The shade of the trees lining the road outside the window was rapidly receding under the sunlight.
Even the high-end, shock-absorbing carriage prepared by the Hidden Sea Church was now frequently jolting with bumps.
Unlike the leisurely, almost tourist-like pace during their journey to retrieve the Holy Relics, the return trip was a different story.
Due to the “Blood Tribe attacks the Saintess” incident, under the Sister Superior’s orders, both carriages were traveling at full speed, determined to return to the church headquarters as quickly as possible to ensure the Saintess’s safety.
As for the Sister Superior herself, she insisted on sharing a carriage with Varo, currently embodying the very form of a surveillance camera with her “I’ll be watching you the whole time” attitude.
In reality, though…
Varo was more than happy to share the ride with the Sister Superior all the way back—if she had been in the same carriage as the current Anqi on the return journey…
The loudest thing in that carriage probably wouldn’t have been the bell at the front.
Glancing out the window and seeing the carriage had now entered a smooth section of road, Varo, having previously received Anqi’s permission, openly took out the Holy Relic from her luggage—[King’s Vessel]—right in front of the Sister Superior.
The invisible female ghost’s eyes immediately sharpened.
“Lady Varo, what do you intend to do with that Holy Relic?”
“Touch it, see if it opens or not. Is that not allowed?” Varo turned her head. “Anqi entrusted it to my care. As long as it remains safe and sound, that’s fine, right?”
What she was really thinking was: ‘Right now, besides her, no one else knows the characteristics or activation method of this Holy Relic. Even if she secretly starts the conquest, the Sister Superior in front of her won’t notice, hehe~’
‘Don’t you understand the concept of an information gap, Sister Superior?’
‘What’s the use of being able to fight? Getting by in the world relies on connections and intelligence.’
The corner of the Sister Superior’s mouth twitched. “Lady Varo, if you accidentally drop and break it, I assure you: on the way back, what gets broken won’t just be the Holy Relic, but also your backside.”
‘This old virgin sure has a lot to say?’
Varo completely ignored the Sister Superior’s threat. From the moment she took out the Holy Relic, her gaze had already locked onto the “silver platter” in her hands.
It didn’t look like it could hold many dishes, but this platter was the Holy Relic that would be most helpful in triggering her [Lady Magnet Ending].
The Holy Relic [King’s Vessel], while not as dazzling among the game’s many Holy Relics as the Female Hero’s [Pandora] or Kaika’s [Flower of Fel Energy], was an important relic that experienced multi-playthrough players would seek out as early as possible.
Because the ability of [King’s Vessel] is simple.
So simple it can be described in two words, yet it’s something no player would miss.
[Teleportation]—that is the ability of [King’s Vessel].
The detailed explanation is: it performs fixed-point teleportation based on clear scenes within the user’s memory. In the game, the skill manifests as teleporting the main perspective and those nearby to a designated teleportation point.
It’s said there’s even a little easter egg achievement for “teleportation error, escaping the current timeline.”
Now that Varo has set her sights on the classic ending [Lady Magnet Ending], the prerequisite conditions needed to achieve it—favorability and reputation with important NPCs from all sides—far exceed just the Hidden Sea Church and the Havoc Empire.
For her current self, gallivanting across the world and running all over the map was simply not realistic. Therefore, the teleportation ability of [King’s Vessel] became especially crucial.
So, under the Sister Superior’s defensive glare, Varo quietly focused her attention on the [Conquest Panel] in her vision.
As the possessor of the most basic yet important “teleportation” ability in the game, the conquest method for [King’s Vessel] also differed from other Holy Relics.
It would pose increasingly difficult questions, one after another, from Earth’s online culture. Answer correctly for rewards, answer incorrectly for punishment.
‘Got it, it’s like a brain teaser show.’
After all, it’s a raising sim game. [King’s Vessel]’s questions had no time limit. The only thing Varo worried about was: she couldn’t just Baidu it now and ask the forum experts for help.
Fortunately, the initial questions were very simple.
[The King’s Vessel remains silent, only relentlessly posing questions: How much for the big hammer, how much for the small hammer.]
Eighty, forty.
[The King’s Vessel remains silent, here comes another lucky guy. Continues posing questions: Which game’s chairs can you sit on?]
Meow meow meow?
After a brief moment of confusion, Varo immediately understood: ‘No wonder the elves said they couldn’t guess the boot-up password. If this thing doesn’t want to acknowledge a master, it should just say so.’
‘Playing this game? Well, it’s picked the wrong persimmon to squeeze.’
Varo waved her hand: ‘Genshin Impact, start!’
