“It feels like the number of believers in this city suddenly dropped by more than half.”

Inside the Church’s exclusive carriage, Liya quietly lifted the curtain concealed beneath Holy Light and looked out toward the streets beyond.

As the Saintess’s carriage passed, countless believers still lined both sides of the road to welcome her, kneeling in prayer with devout expressions as they begged for miracles from the Goddess.

But compared to the overwhelming spectacle in Liya’s memory—when she had entered the city three days earlier and half the city’s traffic had practically ground to a halt because of her arrival—the current scene was nowhere near that scale. It looked less like mass worship and more like fanatics chasing after some famous celebrity.

There were still many praying believers.

Yet compared to the fact that nearly ninety percent of the city’s population worshipped the Life Goddess, the current numbers felt strangely abnormal.

Far too few.

As though fully half the believers had suddenly changed faith overnight and thrown themselves into another god’s embrace.

“Perhaps they finally realized what kind of perverted Saintess you really are and lost faith in both you and your Church.”

Across from Liya, An still maintained her usual elegant, flawless maid posture, sitting straight-backed with perfect composure. Her eyes remained closed, as if she had no interest in unnecessary conversation at all. She only ever spoke when an opportunity arose to mock the Saintess.

At the moment, An wore a Church nun’s habit.

It suited her remarkably well.

The fitted black-and-white dress outlined her graceful figure, and when she stood beside Liya, even without the obvious aura of Holy Light, almost nobody would doubt her identity as a high-ranking nun purely because of her temperament.

“Who are you calling perverted?”

Liya puffed out her cheeks unhappily.

“To use such vulgar language to slander the Saintess is punishable by death, you know?”

“Oh? Did I slander you?”

“If I’m perverted, then what are you? Once you get into it, you’re way crazier than I am.”

“Next time you say that, perhaps look in a mirror first, Saintess. Take a look at that slutty little ass of yours twisting around more shamelessly than the cheapest whore.”

“You’re one to talk—”

“We’re here.”

Before Liya could fire back again, An opened her eyes. Her cold gaze swept out the carriage window.

The carriage gradually slowed along with her words before finally stopping in a district packed with cramped, low buildings that resembled a slum.

“Hmph.”

Now that they had arrived, Liya could hardly continue arguing about that sort of topic. She rubbed her face hard, and when Holy Light transformed into a thin veil covering half her lovely features, her eyes instantly filled with divine compassion and sacred purity.

An glanced sideways at her and sighed softly.

On the bed, she was a cute girl unsatisfied with desire.

Off the bed, she became the holy and noble Saintess of the Church.

With a woman like this, it was no wonder even Young Master could not resist her attacks and ended up completely bewitched by her.

She truly was a formidable enemy.

Most importantly, she was immune to poison, protected head-on by the Church’s Holy Light. Even after spending so much time around her, An still had no way to make a move.

It was extremely troublesome.

But she would never give up.

Cleaning the vermin and trash away from Young Master’s side was the duty of an excellent maid!

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

Sensing An’s gaze, Liya glared right back at her.

“Nothing. I was simply wondering how exactly I should dispose of a pest like you.”

“Then you’ll be disappointed. In the end, the winner will definitely be me!”

Liya waved her little fist provocatively.

After yet another verbal clash, the two finally stepped down from the carriage.

The instant they emerged, the waiting crowds lining both sides of the narrow streets dropped to their knees like a tidal wave.

“Ah... Saintess...”

“The Saintess who embodies the Goddess... please grant us your blessing...”

“Saintess...”

The people’s prayers were sincere and pleading.

Yet mixed among them was an enormous amount of noise.

“The Goddess is useless. The one who can truly grant us divine grace is the Black Sun...”

“That’s right. The Black Sun—the Black Sun is the god truly worthy of worship...”

The voices were hushed low.

But at such close range, how could they possibly escape Liya and An’s hearing?

“The Black Sun... this must be Young Master’s handiwork again.”

An’s eyes flickered as she instantly sensed the connection.

“Yes. Muen always gives us the most unexpected ‘surprises.’”

After finishing the blessings, Liya rubbed her temples and gave a helpless bitter smile.

From information revealed later by some of the “Black Sun believers,” the Church had already roughly pieced together what had happened in this city.

They also understood that perhaps it was that “Black Sun” which had saved the city.

