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Chapter 85: The Invitation from the Saint of Bright Light

Although the clues provided by Aiden seemed a bit off and even carried a hint of revenge, the speaker had no intention, and the listener had a mind. Miss Vilyric, who understood the overall situation more deeply, immediately felt something unusual.

A clue named – 【Commonality】.

The girl turned her head to glance at Yuna. From the thoughtful expression on the latter’s face, it was clear that the Saintess had also noticed the same thing. Their gazes briefly met in the air before they quickly separated, and soon, Yuna spoke up.

“Aiden, do you have any unfulfilled wishes?”

The spirit of a certain new Holy Knight, who was approaching with a sorrowful face, was momentarily taken aback and then burst into a hearty laugh.

“A wish? Thank you, Your Holiness, but I am just a wanderer who left my tribe, living one day at a time without any ties. The few good friends I had… well, they’ve mostly died. If I must say something, I’m just a bit worried about that kid Jeremy and our captain, who is still missing.”

“If there is hope, Your Holiness, I hope you can help Karina. If she still retains her consciousness, she must be the one who suffers the most among us. Even if you can’t bring her back, please help her find peace.”

The Saintess did not immediately promise anything; she simply placed her hand on her chest solemnly and slightly bowed her head in a gesture of respect towards the deceased.

“As long as the light endures, redemption is near us. I will do my utmost, Arbiter Aiden… may your soul return to the embrace of the light, honor the Goddess.”

“Yes… honor the Goddess.”

Without lingering any longer, the remaining time was left for their team. The Saintess took Pedrick and pushed the door open to leave, while Miss White Fox cast a sideways glance at one person and spirit behind before following them out.

Standing in the shaded side lawn of the temple, Yuna dismissed her relatives and, after leaving only Miss Vilyric, looked up at the clear blue sky, seemingly feeling a sense of nostalgia as she spoke.

“Did Miss Xī notice something?”

“Why do you suddenly ask that?”

Since the two were alone, the Saintess no longer kept secrets, turning to speak directly.

“That mask, assuming it is the only culprit behind the attack, I feel that its actions are somewhat illogical. Putting aside the purpose of attacking Karina’s team…”

“Knowing that Jeremy had already escaped for help, why would it deliberately kill a few knights in such a torturous manner? Didn’t it have the means to intercept a Courage Knight? And why did it actively attack the Temple Knights, deliberately exposing its own existence? What did that Chloe Laurie experience after going missing?”

Listening to the series of questions posed by the blonde girl, Miss White Fox simply nodded in response.

“It is indeed quite suspicious. What do you think is the reason, Yuna?”

Hearing the White Fox’s unhesitating yet seemingly inconclusive affirmation, Yuna turned around, flashing a faint smile.

“I don’t know; I just find it a bit strange. Perhaps the other party is so unabashed that they think Mingguang City can’t do anything about it; they must have some backing. But, precisely because I feel confused, I wanted to ask for your opinion, Miss Xī~”

However, the White Fox still didn’t give a direct answer.

“It’s hard to say. While I do have some ideas, they are still merely in the realm of speculation… After all, this incident happened less than a day ago, so it would be a bit hasty to draw conclusions now, wouldn’t it?”

“Mhm~ That’s true.”

Not wanting to dwell too much on the topic, the blonde girl quickly changed the subject.

“I wonder what your plans are next, Miss Xī? If you really have nothing to do, Yuna has a small request.”

Seemingly having anticipated such a development, the White Fox did not appear overly surprised.

“Tell me?”

Yuna smiled lightly, extending her delicate white hand towards the White Fox before her.

“I hope to hire Miss Xī to assist Mingguang City in solving this case, to find and punish the culprit. The reward can be discussed freely; what do you think?”

Is this an invitation…?

Vilyric immediately understood the meaning behind the other party’s actions.

With the Saint of Bright Light and the power of the Summerfield Family, even if they were cautious and found it suspicious, it wouldn’t make sense to start asking for outside help so soon. Thus, Yuna’s intentions were clear.

