Chapter 911: The Angler
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 911: The Angler
"Great Nun, you..."
Krit looked down, staring in disbelief at the hand that had run him through.
That slender, jade-like hand was as white and flawless as ever, but it no longer held any sense of warmth or holiness. It was as cold as steel, piercing through his flesh and bone.
Krit never could have imagined that the Great Nun would suddenly attack him. Even though the priest had just issued a warning... who would believe the words of a drunken, crippled priest?
"Who... who are you really?" Krit gritted his teeth, struggling to maintain consciousness as his life force rapidly ebbed away.
"Who am I? I am a nun, of course. Sister Elinde of the Church."
Sister Elinde leaned her head close to Krit’s ear. Her voice sounded the same as before, but her tone had shifted entirely, becoming languid and eerie.
"My identity is perfectly genuine. It’s just that, under certain circumstances, I take on a different job."
"A different... job?"
"It’s nothing major. It’s just that when I see fish trying to jump out of the pond, like right now, I come to handle things a bit. Cleaning, covering up, erasing traces—a woman of such a hard life as me can only do so much."
"...Fish?"
"That’s right. You—all of you—are nothing more than fish in a pond waiting to be harvested. Your ends are already predestined, yet you remain blissfully unaware. It’s quite tragic, really."
"Fuck... you!"
His consciousness was blurring. The massive wound in his abdomen was already fatal, but Krit summoned every ounce of strength left in his body. He drew the shortsword at his waist and spun around, thrusting it toward Sister Elinde.
He couldn't understand what she was saying, but his experience as a leader within the Saint’s Eye told him he had to stop her.
An eerie light flickered on the blade, deep enough that it seemed capable of piercing through space itself. As the head of a Saint’s Eye branch, Krit was naturally powerful; the strength and speed he exploded with in that instant showed no sign of a man mortally wounded.
However, the shortsword traveled less than ten centimeters before it was completely frozen in place.
It was blocked by light—a pure, holy light.
"Holy Light... but why?" Krit muttered in shock. Even at this point, he still clung to the hope that the Elinde before him was an impostor. He refused to believe...
"Why? Because I am the Great Nun, of course. How many times must I say it, Mr. Krit?"
Sister Elinde smiled thinly, her expression shifting seamlessly between eerie and gentle.
She reached out and gave a light snap. The shortsword in Krit’s hand broke as easily as a flower stem. Holy light flooded out, surging into Krit’s fighting spirit barrier.
"Well then, goodbye."
Sister Elinde flicked her arm. It was as if an invisible breeze had swept past. Krit’s expression froze. His fingers were pinched around a small sound transmission magic device, but his attempt to warn his subordinates stopped dead.
He collapsed like a piece of withered wood blown over by the wind. Blood flowed from his severed neck, merging into the mud and soil to sketch a watercolor painting of death.
"Working with you was actually quite pleasant. After all, there aren't many people in the Saint’s Eye as low-maintenance as you. I really should thank you for catching so many evil believers before.
"If I could, I would have liked to work with you a while longer. Unfortunately, until everything reaches its end, I cannot allow you... or anyone... to glimpse the 【Truth】 of this city."
Sister Elinde sighed with regret. She flicked the broken shortsword, driving it into the earth above Krit’s head. It looked like a small tombstone.
"Quite the sense of ritual you have there."
Nearby, the priest, who had watched the entire scene from start to finish, offered a serious critique. "A shortsword headstone in the Dead Silence Cemetery... if you put that in the newspapers, it would make the top ten compositions of the year."
"Oh?"
Sister Elinde tilted her head in confusion. "Mr. Priest, you aren't afraid?"
"Afraid? Why should I be afraid?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Sister Elinde stepped forward, lightly skipping over the mud and puddles until she stood before the priest.
She stared at him and said earnestly:
"Next, I’m going to kill you to keep you quiet."
"Is that so... It seems those corpses that suddenly appeared really do hide some incredible secret."
The last leaf of an old tree drifted down in the wake of her invisible killing intent, signaling the fading of life. But the priest only smiled. "Since an old bastard like me is going to die anyway, why doesn't Sister Elinde be a sweetheart and tell me the secret?"
"And why would I tell you?"
"It’s always better to be a ghost who understands the truth, isn't it?"
"That’s your business."
"It’s your business too."
The priest lit another cigarette. Through the ethereal haze of smoke, he squinted at the nun.
"You’ve betrayed the Church, betrayed the Goddess, and you won't even grant an old man his final wish? Are you really not afraid of the Goddess’s judgment?"
"...I’ve already come this far. Do you really think I care about the Goddess?"
"You might look like a cold-blooded murderer, but the aura of Holy Light on your body doesn't lie."
The priest blew out a smoke ring and chuckled. "If you still fancy yourself a merciful nun, wouldn't it be nice to satisfy my final wish?"
"So that’s how it is?"
Sister Elinde smiled. "An abandoned priest... do you still believe in the Goddess?"
"..." The priest lowered his eyes and said nothing, which was a tacit admission.
"Fine. In that case, for the sake of us both having prayed under the Goddess’s radiance, I’ll tell you... You’re nothing but a pathetic little fish who can't even struggle, anyway."
Sister Elinde scanned the surroundings. She used Holy Light to completely isolate the area, and after ensuring there would be no interruptions, she slowly leaned down. "First, you’re wondering where these sudden corpses came from, right?"
"Correct." The priest nodded.
"The answer is simple. They come from this city. From the Saint Bran Phazesia behind you." Sister Elinde brushed a strand of hair over her shoulder, revealing the silhouette of the city behind her.
"You mean... these corpses are all ordinary residents of this city?"
"Yes."
Sister Elinde rested her chin on her hand, her tone casual as if she were telling a mundane story.
"Whether ordinary or extraordinary, they all come from here. Although the newspapers and official channels haven't recorded it, some people must have noticed the anomalies by now... People have been vanishing suddenly. Vanishing in a way that is completely impossible, without leaving a single trace. Of course, there is an even higher probability that they are found dead right where they stood... also dying in a way that is completely impossible, leaving no trace of the cause."
"Disappearances, deaths... You mean they were kidnapped, killed, and then dumped here without anyone noticing?"
"The middle part is right—they were indeed killed. But the beginning and end are wrong. They weren't kidnapped by anyone, nor were they dumped by anyone. The reason they appeared in this cemetery is merely a low-probability coincidence. And the reason this coincidence happens at all is simply because this city still contains certain 'glitches' that are bound to occur under specific circumstances..."