Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

"We've 'dyed' some of the prayer characters so that Luna can see them with her naked eyes. What we just showed was the process of the prayer characters being stripped of their markings under the interference net and quickly returning to being featureless prayer characters."

"So what is the interference network?"

"A network of organs that requires multiple parts to operate in parallel."

Ashetherin's palm was flat and facing upwards, suspended in front of Lunicia, as if she was holding something. After a while, the invisible prayer words in the air were dyed with different colors, and combined into a translucent three-dimensional figure in Ashetherin's palm, showing a street diagram with multiple cone-shaped objects placed on it.

"Like this, we use mechanical nodes that can resonate with the prayers in the air and place them at various locations on the street to form an area surrounded by mechanical nodes. We can then remove or add features to the prayers that enter the area according to the needs of the person who places them. We are now in such an interference network."

Lunicea nodded, half understanding, and continued, "In other words, it can erase all traces... Does that mean they have a base nearby?"

"Strictly speaking, this area should be their base."

Lunicia couldn't help but look around carefully at this unremarkable street.

No, the word "unsightly" is totally inappropriate. This place even makes Lunicia feel more dilapidated than the waterwheel aqueduct, even though more stone building materials are used here than the waterwheel aqueduct.

This street has its own name on the map, Pilk Avenue.

As one of the main streets in Nosavi, this avenue, including its branches, connects nearly a quarter of the entire Nosavi area. However, over the long years, especially now that the sun has gone out and the eclipse is in the sky, people have forgotten the name imprinted on the map. This street, along with the area it connects, is now collectively called the "Northern District", which is one of the taboos in the city of Nosavi.

People don't want to set foot here, so time turns into a spiral staircase that goes down continuously.

Houses collapsed and the ground cracked. Places like the waterwheel canal were still settlements where humans lived, but here in the North District, it was more like a collection of ruins than a city.

All the buildings that still had doors and windows were kept tightly closed, while those that had lost even doors and windows had the holes covered with templates and waste paper layer by layer to isolate the inside from the outside.

Although they are only less than a kilometer apart, they seem like two completely different worlds.

"Those houses...are they really inhabited? No matter how you look at it, they can't go out."

"some."

Lunicia was just talking to herself, but she didn't expect Ashetherin to give her an answer.

"We can detect life reactions, but the intensity is weak and the number is small." She paused, golden light flickered in her eyes, and then said: "Travel depends on tunnels - almost all houses have holes leading to the underground. Due to the distance and obstruction, it is difficult to map the underground structure. Sorry."

"It's okay, I'm just curious."

People pass through the holes in the houses and enter the underground network that has long been dug out. They use it as a means of moving, looking for food and ways to survive. Such a place is chaotic, dilapidated, deserted, and interconnected, making it indeed suitable as a base for concealing one's whereabouts.

"Hmm...it would be nice if I could find someone to ask. If there were strangers in a place like this, they would definitely attract attention."

"If you want to gather intelligence, there's a functioning commercial street nearby."

"Eh? In a place like this?"

"No, but it's not far away." Ashlee shook her head. "Yor Street, according to the map, is the only street near Pilk Avenue where shops are still open - and it occupies one of the few entrances and exits on the ground."

Chapter 11 Relief (Part 1)

Yule Street - just as the name on the map indicates, this is actually a very small street. It is nominally a commercial street, but there are only five shops, and most of the others are unused houses, and the maintenance status is not much better than that of Pilk Avenue just seen.

A bakery, a grocery store, a food store that sells meat and vegetables, a blacksmith shop that provides barrel hooping and repair services, and a shabby bar are all the shops on the entire Youle Street.

Having said that, even though it was almost midnight, there were still quite a few people on this street.

They looked very different from the customers strolling along Hernandez Commercial Street - unlike those people with different expressions, the people wandering around this small street in Yule, picking up groceries, and queuing to shop, they seemed to have some uniformity that made Lunicia quite uneasy.

Wearing a hood or mask, unwilling to show one's true face.

His expression is either numb or cruel, and no matter how you look at it, the expression on his face does not indicate that of a normal person.

The crowd seemed to be naturally divided. There was always a vacuum zone around those people who had more or less scars on their faces, wore simple leather armor, and openly carried weapons on the streets. Others seemed unwilling to get close to them no matter what, either out of fear or simply not wanting to cause any trouble.

This made Lunicia frown.

Even though they were several steps away, she could clearly see the gangster-like man who brushed past her. The saber he was carrying had a faint smell of blood. That was not a smell that could be acquired by showing mercy every time - it would have to have been bathed in the blood of at least four or five people to leave the mark of this smell.

