Chapter 168 Untitled
The captain has given the entire captain’s room to the two of them to live in.
On the captain’s ship, the two enjoyed a rare moment of comfort for a good wash.
Jima changed into a fitted dress and put on clean white stockings, feeling refreshed and in high spirits. At the same time, she felt a wave of fatigue and climbed into bed, entering a dream with a slight pain in her chest.
When she opened her eyes again, most of the pain had faded. She got up from bed, lazily stretched, and happily wiggled her tail, which sank into the soft feather bed. She immediately looked around the room for George.
It was now evening.
The blood-red sunset filtered through the glass window, casting a red glow over the desk and the piles of documents accumulated there. George was bent over the desk, carefully flipping through various materials.
Jima recalled her classmates who studied diligently in her senior year. She asked:
“George, what are you doing?”
“Looking for evidence of the Great Benefactor colluding with the demon race. Do you know about the Demon King Marus?”
“I know.” Jima answered cautiously, her guard up, “He’s an arrogant fool, only thinking about dominating the demon world.”
Fortunately, George didn’t pry further, saying, “The Great Benefactor made a deal with Demon King Marus.”
“Oh, do you want to kill him too?” If so, I wouldn’t mind joining you in taking that arrogant fool’s head off.
As a former Demon King, Jima harbored great hatred for her “peers.”
“Not yet. He’s very cunning, unlike Demon King Jima.”
Jima’s tail swung unhappily, “Your Holy Order once cooperated with him to kill Demon King Jima?”
“We weren’t clear on who our partner was, but now there is plenty of evidence proving it was him.”
Though she had long suspected it would be Demon King Marus, Jima still couldn’t control her hatred. Anger surged within her, and in a fit of impulse, she imagined that the Demon King Marus was right in front of her; she slightly opened her mouth, biting down hard, fantasizing about taking his head off and chewing it.
Much better…
As she thought, Jima found a little black book in her personal system titled “Take Down Arrogant Marus,” which already contained thousands of words of resentment. From vowing to turn Marus into a human stick to making him a military prostitute, everything was included. Jima added two more lines of hatred at the end.
Jima glanced at the mountain of documents piled on the desk, with some spilling onto the floor.
“That’s a bit much, isn’t it?”
Wearing a nightgown, Jima got out of bed, yawning, and walked over to the desk, flipping through the papers. She found an account book and some diaries, which from their tone didn’t seem to belong to the Great Benefactor.
“What are you looking for among all these miscellaneous books?”
“Looking for evidence of the Great Benefactor colluding with the demon race.”
“Do you really need to look for that?”
“I want to publicly declare the Great Benefactor guilty; this evidence is very important.”
Jima looked at the pile of evidence, feeling somewhat sleepy, and said, “No one will have the energy or willingness to go through all that evidence, especially since it’s provided by a paladin who loves to burn mage apprentices and publicly ‘snatched’ the flower of Shalin City during the Rainbow Festival.”
“The truth is like this; I want to completely eliminate the Great Benefactor; otherwise, the poison of slavery will resurface.”
“Oh, take your time. Just call me when you’re opening the Demon King’s treasury,” Jima said, smirking as she patted George’s shoulder.
George put down a roll of paper and said, “Jima, do you think I’m stupid?”
“Yes,” Jima said. “If you start lecturing me again, I’ll think you’re even more foolish.”
“I am now a ‘Judge’ and can gather evidence to understand crimes at the scene and thus gain judgmental power.”
“I understand this. What extraordinary item did you use to kill the Fear War Demon back then to gain that ability beforehand?” Jima said, “Do you want to kill the Great Benefactor all over again?”
“Yes, I want to execute him,” George said, “I can hold a public trial; the more concrete the evidence, the better the effect.”
“What effect?”
“To ensure that all the audience understands what crimes the Great Benefactor committed.”
“There’s a mistake.”
“Please elaborate.”
“Does the Great Benefactor’s slavery count as a crime?”
“It does.”
“But the people of Shalin City don’t see it as a crime,” Jima said. “Can your ability change others’ values?”
“No, it cannot.”
Jima shrugged, “If you just judge the Great Benefactor, I’d find it very satisfying; he deserves to stink for eternity. But if you want to eliminate the poison of slavery, I don’t think that’s possible.”
“If the Great Benefactor hadn’t played slavery to the extreme, the residents of Shalin City wouldn’t have faced this disaster,” George said. “Without slaves, even if you can instigate chaos and the Shadow King Arcanis incites, it would be impossible for Shalin City to fall into a terrible riot.”
Jima’s eyelids twitched as she said, “I thought you wouldn’t consider interests.”
“How could that be?” George said. “The ideal of the Holy Order is built on considering interests. If we could establish an honest society where people don’t have to deal with rumors and lies, and internal strife decreases, wouldn’t that society be happy?”
Jima thought of the Trisolarans and said, “Young man, keep it up. When my alchemical materials arrive, let me know, I’m going to dream.”
