Chapter 13
Tonight is just as cold as ever!
Good thing Qifeng had someone prepare cloaks for us, so it’s not as cold.
And I noticed that none of the accompanying Church of Holy Light knights are calling me “Saintess.” Qifeng must have given them orders beforehand. Silly girl… we really are in sync.
Right now, Lian Qi and I are flanking Qifeng, standing at the door of the arrest target’s house. The dozen or so knights with us have surrounded his home.
“Is the target back?” Qifeng asked a plain-clothed knight on surveillance.
“Just returned. You see, the lights are on.”
Qifeng took out her pocket watch. It was exactly 22:00 (10 PM) on the dot. She nodded to me and Lian Qi, then faced the target’s front door and raised her right hand high.
This gesture was for all the subordinates awaiting the command. She brought her hand down sharply— “Move out!” The knights swarmed into Og ‘The Steel’s’ house.
“This time, father and son will be reunited in prison.”
Qifeng said with a serious expression. Lian Qi quietly whispered to me, “She’s like a completely different person from her usual self.”
“It’s ‘gap moe.‘”1
I said with a laugh. Even Lian Qi can’t believe that Qifeng, the Inspector for the Church of Holy Light, has a “hidden M” side no one knows about.
We followed the knights into Og’s house. The living room light was on, but he wasn’t there. Qifeng commanded loudly, “Check every room! He can’t have escaped!”
Then she switched to a gentle tone and said to me and Lian Qi, “Let’s go check the bedroom.”
We went up the stairs to the second floor. Everything was… too quiet. It felt strange. Is Og already asleep? But there’s no way he didn’t hear the commotion downstairs. He must be hiding somewhere.
“Be careful. He might get desperate,” Qifeng warned. Lian Qi understood, immediately activating her blue magic, ready to act. Qifeng nodded to us, and kicked open the bedroom door.
Behind the door, what greeted us was this scene: Wood’s father, the Captain of the Imperial Capital Guard, Og ‘The Steel,’ lay in a pool of blood, facing us. His eyes were wide open. He had died with a grievance.
I was stunned. I sucked in a cold breath. Was he… murdered?
Then I saw her. Behind the corpse, the killer’s slender figure stood in the crimson moonlight. The window was wide open, the blood-splattered white curtains billowing in the wind behind her.
“Justice… executed.”
The black-haired girl flicked her dripping longsword and said coldly. The blood from the blade splattered into the pool, sending up a few ripples.
“Who in the world are you!?”
Qifeng pointed and demanded! The black-haired girl said nothing, leaping out the window.
“Stop right there—! You think you can just kill someone and run!?”
Qifeng ran in and leaned out the window to look—but the killer was long gone.
She left the window, annoyed, and reminded me, “Fei’er, d-don’t come in—! There’s blood all over the floor.”
I looked closely… there was too much blood on the floor. It was as if… all the blood in his body had drained out.
“Is… is he saveable?” I quickly asked.
Lian Qi checked Og’s neck. “No breath.”
“Sigh. The arrest plan has failed,” Qifeng said, frustrated. “The target was murdered by God-knows-who before he could be brought to justice.”
Hearing Qifeng say that, I couldn’t help but feel worried.
I never thought tonight would have such a twist. The target we were about to arrest was killed first. We had already exited the house. Two knights passed in front of us, carrying a stretcher with a body covered by a sheet.
“Lady Qifeng. The deceased died of excessive blood loss. His body was completely drained.”
“If you’re just hacked to death, there’s no way your body would be drained of blood, right?” Qifeng muttered.
“That killer who claimed ‘justice executed’… Og ‘The Steel’ was the Captain of the Royal Capital Guard, after all. Whoever dared to assassinate him must have a powerful background,” I asked, full of worry.
“That person… I remember her.”
When Lian Qi said this, Qifeng and I both stared at her in surprise.
“Fei’er, you should have an impression of her, too.”
Lian Qi’s reminder made me suddenly remember, and a chill went down my spine— “Are you… are you talking about earlier today—”
“That’s right. The companion of the person who caught the thief with me.”
It was…
The black-haired girl… standing at the alley’s entrance…
“To think, we actually brushed past a killer today…”
“And she said ‘justice executed’…”
Qifeng’s face was grim. She punched the wall.
“Og ‘The Steel’ broke the law, and the law would have punished him! These people who operate outside the law, fighting evil with evil… I will never recognize them as ‘justice’!”
“Qifeng, I understand. I also think… openly assassinating the Captain of the Imperial Guard… it’s terrifying.”
I walked over and gently patted her shoulder to comfort her.
“Lian Qi, what do you think?”
“Even if the killer didn’t fight evil with evil, Qifeng was already leading people to make him face the law tonight,” Lian Qi said, watching the body being carried away. “Besides… did he really deserve to die for his crimes?”
“If he had confessed, we could have followed the clues to the head of the drug ring. Now… it’s great… all the leads are cut off,” Qifeng complained, squatting on the steps and hugging her knees.
“The Captain of the Royal Capital Guard was murdered. I wonder… how Tristina will react…” I said.
“…Anyway, I’m going back to the Church first to handle the aftermath.”
Qifeng pushed herself up from the steps. She looked at me and Lian Qi. No matter how bad her mood was, she still managed a warm smile.
“Fei’er, why don’t you two go home first? I’ll be back a little later. Remember to leave the door unlocked for me, okay?”
“No. I’m worried about you,” I flatly rejected her. “Lian Qi and I will go back to the Church with you, and then we’ll all go home together.”
Qifeng gave me a smile that looked like she was about to cry.
“With you two with me… I’m not afraid.”
The moment I think about a group of assassins lurking in the Royal Capital, there’s no way I can let Qifeng walk home alone at night.
After that, Lian Qi and I accompanied Qifeng back to the Church of Holy Light. Speaking of which, ever since Lian Qi came to our world, I haven’t been back to the Church in a long time.
But it’s fine even if I only drop by incognito every once in a while. Everything at the Church is running smoothly. Sometimes I joke… that I, the Saintess, am actually kind of expendable. Haha~
But the late Archbishop… Qifeng’s grandfather… he didn’t think so. He told me, “The Saintess’s existence is hope.” It makes me pretty embarrassed…
“Fei’er, by the way…”
“Hm? What’s up?”
Lian Qi and I were sitting on a pew waiting for Qifeng. She looked around the round church hall, pointed at the Holy Light insignia on the pure white wall, and said to me, “Why does the Holy Light in your world… look kind of like a Naaru?”
“Please… use words I can understand…”
“Nothing. It just looks like a Tangram puzzle.”
Uwaah. She actually said the Holy Light that gave birth to me looks like a Tangram… How mean.
But, seeing as she’s a transmigrator from another dimension, I’ll forgive her. After all, people from two different countries have cultural differences, let alone two different worlds.
“Fei’er! Lian Qi! Sorry to keep you waiting!”
I heard Qifeng’s voice. I saw her running toward us from the inner part of the church.
“Eh? That was so fast!”
“I didn’t want to make you wait!” she grinned at us.
Seeing Qifeng in much better spirits, I was relieved.
The atmosphere on the way home was much more lively. Even though it was dark, as long as the three of us were walking together, we weren’t afraid of anything.
Footnotes
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反差萌 (fǎnchā méng) - “Gap Moe,” a Japanese/anime-culture term (adopted into Chinese) for the ‘moe’ or ‘cute’ feeling one gets from a character acting in a way that contradicts their usual persona (e.g., a tough character acting shy). ↩