Chapter 4: Bliss.

The girl’s brain crashed completely.

Even if the young nun usually appeared calm and kind outside, it was impossible for her to handle this kind of situation with ease.

Especially since golden light was still glowing from her lower abdomen.

Before she could even explain, a very loud collision rang out.

Clang!

It was the golden-haired man in front of her who had struck the back of the red-robed bishop’s head with the scabbard of the sword he carried, which clearly possessed an extraordinary aura.
The red-robed bishop, who had just been extremely excited upon seeing the magic array, was knocked unconscious onto the table.

Everything happened so fast that CocoLiss didn’t know what to say.

“I’ll take her outside to wait first. You handle the things here.”
Joshua gave a pointed glance at the girl’s lower abdomen—the spot where the golden magic array had dissipated. “If nothing goes wrong, the two of us will be working together for quite a long time.”

With that, the golden-haired Hero seemed about to extend his hand for a handshake with CocoLiss to show friendliness.

But as if he suddenly remembered something, he looked at CocoLiss’s hands, silently withdrew his own, and said nothing.

“What?”
CocoLiss subconsciously objected. “I’m not a Saintess or anything. There’s no way we can work together.”

Ignoring her, he hoisted the bishop onto his back and headed for the door. Then the Hero turned his head again. “Can you handle it yourself? Do you need my help?”

Only then did CocoLiss finally come back to her senses. Flustered, she hurriedly waved her hands, and the calm, dignified expression on her face vanished completely. “No need, no need.”

As the door closed, CocoLiss could finally clean up her mess.

Although she still didn’t know how the Hero had seen through the complete disaster she had tried so hard to hide.

He was probably sensitive to abyssal creations. After all, he was the Hero.

After tidying up the chaos in the reception room, putting back on the intimate garment she had originally stuffed into her pocket, and tossing the discarded abyssal creation into the storage room, she finally walked to the main hall to meet the two guests the church had received today.

Today was supposed to be a time for welcoming pleasure.
Instead, because of these two visitors, she had been forced to stop midway.

She had even risked being discovered and facing complete ruin.

And on top of that, she hadn’t even gotten to enjoy it, blocked by that damned golden magic array.

CocoLiss felt extremely displeased, but no matter how bad her mood was, she still had to face the guests who were still waiting.

The nun, now in a fresh change of clothes, walked into the main hall.
Among the rows of seats, the golden-haired man in the front row and the red-robed bishop beside him with her eyes closed were particularly eye-catching.

The main door, whose lock had been destroyed and kicked open, let in bright light from outside, illuminating countless floating dust particles.

The leaking sunlight converged on the golden-haired man in the frontmost row of the church. Joshua slightly turned his head at that moment.

Under the Hero’s gaze, CocoLiss put on her most practiced dignified and calm demeanor and sat down in the front row as well, separated from the two by only a single aisle.

The lectern in front was empty, so the focus of the conversation naturally fell to the area below it.

“Bishop Zain… is she alright?”
This was the first time CocoLiss had come into contact with such important figures.

“Her body is quite sturdy. It’s just that the situation earlier didn’t allow too many people who knew the truth to be present.”

Listening to this, the little nun gave the golden-haired Hero a rather surprised glance.

Compared to his earlier rude door-breaking entry, this Hero seemed quite polite and gentlemanly enough.

“You just now…”

“I didn’t see anything earlier.”
Joshua’s gaze remained fixed on the empty lectern.

CocoLiss breathed a sigh of relief.

She didn’t know what kind of moral character the Hero possessed, but at least this promise gave her some peace of mind.

At this moment, the red-robed bishop beside them slowly woke up.

“Mm? What happened to me…”
Bishop Zain’s aged face relaxed slightly. “Right, the Saintess. Where is the Saintess?”

Joshua, sitting beside her, directly stretched out his hand and pointed toward CocoLiss, who was seated on the other side of the aisle.

CocoLiss froze, then frantically waved her hands. “No, no, I’m not the Saintess.”

