After seeing Truth, Rachel instinctively hid away at first.
Only after a long while did she cautiously peek half her head out of the tent, her face marked with a mix of reluctance and helplessness.
“Sorry…”
Under pressure from the teacher and the Goddess of Life, Rachel had come secretly to apologize to Truth, who was watching her with keen interest.
“B-because I trusted my own eyes too much, and I didn’t want to lose face in front of so many people, that’s why I kept clinging to you…”
Rachel didn’t dare meet Truth’s curious gaze and continued timidly. It had taken all her courage just to come and apologize.
As the student most revered by the Goddess of Life and her teacher among the demon hunters, Rachel had sailed smoothly until she met Truth, after which everything changed.
Teacher Cavil had sided with Truth from the start, and so had the Goddess herself. She had even chosen Truth as one of her Twelve Holy Maidens.
Could the Eye of Sin really be mistaken? Even her subordinates, who usually wouldn’t dare say much to her, were urging her to apologize.
“That’s the future Holy Maiden, Captain. You better not make things worse with her.”
“Anyone chosen as a Holy Maiden must have a broad heart. If you apologize, she’ll definitely accept it.”…
Well, since the Goddess had placed her trust in Truth, Rachel had no choice but to believe it was her own eyes at fault.
That was why she sneaked over to apologize. Truth’s response was simple:
“No, I don’t accept your apology.”
“What?!”
Not accepting it… Wasn’t it said that those who become Holy Maidens have broad hearts?! Rachel’s eyes widened.
Truth then leaned in slightly, tilting her head with curiosity as she examined Rachel’s golden eyes up close.
“Those eyes do sometimes see things wrong, but that’s only in rare cases.”
“What… do you mean?”
Rachel pressed tightly against the wall, very tense. She had expected tonight to end with them burying the hatchet and becoming friends. Instead, she was now even more frightened by Truth.
It felt like this girl was hiding something!
But Truth was no longer interested in hiding. She picked up the magic device on Rachel’s waist used to detect demonic aura, activated it, and pointed it at herself. Nothing happened.
Then, in the next moment, a drop of crimson suddenly stained the center of Truth’s enchanting pink eyes, spreading across them.
Immediately, the magic device’s demonic aura indicator exploded off the charts, causing Rachel to shriek.
“Eek!”
This was no longer a simple case of demonic involvement. The indicator could only spike like this if the target was… a pure demon itself!
“If I told you that you weren’t mistaken at all, I have indeed killed quite a few people.”
Truth’s aura gradually turned sinister. She extended black-and-red claws and gently caressed Rachel’s pale face.
But after just one touch, Rachel lowered her head and bolted out of the tent, screaming at the top of her lungs:
“Demon! There’s a demon! Help!”
Rachel ran fast and soon vanished into the night. The demon hunters around immediately drew their weapons and surrounded the tent, but Truth emerged leisurely, looking perfectly normal.
She smiled and greeted them. The others then put away their weapons with relief, realizing Rachel had once again secretly stirred up trouble for the future Holy Maiden. What a rascal!
“Tch…”
Truth showed a hint of disdain at the tent’s entrance. How could Rachel run off so quickly? She wasn’t nearly as amusing as Suna. The upcoming fun was all ruined.
Truth had originally wanted to grab her twin tails and play a little, then trick her by revealing that even the Goddess of Life was actually a demon to see if her faith would break.
Ah, forget it. Let Rachel talk. She was useless anyway. If she had questions, she could just ask Cavil.
Even the Goddess of Life couldn’t detect her own panel shifts, let alone the Eye of Sin. The former could directly see something more essential — like checking an ID card, instantly telling a priest from a demon.
The latter could only see the surface, and it was easily fooled by false information and self-deception.
Sticking to the original plan, Truth began wandering through the military camp.
Though she was occasionally stopped for questioning, someone would soon step up saying, “This is the future Holy Maiden,” helping her out.
Indeed, having a status made things easier outside…
–
At Watchtower Fort, inside the Church of the Goddess of Life.
As the divine radiance of the Goddess’s oracle faded, Tia stepped out with a worried expression.
For ordinary people, receiving a god’s oracle was a blessing that could last a lifetime. But for a High Priestess like Tia, it simply meant the leader was assigning work.
The Goddess had just asked Tina to report on Truth’s study progress. Tia’s reply was very smooth.
The Goddess was pleased and decided that once the people from the capital arrived in Dea City, they would immediately hold the divine selection ceremony to announce the birth of the Ninth Holy Maiden.
