While pursing her lips, Petra snapped her fingers and—Swoosh! A black shadow appeared beside her.
This figure, one of the female butlers, kneeled down and waited for Petra's command.
Although she was only in the entry stage of the Golden Core realm, Elli had put each of the female butlers through a personalized body refinement regimen. In other words, they were all body refiners. Therefore, despite being slightly behind Petra and the main cast, when including their unique physiques, they actually had strength and speed that were slightly superior to the likes of Rose and Soryn, nearly on par with Petra, and had the potential to surpass them, at least when it came to their physical bodies.
This was a beautiful young girl with light brown hair that had been tied back. She had deep hazel eyes, a slender body with the faintest hint of muscle, and a cold yet calm personality. Like all the butlers, she wore a slightly masculine uniform, but the chest area was given plenty of room to grow.
Her name was Alina, and she was the leader of the twelve female butlers.
As for her background, this was one of the so-called 'time bombs' that Petra didn't dare to touch.
While looking at her, Petra commanded her to go and investigate the source of the commotion.
With a slight nod, the female butler flashed away.
While Petra waited for a response, she went back to what she was doing…
* * *
Time passed just like that—
-
While leisurely talking to the others, Wind glanced towards the massive stage below.
"…It's almost time…" She muttered.
Mell nodded from the side.
"The Opening Ceremony should begin soon. If we don't move now, the crowds near the central square will become impossible to traverse, and we might get left behind."
Petra rolled her small body upright before stretching both her arms overhead to yawn.
"Mm~ okay! Then let's go!"
Rose stood up with Lira, Poya followed, and Mell cleaned everything up in the background. Meanwhile, Wind began reorganizing the table while checking their entry tokens one final time.
Just as Petra hopped down from the couch—
Swoosh! The butler quietly appeared outside the entrance of the booth and walked in.
Petra looked at her, and their eyes met.
The woman respectfully lowered her head before walking over and crouching beside Petra. She leaned in and whispered something into her ear.
Petra's eyes blinked, then she hummed in affirmation.
Across the table, Rose watched this extremely pretentious little scene with a weird expression. Why did it suddenly feel like Petra was some kind of tiny villainous character from a bad book?
No, she seemed to really fit that description, if only her actions were a bit more mature…
Wind turned towards Petra, her eyes almost saying: 'Tell me what's going on!'
"…Mm?"
After a moment to look smug, Petra explained the source of the commotion.
"Hehehe! Apparently, someone finally got themselves into trouble~!"
Wind's eyes narrowed.
"…Was it her?"
Petra folded her arms, then nodded. "That's right! It was the Shadow Clan girl from earlier!"
As Petra predicted, the Shadow Clan assassin from earlier that day was, in fact, actively being hunted by the Church of Light. The mark that she had felt when they bumped into each other was too well hidden , so not long after they separated, the blinky boys had naturally caught up.
After that, the Shadow Clan girl was caught by the Church of Light, and a fight immediately broke out that caused a lot of chaos. Because their levels were too high, the city guard was struggling to keep up with their battle, so they called for reinforcements, and were now focused on protecting the surrounding civilians while waiting for backup to arrive.
Ever since the fight had begun, the 'chase' had actually spanned a large part of the city.
Both sides were extremely fast, and despite the priest and paladins sent out being a bit bulky and slow, making it hard for them to keep up with the woman from the Shadow Clan, the Church of Light naturally had a means to deal with her!
Actually, they had been pursuing that woman for a long time, but between the initial chase and now, that was the time when she tried to stab Petra, and it just so happened to overlap with the period when the church temporarily pulled back to call in more professionals.
Petra didn't know whether it was good or bad luck, but it did indeed happen that way.
As for this profession meant to deal with the Shadow Clan, it was a unique derivative of the Priest profession called a 'Light Seeker', only this type of priest was focused on high-speed combat, specifically used to track down fast and agile targets instead of killing people with the dark element.
