Free Web NovelI know tons of people; how am I supposed to guess which one you mean?
Vieya felt speechless, but her expression didn’t show anything. She simply raised her head and looked at him calmly.
“Aren’t you a cleric? Why are you guarding the door all day long—changed professions to security guard?”
“Sword-Master jests. I merely wished to ask: during your time here in Talin, have you been enjoying yourself?” the cleric asked.
“So-so. Everything is too damn expensive.” fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Saying so, Vieya brushed past him and entered the Tribunal. “I’m planning to browse your Tribunal for a bit, so stop following me.”
The cleric stayed where he was and spread his hands helplessly.
He found it odd. Logically, monsters—including monster girls—should feel constrained or fearful upon entering the Tribunal. But this monster girl? She walked around like she was visiting a bar—relaxed and casual.
The blessing of the Holy Sword?
Forget it. Not his business anyway. As long as she didn’t cause trouble in his jurisdiction, it was fine.
The cleric froze in thought, but his gaze gradually turned heavy.
He saw a fly buzzing over, landing on the neck of a passing staffer. Feeling the itch, the staffer reached back to touch, startling the fly into flight.
Smack!
The cleric closed his prayer-book; a dead fly was crushed on the cover.
“How odd. We’re on Talin’s sacred mountain—two thousand, almost three thousand meters up... where would a fly come from?”
......
Inside the Tribunal.
Vieya walked slowly, her steps unhurried. Not a single green prompt from Xiao Lü appeared along the way—seemed Xiao Lü really was busy.
Then she’d just wait.
As long as Xiao Lü had a free moment, she would definitely show her a message.
In the bright, spotless hall, staff in work uniforms moved about. They were all curious about this outsider wandering alone without an escort.
But since she was able to enter, she must have had permission. Probably some high-ranking official’s family member, they thought. They couldn’t help glancing at the striking white-haired girl a few more times, but none disturbed her.
Vieya enjoyed this. Or rather, she liked the Tribunal itself—and its working atmosphere had everything to do with it.
Calm, peaceful, many people but not noisy, extremely safe.
With a mood like revisiting an old place, she wandered for quite a while. But walking alone eventually grew dull.
She planned to go sit in the rest area.
“Wonder who is talking with Xiao Lü right now... so slow. And Xiao Lü too—she doesn’t even have the spare attention to leave a couple messages on the walls like last time,” Vieya muttered inwardly as she headed toward the lounge.
Suddenly—
Her steps halted.
A girl sat on one of the sofas. Black knee-length skirt, deep green hair tied into a loose ponytail draped over her shoulder. She was holding a steaming cup of tea, staring blankly ahead.
As Vieya stopped, the girl lifted her gaze toward her.
The air instantly froze.
“Aurora? What are you doing here...”
Vieya’s look was strange. # Nоvеlight # She remembered that this old teammate of hers had run off to work for an evil organization—her double-agent informant.
So why was she here? Out in the open? Wearing a nice outfit, peacefully drinking tea?
That wasn’t right. More like Ultraman being invited by Godzilla to Tokyo to dance a group plaza dance—absurd.
Aurora paused, blinked, and said, “Hello. Nice to meet you. I am Aurora. Honored Sword-Master, would you like a cup of tea?”
“Nice... nice to meet you.” Vieya clicked her tongue. Was she serious?
Aurora set down her cup, thinking. “Well. Not exactly first meeting. I reviewed your file beforehand. I was curious about you.”
“That...”
The slime girl quietly sat opposite her, watching Aurora gracefully refill a cup of hot tea and pass it over.
Was she poisoning again?
“Go ahead. The temperature is ideal, it won’t harm your body,” Aurora said.
Vieya lifted the cup, drank. Very hot, but indeed not poisoned.
Aurora smiled faintly, seemingly pleased to be trusted. “I never expected to meet you here... I’m glad.”
“...”
Vieya held her cup without speaking.
If her memory wasn’t wrong, that night when she let Aurora go, the woman had agreed to act as her double agent—warning her in advance if anything dangerous arose.
But now Aurora’s behavior—pretending not to know her, acting like this was their first meeting... It didn’t feel like betrayal. More like a warning.
A hidden warning.
From what Aurora previously said, she had mixed private motives into her mission—she wanted to use her position to dig into Vieya’s identity.
Back then Vieya fooled her, and even got two promises out of her.
One of them: infiltrate the organization called “Ghosts” as an informant, delivering intel.
Now...
Something must have gone wrong. Maybe the organization’s higher-ups had decided to come personally. Meaning... Aurora was now just a subordinate assisting her superior?
No.
More like the subordinate messed up, or her status wasn’t sufficient, so her superior decided to intervene personally.
Which meant:
The person meeting Xiao Lü right now is... Aurora’s superior? Someone high-ranked within “Ghosts”?
Impossible. Why...
Vieya’s heart suddenly tangled. She realized her entire mindset had been built on old assumptions.
Had the Tribunal already been infiltrated? To the point even Xiao Lü didn’t know?
Impossible... Like someone swapping the God of Light’s doctrine inside the Church under the pope’s nose. Ridiculous.
Ridiculous—and terrifying.
“Sword-Master, please sit and have some tea.”
Aurora swallowed nervously, wanting to comfort the frightening woman who was now visibly tense head to toe.
Vieya ignored her. She downed the remaining tea in one gulp. Her heart was cold.
She stood up.
“I have something to do. We’ll talk next time.”
Without looking back, she strode toward the entrance—hoping that cleric-turned-security-guard was still there.
Hoping there was still enough time...
In the wide, bright hall, the staff continued their work—exchanging documents, discussing recent cases, preparing materials for the next court session. Everything looked normal, orderly.
Vieya’s heartbeat quickened. Her steps sped up.
People turned again, curious. When she arrived she walked like a high-ranking leader on inspection; now she looked like a student fleeing from a furious discipline officer.
Their curiosity faded as they returned to their tasks—
A piercing alarm exploded throughout the Tribunal!
Red emergency lights flashed on one by one.
The well-trained staff immediately shifted into combat readiness. They knew every meaning behind each alarm frequency.
“Not good—The All-Seeing Eye has been stolen!” a staffer shouted—then suddenly collapsed, vomiting a clump of green flies.
“Be careful—careful! Everyone, watch out!”
But he wasn’t the only one. One after another, people fell, unconscious.
An unseen shadow draped over the Tribunal, clinging like bone maggots, following like a ghost.
In barely five seconds, the entire hall dissolved into chaos.
The previously calm environment vanished.
Vieya, running toward the exit, suddenly stopped. She bit her teeth, glancing toward Xiao Lü’s main body.
The buzzing of flies grew louder, drowning even the shouts of commands and resistance.
Just as nausea rose in Vieya’s chest—
The buzzing abruptly ceased.
Almost at the same moment, the cleric rushed in from the Tribunal doors. Running, shouting anxiously:
“Sword-Master! Go find the Artifact Spirit, quickly—there’s no time!”
