Chapter 524 — The Church's Spokesperson

Virodai showed a faint flicker of astonishment once more, then smiled. "Your manner with me this time is far firmer than last time—could you not be a little gentler with your junior?"

"I was speaking to the spokesperson of the Radiant Church, and a spokesperson has no seniority," Gao Yang smiled in turn, and slowed his tone a little. "And now I am speaking to my junior—Virodai, you may stay here a while longer and come to know this land better. Your ancestor Charles Morn once set his heart on building a homeland where the people could live in peace and work in contentment; and the irony is that in this age I can scarcely find such a place, so that I must set about it myself. If you stay a few more days, you may have a chance to learn what ideals your ancestor carried when he charged out of that wasteland—there ought to be things worth your attention besides the God of Holy Light."

Virodai was silent for a few seconds; it seemed that when Gao Yang spoke the word "ancestor," something in her truly stirred. Then she bowed slightly to Gao Yi—with the courtesy of a junior to an elder—and said softly, "I will judge with my own eyes."

Then she took her leave.

After Virodai had gone, a hazy shadow stirred beside Gao Yang and swiftly gathered into the figure of Amber. The half-elf blinked toward the direction Virodai had gone and muttered under her breath, "I suspect she could see me…"

"She never once glanced your way."

"Which is exactly why I say she saw me—she looked in every direction but mine," Amber said, hands on her hips with an air of expertise, then looked puzzled. "But then again… what is this 'Saint Princess's' attitude supposed to be? You were that blunt with her, and she still doesn't look the least bit angry. Could it be she actually rather approves of you?"

"No, she has never shown any attitude at all," Gao Yang shook his head. "Whatever I say to her—even if I threatened to burn the Radiant church or declared my conversion to the God of Holy Light—I doubt she would show any attitude. That kind of person is the hardest to deal with, because they cannot be predicted."

"Tch, that's why I can't stand mystics," Amber pursed her lips in displeasure. "Better at fooling people than a swindler."

"Setting that aside—anything to report tonight?"

"They went to all the trouble of crossing Boulder Fortress and getting into the old dried-up dumpling's stronghold, so of course they had to 'look around' a bit," Amber waved her hand expansively. "I even spotted a familiar face—but they've been fairly well behaved, no real overstepping. The Military Intelligence agents and the Steel Rangers are only watching from a distance, and I'll keep watching too."

"Good."

……

"A homeland where the people can live in peace…" In the courtyard of the lord's residence, Virodai—who had left the terrace but not returned to the banquet hall—walked slowly along the flowerbeds in the quiet night. At the edge of a pool she stopped, lifted her head to the ten thousand lights of the distant city districts, and murmured softly to herself, "Xuanyue City… so very alike…"

After gazing into the distance for a long while, she drew her eyes back from those magic-crystal lamps and set off again—but another light, different from the magic-crystal lamps, fell into her view from another direction, and brought her steps once more to a halt.

It was a tall figure filled throughout with blazing arcane energy; his body seemed forged of that energy, and a multitude of rune-armor plates held his human form together like some kind of seal. Beside this tall figure walked a woman with white hair falling over her shoulders.

Virodai's gaze was drawn to that unusual body of arcane energy. She looked at him, then her eyes settled on the rune-armor plates—those ancient metals bore magical sigils of the old Gondor Empire, and on some of the plates the marks of the Starborn Era could still be seen. Virodai gazed fixedly at them, and only when the two sides had drawn quite close did she withdraw her eyes.

So this was the legendary ancient mage? The hidden power the Cecil family had once kept secret?

While Velleda was looking at Carmine, Carmine was also observing this "Saint Princess" who seemed to be out for a stroll. Each studied the other for a long while, until at last Velleda withdrew her gaze and Carmine was the first to break the silence: "Good evening, Your Highness—was the banquet hall too stifling?"

At the sound of his voice, Velleda kept her ever-composed smile and curtsied. "A breath of fresh air is good for the health, Master Carmine. Have you come to breathe it as well?"

"…I have not done much breathing these past years," Carmine buzzed, and before the awkwardness could spread he turned slightly. "This at my side is Cecil's rune master, Miss Jenny Perot."

"G-greetings," Jenny said, nervously and somewhat clumsily lifting her skirts in a curtsy. Though she had once caught a glimpse of Velleda as a member of the "Hundred-Person Rebuilding Corps," she had never then had the chance to speak face to face with this legendary princess. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"And I you, Miss Jenny."

After that brief exchange of pleasantries, the two parties passed each other by.

"I was so nervous just now," Jenny whispered only after they had gone some distance. "But the princess really is very kind…"

"Is she? I did not notice," Carmine said in a low voice. "I only sensed from her a… familiar and unpleasant aura."

"An aura? What sort of aura?"

"Divine—she is either connected to the gods, or she has been to the realm of the gods."

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