Chapter 38: Hithlia, Who Has Something on Her Mind

Annie pouted and muttered something under her breath.

After receiving the parchment, she glanced at it, and her expression changed instantly.

In an unknown alternate dimension.

Zorg walked calmly, a peculiar smile hanging at the corner of his lips.

“Church of War… It’s been a long time since I last hunted a Half-god.”

“Perhaps it’s time I pay a visit to the War Fortress.”

“I hope that great Your Highness will indulge me for once.”

He removed his mask, revealing an eerie and alluring face.

“Praise be to You.”

***

That same afternoon.

The busy High Priestess of the Church of the Dawn, Sislia.

After receiving a request from the respected Celestial Goddess early in the morning, she immediately put aside all her duties.

She personally led the Church Construction Team all the way to distant Fos Town in the Dresis Empire.

Sislia wore a set of casual work clothes, her face covered by a strict veil, a shovel firmly gripped in her hand.

She was mixing cement with utmost seriousness and focus.

“Miss Hisiliya… Miss, you’re doing great, yes, for batch No. 52 concrete, you have to stir along the edge like that.”

“You mastered the technique completely after only thirty-four tries. That’s amazing!”

Sislia (with a serious face) nodded, finding nothing dull about it and working with remarkable enthusiasm.

She was thinking.

If she hadn’t grown up in Sin City, perhaps she would have become a construction worker.

At the side.

Annie held the parchment in her arms, helpless.

Watching the Pope so absorbed in her work, Annie spoke up carefully with a tentative smile.

“Pope, could you maybe stop mixing cement for a moment?”

Sislia didn’t even lift her head, scooping shovel after shovel of cement into the wheelbarrow.

Not until the barrow was heaped full did she finally pause.

She then spoke.

“Annie, when we’re not working, please call me by my name. Besides, can’t a Pope do a construction worker’s job?”

“Don’t forget the teaching of my Lady: all are equal.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

Annie’s face twisted like a bitter melon, quietly defending herself.

Pitifully, she handed the parchment in her arms to Sislia.

“Miss Hisiliya, please take a look.”

Sislia raised an eyebrow at that.

But she said nothing, set the shovel aside, and took the parchment for a look.

“A letter from Zorg?”

Sislia pondered for a moment; she felt she’d heard of this person, but couldn’t recall exactly who it was.

She asked.

“Who is Zorg, and why did he write to me?” Sislia looked at Annie in confusion.

Annie was momentarily speechless and hesitated a second.

“Didn’t you say before that Mr. Zorg is our ally? The one who went to the Land of Nature on a different route from us?”

“…So it’s that lunatic.”

Hearing that.

Sislia finally remembered who Zorg was.

For that lunatic who tried to take advantage of the Celestial Goddess, she naturally had no fondness at all.

It was normal to have forgotten.

She was about to toss the letter back to Annie without so much as a glance.

“Wait!”

“Sislia! Please, at least read it through, okay? This counts as part of your duties as the Pope of the Church of the Dawn!”

Annie suddenly sounded a bit annoyed, finally losing her temper for once.

It was the first time Sislia had seen Annie like this, and she blinked in surprise.

But Sislia thought Annie’s words made sense.

So she silently began to read.

The more she read, the deeper her gaze became.

“This is indeed important business. This Zorg is surprisingly reliable this time.”

“The entire group of those outsiders was safely delivered to the Church?”

“Yes, not a single one was hurt.”

Sislia nodded lightly, then tossed the shovel to Annie.

“Help out here for now, I need to meet with Your Highness.”

As Sislia spoke, she contacted Lu Ming in her heart.

A sense of anticipation welled up at the thought of seeing Your Highness again; her heart was itching with impatience.

But, before she could itch for long, a bucket of cold water was thrown over her enthusiasm.

“Your Highness, He declined to meet with me…!”

Sislia felt her heart chill halfway, unable to understand why.

Could it be!

Was it because of that careless “Mother” she blurted out, which displeased Your Highness?

But soon, her cooled heart warmed up again.

“Whew, it turns out Your Highness is just busy, thank goodness… just busy, not because He dislikes me.”

With that reassurance, Sislia relayed all the information about Zorg in full detail to Lu Ming.

But as soon as she finished, Lu Ming simply replied that he understood, then quickly ended the conversation.

And, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about Your Highness during their exchange.

“Why does it feel like someone is holding his weakness hostage? His voice seemed a little weak, like he was enduring something…”

All these oddities made Sislia even more concerned.

It left her stifled and increasingly frustrated.

Annie mixed cement as she secretly watched Sislia.

She noticed the Pope was unhappy one moment, silly with joy the next, then unhappy again.

She poked the Church member pushing the wheelbarrow.

“Hey, do you know what’s up with the Pope? She’s acting so weird today.”

“Bishop Annie, the Pope has been like this ever since you showed up.”

…

Annie silently shifted her gaze away and obediently began shoveling cement.

The Church of the Dawn’s actions weren’t exactly low-key, but they weren’t flashy either.

Still, they drew the attention of quite a few townsfolk, who watched curiously as they worked.

A porcelain-doll-like little girl suddenly noticed Sislia.

She walked over to her.

“Big sister, you look unhappy. Is there something on your mind?”

Sislia turned her head and saw a little girl, unusually pretty and brimming with confidence.

She looked up at her.

“How did you notice?”

“Because my own big sister is just like you. Lately, she’s always hanging her head, looking unhappy.”

“But she hasn’t come home for two days now.”

Sislia froze for a moment.

“But Celia thinks, if something’s on your mind, you should try to talk about it. And if you’re unhappy, try to find a way to make yourself happy.”

She patted Celia’s little head.

Although these words were a bit idealistic—she wanted to be happy, too.

But how could she just go up to the Celestial Goddess and say, “I love you, please accept me”?

She couldn’t imagine how awkward that would be.

What would that make of the Goddess of Dawn?

But even so, Celia’s words gave her some inspiration.

She couldn’t say it directly, but she could drop hints, little by little, to the Celestial Goddess…

Sislia finally smiled, though her smile was a little odd.

***

Within the statue.

Lu Ming fell into deep thought, sensing vaguely that something troublesome—but not entirely bad—was about to happen.

But that wasn’t the main point.

After Sislia reported what Zorg had done.

He was thinking about what to do next.

“That guy is planning to cause trouble at the War Fortress, and even asked Sislia to pass the message on to me.”

“It’s obvious he wants to drag me into this.”

“But, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” In Lu Ming’s heart, a thorough plan began to take shape.

The Church of War and the Church of the Ocean still refuse to behave themselves.

In order to hide their crimes,

they directly sent Half-gods to ambush those outsiders.

“If that’s how you want it, then be ready to be dragged into the mess.”

His own Church should also make its presence known.

Lu Ming glanced toward a corner—the Evil-Eyed Worm’s remains had already fused with the origin again,

soon it would recover to its original state.

And,

the Rule Alteration had succeeded; the Evil-Eyed Worm now considered Lu Ming an absolute master, never to be betrayed.

He reached out, embracing the two women who quietly accompanied him.

“High Priestess Ilena.”

“Yes!”

“High Priestess Naya.”

“Here!”

“From here on, I’ll be counting on you both.”

“Your Highness, but Naya… is already out of strength…”

“That’s not what I meant.”