Dear, It's Time to Take Your Medicine!

Muttering to himself, Qin Chu casually pulled open the desk drawer.

Inside was a photograph. He had no idea who it was... How should he put it? At a single glance, Qin Chu felt this was the sort of person who, once tossed into a crowd, could never be found again.

Of course, it was not that the person was ugly. Rather, being ugly could at least count as a distinctive trait—enough to make someone memorable.

But the person in the photograph was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin, neither dark-skinned nor fair-skinned, with eyes neither large nor small.

Ordinary... Those two words seemed to have been born for this person.

After looking at him, no impression whatsoever remained in one's mind.

Only the faintly upturned corners of his lips seemed to reveal a trace of feminine softness and sinister strangeness.

Who exactly was this person? For Rosweisse to deliberately keep a photograph of him, he could not possibly be the First-Generation Hero, Jello, could he?

Come to think of it, Qin Chu had only ever heard the First-Generation Hero's name. He had never seen what the First-Generation Hero actually looked like.

Still, since so many peerlessly beautiful women like Rosweisse and Ekaterina had been so infatuated with him, he should have been the handsome, dashing, romantic sort.

The man in the photograph did not meet those standards at all.

Qin Chu did not dwell on it and casually tossed the photograph aside.

There was a metal box beneath the photograph, but Qin Chu had already stopped hoping for much.

Still, he was already here!

Qin Chu opened the box anyway, but the instant it opened, black lines immediately appeared across his forehead.

Six bottles of pink potion stood in neat rows.

For fuck's sake...

He could not help wanting to curse. Rosweisse, that woman, had actually just tossed such a precious potion as Love That Topples Cities into a drawer so casually?

He had wasted so much time fumbling around, never expecting the thing to be right in front of him.

For a moment, Qin Chu did not even know what reaction he ought to have. Even Saya raised a hand to her forehead.

Meanwhile, at the Holy Church.

Saintess Rosweisse had returned, a gentle smile on her face as she greeted every person she encountered.

Even when facing nuns of far lower status than herself, Rosweisse treated them with courtesy.

Rosweisse displayed the etiquette of a saintess to the utmost.

That behavior had also earned Rosweisse a rather fine reputation. The young nuns who could greet Saintess Rosweisse and exchange a few words with her had flushed, excited faces.

But at this moment, Rosweisse's mind was nowhere near this place. She could not wait to hear the good news Maggie and Sana would bring.

Yet when Rosweisse arrived outside her residence, she did not see Maggie or Sana.

Rosweisse's delicate brows furrowed. Under normal circumstances, once the two had completed their mission, they would wait at the door to make their report.

A faint sense of foreboding rose in Rosweisse's heart. Could something have gone wrong with the two of them?

That was impossible. Maggie and Sana might not have been strong enough to handle top-tier experts, but dealing with Angelica, whose strength had been sealed, should have been as easy as turning over one's hand.

Perhaps Maggie and Sana had merely been delayed by something else?

Rosweisse consoled herself inwardly as she took out her key and prepared to open the door. But when her pale little hand lifted the copper lock hanging from the door, she suddenly discovered that it had already been twisted apart.

Rosweisse's expression changed drastically.

Without the slightest hesitation, Rosweisse shoved open the door. The moment she saw the state of her room, her mind rang with a buzz, and she nearly fainted outright.

The room looked as though it had been wrecked by dozens of huskies... A husky was a type of domestic dog named by the First-Generation Hero.

The bed was a complete mess, the wardrobe had been ransacked, underwear and outerwear were scattered all over the floor, and the desk had been knocked over... Even the two magical restrictions on the floor and walls had been opened, and the storage rings kept inside were nowhere to be seen.

Rosweisse shuddered violently. The next second, she went mad, staggering upstairs.

Upstairs, the three magical restrictions had also been broken, and the storage rings inside had vanished without a trace.

In an instant, it was as if all strength had been drained from Rosweisse. She stumbled back two steps, leaned against the wall, and collapsed to the floor, her body twitching.

It was over. Everything was over.

Seven hundred million Mana...

Thirty thousand Holy Crystals!

Most importantly, the seven Divine Oracles were all gone...

Which bastard deserving of a thousand cuts had done this?!

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Rosweisse Did Not Chase After Them

Rosweisse did not give chase.

She did not even know where the other party had entered from or where they had escaped through. How could she chase them?

Nor could she shout for help and arrange for the Holy Knights Order to investigate, because too many of the stolen items could not bear the light of day.

Rosweisse seemed to have had every last bit of strength sucked out of her. She did not even want to move a finger, and she was practically limp on the floor.

She was on the verge of collapse.

Seven hundred million Mana?

That was what she had painstakingly amassed over the years since becoming saintess, using every conceivable method and nearly killing herself in the process.

Did anyone know how hard she had worked to embezzle that money?

And those thirty thousand Holy Crystals had cost an enormous price to gather, only to be swept clean in one go.

What troubled Rosweisse even more were her notes and diary. They could be called a collection of every dark side of the saintess. If they were exposed, they would surely deal a tremendous blow to the wholesome image she had built over so many years.

It could practically be called a scandal.

And among everything she had lost, the most troublesome were those seven Divine Oracles.

As saintess, like the saintesses before her, Rosweisse bore the duty of serving the gods.

Serving the gods was a very solemn task, but it was not difficult. All she had to do was carefully wipe down the statues, making certain they were spotless, then kneel reverently before them and pray for divine protection.

It was said that one could occasionally receive a Divine Oracle.

But such things could only be encountered, never sought. Many saintesses never had the opportunity to hear the gods' teachings in their entire lives.

Rosweisse, however, was different. The very first time she served the gods, the seven statues shone brilliantly. When the light faded, seven scrolls appeared on the ground.