What she wanted was to quickly strengthen the relationship between the Summerfield Family and 【Xī】 through this cooperative process, perhaps even forming an alliance.

Such eagerness to woo a strong ally, combined with her planned confidential talks with the head of the Lingyin Merchant Association and the large acquisition of iron ore and magical crystals…

It seems, just as Edwina said, the Summerfield Family’s recent abnormal actions in the Holy Church are not without reason, but rather, are gearing up for something big…

Fine.

“Sure, there’s no need to discuss the reward. Since we’ve encountered such an interesting matter, even if you didn’t mention it, I was already planning to look into it thoroughly. As always, within my means, I will take appropriate action.”

Watching as the White Fox considered for a moment and then lightly placed her small hand atop, the Saintess’ pure smile became even more radiant.

“Well then, let’s wish for a pleasant cooperation?”

“Pleasant cooperation~”

……

At this moment, on the other side of the city.

The structure of Mingguang City is somewhat similar to the Sky City in the Kingdom of Azure’s capital.

Here, the city is divided according to the cardinal directions: east, south, west, north, southeast, northeast, southwest, and northwest, along with a central area focused on the Summerfield Castle and the Temple of Bright Light, together forming a larger square-shaped city.

This is what it looks like when viewed from the sky in the western city.

To facilitate management, the Church has also established separate temples and Temple Knight orders in each area situated in different directions, led by their respective bishops and knight captains, unified under the Saint of Bright Light, who chose nine sacred beasts representing positive meanings to name them.

For example, the western district is named after the quasi-celestial fish known throughout the Holy Empire — 【Flying Star】, and the temple knight order here is naturally called the Flying Star Knights, officially comprising ten thousand members.

The eight peripheral knight orders, along with the centrally governed Mingguang Knights, total at least over one hundred thousand members, which, in terms of quantity, is almost double the holy armed forces of the City of Angels.

Moreover, unlike the four great Holy Knight orders of the City of Angels, which require a Church vote to deploy, the nine knight orders of Mingguang City are almost entirely loyal to the Saint of Bright Light alone.

It is precisely because of this immense power in hand, along with her own strength and background, that the position of Saint of Bright Light remains rock solid, even though the Pope and Holy Church have replaced her previous ruling position in the country and do not dare to act excessively.

Essentially, Mingguang City is under the absolute authority of the Saint of Bright Light.

Now, two white-feathered girls, who bear a striking resemblance, are walking side by side on the eastern side of the city, in the region named 【Star Bear】.

“Haah… Sister, we’ve practically run around this area all morning. Are those things really here as Miss Xī said?”

Yawning lazily, the girl with relatively long white hair, whose face looked a bit more youthful, could no longer hold back her small complaints.

Seeing her like this, the older sister could only show some helplessness, gently ruffling her head and speaking softly.

“If it were that easy to find, Miss Xī wouldn’t have specifically sent us to track their whereabouts. This is a very large and secretive underground organization. If they can establish themselves under the noses of the Holy Kingdom’s officials, there is certainly a reason for it.”

“I understand the reasoning, but searching like this isn’t a solution… Hey, sister, how about we use that trick?”

“No way.”

The older sister immediately rejected her younger sister’s enthusiastic suggestion.

“Miss Xī’s order was simply to investigate. Once we use that trick, whether or not we find something, it will immediately alert them, and if we ruin that esteemed lady’s plans, it will be troublesome. I have a vague feeling we are very close to our target here.”

However, the long-haired white-feathered girl just pouted.

“Really? Not to criticize, but in terms of brains, I might indeed be a bit inferior, but when it comes to intuition, I’ve never seen you get it right; it’s better to…”

“Shh!”

Before she could finish her sentence, the other girl abruptly covered her mouth and quickly pulled her to hide behind a nearby wall.

“Quiet, something strange is coming…”