WTYTIAAN Chapter 211

Chapter 211

Outside the church, a light drizzle began to fall, the raindrops pattering on the high dome of the church, playing a symphony of “Rainy Night, Church.”

Connie Leah led the way, with Alice following closely behind. As a student personally brought into “Flame” by her teacher, she was familiar with several of “Flame’s” operations. Naturally, Merlin and Isabel hadn’t concealed from Alice the information they’d gathered about the Eternal Divine Church.

Therefore, Alice understood the Eternal Divine Church better than her godmother Connie Leah, knowing some of their behavioral patterns. So, as she followed behind Connie Leah, she wasn’t idle, simply waiting for protection, but carefully observing the situation inside the church.

The church in Castella City wasn’t significantly different from churches in other cities. They were all built according to the standards set by the Holy Light Church. The only difference lay in the materials used for the interior decoration.

In wealthier places, even the red carpet underfoot was made of the most expensive materials, tailored by the best tailors, and might even incorporate various magic runes, crafted into magical items.

Castella City was still too poor. This was reflected in the church’s interior, where the decorations were all locally sourced, relatively inexpensive items, showing signs of use. For example, the red carpet they were walking on had some fraying at the edges, suggesting it had been in use for quite some time.

Alice’s attention, however, lingered on the patterns of the carpet. Born into royalty, even though her childhood environment wasn’t ideal, these past few years of being welcomed back into the royal family and becoming the true Eleventh Princess had instilled in Alice a basic understanding of aristocratic life, making her quite sensitive to these matters of clothing, food, and everyday items.

The carpet certainly seemed to be a local product, but the patterns on it weren’t commonly used locally.

More accurately, they weren’t patterns that commoners would use. The patterns on the carpet appeared simple, but in reality, they were exquisitely crafted, requiring advanced weaving techniques. The locality lacked nobles, with most people being ordinary commoners, and even the few wealthy individuals wouldn’t spend too much money on such details.

It wasn’t that they didn’t know how to eat, drink, have fun, and enjoy life, but the environment dictated that people without a noble background wouldn’t appreciate such seemingly simple yet intricately crafted patterns.

It seemed more like something that nobles with a long-standing heritage, deep roots, and a meticulous nature would use.

But it had appeared in the church of Castella City?

Alice tried to think like her teacher, but she lacked that certain spark of imagination and couldn’t quite figure it out.

She had briefly investigated the wealthy people of Castella City. Due to the outbreak of war, most of the wealthy who could run had already fled, leaving behind only some landowners who couldn’t leave because their wealth was tied to the land. Leaving would mean abandoning their fortune, so they simply stayed, believing that the royal family must have the confidence to win if they were willing to start a war, spending each day in anxious anticipation.

And none of these people met the condition of having a deep-rooted heritage.

As for the bishop staying in the church, in Alice’s eyes, it was even more unlikely. Her research showed that the bishop came from humble beginnings, just a child from a small village nearby, who was taken away and trained by the Holy Light Church because he had a good affinity with the element of light.

What kind of heritage could a small village have?

Alice thought about it and could only attribute this anomaly to something from the Holy Light Church.

When it came to heritage, few nobles could compare to the Holy Light Church. Even though the Holy Light Church had been destroyed and had even changed its faith once, its thousands of years of history still stood. The library of the Holy Light Church’s headquarters, the Holy Temple, still held many manuals on light magic from thousands of years ago.

The light magic passed down by the Holy Light Church was countless, which was why they had always been able to maintain their position on the continent. After all, people were born, grew old, got sick, and died, and light magic was the most effective of all healing magics.

Alice herself hadn’t visited the churches of other cities many times and couldn’t make a comprehensive comparison, so she had to give up with regret.

The church in Castella City wasn’t large, but it seemed very spacious because of the night. After walking for a while, Connie Leah and Alice reached the end. The walls on both sides were still covered with allegorical murals. Alice glanced at them and, after confirming that they were all related to the Goddess of Light, she didn’t pay any more attention.

After searching for a long time, Connie Leah and Alice couldn’t find an entrance to the underground. Knowing that the underground space must be hidden, and being unfamiliar with the place, they really couldn’t find it easily.

To make matters worse, it was nighttime, and the only source of light was the luminous pearl in Connie Leah’s hand, which made it even more difficult for them to find the underground entrance.

Alice was thinking about what to do when Connie Leah closed her eyes, concentrating and listening carefully.

When the brain reduces the amount of information processing from one sense, it will allocate the excess processing power to other senses. Therefore, when people close their eyes, their hearing often becomes more acute.

Connie Leah listened carefully to the sounds.

Raindrops fell on the high dome, making a ticking sound. The wind howled outside the window, rustling the swaying trees. There was also the sound of air circulating inside the church…

That was it.

Connie Leah carefully captured that faint, almost imperceptible sound, like catching the only exit in a maze shrouded in fog.

After a long time, she opened her eyes. She had found it.

But Connie Leah didn’t act rashly. She turned her hand over and put away the luminous pearl. The luminous pearl, which had been providing a bit of light, suddenly disappeared, plunging the church into darkness where one couldn’t see their own fingers, startling Alice.

