Chapter 205: The Calm Before the Storm (Part 2)

This place was never about competence; it was always about profit.

But Samimi had already made up her mind, she was determined to change this situation.

“Nothing left to do now, just waiting for the Funeral of the Pope procession,” said Samimi.

“This is the badge of the Valkyrie Order. If anything happens, just show this badge. As for the Oath of the Twenty-Four Holy Girls badge, don’t go flashing it around after all, we are the Qinwan Organization.”

Qiqi produced another shiny church badge and handed it over to samimi.

“Relax, I got it,” said Samimi, nodding as she accepted the new badge.

In the Otherworld, one must carry these various badges when moving through society they’re like high-level IDs and can help avoid a lot of trouble.

Thinking back to her first mission, she had been looked down on by the Violet Archpriest and hassled by Director General Mei Kai Ailin. If she’d had these church badges back then, those things wouldn’t have happened.

“Well then, let’s say goodbye after the Funeral of the Pope. See you then.” Qiqi gave Samimi’s shoulder a hearty slap, using the momentum to stand up and leave.

“Take care. See you.” This time, Samimi didn’t put on any airs and said her farewell seriously.

She turned back to watch the Selection Pageant, but the joy from the initial excitement was already gone; the stage had long since been tainted by the business of the mundane world.

She couldn’t deny that she truly had nothing to do right now—she didn’t even need to go to class. All she had to do was wait for the grand stage to arrive with the coming of the parade.

All the developments of these events had clearly pointed to that so-called Funeral of the Pope procession—everything would be set off then.

“Nothing to do,” Samimi sighed, stretching her legs, listless.

On an ordinary day, she would’ve rushed home to check out her new gear, but there was no need to hurry now. She could wait until the day of the Funeral of the Pope to change into new clothes.

As the day of the Funeral of the Pope drew near, every household in the Royal City was busy making preparations.

Though it was supposed to be a mourning ceremony, the citizens of the Royal City felt more like they were preparing for a festival. No one felt sad—instead, everyone was cheerful and laughing.

Truth be told, the former Pope had been too out of touch with the people. No one felt any real emotion at his passing, so naturally there was no sadness.

Not just the citizens—even many of the clergy in the middle and lower ranks felt little at the Pope’s death. The great figures above them would handle everything; there was nothing they needed to worry about.

And so, what was meant to be a funeral finally turned into a lavish celebration.

How tragic, how very tragic. The demise of a puppet is just like this—no one cares.

But in a corner of the city full of hidden eyes, a figure utterly at odds with the joyful surroundings of the Royal City walked its bustling streets—a girl with steel-gray hair, giving off a chilling, alien aura.

Her aura, which repelled strangers, shattered the romantic dreams of all the boys who held beautiful fantasies about the Jingling Tribe… leaving them even more flustered.

She was Arrow of Dream, Klos, who had just quietly slipped out of the Adventurers’ Guild’s mental health clinic. She’d definitely snuck out.

The psychologist had just finished a counseling session with Klos and determined that her emotional state was extremely unstable, and she showed signs of violent tendencies, so her discharge request had been denied.

Unfortunately, elves are extremely good at stealth. Klos had easily evaded all hospital security and hurried back to the Royal City under cover of night.

When she returned to the Hero Party’s house, she found it completely empty—not a single teammate at home.

“Everything is gone. Even the mischievousness of life feels distant, replaced by the aftermath of my experiences.”

The haunting scenes she’d witnessed kept playing in her mind, and now, they had become her reality.

With Samimi gone, the Hero Party truly had fallen apart.

Klos sat numbly in the main hall of the Hero Party’s home, lost in thought for a very, very long time.

But in fact, if she walked a few steps further into Lotus Geas’s room, she’d find a letter left for her.

The Hero and the Witch had gone on a dual mission to defeat the Deep Flood, working to expand the Hero Party’s influence.

The Pure White Knight had returned home to participate in the national Knight Order monument competition.

Every single one of Arrow of Dream’s teammates was busy elsewhere.

So only Klos, the lone troublemaker, was left in the city, wallowing in her own sadness and shouldering the burden alone.

Clearly, everyone else was striving forward, but somehow it still felt to her as if the Hero Party had disbanded.

Even Senior Nancy had left without a word, making Klos feel as if her life was shrouded in darkness.

“Samimi, samimi… It’s all because of you… It’s your fault the Hero Party broke up…”

Klos’s face grew more and more ashen, staring blankly at the ceiling—unable to focus, displaying all the classic symptoms of anxiety, as the image of the Demon King Samimi materialized before her eyes.

“KILL! KILL!”

Klos suddenly snapped, drew her bow, and fired, shooting a hole straight through the ceiling—using physical attacks to banish her hallucinations.

Strangely enough, although her mental state was unstable, her Arrow Technique had actually improved—a truly troubling phenomenon.

It seemed the pattern of every Hero Party member gaining a massive boost after encountering Samimi was still in effect for Klos.

