"BY THE NAME OF GODDESS LUMARIA AND GOD VINDUR, CEASE THIS SIEGE IMMEDIATELY!"

I turned towards the direction of the loud shout, only to see 2 men donning Priest robes standing in the middle of the battlefield.

"Who are they?", I muttered out loud.

Aryl grinned at my question. "They're our reinforcement"

"Them?", I alternated my gaze between the men and Aryl confusedly. "There's only 2 of them! And even I can tell that they're no stronger than the commander!"

"Their power is not what important"

Seeing that I was still looking at her skeptically, Aryl sighed. "Look, Celi, just watch them and you'll understand"

Nodding, I turned my attention towards the Priests again.

Ray, who had now noticed the presence of the Priests, shouted back. "Who are you? This is an ongoing siege! The churches shouldn't intervene!"

Because of his position, Ray couldn't see the Priest of Light, who was standing leisurely behind the other Priest.

"I'm here under God Vindur's will!", the Priest of Wind shouted imposingly. "Stop this farce immediately or else we will consider your actions to be heresy!"

Ray frowned at his words. "What the fuck are you saying? Even if you're a Priest, we're viscount Uqas' army—"

Before Ray could finish his sentence, the Priest of Light suddenly revealed himself and spoke with a soothing voice. "My child, calm down"

Instantly, Ray got down on his knees. "F- Father of Light!"

Seeing the difference in Ray's attitude, the Priest of Wind snorted at the Priest right beside him.

Deliberating ignoring the Wind Priest, the Priest of Light spoke up again. "My Child, you should cease this siege immediately! An Inquisitor has found a Void bomb lying inside Uqas' estate"

"VOID BOMB!?", Ray widened his eyes in disbelief.

"Indeed...", the priest of Wind suddenly interjected. "...Along with plans of how that bastard would blow up my Church of Wind!"

The priest of Light then took out a scroll and read its content out loud.

"As per the Artmaria pact the Empire signed with every Theocracies, including the Luminous Theocracy, Uqas Tyeranz will be taken to the Luminous Theocracy to be interrogated at the Main Basilica of Light. And he will be stripped of his titles"

He then turned towards the army with a warm gaze. "Children of Light, you no longer need to participate in needless bloodshed. Pray daily, and Goddess Lumaria will forgive your sins"

Instantly, every soldiers and knights threw their weapons away, knelt down, and gave prayers to Goddess Lumaria.

Now turning back towards Aryl with a shocked expression, I stuttered. "Th- This..."

"Yes", Aryl said with a smile on her face. "This is why I love religion... You can brainwash even armies with it"

I looked towards the praying army again in shock. Even though I considered myself to be a fairly devout follower of Goddess Lumaria, I really couldn't see myself kneeling down and pray just because a Priest told me to!

'M- Maybe I should pray less...'

And with that thought, I quickly followed after Aryl, who was ordering the militia to put down their weapons and open the town's gate.

...

After a while, Aryl and I arrived before the Priest of Light.

Upon seeing us, the Priest smiled pleasantly and extended his hand out to shake Aryl's hand. "Aryl Myrsky, is it?"

"Yes", Aryl nodded.

Similarly nodding, his smile widened. "It's an honor to meet the servant of the Imperial princess"

Laughing nervously, Aryl stuttered as she looked at the Priest. "S- So, where's my... rewards?"

"Oh!", he laughed heartily. "I almost forgot hahahaha!"

However, something told me that he didn't really forget about it.

'No, that can't be... I can't picture a Priest of Light acting like how Aryl would...'

Putting such thoughts aside, I turned my attention towards them again.

The Priest of Light look out stacks of paper from his Space pouch and dropped them on Aryl's hands.

"Sign these first"

...

After a few hours, Aryl finished signing every forms and documents with a tired expression on her face.

"All done..."

Taking them back into his Space pouch, the Priest took out 5 Platinums and handed them to Aryl.

"As per the Distritoris agreement between all the churches, Inquisitor Aryl Myrsky will get 2% of the heretic's wealth as a reward. The remaining 98% will be used as offering to Goddess Lumaria and God Vindur"

The Priest of Light then joined up with the Priest of Wind again and left the area.

Seeing that the Priests had left, Aryl gritted her teeth and stomped on the ground in anger and frustration. "Greedy bastards! As if the Gods would want or need money more then me!"

Calming down, and looking at the 'pitiful' amount of 5 Platinums she received, Aryl sighed. "I can confidently say that this has been an absolute waste of my time"

She then turned her gaze towards me and asked. "Celi, do you have any of your belongings left in the town?"

"No..."

"Great!", she heaved a sigh of relief as she looked away from Ascurt town. "Then we're getting out of here right now"

"So soon? But it has only been a few hours since the siege ended! Shouldn't we stay to celebrate or something?"

