After leaving the prayer room, countless thoughts surged in Lin Shu’s mind. She felt this wasn’t a coincidence.
‘Fiona personally said the exotic pet came from the Demonic Race, and the white lizard was created and raised by her.’
‘Then could the monsters she encountered with Hati in the future have been artificially cultivated?’
‘And those monsters were sensitive to magic, showing a strong targeting.’
‘At this point in time, the Sacred Race had begun preparing the Demon-Hunting Corps, already revealing signs of centralizing power.’
‘In the future, could the Spirit Tower, as a faction within the Sacred Race, become a threat to them?’
“Miss Lin Shu?” the angel nun leading the way prompted softly.
“Yes?” Lin Shu immediately snapped back.
“Are you all right? You’ve been spacing out since a moment ago.”
“I’m fine. By the way, about what follows…”
“The bishop has already instructed me. You’ve done a lot for the surrounding villages and towns, so the Holy Church is willing to provide you with all the help we can.”
“I’ll give you the information later.”
Lin Shu collected her thoughts and steadied her mind.
‘What I just thought was just my own speculation, without direct evidence. I’ll focus on the present for now.’
After returning to the hall, the angel nun came over with a stack of documents and handed them to Lin Shu. Lin Shu flipped through them. The paper was yellowed, clearly not the latest information.
The nun added, “The Church of the Creator is located in the center of the royal city, marked on the map. As for the elf stronghold you need, there are relatively few elves living in the royal city because they prefer forests. There are only one or two strongholds in the city.”
Lin Shu flipped through quickly. This information didn’t seem very useful to her.
“Hmm… Is there anything else?”
“If you’d like to find a place for your companion, you can also consider these places.”
The nun helped Lin Shu turn to the next stack of documents, among which a new piece of paper caught Lin Shu’s attention.
Royal City Library.
Lin Shu’s eyes lit up.
‘At the library, most of the time would be spent with books—quiet and routine. It seems more suitable for Furina’s personality.’
“Thank you. Is the Royal City Library far from here?” Lin Shu asked while turning to look out the window. It was still morning.
‘There’s plenty of time. I can go check it out in advance.’
“There are circulating carriages between the churches. There will be one soon.”
“The Holy Church’s carriages are much faster than ordinary ones. If you can catch it, you can arrive by noon.”
“Okay, thank you!”
—
When she returned to the neighboring city from the Royal City Library, it was already completely dark. Lin Shu sat in the returning carriage, looking at the envelope in her hand. It was a letter of recommendation from the head librarian. The recommender line already had the librarian’s signature; only the recommended person’s line was blank. The librarian happened to be an elder of the elf race. Lin Shu learned after communicating with him that the library housed a large number of ancient texts, and the workload of reproduction and organization was enormous—they were exactly short of help. Lin Shu worked hard to secure an opportunity for Furina. As long as she filled in Furina’s name on the recommendation, she could go take the library’s internal interview at any time.
‘Since I interfered with her fate, I have to take responsibility and give her a means of self-preservation and a place to go. Now, teaching her magic and finding a stable place have both been accomplished. But still, staying in the royal city and helping at the library was a decision I made for Furina without asking. I wonder… would Furina agree?’
When she returned to the inn door, it was already fully dark.
‘Ah, I seem to have come back a bit late.’
Lin Shu quickened her pace and went up to the second floor, in front of their room.
“I’m back, Furina.”
She opened the door and was bumped into by a figure rushing out.
“Lin Shu!” Furina immediately stepped back several paces to create distance. Those blue eyes lifted and met her gaze. In Furina’s eyes was an undisguisable panic. Seeing it was her, Furina’s tense shoulders relaxed and she let out a sigh of relief.
“What’s wrong? Were you going out?”
“I was about to go find you. It got dark, and you hadn’t come back. You shouldn’t have been gone so long.”
“Sorry, I didn’t expect to be back so late.”
A fragrance drifted over. Lin Shu looked up and saw a paper bag on the table. The corners of the bag were slightly soaked through with oil—it looked like food.
“Did you buy food?”
“Mm.” Furina’s tone returned to its usual calm. “It’s going to get cold.”
Lin Shu closed the door, walked to the table, opened the paper bag, and was stunned.
“Hey, you know I like this.”
“I remember.” She paused, then added, “I reheated it several times with magic.”
“Huh? Spell casts are limited, you know. Shouldn’t you use them for more appropriate places?” Lin Shu said in surprise, then smiled. “But, thank you.”
She pulled out a chair and sat down, unwrapped the food, and started eating. Furina didn’t bury herself in writing as usual, but sat quietly across from her, watching her eat. After just one short day, the atmosphere between them had eased so much compared to last night. The candlelight in the room flickered, casting their shadows on the wall, close together. Lin Shu noticed that when Furina watched her, the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up. She smiled again. Lin Shu didn’t point it out, hoping that expression would stay on her face a little longer.
After a while, Furina took the initiative to ask, “How was it at the church?”
“The Holy Church took away the authority to accept commissions. From now on, not just us, but other adventurers probably won’t be able to take monster missions issued by civilians either.” Lin Shu said while chewing. “But it went pretty smoothly. I found a clue to going back.”
“Going back?”
Lin Shu immediately corrected herself, “Going back to find my master.”
She had been about to tell her about the library she had found, but Furina spoke first.
“If you meet up, where will you go?”
“To the Holy Church headquarters.”
Furina’s blue eyes dimmed, a complex emotion flickering in their depths. Lin Shu added, “By the way, if you still use magic by yourself in the future, remember to buy more spellcasting materials. I’ve marked the material shops on the map.”
As she spoke, Lin Shu noticed Furina’s dejection.
‘Because we’re going to separate? After saying goodbye, even if I can really see her again, it might be a long time later.’
But Lin Shu didn’t say these words to Furina. She stuffed the last bite of food into her mouth, swallowed, and was about to get up to wash her hands. As soon as she stood up, the corner of her clothes was tugged. Furina held her back. The force wasn’t strong, but her fingertips were trembling. Lin Shu looked at her. Furina was still sitting, her slender arms tense, as if using all her strength. She lowered her head, her icy blue hair falling forward, covering part of her face. But in those cool-colored eyes, wavering flickered.
“About last night… I’m sorry…” Her voice was very soft, like a leaf falling on the calm surface of water.
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