As an angel, Nia’s character was probably trustworthy.
However, having Roland run to the Temple of Light to find creatures of darkness was too ridiculous.
It was almost unfeasible.
The Holy Realm itself didn’t allow outsiders to enter, let alone go in to look for any creatures of darkness.
The good thing was that Schuck was a Saint Samurai, which allowed him to make a breakthrough in this quest.
Roland immediately pinged him in the guild chat.
Roland: “I have an angel on my side, saying that you have a dark creature hiding in the Holy Realm.”
Schuck: “Huh? How is that possible!” Roland: “I was more surprised than you, but it was an angel who said that, so I thought it was more likely. After all, angels are Demigod beings.”
Schuck: “I know, I’ll talk to the pope about it, just wait a moment.”
The place where the Saint Samurai lived was not too far away from the pope’s audience hall.
Although it was communication via mind-typing, it still took time. Nia saw that Roland didn’t say anything for a while, so she took two steps forward again and asked, “Have you thought of any solutions? The dark creatures associated with Parn are really in here, I can feel it.”
“I’m contacting my friend in the Temple of Light to see what’s going on.”
Nia, however, didn’t feel it was very reliable. “Can your friend influence the decisions of the higher-ups in the Temple of Light? If you say anything out of the blue, you might alert the enemy.”
“Is a Saint Samurai good enough?”
Nia’s body trembled, and the two tightly rounded globes of flesh on her chest shook twice under her clothes. She said embarrassedly, “That’s good enough.”
The status of the Saint Samurai in the Temple of Light was clear even to the angels.
“Actually, we have such a special profession in the Church of Life as well.” Nia sized up Roland, nodded her head with great satisfaction, and said, “It’s called Lifeline Spiritualist, are you interested… Wait, how come there’s an additional smell of someone else on you?”
Nia looked a little unhappy. She leaned in toward Roland and sniffed gently.
A faint, indescribable floral fragrance came over him.
Roland subconsciously took a step back.
At this time, Nia also raised her head and said unhappily, “How can you be like this? It’s obvious that our goddess gave you her providence first, but you accepted the Goddess of Magic’s providence as well.”
Nia’s expression was somewhat grudging as if she was looking at scum.
As soon as Roland heard this, he was not too happy. “You think I wanted it. The Goddess of Life also left a mark on my body without my consent, and neither one of them said a word.” Although, his attributes did increase after being blessed by the Goddesses, especially in health and magic power. But Roland always felt strange from the inside.
It was as if two strange older sisters drew a circle or an X on his body with a marker, and then smiled and said, “From now on, you’re mine.”
That was about how it felt. If it was just a goddess granting him providence, he wouldn’t have thought of it that way.
It could also be seen as a reward.
But both of them did so, and now that Nia said something along the lines of proclaiming sovereignty, it made Roland a little upset.
Although there was something about having such thoughts that felt like not admitting the benefit he’d received, as a modern male with a more independent personality, it was quite reasonable. Roland frowned immediately.
And Nia, as an angel, a Demigod, and a Demigod of Life, was very sensitive to subtle changes in people’s emotions. When Roland frowned, she felt it at once.
“Are you angry? Why?”
Nia felt puzzled. She was, after all, an angel on high, and although she was very old in the usual sense of the word, she had not yet reached adulthood physiologically, and more importantly, because she was so high up and spent most of her time in the divine realm, she came into contact with angels like herself or constituents of the divine realm.
These people were almost always good and upright and would speak up when they were unhappy.
And they loved her.
She had no true life experience at all.
So she couldn’t understand… Why would Roland be angry over a few words? She hadn’t said anything wrong. Since he’d accepted the Goddess of Life’s providence, why did he go mingle with the Goddess of Magic?
Looking at Nia’s slightly worried and aggrieved expression, Roland was dumbfounded at first and then laughed inwardly. What’s the point of being angry with an innocent angel?
“It’s not that I’m angry, but I just can’t understand it.” Roland laughed and said, “Back to what we were talking about, I can ask my Saint Samurai friend to investigate the dark creature on my behalf, but on your side, can you provide any help or support?”
Nia clasped her hands to her chest, thought deeply for a moment, and said, “This is the Holy Realm we’re talking about, and although our goddess is not on bad terms with the Goddess of Light, it’s quite offensive to go in there rashly in any case. However, I will find a way to provide some help, so the rest is up to you.”
After saying that, Nia very naturally patted Roland’s shoulder.
A nice scent surrounded him.
Roland sighed slightly. “Then I’ll just have to take it one step at a time.”
“Be diligent, our goddess is very fond of you.” Nia smiled like a hundred flowers blooming, then she shook her wings and flew into the night sky so fast that the afterimage of a white line was left behind.
Seeing her leave, Roland teleported back to the underground library. Nia flew into the sky, rising until she was above the clouds, then she stopped. Then she hovered high in the air, opened her senses, and found the nearest source of faith in the Goddess of Life-a temple. As she flew over the temple, she gently rubbed her delicate face with both hands again, and slowly, the slightly sluggish and naive temperament she had changed drastically. She went from a naive girl to a cold beauty. After that, she spread her white wings and landed inside the temple. The barrier of the divine power of life was spread out, and all the priests in the temple scrambled to the prayer hall, knelt reverently, and pressed their heads on the ground in excitement.
