When Luo Sha woke up again, she slowly sat up.
Her legs ached, and so did her arms.
It was probably the aftereffects of last night’s battle. She looked down at herself and found that her arms, shoulders, and waist had been re-bandaged. Her damaged combat suit had been roughly tidied up, and the outer armor was gone, leaving only a shirt and trousers for ease of movement. The fabric had been cleaned, but faint traces of blood could still be seen.
The Inquisition’s medical techniques were indeed highly skilled.
They had even actually transplanted that madwoman’s eyeball into her own right eye socket.
Luo Sha raised her hand and touched the bandage.
As soon as her fingertips touched the area around her right eye, a sensation like a fine needle prick went through her mind. She immediately lowered her hand, took a deep breath, and suppressed the instinctive revulsion and pain together.
Now was not the time for disgust.
Where was her young lady?
Was she safe?
Had that ice-blue dragon-winged demihuman really taken her to Velindros?
These questions surged into her mind one after another, making her feel irritated and exhausted.
Luo Sha closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened them again.
‘Master once taught me… worry cannot free one from a predicament; only action can.’
‘I must… leave immediately.’
She threw off the covers and got out of bed. The moment her feet touched the floor, her knees wobbled slightly, and she nearly lost her balance. She gripped the edge of the bed, waited for the pain to pass, then slowly straightened up.
There was a full-length mirror in the room.
Luo Sha walked over to the mirror.
Her reflection did not look like someone who had just been treated; she looked more like a replacement for that dead madwoman. There were a few white strands mixed into her brown hair—probably traces left from forcibly enduring the backlash of the Holy Guilt Eye. She moved her right eye, looking at herself in the mirror. Indeed, she could see her own weaknesses… and, surprisingly, that cross was not a mechanical device; it was really an eye pupil.
She studied her appearance and then let out a soft laugh.
“What a miserable sight.”
Her voice was very low.
After that, she could no longer make any sound, leaving only a sigh.
After a moment, she re-bandaged her eye to prevent it from showing others’ weaknesses. Then she turned and pushed open the door to leave.
Outside the door was a long corridor.
The corridor was extremely ornate. The marble floor reflected one’s own image, and the walls on either side were inlaid with gold-edged reliefs. Beneath the candelabras was engraved an emblem of three crossed longswords. Luo Sha recognized it at a glance—it was the Inquisition’s mark.
Three swords.
Judgment, punishment, purification.
They tried to carve killing into gold and glory with these, making slaughter reasonable and sacred.
‘The Inquisition…’
She silently recited the name in her heart, and disgust almost instinctively rose up.
In the past, although the Inquisition and the Holy Council were closely connected, they still maintained a subtle boundary. One was responsible for faith, the other for execution; one stood before the altar proclaiming divine will, the other stood in the shadows carrying it out.
But in this building before her, the Holy Emblems, prayer rooms, and Inquisition crests were all mixed together. She never expected that they were not in the superior-subordinate relationship known to the world, but rather on equal footing.
Luo Sha walked slowly along the corridor.
Every step sent a dull ache through her legs.
At the end of the corridor was a huge door, with a narrow window open beside it. She stopped by the window and looked outside. In the courtyard, many priests were praying before a central statue. The statue depicted a six-winged angel, with a longsword hanging at its feet, but its hands gently holding a round Holy Emblem.
Gentleness and force.
Mercy and execution.
These two things placed together showed no inconsistency at all. Perhaps to the Holy Council, they were essentially the same thing.
Luo Sha frowned and did not continue watching.
She pushed open the door at the end.
Behind the door was a large hall.
In the center of the hall was a huge round table. The center of the table was empty, with a crystal ball the size of half a person floating above it. Inside the ball, a white-gold misty light flowed, constantly analyzing and inscribing something onto an Oracle.
At the round table sat three people.
