Purification

  Looking at the embarrassed girl with a red face, Penny took off her cotton robe and put it on the shore, turned around and walked to a slightly distant place, hearing the rustling sound of dressing behind her, she calmed down and began to recite the spell of endurance against elemental damage.

  On a cold night in the snowy northern country, as soon as he took off his thick down jacket, he knew how cold the air was. Pan Ni's teeth chattered and he wanted to cast a spell, but suddenly found that the magic connection was dull and lifeless. He couldn't help but secretly cry out in distress, having forgotten that the cooldown for the magic net from the day before hadn't ended yet - he wasn't even prepared for this spell.

  "Is it cold?" A warm sensation spread across his back, and an invisible protective film appeared on his body, dispelling the chill. Pan Ni turned around to see the Saint Warrior in a cotton robe smiling warmly: "I was prepared for this divine technique."

  "No wonder you dared to take a bath here." Penny suddenly realized.

  "I haven't used it." The Holy Warrior said in a urgent tone, as if defending himself: "I was using the cold to test my willpower, and I prepared this spell just in case of an emergency."

  Brave, honest and straightforward, and knowing how to leave room for maneuver, Panni gradually formed an impression of the Holy Warrior through these few days of observation. It has to be said that after living in the Red Robe Society, a relatively dark place, for a long time, he had a great appreciation for the character of female Holy Warriors.

  He heard the female warrior's words and looked at the water droplets on her hair, furrowing his brow: "Using cold to test one's willpower? This seems like an extreme form of training, does your deity advocate for this?"

  "There's nothing about it in the prince's teachings, but both the bishop and the instructor advised us to do so." Serra furrowed her brow: "Sometimes we need to fight on the outer surface of the deep abyss, where all sorts of environments can occur, coldness, strong acid, lava are things that often appear."

  "It turns out being a Holy Warrior is so dangerous." Panni sighed, roughly estimating that the danger of this job was on par with the environment of the Red Robe Association.

  "Mages, warriors, adventurers, merchants, nobles, commoners... In Ferren, no job is safe. I don't have such profound wisdom, these are the words of Archbishop-sama." Seeing Panni's surprised gaze, the Holy Warrior looked down slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed.

  "You always mention this archbishop, you revere him?" Pennie suddenly took some interest in Tyl's church and asked.

  "Of course, when I was five years old, the baron of our town seized my family's estate. If it weren't for Bishop-sama who helped us obtain justice in court, I would have become a homeless wanderer." Sera gazed off into space as she recalled: "At that time, I decided to join the church, and fortunately, Bishop-sama supported me all the way. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the chance to fight for Your Highness Til. You see, since the incident at Winter Castle ten years ago, the church has rarely trained female holy warriors."

  Ten years ago... Winterfell?

  Panni furrowed his brow in thought, and finally dug out a piece of information from an unknown corner, which seemed to be about a famous female warrior saint from the upper echelons of Tir who had fallen during a notable event, dealing a heavy blow to the reputation of the Tir Church in the Sword Bay area, resulting in a certain degree of decline in both the number of followers and the scale of the church.

  From that time on, the Tirian Church took a stricter attitude towards certain articles of the Bushido code concerning asceticism and began to cultivate female holy warriors more cautiously.

  It seems that this girl in front of me is really not easy after all.

  "This is still my first time leaving the church, it's an exploration training that belongs to our Holy Warriors." Sera said here, with a somewhat depressed mood and lowered her head: "But I didn't accomplish anything, and I even implicated Mr. Xien and several companions, I'm really far from being a qualified Holy Warrior."

  Penny smiled: "I said, no one is born adventurous."

  "So why was Mr. Xian so calm when facing that monster?" Sara asked, looking at Penny with a puzzled expression.

  "Maybe I'm just used to it." Panni recalled his experiences at the Red Robe Academy, and suddenly let out a laugh of loss, with an inexplicable hint of melancholy on his face.

  "Does Mr. Xi have troubles too?"

  "This... maybe it is, I really envy you for having a firm belief, after all, it's better than that weird mechanic." Penny smiled and changed the subject.

  "People must have faith, and their souls will be comforted and supported, giving them the strength to move forward." Serra said seriously: "Mr. Xi'en, no matter what troubles you have, please hold on to your beliefs, and there will definitely be a way to solve them."

  Pannie felt a few threads of melancholy in his heart, with no bias towards the devotion of the Holy Warriors. Instead, he had a faint sense of envy, coming from a country and era where faith was crumbling, his life had always lacked drive and passion.

  So coming to this magnificent world illuminated by the glory of all gods, what should he live for? Pursuing power? Penny felt that this reason was a bit thin for him.

  "What is this?"

  Penny heard the girl's exclamation, turned her head to look, and saw Cera staring at the great work left by the poet under the tree with a stunned expression as if she had been electrocuted.

  Penny let out a wry smile and spread her hands: "Of course this is something Anel left behind."

  "Mr. Stefan, he's...he's...beyond salvation!" Serra stuttered, her tone full of indignation, drawing out her sword to chop it into pieces. However, upon seeing the lifelike image on it, she felt a subtle sensation in her heart for the first time as she admired herself from this angle. Although she knew the painting was impure, the sword she raised couldn't be brought down.

  "Your Highness, protect me as I make up my mind." She closed her eyes, wanting to be decisive.

