Chapter 23
As expected of an arm covered in dragon scales, it felt really hard even when I hit it! Although he’s already been sent flying.
I spun the hammer in my hand as I pleased, then turned to look at the other two, asking with a smile, “Who’s next?”
The two of them stared at me, dumbfounded, for several seconds before snapping back to their senses. They pointed at me, trembling. “D-Don’t think this is over! When we get back, we’ll have the bards compose your deeds into a ballad, so that animal protectors all over the world will know of your vile acts—”
I felt so helpless. We just bombed a glacier in a vast, empty, and uninhabited place. How did some animal protectors pop up to reprimand us?
“Vile? Then write this part into your ballad, too,” Lian Qi said coldly. Wreathing her fist in magic, she threw a punch at those two from a distance!
The fist hit the air, and in an instant, a crack appeared, extending all the way to the two men. It was immediately followed by a high-energy reaction—BOOM! It sent the two of them flying!
“You still have the energy to use magic?” I asked, a little surprised, simultaneously making the hammer in my hand disappear.
“I’m the one who was bombing the glacier. Of course I’m pissed,” Lian Qi said, annoyed, hands on her hips. “For a split second there, I was even stunned by their bizarre train of thought.”
“Me too. I felt like there was a gulf between two worlds. Communicating with you, a transmigrator, isn’t even this difficult.”
If it were, Lian Qi would probably still be living a retirement-like life at Fontainebleau Manor.
Lian Qi looked at me silently for a moment. “What, did you step in because you were worried I was tired?”
“Yeah.”
I scratched my cheek with one finger and gave a weak laugh. “A-Also… when I saw him pull out the syringe, I just… couldn’t help but feel protective.”
“Ha?” Lian Qi looked at me strangely.
“Eh? Could it be… we triggered Fei’er’s maternal protective instinct?” Qifeng asked, covering her mouth in surprise.
“That’s not it at all, okay—!”
Ugh… how can she use “maternal” to describe me? It’s so shameful, okay?
“The syringe… what about it?” Lian Qi asked, not understanding.
“Because I’ve run into a few opponents who ‘juiced’ before,1 I felt it was better to be cautious. Speaking of which, didn’t you guys think he was dangerous?”
Lian Qi looked at me blankly and said, “Not really.”
“Eh? Eh? Eh?”
“Didn’t you one-shot him with your hammer?”
“But he dragonized!”
“So what if he dragonized?”
“Fei’er means that dragons are very powerful beings in our world. It’s just that most of them are sealed in the permafrost,” Qifeng said.
“Those three just now didn’t look like executive-level figures, right? But they had that kind of medicine? That’s why I was concerned,” I said.
“Fei’er, I suggest you re-evaluate this Druid organization. The more I learn about them, the more I feel they’re very strange,” Qifeng said to me.
“Mm, you’re right. I have the same feeling.”
I watched from a distance as the three men fled miserably. No wonder Loroshe said their environmental protection side didn’t quite get along with the animal protection side. From the looks of it now, these people from the animal protection side will force their values onto others.
“It’s not like I was ever planning to be their environmental public welfare ambassador, anyway,” I said, sticking my tongue out, embarrassed. “I only agreed to inspect Nature’s Home out of spite. But it turns out it’s not that simple.”
“Fei’er, please don’t be angry with the Church, okay?” Qifeng tugged on my sleeve, persuading me. Her tone was so gentle, it could have melted the permafrost glacier.
But the moment I think about it, I get angry all over again—“How can I not be angry? If I hadn’t stopped them, they would have hit you with a whip!”
“From now on, when you go to the Church… take me with you, okay?” Lian Qi said, crossing her arms and looking at me from the side. I went “Eh?”, surprised that she would actively suggest it.
“I’m just worried you’ll be bullied. If I’m by your side, I can watch your back.”
Don’t be fooled by her cool, expressionless face. Her words were so warm.
I clasped my hands in front of my waist and tilted my head, giving her a smile.
“Okay!”
And just like that, the experiment of bombing the permafrost with explosion magic came to an end due to the obstruction of the animal protectionists. Sister Aijieliya coming to pick us up happened later.
The next morning, on the third day after I had smashed the great doors of the Inquisition Hall, I returned to the Holy Light Church.
I wasn’t here to make my presence known. I was here to summon all the bishops who were stationed in the Royal Capital.
As everyone knows, the Holy Light Church has twelve bishops in total. Most are dispatched to various parts of the world, responsible for managing the Church’s regional branches.
And four of them—Terestic, Eostia, Schneider, and Bahr.
At this moment, they were sitting right across from me. As the Saintess, I have only just turned fifteen this year. I had never summoned them all together like this, so they were at a loss. Perhaps they thought I had gathered them to continue pressing the issue about Qifeng?
“I’ll get straight to the point,” I said to everyone present. “I’ve gathered everyone today to say one thing. I want to establish a new divine position within the Church. The person in this position will be mainly responsible for protecting me, and will answer only to me.”
After I finished speaking, the bishops present all exchanged glances. The atmosphere in the room became a bit subtle.
“Don’t worry, I already have the candidates.” Before they could raise any objections, I pushed the two resumes I had already prepared onto the table.
The bishops skeptically opened the resumes. When they saw the first page, the expressions on their faces became very complicated.
“Ah? Qifeng!”
“That’s right,” I replied with a smile. Is that really so surprising?
“And this person named Lian Qi is—?”
“Rest assured, Lian Qi is the number one graduate of the Magic Academy’s latest class. She is absolutely capable of protecting me.”
“Saintess-daren,” the elderly Terestic coughed lightly and said, “everyone in the Church knows about your relationship with Qifeng… and I imagine this person named Lian Qi also has an unusual relationship with you. Appointing… people so close to you… this is probably not appropriate, is it?”
“The people responsible for protecting me… of course I must use the people I trust the most,” I said, blinking, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Bahr, sitting across from me, actually started clapping. He couldn’t help but laugh as he said, “The Saintess’s personal guard using the people closest to her? Nothing wrong with that. I approve.”
“No, no, no. I’m not asking for your approval. I’m just giving you a heads-up.”
Footnotes
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嗑药 (kē yào), literally “to take drugs,” is slang for using performance-enhancing drugs or “juicing” in a combat context. ↩