Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Newcomer Welcome Party (3)
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A woman with crimson eyes beneath the full moon.
Resting her chin on the back of her hand, she quietly gazed down at her long-lost peer.
Once, Nix and Anje had both been saintess candidates.
Until Anje appeared, Nix had been the final contender for saintess.
Her lustrous silver hair and mysterious white pupils.
It fit the image of a saintess perfectly.
However, Anje's arrival—with her overwhelming talent and beauty—had upended everything.
"Did the Holy See send you?"
In a situation where everyone's lives hung in the balance, when the beast taming failed...
She alone had bitten into her own arms while somehow understanding the creature's heart.
Her peers had all trembled in terror at that madness.
If even a monster that harbored extreme hatred for humans could be controlled, how easily could they be brainwashed?
"No answer, huh."
And as if responding to that fear, Anje raised a finger.
Toward Nix, who had been trapped underground with her for ten whole years.
The sheer gap in magical power made the silver-haired woman's arms quiver.
Yet Nix had once been a top saintess candidate herself.
"...You already know, so why bother asking?"
Even with eyes trembling violently, she shot back defiantly.
"You killed two Holy See knights and betrayed them. Didn't you see this coming?"
"Hmm. Then you must have expected me to kill you too?"
Nix's arms began inching toward her own throat.
As if she were about to take her own life.
"If you kill me, it's all-out war. Hundreds of knights will come storming in here."
Her silver-haired peer spoke with a decadent expression.
The same vibe Anje had given off when she first arrived.
"No matter how strong you are, you can't take them all."
Anje hopped down from the windowsill with a bored look.
Then she approached, hands clasped behind her back.
"Fair point. But your tone rubs me the wrong way."
The saintess gently laid a hand on her long-lost peer's shoulder.
She leaned in and whispered softly into her ear.
"Have you ever seen me kill someone over something that petty?"
Nix scowled fiercely, her refined features twisting as she resisted with all her might.
It felt completely different from the ones who'd submitted so easily to brainwashing.
"You're right. I guess I've gone soft. I was even toying with the idea of sparing you, for old times' sake."
Anje slipped off the sealed necklace at her throat like it was a plaything.
And in the instant she unleashed her power in full...
Nix's hands had already reached her own neck.
Even so, the failed saintess didn't beg for her life.
True to her training from the main church, she spoke indifferently.
"Fine. Go ahead and kill me. The Archbishop's probably hoping for it too."
Her will had already shattered halfway when she washed out as saintess.
After that, she'd been trained as a disguised noble lady to extract secrets from noblemen.
In that humiliating existence, Nix had lost all attachment to life.
"......"
Normally, Anje would have snapped her neck without a second thought.
But lately, something kept making her hesitate.
"You've really lost it."
Forcing those feelings aside, she poured more power into the spell.
To elevate the prophet to the empire's pinnacle, she needed to stay ice-cold.
"Fine. I'll bury you in that Holy See cemetery you all love so much."
Nix let out ragged breaths as she began strangling herself.
She might die, but the saintess's current state would reach the higher-ups.
They'd come for sure to execute Anje.
Everything would unfold according to divine will.
Clinging to that belief, Nix closed her eyes.
But.
"Anje, that's far enough."
The saintess's unstoppable madness was halted by a single voice.
The sound of military boots echoing from the corridor.
I stepped between them, my hair a tousled mess.
"Weren't you sleeping?"
"How could I sleep through magic this intense clashing outside?"
Anje fell silent as she saw me sensing her power.
Her lips seemed to twitch upward ever so slightly.
Nix's eyes went wide as she caught the shift.
The Anje she knew cared for nothing beyond brainwashing and enslaving others.
So she'd assumed the warden was already under her control.
But that subtle change in expression? No way that was brainwashing.
It was more like a goddess from myth doting on a favored boy.
"Don't worry about her. She's a spy from the Holy See. I'll take care of it cleanly."
"No need."
I walked casually between the two.
Then gazed steadily down at the teary-eyed silver-haired woman.
"She has a point too."
Anje's face went blank at my words, which sounded like I was taking Nix's side.
Her eyes chilled, like a child she'd raised pulling off its first act of rebellion.
But my follow-up made her lips part slightly.
"If the spy you planted dies, you'll be in real danger."
In truth, I was worried about Anje, not Nix.
"The Holy See isn't just full of run-of-the-mill holy knights. They've got elite knights too. And this time, they'll be coming along."
"You mean the Guardians."
Guardians of Light.
The Holy See's strongest elite force—a select few.
A title awarded to the top ten holy knights after their annual tournament.
Each one's skill rivals a vice commander in an imperial knight order.
Of course, ranks one through three match full commanders.
Anje, before fully evolving into her endgame form, couldn't brainwash them all.
"Yeah. The last thing I want is you getting recaptured by them."
Nix shot me a loaded look.
Were the rumors true? Were the two of them plotting something?
"......"
Anje said nothing for a moment.
But Nix—who'd spent years in close quarters with her—could sense it.
The saintess's icy emotions were starting to waver.
Just the fact that the brainwashing grip around her was loosening told the tale.
"You. What's the real reason you're going this far for me?"
Anje brushed past Nix and approached me.
Staring up at the man who'd delved into even her darkest past.
"If I vanished, it'd be good for you. One less scary prisoner."
Even as the prophet's heir, his favoritism stood out.
The saintess figured he was just worried that if the warden got dragged down and died because of her, the prophecy would fizzle out.
"So why are you so nice to the prisoners here?"
Her red eyes brimmed with vitality today, churning with tangled feelings.
As if thankful for the change, I gave her a soft smile.
"Because my efforts are rubbing off on you, little by little."
