Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

The only thing that was certain was that Grace had once again touched the abyss—and how could Grace, knowing that everyone in the Witch Society had died because of it, still laugh it off? This made Sophia extremely sad and puzzled.

Moreover, even if Grace did not like the church in the past, she would not criticize or oppose the church willfully, nor would she focus on attacking church members, because Grace also knew that everything the church did would be beneficial changes in the long run.

Sophia would never let such a strange Grace come into contact with Vivian.

So she no longer hesitated and took the initiative to request to go to the Dammas Fortress. If it were in the past, a witch like her who survived the destruction of the Witch Society and once dived deep into the abyss would undoubtedly be the target of the church's surveillance and control, and there would be no chance for her to leave the monitored area.

But this time, with Sir Hibern's invitation, Sophia had a good reason to leave Mallaig and go to Dammarsh.

But what Sophia found strange was that Sir Hibbern insisted on sending someone to escort her.

It would obviously be much faster for her to go directly from Mallaig.

Perhaps, Sir Hibourne was still worried about her, so he specially mobilized the guards. Ostensibly it was an escort, but in fact it was just a form of surveillance - otherwise it would not make sense.

Sophia didn't think Sir Hibbern would entrust the job to her with confidence. The so-called witch was synonymous with danger and destruction, and Sophia was well aware of this.

"I'm going back to my room to pack up my books and manuscripts."

Sophia said to the priest.

Anyway, the people sent by the lord will take at least one night to arrive here. Sophia took this time to make some necessary preparations, such as taking out the magic books that had been abandoned for a long time, among which there were many manuscripts left over from previous research.

Of course, there is no real content about Abyssal magic, because the real Abyssal knowledge has long ceased to exist, at least on the surface.

The Witch Society had once conducted extensive research on the abyss, so Sophia had kept a large number of abyss-related research books, but those things were too dangerous and had long been destroyed by the church - any books and manuscripts related to the abyss have been proven to only lead to corruption. Peering into and recording the abyss is not a kind of knowledge, but a vicious curse. Even just reading or hearing about it will affect people's minds, so the safest way to deal with it is to destroy them all in the most direct way.

The only people who still know something about the abyss now, apart from the sage who once designed the seal of the abyss, are probably a small number of witches who survived the witch society. As long as these witches don't speak, the knowledge of the abyss will never appear again.

The existence of this abyss knowledge is also one of the main reasons why the church keeps a strict watch on witches, especially witches like Sophia who have conducted in-depth research on the abyss.

Sophia dug out her dusty wooden cabinet from under the bed. Inside was the equipment and props she had used. Although many years had passed, these clothes and equipment were still clean and tidy under the protection of magic.

Soon, she changed into a neat white robe, with her long aqua-colored hair tied behind her head. Under the hood, her eyes were covered by white gauze.

The Witch of the Forest, no, this is Sophia, who was once called the "Witch of Frost".

She gathered the books again, stacked them neatly, and put them into the space ring.

However, at this moment, Sophia's heart suddenly skipped a beat. She felt that the magic circle she had set up in front of the hut was destroyed. In just a moment, all the magic circles from the outermost layer to the innermost layer, whether they were defensive, offensive, early warning, watering and keeping warm the flower beds, or keeping the birds and animals quiet, all the magic circles lost contact one after another in less than a second, as if something terrifying had broken into her territory from outside, and arrived outside the hut in an instant.

who is it?

Who was this person who could render all her magical powers useless in an instant? Why was he here? Was he targeting her?

After Sophia became blind, her hearing became extremely sharp, and she heard footsteps coming from outside the house.

Someone was coming, and it sounded like it was just one person.

Sophia became more and more alert. She quickly grabbed the staff, but at this time she heard a sound coming from outside.

"Excuse me, is Lady Sophia Trawins here?—I am Elsa Farris, and Ser Hibern has sent me here to escort you to the fortress."

It was a very nice girl's voice, and Sophia was slightly stunned.

Wait...how long had it been since the messenger was sent? There were no teleportation arrays in Mallaig, so how could Dammars' men have arrived so quickly? Could it be that Sir Hibourne had already made plans, sending his guards here beforehand? That made sense.

But why is there only one guard?

"Wait a moment--"

Sophia suddenly felt that this name was very familiar, as if it had appeared somewhere before...

