Chapter 128 – In which doubting sincerity is an occupational disease and can’t be helped (1)

  Phlox faced a problem.

  No, Phlox faced THE problem.

  Is she going to do morally right thing and find the lost mind?

  Or is she going to cause a civil war?

  Now, a rational person might point out that there was a third option – and that was to get hella out of here.

  But Phlox was unable to realize it.

  She was just a type of person, who doesn’t know how to turn back.

  ‘In fact, even if I find the lost mind, I might cause a civil war.’

  Phlox understanding of the situation was thus:

  For some reason the will of late General was inconclusive, leaving the position of the Yellow Throne Ruler vacant.

  And the remains of the late General’s mind, which could possibly hold clues about who Sulfious considered the next ruler, was stolen.

  If Phlox were to let it slip to the press, even anonymously, it could cause the last layer of ice to break and for fire to engulf Flavun.

  She had to admit to herself, it was quite tempting.

  Phlox didn’t hate Flavun.

  Unlike Rubrun, which was harassed by Flavun on more than one occasion, and thoroughly retaliated on more than one occasion, Purplus remained rather indifferent towards its sibling states.

  Of course, there were many accusations of terrorists attack and assassinations, and the strange behavior of the Sun and Day Gods Temple’s priests during the Lesser Lord Mage’s coming-of-age ceremony still hang on Phlox’s mind.

  But all of them were either done by extremist groups or thoroughly denied having any connections with Purplus by the Saints.

  That was to say, Purplus didn’t have recorded history of aggression against its sibling states since the War of Last Divine Rain.

  Naturally, it didn’t stop from stigma and prejudices towards Purplus to form and led to cruel results.

  Phlox heard enough horror stories from the traveling priests and simple Purplus citizens to be very careful with her behavior when alone in the stranger’s land.

  But she didn’t hate Flavun. No.

  Yet, she also couldn’t say she liked Flavun.

  Their pro military mindset, their division of into nobles and not nobles simply based on distant ancestor’s achievements, their extremely revealing clothes…

  Really, she would’ve a bit of dark satisfaction if they got hurt by it.

  That was just a childish thought, though.

  For every punishment, be it of heavens or men, runs on blood of innocent.

  She wasn’t ignorant.

  She didn’t want Flavun’s civil war.

  She didn’t have a choice here.

  ‘I have to solve it as carefully as possible.’

  She sighed and bit into a cinnamon bun.

  “Well, at least food is good…”

  At least one good thing in this accursed place.

  They put hellish amounts of cinnamon into their buns.

  “Thank you. I sought the best ones.”

  The lady in front of her, who clearly wished to ruin the last good thing in the world with putting some heapy amount of salt on it, said.

  “Young Lady Saffra.”

  Phlox started, carefully positioning a bun between her line of vision and Saffra’s clearly visible collar bone.

  She wore a bit more clothes when they first met right?

  “Mhm?”

  Yes, surely Phlox would notice if her eyes were assaulted with the sight of naked shoulders and ankles.

  Should she be glad that at least her legs and chest were covered?

  She already saw ladies that didn’t do even that on her way here.

  “… Is it really appropriate to have lunch at the murder scene?”

  “Oh.”

  Saffra leaned back in her chair, making Phlox’s attempt at censoring her own vision even harder.

  She was doing it on purpose.

  Phlox was certain of it.

  “So Pure Priest Phlox also thinks it’s a crime scene?”

  Oh, yeah, she was doing it. She was having so much fun with it.

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  Phlox felt remorseful to have ever mistaken this woman before for ‘that person’.

  “I’m thinking nothing, but if Young Lady Saffra does considers this place as a crime scene, Her Ladyship behavior is most disrespectful and would actively disrupt an investigation, if it came to it.”

  “Don’t worry, besides you and me, no one is really interested in investigating it.”

  Phlox briefly wondered where that ‘you and me’ came to be as every word of that sentence felt utterly wrong.

  Saffra continued after taking a big bite of her bun.

  “Besides, it’s not like Diligent Priest Phlox is allowed to eat on her duty, and it doesn’t seem like this duty will end any time soon.”

  Phlox double-checked the young lady’s face.

