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The Saintess has Ran Away
Chapter 9: Chaotic Times

Chapter 9: Chaotic Times

Selene fell asleep on the treant’s head. Although she claimed to have boundless energy, the long journey and the obscure and incomprehensible 《Fundamentals of Magic》 had defeated her small mind. Soft snores echoed in the night. The caravans had set up their tents along the trade route. Delight and his companions sat down by the fire. The golem, with a series of carefully controlled creaks, transformed into a pile of rubble, absorbing the mana from the earth. The treant carefully moved its roots through the mud, and the temporarily added magical beast found a suitable spot and lay down.

Several mages, with admiring expressions, gathered around Delight, quietly asking about difficulties they encountered during their training. Delight, while answering their questions, tirelessly… uh, promoted Mittal’s research atmosphere, until the mages, overwhelmed, went back to rest.

Richter silently watched Selene, who had curled up into a small ball. He quietly added wood to the fire, without using magic.

Delight casually sat down beside his student.

“Still worried about Selene?”

“Master, you know Selene’s identity is definitely not ordinary,” Richter didn’t turn around, “Though everyone in the Divine Construct can be called a servant of the Lord of Glory, that’s not what that knight meant. A high-level heretic risked his life to sneak into Lanstier, just to take an ordinary person? That’s ridiculous.

“There are no famous figures connected to the name ‘Shinten,’ but there is one thing that could be related.”

Delight also looked at Selene, a strange glint in his eyes.

“The Divine Glory Church’s titles for their Saintess.”

“The previous Saintess died three hundred years ago… The Divine Glory Church hasn’t had a Saintess since then, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be another one.”

Richter added more wood to the fire.

“Shinten is a very suitable title, isn’t it?”

Delight quietly enjoyed the stillness of the night and the warmth of the fire. After a long pause, he spoke.

“The question is, why hasn’t anyone from the church come looking for her? We haven’t heard anything about the Papal Knights being mobilized, and given His Holiness’s abilities, it’s impossible for a mere high-level knight to take her from the Holy City, even crossing the entire Alorn—Holy City Grand Canyon, and reaching the Forest of Divine Punishment.”

The flames flickered silently, and the two fell into contemplation.

“These are chaotic times…”

Someone sighed softly.

...

Fisher looked away from the palace, feeling mentally exhausted.

A fire had broken out. By the time it was discovered, a part of the palace had been reduced to ashes. The entire royal family, including the Emperor, was missing. The rescue personnel coming and going weren’t really searching for survivors, but merely performing their duties—in his eyes, blessed by the Lord of Glory, there was nothing left in the ruins.

No living things, and no dead things, only a pile of slowly cooling ashes.

He silently reviewed the recent events—the disappearance of the newly appointed Shinten Saintess, the sudden appearance of the anomaly, which had trapped most of the Papal Knights underground, and now, the fire that had engulfed the palace. He looked for a common thread, trying to find a connection between them.

A Papal Knight, his armor shattered and covered in blood and grime, approached him, ignoring protocol and speaking quickly,

“Your Holiness, the situation underground is out of control. The Papal Knights have retreated from the Sanctuary. We’ve barely managed to contain the situation outside the Great Light Hall, but it won’t last. The Cardinals are discussing the ninth contingency plan…”

Fisher frowned and raised his right hand, interrupting him.

“No. The ninth contingency plan won’t work. That isn’t something that can be destroyed by forbidden spells. On the contrary, the high-mana environment created by forbidden spells could activate it completely…” Fisher pondered silently, glancing at the palace. After confirming that the fire wasn’t spreading, he finally made his decision. “Have everyone retreat.”

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The Papal Knight was stunned. Before he could speak, Fisher continued,

“Have the Papal Knights secure the inner city. Suspend all commercial activities. Block all exits from the city, impound all ships in the port. From now on, no one is allowed to leave the Holy City. Go to the Magic Society and request Lady Lilith’s assistance. All active clerics, go find His Majesty Evans. Ensure the safety of His Majesty and the royal family. Report any anomalies immediately to…” Fisher’s eyes flickered for a moment, “…to the Saintess-designate, Alice.”

“In my absence, the Cardinals have full authority over church affairs.”

The Papal Knight, his heart filled with shock and fear, looked at the founder of the church before him, the Saint from Wilmoth and the current Pope, but could only see calmness in his expression.

