Chapter 286: Omen of the Blood Sun

This was initially excellent news. Although Fleidetrika felt uneasy about the current situation of the Church of the Goddess, she couldn’t help but feel thrilled upon hearing it.

However, she soon received another confidential report from her trusted aide.

For some unknown reason, demons had suddenly begun to rampantly search for certain things in the Sanos Province, causing considerable destruction, even annihilating various residences that the Church of Light had painstakingly built and stabilized. Some Church members were also killed by the minions of Killing.

This behavior had undoubtedly shattered the fragile stability that the demons had temporarily maintained with the Church of Light. Coupled with the developments on the western front, the signs were becoming increasingly clear.

Thus, Fleidetrika urgently commanded the leaders of the hundreds of settlements scattered throughout the Sanos Province to take action overnight, organizing ordinary citizens without combat ability to evacuate, so as not to be caught up in the impending battle. This settlement where she and Aland were located was no exception.

To be honest, it felt a bit early to start evacuating now. While various supplies were ample after long-term preparation, the main forces of the Holy Kingdom had yet to capture the Holy City, nor had they pushed the battle line into Sanos Province.

With no external threats for the time being, the demons were able to focus their main efforts internally. This meant that some shelters might expose themselves before the Holy Army arrived, losing their intended function.

Yet, nobody knew why the demons suddenly went berserk and initiated this sort of mass sweep in the Sanos Province. Therefore, Fleidetrika could only temporarily adjust her strategy to respond.

Of course, in addition to arranging for ordinary civilians to take refuge, the Church of Light’s secretly organized resistance forces began to gather early.

This unit, which consisted of disbanded Temple Knights, clergy unwilling to submit to the demons, and some ambitious individuals from around the world, numbered around twenty thousand.

Originally, Fleidetrika had planned to use this force for a coordinated effort when the Temple Army arrived. Now, however, they were being urgently summoned to converge in this area.

And naturally, the Captain of a certain Merchant Association’s guard also belonged to this group.

“Sasha, do you really want to participate? You should know well how dangerous it is to fight against the demons.”

At the entrance of the shelter, a brown-haired girl with a short ponytail, wrapped in a trench coat, patted Xavier’s shoulder and laughed heartily.

“Come on, come on, President Uncle! At the end of the day, Aland and the others saved me once, and they’ve taken care of everyone during this time. Now that my benefactors are going out to risk their lives, how could I, Sasha, just hide away and wait? That would be so lame! My teacher would definitely blow my head off if she found out…”

“Of course, the members of the guard shouldn’t participate. After all, they were just dragged into this misfortune. Leave the task of risking life for gratitude to me, the captain. I’ve already arranged it; they will stay behind to help maintain order in the shelter.”

“…”

After a moment of serious silence, Xavier suddenly broke into laughter.

“Now that’s quite a dashing statement. You’re truly a direct disciple of the Fiery Blossom.”

“Ah… Hey!? Uncle, how do you know that! Ugh, you creep, how could you investigate a girl’s privacy!”

Seeing something horrifying, Miss Sasha quickly shrank back.

“Who would bother to investigate that kind of thing? It was just some drunkard who, after getting drunk several times, kept fussing, ‘Teacher! Sister Blossom! Stop swaying, I’m going to puke!’ You think I wanted to hear that?”

“Eh? Is that so? Ugh… this is bad…”

“So I told you to drink less alcohol…”

With a helpless smile, the President turned his gaze towards Tilysha, Eudora, and the little dragon girl trio not far away. His gaze eventually settled on the blonde girl lazily leaning against a tree, imitating her master by chewing on a blade of grass while staring at the sky in a daze.

“Miss Xiao Guang, could you take care of this silly girl, Sasha? Xavier will surely owe you a big favor.”

“Mm?”

Noticing the merchant’s deep bow, the little dragon girl lazily glanced at him.

“Human, your gratitude means nothing to me, including that of the Fiery Blossom. You don’t need to explicitly point out their relations to me. I’m only here because of the Master… Miss Xī’s orders. Don’t get too self-important and pushy.”

“Well… that is also true… Sorry, it seems Xavier was being too clever for his own good.”

Raising his head, the merchant wore a somewhat helpless smile.

“But no matter what you think, I always regard you and Miss Vilyric as the most respected benefactors. Seeing you again, Xavier sincerely feels joyful.”

“I hope we can meet again one day, Miss Xiao Guang. If possible, I hope you can convey this small gratitude to Miss Vilyric. Really… thank you so much; this is something I’ve wanted to say since that day, just this.”

“…”

Seemingly sensing the blonde girl’s indifference and apathy, Xavier sighed softly, once again bowed, patted the shoulder of the still speechless Sasha, and turned to leave.

“Hmph… humans.”

The girl’s crisp yet indifferent voice halted the merchant in his tracks.

Before he could say anything, the little dragon girl spoke up.

“Though I won’t accept your request, I’ll convey what you just said to the master.”

“Really… thank you so much.”

After bowing three times in thanks, the merchant quickly blended into the crowd heading underground, disappearing without a trace.

“What the heck… made it sound like a life-or-death separation. One would think he was the one going to battle…”

Only at that moment did Miss Sasha finally snap out of the serious atmosphere and began to instinctively make a sarcastic remark.

“Ah haha…”

Tilysha laughed a bit awkwardly, while Eudora, who was usually very quiet and rarely interrupted adult conversations, seemed to notice something and curiously looked at the dragon girl who had leaned against the tree to gaze at the sky again.

In the sky above, a faint trace of blood color had begun to emerge, though nobody noticed.

“Sister Xiao Guang, shouldn’t you remind them?”

However, the little dragon girl merely sneered again.

“That’s just a waste of time. If they’re lucky, or if some busybody takes an interest, they might manage to escape by chance. Otherwise, knowing about it is meaningless. The master never said I had to protect every single person in this place.”

The casual conversation between the two girls naturally drew confused gazes from Tilysha and Sasha, who were standing nearby.

“Miss Xiao Guang, why are you starting to speak in such profound terms like Miss Xī? What do you mean by luck and bad luck? Is there something wrong with this underground shelter?”

The little dragon girl shot her a look as if she were an idiot, then vaguely directed her gaze at the equally perplexed archer girl. Though she appeared somewhat impatient, she ultimately gave a brief explanation.

“Can you not figure out what Eudora can sense? That aura is growing stronger. Within three days, it will coalesce together and connect to another world.”

“A certain fool, not knowing their limits, is coming to challenge me.”

   

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