"What is the meaning of this, Finality?"

Shine asked while frowning at the five clones of Galeon that had surrounded her. She could sense a controlled hostility within them as though they were ready to erupt with power at any given moment and fight her to the death. She could not understand why the situation suddenly turned this way.

She had literally just announced to everyone that she had held his Divine Trial and acknowledged him as a Divine. So why was he suddenly turning his blade at her with no prior indication whatsoever? Galeon, however, only continued walking toward the corpse of the giant worm in the distance. It was one of his clones that replied to Shine instead.

"Divine Lance of Radiance, you are under suspicion of colluding with criminals involved in the abduction of a citizen of Melchior. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"What? Is that what this is all about? I thought I told you that I already sent my subordinates to safely escort her back to Melchior. Your commission is complete. What more do you want?"

Shine spoke in both exasperation and annoyance. She just helped him complete his commission and now she was being treated as a criminal? She was a knight of the Lux Holy Land. How could she be a criminal? But the moment she thought that, her eyes widened in realisation. And it seemed this was the same point that Galeon was confronting her about.

"You are a knight of the Lux Holy Land. Your jurisdiction extends to a hundred kilometers of the Lux Holy Land, no more than that. And yet you interfered in an official commission of a Guild-affiliated Contractor regarding a high profile case of abduction in another city entirely. So I say again, you are under suspicion of colluding with criminals. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I literally helped you with your commission! I admit it was wrong for me to interfere, but can we just let it go? There's no harm done anyway!"

Galeon fell silent, only staring at Shine silently. He seemed to be urging her to speak, but she could only grit her teeth. There really was no way around this mistake if Galeon wanted to push it. She had never been forced into such a position before as she never had come across such a thing before. Today was just too much of a special case in more ways than one.

She turned her head around and saw Galeon's real body still walking silently toward the giant worm's corpse. He did not even seem at all invested in whatever was happening here even though it was his clones who were interrogating her. And as though to prove her right, another clone spoke.

"You say there's no harm done, so let me enlighten you. A Guild-affiliated Contractor with the designation V32G has been found to be involved in a high profile abduction. When confronted by the commissioned Contractor to acknowledge their affiliation, V32G refused to acknowledge and even fought the commissioned Contractor, myself. There is a traitor of the Guild caught in the middle of a criminal activity and you protected him from being subjugated. Do you still think there was no harm done?"

Shine's expression became darker the more she heard Galeon's words. She knew that the guild was strict when it came to their affiliates, but she did not know they were this strict. What she failed to realise, however, was that this was a special case.

Normally, if a Contractor turned their back on the Guild, they would at most be stripped of their affiliation and banned from ever rejoining the Guild. This usually happens when a Contractor failed a commission and instead of facing the consequences chose to run away.

This in itself was already a great demerit as they would be carrying that stigma everywhere. The Contractors who were originally unaffiliated would have a much higher chance of getting commissions than a former Guild-affiliated Contractor because it meant that something wrong must have happened for them to be cut off.

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In the case of Verglas, however, he not only failed to acknowledge his affiliation, he even deliberately fought with Galeon. Depending on the level of severity of this offense assessed by the Guild, he may end up either being hunted down to the ends of the world or be killed on sight.

This was the reason why Galeon could not let this matter go. He had technically failed a commission which has never happened before. Worse yet, he failed to subdue the traitor all because Shine interfered. It was a stain to his record, and Galeon liked to keep his record sparkling clean.

Shine recognised the severity of the situation, but she wanted to make one last stand to try to intimidate the new Divine and make him back off. She had to show her seniority, especially since she was the one who anointed him.

"Do you really think the Guild will target me for something as silly as this? Just because you're now a Divine doesn't mean you can do anything you want. I helped you complete your commission. Just accept it and end it there."

"Indeed, just because you're a Divine doesn't mean you can do anything you want, Radiance. And who said I needed the Guild's permission to target you? In case you haven't noticed, the Guild Master wasn't even present during the beast tide. You think I care whatever the hell the Guild thinks now? Don't make me think any lower of you, Shine. Keep this up and I might just start thinking that the Holy Land might be involved in all this."

"Don't you dare drag the Holy Land into this! The Saintess has nothing to do with any of this!"

"Then tell me what you're hiding, Radiance!"

In a burst of anger, several dozens more clones of Galeon appeared around Shine as they all demanded an answer from her. Their deeply furious voices echoing out as he was really starting to lose patience.

Shine looked all around her, her eyes wide in shock as she came to a realisation. This man still had so much power left in him even after that intense battle. She herself had only barely recovered to half of her peak condition, but Galeon was still capable of creating so many clones, each pulsing with a level of power no weaker than his main body. She sighed weakly, finally giving up.

"I was saved by the Weltsritter when I was a child. My aspiration to become a knight was because of them, their leader. I only repaid my debt by saving the Bastion Knight."

"Their leader, Verglas said that Sairen was his daughter. What is his name?"

"I don't know if that girl really is his daughter, but the leader of the Weltsritter is someone you know too. He is the Divine Blade of Retribution, Latonai."

Shine spoke his name with a hint of respect and reverence in her eyes. The Divine Blade of Retribution was the first ranked among the current Divines. He was the one who saved Shine when she was just a child. And he was also the one who conducted the Divine Trial for her.

Galeon nodded. This was crucial information pertaining to his target that he needed to confirm directly with her later. With this, he could finally drop the matter of Shine colluding with Verglas. But he still did not leave her alone as he still had another matter to discuss with her.

"I will stop pursuing the matter now, but you must answer for a different matter. Why have you been watching me for the last couple of years? And why have you been watching me even more closely in the last few days?"

Indeed, this was the matter that he could not drop. From the moment he met Shine for the first time in the Forbidden Forest, he instantly recognised the feeling of her gaze on him. It was the same as the one that he had occasionally felt in the past few years and even more so in recent days. And it was not just her either as he assumed that she had ordered even her subordinates to keep an eye on him. He needed to know why. He needed to know if they found out about the Vernal Bloom.

"I was ordered by the Saintess to keep an eye on you, not for any malintent, mind. The Saintess has an ability related to clairvoyance. And ever since she heard of the Dancing Blade who received a heap of praises from the Governor of Melchior, she had been peculiarly curious about you. As for the recent increase in surveillance on you, it was because we assumed you had a connection with the Divine Blade of Beauty who was recently spotted in the Eastern Region."

"The Divine Blade of Beauty? When did she come here? And why did you assume I had a connection with her?"

"It was just about a week ago when we received reports stating that she had been spotted here. And then about three days later, you suddenly left Therion and headed to Melchior which was a rare occurrence."

"That's coincidental at best. I received a commission from the Governor so I left. What's the name of the Divine Blade of Beauty anyway?"

"Her name is Verena."