Big Brother's Guests... Are a Bit Too Many

After confirming that their surroundings were indeed secure, Freya began to report the recent activities of the three bishops to Ansu.

Aside from Paul, who would come to the school to teach, Terry and Leonard both spent their time at the Holy Dome Cathedral, rarely venturing out, and even when they did, it was only to handle matters related to The Church.

"But ever since Lord Ansu told me that there might be a villain hidden within The Church, I specifically moved into the cathedral under the guise of handling official business, secretly recording their daily whereabouts..."

Freya seemed to have truly discovered something unusual, and she recalled in a low voice:

"I've been keeping watch until midnight every day for the past few days. Yesterday at one in the morning, I was just about to fall asleep when I suddenly heard some movement outside..."

Freya not only possessed a keen sense of smell, but she had also inherited the excellent natural instincts of the Staya tribe.

"I saw... a member of the clergy who had changed into plain clothes sneaking out of the cathedral through the back door. I felt something was wrong, so I quietly followed, and it turned out..."

"That person was actually Bishop Terry!"

"Bishop Terry?" Ansu thought to himself that this guy really did have something to hide, so he hurriedly asked, "Where did he go?"

Freya whispered, "Bishop Terry is very strong, and I was afraid he would notice me if I got too close, so I could only follow from a distance."

"I lost him after a while, but he crossed that bridge leading to the south, so I can be certain that the place he was heading to must be the Black Port District!"

"The Black Port District..." Ansu pondered silently. This was the district where he lived, a place where all kinds of people were mixed together.

Bishop Terry was clearly in secret contact with someone outside The Church, so it was only natural to choose such a place for a rendezvous.

"Other than that, there were no other developments." Freya clenched her fists, her tone resolute. "The villain you mentioned, the one hiding inside The Church, must be Bishop Terry!"

"This guy is always at odds with me and Bishop Paul, and he always has that sinister, mocking look on his face... It's definitely him!"

Bishop Terry fit the image of a villain and a scoundrel in her mind perfectly.

"Thank you for the information." Seeing the faint dark circles under Freya's eyes, Ansu's smile was filled with gratitude. "Go back and get some rest, have a good sleep. I'll handle the rest."

"It is my honor to serve you, Lord Ansu." Freya shook her head. "Please don't be so polite with me. Didn't I tell you? I'm willing to do anything for you..."

After finishing her report, Freya prepared to leave.

The moment Ansu opened the door, he saw Vera in the living room staring intently at the direction of his bedroom door, her little ears practically perked up.

Seeing the two of them appear, she looked startled and quickly turned around to continue her studies.

"Little Vera is studying very hard!" Freya said with a smile.

Vera pursed her lips; she was in no mood to study at all!

Her brother and this beautiful lady from The Church had gone into the room and closed the door, chatting for so long...

What on earth were they doing in there? How could she possibly focus on her studies!

"Brother..." Vera raised her head, eyeing Ansu and Freya suspiciously. "What were you two just talking about in the room? Is there some secret that even I can't know?"

Before Ansu could speak, Freya instinctively tried to cover for him.

"It's adult business! Little Vera shouldn't ask about it~"

"Ad, adult business?" Vera's azure eyes widened slowly.

"Alright, alright, stop making up weird excuses!" Seeing the misunderstanding growing, Ansu glanced at Freya speechlessly. "You should head back now, don't you have things to take care of?"

"Ah, right..." Freya nodded and bid the two of them farewell.

Vera forced a smile and watched Freya leave.

Once the door closed, she finally couldn't help but approach Ansu, her little face turning serious.

"Brother! This friend of yours... she isn't just a 'regular' friend, is she?"

"Uh..." It seemed she really wasn't, and Ansu found it hard to describe his relationship with Freya.

The Chosen One and his loyal divine servant? That didn't seem quite right either...

Ansu and Freya now had a relationship similar to a "superior and subordinate," a bit like his dynamic with Cecilia...

"Brother, you haven't been studying properly lately..." Vera began to lecture Ansu as she usually did.

"Your most important task right now is to study! That's the only way our family will slowly get better in the future. You must not be fooled by these pretty girls!"

