Facing the utter chaos before him, Loki’s mouth twitched involuntarily.
Do you think I want this?
If these desecrators had been beautiful girls, he might have been able to tolerate it. But no—they were all a bunch of inhuman Noble Beasts, whose minds weren’t filled with thoughts of kisses, hugs, or lifting each other high. Instead, they schemed how to perform sacrifices that would amuse their master.
“Still, I can understand why Christine made a contract with you… You’re basically a bait enchanted with ‘Never Miss a Mission’!”
Sailulu clapped her hands with a bright smile.
“So? How was my performance just now? I’m right, aren’t I? With me around, you’re all set… Even if more of those guys come, I can just ‘swish’ and clear them all out.”
“Compared to a female knight who only appears briefly and then leaves, wouldn’t you rather have me always by your side?”
She really knew how to put him in a dilemma.
Loki could only murmur an ambiguous “uh-huh” as he loosened the pouch containing the device to teleport Christine.
Five years of habit had taken deep root; at least for now, it couldn’t be changed. It was like how divorced men would subconsciously touch their ring fingers.
…Thinking back, for these five years, it seemed Christine had been instilling in him the idea that he could only rely on her in times of danger, essentially spoiling him.
On the surface, it looked like an easy and carefree ideal life. But Loki felt something was off—after all, he had barely used his own combat abilities. Christine’s way of “raising” him was more like turning a toothless male lion into a gentle little kitten that only meowed to call its owner.
Could it be that Christine was actually taming and controlling me?
No way. That was pure nonsense.
Loki recalled what he knew about Christine.
The conclusion was that she had no reason to do that, and she didn’t hold any strange feelings toward him. They were purely comrades and colleagues.
Besides, they had grander goals beyond love and romance to achieve.
This was a contract between just him and Christine.
Sailulu read the silence in Loki’s expression.
Her words earlier seemed to have backfired.
Tsk, after all, in Loki’s heart, that woman still held a higher place, huh?
But Sailulu didn’t lose heart because of this; instead, she grew even more excited—the mere thought of being affectionate with Loki in front of Christine made her lower belly twinge with anticipation.
She could see that, at heart, Loki still regarded her as that frail, pitiable experiment that filled him with guilt, not the strong, beautiful girl who now loved him wholeheartedly and had changed beyond recognition.
In that sense, he was quite stubborn.
But precisely because of that, watching him change little by little, gradually accept her, and finally be unable to leave her side, drowning completely in her embrace—
Sailulu had a plan already written for a hundred years from now.
It was a magnum opus she had conceived, drafted, and completed while still receiving education at the Holy Church Monastery, pouring in all her love.
At least, that was what she believed.
Sailulu returned to Loki’s side.
Wherever her boots stepped, blood and shredded flesh repelled outward by repulsive force, spreading like a shallow puddle of water.
“Hmph, just by the look on your face, I already know the answer. Anyway, compared to me, you prefer tall, beautiful, sexy women.”
She pouted mockingly, her small, cute appearance making it difficult for Loki to give an answer that would hurt her feelings.
“Forget it, let’s not talk about that. What should we do next? Change location to rest? Besides the smell, it’ll definitely be chaotic here soon enough.”
“Yeah. But the city’s under curfew, so it’ll be hard to find an inn still open.”
They returned to the room to change clothes.
Loki wanted to inspect the scene to see if the desecrators had dropped anything useful—like a note with a mission or an ID card.
That way, he could determine if they were desecrators disguised as Inquisitors or Inquisitors who had been corrupted.
The former wasn’t a big deal, but the latter… meant that the Caesania Inquisition might have already been secretly taken over.
But Sailulu’s methods were a little too thorough. Rather than pick through minced flesh and blood with her nose pinched, it was simpler and more direct to check the Inquisition tomorrow.
Before that, Loki had to contact Christine.
Back inside, Loki went out to the balcony and tossed a gold coin into the night sky.
“Caw.”
Soon, a glossy raven alighted on the balcony railing, clutching the coin.
“Huh? You still keep a Familiar from the Hand of Truth?”
Sailulu looked curiously at the large bird, which was no ordinary creature.
The marks on both her and Loki’s bodies that once signified their belonging to the Hand of Truth were ravens—there was no doubt a connection between this raven and that symbol.
This raven was a creature from the Sea of Souls—or rather, a “Demon.”
After being tamed through special means, it became a Familiar that humans could command… Unfortunately, this technique wasn’t widespread. Most people wouldn’t even dare try to tame a demon, fearing their soul would be devoured instead.
“It’s strange it’s not afraid of you…”
“I’ve raised it for a long time. If it were truly scared, it would have flown away long ago.”
Loki scratched the raven’s beak with his finger.
“I don’t know how this habit started, but it only eats gold coins.”
Caw.
The raven flapped its wings.
“Do you and ‘Black Sword’ usually communicate this way remotely?”
“It’s more convenient. After all, she has to run around putting out fires and can’t always meet me.”
A career-focused wife and a husband who stays at home, plus an unexpected third party—quite a classic storyline.
Although early landline telephones existed in this world, the main means of communication were still expensive spells and letters. Those who could command Familiars were rare, even among gifted races like Magi.
The raven Loki and Christine co-owned was basically like a coin-operated cellphone, patrolling nearby airspace and descending whenever it smelled a gold coin.
“Does it have a name?”
Sailulu asked.
“‘Black.’”
“How lazy.”
“Do you want me to name my pet Christopher Francisco Ostrowski?”
“Not a chance. At the very least, it should have a nice name. Let me think… maybe something like ‘Yaya’!”
“Big brother, stop teasing little brother.”
After quickly briefing Christine on the situation, Loki and Sailulu packed some luggage and left the apartment.
But someone was faster than them.
As if they had been waiting all along.