After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

The temporary representative of the Inquisition, who served as the plaintiff, fell off his chair in embarrassment.

After looking at Rosaline as if she were a monster for a few times, he didn't even have the energy to get up, and just crawled out using his hands and feet.

So funny.

But no one at the scene dared to laugh.

"You did a great job today. Go to the next room and rest for a while. I'll take you back myself later."

As if nothing serious had happened, Rosalyn calmly touched the little girl's hair again.

The little girl nodded seriously.

"Well, if you don't mind, Lady Rosalyn, could you come to our church and preside over a service? The elders in the sect would definitely be pleased if you did!"

"Hmm...what should I do? I may not have time...No, don't worry, I will definitely go."

"Ok!"

So, the happy little girl left with the knights seeing her off.

Leah, who was on trial as a prisoner, was also released from the iron-barred restraints and escorted back to the cell.

After all, the trial has not yet ended procedurally, so he has to remain in custody for the time being.

But his mental state has changed greatly.

From the initial depression to the suicidal thoughts, he was now extremely elated, even taunting the fleeing crowd with a beaming face:

"What are you saying now? Who is the heretic? Speak!"

Then he was pushed away, and only the shrill and triumphant laughter could be heard from a distance.

Amidst the chaos, the Pope stood up from the gallery, walked up to Rosaline, and looked at her with extremely complicated eyes.

Surprise, doubt, fear, etc.

The white-haired hero remained unconcerned, only smiling and nodding at the other party:

"Your Holiness, I will have the other eleven witnesses go to the designated location to cooperate with the investigation."

"...Well, thank you for your help."

Things have come to this point, and it is no longer possible to do nothing and just muddle through.

Therefore, we must try to conduct investigations within a controllable range and limit the losses to the minimum.

The Pope came here in person, intending to discuss this matter with Rosaline. Unexpectedly, she actually spoke up in person, which was a great help.

what's next?

The incident was so outrageous that even the Pope himself didn't know what to say.

One old and one young, two people with a huge age gap, just looked at each other in silence and somewhat awkwardly.

Coincidentally, at this moment——

"Report!!!"

A knight ran in from outside with a panicked look on his face, and almost tripped over the debris scattered on the ground in the chaos.

The Pope frowned:

"What happened?"

"Is such that……"

The knight leaned close to the Pope's ear and whispered something, and the Pope's expression became increasingly serious.

"Secure the scene, immediately dispatch an investigation, and... notify his family."

The Pope thought for a moment and then gave the order, and the knight turned and left.

Rosalyn asked:

"What happened?"

"The temporary representative of the court who served as the plaintiff in the trial was found by the Knights with thirty-seven stab wounds, dead in the lounge of the cathedral."

He paused and swallowed.

"As for me, his face was slashed open and his tongue was completely cut out. The case is still under investigation."

As long as it is related to Rosaline, things will inevitably develop in the direction of supernatural events.

Compared with what happened in the trial just now, the death of one more person is just basic operation, and it won’t even cause any big waves with the Pope.

The only thing worth noting is that the tongue was cut off.

Could it be that the person who did this felt that he was too talkative and noisy during the trial just now?

Quite similar to that.

"Really?"

After hearing the Pope's narration, Rosaline showed a very surprised expression - but she still smiled.

"I had hoped he would repent for his sins like Colin did. What a pity."

"..."

The Pope looked hard at her facial features, especially her eyes, trying to find something valuable in them.

But just like before, I got nothing except that consistent smile.

The essence of facial expression is a reflection of emotional transformation, and it is valuable because of its change.

In Aize's words, if a person always smiles, it is actually the same as never smiling, and the former is even more terrifying.

At this moment, the Pope felt an inexplicable chill.

"By the way, Your Holiness."

"...Hmm? What's wrong?"

The old man, lost in thought, remained silent for a long time, and finally Rosalyn broke the silence first.

She bowed slightly with her staff and said:

"While investigating this incident, I heard that the Empire will be making some moves soon, and has even requested assistance from the Church. Is that true?"

The Empire, full name the Second Saxon Empire, is one of the two great powers of mankind in this world.

Compared to the Kingdom of Arte, which suffered heavy losses in the large-scale invasion five years ago, although the Empire also lost some border cities due to the invasion, its overall territory was not under much threat.