With a nervous heart, Rosweisse picked up the scrolls. The instant she touched them, she felt the mysterious and powerful force contained within.

It was as though a mysterious consciousness were guiding Rosweisse's advancement and cultivation. The spiritual magic and the extraordinarily intricate magical restrictions Rosweisse had mastered all came from those scrolls. Unlike Qin Chu, she had not suffered the impact of mysterious spiritual power, nor had she been tainted by sinister corruption.

She keenly realized how many benefits these seven scrolls could bring her. Since no Holy Son had been chosen in that generation and she was the only saintess present, Rosweisse did not want anyone else to discover the mysterious scrolls or share the power within them with the others in the Holy Church, so she carefully hid them away.

The seven scrolls recorded countless mysteries, countless fragments of knowledge, countless powers. Given enough time, if Rosweisse could fully comprehend even one of the seven scrolls, her strength would likely far surpass Augustus, the Pope. She would certainly be able to replace him and become the first female Pope in the history of the Holy Church.

It was only after the First-Generation Hero, Jello, appeared that Rosweisse poured her whole heart into him, causing her research into the scrolls to slacken. Otherwise, she would likely have been more than twice as powerful as she was now.

After the First-Generation Hero died, she had thrown herself wholeheartedly into figuring out how to revive Jello...

It was no exaggeration to say that the value of any one of those scrolls far exceeded the combined value of seven hundred million Mana, thirty thousand Holy Crystals, and her notes and diary.

Who could have imagined that such priceless treasures would be stolen by a damned thief?

What she understood even less was how that damned thief had broken in when the entire Holy Church was covered by a barrier and large numbers of Holy Knights patrolled outside?

Could it have been... Qin Chu?

Perhaps because of her innate disgust toward the Second-Generation Hero, Rosweisse instinctively suspected that Qin Chu might have done this.

But Rosweisse quickly shook her head, dismissing that answer in her heart.

It could not have been Qin Chu.

He did not have that ability.

Qin Chu was currently in the training grounds of the palace, cultivating the Starflame Ekaterina had taught him.

If Qin Chu had come openly, then as the Hero he would have been surrounded by numerous priests and bishops, leaving him no time to come here and wreak havoc. If he had secretly infiltrated the place, then with Qin Chu's current strength, he could not possibly evade the patrolling Holy Knights or pass through the barrier.

Most importantly, Rosweisse had passed by the place on her way back and taken a look. Qin Chu had still been training, and she had asked the guards at the entrance as well. Qin Chu had not left the training grounds all afternoon.

He had trained with great diligence and focus.

Those guards had all been filled with admiration. Though Rosweisse truly hated that man, it seemed this really had not been Qin Chu's doing.

If it was not Qin Chu, then who could it be?

This thief's skill was surely astonishing. Could they have already reached the level of a Thief Saint?

On the Skyvault Continent, thieves whose strength had reached the level of Thief Saint could be counted on one hand. If it was a Thief Saint, recovering her lost belongings would be even more impossible.

Wait...

Rosweisse brought her intelligence and composure into play. As she inspected her losses, she found that all five storage rings had been stolen. The Love That Topples Cities potion in the downstairs drawer was gone as well. She did not know whether Maggie and Sana had succeeded, but even if they had, it was useless now.

Rosweisse had no way of gathering the materials needed to brew Love That Topples Cities within a week.

At the same time, Rosweisse pondered inwardly:

This might not have been the work of a Thief Saint.

She had never had any conflict with the Thief Saints of the Skyvault Continent. There was no reason for one of them to risk offending the Holy Church just to steal from a saintess known for her integrity.

Most importantly, her magical restrictions were exceptionally sophisticated.

Even Athena, the Archmage of the Hero's Party, whose strength was roughly on par with hers, could only glimpse the restrictions she had set up and could not break them.

A thief could not possibly possess such superb magical skill.

Only a mage stronger than herself could possibly break her magical restrictions.

Looking at it from another angle, had the other party truly infiltrated without being noticed?

Could they not have been someone who had always moved about within the Holy Church?

That made sense. Why could they enter the barrier? Why could they avoid the Holy Knights' patrols? Because they were an internal member of the Holy Church, someone acknowledged by the barrier.

Even if the Holy Knights had spotted them, they would not have harbored the slightest suspicion.

Even if the priests and fathers within the Holy Church saw them, they would only think it normal.

Furthermore, the person needed greater magical attainment than Rosweisse in order to break the restrictions she had left behind...

And within the Holy Church, there was only one person stronger than her...

The Pope, Augustus!

Could it be that Augustus had done all of this?

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Saya's Test Subject

The Pope, Augustus!

There was a very good chance that bastard had done it.

After all, Augustus's status was there for all to see. The barrier could not stop him, the Holy Knights would not dare stop him, and Augustus could walk freely throughout the Holy See. Which priest or nun would dare object?

That man had ample opportunity to commit the crime.

Moreover, Augustus was stronger than Rosweisse. It was perfectly normal for him to be able to break the magical restrictions she had left behind.

That man had the ability to commit the crime.

Most importantly, Augustus had once promised Angelica that he would reinvestigate the curse incident during the saintess selection and make Angelica the next saintess.

Rosweisse's term as saintess had not yet ended. If Augustus wanted Angelica to become saintess, he could only drive Rosweisse from her position. But so long as the reigning saintess had not committed a grave error, she could not be replaced at will—not even by the Pope.

If Augustus wanted Angelica to successfully become saintess, he had to seize something compromising on Rosweisse.

That man had a motive to commit the crime as well.

With motive, opportunity, and ability all present, Rosweisse became more and more convinced that Augustus was the true culprit.