Alice was about to ask Connie Leah what was wrong when she felt her wrist being grabbed by Connie Leah. She was pulled back by the other woman and then noticed Connie Leah’s alertness.

Why was she alert? Had they been discovered?

Without needing Connie Leah to explain further, Alice also pulled out her magic wand, ready to fight at any moment.

Yes, Connie Leah had not only heard the sound of air circulation but had also felt another person’s breathing increase. Someone else was hiding in the darkness.

Someone who had been hiding underground had appeared on the surface and was lurking in the huge, dark church, closely watching their every move, seemingly waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Connie Leah was a little annoyed. Her sensitivity to danger wasn’t low, but she hadn’t noticed at first that the person from underground had come up, lurking near them. This was her mistake, and it also meant that the person in the shadows was not to be underestimated.

To be discovered by her meant that their level of strength couldn’t be higher than hers, but the other person must have mastered an extremely powerful stealth technique to be able to come up from underground so quietly, without even alerting Connie Leah.

And the sound of the light rain outside had become the best camouflage for the person in the shadows, numbing some of Connie Leah’s senses, which led to her current oversight.

Connie Leah narrowed her eyes, thinking that the person in the shadows was indeed not simple.

But the other person’s malice wasn’t strong, or at least it hadn’t been shown. Otherwise, Connie Leah would have noticed it from the beginning.

Connie Leah was vigilant, but she didn’t receive an attack. She paused, squeezed Alice’s hand, and whispered, “Let’s go.”

Since the other person didn’t plan to attack, it meant that they didn’t want to expose themselves, which also gave them a chance to leave.

After all, Connie Leah’s series of actions would make even a fool realize that they had discovered the person in the shadows. Not taking any action obviously meant that they didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.

Connie Leah was confident that with her strength, the person in the shadows definitely wasn’t her match. However, she had Alice with her, someone she wanted to protect no matter what. She couldn’t put Alice in danger.

Even though Alice said she wanted to find out what was going on in the church, Connie Leah didn’t want Alice to be harmed in any way. After weighing the pros and cons, she decided to take Alice away.

As for Alice’s damn teacher?

Let that teacher come and take the risk himself. She wasn’t going to lend Alice to him.

Connie Leah thought coldly.

Alice didn’t understand what her godmother was thinking in that moment. Hearing her godmother’s voice, she only thought that her godmother had realized that the other person’s strength far exceeded theirs.

Since they couldn’t win, in order not to let herself and her godmother fall into the enemy’s hands and cause trouble for her teacher, Alice decisively followed Connie Leah out.

Connie Leah put her arm around Alice’s shoulders, protecting her as they quickly retreated from the church, returning the way they came.

The person in the shadows remained still. Connie Leah could feel a gaze on them, watching them leave the church.

As they rushed out of the church’s protection, large raindrops fell on them. In just a few seconds, Alice’s bangs were soaked, sticking limply to her cheeks, making her look like a pitiful, drowned puppy.

Once they were far away from the church and Connie Leah thought they were safe, she turned her head and saw Alice looking so wet and pathetic. The annoyance she had felt because Alice wanted to take a risk for that damn teacher instantly vanished, and she couldn’t help but soften.

She took Alice to a place to shelter from the rain, reached out and brushed the strands of hair that were stuck to Alice’s face, her fingertips manipulating the water element, gathering and separating. In just a few seconds, Alice’s wet hair became dry.

Anyone who saw this display of control over the water element would praise it as amazing. Perhaps a high-level magician could achieve the same effect, but Connie Leah didn’t need a magic wand to manipulate the water element at will and achieve such delicate control, thanks to Connie Leah’s race.

Mermaids were born as children of the sea. The Siren back then had a strength comparable to the Sea God. After the Sea God’s death, the Siren had the opportunity to become a god.

However, for some reason, he rejected the Sea God’s divinity, sealing it in the depths of the sea. The Sea God Siren fell and disappeared. To this day, no living being had ever seen any trace of that divinity.

Feeling the hair under her hand become dry and soft again, Connie Leah released her hand.

Alice snuggled up affectionately, actively rubbing her cheek against Connie Leah’s palm. Connie Leah’s heart melted completely.

She tapped Alice’s forehead, finally giving up on the idea of scolding her teacher in front of Alice.

*

Church.

The person who had been hiding in the shadows watched the two women leave, raising an eyebrow slightly. Several masked figures in black robes appeared out of nowhere beside him.

“Interesting, so it’s a mixed-blood mermaid…” As he spoke, he seemed to smell something special in the air, and the amusement in his eyes deepened. “There’s also that guy’s scent… Oh, is this, inheritance?”

He struck a pose of recollection, his voice playful, “I remember, that guy died a long time ago, right?”

The man chuckled, “I didn’t expect to meet that guy’s descendants in this place. I thought all of that guy’s people were dead.”

“Young Master, those two seem to be tracking our movements. Should we send someone to take care of them?”

“Hmm?” The person called Young Master slightly curled his lips. “There’s no need. Besides, you can’t beat that mermaid lady.”

“After all, she’s the one who received that mermaid Highness’s inheritance… I didn’t expect Siren, who was so proud, to choose a mixed-blood mermaid for his inheritance?”