Even if you're a corrupted magical girl, you still have to try to redeem yourself.

However, such feelings cannot be shown to Urouge Mashiro. Even though Seiki cannot fully understand everything that happened to Urouge Mashiro, she can still sense the sense of compromise in it.

The party that compromised was not Mashiro Gorky herself, but the bishop who adopted Mashiro Gorky as his daughter and gave her generous treatment, or even the entire church represented by the bishop.

……

Orphanage, director's office.

"How many students are graduating this year? Let me do a quick calculation. Hmm..." The dean flipped through the roster on the table, searching page by page for information that would be of interest to him.

Two or three minutes later, the dean closed the handbook: "Eight. According to the usual practice, these eight children will be divided in half among the other primary schools. If we take into account the quality of the children, we will relax the conditions a bit. At most, two or three will be able to enter the church."

"Two, then three." The bishop, sitting on the sofa, pondered for a moment, her expression unusually heavy, as if a dark cloud had been rubbed into her eyes.

"Is there too many? I know that the selection criteria for Saint Yuu are very strict, but if we don't relax them a bit, there may be a gap. In the past two years, the number of children who have become orphans because of magical girls has decreased significantly, so there are even fewer children with good character."

The dean tried to smooth things over, his tone becoming somewhat earnest and persuasive.

The bishop shook his head: "No, no, Dean Hojo, it's just that the number is too small. If possible, I hope more children can enter the church."

Dean Hojo opened his mouth slightly in surprise at the bishop's words: "Tsukasa, what happened at the church?"

"As expected of you, you saw through my troubles at a glance." Seiji shook her head with a wry smile, an expression she absolutely could not let the rest of the church see.

But in front of Dean Hojo, she briefly shed her identities as bishop and dean of the academy, and spoke simply as a junior: "You are the most senior member of the church. There is no need for us to hide anything from each other. The nuns of the church were almost all wiped out recently."

"Oh? How come I haven't heard about this?" Dean Hojo frowned.

"Dean Hojo, do you still remember this child, Mashiro Urouge?" Seiji asked.

"Of course, she was a very withdrawn person when she was in the orphanage. I think I mentioned it to you a few times in the early years. Also... you told me on the phone a few days ago that a nun from the Holy Church started to doubt whether all corrupted magical girls were evil and had corrupted Xiao Qi. Was that the same person?"

"Yes, it's her."

"I gave you an idea back then: put all the blame on her and have the other nuns in charge of dealing with her. Such an unstable factor is like flesh between bones; it seems a pity to lose her, but it's not easy to hold onto her either, so it's a pity if it's not. What, didn't you do it?"

“Yes, that’s right, and I did as you said.” At this point, Saintess looked troubled: “But she single-handedly wiped out most of the elite nuns of the Holy Church.”

Dean Hojo didn't speak, but her face was as dark as a fireplace that hadn't been cleaned in a long time. Probably no one knew just how intense the storm raging inside her was.

“She not only dealt with those nuns, but also returned to the church openly with Little Prayer and the other nuns, as if nothing had happened,” the bishop continued.

"Could it be that she doesn't realize you were behind all of this?" Dean Hojo asked.

"No, absolutely not. We cannot treat anyone as a fool, otherwise I would not have listened to you and chosen to abandon her in order to maintain the stability of the church."

Dean Hojo quickly pressed, "So how did you do it?"

“I adopted her as my daughter, making her a member of the Saints, just like my mother did when she adopted me,” Seiji replied.

“Yes, indeed, I was the one who recommended you back then.” Dean Hojo nodded repeatedly. “But, is what you’re doing really the right thing to do? This is like raising a tiger to cause trouble.”

Seiji sighed, then took a deep breath, making the sigh even louder.

She shook her head, her reply filled with helplessness: "But I have no other choice. Mashiro Urouge is too strong. Although she is still showing obedience and has not made any move to resist the church so far, if we really break ties with her, even the elite nuns of the Holy Church can't stop her. What can I rely on to stop her?"

"I thought she was just an insignificant nobody, but she made me pay such a high price. I've already paid such a high price, but I still haven't been able to solve her problem. If I don't back down now, what else can I use to fight her? Besides trying to win her over, what other options do I have?"