In such an environment, Ashlee was still okay, as at least she wore a cloak that concealed her face and figure, and was not obviously different from the people walking on the street. However, Lunicia seemed too glamorous and eye-catching.

For such a outsider, one gaze after another was cast at her almost without any concealment, either greedy, or fearful, or deliberate scrutiny, not only at her herself, but also at the suitcase she was carrying, and these gazes after gazes undoubtedly aggravated Lunicia's uneasiness and irritability.

Just as she was thinking about which store to go to to inquire, the originally silent crowd suddenly became agitated.

"What's wrong? What happened?!"

"The disturbance is coming from the four o'clock direction - Luna want to go over there?"

"I just really care..."

While answering in a low voice, Lunicia waved her hand to push away the crowd - the "Avenger" on her back was very useful at this time. No matter who was pushed aside by her, as long as they saw the giant sword that was more than a meter tall, they would immediately step aside. Lunicia easily squeezed to the front of the noisy crowd.

The owner of the bakery was waving his broad and strong arm vigorously, punching down on the face of a ragged teenager again and again. The skinny and sallow face was swollen and blue, and blood kept gushing out of his nose and mouth. Even his teeth were broken into pieces, flowing out with the blood and splattering everywhere - even so, the teenager did not beg for mercy, but it was not because of stubbornness and strength.

Lunicia could see that.

He simply didn't even have the strength to beg for mercy, and this was less than two minutes after the crowd started to riot.

In other words, from the very beginning, he was being beaten without even the strength to beg for mercy.

A few pieces of dry and hard black bread were scattered around, and it was self-evident what had happened. But even so, Lunicia still found it a little hard to bear.

"Etc., etc!"

She picked up the suitcase, held Ashlee's hand with one hand, and put the other hand in front of her, and strode over, completely ignoring the surprised looks from Ashlee and the people around her.

The bakery owner merely glanced up, then lowered his head again and raised his fist to make another strike - Lunicia did not give him the chance to do so. The hand that was ready to strike quickly grabbed the opponent's wrist, not with much force, but it did stop his action.

"…It shouldn't be a wrong thing to teach a thief a lesson for the bread."

The bakery owner snorted, pulled his hand back, and spoke coldly through his teeth.

For someone like him who is experienced and dares to open a store near a place like Pilk Avenue, people like Lunicia are rare, but they have not been completely unheard of. He knows the reasons for her actions and knows how to deal with her, especially when the other party seems to be very powerful. It will not be beneficial for him to escalate the conflict.

"Just stop at the right time, do you want to kill someone?"

"Humph." The bakery owner looked disdainful of Lunisia's statement. "This kid is a refugee, either from Prosi or Lanmen. Since the city hall has already distributed relief to them, what reason do they have to come here to steal? The laws of Mariai do not apply to refugees. Even if I beat him to death on the spot, I would not be held responsible at all."

"refugee……"

Just as Lunicia was chewing on this word with a puzzled look on her face, the crowd behind her began to cheer and applaud.

She turned around and looked at those people in disbelief - no matter they were numb or ferocious, they all agreed with what the bakery owner said without a doubt, either sneering in a low voice or mocking loudly, and it was unclear whether they were in awe of the local tyrants entrenched here, rejecting Lunicea as an outsider, or simply supporting his words from the bottom of their hearts.

“Okay, since you want to protect this piece of rubbish, you have to compensate him for the losses he caused.” The bakery owner snorted and pointed with his thumb at the bread that fell on the ground and the messy stall.

Lunicia didn't say anything, but just looked at his expression as if he was sure of her, and silently took out a few Il bills from her purse.

……

When she squeezed out of the crowd and returned to Pirke Avenue, Lunicia was carrying far more luggage than before.

"I don't understand." Ashlee tilted her head. "It's fine if it's just compensation, but not only didn't she get any information, why did Luna buy all the bread on the stall?"

"Most people...will only steal food when they have no other choice, right?"

“Generally speaking, gold and silver are the choices.”

"Well, that's it. Since there's not enough food, it shouldn't be a problem for just one person—" As she spoke, Lunicia shook the arm that was carrying the boy a few times, and at the same time mobilized the blessing energy that had been restored in her body, turning it into a white halo covering the other person, "—Are you still conscious? Can you still speak? Do you want to eat something first?"

"what……"

After a long while, the boy managed to squeeze out a sound from his throat.

Seeing this, Lunicia found an abandoned house that was half-collapsed but not closed, put the luggage and the boy's body on the ground, and continued to heal his injuries with holy healing.

Looking at the new and old wounds shrouded in the halo, and the skinny and sallow face due to malnutrition, Lunicia only felt that a silent sigh was echoing over and over again.

Chapter 12 Relief (Part 2)

In the lightless darkness, consciousness was sinking bit by bit.

