"This…"

Koranda looked troubled. She truly didn’t have decisive proof. If she dared to confront the Church of Night and Thunder, she most likely would never get back.

Knowing the Bountiful Church’s nature, they would not only refuse to help her, they might even apologize to the Church of Night and Thunder instead.

As for Loren going with her, Koranda did not believe Loren would truly take her side. Even if Loren did help, only she would get into trouble; Loren would be politely escorted back to the Bountiful Church.

"I did see a witch, I saw her use her Arcane Ability with my own eyes…"

"Here we go again. I know you hate witches, but you can’t pin every problem on witches. Falsely reporting military intelligence is a grave crime. Bring real evidence before making accusations."

Those who could have testified for Koranda had all been killed by Loren yesterday, but given Koranda’s rank, her words still held weight and could be considered evidence.

That was only true if Loren didn’t deny it. If Loren said she was lying, then she would be lying.

Koranda felt miserable as if she had swallowed excrement. She felt like a child in a horror film: no matter what she said, the adults would smile and say, "Such an imaginative child," then ignore her.

"Alright then, anything else important?"

"The attacker yesterday was a Robed Figure. Other than that, I don’t know anything, not even the attacker’s gender.

"He annihilated us using only two spells. Before that he used an unknown spell that hit me, and I felt like I couldn’t move…"

Koranda carefully described the effects of those spells to Loren, who put on an air of analysis:

"Those spells are, respectively, the sixth-tier Touch of Thunder and the eighth-tier Night-Rending Comet and Silent Night Lightning Flash…"

Loren named the spells quickly, and Koranda was instantly impressed.

"Before we encountered the Robed Figure, when we were investigating at night, we found a witch… a girl. There was gray mist around her, exactly like the gray mist in the sacrificial ritual. We suspected she was the culprit and planned to take action.

"We defeated her, but the Robed Figure suddenly appeared, quickly beat us, and took the girl away. They must be working together, so there was definitely more than one person conducting the ritual.

"I also suspect the Robed Figure outranks that girl. You said before that the ritual was high-level. The Greed Worshippers I found in the Royal Capital didn’t even know about the ritual.

"If that relatively low-status girl already knew such a ritual, then this group is far more terrifying than we imagined. At the very least, their force could easily be stronger than all the Outer Gods’ followers in the entire Gedlan Kingdom combined.

"They’re probably splitting into two groups now: one team stirring things up in the Nofica Theocracy to distract us, the other setting things up within the Gedlan Kingdom."

"…"

Loren fell silent. If the Robed Figure Koranda described was him, then her analysis sounded reasonable.

But if they followed this line of investigation to the end, it was unlikely to yield results. Still, Loren couldn’t stop her.

"Your reasoning makes sense…"

Loren acknowledged Koranda’s words, but wanted to steer her in a more productive direction:

"Focus on the Gedlan Kingdom for now. Search suspicious people thoroughly. Besides, I have a way to resist the ritual on the Nofica Theocracy side."

One point Loren and Koranda agreed on was that the perpetrator was indeed within the Gedlan Kingdom.

"Understood…"

Koranda replied and prepared to leave. Clearly, both of them had secrets they couldn’t reveal to the other, so neither could be completely honest while exchanging clues.

"Wait, take this."

Before Koranda left, Loren handed her a bottle of potion.

"This is a healing potion I brewed. It’s guaranteed to be better than most magical potions you could find."

Koranda accepted the potion with both hands, solemnly thanking him:

"I’m forever grateful, Master Mentor…"

After receiving the potion, Koranda departed. As soon as she left, Loren went to find Movila.

"Movila, tail Koranda for me. I feel something odd about her wound."

"Understood."

Movila lay in Loren’s arms and reported Koranda’s movements meticulously.

"She didn’t drink the potion immediately. She put it away first.

"She tidied her shoes at the door and then continued on. She chose to return straight to her residence.

"She wanted to greet her subordinates, but suddenly remembered they were all dead, so she lowered her head and kept walking.

"At the intersection she finally drank the potion, and after drinking it, the scar on her face disappeared…"

Hearing Movila’s report, Loren started thinking.

"Could she have some method that dramatically boosts her defense, which is why taking a hit from Night-Rending Comet only disfigured her…"

If such an item existed, it would be incredibly precious and likely single-use or at best seldom usable.

Loren calculated that the potion he gave would just heal Koranda’s facial injuries; if there were any internal or lingering wounds, the potion wouldn’t be as effective.

So he had given the potion primarily as a probe — he wasn’t that kind-hearted.

"If my potion really healed her, that means the wound was just a superficial flesh wound…"

Just as Loren reached that conclusion, Movila discovered something new.

"No, after her face healed, new wounds soon appeared in the same spots…"

"How is that possible?"

Loren immediately associated that behavior with one thing.

Observer Tarot · Justice.

Justice’s effect is similar to a powered-up version of Death’s Dance. It can store damage dealt or received and then release it gradually.

For example, Koranda has one hundred HP, Night-Rending Comet deals one thousand damage. Normally Koranda would be instantly killed, but she could use Justice to split that thousand damage into a hundred chunks of ten damage, taking ten damage per day. That way she could use healing over that period to absorb the full thousand damage with her one hundred HP.

For now it only resembled Justice’s effect. Loren couldn’t be certain it was the Justice card without further testing.

"I didn’t expect to find a Tarot clue here…"

Loren already had four cards. Since he started collecting them, not even a year had passed.

At this rate, Loren would soon gather all the Tarot cards, and then he could see what the notes on the cards would form when connected.

Loren had a premonition that it would be very important to him.