As the sky gradually darkened, the streets of White River Town, big and small, began to light up.
Since Olivina, the "Diamond" of the Three Prophet Witches Council, invented the Magitech Electrical Device, this great invention of electric lights immediately blossomed throughout the entire Saint Viliana Kingdom, and even White River Town, a remote town bordering the magic domain, was no exception.
From then on, the people of the Saint Viliana Kingdom declared the liberation of the night.
However, it is worth mentioning that the great witch Olivina seemed to have completely disappeared after launching this epoch-making invention, and no one ever saw her appear in any large-scale public occasions again, becoming a legend at the time.
Tap tap.
Helen walked on this festively lit street.
The townspeople began their diverse nightlife, with small theaters, open-air performances by wandering poets, and the clamor of taverns, everything was there.
No matter how many times she saw it, she still found this device called electric lights to be very amazing, It was just a pity that it was not a product of the wisdom of the Goddess of Light, Astaria.
However, the coverage of electric lights in White River Town and the degree of prosperity at night still surprised Helen. This level of liveliness could only be slightly surpassed by the capital among the many cities she had traveled to.
It almost made people forget that this place was a desolate and miserable frontier city three years ago.
'...This is really strange, isn't it?'
'Not only the unusual prosperity here but also the unusual attitude towards me...'
'What exactly did that Lister do here?'
"Ah, Lady Helen, finally found you."
Suddenly, a slightly immature voice came from behind. Helen turned around and found that a petite girl wearing a relatively simple robe without a hood was panting and following her.
Seeing the girl's brown hair, Helen recognized her.
She was the apprentice nun Iris, whom she was responsible for leading on this mission.
"Yo, Helen, how is it? This place looks quite fun, right?"
"Senior Aquiluna, we are on a mission!"
"Correction, little Iris, you are on a mission, not me."
As for the beautiful woman next to Iris, who was wearing the same outfit as Helen, with purple hair and a mature and intellectual temperament, she was her colleague, the sixth Magitech Armed Nun, Aquiluna.
The numbering of the Magitech Armed Nuns was based on the time of joining, and Helen was the latest number thirteen, which meant that Aquiluna had been selected into the Magitech Armed Nun squad a long time ago and was undoubtedly her senior.
However... Helen didn't have a good impression of this senior.
Because she either stayed idle in the church or secretly changed out of her nun's clothes and ran to the capital city, Helen couldn't see the devout faith in Astaria and the spirit of being strict with herself in her.
Including this time, as soon as she heard that Helen was coming to White River Town for a mission, she insisted on following along... Really couldn't figure out what she was thinking about all the time.
However, after all, she was a senior who entered the Magitech Armed Nuns before her... Maybe there was some outstanding quality that she couldn't see.
Helen sighed and said to the two,
"Received orders from the church, because there are traces of the Demon Lord here, we are required to stand by here and wait for further instructions."
Speaking of which, this is also a suspicious point.
In broad daylight, people were still making a fuss over the Demon Lord being here, but at night, they acted as if nothing had happened, playing and eating as usual, as if the Demon Lord was just a neighbor who occasionally dropped by.
'...Hard to understand.'
"Ah, so that means we have nothing to do now, right?"
Hearing Helen's words, Aquiluna smiled slightly.
"Lady Helen, what about our mission target?"
"...Whereabouts unknown after the church was destroyed, but it can be confirmed that he is still alive."
Helen stared at the Holy Light power in her hand, the Holy Light Shackles she had put on Lister before had not disappeared.
"So, we still need to search for his whereabouts during this time."
"Sigh, there's no way around it then."
Aquiluna stretched and then pulled Iris and Helen towards the tavern next door,
"Alright, alright, there's no rush, since we have to stand by anyway, let's experience the local customs first. Besides, maybe that Lister was captured by the Demon Lord, who knows?"
"...Please don't joke around."
"Ah! Let go of me!"
Aquiluna ignored the opinions of the two and dragged them into the tavern next door with a smile.
Bang.
The tavern door was opened.
As soon as the three of them entered, the originally lively tavern fell silent.
"..."
Helen felt that everyone around her was casting cold glances at her, and these glances made her feel very uncomfortable and a little sad.
They were supposed to be the messengers who brought holy light and blessings to the people... Why did these ordinary people avoid them like they were avoiding something unlucky, either leaving directly or staring at them in silence, as if looking at an enemy?
It shouldn't be like this...
"Tsk, these guys, actually brainwashed to this extent... That Lister, he really deserves to die."
Iris muttered in a low voice beside her. Some patrons heard her words and angrily pounded the table, startling Iris.
After glaring at her for a while, the patron who pounded the table put down the money for the drink and quickly left the tavern, and other patrons followed suit. Soon, the entire tavern became almost empty, with only a white-haired old man standing in front of the counter, carefully wiping the wine glasses.
"What the hell, these people, really..."
Iris frowned and touched her chest again, but her slightly trembling hands betrayed her unsettled heart.
"Hmm..."
Helen silently clenched her fists.
"It's okay Iris, if you say that about someone's benefactor, people will definitely be unhappy, it can't be helped if they get angry."
"What benefactor, they were just brainwashed and deceived!"
"Oh, really?"
Aquiluna smiled ambiguously, her eyes like a purple starry sky, reflecting Iris's puffed-up smiling face.
She walked to the counter and pointed to the lamp quietly glowing in front of the old man, slowly saying,
"If it's just brainwashing, can it produce something like this?"
"This..."
"Forget it, let's not talk so much."
Aquiluna turned to look at the old man at the counter and sat down.
"Hehe, this young lady knows quite a bit."
The old man said to Aquiluna with a smile, and Aquiluna also returned a smile.
"Right? So, old man, seeing that I'm so sensible, help us open three rooms and give me a bottle of good vintage wine, how about it?"
"Oh my..."
The old man slowly put down the wine glass, looked at the large bunch of room keys placed beside him, and put them away under Aquiluna's eyes.
"What a pity, this store has no extra rooms."
"..."
Aquiluna's smile froze on her face.
"What about the wine?"
The old man put away the wine glass again.
"Sorry, we don't have that either."
"...You must have food, right?"
"Oh, it seems there is no food within the discipline regulations..."
Iris couldn't hold back anymore, she frowned and rushed forward, saying loudly,
"You have nothing, what kind of tavern are you running?!"
"Oh my, young lady, you can't say that, don't you still have this old thing here?"
"You!"
"Hehe."
Suddenly, a crisp laughter came from beside Iris.
At some point, a woman wearing a wide hat and a set of traveling witch's clothes had silently sat down beside them, looking at Aquiluna and Iris.
"Don't make things difficult for an old man, just obediently listen and leave, isn't that good?"
After saying this sentence lightly, she looked at the old man at the counter and said with a smile,
"Open a room for me for the night, thank you."
"Sorry, miss, there really isn't any."
"...What about the keys?"
"Those are for my own house."
"..."