The first person was about fifty years old, wearing a robe similar to a Daoist priest’s, heard of only from bards, with a white-gold top hat on his head. Four small crystal balls floated around him. His face was aged, his left hand normal, but his right hand was clearly withered, the skin shriveled, as if some magic had slowly drained its life.
The second person was the man who had brought Luo Sha back.
He was dressed more like a scholar, wearing a white military uniform with a light-colored long coat over it, and glasses on his nose. His smile was warm to the point of being almost false. That warmth did not reassure people; instead, it exuded an inexplicable sense of oppression.
The third person made Luo Sha’s gaze pause for a moment.
He was a doctor.
At least judging by his attire, he was a doctor.
But his body could no longer be called fully human. His neck, back, and arms all had traces of magitech machinery stitching, metal devices connected to flesh. His left eye was a precise artificial magitech eyeball. His spine seemed to have been violently adjusted by something, but… he was completely alive, which was somewhat illogical. Even more horrifying was that he had four hands, two of which were clearly attached later.
Even so, Luo Sha could still tell—
These three people were all pure-blooded humans, just a bit insane.
“Yo, awake?”
The scholar-like man stood up first and walked toward her.
Luo Sha did not respond, only quietly watched him.
The man stopped in front of her, smiled, and bowed.
“My name is Seraphiel Mort. You can call me Seraphiel.”
His tone was as easygoing and arrogant as when she had first encountered him in the forest.
“We’ll be colleagues from now on. So, may I ask your name, miss?”
Luo Sha slightly lowered her head and responded with extremely formal etiquette.
“Just call me Luo Sha, Lord Seraphiel. Thank you for your earlier rescue.”
“Not at all.”
Seraphiel’s smile deepened.
“Taking you in as a new missionary was a very fitting decision. After all, someone who can forcibly inscribe a divine power onto themselves with such crude methods and still not die on the spot is truly rare.”
Luo Sha’s eyes flickered slightly.
“By your words, my lord, am I also a special existence among the so-called Adepts?”
“Of course.”
Seraphiel adjusted his glasses.
“Please forget your past worldly experiences and dedicate yourself to serving the gods. As an Adept of ‘Plunder,’ you are quite rare.”
Plunder.
When that word reached Luo Sha’s ears, she clenched her fists tightly. Her current situation was all thanks to the Inquisition.
But her expression did not change.
“I understand. May I ask what I should do to serve the gods?”
“Naturally, clear away obstacles for the gods.”
Seraphiel still looked at her with that strange smile.
Luo Sha took the opportunity to ask:
“May I ask what obstacles you refer to, my lord?”
Seraphiel took a white scroll from the leather pouch at his waist.
An Oracle.
Luo Sha recognized that thing.
That Inquisition girl who carried a cross had also used a similar scroll to seal Liuna’s mana. One could even say that without that thing, her young lady might not have fallen into such a miserable situation.
Seraphiel handed the Oracle to her.
“This.”
Luo Sha took the scroll and unrolled it.
It was densely covered with many names.
Some names had been crossed out. Some were marked with “Accepted Redemption” next to them. Others still remained blank. Her eyes quickly scanned each line until she saw a certain name, at which her breath paused very lightly.
Luna Kape.
The name was still there.
It had not been crossed out.
That meant her young lady was at least still alive.
The unease in Luo Sha’s heart finally calmed down a little. That demihuman had saved her and kept his promise.
She continued reading.
Then, her brow slowly furrowed.
The list included guards, merchants, mercenaries, and some people whose names she had seen or heard. But there was no Border Count.
No Master’s name.
This was wrong.
If the Inquisition had truly come to deliver judgment because the Border Count used a Forbidden Device, then the Count himself absolutely could not be absent from the Oracle’s list. Unless—
A chill passed through Luo Sha’s eyes.
Unless the Inquisition had never actually entered the core area of Border Town.
They had only taken over the aftermath of the fire, or rather, they had only followed an incomplete Oracle to this place. The ones who truly killed Master, triggered the town’s explosion, and stole the Natural Essence were not the Inquisition.
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