"Salvation Society..."

Liya stood there blankly for a moment before an enlightened look finally crossed her face.

"I actually forgot about you people."

On this continent, there were quite a few special organizations that gave even the Church terrible headaches.

Among them, the majority were made up of cultists who worshipped all sorts of Evil Gods. They hid their heads and showed their tails, scurrying through the darkness like rats underground, extremely difficult to wipe out.

And aside from a certain Love God who never seemed to miss any major event, the other cultists were actually not very active under normal circumstances. They just had a habit of suddenly jumping out and causing something huge whenever they received some kind of "divine oracle."

So, under the Church’s support and guidance, it was not just the Empire—which had specifically established the Silent Bureau—but all countries and forces that had poured massive resources and effort into eradicating those cultists.

Though cultists were like spring chives, cut down °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° once only to sprout again, no country or force dared relax in the slightest, all terrified that one day those lunatics would suddenly emerge to stage some living sacrifice requiring thousands of people as offerings, drawing the personal gaze of an Evil God or even a projected descent.

The small fishing village incident, the Silent Moon incident in Belrand, the Golden Tree incident, the Church’s Lost Land incident—these were all excellent examples. And looking back over the long stretch of history, there had been many, many more like them.

It could even be said that behind most of the deeply influential, far-reaching horrors so dangerous they threatened the world itself, one could find the shadow of some existence fanatically worshipped by cultists stirring things up, directly or indirectly.

But no matter how you looked at it, even those bizarre, evil, anything-goes cultists only made up the majority of the terror organizations on the most-wanted lists, not all of them.

The other name that stayed high on those lists year-round, far more active than the cultists and responsible for plenty of major incidents in recent years—the Salvation Society... was an extremely unusual existence, one that could even be said to be fundamentally the complete opposite of the cultists. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

They did not worship Evil Gods. In fact, they did not worship any god at all.

Like the Church, they were devoted to hunting down cultists of every kind. Once they caught those who worshipped Evil Gods, their methods were no less brutal than the Hall of Judgment’s. Burning, flaying, drawing and quartering—those were considered mild. Tearing out a cultist’s soul and burning it in an oil lamp was commonplace.

But that did not earn them the slightest goodwill from anyone.

Because they were not only cruel to cultists—they were equally cruel to ordinary believers, especially to the Church of Life. No one knew how many of the Church’s clergy had died at the Salvation Society’s hands. There was even evidence pointing to the Salvation Society lurking behind the beast tide from decades ago that had ended with the Saintess four generations ago dying of exhaustion.

It was as though they hated all gods equally, and equally hated all those who believed in gods.

But if that were all, they would merely count as a fanatical "anti-religion" group. Organizations like that were not rare in history, and certainly not enough to make them so utterly infamous.

The crucial reason they had been labeled by all nations as something that had to be eradicated, little better than cultists, was this...

They did not just hate gods. In a truly insane twist, they also hated humanity itself.

That’s right. I hate my own race itself.

And once that extreme loathing turned into real action, it manifested in one glaring characteristic—they launched broad, indiscriminate terrorist attacks against ordinary people at random.

From the perspective of nations and major powers, these attacks seemed to have no deeper purpose whatsoever. There was no ritual target, no being that needed to be summoned through sacrifice. In the kind of trashy roadside story sold from a stall, they would be the sort of garbage villains who committed evil purely for the sake of doing evil.

It seemed the Salvation Society had only one purpose in doing such things...

To kill, purely and simply.

Up to now, according to Church records, the number of innocent civilians killed by the Salvation Society had already surpassed the number killed by cultists. It was only because their attacks left behind no larger aftereffects that, in terms of threat level, they still ranked just behind those cultists trying to overturn the world and welcome the descent of Evil Gods.

Humanity is guilty.

Therefore, filthy humanity must be slaughtered to the last, and this world thereby cleansed.

That was the ridiculous, deranged doctrine of the former Archbishop of Judgment, now the "Holy Lord of Salvation."