  It was because it felt like first undeniably true thing that came out of this snake mouth today.

  The ‘duty’ as Saffra referred to it was an expectation that Phlox would find the lost remains of the mind and carry out appropriate rites as quickly as possible.

  But in fact, Phlox couldn’t do anything in the current situation.

  She had no idea where the lost mind went or who took it.

  The two Candidates declared they will put all their efforts into finding it upon learning about the situation, but frankly?

  Neither of them had any idea what they were looking for or had abilities to do so.

  If it was Purplus, Phlox would organize a squadron of priests, detain all people who came into contact with the corpse and interrogate them.

  Here though she didn’t even hold a right to eat when she wanted, or she would be frowned upon.

  So Young Lady Saffra, who created this moment of respite by insisting that Phlox examines the room with her one more time and then have her ladies-in-waiting secretly bring food, appeared quite nice.

  Naturally, Phlox frowned.

  “And why would Young Lady be concerned about it?”

  “Well…”

  Saffra bought herself time by sucking out the filling of the bun.

  “I thought I may be able to hear some things I’m curious about in exchange.”

  “And that would be?”

  The Young Lady let her gaze slowly examine Phlox up and down.

  “The Saint.”

  A bun fell out of Phlox’s hand.

  Not because she was shocked by the answer itself, but rather because she expected something completely different.

  ‘That treacherous woman! I let my guard down!’

  Phlox knew this tactic.

  One would first distract the target with some topic or behavior and then strike them with an unexpected question, leaving the target unprepared.

  Young Lady Saffra’s timing was a bit off, but it must have been that.

  “What do you want to know?”

  Phlox was so flustered that she didn’t even notice she dropped her polite tone.

  Saffra didn’t point it out, instead asked a simple question.

  “Is he eating well?”

  The Saint’s attending priest hesitated for a second, remembering the Saint’s poor diet and often postponing of meals.

  But she couldn’t give this information to a potential enemy, right?

  “He is.”

  “Is he sleeping well?”

  “… Yes.”

  “Is he taking frequent breaks when working?”

  “...Yes?”

  “How long? How long are breaks? How frequent?”

  “… His Excellency takes a five minutes break every hour to have a cup of tea.”

  “A white or herbal tea? Not black or green tea, right? He wouldn’t be able to sleep if he drinks a lot of those.”

  “His Excellency drinks a large variety of teas.”

  “I see… Looks like he is healthy.”

  “Yes, His Excellency is very healthy.”

  Clink.

  Saffra put down a glass she picked up in the meantime and made a very serious expression.

  “That’s what I’m talking about, Priest Phlox. As a ruler, don’t you have to take good care of your body? Don’t you have to make sure to appear as healthy as possible? Even if you’re just a ruler’s family member and not a ruler himself, shouldn’t you take good care of yourself?”

  Phlox blinked.

  Oh, that what it was about, huh?

  “The Lesser Lord Mage should take example from the Saint, right?”

  If Young Lady Saffra’s eyes could shoot arrows, the Lesser Lord Mage Vern would be already dead.

  Phlox felt relieved.

  If it was about roasting someone, she could do that.

  She shoot:

  “Indeed. I saw many long-term sick patients, yet even on their death beds none of them had skin like the Lesser Lord Mage. It didn’t even look brown, more like murky gray.”

  “They must have covered it with masks and powders. Looking at him, you must wonder if he has any blood in his body. He doesn’t have any fat, so maybe he thinks blood is unnecessary too!”

  “It’s a wonder that he can raise his head, considering how thin his neck is.”

  “True, true. A neck should at least look like this.”

  Saffra pointed to her neck, which Phlox instinctively looked at following her finger, before quickly turning her eyes away.

  Damn Flavun’s and Rubrun’s fashions!

  Neither of them cared about protecting people’s throats!

  “Ehem, yes. I completely agree.”

  “I’m glad to have Beautiful Priest Phlox’s agreement.”

  At least she had enough of dignity to not mention Phlox’s neck.

  The young lady took a sip of a blueberry juice with large chunks of ice, before lightly asking:

  “But if no one is here, why won’t Priest Phlox use her spiritual gaze? I don’t mind it.”

  Phlox froze in her seat.