Letter, Vivian's letter.

Sophia quickly asked, "Elsa Faris? You and Vivian are..."

"She's a very important friend of mine."

Elsa said, and although Sophia couldn't see it, she could almost feel the faint smile on the lips of the girl named Elsa.

……

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202 I won’t go in

Sophia didn't think that it was Elsa who destroyed her teleportation array, but she sent out her familiars but couldn't find anyone suspicious.

She finally relaxed her guard a little.

Could it be that there was something wrong with the magic circle? Or was there some other reason?

While she was thinking, she continued her conversation with Aisha.

"—Just the two of us?"

Sophia asked with a strange look on her face, and Elsa answered gently:

"Well, it's just the two of us. I'll be responsible for the handover with the church and for keeping you safe."

"Is that so..." Sophia sighed strangely in her heart, "Then when are we leaving here?"

The direct reason why Sophia went to Dammas City this time was Grace - if Grace had not appeared, she would probably have really thought about it carefully, but now she just wanted to get to Vivian as soon as possible to prevent the simple Vivian from being deceived by Grace.

By the way, use Sir Hibern's power to stop Grace from doing stupid things.

As for Elsa Faris, Sophia had read about her in Vivian's letter, and with the mutual introductions between the two, she had a better understanding of her.

In the letter, Vivian used words full of praise to describe Elsa, such as "beautiful smile, graceful and generous", "mature and steady", and "so powerful that one can't see the end". In the letter, these words piled together gave Sophia the feeling that made her mistakenly believe that Elsa should be a combat nun who was much older than Vivian.

But Sophia then realized that she had many misunderstandings. Although Sophia couldn't see, she could still hear from Elsa's clear voice that Elsa was about the same age as Vivian, and happened to be one of the candidates for the Holy Sister of this generation.

And now Sophia couldn't help but look up to Elsa.

Because Elsa obviously knew the identities of Sophia and Vivian, but from beginning to end Elsa never looked at them with prejudice just because they were witches.

It has to be said that Sophia increasingly felt that sending Vivian to Dammar was the right choice.

It was just strange that Sir Hibourne had sent a nun to escort them. Could a nun really do the job? After all, the journey was long, and there was no telling if they would encounter any trouble along the way.

Elsa didn't just come here alone, she didn't carry a weapon or even a mount.

Is this really serious?

And speaking of which, how exactly were those magic circles broken? Could it be related to Elsa? The timing was a bit coincidental, but the magic circles were destroyed so quickly that it was hard to connect them to Elsa.

"—I have a letter from the Bishop of the Dammas Church that needs to be delivered to 'Father Fletcher'. Then we'll set off, okay?"

Aisha said.

Although the church had been notified in advance, Elsa was still a stranger to the priests here. They couldn't do anything here just by showing their faces like they did in the city of Dammas. The transfer of the witch itself also required a special dispatch letter from Dammas as a record. Such a cumbersome procedure was required to ensure safety.

Although Sophia still had some doubts about Elsa, she didn't ask too many questions.

"Well...Father Fletcher should be back in the town monastery now. Let's go find him."

She said.

……

It has to be said that like mother, like daughter – Elsa was referring to Sophia and Vivian.

When Elsa saw Sophia for the first time, it was almost like she saw Vivian who would grow into a mature woman in the future. Whether it was the iconic aqua-colored long hair that Sophia shared with Vivian, or the perfect plump figures of both mother and daughter without a trace of fat, even their voices and expressions when speaking were so similar. Only Vivian was more reserved and introverted, so there was a slight difference in temperament.

Moreover, Sophia still looks young. If she stands with Vivian, Elsa is more likely to see them as "sisters" rather than "mother and daughter" - witches are almost all like this. Witches have appeared for forty years up to now, but the common point of all the witches discovered so far is that there is almost no sign of the passage of time. They do not seem to age simply, or in other words, they have obtained a long lifespan similar to that of elves.

The only big difference between Sophia and Vivian is that Vivian wears glasses because she is nearsighted, and under the glasses she has beautiful water-blue eyes.

But Sophia's eyes were covered with white gauze - she was blind.

……

It was already evening, and the sky was a beautiful orange-red color. The layers of clouds rolled across the sky like burning flames.

Elsa was not in a hurry to take Sophia away, but instead walked out of the forest with Sophia and headed to the town of Mallaig outside the forest.