The memories of the past were like a kaleidoscope of memories, one scene after another, passing quickly before my eyes as I was falling. Even though I could clearly recognize what those scenes corresponded to, and what my experiences with Nayi were like in my short life, they were still blurry in front of me. I stretched out my hand, trying to grasp something from those scenes, but in the end it was all in vain.

When I came to my senses, I realized that I was already too far away from those days.

Looking down, those blurry images are no longer in front of my eyes. What is waiting for me on the other side of my infinite fall is endless darkness, empty and cold. There is nothing there. It is completely different from the scenery of the afterlife that I once knew.

——Where are the rivers that flow to the sea of ​​souls? Where are the ferries that guide souls? Where are the guides who manage the flow of souls?

I just felt surprised and puzzled, so much so that my eyes couldn't help but stare at that place, the end of the darkness.

What can you see.

I can vaguely see something.

——…Whirlpool?

Just when he wanted to continue looking at that place, an indescribable suction force came from above his head, pulling his body and floating rapidly in the opposite direction.

……

The world does not change between opening and closing your eyes.

Everything remains the same as before.

The sky occupied by the black sun, the dilapidated and collapsed houses, the weak breathing, and the painful and powerless body, everything is the same as before I closed my eyes because of the pain.

What a disappointment, isn't it?

How nice would it be if you opened your eyes and found that everything that happened before was just a dream, and you were crawling out of the bed with sleepy eyes, and everything around you was still familiar to you?

Just when the young boy was feeling lost and was trying to support his body with his arms and get up from the ground as usual, a pair of unfamiliar hands supported him from the side.

"Wait a minute, your body hasn't recovered yet, you need to wait a while before you can move."

He was startled and turned his head involuntarily, only to see two completely unfamiliar yet very similar faces.

——Are they twin sisters?

"you……?"

The young man spoke in confusion, his voice filled with fatigue and weakness that could hardly be concealed. The woman in front of him gently stretched out her hand and gestured to him to stop talking and rest.

"I'm Lunicia, and this is Asheselyn. I'm a knight of the Glorious Court, and she's my assistant."

Having said that, Lunicia secretly glanced at Ashithelin beside her, and the latter simply looked back at her with her golden eyes and did not raise any objection to Lunicia's statement.

"People from the Glorious Divine Court...?"

Hearing Lunicia's words, the boy's eyes suddenly brightened as if a flame had ignited.

He paid no attention to Lunicia's instructions or her surprised look, and dragged his body, whose wounds had just healed but was still weak, to kneel on both knees in front of Lunicia, bent over and lowered his head. With one hand he drew a snowflake pattern on his chest, and with the other hand he wrote a sign in the air that symbolized death and rebirth.

Of course Lunicia recognized this gesture. It was undoubtedly the prostration in the faith of Lucy, the goddess of death, ice and snow. It was a prostration that could only be performed by believers of the goddess of death, ice and snow when they were deeply grateful and respectful and wanted to ask for something with all their heart and soul.

This frightened Lunicia, and she quickly lifted up the boy's body with one hand and stopped him from completing the whole set of prostrations.

On the one hand, the boy had not fully recovered from his injuries and weakness, and he might have passed out due to excitement and excessive exertion, and even Lunicia could not save him. On the other hand, Lunicia did not think she was worthy of being treated with respect by the other party - the one who was to be respected was either a bishop-level figure in the Church of the Goddess of Death, or a savior. Although Lunicia did save the other person's life, she did not think it was a big deal.

"Please... Knight of faith in light..."

As he spoke, tears began to fall from the boy's eyes.

"Please help us..."

"Okay."

The answer came so quickly and so suddenly that the boy just raised his head in surprise and even forgot to wipe the tears from his eyes.

However, Lunicia's expression was very calm, as if it was just a matter of course.

How can it be taken for granted?

Not knowing the reason, not knowing the content, not knowing whether there will be any reward, but being willing to help just because a stranger in front of you asks for help - does such a thing really exist in the world today?

Faced with the boy's expression full of confusion, puzzlement and even bewilderment, Lunicia simply smiled, wiped away his tears with a handkerchief, and took out bread and a kettle.

"Why not? Eat something first, and then talk to me carefully. Is there anything you need my help with?"

……

"So, there is actually no food to eat?"

"Um……"

Under the dual effects of bread and magic, the boy had recovered some of his strength, so Lunicia no longer had the reason to carry him and focused on dealing with the large and small bags of luggage.

"What are those breads...?"

"Hmm? Aren't you short of food? So I bought all the goods from the bakery I visited before. I don't know how many people there are, but I think it should be able to satisfy some of the needs."

"Varied……"