Chapter 22: No one stopped me, that means I acquiesced.

“I’ll give you anything you want, just please don’t kill me!”

Ignoring Robert’s pleas, Suna used water magic to form ropes that bound his head, forcing him to sit upright.

“What I want is in your head, so I’m not interested in your measly possessions. That said, it’s been a while since I used this ability—hope I’m not too rusty.”

As Suna muttered to herself, her right hand morphed, sprouting thin scarlet tendrils that surged into Robert’s ear canal and invaded his brain.

Faced with this, Robert opened his mouth as if to scream, but no sound came out.

Suna, manipulating the scarlet tendrils to probe his memories, wasn’t exactly gentle—Robert’s trembling eyes filled with bloodshot veins, and blood trickled from his nose.

“As expected, you’ve committed quite a few crimes. Oh, I forgot—you probably can’t hear me anymore.”

After speaking, Suna shrugged and glanced back at the three children behind her.

The orange-haired boy was waving his hand, trying to dispel the golden glow obscuring his vision, while the orange-haired girl obediently covered her eyes with her hands, not looking over.

“Kid, too much curiosity isn’t a good thing.”

Suna spoke in a lecturing tone, snapping her fingers to dispel the golden glow from the boy’s eyes.

“Who are you? Did you kill them? What’s your real motive?”

The orange-haired boy, still bristling like a hedgehog, prompted Suna to sigh with her hands on her hips.

“You’ve got a lot of questions, kid! But being this cautious isn’t bad.”

After her quip, Suna paused briefly before continuing.

“First, I’m a saintess. And no, I didn’t kill them, though they might look dead.”

As she spoke, Robert’s upright body slumped to the ground. The orange-haired boy eyed her with deep suspicion.

“Don’t believe me? Look, I’m wearing priestly robes.”

Suna parted her cloak to reveal her priestly attire, but the boy’s suspicion only deepened, and he stepped back further, shielding his sister.

“Brother, the saintess sister’s outfit is just like the priests’ in the temple—so pretty! Oh, saintess sister, thank you for saving our little brother.”

As his sister tried to approach, the orange-haired boy whispered in her ear.

“Sister, don’t get close. She’s too suspicious. Normal priests don’t wander alone like this or wear veils all the time.”

With her golden-tier senses, Suna overheard his whispers clearly, even without trying.

“Am I that suspicious? This is me being nice for once. Fine, let’s get you kids to a safe place.”

With that, Suna scooped up the orange-haired boy in one arm and the girl holding their brother in the other, lightly leaping over the high wall to land on an open street.

“Hey, hey, hey! Put me down! Where are you taking us?”

“Are you taking us to your home or the temple?”

“Kid, stop squirming! I’m just taking you to an orphanage.”

After some effort to calm the struggling boy, Suna made her way to an orphanage in Blackmont City called Flintstone Orphanage, swiftly handling the admission process for the three children.

Her speed and familiarity with the process left the orange-haired boy stunned, feeling as if everything was finalized in a blur.

While speaking with the orphanage staff, Suna even donated a sum of operational funds, mentioning she’d return later.

With a carefree wave goodbye, Suna set off to handle her “real business.”

Having extracted the necessary information from Robert’s memories, she headed straight to the stronghold of his organization.

What appeared before her was an ostentatious, almost gaudy building.

This six-story structure, straddling the border of the slums and the regular district, boasted intricate carvings and light strips on its exterior walls, a gilded statue of a maiden pouring water in a fountain at the entrance, and a glaring neon billboard on its roof.

“RichLikeSoup Company? What a tacky name—and disgusting.”

Muttering this, Suna strode toward the entrance of RichLikeSoup Company.

On the surface, it looked like a legitimate business.

But the black-suited, burly guards—far more numerous than necessary, with menacing looks and curse tattoos on their limbs or necks—clearly indicated this was no ordinary organization.

Despite their “protection,” Suna walked boldly through the front doors without any hindrance.

Even as a suspicious figure in a hooded cloak and veil, she went unchallenged.

[Veil of Truth is really perfect for infiltration. As long as no one’s stronger than me and I don’t act too conspicuously, I can alter their perception and make my presence nearly undetectable.]

Marveling at this in her mind, Suna strolled as if at home, following a company employee into a magical elevator.

Even in the cramped elevator, the employee didn’t notice Suna standing half a meter away.

When he exited on the third floor and the elevator doors began to close, Suna casually pressed the button for the fifth floor.

As the fifth-floor doors opened, Suna stepped onto the red velvet carpet, heading toward the lavish room at the corridor’s end, where two suited bodyguards—one fat, one thin—stood with hands behind their backs.

As she approached, their heightened alertness seemed to pierce through her veil, first with confusion, then shock.

“Who are you?! How’d you get up here?”

“Oh, I came up the elevator fair and square. No one stopped me, so doesn’t that mean it’s allowed?”

Suna spread her hands, her tone brazenly confident, leaving the two bodyguards momentarily stunned.