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It was an extremely silent night.

Even so, no place in Aeria felt lonely on this silent night because every corner of the city was filled with people.

Whether it was the streets, in the air, or in the dark alleys, people could be seen shuttling back and forth continuously.

And these so-called people weren’t just any ordinary people, but the templars in white armor, or priests in white robes.

They were blades that the church had carefully honed to cut down all its enemies.

The white armors and robes were particularly conspicuous in the night so Jasmine could easily sense that she and her party had been surrounded. It was even more obvious for Lilith who possessed enhanced and night vision. The earth-shattering explosion had drawn sixty percent of the knights and priests in Aeria to this place, with a steady stream of reinforcement coming behind them.

They were truly backed into a corner.

“Um… Lilith, we’re friends, right?” Jasmine said tearfully. Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to escape, she could only place all her hopes on the mighty Lilith who had a saint-level scroll at her disposal.

“Oh, now you finally remembered that we’re friends?” Lilith crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Of course, haven’t we always been good friends?”

“Tsk, but I’m that friend who accidentally broke your most beloved statue.”

“It’s fine~ It’s just a doll, I… Don’t even sweat it~”

“Really? But you have this really ugly expression on your face.”

“It must be your imagination, I’m smiling right now. Even if it looks ugly, it’s still a smile.”

“Oh, that’s a smile huh? Well in that case…”

Jasmine looked hopeful.

A devilish smile appeared on Lilith’s face.

“Well in that case… You can just face the situation with a smile.”

Before Jasmine could even react, Lilith had fished out a spatial scroll and whisked herself away along with Sae.

Jasmine was stunned for a moment before finally realizing that she had been tricked.

“Lilith, you b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲! I swear that from now on, you’re my archenemy!!!!”

Tears of indignation leaked out of Jasmine’s eyes. Looking at the church’s army who were closing in on them because they had sensed some of their targets vanishing, she suddenly realized that she had been cornered.

“A warrior prefers death to humiliation! There’s no way I’m going to let you the Radiant B̲i̲t̲c̲h̲’s lackeys catch me! We’ll fight it out! Get ‘em, boys!”

“O-…OHHH!!”

Jasmine and their men gave their final shouts.

……
……

“Name.”

“Ayasha Jasmine.”

“Age.”

“Sixteen.”

“Gender.”

“Can’t you figure it out yourself?!”

The stern-looking, middle-aged knight pushed up his glasses and sized up Jasmine. “I’m sorry, I don’t really see any obvious characteristics on your body that can allow me to determine your gender.”

“You can just tell me that I’m flat!! Besides, I’m only sixteen this year. They’ll definitely grow bigger!”

After thinking for a few seconds, the middle-aged knight finally filled in [Female] in the gender column.

“Address.”

“Are you filling in a census form?!”

The middle-aged knight lifted his head up as his eyes glinted coldly.

“As a captive, you don’t have any rights to refuse my questions. So please tell me your home address.”

“Tsk. Number three, West Section of Sacred Road, Northern District of the Umbra City.”

“Umbra City? That means you are a resident of the Shadow Theocracy?”

“That’s right. I am a believer of the almighty Goddess of Dark. Don’t you fools of the Radiant B̲i̲t̲c̲h̲ feel ashamed when you see me?”

“I see. The criminal, born in the Shadow Theocracy, was jealous of the Radiant Goddess’ happy and peaceful life. Burning with jealousy, she infiltrated Aeria and destroyed the goddess statue to vent her anger.”

“Hold it right there! What b̲u̲l̲l̲s̲h̲i̲t̲ are you writing! Who would be jealous of you guys? And what’s that about destroying a goddess statue? That has nothing to do with me!”

“The criminal refused to admit her misdeeds. It is suspected that she had been well-trained in counter-interrogation. It is recommended for the interrogation to be conducted by the nation’s cruelest interrogator.”

“Stop writing nonsense! You’re in the presence of the great Shadow Saintess! Subjecting me to torture will lead to an all-out war between our nations!”

“The criminal proclaimed herself to be the great saintess from the Shadow Theocracy. Why would a saintess be escorted by only a bunch of rank seven or eight magicians and a guardian warrior with failing kidneys? It is suspected that the criminal is severely delusional. An electroconvulsive therapy is recommended.”

“Hey! I’m the real saintess! And Aarons isn’t a warrior with failing kidneys! He only looks like he has failing kidneys because he used a forbidden technique!”

“Then how did you know that this guy named Aarons doesn’t have failing kidneys?” A strange smile bloomed across the middle-aged knight’s stern face. “Could it be that you’ve verified it yourself already?”

“Verified?” Jasmine couldn’t react until her face turned beet red a few seconds later. “O-Of… course not! What are you saying to a youthful sixteen years old girl?!!”

“I see. The criminal failed to prove her statement. Hence, the possibility of her being the Shadow Saintess is ruled out.”

“What logic is that?! Gahh, you’re driving me crazy!!”

“The criminal has admitted that she is mentally ill on her own accord. Given her extreme speech and violent tendencies, it is very likely that she may physically injure people and even try to escape from captivity. It is recommended for the criminal to be held in the most tightly guarded Lombsley Prison in Aeria before her trial.”

Jasmine’s face paled slightly because she knew exactly what kind of place the Lombsley Prison was.

“W-…Wait a minute, I told you already, you guys got the wrong person! The one who destroyed the goddess statue is Lilith, not me!!”

The middle-aged knight took out a wanted poster. “Quit denying! You are undoubtedly the one who destroyed the goddess statue!”

“What do you mean by undoubtedly?! There’s mosaic all over this wanted poster!!”

The middle-aged knight lifted his rimless glasses up with a serious face. “My ability of auto-removing mosaics tells me that you are no doubt the one on this wanted poster!”