Along the way, Elsa brought up topics to talk to Sophia from time to time, and the focus of the topics was mostly Vivian. After all, using something that both parties are familiar with as a topic of conversation can quickly bring them closer.

Sophia cares very much about everything about Vivian, and she is very pleased when she hears that Vivian has made some friends now.

Elsa saw the shadow of her mother in her previous life in Sophia's face.

Maybe this is the case for most mothers.

Elsa would also ask for some information about the witch from time to time. Since Elsa had a letter from the church in her hand, Sophia no longer doubted Elsa's identity, and she told Elsa a lot of things about the witch.

The reason why witches are called witches is because of their unique magical suitability. First of all, witches must have a talent for magic that is far higher than that of ordinary people, so it is easier for them to become an excellent magician.

But unfortunately, even though witches have shown extraordinary talent in magic, few have achieved great success in magic so far. The reason is that while witches have acquired talent for magic, they must also be born adaptable to the abyss.

This is the main reason for the name "witch." They require no medium or training; this is their innate potential. Witches will "awaken" with age. Once they reach this stage, any witch will be able to sense the aura of Abyssal magic through the "mark" and be influenced by the abyss.

However, although witches have an innate talent for sensing the magic of the abyss, they are not given the ability to avoid the influence of the abyss. Without extremely strong mental strength, few people can withstand the temptation of the abyss. If they are immersed in the breath of the abyss for a long time, no one can escape the fate of falling into the abyss, including witches.

Sophia told Elsa stories about witches all the way until the witch society was disbanded.

Because Vivian regarded Elsa as a friend, Sophia did not hide anything from Elsa. After all, the history and characteristics of witches were not a big secret.

But she didn't tell Elsa the origin of Vivian.

After hearing this, Elsa finally had a more comprehensive understanding of witches.

"As for the inverted cross and the life-eating abyss magic you mentioned, I can't recall any similar memories at the moment. I think I might have to see it myself."

Sophia said.

After all, she hadn't come into contact with abyss magic for a long time.

Elsa thought for a moment, then looked at the forest before her and suddenly asked, "Speaking of which, has a pitch-black monster ever appeared here?"

"A pitch-black monster? ...Sorry, I've never heard of it."

"Ah That's good."

The forest here is not connected to the Great Forest in the West, so it is expected that there are no black monsters. Elsa only asked just in case.

At this time, they had also walked out of the forest and came to a small town called Mallaig. The size of Mallaig was comparable to that of Verin, but from a distance, Elsa found that the town was far less lively than Verin, especially the Adventurer's Guild here. Obviously, it was a town backed by a forest, and the adventurer industry here should be more prosperous, just like Verin. There was no telling how much wealth was hidden in the forest.

At this time, Elsa and Sophia had arrived in front of the town, but Sophia stopped.

"I'll wait for you here, Miss Aisha - don't worry, I won't take the opportunity to escape."

Sophia said, not planning to enter the town.

Because she is a witch, entering the town will only bring strong uneasiness to the townspeople.

Elsa also saw the guards at the town gate looking at them with nervous and hostile eyes, and they had even picked up their weapons.

Elsa looked at Sophia again, but couldn't see Sophia's true gaze under the white veil.

Elsa pursed her lips and sighed softly.

——Elsa could almost guess why Vivian became such an introverted girl.

……

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203. Uneasy

"You're not one of our nuns, are you?"

The guard stopped Aisha.

The inspection and release of outsiders required passing through the guards, which was a normal thing in any town, but Aisha saw that the guards blocked the entrance with extreme vigilance, staring at her with weapons in hand - their hostility was about to overflow from the depths of their eyes.

"Where are you from and what are you doing here?"

The guard's tone was unfriendly, just like his hostile look.

Aisha briefly explained the situation—of course, leaving out everything that needed to be left out.

"...So, I'm going to go to the church here and find Father Fletcher to hand over a letter."

Aisha spoke calmly as she took out the coat of arms of the Hibern family and an envelope sealed with ink. This was enough for the guards to let them pass.

Sure enough, the guards frowned after seeing what was in Aisha's hand, and then made way - although they seemed a little reluctant.

"The monastery is just across town, at the northernmost end. If you don't know the way, just ask anyone and they'll tell you."

The guard said.

"Go in and don't cause any trouble inside."