His lips moved a few times, but he ultimately said nothing, giving the Pope a respectful church salute.

Fisher calmly nodded. A light emanated from his right hand, which held a staff, quickly enveloping him. When the light faded, he was gone.

A few minutes later, a young girl who looked no more than ten years old appeared, leading the blood-soaked Papal Knights. She was wearing a dusty pilgrim’s robe. She had blond hair, blue eyes, and a beautiful face, but her expression was almost eerily calm.

The Papal Knight saluted her respectfully.

“Saintess-designate Alice. May the Lord bless us.”

But Alice only nodded slightly, and a voice, devoid of emotion, came from her mouth:

“The Lord blesses us always.”

...

The sun appeared on the horizon as scheduled, its light and warmth sprinkling the earth. Selene stared at the rising sphere of light and its corona, feeling she’d never get used to this.

She felt a little regretful. If there were sunrise-viewing activities in this world, she’d definitely have to skip them…

The treant beneath her swayed and stood up, bathed in sunlight, pulling its roots out of the ground one by one. The scattered rubble nearby reassembled itself into a golem. Richter gathered the various items—mostly gifts left by the mages who had come to ask questions the previous night. He planned to use them as teaching materials for Selene, demonstrating how magic flowed through matter and how it affected the material world.

The books had thoroughly analyzed the theory, but humans weren’t creatures who lived in books. Reading alone couldn’t produce a good mage. Although, due to Selene’s talent, all she could do was watch…

Delight emerged from one of the caravan’s carriages, a happy smile on his face, and shouted,

“Hey, you two! Look what I’ve got!”

Two small heads popped up, then quickly ducked down, pretending that the old man wasn’t calling them. But after a night together, the surrounding adventurers had gotten to know them, and waves of laughter forced them to raise their heads again.

Selene glared fiercely at the adventurers who had started the commotion. Her gaze, though fierce, lacked any real threat. She decided to get her revenge later, but for now, all she could do was glare.

While she was busy trying to kill her enemies with her eyes, Delight approached, holding an item that attracted their attention—a sparkling, transparent crystal ball, reflecting the sunlight, a deep blue. Delight, like a circus performer, tossed it between his hands. Each time it was thrown, the color deepened, quickly changing from deep blue to black.

Richter frowned. He could tell the reason for the color change wasn’t simply because of the tossing. Every time Delight touched the crystal ball, a portion of his magic was absorbed by it. The increasing amount of magic stored within caused the reflected light to deepen.

“Exactly,” Delight knew the answer before his student could speak, “This is a magic crystal specifically used for storing magical power. And the quality is quite good. It can store the equivalent of a mid-level mage’s magic power, and it also has a strong attraction to magic.”

Selene had a bad feeling about this and quickly waved her hands, refusing.

“This is too valuable…”

“Consider it an apprenticeship gift,” Delight said before she could refuse. “But it’s a bit big for you to carry around right now, so I’ll hold onto it for you. When we get to the Holy City, I’ll have a craftsman make it into something more portable.”

Selene sighed inwardly, feeling as if she owed him another favor, and the group continued their journey along the trade route.

Just as the adventurer had said, they arrived at Alorn around noon.

Selene squinted at the city in the distance. The first thing she saw was a silver-white tower, its peak reaching the clouds. Birds of unknown species circled the tower’s spire. Then came white walls and a continuous expanse of neatly arranged tiled roofs.

It was very different from the medieval cities in her memory. This was a magical world. Although it was backward and ignorant in some respects, magic had subtly influenced the progress of civilization… At least, the feudal nations on Earth couldn’t have built a city like this.

Delight showed his mage credentials to the guards at the city gate, who quickly bowed and let them pass. The caravan they had been traveling with, however, had to undergo an inspection.

Just as Selene turned around to watch the guards receive their bribes, she heard a deafening roar echo through the sky.

The beast Delight was riding let out a low growl. The horses pulling the caravans’ carriages were so frightened that they collapsed on the ground. Everyone looked up in shock.

A griffin, with the body and claws of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle, circled above Alorn. The powerful winds created by the flapping of its wings showed it was at least a mid-level magical beast, but what attracted everyone’s attention was not this rare creature—but the knight in silver armor who sat on its back. His armor was intricately patterned, dotted with gold and silver threads, and a sun was emblazoned on his chest.

He was a Papal Knight of the Divine Glory Church.