Ella still remembered a week ago, when they first arrived at Harbor City and were all taken together to the Governor’s Mansion.
Her first impression was of a building that wasn’t tall, but very wide, with many seemingly unnecessary design features in its main structure.
At first, she thought those were for wind protection, but now, with a sense of hostility, those designs seemed to have some religious elements.
The girls didn’t rush in recklessly.
Instead, they let the guards at the gate go inside to report, acting like they were making a proper visit.
“Please wait here, ladies. I’ll go report to the Governor right away.”
While they waited, Vina edged over to Leah and whispered,
“Just a reminder, if a fight breaks out, Celes is the core of our formation. She’s our sole frontliner. If she falls, our whole formation collapses.”
Leah was baffled.
“Of course I know that. It’s not my first team battle. Why are you telling me this?”
Vina blinked her peach blossom eyes.
“I’m worried you’ll end up giving all your blessings to little Ella, so I’m warning you in advance.”
“…”
Saintess clenched her fists, her face flushing red, and in the end could only mumble quietly, “I’ve told you, there’s nothing special between us.”
“I never said there was~”
Seeing Leah about to explode, Vina smoothly changed the subject.
“Anyway, the situation in Harbor City is such a mess, with cultists and corrupt officials colluding. It’s way too much trouble. Why don’t we just drop everything and run? When we get back, we’ll just say we tried our best, but there was nothing we could do.”
She didn’t bother lowering her voice, so everyone heard.
The atmosphere instantly grew a bit awkward.
Celes had wanted to say, “This is our duty, and there are nearly a hundred thousand civilians in Harbor City. We can’t ignore their lives.” But the team had experienced what happened in the Royal City just over a month ago and seen the dark side of the Human Kingdom. Even she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.
In truth, the reason she decided to stay and solve the problem here was only partly due to knightly virtue.
The bigger reason was.
“Ella said before, we need this city. If we ever run into something like last time, we’ll have a Retreat Plan.”
Zero’s thoughts were almost the same as Celes’, with only one difference: to her, the latter half of the sentence didn’t matter.
Only the first four words did.
If Ella wanted it, then it must be done.
She didn’t care why the girl hid her strength—she only cared about the girl’s third side, which made her heart itch.
Only Leah’s face flushed again, because she hadn’t found a reason yet…
“I—I just recruited some Faithful a few days ago and spread the teachings of the Goddess of Light in Harbor City. How can I just turn my back on them!”
Congratulations, she’d found her own reason to stay.
As for Ella, she’d already started thinking of Harbor City as her own territory.
“Ladies.”
The guard at the gate returned, bowing respectfully.
“Please come inside. The Governor says he’s waiting for you in the same place as last time.”
But Celes didn’t move, her feet rooted to the ground.
“Sorry. Please inform the Governor that we have a lot to do today and hope to meet somewhere close by.”
The guard was troubled—he’d never gotten a request like this before, and it didn’t even sound reasonable.
You go to visit someone, and expect them to come out of their house to chat outside?
The girls’ status was high, so he didn’t dare say more and turned to report back to the Governor.
Celes didn’t explain, but her companions understood without words.
Since they suspected the other side was likely up to something, of course they wouldn’t go any deeper inside.
After a while, the guard came back a second time.
“The Governor says you’ve come a long way, and it’s not proper to talk outside. At the very least, there should be somewhere to sit. Therefore, the Governor is waiting for you in the front courtyard just inside the gate.”
Celes thought about it.
The front courtyard was acceptable—at least it was an open space—so she agreed.
She took the lead, Vina close behind, with Leah and Ella following tightly, and Zero bringing up the rear.
Everything was normal.
Beyond the gate lay a spacious front courtyard, with only a single stone table and a few stools beside it.
Governor Kelu sat on one of them, dressed in plain everyday clothes, as if just resting after breakfast.
Aside from him, there was no one else in the courtyard, not even the guards from earlier.
“Please, have a seat, honored guests.”
Kelu’s voice was as calm as ever, as if nothing had happened these past two days.
Celes sat down—she was the only one who did—and spoke first: “Yesterday, we had a conflict with the Workshop Owner in the city. When we questioned why he went to such lengths to make Pearl Oyster the universal currency, he couldn’t explain, lashed out, and there was even a Sea Demon Priest helping him.”
Something that big had happened yesterday—neither side could just brush it off—so she didn’t beat around the bush and put it right out in the open.
Kelu, who had always insisted there were no Sea Demon Priests, didn’t refute it at all this time. He just casually brushed some dust from the stone table and slowly spoke:
“When I was young, my father always told me, ‘The Lalai Family has no choice. I’ve always been the same as them.’ When I grew up, my grandfather always told me, ‘The Lalai Family has no choice. I’ve always been the same as them.’”
Celes frowned slightly. Hearing those two identical sentences from his mouth sounded strange and unsettling.
At that moment, Ella poked her head out from behind, curiously asking, “Your grandfather isn’t dead? Then how did you and your dad take over?”
Leah hurriedly grabbed her hand and whispered, “Don’t say stuff like that at a time like this!”
Kelu started laughing.
He laughed for a few seconds, then ten seconds, then for half a minute… until the corners of his mouth split open and a trickle of blood appeared.
“Many, many years ago, my great-grandfather was a fisherman in Harbor City with no surname, who barely scraped by and was often bullied by Sirens coming ashore. Until one day, he met a very special being.”
After that wild laughter, Kelu’s voice took on a strange, overlapping quality, as if more than one person was speaking from his mouth.
“That being promised my great-grandfather certain things: piles of gold and silver, endless delicacies, and an exalted status.”
At this point, Ella couldn’t hold back any longer.
Leah tried to stop her, but she insisted on coming closer to ask, “So what was the price?”
Kelu’s neck slid sideways a bit, and he turned to look at her.
The overlapping voices spoke two words: “Everything.”
Celes’s heart rang with alarm. In a flash, she drew her sword, splitting the stone table and Kelu in two, shouting, “Vina! Execute the plan!”
Caution was the right call—because even after being sliced vertically in half, Kelu didn’t fall. His split mouths kept talking.
“My father, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather—they’ve always been with me. Would you like to meet them?”