The Church's Conspiracy?

Under Celia's scrutinizing gaze, Ansu slowly recounted the details of his interaction with Freya.

He still followed the original 'script'.

That is—Freya was furious at his threat, but she had been caught by her weakness after all.

If she did not want the fact that she possessed an 'impure' lineage to be made public, she had to satisfy Ansu's "special requests."

In the end, the trembling Freya had no choice but to agree.

"Special requests?"

Celia watched Ansu suspiciously. "How special? Your explanation sounds a lot like those novels... where a scoundrel uses some reason to threaten an innocent girl. You are not thinking of doing... that kind of thing to her, are you?"

"Of course not!" Ansu said helplessly.

"I hope to use Freya as a connection to secretly investigate the Church, because I have discovered that the Church's attitude toward the Chosen One is somewhat strange. I suspect there is a conspiracy involved."

"A conspiracy?" Celia frowned.

"Exactly!" Ansu voiced his suspicions. "I have always taken the mission Your Excellency gave me very seriously, and I have tried various ways to find that Chosen One. So, I wanted to probe for some information from the Holy Maiden, but I found... the interior of the Church, as described by her, does not seem to care about the matter of the Chosen One at all."

This clue successfully piqued Celia's interest, and she immediately said, "Go on."

Ansu recalled some of the things he had discussed with Freya. "The Echoes of Truth has narrowed the search range down to the Royal Academy, but as the home of the Chosen One, the Church not only pays little attention to this matter but does not even know that the Chosen One will appear at the Royal Academy. Is this not a bit strange?"

"The Church itself does not know?" Celia was slightly surprised. "This... this is impossible. After all, we obtained our intelligence from within the Church..."

"There is something wrong with the Church!" Ansu stated firmly.

Although it was somewhat of an intentional move to change the subject, Ansu still took his own "destined death" quite seriously. The whole matter was shrouded in mist, and he needed to borrow Celia's power reasonably.

Ansu had long suspected that there was a problem with the Church.

Because he knew the original plot, the Chosen One was supposed to descend during the timeline when the game officially began. How could the cult have found out about it three years in advance?

Celia's expression became increasingly strange.

She pondered for a moment before slowly speaking: "If that is truly the case, then this is very likely..."

"A setup," Ansu said coldly.

The appearance of the Chosen One at the Royal Academy was very likely a performance directed and acted out by the Church itself.

Ansu continued to follow this line of thought. Some mastermind behind the scenes in the Church likely wanted to use this method to lure the snake out of its hole and wipe out the cultists in one fell swoop.

And all those within the cult who knew about this, including Celia, had clearly been deceived.

But thinking about it this way... a problem arose.

The Church's setup was truly a grand undertaking. Why would they choose the Benalu Royal Academy?

This would inevitably result in a large number of innocent casualties, and it might not even be enough to eradicate the entire cult at once. What were they after?

"No, I must report to my teacher immediately!" Celia realized the gravity of the situation.

But then she paused again.

"Wait... I almost forgot, she is still in seclusion. Returning rashly would only alert those elders of the Restorationist faction..."

"We had better investigate secretly," Ansu suggested.

Celia furrowed her brows and fell into a long silence.

Ansu waited silently.

After a long while, Celia's brow finally relaxed a bit. She looked at Ansu and let out a soft sigh.

"You have done well in this matter. If you had not secretly probed the Holy Maiden, I might not have discovered the anomaly in all of this..."

"It is not Your Excellency's fault," Ansu said with a smile. "Compared to magic research and the demon army's treasure, the Chosen One might just be something insignificant in your heart. The reason the cult assigned you to handle this matter was likely at the request of Your Excellency's teacher."

This mission felt a bit like being forced into a task for Celia. With her defiant arrogance, she likely did not care at all about the so-called person who would 'change the world' in the prophecy.

"Hmm." Celia let out a light chuckle. "It was a mission designated by my teacher, after all. It is difficult for me to refuse."

"Then in the future..." Ansu asked cautiously, "Can I continue to have contact with Holy Maiden Freya?"

"This..." Celia paused, her expression looking a bit troubled.

In the end, she could only glare at Ansu irritably.

"So you were waiting for me here? Do you particularly want to continue having private meetings with that beautiful Holy Maiden?"

"Uh..." Ansu somehow caught a faint scent of jealousy.

He carefully glanced at Celia. The witch narrowed her eyes, her expression carrying a hint of suspicion.

"You finally got your wish to see her today and even chatted secretly with her for so long. You looked quite happy, did you not?"

"Not happy, not happy at all." Ansu naturally shook his head immediately. "She is a very difficult person to deal with, very strange..."

And a bit of a female pervert.

The atmosphere remained quiet for a while. Seeing that Celia was only hesitant and did not explicitly object, Ansu continued to persuade her:

"This is indeed a good opportunity. I can threaten her to let my sister attend the Church school, which will give me an excuse to continue meeting her."

"Through her, I can dig out that mastermind within the Church. After all, you do not want the mission Elder Samantha gave you to go horribly wrong, do you?"

Celia was so frustrated she laughed. "You certainly think far ahead! You even took your sister's schooling into consideration!"

Ansu appropriately showed an embarrassed smile, as if his small scheme had been seen through.

Celia let out a helpless sigh. "Fine, I agree."

"However!"

She suddenly emphasized again: "Once the investigation is over, I do not want you to have any more contact with that Holy Maiden."

"Of course, Your Excellency." Ansu breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Since she agreed, he now had a reason to continue meeting Freya.

Plan successful!

After finishing these explanations, Ansu thought the matter was over.

He had originally wanted to borrow a few books from Celia's house to see if he could continue to unlock some magic skills...

But just as he was about to speak, the smile on Celia's face became increasingly strange.

"Wait a moment~"

Those eerie demon blood-red eyes appeared once again, and a faint magical aura began to surge.

Here it comes at last...

Ansu had thought she would not perform the 【Hypnosis】 test on him today.

Fortunately, he had never let down his guard against this vile witch. This person changing her face at a moment's notice was not something that had happened only once or twice.

Like muscle memory, the moment the witch activated 【Hypnosis】, Ansu released Lv2 【Magic Immunity】 on her.

【Selected skill for immunity: Soul Dominion - Hypnosis】

【Once selected, you will be permanently immune to the magical effects of this skill】

Celia watched Ansu, whose gaze gradually became dull as he stood motionless before her, and asked with a half-smile:

"Do you really have no thoughts at all about that Holy Maiden Freya?"

Without hesitation, Ansu answered stiffly:

"Of course not. In my heart, there is only the image of Miss Witch. I will never betray Miss Witch."

Only then did Celia reveal a satisfied look. It seemed that the psychological suggestion during this period had already carved her existence as a deep 'brand' in his heart.

Since he was already so loyal, perhaps such psychological suggestion could be brought to an end...

After asking the question she cared about most, Celia slowly inquired about the topics Ansu had mentioned before.

"Is the intelligence you brought today all true?"

"It is true," Ansu answered.

"Oh..." Celia nodded and remained silent for a moment.

She quietly watched the handsome youth standing close before her. A strange, inexplicable thought suddenly emerged, and she felt like asking something else today.

"Ansu, regarding me..."

"Besides loyalty and admiration, do you really not have any other thoughts at all?"