“Ailaira, do you… toward me…”
“Did you find out anything in Kuchierkan’s room?”
Andrea hadn’t even finished voicing the doubt in her heart when her train of thought was interrupted by Ailaira’s question.
Andrea bit her lower lip, looking quite aggrieved as she buried her head into the pillow, refusing to let Ailaira see her current expression. She muffled her voice and said:
“She doesn’t even know what the mission is herself. She only said an Elder sent her to deliver something, and the recipient is the Saintess who defected from the Church that you mentioned before—Sillirora.”
Ailaira was somewhat surprised upon hearing this, failing to understand why Sillirora would be involved with Dragon Valley.
“Huh? Sillirora defecting is already an unthinkable matter for a fanatic like her. At the same time, she’s actually colluding with Non-Human Races? What on earth is she trying to do?”
“Analyze it from the perspective of Dragon Valley. Under what circumstances would your naturally proud Dragonkind cooperate with Humanity?”
Ailaira patted Andrea’s round and elastic little tail, signaling for her to change her position and face her.
However, Andrea stubbornly wiggled her limbs and refused Ailaira, though she still answered honestly, “Meeting someone with a good temper like me is the blessing of your lifetime.”
“Other sub-dragons, including Kuchierkan, would never coexist peacefully with humans—or even be able to communicate calmly—if you weren’t interacting with her using my Dragon identity. This is the pride engraved in the blood of Dragonkind; they never associate with lower beings.”
“If they really are colluding with humans, I can only say it’s not cooperation. From the perspective of Dragonkind, it’s more like a favor, and the recipient of that favor must be able to bring them even greater benefits.”
“I even think it’s possible that the Saintess herself doesn’t know about this, and the Dragonkind is just unilaterally plotting something through her.”
Ailaira carefully considered Andrea’s analysis.
Originally, she only wanted the girl to provide some ideas, but she hadn’t expected to be more surprised the more she listened. The fact that Andrea could clearly articulate such a logical explanation brought Ailaira a shock even greater than the event itself!
“Andrea, you’ve become so much smarter! Could it be that your intelligence grows along with your physical development? This is actually an angle worth researching.”
Ailaira’s thoughts drifted off slightly. She casually blocked the pillow Andrea threw at her and recorded the changes in Andrea’s body in a notebook.
This notebook was specifically used to record everything about Andrea, from the moment she was brought home, including detailed records of her first and second maturation phases.
Andrea’s attention was drawn by the contents of the notebook. Upon leaning in to look, she saw that it even recorded her more sensitive areas, as well as things in bed…
“What are you writing, you perverted Witch!?”
In her excitement, accompanied by the fires of indignation, a scorching Dragonflame vented from her mouth. Andrea herself was startled for a moment and hurriedly covered her mouth with both hands. However, the flame that had been breathed out already struck Ailaira.
Then, it failed to break her defense.
The fire was blocked by the silver-white ripples spread across Ailaira’s body. Ailaira reached out and caught the flame, casually kneading it into a solid ball. Tilting her head back, Ailaira tossed this bright yellow ball of flame into her mouth. Andrea watched Ailaira’s throat move in shock and subconsciously asked:
“Is it… good?”
“Well… in terms of power, it’s much higher than the flames you spat before. It seems your fire bag development is nearing completion. But clearly, you haven’t fully adapted yet, so practice more later. Additionally, you can try attaching Magical Power to the Dragonflame, because Dragonflame belongs to a physical function and won’t be affected by the **[Knot]**.”
“If you succeed, your Dragonflame attacks won’t be blocked by Magic shields like this.”
Ailaira closed the notebook, setting the next stage of training goals for Andrea while recording. But right now, Andrea’s enthusiasm for training wasn’t very high; her mind was entirely preoccupied with other matters.
Andrea’s change was only a brief interlude. Ailaira returned to the main topic, thinking about the reason for Sillirora’s defection. When she was still a candidate Saintess in the past, she had dealt with the woman many times. The deepest impression Sillirora left on her was that of an incredibly faithful, even fanatical, devotion to the Mother Goddess of All Things. If the Church truly needed a sacrifice, Ailaira did not doubt for a moment that this first Saintess would be the first to lie on the altar.
But such a person had never received even a single gaze from the Mother Goddess. Because of this, Sillirora became even more obsessed, spending almost every day kneeling before the sacred statue in prayer.
Therefore, Ailaira had reason to suspect that Sillirora might have discovered something, which was why she lost her mind and committed the act of defecting and stealing the Holy Box of Judgment. For example… something recorded in the ancient texts regarding The Trial?
‘Is it possible she’s coming for me? Did someone leak the existence of the Rite of Divine Audience to her?’
There was no shortage of fanatics within the Church, but Sillirora was the most pathologically obsessed among them.
Ailaira had initially believed the Chief Inquisitor wouldn’t allow the news to leak, which was why she confidently sent herself to the execution stand.
She assumed they would take measures like memory purging to thoroughly eliminate any subsequent influence. But now, the Rite of Divine Audience might have been exposed.
The potential hidden mastermind could be the Chief Inquisitor, wanting to target her from the shadows. Or it could be…
“The Mother Goddess of All Things…”
Ailaira whispered softly. Beside her, Andrea watched Ailaira’s deep, contemplative look. Although still a bit aggrieved, Andrea held her knees and stared at Ailaira’s profile, quietly waiting for her to reach a conclusion. After a while, Ailaira stood up and walked toward the window, her steps looking a bit hurried.
Andrea hurriedly got out of bed, her bare feet stepping on the floor as she chased after Ailaira’s shadow. She asked in a somewhat nervous tone, “Ailaira, where are you going?”
Without looking back, Ailaira walked outside and explained briefly, “I’m going to contact Trinice. Sillirora might be coming for me.”
“Is that Saintess very strong? Is that why you’re so nervous?”
Nervous? Ailaira stood outside the villa with a blank expression. Wind Magic manifested as green ripples on the surface of her boots.
Andrea ran over and sought a hug, grabbing Ailaira’s waist, clearly wanting to go with her. Ailaira didn’t refuse her, and her body immediately floated up, flying toward the Union Council Branch like an arrow leaving a bow.
On the way, she continued to speak to Andrea, “Among the seven existing Saintesses of the Church, I am not afraid of any. But there is one thing that is very troublesome.”
“The God-Summoning Magic passed down in the Church requires five Saintesses to pray together, and it only has a chance of success after a long period of preparation. But Sillirora is an exception. Her Trait is **[Mimicry]**, and theoretically, she can mimic the state of the Gods.”
“Although she never succeeded in the past, as long as she can successfully mimic even one-thousandth of the Mother Goddess’s likeness, it signifies that the Goddess has permitted her insolence—”
“Sillirora has become the Vicar of the Mother Goddess.”