The next day, under Marius’s command, fifteen church members in Deya City were secretly arrested.
They were to be taken to Wangdu for trial. Originally, they could have captured twenty, but four of them committed suicide by taking poison, and another named Dickinson was missing.
It was estimated that he had fled to Wangsheng City.
In response, Marius planned to issue a public bounty for Dickinson.
This way, unless the man had a powerful backer in Wangsheng City, someone would surely tie him up and bring him back within Sylvia’s borders in a matter of days.
As for the bodies of the four who had committed suicide, they would also be brought back for attempted interrogation.
Although the art of necromancy for communicating with the dead was officially forbidden, as long as it wasn’t discovered, anything was fair game.
At 8:00 AM, Marius’s caravan had expanded to five carriages.
They were as quick to leave as they had been to arrive.
Since the matter of the report letter had reached a conclusion, the Church would publicly announce that the God-guides of Deya City had attempted to throw mud at the Saintess because they feared their wicked deeds would be discovered.
As for the mysterious faction mentioned by the Ninth Saintess, Marius only planned to inform the high-ranking members of the Church.
“Captain, everything is ready and the supplies have been replenished. When do we depart?” a subordinate asked Marius from atop a carriage.
“We wait for that Miss to return,” Marius said with a hint of resentment while crossing his arms over his chest.
‘No wonder Lord Igor was willing to pay such a high price for me to take her along; she’s so difficult to manage!’
Marius hadn’t seen her since she snuck off last night. ‘Could she have actually tried to pay the Ninth Saintess a late-night visit?’
Soon after, Eve finally appeared in Marius’s sight among the bustling crowd in the distance.
She walked with her head down and her back hunched, her face pale. She looked extremely guilty.
Once Eve reached Marius, he asked, “Did you encounter something bad last night?”
Eve was about to nod, but she immediately shook her head. “No…”
“But you have ‘I encountered something bad’ written all over your face.”
“It has nothing to do with our current investigation. Stop asking!”
Eve suddenly snapped, throwing a tantrum as she climbed into the carriage on her own.
This left Marius and the subordinates on the scene looking at each other in confusion.
“What’s wrong with her?” a subordinate whispered.
“Based on my experience and what I know of her, I’d wager she tried to sneak in to see the Ninth Saintess in the middle of the night. Then she discovered a side of her that she shouldn’t have known, and her ‘pure and holy Saintess’ filter shattered. That must be it.”
As an old hand who didn’t view the Church or the Saintesses through rose-tinted glasses, Marius could guess with his eyes closed that most Saintesses were far from perfect.
After all, everyone in this world had their own desires, not to mention these Saintesses, whose mental maturity hadn’t developed much.
If it weren’t for the Goddess backing them up, they would have been eaten alive by the people in the Church long ago.
“I think so too. Last time I passed by the Great Library, I accidentally saw the Fifth Saintess and the Sixth Saintess fighting and rolling around on the floor. At that time, the Sixth Saintess had the upper hand. She pinned the former to the ground, pulled her hair, and shouted, ‘Believe it or not, I’ll strip off all your clothes and throw you into the market!’ I was truly shocked.”
The subordinate replied. He had originally thought the Saintesses lived in peaceful harmony, but it turned out they were actually pulling each other’s hair behind the scenes. It was quite sensational.
“We should only talk about these things that affect the Church’s reputation in private. Do not let them spread, or else fifty years of imprisonment would be considered a light sentence.”
After checking the headcount once more, Marius gave the order. The caravan began to slowly roll out of the city.
Meanwhile, on the wall of Deya City’s main gate, Truth and Tia were watching Marius and the others depart.
‘I didn’t expect it to be resolved so easily. It seems the status of a Saintess is much higher than I imagined. Maybe it’s time for me to research the system of the Church of the Goddess of Life.’
Truth had initially been startled, thinking an Inspector was a position similar to an internal affairs officer.
It turned out they were just a bunch of people going through the motions, catching a few small fry to satisfy their mission.
Truth liked this very much.
“Research the Church’s system? As a Saintess, do you even need to study that?”
Tia explained with a hint of confusion, “The only superior a Saintess has is the Goddess of Life herself. As for those guys in the Church, they can’t do anything to you. On the contrary, if you pass the Church’s assessment, they have to do their best to satisfy your various conditions!”
“Wait, what?! So I’m not some border county magistrate, but a Supreme Ruler?! Wait a minute, what is this Church assessment?”
Truth was suddenly shocked. She had always thought a Saintess was just a figurehead who collected Faith Power for the Goddess of Life. Did she actually have such great power?
“It’s just an advanced version of the Priest assessment. Originally, Saintesses could skip all those miscellaneous trials. However, it’s said that a long time ago, a certain Saintess used her authority to take half of the gold coins from Sylvia’s national treasury to build a super-fortress at the canyon by the entrance to Hell. This caused the people to suffer for more than ten years, and both the state and the Church were nearly overthrown. Because of that, the Goddess placed a series of restrictions on the Saintess’s power.”
“It was just building a fortress. Were the consequences really that serious?”
“Because of building that fortress, the country couldn’t even afford to support the army afterward. They lost vast territories in the war and signed a series of unequal treaties. They even…”
“Fine, fine, I get it. The consequences were very serious.” Truth waved her hand, showing she didn’t care. This made Tia even more energetic.
“Ha! That Saintess back then had the exact same expression as you! She even said that the sins belong to the present, but the merit is for eternity! In the end, she almost caused a kingdom and the Church to perish!”
“I won’t cause that kind of situation. I am a Saintess chosen by the Goddess herself. I am here to benefit the world, not harm it!”
“Ha! That sentence was also said by that Saintess, word for word!”
“Huh?”
Truth wanted to continue arguing, but she thought it over and decided against it. Business was more important. “How do I participate in that assessment?”
“Aren’t you already participating? Please, the Goddess isn’t stupid. He didn’t choose you just to let you enjoy life. He wants you to start from the grassroots level to understand this world and the power structures of various factions step by step. Only after you have a clear perception of this world will your Saintess permissions be fully unlocked. Otherwise, if you suddenly lose your mind one day and say you want to build an Atlantis underwater, everything would be ruined.”
The Goddess’s cultivation of Truth was actually very clear. The first main task given after Truth became a Saintess was to first understand the cruelty of war.
Soon, just as Truth was about to leave, a Priestling came to the wall and whispered to Tia:
“Teacher, a Demon Hunter named Kavier wants to see you and the Saintess. He said that the time has come.”
“See, Truth?” Tia immediately turned and said to Truth upon receiving the news. “Your assessment is here.”
“Wait!” Truth immediately raised her hand and shouted.
“Before the assessment begins, Tia, you write a letter for me to send to the Church headquarters. As a Saintess, it’s impossible for me to have zero permissions at the start, right? So just write something simple…”