“Some darkness has appeared in the Holy Realm, and it is closely related to us, the Church of Life. However, the Church of Light is our allied religion, and we are not at liberty to offend their dignity, but you may secretly send a team in disguise to the Holy Realm to meet a Mage named Roland, who has the providence of our goddess, and follow all his instructions.”
“Your Holiness’s command is the direction we move in, the nourishment for our souls to ascend.” The Archbishop’s words were thick with excitement.
Nia, who was expressionless, flapped her wings lightly and flew up into the sky. The archbishop of the temple waited for a moment before standing up. He looked up in a daze, looking more and more devout, and finally turned around and said to the dozens of priests in front of him, “I’m sure you all heard the order from Her Holiness the angel, start forming an execution team immediately. First, find the one with providence named Roland, and then follow his orders! This time it’s an order from Her Holiness the angel, so it’s an honorable mission, and I’m not assigning any men. You choose amongst yourselves.”
All of a sudden, the eyes of all the priests were on fire.
Being able to work for the angel, if done well and smoothly, might leave an impression on her.
When they died and ascended into the divine realm, they might be able to meet her again and talk with her.
This was the kind of thing that any slightly devout cleric of life would want to participate in.
On Roland’s side, he had teleported back to a rather remote place in the capital, so as not to hurt bystanders with the spatial flux, and then teleported back to the underground library.
Andonara and the others were still in there, and when Roland returned, they were even helping Stephanie exercise.
Now two days had passed, and Stephanie’s leg was regenerating and had already regenerated up to the ankle, so she would probably be able to regenerate her foot in three or four days.
She was able to recover so quickly, partly because of the Warrior’s high constitution and good recovery ability, and partly because of Roland’s healing spell, which was decent.
It was almost as effective as the healing spells cast by a cleric of life at the same level.
After casting the healing spell on Stephanie again, Roland continued to read the accounts of other Mages in the library. Stephanie looked at Roland, who remained motionless for three hours in front of the bookshelf, and she couldn’t help but ask in a low voice, “Anna, your Roland, is there something wrong with him?”
Andonara gave her a puzzled glance.
“The three of us are all great beauties, and even if Beatrice isn’t quite as good, she’s still a beauty. But the three of us and him, a man, in a library where sounds within can barely carry outside, and he has no interest at all, just reading those stupid books. Without the slightest thought of that-is he still a young man?”
Beatrice, who was on the side, looked a little gloomy… What do you mean even if I’m not quite as good, I’m not bad at all, okay? What should be big is big and what should be small is small.
Andonara looked at her as if she was an idiot. “My friend, being shut in for two to three days, are you even having trouble thinking? Isn’t it great that Roland is not interested in you? If he was interested in you, he’d just have to say the word, and I would hold your hands down for him.”
The other two women were shocked at this statement.
Beatrice was shocked with delight. She didn’t mind having a negative relationship with Roland; rather, it was the perfect way to make him feel a little more “affectionate” toward her.
Stephanie, on the other hand, was purely shocked. “That’s your man. If he’s sexually attracted to other women, you wouldn’t even be mad at him, you’d even help?” “I’m just a little woman,” Andonara said smilingly.
Stephanie felt a headache. In her eyes, Andonara was good in every way, but it was her reliance on men that was maddening to her.
Such a strong woman, almost the strongest woman among humans, among the strongest group of professionals, was actually a clingy vine. If Andonara had some independent qualities and joined forces with her, by the time Stephanie sat safely on the throne and gave her a general’s post, leading about half of the imperial forces, Andonara could beat up whoever she wanted. Could she not be more powerful than she was now, and much more accomplished?
Seeing the look of pity on Stephanie’s face, Andonara slowly said, “Eighty percent of the reason I became the Legendary Great Swordsman I am today and was able to obtain bloodline-strengthening was thanks to Roland. If it wasn’t for him, I probably would have killed myself in the Hollevin palace more than a year ago.”
Her words, spoken softly and plainly, were dreadful to Stephanie.
Stephanie was stunned for a moment before she took Andonara’s hand and said, “You’re my friend forever, and if you were an accomplice in holding down my hands, I would give in even if the man who took advantage of me was an idiot.”
Andonara laughed slightly. “You wish. Roland isn’t interested in you.”
“You!”
Stephanie was furious.
Roland was reading a book on magic insights and taking notes. This was a book about evoking magic, which talked about how to reduce ice magic’s consumption.
It was quite enlightening for Roland.
This technique could be used for both the Ice Ring and the Ice Domain formed by simply releasing ice breath.
Magic was too vast and profound and what Roland understood was just a small tip of the iceberg. Everyone studied different things, and a mutual exchange was needed, but some Mages were too parochial, and even if Roland actively tried to exchange knowledge with others, many would be reluctant to.
