Chapter 143: I Just Want to Hold On to These

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The muscular man’s body convulsed a few times, then rapidly shriveled up, dead, completely dead.

A few tiny sparks drifted upward toward the sky and faded into nothing. I stared after them in a daze.

When I turned back, Sister Theresa had already slipped away quietly, leaving behind only a faint, ghostly silhouette.

My brow furrowed slightly.

In that one moment, a flood of thoughts rushed through my head… I almost called out to stop her, but in the end, I just shook my head and quickly followed after her.

The two of us, one in front of the other, made our way back to the old building where the goods were being traded.

The flames here were still burning, though much smaller now. The Church’s monks, together with a Sword of Kanri from the Water Order, were working hard to put out the fire. Not far away, by the cargo wagons, the vice-captain and the hook-nosed man were nearly done tallying the goods. When they saw us approaching, they asked: “Dead?”

“Dead.”

Sister Theresa nodded in reply, then asked: “How’s the situation on this end?”

The vice-captain nudged one of the cargo boxes nearby with her foot.

“Take a look at this.”

She pointed to the box stacked on top. I shifted my gaze over and saw it had already been pried open, inside were several thin roughspun shirts clearly made for children, tossed haphazardly onto the lid. One of the shirt pockets was hanging open, and dried yellowish straw leaves had spilled out from it.

“Almost every piece of clothing in this box had guguo grass wrapped inside. Based on the amount, I’d estimate roughly 500 to 700 grams… Haven’t checked the other boxes yet.”

But things were exactly as we’d suspected.

I walked over slowly, pinched one of the dried leaves between my fingers and held it up to my eyes, examined it carefully, then brought it to the tip of my nose and sniffed… It smelled like grass. Just a little sour, with a strange unpleasant odor mixed in, nothing else particularly unusual about it.

“Dried guguo grass has no effect unless it’s burned.”

Sister Theresa had been watching my movements. Hearing her say that, I couldn’t help but glance over at the few clusters of the Fire of Sin not yet fully extinguished, some ten or so meters away.

“…Don’t get any funny ideas, okay?” Sister Theresa spoke up again. “Once you’re addicted to this stuff, it’s really hard to quit!”

I already knew that.

“Does Sister know a lot about this?”

“I don’t, actually. It’s just that a friend of mine is very interested in guguo grass. His name is Chris.”

Chris… oh, the plague doctor. He and Sister Theresa knew each other?

I casually tossed the dried leaf aside, dusted off my hands, and turned my gaze toward the line of traveling merchants standing stiffly not far away. “They… perhaps, some of them didn’t know. Sister, we need to get to the bottom of this.”

“Yes, I understand.”

A warm and gentle voice, it sounded dependable enough.

At that moment, Charles raised his head.

When he saw Sister Theresa, it was as if he’d grabbed the last lifeline he had. His eyes went wide and he screamed toward us: “Director Theresa!”

I noticed Sister Theresa’s figure flinch slightly, a look of sorrow crossing her face, but she didn’t respond to him.

“Director, please hear me out! I had no knowledge of the heretics! I have nothing to do with them! I swear! Please save me! Director Theresa! After all the years I’ve devoted myself wholeheartedly to your service, you must believe me! Please save me—!”

He still referred to himself in that formal manner of his, but all the dignity in his voice and composure had long since crumbled, he was nearly shrieking.

After a long pause, Sister Theresa finally spoke to him.

“Caught red-handed, and still trying to talk your way out of it… Charles, you’ve truly disappointed me.”

Those words pushed Charles to the edge of a breakdown. He began to sob and weep uncontrollably.

“No! It really isn’t like that! I’m not a heretic, I don’t know anything about guguo grass! You know me! You know I would never dare do something like that… You know it… Someone is trying to frame me!”

Sister Theresa fell silent.

After a moment, she let out a quiet sigh.

“I just… thought I knew you well.”

“You mean… you don’t believe me…? I’m not a heretic… Director Theresa…”

Charles let the tears fall. He murmured under his breath for a moment, and then he began to confess.

“This… this is my fault! I abused my position. All these years, I’ve been skimming off a portion of the supplies donated to Cataloma behind your back… selling them at a discount to local merchants to line my own pockets… I’ve been hiding it from you all this time, I… I’ve wronged you… But it was only that! Today’s merchants were different from usual. I found it strange too, but they were offering 10% more than before… it was my own greed! I… I also have an aging mother to support… How was I supposed to know anything about the Gate of Truth or guguo grass… What is even happening…”

“Director Theresa, I have a child! Little Charlie! You’ve even met him, you said you liked him… For Little Charlie’s sake, please save me! I’m willing to pay back every bit of profit I’ve taken over the years… No, double—”

“Charles, don’t you understand yet!”

Sister Theresa’s sharp rebuke cut him off.

As if trying to calm herself, she drew a slow, deep breath.

“At this point, it’s not something a few words from me can settle. Whether you’re guilty or being framed… save your explanations for when you’re in the underground prison.”

With that, Sister Theresa turned away from him entirely and looked toward the vice-captain.

“Tanis. From here… what does the Sword of Kanri plan to do?”

The woman named Tanis smiled lightly.

“We’ll follow this all the way to the end. Let’s see just who had the nerve to smuggle people into the city so brazenly.”

Sister Theresa gave a gentle nod.

“Mm, thank you for your hard work… As for the guguo grass, I’ll leave that to you to handle. And the rest of the cargo… may I have someone bring it back to Cataloma?”

Tanis raised an eyebrow: “Aren’t you afraid that’ll raise suspicions?”

Sister Theresa laughed softly at that: “I am… but those new clothes, the children have been looking forward to them for a long time.”

“You really are so kind.”

“Not at all… I just care for them, that’s all.”

I suddenly thought of the two children I had rescued earlier, and looked up toward the entrance of the back alley, only to find them long gone.

They’d already run off… well, that’s fine. As long as they weren’t hurt.

“I’m not a heretic, I don’t want to go to the underground prison… I’m not a heretic…”

Over there, top-hat man Charles was still muttering to himself nonstop.

The flames had nearly all been extinguished by now, leaving only a small cluster of fire not far from me. I rubbed my lower belly with one hand, walked over to it, and released an ice fog to smother it out.

“What a… convenient ability, Sylvia.” Sister Theresa’s voice came from behind me. “Your Frost Order is so powerful, against the Gate of Truth, it’s almost like a natural counter.”

I was quiet for a moment.

“Sister Theresa.”

“Mm?”

“Earlier… when I was in the director’s office, I saw that book 《Sorrows of Love》… You wrote it, didn’t you?”

“Ah, yes. You saw it! I’m a little embarrassed… please don’t laugh at me, okay?”

I gave my head a little shake and turned around.

“It was very well written.”

I kept my gaze fixed on her eyes, vast and brilliant as a sky full of stars.

“I saw… that line. ‘All the suffering in this world is nothing but the work of the human heart’… Is that what Sister believes?”

“Mm…” Sister Theresa paused to think when she heard that. “You could say that… was what I once believed.”

“Sister… did something happen?”

“There were some things.”

“…Can’t talk about it?”

“Can’t talk about it.”

“Then… Sister, now… do you still believe that?”

“Now, you ask…”

Sister Theresa tilted her head up.

Above the blue sky, there was nothing but white clouds and sunlight.

“This world… with its shimmering lakes and rolling mountains, its breathtaking scenery at every turn, there is so much that fills the heart with joy. I just want to hold on to these.”

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