“Anyway, it was the demons who did it.”
This was the answer Marius received from Truth.
It was extremely perfunctory.
“But Holy Maiden, don’t you think the timing of these assassinations matches up a little too perfectly with the time you issued those threats in the Parliament? It feels like as soon as you made the threat, a third party — “
“Exactly. The demons want you to think along those lines.”
“Uh…”
Marius had no choice. Faced with Truth’s consistent response, he could only excuse himself for now.
He planned to investigate what exactly was going on with these demons Truth mentioned; his subordinates should have found some clues by now.
He had originally wanted to try asking High Priest Tia, but he noticed that Tia and Eve had been staring each other down from start to finish. Was there some kind of conflict between them?
However, this actually benefited Marius’s investigation. With Tia distracting Eve, his efficiency finally returned to normal.
If Eve’s family hadn’t given him eighty gold coins, he never would have tolerated her with such patience.
“Let’s go, Eve,” Marius called out after saying his goodbyes to Truth. However, Eve flatly refused.
“No, I can’t leave yet. I’m worried about the Holy Maiden’s safety. I plan to stay by her side for now to protect her from the poisoning of lustful dem — er, I mean, the demons!”
“What are you thinking? You’re only Level 39. You should know that the Holy Maiden’s Shadow Guards are — “
“It’s called an extra layer of security!”
Fine. Marius didn’t say anything more. Although he didn’t know what kind of fit Eve was throwing this time, he was happy. He could finally dump this burden for a while!
To be clear, it wasn’t that he was abandoning Eve; she was the one who insisted on staying.
Besides, as long as she was by the Saintess’s side, there was no need to worry about danger.
It would also help gild her reputation.
Improving her reputation was the primary reason Eve had come to Deya City in the first place.
When her family asked later what Eve had done during this investigation, Marius could say things like, “Your treasure of a daughter took the initiative to act as the Saintess’s bodyguard and got along quite famously with her!” This would ensure her family happily paid the remaining balance.
……
After Marius left, only the three of them remained in the lounge. The atmosphere was a bit awkward.
Tia didn’t say a single word to Eve from beginning to end. She simply watched her with extreme vigilance before deciding not to stay any longer.
She picked Truth up like she was holding a kitten and prepared to leave, speaking softly to the girl as she did.
“Little Truth, have you done today’s prayers? Have you reviewed the Saintess Ritual? We still have so many documents to grade.”
‘Little Truth…’ Eve’s face darkened as she scurried along after Tia. This woman actually dared to call the Saintess by her name! She had absolutely no sense of reverence!
‘It’s so… incredibly enviable!’
‘I really want to try holding the Ninth Saintess like that…’ Eve kept staring at Truth’s small feet dangling in the air.
Even though the Saintess was being treated this way, she didn’t hiss or get angry.
It was clear her temper was exceptionally good.
In the Capital, Eve usually only got to watch the Sixth Saintess and the Fifth Saintess from a distance.
She never had the chance for close contact, let alone physical touch.
But here, in this godforsaken borderland, there was a cute Saintess who seemed a bit dazed and could be picked up at will by a High Priest…
‘Heavens, if I miss this chance, there won’t be another!’
Eve had to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She had to create a situation where she could be alone with the Ninth Saintess.
Without hesitation, Eve stepped forward to block Tia’s path and said seriously, “Hey, High Priest. I just received word that there are some suspicious points regarding you and the recent string of noble assassinations. Therefore, in my capacity as a Church Inspector, I demand that you immediately present your High Priest certification, your Church deployment orders, your Academy graduation certificate, and…”
Eve rattled off a long list of certificates and documents. Tia’s eyes widened. Did she really need to show that many? She had been working in Deya City for so long that even a stray dog knew she was the only Mid-tier Priest in the city!
And she even had to produce her Academy graduation certificate? That was from years ago! How long would it take to dig that up?!
“Are you making things difficult for me?”
Tia continued to stare coldly at Eve, who simply shook her head.
“This is a necessary investigation. I ask for your understanding. Otherwise, you might very well be transferred to the Church Court in the Capital. If that happens, it will likely be difficult for you to return here.”
……
In the Deya City underground, Marius was heading toward the safehouse where the nobles had been hiding, led by one of his subordinates.
The air here was thick with a stench of blood so overwhelming that even a light breath felt nauseating.
“The identities of the bodies have been confirmed. They were all victims from the Night of Assassination,” said the subordinate in charge of investigating the area.
“Did the culprit leave any clues?”
“Yes, but we’re even more confused after seeing them. Before coming here, we secretly interrogated several surviving nobles. They all claimed the Ninth Saintess did it, but based on the scene, it doesn’t look like her handiwork at all…”
‘Not the Saintess’s handiwork?’
Marius was instantly intrigued. What kind of scene could lead his subordinates to a conclusion that directly contradicted the eyewitnesses?
Soon, Marius arrived at the entrance of the safehouse.
The first things to catch his eye were the corpses of several guards who had been sliced clean in half at the waist.
Crouching down to observe more closely, Marius discovered that the wounds were made by a weapon so sharp it defied belief.
A knife? Or a sword?
Was it a professional assassin? But if it were a professional, why wouldn’t they just slit the throat? Why cut them in half and let them slowly bleed to death?
Next, Marius found another guard’s corpse.
This one hadn’t been cut in half. Instead, something had pierced through the chest and crushed the heart directly. It didn’t stop there.
He found several more bodies, each with a different cause of death.
Some were sliced vertically into five pieces, while others had been slammed into the wall by some immense force so hard they still hadn’t been peeled off…
“The killer didn’t just use a sword, but other weapons too?” Marius frowned at the bizarre variety of deaths.
Then there was the safehouse door.
The door itself was intact, but the lock had been pierced through by several sharp, spike-like objects.
The safety slots at the top and bottom of the door had been snapped by sheer brute force.
It was clear the killer possessed terrifying strength.
Inside the safehouse, the floor was covered in a chaotic mess of footprints.
It could be inferred that there had been a brief period of panic before the killer arrived.
Finally, there were the bodies of several nobles who had been killed cleanly.
It was evident the killer hadn’t intended to slaughter everyone, but used the classic method of killing half and leaving the rest as a deterrent.
“It really doesn’t look like the Saintess’s handiwork… The killer is strong and uses many weapons, but it’s also possible those were some kind of claws. If that’s the case, it matches the demons mentioned by the Ninth Saintess.”
Marius made a bold hypothesis, and then he was suddenly drenched in a cold sweat.
‘Wait, is the Holy Maiden collaborating with demons?’
No, if the Holy Maiden were the one killing the nobles, it would be fine.
The Church could help smooth things over by saying she had dealt with a group of hidden “Desecrators,” and everyone would be happy.
But if it were the work of demons… then the situation was far more serious!
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