Chapter 5: Taking office, the capital.

The originally blazing sun also gradually restrained itself as the farce came to an end.
The church’s main door lock recovered with a flash of golden light.
The entire church looked as if nothing had ever begun, with only the pure white little nun CocoLiss standing alone inside.

Only the golden halo above her head still emitted a warm glow.
It was not blinding, yet it was blinding.

Even though she couldn’t see the top of her own head, CocoLiss knew exactly what she now had to face—the life awaiting her as the Saintess.

With her identity as an abyssal kin.

She had better possess the concealment skills of a top-tier spy.
Otherwise, the moment she was exposed one day, she would be killed on the spot.

Hero Joshua and Bishop Zain had both left the church, probably to find a place to stay for the night in this remote border town.

She also knew that the one day of rest they had left her was not only for packing the luggage she needed to take, but also for saying goodbye to the townspeople she had lived among for the past half year.

She glanced at the church door that had been closed again, then looked toward the direction of her bedroom.

Between saying goodbye and packing luggage, she chose to first play with this so-called holy artifact that only she could use.

The halo above her head would light up and disappear at times.
The staff in her hands also assumed various poses following her movements.

After a while, seemingly having played enough, CocoLiss walked into her bedroom and began packing her luggage.

She was actually the type who quite liked this kind of orderly, rule-following life.
If she were truly forced to go to the royal capital, a place she had never been to, she would probably feel quite resistant.

But those two important figures who had personally come from the royal capital to this remote border town to find her seemed impossible to refuse.

Perhaps heaven wanted her dead.

Packing luggage didn’t take much time.
CocoLiss didn’t have many sets of casual clothes. Most of what she had were the black-and-white nun habits that were modest yet sufficiently form-fitting.

Two skirts, one slightly thicker coat, and three sets of nun habits.

If nothing unexpected happened, she would also be heading to the royal capital wearing her nun habit.

After finally finishing packing, she began hesitating whether she should go out and say goodbye to the townspeople.

Although she had always interacted with these townspeople while wearing the mask of a pious and kind nun, she had indeed spent this past half year with them.

After thinking for a moment, she still stepped toward the door with her usual dignified gait, reaching out to gently place her hand on the simple wooden door in front of her.

It was this wooden door of the church, this small patch of church grounds, that had served as her shelter in a foreign land.

When she pushed the door open, what she saw was not fiery clouds, nor the remnants of the setting sun at dusk, nor birds chirping as they returned to their nests.
Instead, she saw a group of townspeople gathered at the church entrance.

“Sister CocoLiss, what exactly did those two big shots come here for?”
A child holding a wooden stick of unknown origin spoke first. “Why did they stay inside for so long, and there was even golden light flashing?”

“They are important figures from the church. They came to discuss some matters with me.”
CocoLiss snapped back from being surrounded by the crowd.

“What matters? They’re not demoting you, are they? It’s fine, it’s fine, little Liss. My son has a decent job in the royal capital. Why don’t you come to my house…”

“Aunt Susan.”
CocoLiss interrupted the old woman in front of her. “They came to discuss transferring me to work in the royal capital.”

Whispers rose and fell among the crowd.

After a long while, the child who had spoken first spoke again. “So it’s a promotion? But I heard from the priest that promotions require a promotion device, right?”

What the hell was this little brat talking about? Did that old bastard leave behind such a mess before he left?

Yet she still maintained her dignified smile, standing gracefully in the center of the crowd, patiently answering all the concerns around her, and watching as the child from earlier was dragged away by his parents.

“Then, little Liss, when will you be able to come back?”

This was clearly the most important question. Everyone’s gazes turned toward the girl with gently spread ear feathers and a halo above her head at this moment.

“I…”
CocoLiss paused, then revealed the exact same gentle smile as usual. “Everyone, rest assured. I will come back whenever I have time. After all, I can’t bear to leave you all either.”

After another long period of polite exchanges, CocoLiss finally watched the crowd thin out from dense to sparse, until only a few scattered people remained.

“Little Liss, remember to take good care of yourself outside. Pay more attention to yourself and be a little selfish.”

The old woman removed the silver bracelet from her wrist and gently fastened it around the little nun’s slender wrist.

The dangling charms collided gently in the breeze, producing pleasant tinkling sounds.

“Aunt Susan, devoting myself to others is what I, as a member of the church, should do.”

“You child.”
The old woman pressed down on CocoLiss’s movement to return the bracelet, waved her hand, and left the church entrance riding the remnants of the evening sun.

Once again, only CocoLiss remained in the church.

She watched as the red-yellow sunlight completely faded from the window sills. The first cold evening breeze blew across her sleeves, stirring the silver bracelet into tinkling sounds. Only then did she turn around and return inside the church.

In the dim church interior, with a faint glow flickering from the girl’s fingertips, the candles on the wall lamps were lit by tiny flames.

The little nun seemed a little emotional. It seemed she hadn’t expected that these townspeople, whom she had treated with false feelings, were genuinely reluctant to let her go.

She recalled those faces one by one.

“The foul-mouthed little brat who likes picking up branches to cause trouble, no matter how much you teach him, he never behaves.”

“The aunt who always likes introducing her son to others, recommending him to any girl she sees.”

“And the uncle and aunt who are always drunk…”

She muttered to herself.

“The difference between your public and private faces is quite big.”

A clear male voice sounded from beside her ear.

In the depths illuminated by the wall lamps, the firelight danced across the golden-haired man’s face.

It seemed Lord Hero was not surprised at all.

Of course. Their first meeting, and even the opportunity that led to confirming her identity as the Saintess, was not something a dignified, virtuous, and pious nun could have done.

“Lord Joshua?”
CocoLiss turned her head and saw the golden-haired Hero standing in the corner. “You…”

“I won’t tell them about your true appearance or anything. In my view, whether you’re pretending or not no longer matters. I don’t think the state you pretend to be in is necessarily fake.”

It seemed that for this Hero, whether she was wearing a facade or not wasn’t very important.

But the little nun simply felt that this guy had simply not encountered anything that affected him personally yet. Once he did, he wouldn’t be like this.

CocoLiss’s expression remained unchanged, but her small pair of ear feathers were frantically fanning, as if desperately trying to cool down.

“I didn’t come here specifically to eavesdrop on your secrets. I only came to tell you that we need to depart early.”

Joshua lowered the arms that had been crossed over his chest. His left hand unconsciously rested on the hilt of the sword at his waist. “There’s already movement from the Abyss side. They have now discovered abyssal kin that can imitate appearances. To avoid any unnecessary danger to the Saintess, we need to head to the royal capital as soon as possible. We depart now.”