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“Speaking of that, something big happened recently.”
“Something big? What is it? Haven’t things been peaceful since the Demon King had no time to invade the main continent after losing his daughter? Or are you telling me that he found his daughter already?”
“No, the Demon King is still going crazy all over the world. This incident seems to have made a great impact on the Slaughter List.”

“The Slaughter List…” The female teacher’s expression also grew serious. The Slaughter List was a list used to record the most heinous crimes. Changes in the Slaughter List was an indication that new criminals were born. This was a serious matter that required the attention of all countries.

“I think the one who ranked first in the old Slaughter List has fallen in Luminous Theocracy. The reason remains unknown.”
“The first on the Slaughter List? You’re talking about the most wicked criminal, Ruth Devia?”
“Yes, her.”
“Isn’t that good news? Maybe someone amazing happened to pass by and took care of her for everyone, that’s why she went missing for an unknown reason.”

The female teacher breathed a sigh of relief. In any case, the fall of these sinners who committed heinous crimes in various countries was something worth celebrating.

“But…”
“But?”

Professor Marlin took out a wanted poster and handed it to the female teacher. “Look at this.”

“A wanted poster? What’s so interesting about it? Didn’t they paste it all over the city gates… Wait, one billion?!! A bounty of one billion gold coins!? Are they for real?!”

The female teacher’s beautiful face contorted in shock and turned to look at Professor Marlin helplessly. “Professor… This must be a prank, right? A prank by some child, right? One billion gold coins… This is enough to fund the academy for twenty years! Just for a criminal?”

Unfortunately, Marlin didn’t give her the answer she wanted. He nodded instead. “It’s real. The Pope from Luminous Theocracy personally made this announcement a few days ago. This criminal was directly ranked first on the Slaughter List with a hefty bounty of one billion gold coins as soon as she was announced. This is an unprecedented occurrence ever since the creation of the Slaughter List. When the announcement was made, they didn’t even have a clear image of this person. The church made a huge sacrifice to obtain only the appearance of the criminal in mask and her reputation: the Golden-Eyed Demon, Htilil.”

The female teacher’s hand trembled involuntarily as she looked at the blonde girl wearing a sinister-looking demon mask.

“I didn’t expect that an even more terrifying criminal appeared just as soon as the previous one on the top of the list fell. What did she do to make the Luminous Theocracy offer up such a high bounty to capture her?”
“It was rumored that… Ruth Devia died in her hands.”
“What?!”
“There are witnesses. After the bombing of the Harbour City, Ruth Devia was hanging around a blonde girl before she went missing.”
“That means…”
“That person probably forced Devia to be her lackey, and then disposed of her when she failed to satisfy her.”
“That easily? Ruth Devia was formerly ranked first on the Slaughter List. She was the main source of headaches for all countries in the past decade and was known as the most evil being. She was killed so easily just because she was being a poor lackey?”
“Who knows what goes through the minds of criminals? I heard that traces of their great battle were left in Aeria. The entire area was razed to the ground, leaving a huge crater in the heart of the city.”
“Tch, the heart of Aeria… just right under the Pope’s nose.”
“And the most terrifying thing is… the priest from the church found a hand when he was inspecting the scene. According to the DNA test…” Professor Marlin couldn’t help but tremble. “It belongs to Devia.”
“That means… Except for that hand, Devia was pulverized on the scene, right?”

(Note: The hand was actually a remnant of Sae’s when she burnt her body.)

“Yes. Maybe that person deliberately left that hand behind to mock the people of the Luminous Theocracy. You know, just like how those crazy criminals would deliberately leave behind some clues on the crime scene. It might also be for the sake of her reputation, in case the Luminous Theocracy would declare that the cause of Devia’s death is unknown.”
“How terrifying. No wonder why they would offer up such a high price to capture that criminal.”
“Actually… I also heard some insider information.”
“Insider information? Did that person do something even more terrifying?”

Marlin nodded, then whispered to the female teacher, “I don’t know the specific details, but after that person left Aeria, the saintess from the Luminous Theocracy… went missing too.”

“What?!”
“Shh, keep it down!”

The female teacher quickly covered her mouth, but couldn’t wipe away the horror on her face.

“This is a secret that a friend of mine who served as a Templar in the Luminous Church told me. He said that the country had censored this news, so I’m not sure if that’s true or not.”
“Terrible, simply terrible! What should we do if that demon came to St. Caroline?”
“Don’t worry, we have the dean. The old man is at the pinnacle of the saint realm.”
“But there’s a Pope in Aeria too, yet something like that happened.”
“It’ll be okay.” Professor Marin put his hand on the female teacher’s shoulder. He stared into her eyes and assured her tenderly, “I’ll protect you when that time comes, Miss Cecily. Even if it means that I have to perish by the hands of that golden devil Htilil like Devia, I will never let her harm you.”

“Really?” Miss Cecily’s eyes were filled with tender feelings. She couldn’t be more moved by his words.

“Of course, I swear to the Dragon God.”
“You’re so manly, Professor Marlin.”
“It’s my duty to protect the most beautiful female teacher in the academy, Miss Cecily.”
“Professor Marlin…”
“Miss Cecily…”
“Professor Marlin~”
“Miss Cecily~”
“Prof…”
“AHEM!!”

An old man cleared his throat from the side when he noticed that the atmosphere was getting increasingly inappropriate.

“You two… Although the academy advocates free love and I can’t stop you from flirting with each other in front of tens of thousands of innocent youths, it’s time for the candidates to hand in their papers.”

Unbeknownst to anyone, the old man hanging around the square entrance had shown up. He pointed to the nearly empty hourglass and smiled.

“Ah, it’s you, Elder White.” Professor Marlin pushed Miss Cecily away and forced a smile, “I’ll go collect the papers right away.”

Miss Cecily lowered her head and her cheeks were flaming.

Professor Marlin took a few steps forward and announced loudly, “Time’s up. Stop writing.”

Some teachers descended to collect the exam papers and verify the information.

The remaining teachers continued the patrol to prevent candidates from writing on the paper after the time was up.

Elder White picked up the wanted poster that Miss Cecily had tossed to the ground in her panic earlier.

“Golden demon Htilil? The world is really getting chaotic now. Is this a sign that an apocalypse is coming?”

Elder White stroked his beard as he continued muttering to himself, “But this beautiful blonde hair… I think I’ve seen it somewhere before…?”