"I actually forgot something like that. War may attract cultists easily enough, but lunatics like you, with nothing in your eyes but killing, are the ones most easily drawn in—like sharks that smell blood."

A faint smell of blood spread through the air. Blood flowed out from the little girl’s body, quickly cooling in the frigid night.

Liya was gradually surrounded by that blood, making her look pitiful and helpless.

She drew her hand back into her sleeve, doing her best to suppress that slight trembling.

"So? What are you here to do this time?"

"What are we here to do?"

The black cat Dennis licked its bloodstained paw, its tone rather strange.

"Does that even need to be asked? We’re not suicidal enough to stage a purification ritual in a place like Belrand. That bear may be ridiculous and afraid of women, but overall he’s not easy to deal with.

"So our purpose in coming here is only one."

The black cat Dennis raised its head. In its vertical green pupils was reflected Liya’s slightly pale pretty face.

"Your Highness the Saintess... please die in the Empire."

"The Empire?"

Liya sharply seized on the phrase.

"You want to kill me and then pin it on the Empire?"

"Who knows?"

The black cat Dennis smiled and paced across the little girl’s body, stepping on her as it moved closer to Liya.

"Whether that factor is involved or not, it is not often that the Church’s pure Saintess is found alone, entirely unprotected. In sentiment or in reason, there was no way we could let such a chance go."

As a terror organization that regarded the Church as its number one thorn in the eye and thorn in the flesh, this was hardly their first or second attack on a Saintess. Back in the Holy City, when Liya had just ascended, they had dared to stage something major. How could they possibly let an opportunity like this slip by?

Even the most elegant gentleman would have trouble refusing a beautiful young woman who delivered herself right to his door, much less the Salvation Society, which could hardly be called gentlemen.

They were the kind of perverts who would definitely make a move the moment they saw a beautiful girl!

"But my whereabouts should have been completely secret, shouldn’t they?"

Liya asked, confused.

"Not even the Church knew where I was. How did you know where to find me?"

"That falls under trade secrets," said the black cat Dennis.

"Trade secrets?"

Liya’s little face gradually grew solemn.

"You don’t mean... you know where I’ve been these past few days, do you?"

"Where you’ve been?"

The black cat Dennis froze, then sneered.

"As the Church’s pure Saintess, moving around alone under a false identity—is there any possibility other than one?"

Liya’s little heart slowly lifted into her throat...

"That old thing Hezekiah must have assigned you some secret mission, right!"

The black cat Dennis let out a cold laugh.

"That’s what your Church is like—glorious and splendid on the surface, while privately hiding no end of filth! Even sending a Saintess out on a mission has to be done in secret. Truly laughable!"

"..."

Liya quietly let out a breath of relief.

So the Salvation Society did have trade secrets, but apparently not that many. At the very least, all he could do was lie in wait for her here. He had not gone to the ducal estate and caught her and Muen red-handed. That would probably have been even more devastating—not just to her, but to the Church—than an assassination like this.

But if she reasoned from that...

Then the thing that had exposed her location was probably that letter.

Liya remembered the letter she had written earlier to buy time. If the Salvation Society had an informant inside the Church, intercepting a letter suddenly sent out through Church channels was hardly difficult to understand.

So that was why the Church’s upper ranks did not treat letters as a real means of communication. Ordinary letters were just too easy for interested parties to intercept.

But then again, since these Salvation Society people still did not know where she had been before this, that meant...

"I see. Lin is fine for now."

Liya blinked, then smiled with playful sweetness.

"I thought so. If you need little tricks like this just to deal with me, there’s no way you could have done much to Lin. She’s probably just like me—held up by some trick of yours."

"..."

The expression on the black cat Dennis’s face stiffened slightly. His earlier composure stalled for a moment, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Little tricks?"

"That’s right."

Liya nodded and answered with complete seriousness.

"I thought you people would be a little more impressive."

As she finished speaking, the fingers hidden in Liya’s sleeve moved ever so slightly.

Boom!

Without the slightest warning, a vast surge of Holy Light suddenly erupted, illuminating the dark alley like day.

