The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess-Chapter 65 - 63: The Gap

Inside Benovia’s private cabin, Hilia stared in shock at the massive statue before her.

She seemed to have discovered something outrageous.

Initially, Rose told her to ask Benovia for the Heart of Gold. She had no idea which three words would make Benovia change her mind; when she heard "Hiro Association," she was completely confused.

"Is Benovia a member of the Hiro Association?"

At first, she just couldn’t believe it.

But after she uttered the first two syllables of "Hiro," Benovia changed her mind—and now, seeing this statue of an unknown god, she believed it.

In Beia Village, each household had only miniature statues. Benovia went and got herself a full-size one!

This statue was absolutely not any of the Twelve Main Gods, nor any of the Lower Gods under the Main God.

As a Holy Daughter candidate, one of Holy Court’s requirements for them was familiarity with all deities the Court enshrined.

Generally, that’s something every believer should do, but since everyone’s faith is different, people usually only remember one or two, or maybe the Twelve Main Gods, but a Holy Daughter had to memorize all, and it was part of her assessment.

And yet, this rarely-seen Holy Daughter candidate turned out to be a believer of another sect.

Hilia found it alarming.

Thankfully, after the Beia Village incident, her impression of the mysterious Hiro Association was actually quite positive.

Besides, now she needed something from Benovia, so she’d help her conceal this for now.

"Here’s the Heart of Gold you wanted. Fath...er gave it to me just to practice runes. Will a box be enough?"

Benovia brought a small box over with both hands, and handed it to Hilia.

Hilia took it, immediately feeling the heavy, gold-like weight.

It was at least five kilograms.

If you exchanged this for gold coins by weight, then it’s at least two hundred gold coins worth.

This was way too heavy.

Hilia recalled the list said the Heart of Gold needed 1,000 grams, and a thousand grams of gold equaled forty gold coins; but a thousand grams of Heart of Gold... Hilia had just sneakily checked, and it cost about 120 gold coins.

"I only need a thousand grams of Heart of Gold. Do you have any measuring equipment?"

Benovia shook her head: "No such thing. I always use the whole box, just take a thousand grams and I’d have to look for leftovers—I can’t be bothered, just take the whole thing."

"Alright then, once I’ve used it, I’ll return what’s left to you." Six hundred gold coins’ worth, and Hilia felt the box in her hands growing unbearably heavy. "But I don’t have that many coins now, please rest assured, when I earn them, I’ll pay you back."

Thinking this was ink Benovia used for practicing runes...

Damn nobles!

"No need. You just said ’that matter’ is worth this much Heart of Gold. Just tell me about ’that matter’."

Hilia glanced toward Rose in her mind.

"Tell her about Beia Village, the Hiro Association, and the Magic School situation, plus you’re planning to go to Beia Village this weekend."

Just telling her about Beia Village is worth six hundred gold coins?

Hilia was puzzled, but still carefully recounted to Benovia the matter of Magic School and Hiro Association funding related to Beia Village.

Benovia’s eyes brightened: "I knew it!"

"Where is Beia Village? Please, you must take me there!"

"I plan to go there on Saturday—do you want to come?"

"Yes! Of course! What time Saturday? I’ll prepare!"

"Eight in the morning, slightly late."

"Great, Saturday at eight a.m. I’ll wait for you downstairs at your dormitory!"

"..."

...

Returning from Benovia’s place, Hilia was still bewildered, and decided to consult Rose: "Lord Rose, is Benovia really a member of the Hiro Association? Why does she seem like she is and isn’t?"

"Oh? Why do you say that?"

"When Mr. Jack told me about the Hiro Association, he obviously knew way more than Benovia. Benovia looked just like Miss Marina—she knows of the Hiro Association but doesn’t understand it. Is she a Hiro member, or just a ’friend’ of the Hiro Association?"

Hilia still remembered Jack saying, the Hiro Association’s friends are all over the world.

"Whether she is or isn’t—just use your own eyes to see." Rose smiled slightly.

A lot of things don’t require definite answers. People have their own standards of judgment.

Is it or isn’t it important?

It’s not important.

...

On Saturday, Hilia packed for the journey, went downstairs, and saw Benovia already waiting there.

She seemed to have been waiting a while already.

"Miss Benovia, you weren’t here long before I came, right?"

"Of course. I’m very interested in Hi... lia, so had to arrive early."

Benovia wanted to say Hiro Association, but this was the dormitory, busy with people, so she switched to "Hilia" on the spot.

The remark instantly drew the gaze of passing students.

Two super attractive girls standing together—already very eye-catching. With Benovia’s words, everybody was even more eager for gossip.

Hilia couldn’t help but step back half a pace, "No... I mean, let’s go."

Though Hilia knew Benovia said this to conceal the Hiro Association, she still felt disgusted.

So much so that, as they left together, Hilia maintained over a meter’s distance from Benovia.

Leaving the school, Benovia stopped in front of a carriage drawn by a Holy Winged Unicorn and gestured: "Please get in. The Holy Winged Unicorn will take us to Xue Shan Town."

"Isn’t it forbidden to use private flying devices in Huijin City?" Hilia’s eyes widened.

"You just need a flight permit."

Hilia: "..."

Damn nobles!

They rode in silence; the Holy Winged Unicorn was incredibly fast, rivaling the Shadow Patrol Vehicle. After several hours, they arrived at Xue Shan Town, and following Hilia’s directions, flew toward Beia Village.

Ten minutes later, they arrived outside Beia Village.

"This is the village you were talking about?"

Benovia looked down below.

Hilia was about to reply when Rose’s voice suddenly sounded: "Watch out for Abyssal Demonic Qi, direction is Lake Beia."

"Careful, there’s pollution!" Hilia immediately drew her Magic Staff.

"Pollution?"

Benovia’s brows knitted. She tugged the reins, the Holy Winged Unicorn let out a shrill whinny, and a pure white shield of light immediately enveloped the whole carriage.

Next second, a visible wave of red light surged from afar and struck the shield.

Boom!

The shield gave a soft crack and shattered on the spot.

The Holy Winged Unicorn immediately dropped like a cut kite, plunging toward the ground.

"Why is the pollution shock so strong?"

Benovia frowned, rubbing the ring on her hand. From the ring, a black-and-gold Magic Puppet flew out. Twin jets of flame burst from its back, as it rushed under the flying carriage, catching it and lowering it gently to the ground.

Hilia stared hard at Benovia’s Magic Puppet, her mind reeling in shock.

"This puppet’s so strong, stronger than any Tier Two puppet I’ve seen—yet it’s just a Tier One puppet... right?"

Hilia had seen lots of Tier Two puppets—heretics’, those shown off in the Mercenary Guild, and the ones upperclassmen at school possessed.

None of those puppets had the impact of Benovia’s.

Hilia could tell that her own puppet wouldn’t stand a chance against Benovia’s; this one could just stroll up to hers and knock its Heart of the Magic Puppet out with a single punch.

As for her, she might not even breach its armor defenses.

And it can actually fly?!

Unless she was mistaken, Benovia was still a Tier One Mage.

The gap between Tier One and Tier One... was way bigger than she’d imagined.

Hilia felt enormous pressure.

In her mind, Rose was smiling too.

This girl is finally feeling some pressure.

But first, let’s deal with the anomaly at Lake Beia.