But when faced with a god completely absent from all historical records, the entire Church could not help growing tense, terrified this might be some Evil God wearing a new disguise while setting a long fishing line for bigger prey.

Within the Church, the matter of Black Sun worship had already become an issue surpassing even the cathedral’s dereliction of duty. Several important figures had argued for three straight days without reaching any conclusion.

“What’s the Church’s current stance?” An asked.

“They’re still discussing it. But don’t worry. There are probably very few people inside the Church who know about the relationship between the Black Sun and Muen, so no matter what happens, the fire won’t reach him for now.”

“Only...”

Muen was temporarily safe. He could continue sleeping peacefully.

But as the Saintess, Liya now had a splitting headache.

Saint Blancfazesiya had once possessed a massive concentration of believers in the Life Goddess, yet overnight, countless worshippers had suddenly changed faiths.

At any point in history, that would have been enough to shake the entire continent.

It could even damage the Church’s authority itself.

Fortunately, thanks to the Imperial army sealing off the city, the matter could still be discussed behind closed doors for now, preventing too much embarrassment for the Church. Furthermore, believers of the Black Sun had not yet formed any systematic organization. The faith still spread quietly underground. The Church remained in observation mode, and with another hidden voice subtly covering for them, they had not yet been officially placed on the Tribunal’s heresy list.

“But no matter what, this is when I, the Saintess, have to work a little harder.”

Liya sighed.

“No wonder I was wondering why the Church was already so desperately short on manpower, yet still allowed a Saintess like you to wander around freely.”

An looked at Liya seriously, somewhat surprised.

“I thought your only talent was shaking your ass. Didn’t expect you to actually be this responsible.”

“...It’s my duty.”

Rarely, Liya did not argue back.

She seemed to have completely entered her role as Saintess. Every movement carried a profound sense of warmth and closeness.

She spread her hands, and warm Holy Light radiated outward.

Many people in this impoverished district wore sickly, hollow expressions, yet beneath the glow of Holy Light, visible color gradually returned to their faces.

Liya even imitated what her Saintess mentor once did, personally treating some gravely ill patients so these pitiful people—who could not even afford medicine—could be reborn anew.

“Thank you, Saintess. Thank you, Saintess...”

Those blessed by her grace bowed repeatedly in gratitude. Some even burst into tears.

Through tear-blurred eyes, the gentle girl standing not far away appeared utterly sacred and immaculate.

She wore a flowing white dress like divine feathers fallen into the mortal world. Her figure was breathtaking, yet inspired not the slightest trace of lust. Just like her title—Purity—that absolute purity instead filled people with shame.

It felt as though she might leave the mortal world at any moment, ascending to those lofty heights before the seat of the gods, never again touched by even a trace of filth.

And the girl standing behind the Saintess was much the same.

Though she lacked the same holy aura, the dignified elegance displayed on her flawless face naturally inspired the belief that she too must be a devoted servant of the Goddess.

“Ah... truly worthy of the Saintess...”

At that moment, even some whose faith had already faded could not help quietly sighing in admiration.

“By the way, what exactly did we come here for?”

While Liya continued distributing blessings, An surveyed the slum and found nothing particularly unusual.

“The Empire sent word that large-scale unrest broke out among the lower-class residents here. They couldn’t handle it properly, so they asked the Church to help calm things down,” Liya explained.

“Unrest?”

An carefully examined the traces left in the muddy ground.

“There definitely was trouble here. Looks like a fight between two gangs.”

“Let’s ask.”

Liya called over an elderly man. The old man became so overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement that he nearly dropped to his knees to kiss Liya’s shoes.

Liya sighed helplessly and used a breeze to gently lift him upright before questioning him carefully.

The answer came quickly.

“You mean this was just two small gangs fighting over food?”

“That’s right.”

The old man nodded vigorously.

“Not far from here, there’s a warehouse that used to belong to one of the nobles governing this district. Nobody here dared touch it before. But when the Imperial army entered the city, that noble apparently went mad and tried to assassinate the Imperial Empress.

“So the noble died, and the warehouse was left unattended. A lot of people in this district started fighting over it.”

“Assassination...”

Liya frowned slightly.

The Church had received no news whatsoever about this.

Which meant... to the Empire, the assassination attempt had not even been worth mentioning.