But this time, the burst of Holy Light did not come from Liya.

It came from beneath the black cat’s feet—from the pitiful little girl who had been dragged into this disaster for no reason at all.

At that moment, the Holy Light bursting from the little girl’s body was no longer gentle. It burned like blazing fire. At such close range, the black cat Dennis had no way to dodge. In an instant, it was swallowed up by the Holy Light.

"Actually, the moment I entered the alley, I already had the vague feeling that something was off."

Liya removed her hood. Her holy flower crown shimmered, casting light across her resolute face.

As though the weakness and wavering she had shown just now had all been nothing more than a disguise to deceive the enemy.

Of course that was the case... she was no longer the fragile girl who only knew how to hide behind Muen. She was now the pure Saintess admired by countless people. How could she possibly be afraid of an enemy like this?

"It’s just that after I stayed on guard for so long, I didn’t expect your methods to be so... straightforward?"

Liya tilted her head and thought for quite a while before finally finding the right word.

She might not have the kind of life-and-death danger sense that Muen and Ariel had honed on the edge of death, but as a Saintess beloved by the Goddess, her own perception was naturally extremely sharp.

At first, she had thought the drunk was suspicious.

But the drunk had only been a drunk.

Then she had thought the little girl was suspicious.

But the little girl had only been an ordinary child looking for her cat.

She had even suspected the old innkeeper grandmother.

Yet in the end, all the enemy had done was disguise himself as Lin and wait for her on the bed.

Compared to those cultists who excelled at hiding, at using all kinds of vile methods, especially those granted strange, eerie powers by Evil Gods, this so-called Cat Lover Dennis... really was rather simple in terms of method.

If Muen were here, he would definitely sneer mercilessly and say that an ambush at this level was not even worth one hair on the head of a follower of the Love God.

But for Liya... although all her preparations had gone to waste, at least her vigilance had not been entirely wasted. Just like now—the Holy Light she had left inside the little girl as a fallback had still served its purpose, hadn’t it?

"Good. She’s all right."

Liya hurried to the little girl’s side and confirmed that she had only fainted and was not in mortal danger. Only then did she let out a breath.

If her misjudgment had killed an innocent little girl, that would have been the true dereliction of duty for a Saintess.

"Look at that, look at that. This is our Saintess, isn’t it?"

All of a sudden, another black cat emerged from the darkness.

No, not another.

Because this cat’s hind leg was still injured, and it still walked with a limp.

This was the same black cat.

The black cat Dennis.

From the boundary between light and darkness, it lifted its head, its expression dripping with ridicule.

"What kindness. What holiness. You clearly had a chance to run by relying on that little safeguard, yet instead of taking the first opportunity to flee, you rushed over to save a little girl you’d never even met?

"Heh... hypocrisy!"

The black cat Dennis’s tone suddenly changed, turning harsh and severe.

"What Saintess? What kindness? What holy purity? You weren’t even willing to save a cat just now! All your kindness now is nothing but hypocrisy, something you perform in order to fit your own identity!"

"I don’t understand what you mean."

Liya tilted her head in confusion.

"I’m the Saintess of humanity, not the Saintess of cats."

"You are indeed not the Saintess of cats, but... isn’t so-called kindness, so-called holiness, so-called the Goddess’s mercy... supposed to love all things equally?"

The black cat Dennis’s expression suddenly grew complicated, so complicated that it was hard to imagine such a look appearing on a cat’s face at all.

"Chapter of the Goddess, first section, third subsection of the Church’s sacred canon... I’ve always remembered it."

"That’s nonsense!"

Liya frowned, genuinely annoyed by such a reckless distortion of the sacred texts.

"I’ve been memorizing the canon since I was little. The equality there refers to all people, not to all things the way you mean it!"

"Is that so?"

The black cat Dennis froze.

"I see... so that’s how it is... Heh, the sacred canon was revised? Just as expected of the hypocritical Church."

It leaped lightly upward.

Its soft cat paws stepped onto the top of the wall without making the slightest sound.