More importantly, since its royal family was not affected at all, it has always maintained relative unity internally and has always been the main force against the invasion of demons. It also has a good cooperative relationship with Aize.

In response to Rosaline's question, the Pope was first surprised at where she got the information.

But he soon realized that compared with the previous incredible things, this was really nothing surprising.

He answered honestly:

"It's true. The Empire is currently planning an expedition to retake several cities lost in the previous invasion, and they've requested our assistance for this purpose. What's the problem?"

Rosalyn smiled and shook her head:

"No, of course there's nothing wrong with that. I just want to know how the church responds."

"There's no response yet. There's no reason for us to refuse to fight the demons. We must send people. But how and how many people to send are still under discussion."

The Pope's face felt burning with pain as he said this after the news of his failure to save the capital had just been made public.

But there's nothing we can do about it, that's just the way it is.

"In that case, why not leave this matter to me."

"……Um?"

Before the Pope could realize what Rosaline was saying, the white-haired hero emphasized it again:

"I'm saying that the mission of assisting the Empire in the expedition should be handed over to me. I will lead the Knights, under the name of the Goddess Blade Squad, to support them."

Chapter 4: Fisherman by the Lake

Lake Linor is located in the eastern part of the kingdom, an area surrounded by mountains, forests, and some farmland.

In this world, such terrain and layout can easily evolve into a den of magical beasts and become extremely dangerous, but Lake Renoir is an exception.

The only creatures living in the surrounding area and the lake are ordinary animals, fish, and a small number of low-threat small monsters that appear occasionally.

Coupled with the beautiful environment and climate, this makes it one of the best holiday areas in the kingdom.

Almost all families with a little power own their own holiday villas here, and come here from time to time to hunt or escape the summer heat.

At this moment, there was a wooden lounge chair placed on a protruding stone by the lake. Aize was lying on it with his arms as a pillow, looking leisurely.

There was a bucket and a fishing rod on the ground nearby.

Along with the sound of footsteps on the lawn coming from behind, another figure carrying a fishing rod slowly walked to Aize's side.

"You, are you quite relaxed?"

"……Um?"

Aize, who was dozing off, opened one eye and found that the person talking to him was a middle-aged man who was wearing exquisite clothes and was slightly fat.

Judging from his attire, he should be a wealthy businessman who is also here on vacation.

But Aize knew that this was just an appearance.

"It's vacation time, fishing time, what else can I do but relax a bit?"

After replying in a tone that seemed to be very familiar with the other person, he stretched slowly, yawned, then jumped up from the chair, walked to the lake and took a deep breath.

There was no tension at all.

The middle-aged man who looked like a wealthy businessman looked at him.

I looked at the bucket at my feet again, which only had clear water in it and was actually basically empty.

He humphed and said sarcastically:

"Fishing? Isn't that completely fruitless?"

"……Well."

Aize's body twitched as if he had been electrocuted, and he stood there speechless for a moment.

Then, he mechanically turned his head and said with a standard forced business smile:

"How did you know I caught a 15-jin fish the day before yesterday?"

"No, I do not know……"

"Oh my! It's so big and it's so hot, I can't finish it all myself. I have to give most of it to the people in the next room. Haha, what do you think I should do?"

"...You're asking me?"

"Is it good to eat? Actually, it's not that delicious. There are too many bones, the meat is old, and it has a bit of a fishy smell. But it's still so big. I actually put a lot of effort into eating it. After all, it's over ten pounds..."

"...So who asked you?"

"Oh, by the way, what did you just say? How did you know I caught it in this place? Actually, it was just my good luck. At that time..."

"..."

Seeing the other party's eyes gradually becoming colder, Aize, who was acting like a crazy fisherman, slowly stopped his actions and was petrified on the spot.

Then he cleared his throat with two dry coughs to ease the embarrassment, sat back in his chair, and pretended to cross his legs.

Then asked:

"I'm just kidding. So, you came here to find me. Do you have any important information?"

Although the person in front of him looked like this, his body and consciousness were now completely controlled by an intelligence director under Aize.

He is still in the Holy City and has never left.

But relying on this unique skill and potential control targets spread across various countries on the continent, she can collect and transmit information at the same time by herself, which is extremely efficient.

In the previous incident in the royal capital, before Aize set off, he also obtained useful information from her.

Now that he suddenly comes here to find me, it must be something important.

The other party did not rush to answer.