Chapter 115: Open Up, Judicator’s Court!

Open Up, Judicator’s Court!

“Mm.” Ciel didn’t ask a question, just nodded slightly, indicating for Tara to continue speaking.

“There has always been a ‘dark nail’ beside Lucy. Her recent behavior is strange, much like she encountered something special... But this also led to several followers being discovered during infiltration and captured by the heretics.”

“Not long before you arrived, the ‘dark nail’ reported that Lucy Silva suffered heavy injuries, likely not long for this world... We can take this opportunity to guide her onto the right path.”

Speaking up to here, Tara paused slightly, then said, “If you agree, the ‘dark nail’ will act before dawn.”

There were cultists planted beside Lucy too?

Hadn’t the Deton Group headquarters in Ansu already started internal cleansing? How did that “dark nail” evade the search? Or did they luckily evade investigation by always following Lucy on external assignments?

It seemed Tara could also sense something wrong with Lucy but didn’t know the specifics of what happened.

“No rush for now,” Ciel said slowly. “If you are to act, you must first investigate the source of the misfortune... This is a test for you.”

Ciel didn’t care if Lucy became a cultist in the simulation. She only cared about finding the truth, even if it meant using any means necessary.

“Yes! Mother Goddess!” Hearing the word ‘test,’ Tara took a deep breath, stood up immediately, bowed towards Ciel, and said, “Your humble servant will investigate immediately!”

After speaking, Tara quickly turned around and ran directly outside. Before Ciel could speak, she had already rushed out the door.

After about ten seconds, the wooden door was slowly pushed open, and Tara slowly edged back in: “I’ll change my clothes, Mother Goddess...”

Ciel had wanted to remind her she hadn’t changed out of her nightgown yet.

“Before noon tomorrow, I will come check the results.” Ciel stepped forward, patted Tara’s shoulder, and said, “This is key to me retrieving my power and memory.”

Feeling Ciel’s encouragement, and hearing her words now, Tara felt as if injected with adrenaline; even her breathing became heavy.

“I... I guarantee completion of the mission!!!” Tara finished speaking, then rushed upstairs. By the time she changed her clothes and ran back down, Ciel was no longer in the room.

This work is hosted on mananovel.com

Mother Goddess... left?

She stepped forward, walked to where Ciel had stood, took a deep breath, slowly raised her hands, and wrapped them around herself, as if hugging the air.

Mother Goddess’s scent, so warm...

Even Mother Goddess’s words, Her expression, Her demeanor, were like a spring breeze.

Although greatly different from the approximate characteristics of the Mother Goddess Tara had imagined and analyzed, considering the incomplete recovery of power and memory, it was acceptable.

Honestly, Tara preferred the Mother Goddess’s current form.

After all, the appearance she analyzed and translated from ancient texts was somewhat too... sacred and indescribable.

After calming her excitement slightly, Tara quickly walked out the door, heading swiftly towards the outskirts of the city under the night sky.

...

At this moment, Ciel was walking on Opal Street. She opened the system to check the remaining time, then ran towards Gem Avenue, planning to follow Gem Avenue all the way to Sir’s Bridge District, heading to Avena’s home. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

Avena was likely asleep at this point, but Ciel’s time was limited. She could only sacrifice a bit of Avena’s sleep time.

She needed to find Nia before misfortune struck, tell Nia in an open area to inform Avena, asking Avena to tell her the address of Oppold from the Royal Family.

Misfortune could strike suddenly at any time; she had to cherish every second.

The previous shadow horse had already exhausted all its energy and dissipated. Now Ciel could only run there herself. Letting the shadow carry her wouldn’t be much faster, but the consumption would be significant.

Tara had already gone to assist her in investigating the source of the misfortune. If she could survive until noon tomorrow, she might learn something from Tara.

Having a loyal subordinate indeed brought Ciel many benefits. At least when she couldn’t be in two places at once, they could help investigate some matters.

Unfortunately, Tara wasn’t stable. Ciel didn’t dare contact her in reality yet.

