[Somewhere deep below the holy palace]

[Alaric point of view]

As Seraph who are now shape shift into an old follower and I are walking around, searching for Saint Louis, the one inside the cells catches my attention

Vampire, dwarf, elf, beastman, mermaid, fairy, human, and there's even a giant skull. From the looks of it, the fellows that are caged inhumanely by the Achalasia Externa, or rather, more specifically by Saintess Angela must have been brought here by the Dark guild members, in other word, slave trafficking.

(Holy country... Hmphh, I can't see anything holy about it) [Alaric]

If anything, the one that they heavily opposed, Saint Louis and Saintess Rumia, and the new religion as general are far better by more than a thousand mile. Saint Louis might have his dark background as the leader of Dark guild back in his younger day, and he might still carry a trace of his dark guild personality or mask with him, but he is a sincere person that wants nothing but the best for all of us, doing his best to work towards inter species peace even when he doubted his own credibility

As for Saintess Rumia, I might not know much about her. All I know about her is that she's rather oblivious and one of Princess Diana's childhood friend. Still, the way she holds her ground back during the debutante party, how she usually conducted mass, how she knock from door to door, gently preaching even the most scum old follower, even as far as getting splash by boiling oil by opposing old follower, and yet still pray nothing but the best for them, she has nothing but the utmost respect from me, and I won't mind serving her should Princess Diana task me to do so. Plus, even if I don't know all of that, the fact that she's the only person that can have a direct conversation with Goddess Achalasia is a concrete proof of her character, and she didn't even abuse it. The goddess can easily provide her with anything, and yet, she still work just as hard as anyone else

"Ughh..." [Saint Louis]

""!!"" [Alaric, Seraph]

It faints, and that groaning sound might come from the other slave, or maybe something is mimicking it, but

~Concentrate~

Both Seraph and I quickly give our full concentration to our sense of hearing, shutting down our eyes to heard better, as to confirm whether or not that groaning sound really is from whom we think it is

"Ha...Ha..." [Saint Louis]

"Now then, please ensure he is well rested. I can't wait to play with my dear Saint after this" [Saintess Angela]

"Yes O saintess" [Old follower]

It's rather far, but there's no mistaken. Amidst all the constant screaming of the slaves begging for mercy and their groaning pain, Saint Louis is here, and judging from the sound of it, Saintess Angela is also here, alongside few other old follower

(Alaric!) [Seraph]

(Better play it safe. We will wait for Saintess Angela and few of the followers to leave, and then we take our actions) [Alaric]

(Guess we are thinking the same thing) [Seraph]

We walk slowly toward the cell where Saint Louis is held, with me quickly using shadow dive, entering Seraph's shadow as

((She's here)) [Alaric, Seraph]

That vile saintess and few of the old follower crosses our path. If it wasn't for the overwhelming advantage you have now, I can just went out and slice each of their throats, but now, Saint Louis rescue operations as well as stopping the fallen god reincarnation takes the utmost priority. Should we cause a ruckus here, the two operations will get severely hinder

(She's in good mood. Humming all of the sudden, but more importantly...) [Alaric]

(I'm glad she didn't notice you inside of my shadow) [Seraph]

(And I'm becoming even more envy with that shape shift ability of yours. It will prove useful if I have an ancestor who married a shape shifter) [Alaric]

(Have to thank the previous Seraph for that one) [Seraph]

As Seraph started to increase his pace of walking, I can feel my heartbeat becoming faster and faster, Saint Louis cells are rather large, it's the farthest and isolated from the rest of Saintess Angela bought slaves and

"Ooh, so this is where the infamous saint being held" [Seraph]

"Don't! Saintess Angela forbid any of us from injuring this dog!" [Old follower]

"I see. That's good" [Seraph]

"Huh!?" [Old follower]

While the two confused old follower are trying to comprehend as to why this "old follower" in front of them are speaking something rather nonsensical, I quickly leap out and slice their throat while Seraph, without being instructed, quickly closes their mouth as to prevent any scream from them

"Alaric... Seraph..." [Saint Louis]

"You look positively awful. What did they do to you?" [Seraph]

As Seraph said that, he begins a prompt treatment to Saint Louis. As for me, I stand by, keeping watch. Still, his face, and his shattered teeth... No doubt about it, he was subjected to face crusher few moments ago

"Here, drink this energy and mana potion" [Seraph]

"Thank you" [Saint Louis]

Saint Louis might be in a state of extreme mana depletion, and he looks pale, as pale as vampire, but he still say his prayer before drinking the two potions, and just when he is a bit more stable

"Thank you. I really mean it" [Saint Louis]

"It's fine. Can you walk? I'll "escort" you out under the pretext of Saintess Angela order" [Seraph]

"Right..." [Saint Louis]

"Don't push yourself too much. Your service is still needed. After seeing all of this, my hatred towards them multiplies by several folds" [Alaric]

"Hard to disagree with that statement" [Seraph]

With that, the two of us escort Saint Louis. Taking every possible precaution as to avoid detection, and when we enter a room

"Saint. Louis. Out? Angela. Gave. Permission?" [Zin]

A half giant, who is resting, greet us. He looks rather dumb, maybe we can trick him... but should all of it fails, then we have to kills him, and killing him who is said to possess the extreme gigantification racial magic, will be an extremely hard challenge