At night, the darkness was as still as water, so calm that not even a single ripple could be seen.
“Hehe, you really are in quite a pathetic state, ‘Girl Ripper’.”
A pair of pitch-black pant legs stopped in front of an overturned trash cart; it was the bar owner who had briefly encountered Kajiake not long ago.
His arrival disturbed the rats scavenging for food near the cart.
After baring their teeth for a moment, the rodents quickly scurried back into the sewer manhole.
Holding back the stench, the bar owner frowned as he pushed the trash cart aside.
Various types of refuse flowed down along with black, foul-smelling sewage.
Kajiake’s head, its brain matter shredded by the Saint Sword, rolled to his feet.
As for the rest of his corpse, it was buried deep beneath the filth at the very bottom.
The bar owner crouched down and picked up the head, his voice filled with disdain.
“Truly a piece of trash!”
“To think you could still fail even after possessing the power bestowed by the God Lord. And here I was, actually harboring expectations for you.”
His tone shifted as he pulled Kajiake’s head tightly into his embrace, a flash of an excited smile crossing his face.
“But it’s all right…”
“Considering the friendship we shared through so many collaborations, I won’t let you die such a pathetic death. I will use the power bestowed by the God Lord to resurrect you and let you complete your revenge.”
“As for the price — “
He tenderly caressed the head in his arms, which continued to emit a foul stench of decay.
He acted as if he could not bear to put it down, as if he had finally found some kind of treasure.
“It’s just some inconsequential things.”
***
Shudder!
Inside the bathroom, Hualí had just taken off her clothes when she suddenly shuddered without warning.
Tiny goosebumps rose on her fair, white skin.
‘Ugh… why did I suddenly feel a chill down my spine?’
Hualí looked around the entire bathroom and realized it wasn’t just her imagination.
She had actually forgotten to close the ventilation window, and a cool breeze was constantly blowing in.
Standing on her tiptoes, Hualí quickly shut the window to avoid shivering in the cold.
First her snow-white toes, then her pale thighs; Hualí submerged her entire body into the ceramic bathtub filled with hot water, letting out a long sigh of relief.
“Phew…”
Seriously, after riding in a dragon carriage for three whole days, her body had started to feel sticky.
She had almost forgotten what it felt like to take a soak.
If she didn’t bathe soon, she feared she would truly become a dirty, unhygienic girl.
Hualí would never allow that!
“Hualí, do you have your own clothes to sleep in?”
At that moment, Penina’s inquiry came from outside the bathroom door.
“If not, you can wear mine for now. We can go out and buy new ones when we have time later.”
“Oh, I don’t. Thank you!”
A moment later, the bathroom door was pushed open just a crack.
Hualí instinctively dipped half of her face into the water, blowing bubbles glug, glug, glug, her clear blue eyes filled with alertness.
To her surprise, Penina did not appear at the door.
Instead, a laundry basket was pushed into the bathroom across the floor.
Inside the basket, a soft and thin nightgown was neatly folded into a white square.
She noticed there were no undergarments to change into.
After a moment of confusion, Hualí figured it out.
‘Even if Penina and I are both girls, undergarments are still too private. They can’t be shared!’
Exactly!
Exactly!
This was what a normal relationship between girls looked like.
Someone like Sidella was a complete anomaly — a shameless, bad girl!
Hualí nodded to herself with her eyes closed, feeling very relieved by Penina’s normalcy.
“It’s a shampoo I’ve never seen before!”
She pumped some shampoo into her palm and sniffed it.
The unique fragrance was a type she had never encountered before.
“Let me see if it’s any good…”
***
Outside the bathroom, Penina, dressed in a nightgown, sat at the desk in the room writing the report that she, as the Saintess of the Church, had to write every day.
In truth, it wasn’t anything particularly important.
Rather than calling it the work of a Saintess, it would be more accurate to call it a Saintess’s diary.
It was filled with the same repetitive entries: “Performed daily prayers to the Goddess of Light” or “Helped these people with blessings and received this feedback.”
Today, however, Penina had one more thing she could record — the arrival of the Hero, Hualí.
[The Hero, Hualí. She is a girl who, whether in appearance or actual interaction, is very simple. It’s very comfortable to be around her. Her looks are impeccably cute, and the combination of the two makes her look a bit silly…]
Penina wrote all of the feelings she had while being with Hualí into her diary, her quill pen making a scratch, scratch sound.
The girl’s thoughts couldn’t help but drift far away.
When Penina was young, because of her responsibility as the “Future Saintess,” she had to avoid suspicion constantly.
She was required to keep her body and soul pure at all times and was not allowed to have any improper thoughts regarding men.
And now, she had become a qualified Saintess of the Church.
As the only Chosen of the Light God among the successive generations of Saintesses, she held a noble status that no one in the Capital could hope to reach.
Everyone in the Capital treated her with nothing but respect.
In return, she had to conduct herself in a manner befitting the Saintess of Light at all times.
She woke up early every day to pray to the Goddess of Light on time and listen to the oracles sent down by the Goddess.
When facing those who came to the Church for blessings, she always maintained a gentle and healing smile while preparing the Baptism Ritual for them.
Legend had it that the Saintess of Light was the incarnation of the Goddess of Light walking among mortals.
She was the most devout believer and the closest to the Goddess, so she had to keep her soul pure and flawless.
If a Saintess fell in love with a member of the opposite sex, even if the thought merely sprouted in her mind, the Goddess would take back her blessing without hesitation.
Penina didn’t know if this was true or not.
She only knew that every Saintess before her had lived a long, lonely life until they died of old age.
With the Goddess’s blessing, every Saintess had a very long lifespan, which was also a great ordeal.
“So, it should be fine as long as it’s a girl, right?”
Penina stopped her writing quill and nodded very seriously.
Friendship between girls — holding hands or an occasional hug — was perfectly normal, right?
After all, during the time they had infiltrated the Demon Castle, the physical contact between Penina and Hualí hadn’t exactly been minimal, yet her blessing had not been taken away.
Even when an oracle was delivered, the Goddess’s voice sounded the same as usual.
Just then, a series of small, bustling noises came from the direction of the bathroom.
Penina closed her diary and placed it back into the desk drawer.
Stepping into her slippers, she intended to turn off the lights and go to bed.
Just at that moment, Hualí stepped out of the bathroom after finishing her bath.
She was wearing the nightgown, and the long hem covered her snow-white feet as they stepped on the floor.
“Ugh… are we turning off the lights to go to bed already?”
“Yes. Hurry up and climb into bed, Hualí. I’ll turn off the light.”