After all, Tara’s loyalty wasn’t to her, but to the “Mother Goddess.” Until she could confirm complete control over her, Ciel wouldn’t interact with her in reality.

Suddenly, Ciel keenly sensed the sound of horse hooves at the end of the street. She slowly slowed her pace, hiding her figure in the shadow of a residential building.

Who? Driving a carriage so late at night...

To avoid potentially encountering transcendents or arousing suspicion, Ciel planned to wait quietly for the carriage to pass. But when she saw the warhorse clad in silver armor ahead, Ciel paused for a moment.

Nia’s warhorse?

Then the person sitting in the carriage was most likely Avena.

When the carriage’s silhouette appeared in Ciel’s vision, as expected, she saw the silver suit of armor behind the warhorse.

Such a coincidence?

Ask now?

At this moment, Nia, controlling the warhorse, also noticed the transcendent hidden in the shadows watching her, but Nia made no move, intending to pass directly.

Someone from the Judicator’s Court... Why would they appear in the Gem District? Weren’t all the cultist properties here already confiscated?

Nia cracked the whip, speeding up the warhorse. At this moment, inside the carriage, within the shadow where Avena sat, an arm burning with black flames emerged.

Inside the carriage, Avena sat on the soft cushion, staring blankly out the window, her eyes unfocused, gazing towards an unknown direction.

She didn’t even notice a black shadow slowly emerging from her own shadow, sitting down beside her.

Clang—

Suddenly, the carriage stopped abruptly in the middle of the road.

Bright silver illusory armor lit up around Avena. At the same time, the carriage door was yanked open by Nia. She grabbed Avena’s arm, pulled her behind herself, and raised her sword in her left hand, aiming at the terrifying black shadow.

“May I ask what business Your Excellency has?” The cold metallic buzzing sound came from the gaps in the armor. Nia’s silver armor shimmered fluorescently, ready to activate defenses at any moment.

An enemy?

Only then did Avena slowly react. She raised her hand, adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses, and looked at the black shadow inside the carriage.

“Ciel?” Just looking at the silhouette-like black shadow, Avena couldn’t help but blurt out.

-

Ciel?

Nia observed the black shadow in front. Looking closely, the body shape was indeed somewhat similar... But this black shadow was entirely wrapped in a black long robe, and its hair was curly. This didn’t look like Ciel at all.

Most crucially, Ciel wasn’t even a transcendent. Previously, Ciel had intended to follow the “Physician” path, starting to devour various theses. Before leaving, she hadn’t even started drinking potions yet.

And this black shadow before her, the controller was at least a hundred meters away, in a position even she couldn’t sense. It was at least a second-tier “Judicator.”

For Milady to mistake this black shadow, merely similar in body shape, for Ciel, was somewhat... too deeply obsessed?

If Ciel’s body was truly found later, perhaps she could contact Adele, ask her to pull some strings at the Redemption Society to find a “Psychiatrist” to check on Milady...

At this moment, the black shadow sat on the seat inside the carriage, the legs beneath the shadow long robe swaying gently. It didn’t answer Nia’s question, seemingly waiting for something.

After quite a while, the black shadow extended its hand, its index and middle fingers plunging directly into its own chest.

When pulled out again, a piece of paper was clamped between the black shadow’s index and middle fingers. It casually folded the paper several times and tossed it towards Avena.

Nia intercepted the paper, unfolded it, glanced at it, and was immediately stunned. Confirming no special transcendent effects were attached to the paper, she handed it to Avena.

“Milady, take a look, this...”

While Avena read the paper, Nia looked up again towards Ciel.

Just this morning, she had accompanied Miss Avena to the station to see Ciel off... At that time, she was still not a transcendent...

How did she return in the blink of an eye, already able to use second-tier transcendent abilities?

Was this really Ciel?

Nia recalled the transcendent wearing Judicator’s Court clothes she saw passing by earlier.

Was she Ciel?

Or someone from the organization behind Ciel, helping Ciel deliver information?