Yet in that instant, a shrill noise like cat claws scraping across glass suddenly rang out from the depths of the night sky.

Liya’s heart tightened. A barrier of Holy Light rose instantly, shielding both her and the little girl inside it.

Clang!

A crack appeared in the barrier, only to be immediately repaired by holy radiance.

Liya’s little face grew grave.

It had looked like no more than a probing strike, yet around her Holy Light barrier, a massive trench had appeared soundlessly. It did not look as if it had been swept out by an ordinary cat’s claws at all, but as though some ancient beast had plowed across it. The ground of the entire alley had been split cleanly in two.

"As expected of the Church’s Saintess. You haven’t been Saintess for very long, yet your control over Holy Light has already reached this level?"

Seeing that his strike had achieved absolutely nothing, the black cat Dennis let out a soundless sigh.

"It’s a good thing I sealed this place off beforehand and cut your connection to the Church. Otherwise, I’d be the one in trouble."

As soon as he finished speaking, the black cat Dennis stretched gracefully. Behind him, the shadows stirred, and along with overlapping meows, one cat after another emerged from every corner of the alley.

Very quickly, a whole swarm of cats had surrounded the area.

None of them approached Liya. They simply stood there, their glowing vertical pupils fixed motionlessly on her—and on the little girl beside her.

A sinister atmosphere settled over the place. In the distance, everything was pitch black. Not even the lights of the night could be seen.

Liya raised her guard even higher. She did not dare dismiss the Holy Light barrier lightly. She could smell a certain danger lurking within the night.

"Let us return to our earlier topic. I admit that compared to the many methods of those cultists, my ambush was indeed a little crude and lacked the sort of surprise that might truly impress Your Highness the Saintess."

The black cat Dennis went on licking its paw. Once he had taken the form of a cat, this had become his favorite thing to do.

"But in many cases, the more complex a plan is, the more easily something goes wrong. For me, any plan that can defeat Your Highness the Saintess is a good plan. Besides, my scheme was not quite that straightforward, was it?"

The black cat Dennis’s gaze landed on the unconscious little girl beside Liya.

Had he not deliberately refrained from killing this little girl from the beginning as part of the plan?

Otherwise, stopping a Saintess with terrifying affinity for Holy Light—one who could practically recover without limit as long as her Holy Light had not been fully exhausted—would be far too difficult.

But the moment she had something to protect, things changed. At the very least, when faced with a siege, she absolutely would not be able to choose to flee no matter what.

"Hmph."

Liya glared with wide eyes, her whole bearing aggressive.

"Stop talking big. From what I can see, you don’t have any way to break through my Holy Light spells easily either. Otherwise you wouldn’t still be standing here talking so much!"

"..."

The expression on the black cat Dennis’s face once again froze in an oddly subtle way.

"...Very sharp. As expected of Your Highness the Saintess. It seems the saying about big breasts and no brains doesn’t apply to you. You’re right. Your Holy Light spells really are hard to break through. Though I don’t know why their strength is somewhat lower than I anticipated, unless one reaches the Crowned rank, it would still be impossible to deal with them quickly."

"Then I suggest you let me leave."

Liya gave a forceful snort.

"Don’t forget—this is Belrand!"

"Yes, this is Belrand. Even in the middle of war, not even the Salvation Society’s Crowned would dare enter this place. This is the imperial capital, after all. That bear is here... and who knows what other undying old monsters are stationed here."

The black cat Dennis swayed his head.

"However, there is one thing you guessed wrong. I do not need to break your Holy Light defenses, and I was never the sort who excels at direct assault. My purpose is only to stall you for as long as possible and wear you down."

"Wear me down?"

Liya asked in confusion.

"Are you stupid? Time is on my side."

That was also why Liya had been stalling the whole time just now. In Belrand, the longer this dragged out, the more likely it was that some strong figure in the city would discover them.

Even if the black cat Dennis could seal off the area, he could only do that for one night. Once morning came, in a densely populated place like this, something wrong would inevitably be noticed.

