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In the main hall of the Luminous Church, the most important figure in the Luminous Theocracy watched the door benevolently. Despite his usually stoic face, the old man couldn’t help but smile when he saw the pretty girl stepping through the door.

“Welcome home, Thea.”

Before the Pope could open his arms, a soft body crashed into his arms.

“I’m back, Your Holiness.”

The most sincere smile bloomed across the face of the girl in the Pope’s arm. Thea looked like a girl who had reunited with her father after a long time.

Both of them were not related by blood. Due to Thea’s constitution, it was difficult for her to live with ordinary people. Hence, she had to keep a distance from her biological parents too. The Pope was the person who raised her and Thea saw him like a father and mother figure. She was closer to him than her own biological parents.

It was her first time being away from home for such a long period of time, Thea naturally missed the old Pope.

Thea’s innocent smile turned the place a lot brighter.

Priest Alucard went slightly pale and was about to remind the saintess of her own constitution. However, he was stopped by a glance from the Pope.

“If you dare to say that, I’ll make sure you die” — that was probably what the Pope told him with his eyes.

Alucard naturally didn’t dare to defy the Pope’s orders. He could only watch the Pope caress the head of the girl who was clinging to his chest with a kind smile on his face, while using his powerful magic to crush the collapsing roof into fine powder.

“Did Thea run into any trouble outside?”

Thea shut her eyes comfortably while she enjoyed the pats on her head like a kitten. “Trouble? I don’t think so.”

Under Alucard’s painful gaze that seemed to be asking her to speak with her conscience, Thea tilted her head and thought for a while. “The trial went very smoothly this time. I didn’t meet any bad people, nor did I encounter any falling rocks, meteorites or mudslides. Even the carriage came back intact.”

Alucard’s face twitched when he heard Thea and felt for his purse with extreme heartache. It would seem like there was no way for him to get those ten gold coins reimbursed.

“That’s great.” The Pope said with satisfaction. “It seems like our little Thea has grown up.”

“Of course.” Thea raised her chin proudly, then suddenly remembered an important thing. “Oh right, I made friends during my trip this time!” She exclaimed happily.

“Friends?” The Pope echoed her words in surprise. Due to Thea’s identity and her constitution, friends were something that was out of her reach.

At the same time, the Pope was relieved too. Thea being able to make friends was one less worry for him.

Even so, he had the responsibility as her guardian to further understand what kind of friends Thea had made.

“Is that friend of yours aware of your identity?”

“Not just one friend, I made two!” Thea corrected him proudly. “They are aware of my identity since I was the one who personally told them.”

“Oh? What was their reaction then?”

“Reaction?” Thea tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Probably just an ‘oh’ or something along that line.”

Just an ‘oh’? So it seemed like Thea’s friends didn’t believe that she was a saintess at all. Now that the Pope thought about it, it was only natural that anyone would think that their friend was joking if she’d told them she was a saintess.

Even so, the Pope was a little offended at the thought that someone would think that his lovely saintess was lying. How could Thea be a liar? She had such a pure and kind soul!

“Then what kind of people are your friends?”

“What kind of people? Maybe one is someone who dares to do everything, while the other one is someone who doesn’t want to do anything?” Thea said.

So one was a problematic child and the other was a useless neet?! If he allowed Thea to hang around these kinds of people, she would definitely catch their bad influence.

The Pope felt distressed at the thought of Thea ruling over this country like a salted fish and maybe occasionally issuing detrimental orders that would lead to the downfall of the country, such as assaulting the neighboring countries. How could he allow Thea to become a salted fish?!

Just when he was trying to think of a way to make Thea distance herself from the problematic child and the useless neet, the Pope felt a sudden pain shooting up from his toes and promptly hissed in pain.

Thea retracted her foot and huffed angrily, “Your Holiness, are you thinking about something rude again?” She knew the Pope’s habits the best. Whenever he looked absent-minded like this, he must be thinking about something bad.

“Lilith and Sae are my good friends. We will go through thick and thin together, and never abandon each other. They’re not as bad as you think… no, they’re not bad at all! If Your Holiness does something to them, I shall never forgive you!”

“No, of course this old man won’t do anything to Thea’s friends. Friends of Thea are my friends too. Naturally, I shall treat them like guests.” The Pope quickly slapped his own chest and promised her.

Seeing that Thea was still a little skeptical, the Pope assured her again. “How about I give you my swear in the name of the Goddess? O’ Goddess in heaven, the 132nd Pope of the Luminous Theocracy swears that he shall never do anything bad against Thea’s friends, Lilith and Sae. Otherwise, I shall be struck by lightning.”

Although he had taken an oath, the Pope couldn’t help but feel a little lonely. Thea, whom he regarded as his daughter for so many years, had finally made friends who could go through thick and thin with her. She no longer had to rely on a dying old man like him and seemed to favor her new friends more than him. This was probably how a father would feel… when his daughter was about to marry another man.

Thea finally smiled again. She put her arms around the Pope’s neck and pecked on his cheek like a little bird. “Your Holiness is the best!”

Ah… How could such a lovely angel possibly make friends with people who do bad things? He should believe that the friends of an angel were angels too.

Besides, Lilith and Sae sounded like the names of adorable girls. How could they possibly be a problematic child and a useless neet? What troubles could these frail little girls possibly cause? He was really being a worrywart.

However… he seemed to have heard of Lilith’s name from somewhere before…