Amidst her sighs of relief, Celia gradually recalled the man's final words before his death.
“The Abyssal Order... Is that the organization planning to assassinate me?” she speculated inwardly.
“Come to think of it, why do they want to kill me? Is it because of my identity as the Saintess, or is there some other secret I'm unaware of...?”
After pondering for a long time without finding any clues, she shifted her attention to the black robe lying on the ground.
“It wasn't burned by the flames... Could this also be a spiritual item?”
With that thought in mind, Celia opened the notes she carried with her once again. As expected, several lines of text emerged on the pages:
“This is a spiritual item from the Silent Order. Its origins can be traced back to the end of the Second Epoch, a period when the Great Cataclysm occurred, Beyonder loss of control surged, and the Silent Order gradually rose to prominence.”
“The function of this item is to lower your presence to a certain extent. However, if your presence is perceived by someone or accidentally exposed, the item will temporarily lose its effect. Sacrificing this item will grant you 50 spirituality points. Do you wish to sacrifice it?”
Well... No wonder his concealment immediately failed after she controlled a passerby to give him a shove earlier. So that was why...
Speaking of her ability, it was actually just a brief manipulation of people's consciousness, forcing them to perform actions that aligned with her expectations. However, this manipulation had a range limit; the further the distance, the shorter the duration of control, and it was completely ineffective against the dead.
If the target was a Beyonder, whose mental strength far exceeded that of ordinary people, the effect of the control would be greatly reduced. At most, it would cause them to lose focus for a brief moment. The higher their rank, the weaker the influence.
At that time, she only wanted to test her ability and annoy him in the process, since he had been standing in roughly that same spot during the previous loop.
Who would have thought that a blind cat would find a dead mouse? Not only did she locate him, but she also ended up breaking his concealment!
However, this item was still useful to her for now, so she was in no hurry to sacrifice it.
After finishing her calculations, she glanced at the lantern the man had dropped not far away.
“Excuse me, if an item was sacrificed in the previous loop, will it still exist and function in a new loop?” Celia asked.
“Yes.”
“In that case, can I sacrifice that lantern again?”
The text on the pages paused for a moment before appearing once more:
“You can, but the spirituality points returned will suffer a loss compared to before.”
“How much of a loss?”
“Eighty percent.”
Ugh... Then forget it. She felt that this spiritual item was still useful to her, so she would keep it for now!
With everything settled, the only things she remained unclear about were the dual-pathway and the Abyssal Order that the man had mentioned. However, there was no rush. She could always ask the notes later or gather information from those religious zealots. There would always be a way to find out.
Now, she should head back. Rena was still waiting for her!
...
At the cathedral entrance, Rena saw Celia returning and immediately waved, smiling. “Where did you go just now? What took you so long?”
“Well... on the way, I ran into a black cat catching a crazy rat. I got a bit engrossed watching them and accidentally lost track of time!” Celia began to talk nonsense with a completely straight face.
“Huh? Have crazy rats appeared in our area again?”
Hearing the words “crazy rat,” Rena's expression stiffened visibly. She asked somewhat nervously, “What happened to the rat now?”
Ah? She was actually afraid of rats? What exactly did she slice and dice back when she was a knight then?
Celia found it a bit amusing, but she maintained her innocent and carefree facade on the outside.
“Heehee, it's already been eaten by the black cat! Not a single trace is left!”
After saying that, she did not forget to wink at Rena.
“Oh, oh, that's good. That's good.”
Perhaps touched by some painful memory, Rena suddenly fell silent, staring blankly at the cross atop the cathedral.
Right at that moment, the morning prayer bells rang out, distant and ethereal.
Hearing them, Rena understood that Celia had to go pray. She smiled warmly, took a half-step back, and said, “I should be going too!”
“Mm, goodbye, big sister Rena!”
But after taking a few steps, Rena suddenly paused, turned around, and earnestly warned Celia, “Right, about the mental illness cases I mentioned earlier, you must be careful. Some people in the Knight Guard suspect that this might not be an ordinary disease. Perhaps some kind of special power really does exist in this world!”
“Mm-hmm.” Celia nodded obediently.
She would definitely be careful. After all, she had already solved them very carefully!
“Also, make sure to watch out for places like the slums, dark alleys, and abandoned docks. There might be strange things or strange creatures there, so try your best to avoid them.”
“Mm-hmm.” Celia nodded again.
What normal person would go to those godforsaken places anyway!
“And another thing, don't drink the river water, and eat less of the black bread given to you by strangers. There have been many cases of food and water poisoning lately... Oh right, remember, you absolutely cannot go to the black market. They sell a lot of contraband there, and it's extremely dangerous!”
Sigh, big sister Rena, why are you acting like my nagging mother... Celia listened with a blank expression.
However, she quickly put on an impeccable smile once more and nodded vigorously yet again.
“Then I'm really leaving. See you next time, and make sure to stay safe!” Rena urged repeatedly.
“Okay, okay.”
Watching Rena leave, Celia finally let out a helpless sigh. “Sigh, I have to go pray again...”
With a face full of despair, she turned and entered Saint Sophia Cathedral.
The interior was already packed with people of all walks of life. There were dark-skinned peasants dressed in linen shirts, wealthy merchants in fine clothing with coin pouches hanging from their waists, and nobles wearing wool semi-circular capes adorned with family crests.
The altar screen painting flickered with light under the flames of candles big and small, with smaller candles surrounding the larger ones, filling the candelabras.
In this city, the people seemed to possess an extremely fanatical faith in the Church of Life. Regardless of their identity or status, they would come to pray every single day without fail.
Once the cathedral was full, they would kneel in the plaza outside. In fact, as long as the bells rang while they were on the streets, pedestrians would immediately halt and kneel.
Weaving through the dense crowd, a dejected Celia made her way to the inner side of the altar screen and closed the door.
Feeling a bit warm, she lowered her hood, casually picked up a piece of fruit from the altar, and began to eat.
Sigh, whenever she was in a bad mood, eating some of the Goddess's fruit made her feel much better... This seemed to have already become a habit of hers.
As for what the Goddess thought, who cared!
A few minutes later, Celia finished eating. Gathering her long pink hair that reached down to her mid-back, she finally began to recite the prayer:
“Merciful Goddess of Life, thank you for granting us our daily bread and peace.”
“We pray that you protect every life in this city, that the sick may be healed, and the weary may find rest.”
“...”
“May your radiance forever shine upon the path before us...”
Rate on N.U.
