"Please witness these two people forming a sacred oath before you," Li Yu said in as solemn a tone as possible.
The unfamiliar voice continued to respond to him, "The network connection is poor, please check the network connection."
Li Yu's body stiffened slightly, but he quickly turned his head and said to the shocked Ireya and Jude in a deep voice, "It's fine now, Saturday has agreed to my request. You can now swear your oaths to each other, and this oath will be protected by Saturday."
Miss Rabbit was the first to react, stating solemnly, "I, Ireya Arias, daughter of Blood Eye Ruse, and Family Head of the Arias clan, hereby swear that if Half-Face Jude can safely escort me into my castle, I shall pay him a reward of twenty-two gold Kuren coins."
Jude hesitated, then placed his right hand over his chest, "I, Jude Wilson, hereby swear to safely escort Miss Ireya to Green Field, within the castle where she resides."
After he spoke, he was greeted by a flash and the sound of a click.
Jude instinctively closed his eyes, his hand swiftly resting on War Axe, but the expected attack did not come. Li Yu turned the camera towards Ireya, taking her photo as well.
He then said to the two of them, "I will take your portraits back to the Divine Country, and anyone who breaks this oath will be unable to escape the Divine Punishment of Saturday, even if they flee to the ends of the earth."
Ireya leaned in, "A portrait? Where is the portrait, one that can be drawn in the blink of an eye?"
Li Yu showed her the photo he had taken, which greatly amazed Miss Rabbit.
"This... is this really me? It's so clear, but oh, why is my face so dirty, and when did I get this bump on my nose? Didn't I put on perfume?"
Half-Face couldn't help but lean over to look as well after hearing this. When he saw his own photo, he froze, remained silent for a long time, and then reached out, touching the damaged right side of his face.
"Now, I truly believe you are that Prophet of Saturday."
Jude put away his previous irreverent demeanor, and said seriously to Li Yu, "By the way, what exactly did Lord Saturday say earlier?"
Li Yu's built-in bidirectional translation function could only be used by himself to automatically project the meaning in his words into the target's mind and allow him to understand what those around him were saying. However, it did not include the smart assistant on the phone.
Still, he repeated the smart assistant's two responses as Jude had asked.
Half-Face and Ireya both remembered the unfamiliar voice's series of notes.
Although they did not understand the significance behind it, when compared with Li Yu's voice, it was exactly the same.
This time, they finally understood those two phrases. Or at least the first one.
— I am here.
The immense impact these two simple words had on their souls was incomparable.
It was the first time the high and mighty God had responded so clearly and directly to its followers, without any ambiguity or imagination.
As for the phrase "The network connection is poor, please check the network connection," Jude and Ireya did not quite understand it, although they recognized every word. When strung together, it made no sense to them.
So they humbly asked Li Yu for enlightenment.
But he simply told them, "One day in the future, you will understand."
In reality, Li Yu had also felt a chill down his spine when he heard that phrase. He had checked beforehand that the smart voice was activated, but forgot that in a no-network environment, many features of the smart voice would be restricted.
He was just a hair's breadth away from getting carried away.
Fortunately, in his previous work, similar situations were not uncommon, especially when taking over projects left by predecessors. Most of his time was spent putting out fires and patching holes.
So when Li Yu realized there had been a mishap, he didn't panic and managed to keep up a calm facade to bring it full circle.
After all, he held all the interpretative authority regarding Saturday as the Prophet. As long as he maintained enough composure, no one would question him.
In any case, the matter came to a satisfactory conclusion.
After Li Yu's maneuvering, Jude was bound by restrictions that should not have existed, and Ireya received protection that was completely nonexistent, and as for the instigator Li Yu, he took a solid step toward gaining two more followers—everyone was more than happy.
Especially Miss Rabbit, who let out a long sigh of relief. She eased from the tense emotions, finding her new bodyguard more pleasing to the eye with each passing moment.
She asked Half-Face, "You're so skilled in martial arts, do you also lack money?"
Jude smiled, "With a face like mine trying to win a woman's affection, I definitely need to spend a bit more, right?"
"Where did you live before?" the girl inquired further.
"I had no home; I've always roamed the world with my dog."
"Have you ever thought about finding a place to settle down?"
Half-Face glanced at Ireya, "You want to recruit me to serve you? I'd advise you to save your breath, I hate being constrained the most and have no interest whatsoever in honor."
"Is that so?" The girl seemed somewhat disappointed but said nothing more.
With Jude's joining, Ireya's journey home was finally on the right track.
Not long after the young girl and Li Yu parted ways, she got lost, walking in circles within the forest. Two days had passed, and not only had she failed to get closer to her territory, but she also ended up even further away.
Now that Half-Face was leading the way, such a situation no longer occurred.
Jude hadn't lied—he was exceptionally experienced in wilderness survival, adept in everything from making fire and cooking to hunting and even finding shelter before a storm hit.
Ireya even began to suspect that this man spent more time in the wild than he did in cities.
For him, the woods and swamps that symbolized danger for many were like his own bedroom, freely accessible.
Perhaps it was because their pace had quickened, but they hadn't encountered any pursuers in the following days.
As they drew ever closer to Green Field, Miss Rabbit felt both excited and anxious.
About twenty days earlier, she had set out from there on her way to Rock Snow City, a helpless young girl who had just lost her father. Now, she was returning as the new master of these lands.
Of course, that was provided she could first deal with the dissenters, including those within her family.
Thinking of this, Ireya's heart sank. It had been five whole days since she sent that letter, and she didn't know if Alfred had received it.
Nor did she know if the old knight had indeed taken control of the castle as she had instructed.
What would she do if, upon her return, she was faced with a Teacup Castle whose gates were tightly shut and full of malice towards her?
Should she turn back and seek Marquis Kuren's support, or should she clandestinely rally a loyal armed force to take back her home from her stepmother?
Miss Rabbit suddenly realized how pitifully inexperienced she was in such matters. She had never dealt with anything similar and had received no guidance on the subject.
She glanced at Jude walking ahead. The son of a farmer clearly could not offer her any particularly valuable advice.
In this moment, Ireya missed her human advisor tremendously.
If only he were here, no matter what happened, he would surely have a contingency plan.
There was probably nothing in this world that could perplex him.
For some reason, this thought suddenly popped into Miss Rabbit's head.
The good news was that, by her calculation, he should be returning soon.