Logically, if an archer’s mind became unstable, she’d basically be useless.

After all, what an archer needs most is precision. You could even compare these Otherworld archers to snipers in the real world.

Not everyone was like Qiqi, who could use magic to turn her staff into a weapon with infinite ammunition, just spraying shots everywhere without caring about accuracy.

But Klos was the complete opposite—her mental instability and hallucinations actually made her Arrow Technique stranger, but at the same time, her mood became unpredictable and volatile, with bursts of violence. Becoming stronger at a time like this wasn’t exactly a good thing.

If the hallucination of Demon King Samimi that had just appeared was the real Samimi, she would’ve been riddled with arrows!

“Unforgivable… Absolutely unforgivable…”

Klos had gone mad, fixated.

Her mind may have been a mess, but it was clear she had a very specific goal for returning to the Royal City.

After all, in the hallucinations conjured by the Female Vampire Queen, she’d seen Samimi wipe out the entire Hero Party, and even become the Demon King herself.

So, the method to end this nightmare was simple: she just had to prevent Samimi from becoming the Demon King—cut that storyline off before it could begin!

But that was completely in character for Klos, stubbornly walking her own path.

Let’s not forget, Klos was always a sickly girl at heart—no matter how the story developed, she would always end up at this point.

“Samimi, I’m going to kill you.”

Her eyes became as blood-red as Qiqi’s, and her expression hardened with resolve.

Once she’d locked onto her kill target, her mind instead became eerily calm. She got up, went to her room, and slung all her bows and arrows onto her back.

She also fished out a crumpled, lavishly sealed letter from her pocket.

During her stay at the Adventurers Guild’s mental health clinic, Klos had received a mysterious letter. Inside was a pass granting her direct entry to the closing ceremony of the Funeral of the Pope at the Royal Plaza.

In addition, the letter also contained an important message—that the Demon-Hunting Nun Samimi would appear at the Funeral of the Pope.

Thus, Klos’s goal was also the Funeral of the Pope procession.

As the Arrow of Dream, it usually would have taken her dozens of days of undercover work to get such access, but now she had it immediately.

Klos quietly left the Hero Party’s home, gently closing and locking the door behind her.

A few passersby walked past, but the elf girl vanished in a flash without a trace.

You had to admit—the Hero Party members were all top-class escape artists. Whether they were actually powerful or not was another story, but they certainly looked impressive.

But she had no idea that all her actions were under someone else’s design and surveillance.

On the rooftop opposite the Hero Party’s home, another shadowy figure appeared—an elegant, statuesque silhouette keeping watch over Klos’s movements.

Others might not be able to spot her, but this mysterious person saw through Klos’s half-baked stealth skills at a glance—they were only good enough to fool ordinary passersby.

This mysterious person was none other than Nancy, the Chief Elf Ranger and a Level 5 Adventurer.

That letter Klos received at the Adventurers Guild clinic was orchestrated by Nancy, but the original sender was actually the enigmatic Dafeizu—Nancy had simply intercepted it along the way.

That letter invited Klos to attend the Funeral of the Pope, likely because her Demi-elf Father wanted to see his daughter.

But after thoroughly studying the letter, Nancy still couldn’t find any trace of the Demi-elf Father—the identity of the Dafeizu behind the scenes was incredibly well concealed.

If that had been all, Klos probably wouldn’t have bothered to return home.

A father? Who cared—she could take it or leave it.

So Nancy tweaked the contents of the letter, adding an extra line: the Demon-Hunting Nun Samimi would also appear at the Funeral of the Pope.

As expected, the moment Klos read that line in her hospital bed, she seemed to get a sudden burst of energy—even if she had to crawl, she was determined to escape the hospital and return to the Royal City.

Her obsession as the Arrow of Dream was never with her father—it was always with that golden-haired nun.

“Don’t blame me, Klos.”

Her plan had succeeded perfectly, but Chief Elf Ranger Nancy felt no sense of joy.

She could only sigh—everyone had a hurdle they couldn’t avoid, a trial they couldn’t escape. You have yours, I have mine, everyone has one.

With a turn, Nancy’s figure disappeared from the rooftop.

All grievances and secrets would eventually converge upon the Funeral of the Pope procession.

And at the intersection in the opposite direction from where Klos left…

“La la la~”

Samimi hummed a little tune, strolling alone through the Royal City’s streets.

She’d been lucky enough to miss running into Arrow of Dream just now—otherwise, she might have been shot full of holes in advance.

Samimi was no longer a Sheep Cleric—she was now a combat cleric of the Valkyrie Order, having successfully transitioned from a pretty ornament to a true powerhouse.

With her promotion and pay raise, she’d naturally gained greater freedom—she could finally leave the Sheep Cleric Symposium and go outside the Royal City to have some fun.

But—hey! I’m not here just to play around.

Samimi reached her destination, quietly slipped a letter inside, and went home without staying out for long.

“The sky is about to change color.”

She too was making her preparations for the Funeral of the Pope procession.