[The King’s Vessel senses something is off, it still wants to test you! Who is both a donkey and a rabbit?]
Amia.
[The King’s Vessel is sitting up to play games now: How does a rabbit cry?]
‘But I’m not a rabbit.’
[The King’s Vessel is opening its eyes to play! How does a female ghost cry!?]
‘Has the Originium plan not been executed yet?’
[The King’s Vessel accuses you of cheating!]
Varo immediately retorted disdainfully in her mind: ‘The one cheating is you, right? Who in this otherworld besides me could possibly answer these questions?’
‘Not even a monkey on a typewriter could!’
‘Enough nonsense, just tell me if I answered correctly or not? Keep blabbering and tomorrow I’ll use you to serve stinky tofu! Hurry up and increase the favorability!’
[The King’s Vessel remains silent, begins preparing new questions.]
[Favorability: 5%]
[Lv1: Teleport the user and those in physical contact with them to a clear, existing location coordinate within the user’s memory.]
‘Got it! Teleportation ability get daze☆!’
For someone like her, a master of frozen anime, it was but a speck of dust on her clothes.
Happy as she was… hehe, she couldn’t laugh out loud!
Because: the ability of [King’s Vessel] destined it to be something she could only use secretly.
If the Empire side found out, whether she’d be pestered daily as a wishing machine aside, just based on her identity as a member of the Demon Clan, where she wanted to teleport to… wouldn’t be a situation for covert use.
After all: given her current disguise within the Empire, places she genuinely wanted to go—like other civilizations of the Alliance—she would always have future opportunities to find excuses to visit.
But those places she couldn’t go to, like her Demon King’s Castle and the territories of the high-ranking Demons… could only be reached by secretly teleporting with the King’s Vessel.
In the [Lady Magnet Ending], the favorability and reputation with some important NPCs among the Demon Clan were also essential prerequisite requirements.
This was precisely why Varo urgently needed the teleportation ability of [King’s Vessel].
The next moment, the Sister Superior’s scrutinizing gaze and words interrupted Varo’s considerations.
“Lady Varo, your complexion seems a bit off. Are you having some kind of reaction to this Holy Relic…?”
Forcing Varo to look up and manage her expression while thinking: ‘This old virgin’s eyes are really sharp.’
“No, not at all~ Sister Superior, would you like to touch it? This platter is really, really something.”
“No need. If you’re done touching it, could you please return it to our church as soon as possible?”
“Sure~ I just wanted to take a look and then give it back anyway.”
Varo shrugged her shoulders, putting on an innocent expression, and smoothly handed the Holy Relic directly to the Sister Superior in front of her.
The Sister Superior, however, completely didn’t expect her to be so straightforward, and was momentarily stunned!
[Clatter clatter clatter]
The silver platter fell onto the carriage floor.
Then, with a whoosh, before Varo could even blink, the [King’s Vessel] was back in the Sister Superior’s hands, held firmly.
Looking at her, the golden-haired sister wore a gentle smile, her demeanor elegant—where was the fierce, menacing look she had directed at Varo just moments ago?
“Lady Varo, I will take proper custody of the Holy Relic. I will hand it over to the Saintess later.”
“Sister Superior, you just dropped the Holy Relic on the floor. By your own words, shouldn’t you beat your own backside until it bursts?”
“Ahem, ahem… You, you must be mistaken, Lady Varo. Surely my stern attitude has put too much pressure on you, causing you to hallucinate.”
The sister gave a light cough. “I assure you, for the rest of the journey, I will not pressure you anymore.”
Fine!
Now Varo could sleep soundly, without worrying about being shoulder-watched by the female ghost in front of her.
As for returning the hard-won [King’s Vessel] to the church?
Varo wasn’t worried at all—taking the long way around was her shortcut!
Because after obtaining the teleportation ability of [King’s Vessel], to achieve the [Lady Magnet Ending], the thing she most wanted to deal with immediately via teleportation was the internal forces of the Demon Clan.
So why not generously hand the Holy Relic over to the Hidden Sea Church, placing it by her Saintess daughter Anqi’s side? Wouldn’t she be able to access it whenever she wanted later?
‘Wryyy, didn’t think of that, did you, Sister Superior? This is her target route!’
“Sister Superior, the carriage is a bit bumpy. Can I sleep on your lap?”
“Hiss… Y-yes, of course~ Lady Varo.”
The moment she lay down, Varo felt the Sister Superior’s legs, clad in black stockings and garters, trembling with anger.
‘Not bad at all, this lap pillow even comes with a vibrating massage function.’
She slept even more soundly.