Hearing my question, Aryl turned towards me with a frown. "Oi, Celi, that's exactly why we need to leave now!"

"Why?"

"We need to get out of here before those pedophiles remember Lucy's promise!"

"...You mean the lump of Ash—"

"Yes, I know! Now get going!"

Before Aryl could take one step forward though, we could hear a familiar voice calling out to us. "Hey Aryl, you're leaving already?"

Aryl slowly turned around to face the owner of the voice - Jake, with a stiff smile. "Haha yes, I've got an urgent businesses to attend to"

"Oh, I see", Jake looked disappointed for some reasons. "Anyways, I want to tell you that the town's elders have unanimously decided to erect a statue of you and your apprentice - Araceli for protecting our town"

"Is that so haha... give them my thanks for me"

Nodding, Jake waved one more time before running back to the town.

Now that Jake was out of sight, Aryl scowled in frustration once more. "Bastards! I'll surely destroy that statue of yours when I come back!"

She then turned towards me again. This time, there was a trace of uncertainty in her eyes.

"Celi..."

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you still want to follow me?"

'What kind of question is that?', I thought.

After all, my answer to her question was as obvious as it could ever be. "Of course I'm sure!"

"What about that blonde bastard though?", Aryl carefully asked.

"You mean Charles?"

Aryl nodded her head.

Thinking for a while, I answered. "I still want to get my revenge before doing anything, besides..."

My face turned sad as I recalled the sight of Charles having an unmistakable expression of love and infatuation while celebrating with a certain someone a few hours ago.

"...I don't think things would work out between me and him"

Nodding her head in understanding, Aryl spoke with a consoling gaze. "Ah, I see. You got NTR'd, right?"

"Huh?", I flushed red in embarrassment as I flailed my arms around, trying to solve this misunderstanding as soon as possible. "N- NO!"

"Don't be embarrassed", Aryl emphatically patted the barrier above my shoulder. "Even I sometimes feel like I got NTR'd when I see that bastard Arthur be with Sylv— you know what? Nevermind..."

Ignoring me trying to convince her otherwise, Aryl spoke as she stared straight into my eyes.

"I will ask you again, Celi. Are you sure you want to follow me? Things will only get harder from now on"

Hearing this, I stopped trying to reason with her and nodded my head resolutely once more.

"I'm certain!"

"Alright then", Aryl turned away from the town again and took a step forward. "Let's go!"

Following the figure of Aryl which was dyed orange in dusk, my mind couldn't help but to drift back to a certain blonde knight. Erasing the affection I developed for him during the past few days, I muttered with a smile on my face.

"I hope you find happiness with old Bertha, Charles!"

...

Currently, we were en route to Kerudark city. Despite it only having been a week since we've left Ascurt town, we were already faced with a serious crisis.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO POISON ME!?", Aryl shouted as she coughed out the food I made.

In response, I looked at her in confusion. "B- But this is how I normally cook!"

Hearing this, Aryl plopped down to the ground with a defeated expression. "Great... neither of us can cook, what a great start!"

Due to Aryl only having rations prepared for one person, our food ran out quickly. Thus, she opted to hunt monsters for meals.

The first time, she brought back some boars. However, she somehow roasted them until they turned into black crisp. Thus, she asked me to prepare the meal a few hours back.

And... you already know the results.

Pulverizing the rest of the 'poisonous meat' with her Lightning magic, Aryl went back into her tent with a scowl. "Forget it. We're 2 days away from the nearest town anyways. I can hold in my hunger until then"

...

Just like Aryl had said, it took us exactly 2 days to get to the next town.

It seemed that news of us saving Ascurt town hasn't arrived her yet. Otherwise, I was sure that we would have gotten swarmed by people as soon as we got close to the town.

Pausing my thoughts there, I joined Aryl on her walk down the busy market, looking for a restaurant to eat at.

The marketplace was lively. With Adventurers going in and out of weapon shops, merchants trying to scam inexperienced buyers, and an orc trying to sell vegetables.

"Huh?", I stopped dead in my track as I looked weirdly at the muscular Orc, who was selling vegetables.

However, his method of selling was strange and seemingly counter-intuitive. After all, he only agreed to let people who would make good use of the vegetables buy from him.

Unexpectedly though, his stall was selling very well, with every buyer seeming... manlier after leaving the orc's stall.

Noticing that I was absent, Aryl turned around and shouted at me. "Celi! What are you doing?"

In response, I pointed towards the orc. "Look, Aryl! There's an orc selling vegetables!"

Aryl followed the direction I was pointing at and widened her eyes in surprise. "Cr*ckt*?"

"Who?"

