[Vol. 8] Chapter 156: Nolan Sinong
Of course, even though Violet said she was “off work,” she didn’t actually plan to completely leave those heroes alone. She would still meet with them again in her true identity.
But as for pretending to be a goddess. Well, she figured whoever wanted to do that job could go ahead and do it. She was done with it.
For example, right now she was heading to the official hotel of the Angel City, where a banquet was about to be held to celebrate the birth of the new divine heroes.
The heroes, the candidates who made it past the second round of trials, and many high-ranking members of the Holy Empire were all invited, including Violet herself.
In the end, the main purpose of this banquet was to let the heroes get to know each other, and to attract talented people who had performed well in the trials. Some things couldn’t be announced to the public yet, so this kind of private event was the perfect time to talk about them.
The Goddess Church would also pass on new instructions from the deity, officially guiding the chosen heroes on the start of their journey. They might even help the heroes form teams, picking reliable partners from among the strong guests at the banquet, people the Goddess had approved of.
After talking with Sethlin and exchanging ideas with Edwina, the current plan was, even though the heroes would definitely need to work together in the future, right now it would be better if they each went off on their own. This would help them grow stronger.
Especially for the three heroes who were already revealed to the public, there would surely be many powerful people fighting for a chance to join their teams and make a name for themselves.
Violet didn’t care too much about these small things. Whether or not the heroes formed teams was up to them. The real reason she didn’t want to be involved was simply that she was too lazy, she didn’t want to run another round of “hero team selection competitions.”
“Master, we’re here. I think this is the place Edwina mentioned,” said the dragon girl, waking Violet from her thoughts at just the right time.
The black-haired girl looked up and saw the large, fancy golden letters spelling out “Sacred Grand Hotel.”
She silently made fun of how unimaginative the Holy Empire people were when naming things.
But on the outside, she just gave a small nod and said, “Yep, this is the place. Let’s go inside. …Oh, right, I asked you to send a message to that person earlier, did she reply?”
Hearing this, Xiao Guang hesitated for a moment, like she wasn’t sure how to explain.
“I passed along everything you said. She was really cautious, clearly hiding some secrets. She seemed a little tempted by your offer, but in the end she only said she’d ‘think about it’ and took the contact info I gave her before leaving.”
“But to be honest, I think that was just an excuse. After we split up, I tracked her scent, she only stayed in the city for a short while, then headed farther and farther away. By now, she’s already outside the Holy Capital. I don’t think she’s coming back.”
“I see… So she’s pretty stubborn, huh~”
Hearing this answer, which she had kind of expected, Violet just shook her head with a sigh and didn’t think too much about it.
The person she had asked Xiao Guang to find was the same one who had openly spoken out during the divine trial earlier that day, the Crown Princess of the Snow Empire, and High Priestess of the [Eternal Winter Temple], Miss Nolan Sinong.
In a way, what that woman said wasn’t wrong, the selection trial really wasn’t fair. Because the main criteria and final decision were all in Violet’s hands.
To put it plainly, if Violet was truly determined to choose someone as a divine hero, then even if that person had done horribly in every trial, they could still be picked in the end.
After all, most of the rewards given in the trial came from Violet herself. It was completely normal for her to play favorites a little. Things like “total fairness” or “absolute impartiality”, that was just talk.
Those ideas were made up by the Pope, who wanted to keep the “goddess image” believable. She had even written the lines for Violet to say in advance.
Even though Violet really did try to consider many different aspects when picking the divine heroes, looking at their abilities, character, and overall qualities. There was no way she could let someone she didn’t trust, someone whose true goals were unclear, become a chosen hero.
She couldn’t give such a person powerful equipment or blessings that contained divine laws and just hand them the chance to become one of the strongest people in the world.
Nolan Sinong was exactly that kind of person.
She came from the Northern Ice and Snow Empire, which is on the opposite side of the Holy Empire in terms of alliances. She held a high-ranking position there, and also had the bloodline of the God of Farming, Sinong.
That made it impossible to fully trust her or expect her to follow the orders of the Goddess. If this High Priestess of the [Eternal Winter Temple] got her hands on a divine weapon, she might not act like a true hero. Instead, she could use the power of the weapon to do something for her own personal goals.
That was something Violet definitely didn’t want to see.
So, the best choice was to treat Nolan as a possible ally, someone who could cooperate if given the right benefits, but not as a trustworthy chosen hero. Letting someone like that be a divine hero would only cause trouble. That’s why Violet chose Elunie instead of Nolan to become the Hero of the Heaven.
As for Farnell Stephens...
That guy was clearly just here to mess around. From the moment he said “Haha! The world is just one big maid café!”, he had already been disqualified.
That being said, when Nolan suddenly spoke up and questioned the trial earlier today, Violet, who was hiding in the shadows, got seriously startled at first.
She thought maybe Nolan had found out some secret information, like how the “Goddess” was actually just Violet pretending, or that she had secretly helped promote Elunie, Ayla, and the others behind the scenes.
Luckily, Nolan only complained about the trial rules, not about anything deeper. And to be fair, Violet hadn’t actually played favorites in that part.
She didn’t allow people who were eliminated from one part of the trial to compete again for other positions, not because she wanted to be unfair, but because the six divine weapons, the main rewards, had already been created.
Each one was designed to match one of the six elements (like Heaven, Earth, Fire, etc.), and could only be used properly by someone who was deeply connected to that element.
Just being strong wasn’t enough.
Nolan Sinong, in terms of both personality and power, only fit the “Heaven” element. Even though the other weapons were also very powerful, she wouldn’t be able to use them at all.
And because of the earlier reasons for not choosing her, Violet had no choice but to come up with some vague, mysterious explanation, something that sounded deep but even she herself didn’t really understand, just to get Nolan to back off for now.
Thankfully, the snow-country lady didn’t cause any more trouble. Otherwise, Violet really wouldn’t have known what to do.
But just like she said earlier, even though Nolan wasn’t suitable to become a divine hero, that didn’t mean they couldn’t work together.
By using her [Yin-Yang Eyes], which let her see people’s emotions, Violet could tell that this High Priestess of the [Eternal Winter Temple] was fighting hard to win a place in the trial, and it wasn’t because she was greedy for the weapon’s power. It felt more like she had some kind of reason that gave her no choice.
To be honest, Violet still knew almost nothing about the frozen lands far north of the Ice and Snow Empire. The only information she had came from books.
But for some reason, she had this strange feeling...
That whatever Nolan Sinong was hiding, and whatever secret was sealed away in that icy northern land, might be much deeper and more mysterious than anyone imagined.