Goddess of Life Cathedral, main entrance.
Since hearing the news that Truth had been assassinated, Tia had been anxiously pacing back and forth at the front gate.
Because Aisia told her the Assassin was sent from Wangsheng City, Tia was especially afraid that Lord Hermit would just march straight over and raze Wangsheng City to the ground.
After all, she had just bought a house there with full payment!
A few years ago, Tia was terrified that her disrespect toward the Goddess would be discovered, so she had long prepared herself to be accused of being a Heretic, using Wangsheng City—a place utterly disrespectful to deities—as her fallback.
“I hope Wangsheng City is alright…”
Tia clasped her hands together and began to pray, when Aisia behind her suddenly let out a puzzled voice:
“Tia, aren’t you praying to the wrong one?”
Shouldn’t she be praying for Truth? Was she so nervous that she said the wrong thing?
After Omili set off to find Truth, Aisia immediately called upon the Goddess of Life, who only said that the Spring of Life must not be used unless absolutely necessary, and then said nothing more.
Dead is dead; just suppress the news. The Saint will always be replaced by a suitable candidate after a while…
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flickered directly above the cathedral, almost illuminating the entire Deya City.
Two hours after Truth was taken, after countless spatial folds, Omili appeared in an instant before Tia and Aisia, holding Truth who wore a black-blue dress that was clearly too big for her.
“Wow!” The two stepped back in shock at first, then noticed the bloodstains on Truth’s belly and immediately panicked:
“I’ll go get a wand right away to treat her!”
“No need. The bloodstains are on the dress itself, not Truth’s. She was rescued halfway by a mysterious figure, and nothing happened to her.”
Omili carefully laid Truth down, who was still clutching the dress’s shoulder straps with both hands.
The dress, which should have only reached her calves, now trailed on the ground.
Tia quickly came forward to check on her and even tried to lift the dress to see if Truth was injured, but the latter shot her a glare.
“If you dare lift this up today, tomorrow I’ll drag you to the park and expose you.”
“Uh…” Although her eyes were now a soft pink, Tia felt an authority similar to Lord Hermit’s. Fine, she’d just help prepare the bathwater instead.
Truth still had a faint scent of blood on her, and dawn was only six hours away. She definitely couldn’t appear like this in front of the faithful.
Aisia immediately began a skilled psychological assessment on Truth, but found no issues—just some heavy thoughts weighing on her mind.
What exactly is the profession of the Goddess of Life?
Aisia then asked what had just happened, why the Saint’s robe suddenly changed to such a simple long dress.
Weren’t they just assassinated? How did the clothing get changed so quickly?
“By the way, where’s your Saint’s robe?”
“It was torn to shreds by that Assassin, so I could only wear her clothes.”
“Huh? And she agreed to let you wear them?”
“Mm, she tacitly allowed it.”
“Pfft!” At that moment, Omili gave Aisia a subtle glance and whispered:
“Quick, ask about that mysterious senior!”
Since they had confirmed Truth was fine, they needed to find out what exactly happened just now.
Omili was very curious who had saved Truth, but Aisia acted as if she hadn’t noticed and continued discussing the Saint’s robe.
There were no spare Saint’s robes left in Deya City.
Only the one Aisia was wearing, but she would also appear at the Chosen Ceremony.
So, no matter what, one of them wouldn’t have a Saint’s robe.
Truth just said she didn’t mind—it was only a piece of clothing.
“But that would lose a lot of ceremonial gravity, and you’d lose much of your dignity in front of the faithful!” Aisia argued, shaking hands with Truth, leaving Omili a little at a loss.
Wait, doesn’t Aisia want to know who saved Truth?
She did—most likely it was just the grandmother inside her body exerting power.
Aisia hadn’t yet reported to the Goddess of Life that Truth had an old lady inside her, so she couldn’t directly tell Ninth Rank Hawei Omili.
Even a Ninth Rank Hawei couldn’t pry into everything. Everything had to await the Goddess’s decision!
“The hot water’s ready; take a bath first.”
Then Tia came out from behind and called out. The next second, Omili blink-teleported in front of Tia again, startling her:
“Wow!”
“Your priestess has a nicer voice, so can you help me ask who saved Truth just now?” Omili quietly pointed at Truth and asked.
But Tia only shook her head, saying she was just a Four Rank priestess.
This kind of thing should be handled by the more professional Saint, Aisia.
They definitely couldn’t just tell her that Lord Hermit inside Truth’s body had exerted power!
“Hmm…” Omili stroked her wise chin, feeling that the middle-rank priestess and Aisia were hiding something from her.
Seriously, did these two little devils think her clearance was so low?
The truth was, under the Goddess of Life, Aisia’s authority was much higher than that of the Saints.
After all, the Saints only knew how much the Goddess of Life loved the world, while Aisia was often summoned by the Goddess to do some unspeakable tasks.
That was when she realized gods had desires and emotions too.
