Chapter 82: The One Who Receives Grace

In the side hall of the Hall of All Spirits, in a small and elegantly decorated lounge, the blue-haired Princess Liliya, with a crown atop her head, was leaning back on the sofa, dully resting her chin on her hand, lost in thought.

Beside her were several trusted strong allies like Fiery Blossom, Emily, and Edwina, either sitting or standing, while Miss Vilyric leaned against the wall, idly playing with her smooth nails out of boredom.

The Priestess was still wearing the “Cognitive Obstruction Mask,” hence her current identity was “Adventurer Vilyric.”

After all, with Liliya having laid everything bare, there was little point in hiding anymore. Vilyric simply thought, “Well, since we’ve come this far,” and went along with it.

“Ah… everyone has seen the situation. Feel free to share your thoughts.”

After a brief silence, the princess opened the discussion first.

Immediately, a somewhat impatient voice from a rat-like creature filled the air.

“Ahem! First of all, let me clarify—I didn’t lie. When we were working in the Throne of Immortality, I indeed heard Leopold and Chromans mention working with Ban multiple times; there’s absolutely no mistake there. Those two wouldn’t conspire to feed me false information, would they?”

Though direct, Plakaka’s words were indeed reasonable.

All signs indicated that Ban was a partner of the “Throne of Immortality.” If this was a scheme by someone with malicious intent, that person must be quite powerful.

Mr. Fierce Wolf, who had been working hard and was responsible for handling a lot of intelligence, nodded in agreement and backed up Plakaka’s testimony.

“I also believe it’s not an issue of evidence. Although it’s hard to believe, the only explanation is that the High Spirit’s lie-detecting ability has failed against the Second Prince.”

He wasn’t from the kingdom; though he respected the ancestral spirits revered here, he wasn’t blindly faithful and immediately proposed the most plausible hypothesis.

The silent Fiery Blossom, who had grown up in the kingdom with rich experiences, finally shook her head in denial.

“What Miss Hua means is—are you suggesting the Second Prince is telling the truth in every word? To take it a step further, everything we’ve done so far might just be us being played by someone?”

Nicholas, who argued with logic, showed no sign of fear despite being overshadowed by the other party’s strength. Although Hua had once spared him when he fled the capital years ago, this was this, and that was that; fake stuff wouldn’t turn real.

“I didn’t say that. It’s just…”

The Ranger couldn’t quite articulate her thoughts, unable to come up with a reason for why Ban Meikailande could say such things and yet remain unharmed if the High Spirit had done nothing wrong.

But if someone could truly evade such absolute power, in her experiences, it could only be…

But she certainly couldn’t go help Ban.

Raising her hand to stop the arguments among her subordinates, the princess turned to the Holy Knight beside her, who had been sitting quietly but hadn’t been able to chime in.

“Alright, alright, I’ve heard all your thoughts. Miss Edwina, as a Holy Knight from the Holy Kingdom, do you possess any methods from the Temple that could circumvent the High Spirit’s ‘Order’ rules of detection?”

“Uh?”

Edwina thought hard for a while, only to respond with an answer that didn’t relate at all.

“Um, can I ask what you guys have been talking about with this lie detection and rules? I don’t feel anything like that at all?”

“?????”

Everyone looked at each other, at a loss for how to respond to such a nonsensical question.

It was like someone suddenly bursting in and asking, “How do you breathe? Why can’t I feel the air around me?”… that kind of situation.

Ultimately, it was Mr. Fierce Wolf, who had fought alongside Edwina before, who couldn’t bear to see it anymore and pointed toward the main hall of the Hall of All Spirits.

“Miss Edwina, haven’t you heard of the power of the ancestral spirits worshipped by the kingdom? When the High Spirit appeared earlier, that kind of formless and intangible force had already spread to every corner of the Hall. You really didn’t feel it?”

The blonde girl shook her head with a confused expression.

Seeing Edwina look completely out of sync, the princess seemed to realize something and suddenly narrowed her beautiful eyes, raising her hand to stop Nicholas from speaking and directly instructing the Holy Knight.

“Edwina, please say out loud in front of us, ‘I am a cunning and sly woman, full of tricks.'”

“???”

“Your Highness! How am I cunning and sly?!”

Facing her firm protest, Liliya could only smile helplessly and explained in a way that would make sense to a fool.

“Don’t get worked up… I know very well that Miss Edwina is an honest good child. This is just a test; think of it as a magic spell or a prayer, alright?”

“Liliya, you mean…”

Fiery Blossom frowned, but ultimately didn’t stop the princess.

“Um, just give it a try, Miss Edwina. You only need to say it out loud, and ideally, repeat it a few times.”

“Ugh… well, since Your Highness says so, fine…”

Like she had resigned herself, the poor Holy Knight shut her eyes, and soon the lounge echoed with Edwina’s somewhat comical shout.

“I… I am cunning and sly! Full of tricks! I am cunning and sly, full of tricks! Full of tricks, full of tricks! Is that good enough?!”

Silence…

As the blonde Holy Knight repeated those words with an embarrassed face, a considerable amount of time passed, yet nothing changed around them; almost everyone’s expression turned grim.

“This…”

Miss Hua suddenly stood up, seemingly quite shocked.

Nicholas and Emily, who had lived long in the City of Courage and were deeply influenced by its culture, had equally splendid expressions.

The High Spirit’s absolute “Order” rules could truly be evaded by mortals.

The princess took a deep breath, flushing away her shocked values down the drain.

“As expected… there is no such thing as absolute; in that case…”

Feeling the lingering restraint in her body, due to still being within the boundaries of the Hall, Liliya turned her gaze towards the Priestess, who had shown no reaction from the start and was just chuckling at their debate.

“Vilyric, you must be able to exempt this power of the rules, right? Do you have any insights about Edwina’s situation?”

“Well… sort of. If what you guys are sensing is the same as what I’m feeling, then it’s pretty understandable.”

The concept of spirit wasn’t new to the Priestess.

Whether it was the spirits of the Beast Kingdom or the High Spirit of the United Kingdom, the rules they utilized, the so-called “absolute” power, fundamentally arose only because the vast majority of beings couldn’t reach the threshold to break through it.

In other words, as long as an equally powerful or even greater force intervenes, the rules aren’t truly absolute and can be resisted or evaded.

Although she wasn’t entirely sure of the specifics, it seemed Edwina was in a similar situation.

And Ban was too.

Since such high-level powers were involved…

“I’ll lend you a little hand~”

   

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