I glanced at Nix—who was still breathing, not quite dead yet—as I continued.
"You used to brainwash and kill anyone who rubbed you wrong. But not anymore, right?"
Just moments ago, she'd hesitated to kill the Holy See spy out of concern for my safety.
That alone marked the dawn of real change.
"Sure, you nearly went through with it anyway. But that's okay. Even this tiny shift makes me happy."
Anje shot me a glare, like an older sister dealing with a cheeky little brother.
To her—who was a year my senior—I added gently.
"So why not give her a chance too? If she changes like you have, she won't rat you out to the Holy See."
This time, I leaned in to whisper.
Like the serpent in scripture tempting the first woman with the apple.
"You could even give her a shot at revenge against the Holy See that tormented you. You've been stuck here for years—you're out of the loop on their current intel."
"......"
Anje narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, pondering alone.
"These guys, change? You wouldn't get it, but they're forged through elite brainwashing and training."
She'd trusted them completely too.
If the prophet's heir hadn't shown up, she'd have waited blindly for the fake prophet they'd send.
"Fanatics who won't bend to any coaxing."
"And yet you changed. They were the rejects—if you're the success story, you must've endured even harsher conditioning."
I gazed fondly down at her, the one I saw as something like an older sister.
Anje had no comeback. It was pure fact.
"They're cut off from the outside while locked up here anyway. So let me try reforming her."
The cleanest fix would be lifting the brainwashing on Nix and Fred.
No Guardians showing up then. No intel leaks.
We could even plant a double agent.
"......Fine. I'll let this one slide. But if she even thinks about contacting the Holy See, she's dead."
Freed from the spell, Nix's legs buckled, and she crumpled to the floor.
"I'll escort the prisoner back to her cell. Get some rest."
I carefully helped up the silver-haired woman.
Just before leaving, I turned back to Anje.
"Sorry about the mess today."
"What do you have to be sorry for? This is on me—bugs swarming because of me."
The saintess replied flatly, but I responded with a sense of duty.
"The warden's job includes safeguarding the prisoners. This falls under my watch."
Anje stared at my retreating back with an exasperated look.
"Who’s protecting who here."
She bit her lip, reminded of a smug eel strutting before her.
She'd nearly cracked a pure, Eri-like smile without realizing it.
"Not a bad feeling, though. Someone vowing to have my back."
Anje recalled a scene from the novel she'd written.
The male lead lying to enemies on a search to shield the heroine.
In the end, she'd turned the tables—locking him away and lying herself.
No one's here.
"Don't worry. Holy See, emperor—whoever shows up, I'll hide you."
Thinking of Derek, whom even the Holy See eyed with suspicion, she flashed a sly grin.
Inspiration struck, and she jotted down today's events with gusto.
Nix returned to her cell half out of her mind.
She slumped against the bed, barely catching her breath.
She's gotten even stronger.
They'd once been pretty evenly matched.
But now it was like a child squaring off against an adult—an overwhelming gap.
Plus, she'd thought all emotions vanished when they remade her into a killing machine.
Yet a woman's intuition had caught it.
The saintess harbored real feelings for the warden.
Did that shady guy empower Anje? Are they teaming up to bring down the main church?
She had to report this to her superiors somehow...
Her gut told her this backwater prison was no ordinary joint.
For today, she'd play it safe.
Rubbing her aching throat, she waited for Fred, whom she'd meet tomorrow.
But the very next day...
Nix stared at Fred in the cafeteria and reeled in shock.
"I... I... didn't see anything."
In just one day, the team leader had lost it.
"Fred? You okay, man?"
"Re... report. No, I didn't see anything!!"
Huddled in the cafeteria corner, he muttered to himself.
Nix took a brutal hit from his altered state.
"What the—why's Prisoner Four acting like that?"
I asked, sipping coffee at a table.
But Myoran gave no reply.
She just silently munched on a peach, her hair down long for once—instead of her usual style.
"Dunno."
Nix rushed over to him.
She threw her magic into gear and barely managed to half-restore his mind.
"What the hell happened?"
"Ughhh... the flowerpot. I smashed the flowerpot."
Flowerpot?
The silver-haired prisoner heard those words and recalled a prison rule.
「2. Never touch the peach flowerpot. This prison assumes no responsibility for any consequences.」
Shivering, she yanked the rulebook from her pocket.
Come to think of it, she'd followed Rule 1 and visited Anje's cell.
"Heard a voice. Thought it was the Holy Spirit—smashed the wall. Saw a demon instead."
"A demon? What'd it look like?"
"Twin tails. Lewd thing crammed into an ill-fitting uniform..."
"What? Who the hell dresses like a pervert..."
Nix furrowed her brow in confusion.
Then it hit her—a type of demon from scripture.
The lewd fiend that appeared at night in a man's preferred flavor.
"Was it a succubus?"
Her startled voice carried to my ears.
I cocked my head and muttered.
Does this game even have succubi?
Myoran glanced my way and cleared her throat awkwardly.
She poked my side and headed back to her cell.
Unlike our peaceful vibe, the new inmates looked deadly serious.
Nix fretted over the freakish phenomena from breaking prison rules.
If the other rules get broken, how much worse could it get?
The fake saintess's menace.
The leader's mind shattered by succubus seduction.
And piles of rules they hadn't tested yet.
3. Always greet any elderly person you meet in the corridors politely. First impressions matter.
5. There are no female guards except the vice warden. If you encounter one, run straight to the warden's office.
"What the hell kinda place is this...?"
Nix—who hailed from the Holy See's underground labs, packed with brutal torture and experiments—swallowed hard.
This prison was even more bizarre than her hometown.