  "Wait." Panni blocked Sara, squatted down in front of the painting, dipped a brush in oil ink, and Sara approached with dissatisfaction and curiosity. However, she saw the law master use sky blue oil ink to draw a few strokes on the girl's body, covering her original ** with a simple breastplate.

  "If it ruins that scoundrel's masterpiece, it would be a real shame." Penny sneered maliciously as she continued to draw on the drawing board. Although her painting skills were not high, having drawn anatomical diagrams before, she was not completely ignorant of art. The armor design was simple, and with her rough brushstrokes, it had a somewhat cartoonish feel, but the visual effect wasn't bad: "Adding a few more strokes like this, he'll probably vomit blood when he sees it."

  Panni looked back at the stunned Saint Warrior, and then added a long sword in front of the girl's hand on the painting. The original style of the painting was suddenly swept away, and the female warrior wearing armor appeared vigorous and valiant in the faint mist.

  The Saint Warrior's face turned even redder, watching Penny's pen move across the painting, as the brushstrokes passed over the naked body of the girl in the painting, she felt a strange and inexplicable sensation in her mind and body.

  A little uncomfortable, more ambiguous - of course, she can't describe it yet.

  A young girl, not yet deeply involved in the world, stands behind a painter and watches as he draws her body. Her mental state must be subtle and inexpressible, especially since she has some degree of affection for Penny - even if this feeling has not yet become corrupted.

  "Not enough." Panni looked at Sela's even redder face again, dipped the brush in a bit of silver-white ink, and with one stroke, a pair of pure white wings seemed to emerge from the back of the girl in the painting, like a flash of light. The heroic atmosphere of the painting became even more sacred, but paired with the slightly dazed and distracted expression on the girl's face in the painting, it was even more flawless and pure.

  The surrounding misty water, like clouds and fog, lifted the body of an angelic girl warrior, with light and shadow under her wings, sacred and inviolable.

  "That should be enough, I suppose my standards are still a bit off." Panni smiled complacently and took the painting down from the easel - in this cold weather, the ink would solidify quickly. He handed it to the dazed Saint Warrior girl: "I've already purified it."

  "No, never mind......" Sera shook her head violently, turning her bright red face to the side, as if she was more unwilling to face this painting after it had been purified than that 18-forbidden one: "Leave it as a memento for Mr. Xi'en."

  "......Alright." Xien tidied up his drawing board and smiled at Sela: "I'm going to go rest for a bit, you shouldn't stay here too long either."

  "...Serra stood still, hesitated for a moment, suddenly clenched her fist and shouted at Penny's back: "Mr. Xi'en, I will continue to work hard, please cheer up too."

  Penny Xien let out a breath, and the icy air quickly turned into a white mist. The chaotic thoughts in her mind dissipated, and she began to think about what came next.

  After this incident, Sally Fen and an elder with a high status in the witch organization stood on his side, as well as several holy warriors of Tiel, so he had a certain amount of power and speaking rights. When going to Mushi Tiel for investigation, if something went wrong, there would be room for retreat.

  The only thing to pay attention to is to keep your identity hidden.

  These days, he often uses Komir dialect when speaking, initially awkward, but Anel won't expose him. Saint Warrior comes from Tumis, which is a certain distance away from Komir and can't tell the difference either. Later on, the more he speaks, the more fluent he becomes, believing it's enough to deceive people...

  But still need to be more cautious.

  ……

  "Are you saying that the Madilgaran outpost's people are on their way here?" Muus Tiriel, sixth of Oslor, gazed at Mius Derran with a somewhat unpleasant expression, his butterfly mask glinting in the light.

  "Sir, I heard that place is infested with ogres..."

  "Send word for them to return, there is no place for them within the city now." Eddard waved his hand impatiently, cutting off the witch's words: "War preparations are underway."

  "But Lord Oslo, we..." Seeing Oslo's impatient gesture again, Mius Deran swallowed the second half of 'are you really that busy?'

  "We certainly don't have the energy to entertain them." Osler repeated a sentence: "Refuse them, this is an order."

  "...is." Mius Derlan glanced at Osro, where the suspicious light grew heavier, but ultimately could only helplessly turn and leave the room.

  Sixth Oslou sat quietly in the chair, his gloomy eyes staring at Mius Deran for a long time before he got up, carefully sealing the doors and windows, entering a dimly lit compartment. In the center of the small room was a candle holder, where he picked up a small piece of fine copper wire and threw it in, reciting incantations while making hand gestures. Not long after the copper wire burned out, a blurry shadow appeared on the mirror behind the candle holder:

  "......you're summoning me?"

  "Yes, sir, I need your help." Oslou bowed respectfully.

  "... said..."

  "Lethrman's southern Osler and Longzhe were originally both opened by our method, but a previously undiscovered Longzhe has now appeared, and is about to arrive in Muxingti. He is a powerful mage with a spellcasting ability of five rings, and the arrangements we have made here are likely to be difficult to hide from him..."

  "Then send some people to get rid of them... But as a Five-Ring practitioner, you don't need to worry about such things anymore. Continue with the preparations, Master's complete awakening requires a large amount of blood sacrifices. Also, that subordinate of yours is probably not worth trusting either, it's best to get rid of him as soon as possible."

  The shadow flickered and then disappeared.

  "...is." Oslo bowed to the mirror again, thinking of the last words of the shadow, his face changed for a moment, and determination appeared in his eyes. He then turned around and left.

  ……