The book was still a few pages away from being finished when Roland suddenly received a chat message from Schuck.
Schuck: “I told the Pope what you said, and the pope considered it for a while and began inspecting the Holy Realm-secretly, of course.”
Roland: “Amazing, you can even influence the pope, as expected of a Saint Samurai.” Schuck: “We are inspecting the Church of Light internally, and if there really are dark creatures within their own forces, there will definitely be a reaction from the outside, so it’s up to you to monitor the outside.” Roland: “Okay.”
After replying, Roland finished going through the insights quickly, and then went to Stephanie and asked, “First Princess, if I may ask, you probably still have some hidden pawns you can use right now, right?” “What makes you think so?” The First Princess narrowed her thin, long eyebrows. “Now that I’m so miserable, you think I have hidden pawns?”
Roland said matter-of-factly, “Because you are the First Princess and the acknowledged next queen, if you didn’t have a little something up your sleeve, you would have been eliminated by someone else.”
Stephanie turned her head toward Andonara and said, “See, that’s a Mage, clever and narcissistic, thinking that he must not be wrong.” Andonara gently retorted, “And is he wrong?” “No,” Stephanie replied bitterly, then removed a silver ring from under her left ring finger. “Take it, go to the Guild of Mercenaries, find a dwarf with a red beard, show him the ring, and tell him that you are here to learn the art of combing beards from him. He’ll know what to do.”
Roland took the ring, waved his hand at the three, and instantly disappeared from the library.
Watching where Roland disappeared, Stephanie sighed. “Anna, I owe your man more and more, how do you think I’m going to pay him back?”
“Give him lots and lots of money.” Andonara thought for a moment and said, “Or, lots and lots of precious magic materials.”
Stephanie was a little surprised. “That’s it?”
“That’ll do. Roland is not interested in power and beauty-magic is extremely important, just a little bit less than me.”
Stephanie was tempted to say that magic was probably more important than her, but also being a woman, there was no way she could say those words.
That was too cruel.
Roland came to the Guild of Mercenaries.
As the organization with the largest number of branches in the world of intelligence, almost all cities above a small size had a branch, so the Guild of Mercenaries had a large amount of information.
It could even be said that if all the resources of the Guild of Mercenaries were converted, it would be almost on the scale of a strong medium-sized country.
The capital of Fareins was the largest city in the human world and the most prosperous, without a rival.
The Guild of Mercenaries here also had a huge presence, only slightly inferior to the local Association of Mages.
It was also a huge building, and the area of the quest hall alone was as big as two soccer fields. And the height of the quest hall was around sixteen meters.
An intimidatingly large quest hall naturally had a corresponding infrastructure.
In an ordinary Guild of Mercenaries quest hall, there were only three reception counters at most.
But here, there were sixty.
There were many people in the hall, many times more than in the Association of Mages, and even with three thousand tables and more than fifteen thousand chairs, there still weren’t enough to seat everyone.
A large number of bold, vulgar mercenaries sat together to brag. These people forged in blood rain were the most simple and primitive.
They did not care for formalities. Talking loudly was just the basics; being bare-chested, picking at their feet, and spitting could be seen at all times.
With so many people, air circulation was poor, and with some unhygienic habits, this place should have stunk.
But it didn’t.
The floor was a smooth, special magic marble with a huge magic array engraved on it.
The purpose of this magic array was to purify the air and expel the poison so that a large crowd would not be smothered to death in the quest hall.
Roland came to the quest hall, and as soon as he entered, he was attracted by the magic array on the ground, and even forgot to look for the red-bearded dwarf.
He followed the veined lines of the magic array and walked around the quest hall, spending three hours to finish parsing the magic array.
It was slightly rewarding. The concept of this magic array was not quite the same as his style, so it could only be contrasted against the differences but not substantially improved.
But it was an unexpected reward.
His strange behavior attracted the attention of many people, but there were a lot of people among the mercenaries who were much stranger than him, so it didn’t cause any commotion.
Roland found a less crowded counter and waited in line for nearly ten minutes before it was his turn.
The pretty girl at the counter was a little nervous when she saw him in his magic robes and said in a quiet voice, “Mr. Mage, it is a pleasure to serve you.”
Roland asked, “Do you know the red-bearded dwarf?”
The receptionist was stunned. “You must be talking about Wilmot, the red-bearded dwarf who is particularly fond of drinking.” “If it’s the red-bearded dwarf, it would be him.”
The receptionist asked again cautiously, “Are you a friend of his?”
“Sort of.”
Taking a light breath, the receptionist said bravely, “Mr. Mage, can you pay for your friend’s drink? He owes our guild one gold coin, thirty-two silver coins, and seventeen bronze coins for the wine money, and we’ve temporarily imprisoned him to mine, so he’ll be released when he’s dug enough. But if you can help him pay for the wine, we can release him immediately!”
Roland opened his mouth in surprise, not even knowing what to say.
With Stephanie’s hidden pawn being so unreliable, is this going to work?
