His Brother's Guests... Were a Few Too Many

After confirming that their surroundings were indeed safe, Freya began updating Ansu on the three bishops' recent activities.

Aside from Paul, who came to the school to teach, Terry and Leonard usually stayed at the Holy Dome Cathedral, keeping to themselves. Even when they went out, it was to handle Church business.

"But ever since Lord Ansu told me there might be a bad guy within the Church, I started staying at the cathedral under the pretext of handling official duties, secretly recording their whereabouts every day..."

Freya seemed to have genuinely discovered something unusual. She recalled in a low voice:

"For the past few days, I've stayed up until midnight every night. At one o'clock yesterday morning, I was just about to fall asleep when I suddenly heard some noises outside..."

Freya had not only a keen sense of smell; her hearing had also inherited the Staya Tribe's natural gifts.

"I saw... a clergyman in civilian clothes sneak out of the cathedral through the back door. Something felt off, so I quietly followed him. Then I discovered..."

"That person was Bishop Terry!"

"Bishop Terry?" Ansu thought that this guy really did seem suspicious, and hurriedly asked, "Where did he go?"

"Bishop Terry is very strong," Freya said quietly. "I was afraid he'd notice me if I got too close, so I could only follow from a distance."

"I lost track of him after a while, but he crossed the bridge leading south. So I'm sure he was heading to the Black Port District!"

"The Black Port District..." Ansu mused. That was the district where he lived, a place full of all sorts of people.

Bishop Terry was clearly meeting secretly with people outside the Church, so it made sense that he'd chosen a place like that.

"Other than that, there was nothing else." Freya clenched her fist, her tone certain. "The bad guy you mentioned, the one hiding within the Church, must be Bishop Terry!"

"He's always at odds with me and Bishop Paul, and he's always so snide... It has to be him!"

Bishop Terry fit her idea of a bad guy, a scoundrel, to a tee.

"Thanks for bringing me this information." Ansu noticed the faint dark circles under Freya's eyes and smiled gratefully. "Go back and get some rest. Have a good sleep, and I'll take care of things from here."

"It's my honor to serve you, Lord Ansu." Freya shook her head. "You don't have to be so polite. Didn't I tell you? I'd do anything for you..."

After giving her report, Freya prepared to leave.

The moment Ansu opened the door, he saw Vera staring intently toward his room, her little ears practically standing straight up.

When she saw the two of them, she looked startled, then hurriedly turned around and went back to studying.

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

Vera pursed her lips. How could she focus on studying now?

Her brother and this beautiful lady from the Church had gone into his room and closed the door. They'd been talking for so long...

What on earth were they doing in there? How was she supposed to study with that on her mind?

"Bro..." Vera looked Ansu and Freya up and down suspiciously. "What were you two talking about in your room just now? What kind of secret is it that I'm not allowed to know?"

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

"It's grown-up business! You'd better not pry, little Vera~"

"G-grown-up business?" Vera's blue eyes slowly widened.

"All right, stop explaining it like that!" Ansu gave Freya a speechless look as the misunderstanding grew. "You should get going. Don't you still have things to do?"

"Ah, right..." Freya nodded and said goodbye to them both.

Vera forced a smile as she watched Freya leave.

As soon as the door closed, she couldn't help moving closer to Ansu, her little face turning serious.

"Bro! This friend of yours... she isn't just an ordinary friend, is she?"

"Uh..." Well, she wasn't. Ansu found it hard to describe his relationship with Freya.

The Chosen One and his faithful servant? That didn't quite fit either...

Ansu and Freya were more like superior and subordinate now, a little like him and Cecilia...

"Bro, you haven't been studying properly lately..." Vera began lecturing him, just as she always did.

"Studying is your most important task right now! That's how our family will gradually get better in the future. You absolutely mustn't let pretty girls trick you!"

"Don't worry." Ansu couldn't help smiling. "It's not certain who's tricking whom!"

As things stood, both his superior, Cecilia, and his subordinate, Freya, were firmly in his grasp. Aside from a "small" mistake in the [Simulation]...

In reality, everything was steadily getting better!

Ansu was becoming a fairly experienced double agent.

He was going to win!

"Hm?" Vera looked at her brother in confusion, unsure what he meant by that last sentence.

"You're the one who should be studying hard, not me!" Ansu turned the tables and urged her to study.

"If you master all the lessons in the next stage, maybe you can skip grades all the way through middle school and get into the Royal Academy before I graduate! Would you like to be your brother's junior there?"

"Of course!" Vera nodded.

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

And keep a close eye on all the girls who had designs on him!

"Then study hard and keep improving every day!" Ansu said with a smile, patting his sister on the head. Vera was very clever. Maybe she really could get into the Royal Academy someday.

"Mm... All right."

Vera seemed to have forgotten what had upset her earlier. She lowered her head and immersed herself in the sea of knowledge once more.

But she hadn't been studying for long when another knock sounded at the door.

Unlike Freya's earlier knock, this one was heavy, and the voice outside was cool and detached.

"Ansu, it's me."

The two of them looked toward the door at the same time. Ansu's face was covered in black lines. Seriously, were they going to keep this up all day?

"Bro..." Vera recognized the voice. "Is that your... boss?"

Ansu walked over helplessly and opened the door.

Cecilia stood outside, her face expressionless.

"Has Freya been here?"

Ansu knew she didn't like him getting involved with the Saintess, so he didn't mention anything else and simply reported in a low voice, "She brought some important information."

"Good." Cecilia walked into the living room as if she owned the place. She glanced at his sister, who was studying, didn't even greet her, and headed straight for Ansu's room.

"It's not safe to talk out here. Let's go in."

Ansu could only hurry after her.

Hearing her brother's door lock again, Vera opened her eyes in disbelief.

"???"

Again?

Inside the room.

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

Ansu quickly told her how Freya had investigated in secret and discovered that Bishop Terry's movements were suspicious.

"Could it really be Bishop Terry?" Cecilia furrowed her brow slightly.

"I remember him. He's not very smart and has a fiery temper. If he weren't strong, he probably wouldn't have risen so high..."

Cecilia's reaction made Ansu curious. "All the clues about the mastermind point to Terry, but the Witch doesn't seem to think so. Do you suspect someone else?"

"It's just a hunch..." Cecilia shook her head slightly. "If I had to choose one of the three, I'd choose Paul."

"Bishop Paul?" The image of that kindly old Churchman came to Ansu's mind. Almost everything he'd heard about Paul had been praise, and Freya also considered him a trustworthy ally.

Ansu told Cecilia what people said about the kind-hearted bishop. Cecilia immediately looked disdainful.

"I don't believe anyone who's reached that position in the Church can be a good person."

"He's just a hypocrite," Cecilia scoffed. "There are plenty of people like him in the Church. They use charity and piety to cultivate a good image, but in the end, they're still after power. The fact that Paul has earned so much praise shows just how deep his schemes run."

Ansu thought to himself that Cecilia seemed to hate "hypocrites" even more than "honest villains." Still, he had a somewhat different take on the matter.

Even if Paul really was a hypocrite, if he could keep up the act for his entire life, then he was still a good person. Of course, that wasn't the only reason Ansu didn't think Paul was the mastermind...

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

He hadn't seen the other two's bodies...

Now that he thought about it, those two might have escaped. That made them even more suspicious.