This was a trade-off, because for those lunatics from the Church of Light, being able to kill 'evil' even a bit less was strongly reviled, but in exchange, they would obtain the speed needed to target a very specific group of dark-type creatures.
For them, this exchange easily made up for the disparity in strength…
The fight had started early in the morning and didn't originally involve the area around the festival, but because they had still not caught their target, it eventually reached all the way here. With the later arrival of the Light Seekers, the conflict only intensified, and most of the commotion had come from the recent few battles between these two parties.
"I have to say, even I'm surprised at just how much those guys are struggling to catch one person."
Petra wrinkled her nose.
"If I remember correctly, what were they called... it was just 'Angel,' right? Where did those things go? Back in Imai, wasn't there three? Since the Church of Light is still here, shouldn't they be here too?"'
Mell shook her head, correcting Petra. "In the Church of Light, the Angels have a very high status. They may have already returned, and what we see now is just the stragglers." Mell said this, knowing a bit about the Church of Light, but if she knew that the team from the Church of Light they had seen in Imai was a special missionary team that existed specifically to hunt down a 'Witch', then she would likely have a very different view on the situation.
Petra didn't dwell on it and continued.
While speaking, she inwardly thought to herself that if it weren't for the Church of Light, that woman would likely continue to pester her. Next time, if she runs into a member of the Shadow Clan, it's better to just nip it in the bud—that is, after collecting a few for experimental research, Hehehehe!
"Also, from the quick investigation just now, the source of the initial conflict didn't seem to be a battle between light and dark…" Petras' eyes flashed with an unreadable light.
Just like Petra suspected, the Church of Light, although extremely disrespectful under normal circumstances, seemed to know something about the Hellion family's background and their connection to 'that family' from overseas, so they had restrained themselves, at least more than they did in Imai.
As for why a fight still broke out, apparently, there was some juicy gossip between one of the priests and that Shadow Clan member!
"A romantic tryst? A loveless betrayal? Deceit or some kind of revenge? Hehe! Nobody seems to know, but one thing is for sure, and that is that a young priest is enraged and leading the charge!"
Whatever had happened, it was clearly bad enough to make him ignore his future punishment for mobilizing the forces of the Church without permission!
Mell turned to Petra.
"Then, little master, what would you like to do?"
Did she even need to think about it? "Of course, we're going to join the fun!" Petra loudly declared and raised both hands excitedly. "Let's go take a look!"
Wind's expression instantly fell. She looked towards Mell, glared, then opened her mouth.
"Absolutely not!"
Petra's big black eyes blinked, then rolled, before she opened her mouth, and in the cutest voice she could muster, she said, "But I'm curious~ so curious~! Aren't you curious~? Big sister Wind~?"
"That's exactly the problem!"
Petra's grumpy little face puffed up!
"Hump!"
She turned to Mell, quickly looking for a second opinion, but Wind cut her off right from the start.
"We can go, but don't interfere! Remember, we're here for the secret realm! Keep a low profile, a low profile!" Wind said these words, but Petra felt as if she could actually hear her gritting her teeth.
Seeing Wind's distress, Mell kindly helped, "Little master, don't forget your 'five principles to live by'…"
Petra's eyes lit up!
That's right, that's right! She forgot she was doing that now!
What was it, ah, right!
—Petras Five Principles of Life, No.3: 'Be lowkey, be lowkey, There's no need for stares!'
If it was fated, then the fun would find her, but if she didn't want to play, then hide away!
"I understand! I was way too quick to jump out! But if I'm not wrong…" She smiled mysteriously. "There's more than one reason why the Church of Light is restraining itself. Tehehe! It shouldn't just be the Royal Family…!"
Mell's gaze deepened slightly.
"…Meaning?"
Petra only giggled while hopping ahead. "Hehehe… let's go find out~ let's go find out~!"
With that, they finished packing and left the amphitheater…
* * *
Central Square---
"What do you mean the City Guard can't stop them?! Then what the hell are they even here for!"