This would help improve faith issues on the border. After all, a Holy Maiden was a walking faith magnet; visiting a city would make the believers so excited they’d worship all day.
“Hopefully the Ninth Holy Maiden won’t disappoint me,” the Goddess thought.
That was also Tia’s greatest worry. Truth hadn’t learned any Holy Maiden etiquette at all; she was bound to disappoint everyone!
The capital would surely send a Holy Maiden to inspect. What should she do then? If the capital’s Holy Maiden bowed to Truth, Truth would probably just be puzzled and pat her head.
That would be a big problem!
And Tia had to return to Dea City to oversee the divine selection ceremony, so she wouldn’t even have time to tutor Truth.
“But there is still a way.”
Tia took a deep breath. Simple — just go see the Hermit Lord!
–
Back at the military camp, Truth saw a variety of new demon-hunting tools and equipment. Many recruits were training vigorously. All of this aligned with what Cavil had said.
The Goddess of Life was about to launch a new round of the Demon-Hunting Campaign.
Not only in Dea City’s borderlands, but the campaign would spread throughout the Kingdom of Sivilia and last for a long time, forcing demons hiding in the shadows to pay a heavy price.
“Did the demons anger the Goddess of Life recently? Pretty arrogant. But demons don’t fear even twelfth-tier gods much. I like that.”
After wandering the camp, Truth reached the gate. She now had a more objective view of the demon hunters. Most were elite soldiers selected from the regular army, indeed stronger than others.
It seemed the five human gods had clearly divided their roles. The Goddess of Life just happened to counter demons, so the other gods handed demon control to him.
Probably the other gods only handled their own specialties… though that had obvious pros and cons.
“As long as one of the gods dies, the fragile order they maintain would quickly collapse.”
Truth thought about it. If she ever had to fight the five human gods, she’d just try to kill one completely.
“Take these two to the cells first. They’re to be interrogated tomorrow morning!”
Just as she reached the gate, a sharp voice caught her attention. Two young men, looking like students, were bound hand and foot and being escorted by soldiers from Watchtower Fort.
Looking closely, Truth frowned. They were familiar.
“Reg? Anderson?”
She recognized them and furrowed her brows. Weren’t they supposed to be fetching dragon eggs? Why were they so far from there?
“Hey, what’s going on with those two?” Truth asked a guard at the gate.
The guard replied respectfully, “Those two students were caught snooping around the city, so they were taken in for questioning.”
Uh… snooping around?
Truth found it hard to understand. Besides, they hadn’t delivered the dragon eggs into the misty depths. What exactly were they up to? Whatever, she’d just ask them in the cells.
–
East side of the camp, passing by Cavil who was being constantly disturbed by hysterical students, Truth entered the cells unimpeded.
She saw Anderson lying on a haystack resting, while Reg was busy picking a lock with a fine needle he carried.
“What’s going on with you two?”
Truth asked coldly through the bars, startling them.
“Miss Truth, what are you doing here?!”
They had been caught investigating the Underground Exchange at Watchtower Fort, probably discovered by the Harlin family’s people during their investigation.
“So? I just told you to deliver an egg. Was that so hard?”
Truth rolled her eyes at them. So was Tia. They hadn’t even asked when the egg went missing, and had instead gone stealing other dragon eggs in the valley, causing a whole mess!
“The investigation… has made significant progress. We already know where they trade dragon eggs and even who’s going to snatch one! But we didn’t expect the Harlin family’s influence in the army to be so strong, that’s why we were…”
Reg on the haystack hurriedly interrupted, fearing Truth would get angry.
His leader had given him powerful skills, but he had failed the mission. He felt ashamed…
“Enough. I’ll handle it myself. Tell me everything you know. I want to see just how hard it is to move a dragon egg!”
With a wave of her hand and her status as future Holy Maiden, Truth ordered the guards to release Reg and Anderson from their shackles.
Anderson hurriedly reattached the lock he’d just picked.
What the hell? How strong was this little priest’s background? Having money was one thing, but commanding the army?
With Truth’s guarantee, the two were back out of the cells within minutes. Anderson whispered to Reg behind Truth’s back:
“Hey, if you piss off this priest, what do you think will happen?”
Unaware that Truth had become the future Holy Maiden, Anderson saw her as no ordinary priest. She was rich, backed by the military.
They had to be careful, or risk being sent to the frontlines to fill the ranks.
Pissing off Truth… Reg suddenly recalled their first meeting with her in the mist:
“Most likely, you’d get beheaded.”