“You have dozens of alchemical materials?”
“That’s not true; it’s to prevent my alchemical formula from being leaked.”
“The captain told me it’ll be quite expensive, and you’ll need a lot of them quickly.”
Jima waved her hand, “It’s fine; after all, someone owes me three thousand gold coins. I’m a little rich woman now.”
“He promised not to leak any secrets.”
“I don’t believe it,” Jima said, “because I’m not in a nebulous honest society.”
As Jima spoke, she lifted the transparent curtain and burrowed into the rose-red quilt—this set of bedding was changed ahead of time by the captain.
Behind the transparent curtain, the girl’s silhouette was hazy. She stretched a long leg out from under the quilt, clutched the blanket, rolled over, and fell into a deep sleep.
———
The next day, morning, White City, at the church.
Golden dawn light streamed through the stained-glass windows of the church, draping the saintly maiden Zhenna, who was immersed in prayer before the statue, in a layer of holiness.
She wore a silver robe and a golden-trimmed hood. A strand of golden hair fell from the edge, resting on her ample chest, gleaming under the dawn like it was made of the purest gold.
Behind the saintess, a group of white-armored warriors, wearing helmets, held their heads high, lifting their arms toward the rising sun.
Suddenly, Saintess Zhenna raised her head, causing the hood to fall away, revealing her pure face. She said:
“Our brother George has sent back news from Shalin City.”
All the helmeted warriors turned toward Saintess Zhenna.
“Great victory, and the Great Benefactor is dead; there are no more slaves in Shalin City.”
Having spoken, Saintess Zhenna turned around, simply smiling, and walked step by step out of the church.
According to the rules, the prayer had ended at this point. As soon as Saintess Zhenna stepped out of the church, the entire place erupted in noise.
“Brother George is truly amazing. To dissolve a contract and also save all the city’s slaves.”
“The light of my Lord finally illuminates the distant Black Valley.”
One white-armored warrior took off his helmet, revealing a youthful face, and said:
“Hopefully, it will also fry all those slave owners, their entire families turned into dried fish.”
“By the way, I wonder how brother George and that evil succubus are faring?”
“Who knows? Given his personality, he probably cut the succubus’s head off with a sword when she tried to play tricks.”
“Oh? Are you saying it’s a pity for the succubus?”
“I tend to be sympathetic; I’ve seen succubi before, they are very cute, and they will definitely be beautiful when they grow up. It would be such a pity for such a pretty girl to die.”
“Brother, your thoughts are not right.”
“Tsk tsk, I just ask you, if you were George, what would you do with the succubus?”
“I refuse to answer.”
In this place, no one could lie.
He tapped the other’s helmet and said, “Brother, your thoughts are not pure.”
“And you?”
“My thoughts are not pure.”
Another person interjected, “I heard that Saintess Zhenna and brother George have played together since childhood; why does she look not very happy?”
“She’s always like that.”
“Wow, I thought I would have to compete with brother George; I felt like I had a chance.”
“Are you going to pursue her?”
“No, I wouldn’t dare.”
“Coward.”
“What about you?”
“She’s not someone I could pursue.”
Someone with nothing to do shouted, “Hey, does anyone in our class want to pursue the Saintess?”
Everyone looked at each other and said, “No.”
Even though Saintess Zhenna had a beautiful face, a noble demeanor, strong morals, considerable strength, and eye-catching curves, no one wanted to pursue her.
On the other side.
After Saintess Zhenna returned to her residence, she closed the door, then the inner door, also shut the window, and pulled the curtains.
Even though it was impossible for anyone to peek or eavesdrop here.
Once everything was settled, the calm smile on Saintess Zhenna’s face suddenly cracked, and her grin stretched to her ears as she jumped with excitement and shook her hands:
“George is really amazing! When he returns to the Holy Order, those jealous little people are definitely going to be envious. And those merchants in White City who gossip all day will spin tales about George and the succubus.”
As Saintess Zhenna spoke to herself, she opened the drawer and took out a clean sheet of paper, on which she had written her confession, a product of her labor over the past month.
“George is really so thick-headed, insisting that I take the initiative to bring up marriage before he’ll understand what I mean.” Saintess Zhenna sat on a chair, supporting her face with her hands, “I wonder how he will thank me for the protective talisman? It must have been very useful; at that time, I’ll say to his face, yes, I can do it.”
Her face flushed as she picked up the white paper, trembling as she read the words: “I love you… Please marry me…”
Before she finished reading, she shyly laughed, dropped the paper on the floor, and sprawled over the table.
“Really, this is too difficult; I’ll just take out the marriage part. But he might misunderstand it as a regular relationship between men and women, it’s truly a headache. Why does staying in the Holy Order for so long make one’s brain become so wooden?”
Saintess Zhenna picked up the paper again, crossed out the words, and continued to ponder better confession phrases.
