu said. “What about you? Why did you come here?”
“I’m responsible for bringing the Saint Candidates from the Central side to report,” Camilla explained.
“Saint Candidates from the Central side?” Qingshamu questioned. “Is it time to choose a Saintess?”
“What are you talking about? I heard one of your disciples has also become a Saint Candidate.” Camilla covered her mouth and laughed.
“Pfft~” Qingshamu sprayed a mouthful of tea.
“What are you doing?” Camilla cried out in surprise.
Qingshamu hadn’t received this news herself. Those old priests kept their mouths shut tight; she didn’t even know her own child had become a Saint Candidate.
This was a problem. A Half-Dragon mixed-blood had become the Hero, and a Weapon Demon had become a Saint Candidate. None of the “Human Race War Gods” were actually their own people.
“But your disciple might not be able to sit securely in the position of Saintess. The two young magicians I brought are very powerful. They are genius magicians found by the Central side,” Camilla said.
“Found? They weren’t raised by the church? What kind of magicians are they?” Qingshamu suddenly felt a hint of something being wrong.
“They were arranged for the Holy Church by a mysterious magic clan. I don’t know the specific details. They are a Fire Magic user and a Frost Magic user,” Camilla said.
“They wear veils the whole time and don’t easily reveal their faces.”
Hearing this, Qingshamu’s heart inexplicably skipped a beat.
—
And at this very moment, another even more miraculous thing happened…
That was Feini, inside the coffin in the adjacent room, finally waking up.
As the Main Character, she had slept for so long that it really messed up the pacing. Now that she was waking up, something big was bound to happen.
However, Feini felt like she was a zombie. Although her consciousness had returned, her body was incredibly stiff.
She could only lift her fingers. She felt like her internal organs were dried up, which was very uncomfortable.
And why was she lying in a coffin? Had she been buried alive? She felt a bit of resentment. Baicheng, Little Black—when were they going to dig her out?
Since she couldn’t do anything else, Feini could only lie in the coffin and wait for her body to recover.
But waking up now of all times meant the world was definitely about to change.
It seemed her mind was still very sharp and her Rationality Value was quite stable.
She felt that if she didn’t make an appearance soon, everyone would forget about her.
Knock knock knock~ Knock knock knock~ She lightly tapped on the coffin with her fingers.
However, Qingshamu was still reminiscing with her old captain. Otherwise, she would usually be staring blankly next to the coffin.
……
After a long, long time, Feini was tormented to the point of exhaustion.
“Are you leaving now?”
“I have to return to the Royal City. I can’t stay here for long. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
Qingshamu finally finished catching up with her friend.
She saw Camilla off and returned to the small room, where she immediately heard a series of faint tapping sounds coming from inside the coffin.
“Feini?” She was greatly startled and immediately went over to open the coffin lid.
Then Qingshamu saw Feini lying there, staring blankly with her eyes wide open.
She was so moved that two lines of tears immediately flowed down, and she was at a loss for words.
Feini also didn’t expect that the first person she would see upon opening the coffin would be Qingshamu.
“You’re awake?” Qingshamu’s opening line was also quite something. She reached out to help Feini up.
But Feini was like a dead fish, her body stiff and weak, unable to get up at all.
“Are you okay?” Qingshamu could only let Feini lean against the edge of the coffin.
She brought over a pillow for her to lean on and asked worriedly.
“Water…” Feini struggled to move her lips and barely managed to spit out one word.
Qingshamu immediately went out to pour a cup of water and fed it to Feini.
“My children…” Feini asked again.
“The children are all here,” Qingshamu said.
Hearing this, Feini felt much more at ease and slumped there to rest.
Qingshamu helped check her condition, using Moonlight Mana to scan Feini’s body.
But Feini’s body hadn’t improved at all. It was still a broken shell heavily damaged by the Enflamed Fist.
However, her consciousness had recovered, which was a good thing, even though she was currently a vegetable in every sense of the word.
Qingshamu lifted Feini from the coffin and placed her on the bed nearby so she could lie down more comfortably.
Then she told Feini everything that had happened since she fell unconscious.
“Thank you,” Feini whispered her thanks.
“You’re welcome.” Qingshamu sniffled, feeling that all her efforts along the way had been worth it.