The “atheism” promoted by the god readers, claiming “gods are just King Rank adventurers who monopolize Faith Power,” seemed to be right…
But none of that mattered as long as she could keep shamelessly mingling with the Saints. Gods or not, it was all secondary!
Watching Truth being led toward the bath, Omili immediately called out to her.
Since Aisia and the others refused to say, she’d ask the person herself!
She still had to go back and deal with the Assassin’s corpse. If she ran into that mysterious figure and they didn’t know each other, a fight could easily break out:
“Truth, can you tell me who saved you?”
Tia, holding Truth’s hand, immediately grew nervous, and Aisia was a little annoyed.
This Dark Guard was truly infuriating, abusing her Ninth Rank status to ask questions everywhere!
Truth casually replied:
“No one saved me. I ‘pop’-ped that Assassin’s head myself. Actually, I’m King Rank.”
Without looking back, she walked into the bathroom, leaving Tia outside the door, disappointed.
“Tch, if you don’t want to say, then fine. And bragging like this, no child would believe it. I’m not interested!”
Seeing all three were hiding something from her, Omili blink-teleported away angrily.
Hmph, she wouldn’t stoop to childishness. She planned to ask the Goddess of Life after the Chosen Ceremony.
If it had been anyone else messing with her, Omili would have already sent them into the sky for several free falls.
Aisia, however, was amused by Truth’s words. Haha, King Rank Saint! Next time Omili annoys her, she’d say the same!
Half an hour later, Truth sat quietly on a bench in a simple long dress. Aisia and Tia chatted beside her while eyeing Truth’s white hair.
“I really don’t understand how Omili does her job. She actually let an Eight Rank Assassin take Truth away. Truth, don’t worry, I’ll badmouth her in front of the Goddess later!” Aisia said.
“After the Chosen Ceremony, your name will spread throughout Sylvia. When you arrive at the King Capital, those nobles will probably address you as ‘Saint Lady.’ Your name will be known everywhere, from Deya City to Sun City.”
“Remember to come back and visit. I’ll always be here waiting for you.”
Tia also spoke, making Truth curious:
“Huh? Am I going to the King Capital later?”
But my Mist is still here!
“Of course. The King Capital has richer resources, is more convenient and safer, so Saints mostly stay there. Believe me, once you visit the King Capital, you’ll never look at Deya City the same way again!”
Aisia began describing all the benefits of the King Capital, but Truth was determined to stay in Deya City.
Unless she could move the Mist beside the King Capital.
“What if I don’t participate in the Chosen Ceremony and my name doesn’t reach the King Capital? Then maybe I won’t have to go there?”
“You’re overthinking. Being a Saint is important, and your name has already spread throughout Sylvia, even the North Empire knows of you—only they don’t know what you look like yet.”
“That’s impossible. I don’t believe information spreads that fast. The Chosen Ceremony was only decided a few days ago.”
Truth shook her head. There were so many gods in the world, and she was only a Saint of one of them. Why would people fuss over getting to know a new ruler?
Before transmigrating, she heard the new president of the Beautiful Country took office while she was still playing games with her roommate, barely caring, just tossing a few sharp remarks before continuing.
“Oh, I see. Truth, you don’t think being a Saint is that important, do you?” Aisia put down her comb and gave her a teasing look.
“No wonder you’ve never cared about the Chosen Ceremony. How about this? I’ll quietly take you up to the city wall at the main gate to see for yourself?”
……
Ten minutes later, Truth, wrapped in a headscarf and blanket, was led to the city wall of Deya City’s main gate. The air was a bit chilly.
Aisia pointed to the wall and said:
“Look outside. Do you know why the Chosen Ceremony has to be held so quickly? This is why!”
“I can’t see anything…”
Truth said softly. The wall was too high; even standing on tiptoes, she couldn’t see beyond Deya City’s outskirts.
“Oh, sorry…” Aisia quickly had Tia pick up Truth so she could see the countless small flames before the gate.
Each flickering light was a follower of the Goddess of Life who had come to pay respects to the Ninth Saint.
They stood or knelt, their shadows stretching long in the mingling light of the weak lamps and moonlight, like a silent forest quietly awaiting the first dawn’s light.
“Ah…” Truth felt she had never seen so many people in her life before, all gathered at the city gate.
How many could there be? Fifty thousand? A hundred thousand? Or two hundred thousand?!
Growing up in an environment without religious faith, Truth never understood much about belief.
She had thought the people of Deya City just came to pay homage to her and that would be it.
But it seemed the entire Sylvia was converging here.
“This is your influence! You have to know, most Sylvians worship the Goddess of Life. In just three days, followers from four surrounding cities have gathered, and the number will continue to grow before dawn.”
“So the Chosen Ceremony must be held quickly. Otherwise, if half the country shows up here, social order will collapse. Haha, my own Chosen Ceremony nearly tore down the King Capital back then!”
Aisia said proudly, and Truth grew a little excited.
So many people? No wonder the Goddess of Life organizes the Chosen Ceremony…
How much Faith Power would this generate!