Chapter 388 - 386: The Mysterious Figure
"The incident happened some time ago when you hadn’t returned yet."
Benovia began to slowly recount the ’background story.’
"I was taking a walk that day when I suddenly sensed pollution waves nearby. When I rushed over, I found a mother holding a child, kneeling on the ground, barely alive, seemingly tortured beyond belief..."
With Benovia’s words, Hilia roughly understood what the matter was.
She coincidentally encountered a mother and child, the mother in her twenties and the child just a few months old. When Benovia went to help her up, she refused, claiming that only by kneeling persistently could she move the God with her determination and get His response, saving her child.
Benovia’s examination revealed a trace of demonic qi on the child, seemingly due to this demonic qi pollution. It made the child appear terminally ill, barely alive but looking like he was on the verge of death.
"When I purified her child, I discovered a problem. The pollution on that baby was not the cause of the illness; instead, the pollution reacted miraculously with his sickness, preventing the baby’s immediate death and keeping him hanging by a thread."
"I didn’t dare to purify that demonic qi and chose to seek out Phil at the Holy Court."
"Did he get saved?" Hilia asked.
Benovia nodded: "He was saved. Phil, who has long dealt with demonic qi and is a Holy Priest, quickly dispelled the demonic qi from the baby and incidentally solved the mysterious illness."
"That’s great, so who do you want me to investigate?"
"The mysterious figure who made that mother kneel, asking for the God’s response." Benovia said, "Through my inquiries, the mother said she did it following a Great Priest’s command. The Great Priest, whose origins were unknown, said that kneeling for three days in a designated location would garner the God’s response."
Benovia’s expression grew somber: "Against such people, I would never let them off. But the mother refuses to divulge any information about that ’Great Priest,’ so I want you to help me investigate his background."
Hilia pointed to herself: "Benovia, do I seem like someone skilled in deduction and investigation?"
Benovia was confident: "No, but as long as Hilia takes action, she’ll definitely find it successfully. After all, you’re the first Holy Daughter to receive a divine revelation!"
Hilia: "...I don’t think it’s possible. We’re in the middle of exams now, and they’ll be over soon, and then we have to join in the siege against the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association. In such a short time, I won’t be able to uncover anything."
Benovia replied: "Just investigate casually. Mainly, it’s to see if you step in, whether that mother will divulge the ’Great Priest’s’ information."
"Why don’t you seek out the Law Enforcement Knight or the Discipline Knight? They’re more adept at such investigations."
Benovia replied: "I feel that this matter isn’t as simple as it appears. Although the mother didn’t reveal the opponent’s whereabouts, she did share certain details, like the ’Great Priest’ didn’t ask for her money, only instructing her to do this for the ’God’s response.’"
"Alright then, tell me where the mother is, what’s her name, and I’ll check it out this afternoon. But I can’t guarantee I’ll find anything."
Hilia paused, then added: "If you feel that the person pretending to be a Great Priest means no harm and there’s nothing to uncover, perhaps there’s no need to investigate further."
Benovia replied: "I know, I know, so I entrust this to Hilia."
Hilia nodded silently, "Alright."
...
Afternoon.
Following the address provided by Benovia, Hilia arrived at the outskirts of Huijin City, an area connected to the city but characterized by low-rise buildings.
This was originally the slum area of Huijin City, later on the Holy Court spent money to build houses for the residents of this area. These houses lacked the grandeur of the high-rises within Huijin City, all four to five stories high, resembling simple matchbox-like dwellings.
These ’matchboxes’ weren’t one per person, but one room per person, with communal toilets on each floor.
Seeing these low-rise buildings, Rose couldn’t help but sigh: "The development of this era is so strange, lacking any feel of a modern metropolis, it looks like an odd blend of ancient and modern times."
Hilia didn’t understand what Rose meant by a modern metropolis. In her mind, isn’t Huijin City a ’modern metropolis’?
The house in front was where Benovia mentioned the mother resided.
The mother, named Grace, lived on the second floor.
Hilia was already disguised as an ordinary woman, hesitating whether to go up and what to say if she did.
At that moment, someone passed by her with their head down, heading towards the staircase.
"Let’s go up and check the situation first."
With that in mind, Hilia followed behind that person, suddenly pausing.
She saw the person ahead going towards Grace’s home.
"Is this... the ’Great Priest’ that Benovia mentioned?"
Hilia’s heart skipped a beat.
How could it be so coincidental?
"Unlikely, perhaps just a visitor."
Hilia adjusted her Disguise Skill’s effect to blend in with the environment, moving to the side of the railing, pretending to look down while actually eavesdropping on the conversation inside.
"Great Priest, you’ve finally arrived."
"Mm, how do you feel?"
"Thank you, my child was saved. The beautiful divine messenger took us to the Huijin Divine Hall, where a beautiful angel treated my child. Her medical skills are as flawless as her face."
"That’s good."
"Great Priest, without your guidance, we would never have met the divine messenger. I’m so grateful to you, I..."
"Don’t thank me. You should thank the ’divine messenger’ and the ’beautiful angel.’ They’re the ones who saved you, not me. I merely had you kneel on the ’divine messenger’s route."
"Huh? Wasn’t it because I was kneeling that I got the God’s response?"
"God... forget it, it wasn’t God who saved you. It was those two ’beautiful angels.’ If you don’t thank them but thank some supposed God, don’t come looking for me again."
"I’m sorry, sorry, Great Priest, I was wrong. I should indeed thank those two angels. You’re right, all Gods are false!"
"..."
Hilia frowned slightly.
The so-called ’Great Priest’ had a voice difficult to discern gender from. From the conversation with Grace, it seemed like he was plotting against Benovia, not genuinely making Grace kneel with her child for three days.
He seemed aware Benovia would pass by, noticing the demonic qi in Grace’s child, and then take it to Phil for treatment.
In this situation, the ’Great Priest’ has only one possibility—
A familiar person to Benovia.
Or someone who knows Benovia and Phil very well.
Who could it be?
Hilia pondered while the ’Great Priest’ had already come out, with head down, making it hard to see his appearance.
Hilia directly approached him.
"Great Priest, I need your help."