"Nevermind about that", Aryl shook her head as she gestured for me to continue walking. "Let's go already, I'm starving"

Although I had an almost instinctive urge to go and buy vegetables from the honest-looking orc, I managed to control myself and follow Aryl.

...

After a while, both Aryl and I stopped at a stall. However, it wasn't a food stall. Instead, it was a stall that sold bizarre trinkets.

"Welcome, ladies!", the owner of the stall rubbed his hands together greedily as he looked at us. "I'm guessing you're interested in my trinkets?"

Aryl, who was the one who made us stop at this stall, ignored his question and picked up an unusually shiny rock.

"H- How much for this?", she stuttered with shinning eyes.

The owner frowned at the sight of Aryl ignoring him. However, he soon regained his original professional demeanor.

"Ah, the rock of Arliste. The legendary rock that was thrown at Empress Angelica when she was still an Imperial princess by a random peasant child"

Seeing that Aryl was still fixating her gaze on the rock and ignoring him, the owner sighed. "It's 200 Silvers"

"Wh- What!?", Aryl widened her eyes in disbelief. "That expensive?"

"I have to make profits somehow, little girl. I can't feed my children otherwise. Now do you want to buy it or not?"

At his words, Aryl reluctantly placed the rock back with longing apparently in her eyes.

"Aryl...", I tugged the hems of her shirt as I glanced at the rock. "...I can pay for the rock if you really want it"

"You don't need to", Aryl shook her head with great reluctance. "It just... reminded me of my grandmother. She always wore a rock that looks exactly like this on her neck as a necklace"

"..."

"B- But", her voice then cracked with sadness. "Sh- She went missing one day a- and..."

Tears then lightly gathered in the corners of her eyes as she buried her face in her hands to sob.

Seeing this, I couldn't help but to feel sympathetic for her.

Sharing my emotions, the owner of the stall spoke up with a much gentler voice. "Little girl..."

Hearing this, Aryl turned her head up to meet the owner's gaze.

I could feel my heart melting in sadness as I saw tears running down that immaculate face of hers.

Looking at her with similarly sympathetic eyes, the owner picked up the rock again and held it to her. "Take it"

"Wh- What!?", Aryl was flustered. "I- I can't! You still have to make a profit to feed your family!"

In response though, the owner looked at her with guilt before forcing the rock into her hands and spoke with a resolute tone.

"I won't take no for an answer! I had to admit, I... lied to you. I actually found the rock by the side of the road anyways, so maybe it did belong to your grandmother. So I'm just returning it to its rightful owner"

Clutching the rock in her hands and holding it against her chest, Aryl looked at the owner with a grateful gaze. "Thank you!"

"Don't worry about it. Just remember to buy more stuff from me if you ever meet me again haha!"

...

Waving goodbye to the stall owner, I walked right behind Aryl with a complicated gaze.

'Aryl... I never expected you to have this side to you...'

After all, up until now, she had been acting like a typical street thug. I never knew that she had such an emotional side to her.

'And... sometimes I forgot that she's supposed to be younger than me...'

However, I was soon woken up from my thoughts as I noticed Aryl trembling violently with her face buried in her hands.

'Ah... she must be reminiscing the sad memories'

And with that thought, I spoke with a soft tone as I patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Aryl, you don't need to be sad. I'm sure you will be able to find your gr—"

However, I halted my sentence and dumbfoundedly looked at her as I realized that she wasn't shaking from being emotional. Instead, she was shaking because she was... desperately trying to hold in her laughter.

"PFFFFT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Aryl couldn't take it anymore and laughed like a madwoman, attracting weird looks from everyone.

She then looked towards the direction of the trinket stall, which was now a good distance away from us, before laughing yet again.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAH! I- I CAN'T BELIEVE HE FELL FOR IT! PFFFFFFFT"

She then agglomerated Space mana and lightly tapped the shiny rock with her fingers, making it vanishing into seemingly thin air.

"Another shiny thing in my collection!"

I stared at the laughing Aryl blankly, trying to process what the fuck had just happened. Before I realized it, I was already clutching the handle of my shovel in my hand.

Aryl's smile looked very annoying to me. That beautiful, immaculate face with molten-red eyes would look much better if it was hit by a shovel right now.

'I'm sure she wouldn't mind a little hit...'

Unaware of my thoughts, Aryl looked at me with a proud gaze. "Celi, you were able to discern my plan almost immediately! As expected of my apprentic—"

BAM—!

"Ouch!", Aryl lets out a squeal of pain as she lightly touched her bleeding nose. "What was that for!?"

In response to her question, I merely glared at her.

"I should have guessed that you're nothing more than a street thug!"

Aryl looked at me confusedly as she muttered under her breath.

"What is she talking about...?"