"Let me."
Castorice stepped forward and said to the soldier:
"Sir, the war ended long ago. Styxia... no longer exists."
"?" The soldier froze, plainly unconvinced.
"What are you saying...?"
"How could Styxia have fallen?"
"No... that won't do! New warriors, hurry and fall in!"
"?" Yan Huan raised an eyebrow. "That determined to avoid reality?"
Seeing this, Castorice patiently explained:
"Sir, I am the Battle-command Saintess sent by Her Majesty the Queen. Accept my blessing, and today's battle will surely go well."
Setting aside how embarrassing it was to call herself the Battle-command Saintess, Yan Huan figured anyone who actually accepted her "blessing" would really be in for it.
"A saintess? Never heard of one... Time is short. Please don't hold us up."
"Mm..." Castorice slowly raised her hand and sent the soldier on his way.
"Rest easy. I've never wanted this moment to last too long."
The soldiers offered little resistance as Castorice killed them a second time.
Now... perhaps they were truly dead.
"I never thought I'd still have to perform last rites in the world of the dead..."
After the souls vanished, a dark-purple orb of energy suddenly appeared.
"?"
"Why did he drop something?"
Castorice studied it. "It looks like... a remnant of a soul."
When she reached out and touched it, a memory played out before them.
Yan Huan looked ahead and saw that the two figures were Aglaea and Castorice.
"?"
"Why would a soldier drop a memory of yours?"
"I... don't know."
As Castorice puzzled over it, the two figures in the memory began to speak.
Aglaea's figure calmly questioned Castorice. "Then how am I to place my trust in you, saintess from afar?"
Judging by the conversation, this must have happened before Castorice went to work in Okhema.
"This is..." As