Aililan had a massive headache.
‘Is this woman going to cling to me forever?’
“No, I have to find a way to get her away from me,” Aililan muttered.
Aililan wrote letters to her sisters back at the Holy Land, attempting to have Fina Nisi transferred away from her side, but her request was rejected in the reply.
A Knight Commander who was loyal to the Virtue of Chastity could not be transferred or expelled without committing a major mistake. According to the rules, it was simply not legal. To put it bluntly, the rules were set in stone.
Disposing of her most trusted knight for no reason would shake the very foundation of the Knights of Virtue.
Although each of the Seven Saintesses only had 500 knights, these were the most elite heavy cavalry. Furthermore, every single one of them was a graduate of the Military Academy and possessed significant strength.
If the 3,000-plus heavy armored knights of the Seven Saintesses were mobilized, they could easily steamroll the surrounding small countries.
Aililan sat at her desk.
She brushed aside a lock of her long, golden hair while she wrote: “Petty, Betiliana, Theresa…”
After thinking for a moment, she added her own name: “Aililan.”
These were essentially the people Fina Nisi would target for capture during the early stages of the game.
Among them, Betiliana was currently focused entirely on the Investigation Bureau. However, there was no telling if Fina Nisi might capture her one day. Therefore, while Aililan entrusted her with important duties, she always kept a guard up. This was why she hadn’t given Betiliana any major promotions in rank.
As for the others, Briana Tell was already a blonde-haired interloper.
Theresa had been hidden away by Aililan herself.
Aililan shook her head again. “Among those blonde-haired interlopers, who else was there besides Briana Tell?”
Aililan realized with frustration that those who could truly cause trouble for Fina Nisi in the game were currently far too distant from her.
After all, regardless of how one looked at it, she was merely an early-to-mid-game character. The truly powerful and beautiful existences were all located in other maps.
In terms of game mechanics, although she had many CGs, her importance in the plot wasn’t actually that high.
For example, she would cause trouble for the protagonist throughout the story, making herself quite loathsome. Thus, after the protagonist defeated the enemy, a new CG would be unlocked, and she might just be a background character in a “Captured” CG. It was precisely because of this that her final ending was somewhat miserable.
She pondered for a while.
“Elves, Demons.”
Aililan wrote down two more locations.
“The only places that can cause trouble for Fina Nisi now are these two. In the game, the player goes to the Elves first, and later to the Land of Depravity.”
In the original plot, it was because she had failed to hold Atester City. In her desperation, she had to go to the Elves to seek an alliance to jointly face the threat of the Gnoll-kin. However, she just happened to run into an internal crisis within the Elven race. Since she was focused entirely on the alliance and didn’t want to interfere in Elven affairs, she only cared about completing the treaty. In the eyes of others, the protagonist would solve the Elven crisis while she became even more loathsome—a selfish person.
*Sigh.*
Aililan let out a long breath.
‘If I weren’t the person involved, I’d probably think the Saintess in the game was annoying too.’
But if one looked at it from her perspective, was there really anything wrong with a Saintess seeking an alliance for the benefit of humanity? Her only goal was to achieve that alliance. With a pile of her own problems left unsolved, she didn’t want to meddle in the internal affairs of the Elves. What was wrong with that?
The problem was that she had become that Saintess.
The plot had already changed from the moment she refused Fina Nisi’s suggestion to come to Atester City with only a few people.
It wasn’t hard to imagine. If Aililan hadn’t brought the entire Chastity Knight Order with her, she would have been left in a wretched state by the Gnoll-kin protests or the pressure from her own subordinates. Ultimately, she would have had no choice but to beg Fina Nisi for help.
Then, she would have fallen step by step.
Eventually, she would have become a ragdoll. And a broken, discarded ragdoll at that.
Aililan wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and gave a forced laugh. “Fortunately, the situation is completely different now. Not only have I firmly secured my power in Atester, but I’ve also delayed the Gnoll-kin crisis. If I go to the Elves now… if anyone dares to call the Saintess selfish again, I’ll mobilize tens of thousands of troops and station them right on the Elven border. I’ll see if they dare say it again!”
Aililan contemplated for a long time.
She felt that a trip to the Elves might be worth it.
According to the game’s logic, she just needed to push the plot forward and let Fina Nisi go wreak havoc among the Elves.
But she didn’t have to go immediately. After some thought, Aililan returned to the secret chamber in the dungeon. She began to refine and improve the magical potion with perfume properties that she had made last time.
Her time was incredibly precious. Since she planned to trigger the Elven plot line, she might as well craft some high-end products to swindle some money from those rich Elves.
—
Under the moonlight.
Inside a residence within the city.
While Aililan was busy refining and improving the Perfume Magic Potion, Fina Nisi arrived at a certain villa.
The villa was exquisitely decorated. Symbols of stars and moons were carved onto the walls—common insignias for a Star Astrologer. Fina Nisi had previously ordered Petty to find an astrologer, but the matter had been delayed until now.
Now, Briana Tell had been driven away. She finally had the chance to search.
Since arriving in Atester City, there weren’t many people Fina Nisi cared about: Betiliana at the Investigation Bureau, her own Saintess, and that girl from a few months ago whom she had glimpsed briefly—the one who looked like an angel and used the Divine Power of Scales.
However, she didn’t know if it was because of Aililan’s growth, but her interest in Betiliana had waned significantly. She felt that a minor official in a border city wasn’t nearly as alluring as the Saintess.
But she was still obsessed with that girl who used the Divine Power of Scales.
*Thud.*
Fina Nisi stood in the courtyard.
The astrologer in the yard was caught off guard and heavily injured. In truth, even if he had been prepared, he could never have defeated Fina Nisi.
“Who are you?”
“Aren’t you a Star Astrologer? Take a guess.”
“What do you want?”
“Find someone for me.”
“You insolent person, I could never—”
Before he could finish, Fina Nisi’s sword was pressed against his neck. “Don’t give me any nonsense,” she said impatiently. “You aren’t the only astrologer in Atester City. I don’t mind killing you and finding another.”
The astrologer stammered, “How could you…”
Fina Nisi slowly moved her longsword. The blade cut into his flesh, nearly grazing his blood vessels.
“Answer me now,” Fina Nisi said.
“I… I can! Of course I can! But please, spare me afterward, okay?”
“Fine.”
“Do you have an item belonging to the person you are looking for?”
“No.”
“What does the person you’re looking for look like?”
“I forgot.”
The astrologer remained silent.
‘If you want me dead, just say it.’
Fortunately, she managed to provide one key piece of information: the Divine Power of Scales.
At midnight, Fina Nisi walked out of the astrologer’s villa. She didn’t kill him. It wasn’t because she was merciful, but because the astrologer had divined that the girl was still in Atester City.
As for her exact location, he still needed time to calculate it.