[Vol. 8] Chapter 142: A Good Bird and a Bad Master
Hearing the girl's vague explanation, Shadow paused for a moment and instinctively looked down at her own body, then suddenly realized something.
Wait a minute… the side effects from using the “Blade of Shadow”, the injuries her body had taken were completely healed? Was it… because of that kiss just now? Unbelievable… so that was actually some kind of healing? And…
Her emotional reaction just now… was a bit too much.
As a royal shadow guard, her most important skill was to always stay calm and think clearly. How could she lose her composure just because a girl gave her a kiss? How could she get all flustered and start thinking about weird things, completely forgetting herself?
‘Bad stuff,’ huh…?
Feeling a chill in her heart, Shadow quickly steadied her emotions. Then, as if something occurred to her, she turned to look at the spot where Humble Humbold had been torn apart by countless flying feathers. The blue-green mist that looked like blood had long since vanished, but she had already figured out what had happened.
That enemy hadn’t gone down without a fight. Most likely, Humble Humbold understood the huge difference in power between itself and the divine bird, so instead of going head-to-head in a losing battle, it had chosen to use some kind of strange, hard-to-describe method, something like a curse, as a desperate final attack.
Those cries and wails earlier weren’t just random noise. Looking back, they seemed more like a type of attack using a language or power she couldn’t understand, targeted directly at the divine bird girl. And anyone who heard it, like Miss Shadow herself, could also be affected, especially in their minds.
But… it clearly hadn’t worked on the divine bird girl. In fact, she’d even had the energy to remove the lingering effects from Miss Shadow as well. The cleansing must have shaken Miss Shadow’s mind a bit, which explained why she had lost her focus earlier and had so many messy thoughts.
At least… that’s probably what happened, right?
Still, the last thing that creature said before it died had been very strange. Just who was this divine bird girl?
Shadow reminded herself that this wasn’t something she should dig into. She pushed aside her curiosity and quietly shook her head.
Even though she still didn’t understand why the girl had to use such a… strangely intimate method to remove the curse, it didn’t feel right to judge her from a human point of view. After all, she wasn’t really human. She was a divine being, a sacred bird of light. Trying to guess her thoughts using normal logic would just be foolish. Maybe to the girl, this kind of action didn’t mean anything special, or maybe it had some deeper meaning she couldn't understand.
Unaware of the mental storm swirling through Miss Shadow’s mind, the white-haired girl in the feathered dress tilted her head again. Seeing that Shadow was no longer in danger, and that her job was done, the girl gave a small nod and spoke again, her voice halting and clumsy like before:
“My… things… don’t… tell others… Master… will be mad… you too… not good…”
Keep it secret, huh…
The divine bird’s master could only be the goddess who created this trial. So, she had been watching everything from the start. She had known that something dangerous had entered her trial grounds, and had waited until now to strike, cleanly wiping out a powerful enemy like Humble Humbold.
But… why didn’t she want anyone to know that the divine bird girl had appeared here?
Miss Shadow’s heart stirred, but on the surface, she simply bowed respectfully.
“Your Diviness, you saved me. I owe you everything, and of course, I won’t speak of this lightly. But… I serve a queen to whom I’ve sworn loyalty. If she personally questions me, I’m afraid… I may not be able to completely hide your existence.”
After all, the only reason she was even participating in this trial to choose heroes was because Her Highness Violet had asked her to give it a try. But compared to this trial, or even her own life, her duty as a shadow guard came first. If she made a promise and then broke it afterward, she would rather speak clearly now, even if it meant getting into trouble later.
Although she was an assassin who would do whatever it took to complete her missions, outside of work, Miss Shadow still took her promises very seriously. She had her own will, she wasn’t just a cold and unfeeling tool.
What she really meant by her words just now was that she might not be able to keep the secret. If they didn’t want this information to leak, it would be best to erase part of her memory or place some kind of unbreakable secrecy spell on her. That way, she’d also have a proper explanation to give her queen.
She said this not only to the divine bird girl in front of her, but also as a message to the higher, more mysterious goddess behind her. As a divine being, Miss Shadow believed that such a thing would definitely be within the goddess's power.
But to Miss Shadow’s surprise, the bird girl, who always seemed a little silly and didn’t quite match her holy appearance or the ruthless way she fought, actually looked troubled for a moment, then nodded and casually said,
“Okay then…”
“…Huh?”
Before Miss Shadow could say anything else, the girl transformed once more into a great white bird, glowing with divine light as she flew up into the sky and quickly disappeared beyond the clouds, leaving a confused young woman standing alone in the dim forest, with question marks all over her face.
A long while passed before Miss Shadow, still staring up at the sky, muttered in a small, bewildered voice.
“Is she really a divine beast? That goddess… is she actually teaching her anything at all?”
………………………………………………
“Achoo! …Who the heck is talking about me behind my back?”
Somewhere inside the [Gate of Underworld], in a field full of blood-red flowers, a black-haired girl in white robes suddenly sneezed. Annoyed, she grumbled under her breath. Hearing her, another woman nearby, a scholar from the Lightborn Tribe with huge dark circles under her eyes, like she could drop dead at any moment, turned around and asked with concern.
“Miss Violet, are you catching a cold? I heard that recently, because of how crowded the Holy Capital has gotten, a new kind of flu is starting to spread. The symptoms aren’t too bad, but it’s pretty contagious, lots of holy knights and priests got infected. Don’t tell me you caught it too?”
“Not a chance...”
The priestess gave a helpless smile and shook her head.
Her current body was technically a God, so things like eating and sleeping weren’t necessary, and it didn’t even make sense to treat her as a normal living being. Disease and poison couldn’t stay in her body for even a second.
Ever since she crossed into this world, Violet had never once gotten sick. Even when exposed directly to the contaminated plague of Uncleanliness, she was perfectly fine. Not to mention, the Violet who appeared here inside the [Gate of Underworld] wasn’t even her real body. It was just one of the avatars she created using her divine power as the ruler of the [Six-Line Array Palace]. How could she possibly catch the flu?
That sneeze just now, was probably just a reaction to something that stirred her spirit.
Not wanting to dwell on that topic, the priestess glanced at Ayla and casually changed the subject:
“Anyway, forget that. How are things going on your end?”
“Oh… I did find some traces. The tracking went well. But… the scan results are a bit strange.”
As she spoke, Ayla walked over, holding a small, oddly shaped metal device in her hand. It looked kind of like a mini radar dish. She handed it to Violet.