Chapter 1213 - 561
"Looks like I have to take another long trip," Motan said, shaking his ears and letting out a breath, laughing softly. "Really now, I was thinking I could have a good rest for a while."
The current Pope, Saint Ambro, furrowed his brows and shook his head with a stooped figure. "You should indeed rest a little longer. The strength of the Goddess of Darkness is more tenacious than imagined. If you don’t take proper time to recover, it’s easy to sustain permanent injuries. I assume you wouldn’t want the young ones to worry about you, right?"
Xia Lian, who had been indifferent, was caught off guard by the last thing Ambro said, causing her to pause briefly. She then turned to look at the two young people beside her and, as expected, saw Yu Chen’s face, unable to conceal her concern, and Motan’s slightly worried expression.
"You sure talk a lot..."
Xia Lian first gave her Pope a glance, then walked over to Yu Chen and gave her a big, carefree hug, cheerfully saying, "Be good, I’ll be back very soon if there are no accidents."
"What if there is an accident?"
Knowing that the girl beside him was easily persuaded, Motan cut in before Yu Chen could speak. "Your Imperial Highness said the power of the Goddess of Darkness is stubborn, which means your condition is still quite bad, right? Just a short while ago, tens of thousands of Low Rank Undead almost overwhelmed you. Are you sure you’re okay to go out under these circumstances?"
His Imperial Highness Ambro beside them nodded vigorously. "The Black Vatican Priest speaks the truth."
"Don’t force me to curse..."
Xia Lian glanced over her shoulder at the elderly Lizardman Pope again and then waved her fist at Motan, threatening with the same tone, "And don’t make me hit you."
The old Pope and the young Priest both recoiled and obediently shut their mouths.
"But, Sister Saintess... You still can’t use Divine Arts, can you... um..."
Yu Chen, who hadn’t been threatened, bit her lip uneasily, then looked at Xia Lian with firm eyes. After a long silence, she spoke softly: "Why not let me accompany you? If we run into danger, you fight, I’ll heal."
"Ah! You’re too cute!"
Xia Lian exclaimed, then vigorously rubbed Yu Chen’s cheeks until her soft and fair skin turned rosy before letting go, tossing her hair with a devil-may-care attitude. "No need for that, don’t listen to Ambro exaggerate over there. I’m in fine shape now, and this trip isn’t into the Great Cathedral after dark. I’m just going to take a look at that little broken town in the south... uh, it is a little broken town, right? Anyway, it’s just checking out Stacked Rock City, what’s the danger? Could it be that the Violet Empire could spring a bunch of Heretics on me?"
[There actually are!]
[Seems like there really are!]
Motan and Yu Chen exchanged a look and simultaneously showed an understanding bitter smile, but they didn’t say much. After all, some unfortunate soul had already sent them a message briefly outlining the situation yesterday, and when Motan logged on today, he had made a point of contacting Double Leaf, passing on the news that the Marshall Family had fallen and the Whisper Heretics were almost annihilated to Yu Chen. So they really weren’t too worried about Xia Lian running into danger.
Even Motan, who knew that Marshel could still be alive, wasn’t worried, because he was very clear that the other was already one foot in the grave—he was, in some ways, a party to that transaction... thus, he was very much in the know about the dirty secrets involved.
"So you see, your concerns are all unnecessary."
Seeing the two did not respond, Xia Lian continued with a grin. "Don’t worry, I won’t be gone long, and nothing should happen on the way. If trouble does come knocking, tsk, worst case scenario, I’ll just have to fight. The other night, I just went for a stroll through the underground sanctuary and refilled my storage ring... Damn it!"
Her words halted abruptly as she turned her head with a changed expression toward the poker-faced Pope. She forced a smile. "You didn’t hear that, did you?"
"I heard it."
"Can you pretend you didn’t?"
"No."
"Trash..."
Xia Lian pouted, muttering some curse she surely picked up somewhere, and reluctantly removed her storage ring with a pained expression, passing it to Ambro, grinding her teeth. "I’ll fill out the paperwork when I get back..."
However, the old Pope didn’t even intend to accept the "ill-gotten gains." He simply shook his head, calmly stating, "Never mind, I’ll have someone account for what’s been taken from the sanctuary this time. Keep these items temporarily until you return. If anything is missing, we’ll deduct it from your allowance."
Hearing this, Xia Lian quickly slipped the ring back onto her finger, then cheerfully patted Ambro on the shoulder. "Thanks, then I’ll be off."
"Don’t get your hopes up, Tifero knows our methods and sources well. The likelihood of him still being there is very slim; you’re probably just making a trip for nothing."
Under Xia Lian’s surprisingly strong grip, Ambro’s stooped and lean body didn’t sway at all. He just looked at Xia Lian indifferently, asking slowly, "You do know that, don’t you?"
"I know," Xia Lian shrugged nonchalantly, not saying much more. After giving Yu Chen a big hug, she turned and walked into the layers of light emanating before her and disappeared in the blink of an eye.