Chapter 13: Obstruction

“Hey.”

Loki suddenly reached out and grabbed the other person’s shoulder, interrupting the spellcasting.

The moment the witch raised her staff, he sensed the girl’s mana start to surge violently, as if the sea of her soul was tossing with waves, radiating outwards like the sun.

This was the prelude to casting a spell.

By the standards of this world, casting spells in public wasn’t considered a breach of order or morality.

As long as the spell wasn’t highly lethal, and wasn’t targeting a specific person.

But this witch wanted to kill Baron Freeman.

Loki noticed this immediately and forcibly stopped her spell.

At the instant Loki made contact with the witch, the sea of her soul calmed, the tide advancing toward the world instantly receded, as if a conscious collective, terrified of being devoured by a mass of black void, decisively turned and fled.

“What are you trying to do?”

Loki asked expressionlessly.

The woman turned to look at him, stood motionless like a doll, and after a few seconds, her body scattered like scraps of paper, completely vanishing.

“A simulacrum?”

Loki frowned,

“Left rear, there’s a spellcaster on the church’s bell tower.”

Selulu reminded him.

She raised her hand and held Loki’s chin, turning his head to face the direction of the bell tower.

At that moment, clouds happened to cover the sun, and Loki was able to see the person, now almost just a tiny dot.

So that’s how it is, she was prepared for the possibility of being interrupted… Very much in the style of the Hand of Truth. This was probably meant as a silencing move from the start.

The list that woman provided—there was no way the rest of the Hand of Truth members would know it.

Once they noticed the restriction on a member was activated, they’d act like a lizard dropping its tail, cutting off any roots that might threaten their own safety, lying low for a time, then casting their net again.

Loki was all too familiar with this process.

Because he’d done it himself.

However, this alone couldn’t confirm that Baron Freeman was definitely hiding something. After all, the Hand of Truth treated everyone on the list the same, even innocent people mixed in to throw off suspicion would be eliminated as well.

It just gave him one more reason to “question” the baron.

The Archons have always treated all humans equally, whether noble or commoner. As long as a soul suited their taste, they’d do anything to lure it into corruption.

There were countless examples of people becoming the playthings of the Archons.

“Can you protect Baron Freeman while you’re at it?”

“No can do, Loki.”

Selulu wagged her finger.

Last night, he’d seen countless white chains surge from her back, neutralizing the Hand of Truth’s assassin, spreading out like angelic wings to form a dome above them.

“This attack is aimed at you.”

“Me…?”

Loki was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered, a look of relief appearing on his face.

He was, after all, still the “top priority.”

Realizing this, he actually felt a little more at ease.

If anyone in this world could disgust a “deity,” it would probably only be Loki—for all the blasphemers, whether it was about sacrifices or schemes, nothing was more important than getting rid of the chewing gum stuck to their master’s backside.

Especially after he’d thoroughly disgusted the Archons not long ago.

“Fair enough.”

A violent explosion sounded, the ground trembling slightly.

But the protective layer Selulu wove for herself and Loki didn’t budge in the slightest.

The girl even had the leisure to lean against the youth, showing no sign of tension at all.

“Hmm, feels like about eighth-tier strength… That’s already pretty dangerous in Caesania, right? But they’re using a standard spell, so I can’t tell which Archon’s follower it is.”

She turned her head, revealing a somewhat cruel smile.

“Unfortunately, a smart one—they’ve already run off.”

“Let’s check if our dear Baron has turned into shredded green pepper beef.”

“Okay~”

Seeing the girl retract the chains, letting the sky reappear above, Loki turned to look in Baron Freeman’s direction.

There were a few small black craters on the white, smooth ground, but the crowd nearby was mostly unharmed, only a few with minor injuries.

Baron Freeman had already fainted, lying in the arms of a guard.

The people didn’t panic after the attack. Once they realized what had happened, they all turned to look at the girl beside Loki.

A strange white light shimmered on Selulu’s skin. Only now did Loki realize that she was a genuine “Saintess,” and not some pervert who might steal his underwear.

People began chanting the Church’s prayers, beseeching the brightest being in the sea of souls. As if some power was responding, wounds on their bodies slowly began to heal.

Unbelievable as it seemed, the deity—the Archon—worshipped by the Church was indeed a special, anthropomorphic being.

If Loki’s prayers weren’t considered poison by every Archon, he wouldn’t have minded saying a few nice words to the statue in the church.

Selulu smiled and waved to the people.

Before the most zealous believers could rush forward to kiss the girl’s toes, she turned away, naturally grabbing Loki’s wrist.

“Alright, let’s go. I really don’t like being surrounded by a crowd. Bishop Part must have sensed my use of divine arts just now. If he catches up, things will get troublesome.”

“How troublesome?”

“Depends. If he tries to forcibly separate me from you, then I’ll have no choice but to kill him.”

“…Saintess?”

“I’m not joking, I’m serious. From today on, if I can’t smell your scent within twenty-four hours, I’ll suffocate and die.”

What a heavy setting.

And yet, her words were filled with such raw emotion, like a bomb with a lit fuse. If Loki couldn’t extinguish it in time, he’d be blown to pieces.

But as if she could see his thoughts, she quickly changed the subject, sweeping away the gravity that almost drew Loki in.

“Are you going to keep investigating that baron?”

“I’m going to find the next one first.”

Loki replied.

“The Hand of Truth has already started cutting ties. Everyone on the list is going to be targeted for assassination… We need to see if any lucky ones manage to survive.”

After all, the Hand of Truth was not what it once was; their efficiency was bound to drop.

The woman who just tried to assassinate with an eighth-tier simulacrum was probably one of their strongest assets.

But…

Was that woman really a witch?

Loki pondered, then made up his mind about where to go next.

“After that, we’ll visit the Caesania Witches’ Mutual Aid Society.”