“You have no right to stop me.”
“Where is the Saint? We want to hear the Saint’s voice.”
“If you lay a hand on the Saint, I… I’ll fight you with everything I’ve got!”
Doesn’t anyone think being a Royal Guard in the Capital is terrifying? Well, at least today, every Royal Guard in the Capital felt it was terrifying.
The outer guards had no idea what was going on.
All they knew was that suddenly, their Commander had led them here, pulling them away from whatever duties they had before.
Some were on routine city patrol, some were on guard duty at the Royal Gardener’s Lodge, and some were new recruits who didn’t even know what they were supposed to do.
The Commander gave no explanation, only a simple order—if the people ahead charge, you charge too.
If nothing happens, stay put and maintain order. Don’t let those rabble come over.
That was the plan, but in practice, they found themselves being cursed at by fanatical Bright Faithful, while a girl they didn’t recognize whispered “secrets” in their ears.
Her voice was gentle, but for some reason, it sent chills down their spines, as if a ghost was whispering right beside them.
Was the Royal City haunted?
The Female Ghost spoke of how if they dared to fight today, they would become criminals, suffer inhuman treatment, and have their lives ruined from this day on.
Even worse, after hearing these strange words, they realized the elite Imperial Guards at the front really weren’t moving.
The massive army had frozen in place like cocoons.
It was truly terrifying!
Before sunset, Maiken made his final decision.
He had the Personal Guard forcibly drag away the furious Prince, and the army surrounding the Camp retreated like a receding tide.
Beneath every Helm was a face filled with relief.
Only the Deputy remained nearby with a squad of dozens of Imperial Guards, and several Court Mages were among them, building a Bridge for communication between both sides.
As for what they would communicate, that was still unknown, because both sides needed some time to sit down and talk.
The Bonfire Camp once again welcomed back its best five members.
After being separated and now sitting together again, though only two or three days had passed, something felt different when they met once more.
After exiting battle mode, Zero couldn’t hold back anymore and choked up as she thanked everyone.
“Come on, come on, I told you already, this was my idea in the first place. I’m not the kind of loyal friend who’d just leave you behind,” Vina waved her small hand.
“If anything, it’s Leah who really surprised me~”
No one expected that the always self-centered Saintess in their group would stand up at the critical moment and risk everything to support her companions.
“I only did what was right,” Leah crossed her arms, gave a small snort, but couldn’t help the slight smile at the corner of her lips.
“This is what a Saintess of Light should do.”
Don’t ask—if you ask, it’s the Oracle.
Celes let out a sigh.
She’d been tense since morning, hadn’t even taken off her armor, and now that she could finally relax, she felt a faint weakness all over her body.
“Today was really dangerous,” she said, “If it weren’t for—”
She didn’t finish, but everyone knew what she meant.
Ella’s eyelids twitched.
It felt great to show off earlier, but now how was she supposed to explain herself?
“Well, you see,” under the curious gazes of her companions, the pink-haired thunder girl squeezed her soft voice a little, “I heard Wesley’s name from Celes, and Vina took me to find a Senior Elder from the Magic Court. In the end, we found where that person was.”
The way she squeezed her voice only made her companions’ expressions more complicated, since everyone had heard the seductive voice on the battlefield earlier.
Not to mention them—even Ella herself almost couldn’t keep it together.
She wondered if she was running around barefoot after losing her shoes—pretending to be Cinderella.
But things had come to this, so she could only bite the bullet and keep squeezing:
“After Vina’s interrogation, we got information from Mr. Wesley and heard about some really, really bad things.”
The little witch opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing.
Everyone just felt that Ella was a little unfamiliar today, so different from her usual soft and obedient image.
But only Vina knew that things were far from that simple.
Fortunately, the matter of the Silent Sanctuary drew the girls’ attention.
When faced with such a shocking truth, they were filled with outrage and disbelief.
“The Kingdom actually did something like this?”
Leah was incredulous.
“What was the Church doing at the time? How did they not discover it after so many years? If I’d succeeded the position earlier, I would never have stood by and done nothing!”
Saintess Leah was putting on a show too—she was only just born a decade ago.
Celes was even more shaken. She never imagined that a companion she’d spent so much time with had such a painful past.
Since there were no records tracing back, it was impossible to tell if Zero had always been an orphan or if she became one after someone discovered her talent.
Most likely, it was the latter.
As for the “Return to Zero Project,” though they didn’t know the details, it was surely a bloody chapter.
Celes glanced at Zero, who was gazing at the pink-haired girl with big, hopeful eyes.
Better not ask her about the details. Asking would only tear open old wounds.
In short, they now understood—the Silent Sanctuary was once a secret assassin organization in the Kingdom.
They scoured the land for talented children, made them orphans, sent them to the Sanctuary, and trained them into top-tier assassins.
Before those in power finally put an end to it, the Silent Sanctuary made one last desperate move, launching what was likely a kind of brutal, self-devouring plan, and out of it came a genius assassin like Zero.
Then, in a secret trial, the organization was dissolved.
Summed up simply, but shocking to the core.
“In order to gather good seedlings, the Silent Sanctuary organized a force that could reach into towns and villages. Most of these people were local thugs and ruffians. The thing I used to threaten them earlier was a Name List of these people,” Ella quietly explained her actions.
Vina snatched the Name List from her, startling the good girl into shouting, “No!”
Celes frowned, “This is our trump card and greatest leverage. Don’t mess around with it.”
“I’m afraid that’s not the case~”
The little witch spread out the Sheepskin in front of everyone.
“See for yourselves.”
A few sheets of vintage Letter Paper—completely blank.
Ella wiped away a few drops of fragrant sweat.
“I didn’t get the Name List, and Mr. Wesley didn’t have it either. The only copy he ever had was given to Taidin. The others just always thought he had a Backup.”
Leah suddenly understood, her eyes wide with surprise as she looked at Ella, “So you pretended to have the Backup Name List, even made up names on the spot, and said you’d already given it to the Church, but it was all just bluffing?”
“Well… that’s the Theory of Deterrence,” the pink-haired thunder girl rubbed her hands.
“That’s right…”
Celes frowned slightly, staring at the blank Letter Paper for a moment before saying seriously, “What about Wesley? Maiken and the others will go to him when they return. The moment they confront him, our trick will be exposed. We’re still in danger.”
Ella hesitated, watching the girls grow increasingly anxious, and could only force herself to say:
“They won’t, because Mr. Wesley… will never speak again.”
At those words, the entire Bonfire Camp fell silent.
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