She adjusted her clothes slightly—they were completely unrecognizable now. The blood had stained them crimson and black. They smelled awful. If she went out wearing these clothes at night, she’d surely scare everyone she met. “I’ll throw them away when I get back…” Selene squeezed some un-congealed blood from her sleeve. She was glad she hadn’t worn that synthetic coat, since that cost a considerable sum and was custom-made. She could get ten sets of these commoner’s clothes for one silver coin.

This wasn’t that bad.

Selene thought about how a superhuman like her even had to consider the cost of clothing, then checked on the heretics lying on the ground.

She looked them over one by one. Except for the priest, who was still breathing, all of them seemed to be dead.

Not a bad outcome.

She bent down, without any remorse, and used her dagger to carve some Atinewen on the priest's body, namely “Exhaustion,” “Weakening,” and “Survival,” ensuring that he would remain alive, but unable to act, in case Duquesne came or had the body taken away before they were able to get any information.

The priest, naturally, couldn’t resist. He closed his eyes tightly, whether truly unconscious or unwilling to face what had happened. Selene didn’t care, turning and heading towards the cave where the sacrifices were being held.

She pulled out the Binding Contract she had made with “Shadow Walker.” The authority of the God of Order prevented her bloody clothes from being stained further, and the eye representing the God of Order on the contract was half-closed, almost shut.

This meant the contract was over, but one party had used dubious means. That’s why the eye hadn’t completely closed. If one day, the God of Order found out, he would hold them accountable.

Selene, unsurprisingly, put it away and quickly walked towards the cave, her footsteps and the sound of dripping water mixing together. A light breeze carried these sounds, along with the strong smell of blood, towards the distant cave walls.

When she reached the room, she saw the children and the women huddled together, trembling. The Lost One, wearing his mask, was leaning against the wall, awaiting death. The old man was trying to protect the women and children, standing in front of them.

The old man stepped over the bodies lying on the ground and came to Selene. His body trembled, revealing his inner fear, but he still stood firmly in Selene’s path, pleading,

“Let me be the sacrifice. Spare these children…”

Selene was stunned. She looked back and saw the women and children huddled together at the back of the cave. She clearly saw Reigns, the child she had been hired to find. There was a wound on his forehead, and he was lying weakly in someone’s arms. His gaze, which was mixed with fear and anger, was directed towards her.

“….I’m not with the cultists.” Selene rubbed her forehead wearily. She didn’t expect that her disguise would reassure them, so she simply found a place to sit down and slowly explained her identity.

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The old man was initially skeptical, but as Selene explained in more detail, with her account of single-handedly defeating more than a hundred cultists being the only part that sounded a bit exaggerated, he began to believe her.

She talked and talked until she had taken the people who were meant to be sacrificed out of the cave.

“…. In short, the cultists outside have been dealt with. You’re all safe now.” Selene said, her gaze sweeping across the remaining people, pausing for a few seconds on the masked Lost One. “But there are still some unpredictable dangers here. So I need someone to leave here and call the station.”

The old man immediately wanted to volunteer, but a thin, undernourished girl interrupted him, taking on the task.

Selene, without hesitation, nodded in agreement. She took the old man, the children, and the Lost One who was pretending to be dead, out of the cave and into the circular hall, stopping next to the priest.

The smell of decay from the cave wasn’t any better than the stench in the circular hall. The people were shocked by the scene of carnage. A grown woman covered the eyes of the two children, then trembled and leaned against the wall, resting.

Selene tore some cloth from her clothes, wrapped it around her hand, and picked up the seven-curved sword that “Shadow Walker” had kicked away. She held it carefully.

Based on her experience, cults that had obviously mastered some superhuman practices usually had a “holy relic,” which was usually quite dangerous. Even well-trained “Arbiter” squads lost many members each year trying to deal with these.

Better to be careful.

They waited quietly for about fifteen minutes, then heard cries and the sound of hurried footsteps approaching from outside. A moment later, Duquesne, leading a group of more than twenty guards, the young woman who had been a sacrifice leading the way, appeared before them.

They were shocked by the sight, then quickly regained their composure, their actions efficient and orderly.

Selene smiled slightly at Duquesne, who was approaching her, and said,

“What do you know? The money wasn’t spent in vain.”

Duquesne directed the guards to clean up the scene, and two guards, who were prepared, carried a silver chest towards them. They carefully placed the sword in Selene’s hands inside the chest and closed the lid, on which the insignia of the “Lord of Glory” and the “God of Order” were engraved. Then they poured a large amount of holy water over the chest.

Only after all this did Duquesne finally seem to relax.

Clearly, this man, who had served in a big city, was very experienced.

Duquesne assessed her for a moment, slightly shocked by her appearance, having just crawled out of a sea of blood. He immediately squatted down in front of her, at the same height as Selene, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, and sighed.

“I signed a contract with you this morning, and by this afternoon, we’ve discovered a cult’s lair…”

He didn’t ask how Selene had done it, and Selene didn’t bother to explain. They tacitly skipped over that topic.

She winked and said,

“So, what kind of extra rewards does the station offer?”

Duquesne, with a serious expression, replied,

“Personally, I can give you a commendation. You can put whatever you like on it. Personally, I quite like the term ‘The Beautiful and the Unyielding.’”

He said slowly, then, seeing Selene’s expression fall, added,

“Of course, the station and the church should also give rewards, but we’ll discuss the specifics later.”

The two exchanged glances. Then Duquesne reached out and pulled her up.

“I need to stay here to supervise and be on guard. You go back to the station with these people to file a report. I strongly suggest you change your clothes there. Even the prisoner’s uniform or the female guard’s uniform are better than those.”

Selene nodded, then opened her mouth, as if intending to say something, but Duquesne turned and walked towards the platform in the center of the hall, a short sentence reaching her ears.

“The clothes won't cost your money.”

Selene pouted and followed two guards out of the circular hall. Supporting the weakened sacrifices, who were undernourished, she returned to the police station.