“No, you are the Saintess.”
The red-robed bishop said with certainty. “That magic array cannot be faked.”

“I’m just a minor nun. How could I possibly be the Saintess? Bishop, you must have made some mistake…”

“Then do you have any way to prove that you are not the Saintess?”

CocoLiss was stunned.

It sounded like sophistry, but she really could produce proof that she was not the Saintess.

However, the moment she opened her mouth to say she was abyssal kin, she would probably be killed on the spot by these two important figures.

It seemed that if she wanted to survive, she could only admit that she was the Saintess.

But she truly had nothing to do with being a Saintess.

Heaven and earth as witness, she had only wanted to be a nun who could do as she pleased on the surface and use some small props to pursue a little stimulation. How had it turned into this?

“Fortunately, I brought the codex used by the Saintess, along with the holy artifact that only successive Saintesses can use.”

The red-robed bishop took out a glass bottle from her pocket.

Inside the glass bottle was a dazzling sphere of light, like a small sun.

Then she stood up, walked in front of CocoLiss, opened the bottle’s cap, and made a pouring motion.

The girl naturally stretched out her hand to catch the ball of light.

Then she watched with her own eyes as the ball of light twisted, deformed, and finally solidified into a pure white, tall staff. However, the tip of the staff was overly sharp, looking more like a spear.

“See, Saintess? Isn’t this proof enough?”

“Uh… ah?”
CocoLiss didn’t even know if this was some trick the red-robed old woman in front of her had performed to deceive her.

She instinctively wanted to refuse, but the large staff lying across her hands emitted a warm feeling, carrying an inseparable sense of affinity.

Could she really be the Saintess?

An abyssal kin?

“We will rest in this town for one day. At this time tomorrow, we will set off back to the royal capital. If Saintess has anything you need to do, please feel free.”
After saying this, the red-robed bishop left the church, seemingly intending to leave time for CocoLiss alone.

CocoLiss, holding the staff, watched as the Hero Joshua behind her also nodded in acknowledgment and prepared to follow her out of the church.

“Lord Joshua, please wait a moment.”
She called out to him. “May I ask what exactly a Saintess does?”

Since she couldn’t refuse, she had to find a way to accept it.

“The same as my duty—to devote everything in one’s life to slaying all abyssal creatures and driving all abyssal territory out.”

Listening to the anger that Joshua could not conceal in his voice, CocoLiss shrank her neck. “Isn’t that a bit too radical?”

“How can I not be radical? My benefactor, my lover, my close friends—all of them died at the hands of the Abyss. How can I not be radical?”
He finished this sentence with a chest full of rage, then saw the seemingly frightened CocoLiss and adjusted his tone. “You will understand later. As long as one is a living being of the empire, they have an irreconcilable relationship with the Abyss.”

“Then the Abyss really deserves to die.”
Miss CocoLiss, who was actually an abyssal kin, echoed in agreement.

“Also, although as a member of the clergy, especially a Saintess, one is basically unaffected by the Abyss’s whispers, you had better minimize contact with those abyssal creations to avoid unnecessary trouble.”

Clearly, he was referring to the abyssal creation CocoLiss had used at the beginning for her own pleasure.

“Lord Joshua!”
Shyness made CocoLiss stand up, but upon meeting his clear, sky-blue eyes, she unconsciously stepped back. “I understand…”

She didn’t know which short-sighted abyssal kin had killed all the people close to the man in front of her.

Wasn’t this equivalent to raising an absolutely resolute boss for the Abyss’s side?

The one suffering was her—this abyssal kin with an unclear identity who could only play along with the mistake.

“Also, the holy artifact in your hand can be stored away. Try communicating with it. Holding it like this all the time will inevitably be inconvenient. Each generation’s Saintess and Hero have different weapons, but this point is quite convenient.”

CocoLiss was startled and looked at the somewhat heavy staff in her hands.

Then, the staff turned into dots of light, drilling into the little nun’s body and gathering at the top of her head, becoming…

A golden, shining halo.

CocoLiss felt as if this was announcing that her death was imminent.