"Don't worry." Ansu couldn't help but smile. "It's not certain who is fooling whom yet!"

The current situation was that both his superior, Cecilia, and his subordinate, Freya, were firmly under his control, save for that "tiny" mistake in the [Simulation]...

In reality, everything was steadily moving in a good direction!

Ansu had gained quite a bit of experience as a double agent.

He would win!

"Hmm?" Vera looked at her brother, confused, not understanding what he meant by that last sentence.

"Don't talk about me, you're the one who should be studying hard right now!" Ansu turned the tables and urged her to focus on her work.

"If you master all the courses in your next stage, you might be able to skip grades in middle school and get into the Royal Academy before I graduate! Don't you want to be your brother's junior?"

"Of course I do!" Vera nodded.

She couldn't wait to get into the Royal Academy immediately so she could see her brother at school every day.

And keep a close eye on those girls who had bad intentions toward her brother!

"Then study hard and make progress every day!" Ansu said with a smile, patting his younger sister on the head. Vera was very bright; perhaps she really could get into the Royal Academy in the future.

"Hmm... alright."

Vera seemed to have forgotten the previous unpleasantness, lowering her head to immerse herself once again in the ocean of knowledge.

But this time, she hadn't been studying for long before a knock sounded at the door again.

Unlike the time with Freya, this knocking was heavy, and the voice outside was cold and detached.

"Ansu, it's me."

The two looked toward the entrance in unison. Ansu felt a vein throb on his forehead; seriously, were they not going to let him have a moment of peace today?

"Brother..." Vera found the voice somewhat familiar. "Isn't that... your female boss?"

Ansu walked forward helplessly and opened the door.

Cecilia appeared at the entrance with an expressionless face.

"Has Freya been here?"

Ansu knew she never liked him interacting with that Saintess, so he didn't dare mention anything else and reported in a low voice, "She brought some important intelligence."

"Very well." Cecilia walked into the living room as if she were at home. She glanced at the sister who was studying, and without even a greeting, she headed straight for Ansu's room.

"It's not safe to talk outside. Let's go into the room."

Ansu had no choice but to follow quickly.

Hearing the sound of his bedroom door being locked again, Vera widened her eyes in speechlessness.

"???"

Again?

Inside the room.

Cecilia sat directly in Ansu's chair and got straight to the point. "What did the Saintess say?"

Ansu hurriedly reported the news that Freya had been investigating in secret and discovered that Bishop Terry's movements were abnormal.

"Could it really be this Bishop Terry?" Cecilia frowned slightly.

"I have a slight impression of this bishop. The guy isn't very bright and has a fiery temper. If it weren't for his decent strength, he might never have reached such a high position..."

Cecilia's reaction actually made Ansu a bit curious. "Regarding the mastermind, all current clues point to this Terry, but the Witch doesn't seem to think so. Do you think there is someone else?"

"It's just an intuition..." Cecilia shook her head slightly. "If I had to choose one among those three, I would choose Paul."

"Bishop Paul?" The image of that "good-natured" man from The Church surfaced in Ansu's mind. The evaluations of him were almost entirely praise, and even Freya considered him a trustworthy ally.

Ansu relayed the reputation of this "good" bishop to Cecilia, and she immediately showed a look of disdain.

"I don't believe anyone in The Church who reaches that position is a good person."

"He's just a hypocrite." Cecilia sneered. "There are many such people in The Church. They package their image through charity and piety, but in the end, it's all for power. The fact that Paul can garner so much praise only shows how deep his schemes run."

Ansu thought silently that it seemed Cecilia disliked "hypocrites" even more than "outright villains," though he held some different thoughts on the matter.

Even if Paul were truly a hypocrite, if he could keep up the act for a lifetime, he would be a good man nonetheless. Of course, there was another reason Ansu didn't think Paul was the mastermind...

In the simulation, he had seen Paul's corpse. This archbishop had indeed stood with Freya and died protecting him.

As for the other two, he hadn't seen their corpses...

Thinking about it now, perhaps those two had run away, which only made them even more suspicious.