Thinking about it carefully, that made sense. The Empire had marched a full hundred thousand troops into the city, and numerous powerful figures surrounded the Imperial Empress—including someone like Duke Lorne.

A mere Kingdom noble probably never even reached the Empress’s carriage.

“A Kingdom noble brave enough to attempt assassination. How rare.”

Beside her, An let out a cold laugh.

“I thought all Kingdom nobles were useless drunks and fat pigs.”

“That’s hardly absolute. There are good ones and bad ones everywhere. Who knows?”

“That’s true enough. But regarding this matter... isn’t the Empire making a mountain out of a molehill?”

“What do you mean?” Liya turned toward her.

“Does this even qualify as unrest?”

An pointed at the marks on the ground.

“This is nothing more than gang fighting among small-time trash. Things like this happened all the time even in Belrand’s Lower District before.

“So this isn’t some uprising challenging public order. It’s internal conflict. No matter how large it gets, it won’t seriously affect anything.”

“...Really?”

Liya also sensed something wrong now.

If left unchecked, a bloody clash between two gangs at a time like this could indeed grow into a larger problem.

But at the moment, it was still nowhere near worthy of being called “large-scale unrest.”

And certainly not important enough to require the Saintess herself.

“Then why would the Empire formally report this to the Church?”

An rested the back of her hand against her smooth chin and pondered for a moment before asking:

“Who delivered the message to the Church?”

“The woman serving as that woman’s personal affairs officer. I think her name was Veil.”

“So in reality, the message came from that woman herself?”

“Exactly.”

Liya nodded.

“The Church took it seriously precisely because she personally delivered the message.”

After all, when the Imperial Empress personally informed the Church that unrest had broken out somewhere and assistance was required, the Church naturally could not afford to neglect it.

Yet in reality, the so-called “unrest” was merely gang warfare.

It looked dramatic on the surface, but would never truly affect anything.

If there was one actual purpose behind it, then—

“Not good!”

An’s expression suddenly shifted.

“We’ve been tricked!”

“Huh?”

“Hurry back!”

“What about the unrest? We already came all this way...”

“If we stay to deal with it, that’s when we truly fall for it. Do you have any idea how many gangs large and small exist in this city? Just understanding their structure would waste most of your day!”

“...You mean this was deliberately arranged to keep the two of us stuck here?”

Liya was not stupid. She understood immediately.

And almost instantly, she realized something even deeper.

If anyone else had used this sort of scheme against them, then naturally the suspicion would be an attempt against the Church’s Saintess.

But the one who made the move was that woman.

There was no way she intended to tear relations with the Church apart.

Which meant her goal could only be one thing!

“She’s trying to sneak ahead alone!”

Liya clenched her tiny fist so tightly it went rigid.

Her natural instincts regarding matters like this made her reaction unbelievably fast.

If she did not still need to preserve the dignity of the Saintess, she would already be jumping around cursing that shameless little thief-cat!

Actually trying to lure them away so she could monopolize him alone!

Shameless... absolutely shameless!

“Leave this place to the others. We’re going back first!”

“Understood!”

An’s face turned icy.

She hated herself for once again failing to stop that pest from approaching Young Master.

Meanwhile, beneath Liya’s veil, her cheeks puffed up furiously again.

She utterly despised anyone hogging things for themselves—especially when they did not bring her along... no, when they selfishly monopolized things!

The two exchanged a glance and instantly understood each other’s thoughts.

For now, they would temporarily put aside their conflict and unite against that shameless thief-cat first!

“We’re leaving!”

They did not even bother with the carriage anymore.

Liya directly summoned Holy Light and swept both of them into the sky above the city.

Like a streak of light, they came fast—

and vanished even faster.

“Wah...”

Only the dumbfounded old man remained behind.

Watching the Saintess’s figure disappear completely beyond the horizon, he swallowed hard and muttered in a trembling voice:

“This is bad... this is really bad... For Saintess to be in such a hurry... she must be going to handle something unimaginably serious!”

But what exactly that great matter was, someone with his ordinary mortal understanding naturally could never comprehend.

The old man simply leaned on his cane and hurried toward home.

If even the Saintess treated it with such gravity, then an ordinary old man like him absolutely could not afford to get involved.

Perhaps...

when the time came, even the entire city would tremble because of it.