"I'm the one who's spreading some of the news in the church now, saying that she's right and the nuns are wrong. I have to make her a hero, the one everyone in the church is looking up to. To do that, I'm not afraid to secretly spread the word, implying that the other nuns are colluding with the corrupted magical girl, so that this Mashiro Urokin becomes the only righteous person at the time."

“My mission is to maintain the stability of the church and ensure its continued existence. I have already made such a big mistake, and I cannot continue to make the same mistake. I must make amends. For this reason, I will send the future bishop of the church to her side. Yes, she and Xiao Qi have a good relationship. Xiao Qi will definitely be able to keep her in check.”

“This is not enough. I even went so far as to adopt her as my daughter. This is the highest honor, the first open and aboveboard ‘saint’ in history. I have already gone this far. What else can I do? What other choice do I have?”

Seiji spoke breathlessly, then slowly lay down on the sofa, as if he had lost his soul.

……

the other side.

In a remote, deserted place, the transformed Saint Prayer gripped the golden holy sword in her hand, but the gleaming blade remained unraised, unable to point at the girl standing opposite her.

Genjiro Mashiro held the burning candlestick in her arms, the flickering flames seeming to scorch Seiki's anxious heart, making Seiki feel dizzy just standing there.

Seiki never dreamed that Genki Mashiro would so frankly and so harshly expose his inner thoughts in front of him.

“I understand. The bishop is worried. She’s worried that I will turn against you, that one day I will turn my blade against the church just like they did to me. She wants to win me over and tries every means to befriend me. I understand all of this.”

"However, she mistakenly believed that adopting me as her daughter was a great honor for me, and that I would be satisfied if she raised my status to the same level as you. She regarded her worthless honor as a treasure and used it to make a collar to restrain me."

“She wants to erase what she did to me without saying ‘sorry’ in this way. She even wants to include you in the collar to lock me up and prevent me from leaving this place.”

"Until the very end, those who don't understand human nature still cling to that worthless arrogance called honor."

"Saint Prayer, are you like this too?"

Chapter 195 Our Path

"Your Holiness."

"There's no need to address me that way."

Immediately, Seiki and Genki Mashiro, who were standing in the room, looked at each other and fell silent once again.

Seiki was confused and hurt by Genki Mashiro's past estrangement and wanted to rebuild trust with her—provided that Genki Mashiro had truly not done anything wrong and would not do anything detrimental to the church in the future.

Genki Mashiro clearly knows that the order for the nuns to attack him was given by the Church, but she is unclear about the role that Seiki played in it, and what role Seiki is playing now.

However, if Seiki knew nothing about this, Genki Mashiro would be unlikely to believe it, since she was a saint of the church, and her status represented a certain degree of authority.

While remaining silent, both of them had their own thoughts and were observing each other's movements.

"Lord Seiki." Genken Mashiro changed one word, but the intention to distance herself became even more obvious: "Do you have a mission for you to visit at this time?"

This is asking a question you already know the answer to.

Seiki and Genki Mashiro belong to different departments and have different functions. One is responsible for overall coordination, while the other is responsible for dealing with corrupted magical girls. Even when there is a mission, the bishop will directly notify Genki Mashiro.

"Can't I come to you unless I need something? Now that you're a member of 'Saint,' I should be calling you Mashiro-chan. Is it inappropriate for an older sister to come and see her younger sister?"

The saint asked a question in return, trying to make his tone sound as relaxed and natural as possible.

I do urgently need to resolve the issue of Genki Mashiro, and it is not easy to make up my mind to solve it. However, it is not necessary to solve it today, nor is it necessary to solve it now.

What she should do is proceed step by step, gradually, rather than being too hasty and making a mess of the whole thing, so she cannot appear too sharp or aggressive.

As Seiki spoke, she also kept an eye on whether Genki Mashiro showed any subtle changes in his expression.

Unfortunately, that kind of thing doesn't exist. Especially when Seiki mentioned words like "Saint" or "sisters," she thought that Genki Mashiro would have some kind of reaction.

Genken Mashiro simply shook her head: "No, I was too awkward. So, would you like to come in?"

"No, how about we go for a walk together today?"

"of course can."

