Dagon scratched his neck again, his expression so dark it seemed like water could drip from it.
“I really don’t understand what you’re saying. Please stop interfering with the Workshop’s work..”
“What work? Pack up your things and come with us.”
Ella hopped down from her chair.
“As Kingdom Envoys, our authority is limitless. Celes, grab him!”
Though it went against the knight’s code, she trusted her Sword Saint completely, who gripped her sword hilt with one hand.
“Please come with us. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
Dagon’s face changed.
“You can’t do this! This is unjust—I’ll… I’ll let everyone in Harbor City know about this.”
Ella jumped down from her chair and poked the arm of the girl with icy blue hair.
“Hey, did you hear that? Wasn’t he about to give up Governor Kelu just now?”
So close to the finish line, and he held back.
What a shame.
Celes’s right hand tightened slightly, her knight’s sword already drawn a third of the way.
She fixed her gaze on Dagon and asked, “What’s with your necks?”
“What?”
“Governor Kelu did the same thing—scratched his neck.”
She explained to Ella, “The first day we arrived, when he welcomed us.”
“Oh.”
So that’s it.
So meticulous.
Dagon, uneasy and nervous, subconsciously scratched his neck again.
“I don’t know what you mean. I’m just the Workshop Owner. Are you trying to take my money, you damn…”
Suddenly, he shot forward from where he stood, feet like arrows leaving the bowstring, darting out of the great hall in an instant.
He was so fast that even Celes didn’t have time to stop him.
“We’re going after him!”
With a clang, the girl drew her sword, and a streak of icy blue Sword Qi burst out the door, exploding in the sky like a tiny firework.
Missing the enemy didn’t matter—it doubled as a signal.
Outside the inner hall, a Senior Apprentice, not knowing what was going on, ran up.
“Boss, don’t trust those two. They’re with that kid.”
“Get out of my way!”
With a thud, the Senior Apprentice was sent flying, crashing into the corner of the wall and lying motionless.
At this moment, outside the Workshop, across the street at the Teahouse, the Support Team’s two girls had just finished their tea.
“Since everything’s fine, can you stop looking at me like that? It makes me uncomfortable.”
“Haha, how could I? Only the guilty fear being watched~”
“I’m not guilty! And I’ll say it again, I just slipped up and added an extra word earlier, it was a slip of the tongue, I wasn’t really trying to… with anyone!”
“Of course, I believe you. We’re best sisters, after all~”
“That look in your eyes says otherwise—”
Just then, Sword Qi exploded from the Workshop.
The two girls exchanged a glance and dashed downstairs to provide support.
When Dagon burst out the front door, they happened to run over as well.
Vina, seeing the situation, instantly knew it was him and raised her hand to cast Magic.
Bang!
Dagon kicked over a bucket at the door.
The little witch hurriedly stopped and dodged, only to find it was just a bucket of clean water.
The water splashed onto the ground beside them.
Ella had also reached the doorway, and from a distance, she saw it all—a fleeing Dagon, Vina preparing Magic, and Leah on guard.
At that moment, she suddenly sensed something, a chill running down her spine:
“Leah!”
Maybe it was all those years in the faith, all those moments pressed heart-to-heart, that just a name could make her soul resonate.
Though she didn’t actually feel anything, Leah immediately clasped her hands together and called out crisply:
“Blessing of the Divine!”
The shorter the prayer, the stronger the effect.
The strongest divine art the Saintess currently mastered was these four words.
Everyone in the West District saw it—a brilliant beam of golden light descended from the sky, falling upon her like a slender, radiant tower.
At the same moment, a terrifying female head emerged from the puddle on the ground, its hair composed of countless long Poison Serpents, lunging at Leah—only to slam headfirst into the golden light.
“Ahhhhhh!!!”
The head on the water’s surface let out a soul-piercing shriek, the Poison Serpents instantly scorched to a crisp with a sizzle.
Vina reacted quickly.
The Ice Spike in her hand immediately changed direction, pouring down onto the puddle.
Celes’s sword light followed, slashing a Half-Moon Arc across the ground.
Soon, the wind and rain died down.
The girls peered at the ground—no trace of Poison Serpents or heads, only a deep sword mark and scattered shards of ice.
“It got away? Where? Underground? In the water?”
Vina was astonished.
Ella walked over slowly, her feelings complicated.
No one else could tell, but she saw it clearly—that thing had come from the Nether Interstice, and escaped through it as well.
Its body had switched between real and unreal in a flash. Its strength was not to be underestimated.
If not for the Saintess’s natural advantage, and with her own hands tied, the outcome of this battle would have been uncertain.
Suddenly, something soft slipped into her hand. It was Leah, who had grabbed her while the others examined the puddle.
“How did you know it would attack?”
“I didn’t.”
Ella blinked sincerely.
“I just had a feeling you were in danger.”
It was pure nonsense, but Leah was delighted, not doubting her in the slightest, even humming softly in her throat.
Finding nothing, Celes looked up again. Naturally, Dagon was long gone.
There were no bystanders nearby.
Last time there was an attempted assassination in the street, everyone had gathered to watch.
But today, as soon as Sword Qi and Magic appeared, everyone scattered.
“Let’s head back.”
***
“Mom… Mom…!”
“You have no mother. None of you do…”
“From now on, everyone will listen to me…”
“You are each other’s only companions. Every one of you is family to the others.”
“Starting next year, the number will halve every year…”
“You must kill her, or she’ll kill you…”
“Ah!!”
The black-haired girl jolted awake from the Saltwater, clutching the edge of the tub and coughing violently.
Since she had to soak in the water, Zero had untied her ponytail, but it did nothing to ease her discomfort.
Though she wasn’t drowning, she coughed until she retched.
It wasn’t the first time today—drowning in the Dead Sea of memories, then waking from the pain.
She’d been abducted as an infant, unable to even recall her birth mother’s face.
She grew up with other children in the Silent Sanctuary, relying on each other, treating each other as family, living together for over a decade.
When the Return to Zero Project began, every year she had to kill at least one “family member,” or be killed by them.
Memories she desperately wanted to forget surged up again and again, each time bringing a deeper, dull pain.
“Child, slow down, catch your breath.”
Kagasha had stayed by her side, watching her wake in agony again and again, long since realizing something was wrong.
“Child, you came from the Silent Sanctuary. I’ve heard a few rumors about it as it is now.”
A few years back, there was another assassin from the Silent Sanctuary who came to Harbor City for “administrative leave.”
Kagasha had met him once and noticed his mental state was terrible, and he’d revealed a few things.
Those things were so horrifying she’d never wanted to believe them—until now, seeing Zero like this.