Astraea didn’t even think before the words tumbled out, “Hmph, why don’t you just bathe with me?”
“Huh?“
This time Astraea actually thought it through for a moment, but then she licked her lips and looked up at Luo En , “I said, why don’t you just bathe with me! Heheh~ Little trash fish Luo En , you can’t even manage something this simple, can you?”
Seeing the small-statured but big-hearted Astraea teasing him like this, Luo En felt that he wouldn’t be able to call himself a normal man if he didn’t do something about it.
He was getting hard—his fists, right? Anyway, to battle!
The next morning, Astraea woke up to find herself lying safely in bed, with Luo En staring at her with a complicated expression.
Ah, last night she had been devoured.
After eating vegetarian for so long, the little elf who’d had her appetite thoroughly whetted had finally tasted meat.
[Content Redacted]
But this was a different kind of fun in its own way. At the thought, Astraea’s face flushed, and she wanted to go another round with Luo En .
“Wait! Astraea, are you feeling any discomfort right now?”
Luo En quickly reached out to hold down the little elf’s restless head, asking with a worried tone.
He had held back his strength yesterday, after all.
Last night’s battle—they hadn’t taken any precautions at all, had they? But elves had naturally low fertility, so Astraea wasn’t worried at all about getting caught.
“No discomfort at all, I feel great.”
Seeming to realize that she couldn’t let battle completely consume her mind, Astraea suppressed the throbbing in her chest and instead buried her face into Luo En ‘s chest, rubbing against him frantically.
After that one frank and unreserved, exhilarating battle, Astraea had thrown away all sense of shame in front of Luo En . She just wanted to stay in his arms and never leave.
Because if she went out, she’d have to face the terrifying old Sage.
Gah!
Astraea would rather be pinned down by Luo En and sent flying 11,451 times than see that old Sage again.
Astraea reluctantly left Luo En ‘s warm embrace and began another day of grueling training.
Since she held that title, she had to bear the corresponding consequences.
September third, training. Attempted to drain Luo En dry. Failed.
Looking at the old Sage and the Priest Choir coming to greet her, Astraea… but reality was cruel. Since Astraea had chosen to take on the title of Saintess, she had to bear the corresponding consequences.
September fourth, training. Attempted to drain Luo En dry. Failed.
September fifth, training… drain… failed…
September tenth. Astraea, oh Astraea, are you really going to sink this low?
September eleventh, attempted to drain Luo En dry. Failed.
Day after day passed, and under the old Sage’s strict training, Astraea increasingly took on the appearance of a true Saintess. She now mastered thirty-six elegant walking postures and seventy-two elegant standing postures, paired with an indescribable aura she’d developed from constantly coming into contact with divine power.
At the very least, when she went out now, Astraea could genuinely fool people.
But that wasn’t what Astraea cared about. What made her gnash her teeth in frustration was that in nearly two months of unbroken bouts, every single one had ended in her crushing defeat!
Every time the little elf finally got used to Luo En’s offensive rhythm, Luo En would immediately speed up his attacks, and while she was learning his techniques, he was simultaneously figuring out her weaknesses bit by bit.
Recalling the shameful defeat she suffered last night, Astraea suddenly wanted to bite Luo En’s arm again.
Why was it always her who ended up kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, even passing out!
“Alright, Astraea.” Though he didn’t know why the little elf was suddenly puffing up in anger, Luo En still lovingly pinched the cheek of the girl who looked completely like a little human child, earning another round of bared-teeth hissing from the elf, “Today’s the canonization ceremony. Can’t make a fool of ourselves.”
After all this time together, Luo En had noticed that Astraea was becoming more and more childlike in front of him.
Of course, Luo En meant her personality—not that Astraea had actually become a child… well, actually, as an elf, Astraea really was still a child.
In any case, Luo En had privately gone to consult Maximus, who had a lot of experience dealing with elves, as well as Aiouwen, the elf whom Maximus had dealings with. They said this was a sign that Astraea was letting down her guard around Luo En and showing her true self.
That was a good thing.
Luo En, now increasingly close with Astraea, teased the little elf with one hand, even wearing an expression of dying without regrets on his face. This made the recovered Maximus, standing nearby, subtly take a step away.
What a pair of freaks, these two. How did the All-Father ever come to favor them?
Not wanting to speculate recklessly about the divine, Maximus sat in the seat prepared by the Church, waiting for the ceremony to begin with boredom.
He’d heard there were supposed to be gladiator fights at the start, but that segment had been canceled due to Astraea’s strong objections.
That deprived Maximus of some entertainment, but he didn’t hold it against the little elf.
He could more or less guess what Astraea was objecting to.