At this moment, Avena was looking at the note in her hand. Her previously tense heart began to waver after seeing the handwriting and content.

【Avena】

【I am currently investigating the truth of the misfortune with people from the organization. Can you tell me some information about Oppold Thaddeus and his address?】

【This will reduce some of my workload】

【The misfortune on me may have accumulated to a terrifying level now, so I cannot contact you directly】

【—Ciel】

She reached out, gently smudged the words on the letter paper. The not-yet-dry ink was wiped away slightly, blackening her thumb and other parts of the paper.

It was just written...

At this moment, Avena’s heart finally relaxed completely. She didn’t even notice her own eyes had turned red.

Avena fumbled around her person frantically, took out a dip pen, unscrewed the finger-sized small portable crystal inkwell, and directly dropped the bottle.

She placed the paper directly against Nia’s back armor and began writing on it.

About three minutes passed. The back of the paper was already filled with Avena’s short essay of at least three hundred words. She checked it once, confirmed there were no issues, folded the paper, and tossed it towards the black shadow.

The black shadow raised its hand, easily caught the paper, waved towards Avena, stuffed the paper into its mouth, and slipped into the shadow.

Only after the black shadow completely disappeared did Nia turn her head towards Avena and ask, “Milady, are we still going to the railway tracks now?”

“Ah...” Avena looked up at Nia, then shook her head and said, “No need, let’s go back.”

Only after Avena boarded the carriage and the carriage turned around again did Avena take off her glasses, cover her face with a handkerchief, and calm her wildly fluctuating emotions.

...

“Clock Tower Alley?” At this moment, Ciel, having received the letter paper handed over by the black shadow, looked somewhat puzzledly at the address Avena left her.

“Son of Prince Thaddeus, Knight Commander of the Queen’s Sword...”

This background was quite significant. Why would he choose to temporarily reside in Clock Tower Alley? And live there alone, without bringing any guards?

Although the information Avena provided was somewhat unbelievable, Ciel decided to trust Avena’s words.

Watching the carriage returning from before her, Ciel saw it off, then stuffed the paper into her pocket, turned around, and hurried towards Clock Tower Alley.

Such a noble person, yet residing in Clock Tower Alley for no reason.

And according to Avena’s description, this person was also a third-tier “Crown Guard.” This path seemed very popular among nobles.

Compared to other paths, “Detective” was easier for nobles skilled in utilizing intelligence, especially major nobles, to digest. The subsequent “Law Official” potion also didn’t hinder their positional advancement and potion digestion.

Moreover, upon completing the Reconstitution Ritual to the “Crown Guard” stage, they would possess extremely strong life-preserving abilities... For nobles, this path was indeed very beneficial.

If the other party was just a “Crown Guard,” the threat level to Ciel was also much smaller—unclear if this stereotype stemmed from Nia’s influence.

Ciel was very familiar with the way back to Clock Tower Alley, and she knew many shortcuts that didn’t require taking the main road. Soon, following the address Avena left, she arrived before a row of small terraced houses.

These houses were very uniform in style. The interiors were often divided by landlords into different rooms for rent, a housing choice for many working-class families.

The place Ciel and her sister previously lived was similar to this, except the kind landlord hadn’t divided the two-story small building into three or four narrower rooms, just rented it cheaply to them.

Grace Street, No. 21.

Ciel stood in front of this building, confirmed the house number was correct, then glanced to the right—less than four hundred meters to the right was the Clock Tower church.

Knock, knock, knock—

Ciel raised her hand and knocked on the door.

Soon, Ciel heard footsteps. Someone stood behind the door and asked, “Who is it?”

“Open up, Judicator’s Court.”

The fake identity of the Judicator’s Court was proving excessively useful. Moreover, with the Clock Tower church right next door, no one would imagine someone daring to impersonate the Judicator’s Court right under the Church of the Savior Goddess’s nose.

Sure enough, after Ciel announced her identity, the wooden door was slowly pushed open.