The door was closed again, and a short while later, Gen Ken Mashiro, who had changed into her outdoor clothes, pushed open the door and came out.

The prayer didn't have a specific destination, but the fewer people who heard the conversation between the two, the better.

Considering the worst-case scenario, which could lead to a fight between the two, Shengqi unconsciously strode towards a sparsely populated area.

The two chatted idly along the way, and the awkward atmosphere was almost overflowing. This was even with Genki Mashiro being a man of few words. If it were anyone else, Seiki would probably feel even more awkward.

Unbeknownst to them, the two had already approached the border of Moonsea City. There were hardly any pedestrians to be seen around, only scattered abandoned factories and large tracts of open land.

"Do you know this place? A few years ago it was a light industrial area, but it was abandoned because magical girls had a battle here," Seiki asked casually.

“I remember, although I wasn’t a nun at the time, I heard people in the church mention it,” Mashiro Urokin replied. At first glance, it might not seem wrong, but the answer was a bit too formulaic.

"I remember you once mentioned your wish: you wanted to completely resolve the issue of magical girls in Moonsea City and eradicate all those evil beings without exception." Saint Prayer changed the subject: "Do you still think that way now?"

“Yes, my thoughts have never changed.” Genki Mashiro hesitated for a moment.

"Really? What a wonderful wish." Shengqi sighed as he gazed at the bright moon and sparse stars in the sky.

Genken Mashiro took two steps forward and found that Seiki was still standing there, gazing up at the night sky, and had not followed.

Genki turned around and silently looked at Seiki, who was looking up with a meaningful expression.

She was about to get to the point, thought Mashiro Gorgen.

I should get to today's main topic, Saint Prayer decided.

“So.” Seiki lowered her head, turned to look at Gen Ken Mashiro a few steps away, the insurmountable barrier between them seemingly materializing at this moment: “Do you still think that way now?”

“That’s right.” Genken Mashiro answered immediately and without any hesitation, either in his tone or in his heart.

"So, of all the magical girls you've executed so far, can you be sure they were all evil?"

Seiki deliberately avoided saying the words "fallen magical girl," and Gen Urobuchi Mashiro noticed the slight slip-up in Seiki's words as soon as she finished speaking.

Xu Yanzhenbai spoke even more slowly, pronouncing each syllable with exceptional clarity.

"of course."

"Liar!"

The holy prayer seemed to press the pause button on the surrounding environment, and for a moment, all was silent.

Even the saint himself could not accurately explain the source of the anger he was feeling.

Perhaps it's because of my own experience—I've seen with my own eyes, done with my own hands, and felt with my own heart more than once—that I've come to understand the church and everything in this city. Perhaps it's because of my own experience that I've deduced different conclusions.

Higuchi is very serious about everything she does, and sometimes people call her rigid; Inoue likes to use his cleverness, but he is meticulous when carrying out missions; Tano Shiba is a nice guy and is always the one who gets bullied; Hanabatake always seems lazy, but when others are in danger, she is the most trustworthy comrade.

Seiki refused to believe that the people whom Genki Mashiro had personally dealt with were evil.

Saint Prayer was even more unwilling to believe that the leader of the Sisters of the Church, now more accurately, the former leader, would collude with evil.

But what Seiki least wanted to believe was that Mashiro Urouge would turn against her comrade—even though she had said that she wanted to eliminate all magical girls equally.

When the two conflict, one of them will inevitably betray the trust placed in them.

History is told by those who can speak, and even the Church and Mother tacitly acknowledged that Genki Mashiro was on the right side, even to the point of being somewhat ingratiating. This is why the Holy Prayer would not be emotionally inclined towards Genki Mashiro.

But is it really a good idea to jump to conclusions like this...?

After saying those words, Shengqi regretted it a little.

It wasn't because drawing conclusions might anger Urouge Mashiro; rather, it was because he hadn't yet grasped the cause and effect of the matter, and might therefore misunderstand Urouge Mashiro.

Genki Mashiro remained silent, as if he hadn't heard Seiki's cry.

A moment later, Gen Kenma raised her hand and gathered the stray hairs on her forehead, smoothing the blue and green strands behind her head.

"Did you bring me to a place like this just to tell me this?"

This kind of place? What's wrong with this place?