When they returned to the room on the second floor of the inn and closed the door, cutting off the cold outside, the room fell into silence.
Only the glow of the magic crystal lamp on the wall provided some light, stretching their two shadows long across the wall.
Exhaustion swept over Seraphina’s entire body.
She almost dragged herself to the bedside and sat down, letting out a breath.
Movira walked to the table, poured a cup of warm water, and handed it to her.
“Drink some water.”
“Thank you.” Seraphina accepted it and drank in small sips.
For a while, there was no sound of conversation in the room, only the faint sound of each other’s breathing.
Everything that had happened tonight replayed in Seraphina’s mind once more amid the quiet.
She secretly lifted her eyes to look at Movira.
The other stood by the window, gazing out at the pitch-black night sky.
“Sister.” Seraphina put down the cup and called softly.
“Still thinking about what happened tonight? What’s wrong?” Movira turned around and walked over to sit beside the bed.
“A little…” Seraphina nodded, then hesitated for a moment before asking, “Those things that man said… really doesn’t matter?”
Movira only let out a cold laugh, carrying some disdain and contempt. “It was nothing more than the barking of a clown jumping on a stage. Even if it gets out, how many people would actually believe it? The Church’s influence in the human world is no lower than mine in the Demon Realm. Humans would much rather believe the beautiful faith they themselves fabricated, even if that faith doesn’t exist at all.”
“A faith that doesn’t exist…?” Seraphina repeated the words.
This made Movira realize she had said too much and quickly changed the subject.
“Don’t think too much about it. Besides, didn’t Saint Eustacia already clean everything up? Even if it took a bit more time.”
Seraphina raised her face and looked at Movira’s eyes under the lamplight.
The unease in her heart seemed to calm down.
“Mm.” She responded softly, her body unconsciously moving a little closer to Movira.
Movira went along with her small movement and wrapped an arm around Seraphina’s shoulders, letting her lean against her.
“If you’re tired, rest early. New Year is only a few days away. After the new year, we’ll go back.”
“Alright…” Seraphina obediently closed her eyes, feeling the reassuring presence and warmth beside her.
Before sinking into sleep, she thought drowsily, Maybe… continuing like this isn’t so bad either.
When Seraphina and the other two’s figures disappeared from the tavern, only Saint Eustacia, Dekalorin, and the believers remained.
Saint Eustacia looked at her teacher’s exhausted figure, especially the arm still wrapped in bandages, and felt her heart fill with worry and lingering fear.
She opened her mouth, about to persuade her teacher once more to go back and rest.
“Family scandals should not be aired in public.” Dekalorin spoke first, her voice not loud, interrupting the words Saint Eustacia was about to say.
“Isaac’s security apparatus has already been infiltrated. As for the city lord, I had people take control of him on the way here. All institutions in the entire city are now temporarily under the Church’s management.”
Her tone was flat, as if she were talking about something trivial, yet the thunderous methods contained in her words made Saint Eustacia’s heart skip a beat.
In the short time they had been infiltrating, her teacher had quietly “overthrown” the entire city’s leadership.
And it seemed she hadn’t caused too much commotion! A silent decision and extremely high efficiency!
However, Dekalorin’s words suddenly took a sharp turn, stabbing toward Saint Eustacia like a sharp sword. “In contrast, your operation this time was extremely reckless and extremely irresponsible!”
These words completely exceeded Saint Eustacia’s expectations.
She had thought it would only be some light criticism, but she never expected such severe words.
She carefully raised her eyes and met Dekalorin’s sharp gaze.
There was none of the usual laziness, only disappointment and scrutiny.
“Suicide mission! The bricks called ‘intelligence’ hadn’t even been pieced together into the tall building called ‘action,’ yet you charged ahead so unclearly… No, it should be called sending yourself to your death!”
Dekalorin’s voice was not loud, yet it struck Saint Eustacia’s heart like heavy hammers.
“Tell me, if no one had accompanied you today and you alone had rashly infiltrated a place without even knowing where the end was, did you think about the consequences?!”
“I…” Saint Eustacia wanted to retort, but found her own defense pale and weak.
Her teacher was right.
She had only thought about quickly removing this tumor close to the royal capital, yet she had overestimated her own ability to respond in a restricted environment.
With her strength, it would be difficult for her to face a life-threatening situation. If she were a little more cautious, she might not even get injured.
But avoiding a huge commotion would have been difficult.
As long as she released magic, that magic-sealing array wouldn’t be able to withstand it and would directly explode. The energy released would be enough to cause local upheaval.
If not for Astraea using elven magic to seal the space… If not for Movira discovering at the last moment that the man was trying to commit suicide by poison… Today’s outcome would probably have been truly disastrous.
She lowered her head, her voice weakening as well, no longer looking like a saintess at all.
“I was wrong. I didn’t think it through carefully enough.”
Seeing her like this, Dekalorin could no longer say the rest of the reprimands that had been on the tip of her tongue.
She relied on absolute power to crush everything, yet lacked roundabout strategy.
Regarding her underestimation of the enemy and her recklessness, this student had almost completely replicated her own youthful impulsiveness.
The other’s lowered head, tightly pressed lips, and even the extremely slight trembling of her fingers made Dekalorin swallow back the hurtful words she had been about to say.
Dekalorin still let out a sigh and leaned against the bar counter, her tone heavy.
“Saint Eustacia… you need to change your way of doing things.”
Saint Eustacia looked up, confused.
“My influence on you… has been too great.” Dekalorin met her gaze and spoke word by word. “So great that even now, you still haven’t formed a mature combat style and logic for handling affairs that truly belongs to you. You’re only imitating me, obsessed with power, worshipping absolute suppression, and lacking patience… yet you never learned how to maneuver or how to make use of rules and wisdom.”
Guilt and self-blame flashed in her eyes again. “In this regard, I also bear some fault. You cannot only recognize me as your teacher…”
The tavern fell into dead silence.
Saint Eustacia stared blankly at her teacher, at the person she had always looked up to and chased after.
“You… what do you mean by this? You wouldn’t… abandon me, would you?”
For some reason, when this absurd conclusion came out of Saint Eustacia’s mouth, she felt like she wanted to cry.
“No no no, that’s not what I mean. I’m saying that you are not perfect either. You should learn from others. In combat matters, you can communicate with Movira. She knows when to soar across the sky and when to hide in the mountains. In terms of handling affairs, you can communicate with Seraphina. She knows in what situations to accumulate deeply and in what situations to release thinly.”
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