"Heh, it does sound a little stupid. But Your Highness the Saintess, don’t forget—we are not cultists. Our minds have not been wrecked by the mental corruption of Evil Gods. We are very clear-headed."

The black cat Dennis suddenly smiled in a deeply meaningful way.

"So this is merely a race against time—to see whether Belrand’s strong figures discover us first, or whether our backup plan finishes first."

"Backup plan?" Liya sucked in a breath. "You have a backup plan too?"

"Of course. The target is the famous Saintess, after all. How could we not prepare several additional measures?"

"What is that backup plan?"

"Heh. Don’t be nervous. We merely want to test whether your so-called hypocrisy can continue all the way to the end."

"Gulp... test? Hypocrisy?" Liya swallowed hard, growing even more tense.

"That’s right! The person you care about most... her name is Ariel Bugaard, isn’t it? We investigated her. She’s the childhood friend who spent a full ten years with you, the one you grew up with, the one closest to you. Correct?"

Watching the panic gradually appear on Liya’s face, the black cat Dennis smiled more cruelly than ever.

"If we were to capture her, what would you do then?"

...

...

Belrand, Lower District, somewhere.

In a dim basement, several shadowy figures moved, making the place feel as eerie as a midnight graveyard haunted by ghosts.

But this was no graveyard. The reason it was so unnaturally quiet was that the few people here were all intently watching the magical projection screens ahead of them, and as the events on those screens developed, they had fallen into serious thought.

"As expected of a High Sister of the Church."

It was only after quite some time that one of the figures finally broke the silence.

"Peak fifth-rank martial ability. She’s still very far from the threshold of the Crowned rank, but with the support of such exceptional Holy Light spells, it actually takes three of us just to hold her in place for now."

In the central image among the several projections, light and shadow flickered, and the sharp figure visible there was none other than the missing Lin. At that moment, she was holding off three enemies all by herself without falling behind in the slightest. In fact, she even faintly showed signs of pressing them back.

"But fortunately, this was within our expectations."

Another person sighed.

"It’s the same on the other side. That fellow Dennis really can’t break through the pure Saintess’s Holy Light defenses either, so things have fallen into a stalemate there too."

"It can’t be helped. The Third Seat can’t casually enter Belrand—that would expose too much. And without Crowned-level combat power, there really is no easy way to crack that Holy Light turtle shell."

The third person spoke.

"If nothing else, the pure Saintess’s Holy Light barrier has definitely been specially blessed by the Church. Its toughness is astonishing."

"Which is why we’re needed."

The first speaker picked up the thread. As the shadows shifted across him, a disdainful sneer showed at the corner of his mouth.

In front of him, aside from the constantly flickering screens, there were also several intelligence files.

If Liya had been here, she would have discovered that the large, eye-catching photographs on the front of those files were of An, Muen, and Ariel.

"Ariel Bugaard."

The man tapped one finger against the intelligence file in front of him.

"The pure Saintess’s childhood friend. She has shared a ten-year friendship with the pure Saintess, grew up with her, and is extremely close to her. Therefore, she is the primary target in this operation."

"Muen Campbell, the famous duke’s son. He once went to the Church as the pure Saintess’s Divine Attendant Knight to take part in the anointing ceremony. According to our information, he has known the pure Saintess for less than a year, but there should still be some degree of attachment there. He can serve as a secondary target."

"Maid An. She has no direct relation to the pure Saintess. However, because she stays so close to Muen Campbell and serves as his personal maid, she has been included in the intelligence as well."

"These three are the people we need to pay attention to in this operation. Understood?"

"Understood!"

The others answered in unison.

"Good."

The man nodded in satisfaction, and the smile at the corner of his mouth grew more and more brazen.

"Hmph. A Holy Light barrier? True, as a defensive measure belonging to Her Highness the Saintess, it really is maddening. But unfortunately, we are not those idiotic cultists."

"When we know the turtle shell is too hard to bite through, of course we go looking for the soft persimmon to squeeze. We..."

"...use our brains."