But an unease lingered in his heart. Looking at the bustling crowds in the Church plaza, he couldn’t quite put his finger on where this unease came from.
Maximus carefully reviewed the past two months of work.
City defenses were without flaw; the front lines were still slogging through the brutal war in the Dwarf Mountains and Orc Forests; the goblins in the Sewer had been largely cleared out, and the teleportation gate connecting to that Mysterious Space had been sealed.
Where exactly could the problem be?
Maximus’s thoughts expanded. Though he no longer handled state affairs, the king still sent people to ask his opinions from time to time, which meant Maximus’s understanding of Kingdom affairs was no less than when he had been regent.
There had been one riot in the east, but it was quickly suppressed; the Western Region was still thriving with vitality and competition; the southern land reclamation was in its final stages, and the Kingdom could now start reaping benefits from it.
The only thing worth mentioning was that churches and religious orders across the Kingdom had been displaying more and more miracles during this period. The Church declared this was a sign that the gods had once again turned their gaze upon the mortal world.
As the one controlling the Kingdom’s intelligence network, Maximus knew that most of these miracles were related to suppressing monsters. Monsters across the Kingdom had been unnaturally active recently.
Wait—could his unease be related to the abnormal monster activity?
Clunk.
A light mechanism sounded, and a Wooden Trap fell from the ceiling, crushing two careless Royal Capital Guard soldiers beneath it.
Even though both soldiers were equipped with chainmail, getting hit by a trap of considerable weight was still unpleasant.
“Damn! My arm’s broken! Hurry!”
One of the pinned soldiers shouted loudly. His companions nearby quickly set up a perimeter, then everyone worked together to lift the Wooden Trap.
“John passed out!”
He was responsible for transporting the wounded to the rear, while the remaining soldiers continued clearing out the remaining goblins in the Sewer.
“Goddammit, since when did these green-skinned runts learn to dig traps?”
An old soldier furrowed his brow and cursed. He’d been in the military for over a decade and had never seen goblins this cursed.
It was one thing for them to have Black Qi seeping from their bodies, but they fought with insane ferocity, charging at them with reckless abandon. And even more outrageous—these low-intelligence monsters actually knew how to set traps!
The reports said goblin extermination was basically complete, but only the frontline grunts doing the actual work knew how dangerous these days had been.
When there were more goblins before, it was fine—at least it was a fair fight face-to-face.
Now? Those cunning beasts were hiding, learning to use traps, harassing them almost every single day.
If not for the rotation system on the extermination duty, the frontline grunts would have long since collapsed from exhaustion.
“Keep moving, Sergeant.”
The Priest accompanying the unit said this, and though the old soldier couldn’t see what the Priest was contributing at all, he kept his mouth shut and obeyed.
Technically, they weren’t under the same command structure, nor did they have any subordinate relationship, but who wanted to provoke those religious fanatics?
The old soldier signaled the remaining squad members to advance as usual, while the Priest pulled out his personal one-handed war hammer.
He was a battle cleric!
In the prime of his life, the battle cleric was a muscular bald man. As a devoted practitioner for years, he was extremely sensitive to scents that the All-Father abhorred. Just now, he’d suddenly felt that fleeting nauseating odor.
“Sergeant, get your men ready for combat!”
The battle cleric bellowed, and in the next instant, golden flames ignited on his one-handed war hammer. In the dim Sewer, he looked like a god descending upon the mortal world.
“Nascent, repent!”
The war hammer swung with blazing flames, smashing hard into the seemingly empty ground on his left.
Boom!
Black blood splattered. The flames on the hammer reacted violently with the ominous Black Qi, and a goblin’s corpse materialized amidst the warping darkness—its head already crushed to pulp by the battle cleric.
The Royal Capital Guard lived up to its elite reputation. Even without seeing the enemy, the soldiers didn’t panic. They didn’t even need the old soldier’s commands—they spontaneously formed a battle formation.
Four shield-bearing swordsmen took the four outer corners, while three halberdiers and the old soldier with his Longsword filled the gaps between the swordsmen, protecting the battle cleric in the center.
Though the cleric probably didn’t need their protection, the soldiers all understood that in the current situation, only the cleric could sense the enemies’ true positions.
Feeling the ominous pressure closing in from all sides, the muscular bald cleric showed no fear. With his other hand, he opened the holy scripture recording the All-Father’s teachings: “All-Father above, may You guide the path of Your lost lambs.”
As the cleric prayed, Holy Light radiated from his body. Under the Holy Light’s illumination, many previously empty spaces suddenly warped and twisted to reveal goblin figures.
They were surrounded!
Hearing three screams from behind him, the old soldier’s face darkened.