When I signed for receipt of Balda's letter, something caught my eye. Specifically, it was the date.
So much has happened the past two weeks that it completely slipped my mind. Tomorrow is the day that the Blessed Child is supposed to be leaving for Couver. The Pope had implied that he wanted me to 'take care' of her for the greater good of peace between the races.
I want nothing to do with the Milis Church and want absolutely no part in their power struggles. That being said, I do feel for the poor girl. When Cliff, Zanoba, and I desperately traveled to Milis in search of the God Tier detoxification scroll, the Blessed Child was the only one who took pity on us.
She had seen us when we were attempting to sneak into the church to steal the scroll, but rather than yelling for help, she looked at me and cried as though she felt my pain as her own. She even told us where the scroll was held and how to get there.
The thing is, even if I ignore the Pope's not-so-subtle request, the Blessed Child will wind up assassinated by someone else. I heard she had been killed in my previous life, but at the time I was too busy drowning myself in booze and self pity to care.
That night I made up my mind. I'm going to repay that Blessed Child for the kindness she showed me that day all those years ago.
To be honest, I despise both factions of the Milis Church, but if one side were to come out on top, I think the demon integration faction would be better in the long run. Being on the good side of the winning faction also has its benefits I suppose, even if I don't like them.
With that in mind, I decided on what I will do. I'm going to kidnap the Blessed Child and take her back to Sharia with me. She can live her life under a new name with a fresh start while her disappearance will pave the way for Pope's faction, and by extension Cliff, to take control of the church.
The next morning, after eating breakfast, I left our small house and told Mother that I was heading to the Academy to continue my research. Just before reaching the Academy, however, I changed my route to head to the Manor I purchased nearby.
Once inside, I walked down to the basement and laid out a return teleport scroll to the underground magic circle I had created just outside Milishion. This is the same one that Paul had caught me making in the middle of the night.
After teleporting back to Milishion, I arrived in a dark, small room. I summoned a light spirit to light up the room and opened a couple small holes to the surface to get some fresh air. Before leaving the room, I laid out another scroll with a teleportation circle on it, just in case I ever need to return to Milishion quickly. From there I opened up a small hole in the ceiling from which I lifted myself out with gravity magic.
Thankfully there was nobody around to see me climb out of the ground. I had made this a couple minutes walk into the forest off the main road for just that reason.
From what the Pope told me, the Blessed Child should be leaving unannounced with only a small group guarding her. There is a small path that cuts through this very forest that leads from Milishion to Couver. It's the perfect place for an ambush.
I made my way westward through the forest. The forest was fairly dense, so it was a little slow going. On the way there I was attacked by a small group of goblins.
I chased them off with ease of course. A quick rock bullet to the head was enough to kill one instantly. After killing the first three, the rest of them started to flee. I felt no urge to pursue them. In fact, their humanoid appearance reminded me of some people I met in the Demon Continent, although I'm sure they'd be mad if someone told them that.
There was also the occasional Treant that I passed by, but none of them bothered me. I probably wouldn't have even noticed them if it wasn't for my Magic Power Eye. The long trek was starting to get boring so I was practicing using my Magic Power Eye to try and search for monsters.
Normally, I don't think most would be able to use the Magic Power Eye for sensing life forms, but I have found that if I injected enough mana into my eye, I could even see the ambient mana in objects and living things.
Everything in this world has some mana in it, but the Treants have a much larger concentration of it than the surrounding trees and vegetation. I haven't had much time to practice with it lately since I've been so busy, but I would like to get to the point where I can use this detection ability naturally without thinking about it, similarly to how I've gotten used to using the Eye of Foresight with very low opacity at all times.
It took about three hours of trekking through the forest before I finally reached my destination. There was a small dirt path weaving its way through the forest. It was only about wide enough for a single horse carriage to travel on.
I lifted myself up onto a tree to get a good vantage point while staying out of sight. Now all that was left is to wait.
And wait I did... I wish the Pope would have given me a more specific time of day. They may have already passed by here and I'd have no way of knowing...
*Gurgle*
My stomach is complaining. It's got to be around early afternoon and I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. Why didn't I bring any food with? I'll have to make sure Paul doesn't hear about this or he'll be laughing his ass off at me.
I suffered through the hunger while I waited another hour or so before getting fed up.
'Whatever. I need to leave somewhat soon or Mother will start to worry about me. I probably missed them anyway.'
I climbed down the tree and took out the return scroll to my Manor that I had brought with. While I was laying it down on the dirt path I heard the clopping of a horse.
'No way! Is this them? They show up now of all times!?'
"You there! What are you doing? Step aside and let us through!"
A tall, well shaped woman dressed in a knight's heavy armor yelled for me to get out of her way. She was leading a small group of eight knights, including herself, all dressed in brilliant blue plate armor. The eight of them were circled around a small horse drawn carriage which presumably held the Blessed Child.
"Therese... is that you?"
The female knight stuttered back a step in surprise before reaching for her blade.
"Who are you and how do you know of me!?"
"I'm your nephew Rudeus. Son of Zenith and Paul Greyrat."
"W-what? Rudeus? Is it really you? What are you doing all the way out here by yourself!?"
"What are you doing, Blessed One?", a commotion came from one of the other knights by the carriage as the Blessed Child stepped down out of it.
"Stay in the carriage Blessed One, it's not safe!"
Ignoring their plea, she walked up next beside Therese.
"Who is this?", she asked.
"He claims to be my nephew. I've never met him before, but... I don't think he's lying. He definitely has Paul's eyes; and a matching mole under his eye as well."
"Hmm...", the Blessed child seemed to muse over the situation.
'That's strange... I can see mana being absorbed into her eyes. It looks like it's being pulled through the air straight from my face.'
Suddenly the blessed child fell back as she screamed in terror.
"H-he... He's an assassin! The Pope hired him to kill me!"
'Damn... I forgot that she can read my mind.'
"You've got it all wrong! I came here to save-"
"Men! Get in formation!"
I was cut off by Therese as she pulled the Blessed child back towards the carriage with her. The other knights ran between us and formed a barrier between me and the carriage.
"Therese! This is all just a misunderstanding! Believe me!"
"Silence!", one of the other knights yelled.
"Don't bother with your lies!", another one added.
"The Blessed One can see through your deception!"
"Surrender now!", Therese yelled out from the back. "If you truly are Rudeus, I will do everything in my power to at least spare your life if you surrender peacefully."
"Ugh...", I sighed. "This didn't go to plan in the slightest. You'll have to forgive me, Aunt Therese. I'm going to have to get a little rough."