  Something clicked in her mind.

  A conformation of an idea she had before.

  ‘Young Lady Saffra is quite knowledgeable about spiritual arts.’

  When the two interrupted the ritual of the Sun and Day Gods Temple’ priests, Saffra immediately identified an easy way to instantly reduce the power of ritual by cutting off sunlight.

  At the time, Phlox wondered if it was just a happy coincidence, or true knowledge.

  Now, the mention of the spiritual gaze made her almost completely certain that she was well aware what she was doing.

  It wasn’t that the public didn’t know about spiritual gaze.

  But general knowledge said that it was something that all priests acquired and used all the time.

  To suggest ‘using’ spiritual gaze meant a deeper understanding of it.

  In simple terms, spiritual gaze was an ability to see Spirit layer of the world.

  But because observing Spirit layer all the time could be dangerous, there were a few levels of it.

  The low level was what the general public talked about when mentioning ‘spiritual gaze’.

  It was something that priests had constantly active and which was quite simple to learn.

  Some devoted believers might learn it to better understand their god.

  At this stage, only a figments of spiritual world are visible -- similar to a flow of energy.

  They are vague and blurry, and can be noticed only from a very close distance.

  When Phlox first met with the Saint and he used a ritual to secretly communicate with her, they could be certain that no one noticed it, because no one was close enough to see the flow ritual.

  If someone attempted to open their spiritual eyes further to see more, both of them would instantly notice.

  Because the mid level gaze was like someone lighting up a lighthouse.

  At this level, some spiritual creatures, like ghosts become visible.

  It’s not only a level harder to reach and which usually needs to be actively taught, it was also more dangerous.

  The number of stimulus is large enough to quickly overwhelmed a well-adjusted person, and some of them can physically hurt you.

  For example looking at powerful magic or ritual with the spiritual eyes open could result in blindness.

  It was recommend that no one kept their spiritual eyes opened on this level for long.

  As for the highest level gaze, it was recommend you never even attempt it.

  This meant looking directly at the Spirit layer, or in other words, the spiritual world.

  Not only you would directly look at the gods, the most powerful inhabitants of the spiritual world, you would also face the storm of feelings, grudges and hopes that left the mark on living and dead.

  The time and space was twisted there.

  Scenes from the past could play out directly in front of your eyes, and people could whisper their thoughts into your ears.

  Their grudges and hopes taking on ‘physical’ forms to grab on your clothes and try to turn you into a marionette.

  Even Saints had to be careful in that environment.

  So naturally, what Saffra proposed to use was a mid-level gaze.

  But why?

  Phlox was frankly itching to investigate this room with a better eye, hoping to find some clues, but knowing well that it could be an affront, she restrained herself.

  What Saffra had to gain by offering her a possibility to use it?

  Was it to hurt her?

  Phlox was confident she could deal with any danger at his level, and she also didn’t think that Saffra wished her harm.

  The woman certainly was trying to use her for something and was strangely clingy, but Phlox was sure her end goal wasn’t to harm her.

  Then was it to find clues to where the remains of the mind went?

  Seeing how insistent she was that there was a murder, it may as well be possible.

  The problem was that Phlox felt like Saffra wasn’t particularly invested in ‘solving the murder’.

  No, she was searching for something else…

  Assessing risks and gains, Phlox ultimately decided there was no reason to refuse the suggestion.

  “Alright.”

  She stood up and walked into the center of the room.

  Then — she blinked.

  And just like that, her spiritual eye opened a bit further.

  Shadows of the past danced in the corners of her vision.

  Lingering feelings and memories appeared like drifting leaves or paper scraps.

  She looked around and —

  She spotted something.

  Her breath hitched in her throat as she recognized what it was.

  “Looks like you know this symbol.”

  Saffra joined at her side, her gaze directed at the symbol painted on the wall.

  Her eyes shimmered — like golden sunlight caught in glass.

  She too opened her spiritual eyes.

  “Actually, it’s the second time I saw this symbol in Flavun.”

  Phlox didn’t answer.

  All her previous problems forgotten, she silently stared at the symbol of the god she was once most devoted to – but reversed.

  Inverted sun burned itself into her pupils.

  *~*~