“I… I’m not stupid, I just can’t tell them apart.” As Maryet covered her face, her whole body seemed to wilt.
“The Guardian suspects it was two Hongyi Grand Archbishops who plotted to murder the Pope,” Samimi said.
“Hongyi Grand Archbishops? Impossible. They’re old friends with my grandfather, they often spent time together in charity. They were classmates in the church, they’ve known each other since childhood,” Meigan Nuqin replied.
“So in other words, we can’t figure out who made the move? It’s also possible the Hongyi Grand Archbishops didn’t plan it at all, which makes things even more confusing.” Samimi rubbed her chin. With this little information, it was impossible to deduce anything.
She herself didn’t even know the names of the two Hongyi Grand Archbishops. It was possible that the real culprit wasn’t them at all.
The two Hongyi Grand Archbishops were the highest-ranking clergy, naturally making them suspects, but in past cases, the obvious suspects were rarely the real perpetrators.
The true culprit was often a subordinate, acting on their own initiative, hiding deeply, even involving countless others. Perhaps the entire faction participated in the assassination, with only the top leader unaware.
These cases always seemed to be like peeling an onion, layer after layer, endlessly exhausting.
And if one wanted to find the truth, they’d have to infiltrate the enemy’s ranks to gather intelligence. Staying here, there was no way to obtain evidence.
But would someone like Samimi, who couldn’t even get out of bed without dawdling every day, go out to collect information?
Samimi was half a social recluse, a homebody girl with zero motivation to take action.
If no one came to assign her a task, she’d honestly spend her entire life farming in Sweet Melon Town and wouldn’t want to get mixed up in any of those bad things.
Just then, Niubao hurriedly rushed into the small chapel and whispered to Samimi, “Miss Sister, something’s wrong outside. A huge knight order is heading for our town!”
“Can you tell which group they are?” Samimi asked.
“I don’t know, but from afar, I saw they’re wearing the same insignia as those others—it’s the [Church Badge].” Niubao suddenly became reliable.
“More Church Knights? I’ve already seen four different factions of Church Knights in just one day. Unbelievable,” Samimi said with a sigh.
“It could be the Adjudication Knights coming to arrest us,” said the Pope’s left hand.
“You all stay here, I’ll handle them,” Samimi stood up, taking Niubao out to confront the incoming Church Knights.
The moment she stood up, Samimi’s mind flashed with inspiration, and she instantly came up with a brilliant plan.
Before, she had felt like she was shrouded in fog—power struggles really weren’t her area of expertise.
But she could drag the power struggle into a domain she was familiar with.
But for now, she had to go out and see what these Church Knights outside were up to.
Samimi quickly went to her room and found a veil, which was an extra piece to her nun’s hood. Usually, Samimi didn’t wear the nun’s hood as it hindered her movements in combat, preferring the convenient split nun’s robe.
Now she put on both the hood and the veil. Under the veil was a layer of fine silk gauze, covering her head and face, and she set off.
“Eh?” Niubao looked a bit puzzled, but said nothing more.
“Niubao, you stay here and help me protect everyone,” Samimi told Niubao to remain behind.
“Miss Sister?” Niubao looked a little unwilling.
“Niubao, I leave it to you. Right now, I can only trust your physical strength to protect everyone. I know you’re smarter than the other beastmen. You’ll understand what’s at stake. We need to split up, Niubao,” Samimi said.
“What exactly should I do?” Niubao scratched his head.
With that, Samimi left Sweet Melon Chapel alone.
The main streets of Sweet Melon Town were already filled with Church Knights in white armor.
At every intersection, mounted Church Knights were patrolling, including the surroundings of Sweet Melon Chapel itself. It seemed as though they were searching for something.
“That’s her! The Demon-Hunting Nun!” As soon as Samimi appeared, the white-armored Church Knights immediately surrounded her.
“Who are you people?” Samimi asked calmly and gracefully.
“We are [Church Inquisition Knights]. Our orders are to apprehend heretical church members. We serve directly under Hongyi Grand Archbishop Michael,” the lead Inquisition Knight explained solemnly.
“What business do you have with me?” Samimi asked.
Yet another new type of knight!
So far, we’ve already seen the Knights Magus, Chasing Demon Knights, Heretic Inquisition Knights, and now the Inquisition Knights—so many different branches.
And the duties of Heretic Inquisition Knights and Inquisition Knights clearly overlapped: both investigated church members, just under different titles.
But that wasn’t important. What mattered was who they worked for.
Adjudication Knights worked for the Pope, while Inquisition Knights served the Hongyi Grand Archbishops. That was the distinction.
“Heh, let’s go to your guild and talk business,” the Inquisition Knight Chief lowered his head, revealing a face as refined as a doll’s, with a heart-shaped trendy hairstyle, and an exaggeratedly self-satisfied expression, his gaze burning with desire as he stared at her veiled face.
Samimi had rarely encountered such self-absorbed men in this otherworldly realm. After all, this was a light yuri fantasy world—such types were rare and out of place.
Still, they had to show up eventually, since this was a staple in magical transformation stories.
If you turned into a cute girl in another world and no man ever coveted you, then why not just be an advertisement mascot instead?
Samimi was silent for a moment, feeling quite reluctant, and after holding back for a long time, she finally replied in a weak voice, “Fine, let’s go.”
Her acting was flawless, and she successfully lured all the Church Inquisition Knights to the Melon Guild, leaving the Sweet Melon Chapel temporarily safe.
But Samimi sensed that these Inquisition Knights weren’t here to investigate Town Chief Maryet, but rather had another objective—more like they were targeting her personally.
A large group arrived at the Melon Guild, where the Sweet Melon Town Chief was already waiting at the door, looking visibly nervous.
The Church Inquisition Knights marched directly into the Melon Guild, taking control of the entire guild.
Perfect timing. Samimi exchanged a glance with the Town Chief. The two didn’t even need to speak.
The Town Chief swallowed hard, didn’t make a sound, and quietly led the way, guiding everyone into the Melon Guild’s conference room.
The conference room was quickly secured by the Inquisition Knights, with someone standing in every corner. This wasn’t an investigation, but a shakedown.
“From now on, every month your guild will pay eighty percent of its earnings to us as support for our knights’ glorious cause,” the Inquisition Knight Chief slammed the table, sneering coldly.
So it was just extortion! Who in this other world actually reasons with you?
Turns out they came for money?
Samimi finally felt a little relieved—it seemed they weren’t here for Meixin Qin after all.
Still, the Pope had just been killed, and these Church Knights weren’t grieving at all. Instead, they were out extorting money and resources. Truly speechless.