"That's the third street already…"
"Move back! MOVE BACK!"
"Get out of my way! GET OUT!"
Countless roars rang out as the surrounding pedestrians moved around.
This was a small park to the side of the Central Square.
The surrounding civilians were pushed out of the way, then packed tightly against the surroundings, while armored guards desperately tried to move people away from the direction of the chaos. Merchants quickly dragged away their carts, children cried, and many nearby adventurers climbed onto the railings and rooftops to watch the commotion unfold.
Boom!
A distant building trembled as a pillar of radiant light erupted somewhere not far away!
"The Church of Light has gone insane!"
"It's a monster!"
"No, that priest!"
"What happened?"
"No, no, I heard that woman killed one of their people!"
"Killed? Didn't you see it earlier? The man was running around with a woman's underpants! I heard that someone got castrated later, but—"
"Who, who!? You don't mean that young priest, right?!"
"What did she even do?!"
"How should I know?!"
"What happened to the underpants!?"
"Who is this weirdo!"
"Ah! Help!"
If one paid close attention, they would find that while many people were still trying to run, just as many were sitting nearby, leisurely watching the show. Unlike the events back in Imai, when chaos descended on the capital, for whatever reason, there was a much laxer attitude towards it! For those watching from the sidelines, many found the actions of the Church of Light more interesting than worrying, treating it no differently than just another free performance filled with fools.
As for the identities of these people, well, they were naturally the large factions, and those related to them, such as the Dragon Clan, the Telltera, some young masters and misses from large overseas families, and countless people who seemed to originate from the underground world.
Regardless, the atmosphere grew increasingly tense as more and more people began retreating...
-
Not far from the chaos, two young officers from the city guard sat near an overturned stone fence.
One of them, a broad-shouldered young man with short brown hair, hissed through clenched teeth while hurriedly wrapping bandages around his right arm, or rather… where his right arm used to be!
The limb hadn't been severed, but there was a large hole in its side, leaving its survival up to fate.
As for why it could not be healed via magic, that was because the entire injured area had been 'vaporized' by a powerful light-element spell and 'seared shut'. The exposed flesh near the wound faintly glowed with a golden light, but no sense of sacredness could be felt from this injury, because the young man was currently overwhelmed with waves of pulsating pain that originated from the wound.
Beside him, a female guard with tied-back black hair slammed a glowing hand against his chest.
"Breathe properly, idiot!" She spat!
"Hiss! I'm trying! Ouch-ouch-ouch!"
Sweat rolled down their faces as a pale blue rune bloomed from the back of her hand and enveloped his body. The blue light met the golden light, and an acidic hiss sharply screamed!
"Tch—the light element fused too far into the wound…" she muttered bitterly. "This is going to take forever to heal, if at all." She looked around but found nothing. "If we can't find a superior to handle the high-level light elemental energy that is lingering in the wound, your arm is going to be lost!"
The injured young guard grimaced after hearing her, but all that came out was a groan.
"This feels a lot worse than getting hit by dark magic…"
"That's because it is!"
As they bickered, a few nearby guards overheard them, but chose to stay silent…
They all knew that they lacked the strength to 'clear' the wound, and like this young man, many people in the past few days had fallen victim to similar injuries caused by stray spells.
Although the Church of Light would not seek trouble, if one got in the way of their 'official business', they would not hesitate to stand by what they did and accuse you of heresy, marking you as an enemy of the God of Light! Because the God of Light was also the only Human God, the Church believed that they held absolute dominion over the protection of humanity and was often associated with the title of 'Human God', meaning that those who became an enemy of the church were enemies of humanity!
This was, of course, nonsense… but for lunatics like these, the truth of the matter didn't really matter…
Anyway—
Everyone knew that dark element attacks were terrifying, but light element spells…
Those were brutal!
Boom!
Another explosion echoed in the distance…