Volume 4, Chapter 7-2 – What Do We Do About This?

The late-night snack had appeared out of thin air.

Lainia herself had no idea how it had happened. She had merely been sitting outside Stella’s door keeping watch when her stomach growled twice, prompting her to casually mutter that it would be nice if she had something to eat.

Not long afterward, a delicious aroma drifted through the air.

The charred fragrance of roasted meat, the wheaty aroma of bread, and some kind of sweet, rich creaminess.

She followed the aroma and discovered a plate of piping-hot roasted ribs, a bowl of freshly cooked creamy mushroom soup, and a slice of honey cake sitting on the little round table at the corner of the staircase. There was even a thoughtfully prepared glass of red wine.

A note had been tucked beneath the plate, with neat handwriting that read: 【Please enjoy】

Lainia took a huge bite of roasted meat.

At first, she had assumed that someone else in the Blood Demon Manor had prepared it for her.

But no matter how much she searched, throughout the enormous manor, aside from herself and the Master inside the room, there was not a single living soul to be found.

‘Could the Blood Demon Manor be haunted?’

‘Forget it. Who cares who has prepared it as long as it is edible?’

If it was haunted, then it was haunted.

Lainia could not help thinking about it.

Master was sleeping in a haunted manor too. By all conventional logic, that would probably attract a Nightmare, but after thinking it over, Lainia figured that her wise Master probably had plans of her own and stopped worrying.

‘Forget it.’

As long as the ghosts could provide enough food to fill her belly on schedule, Lainia did not mind in the slightest.

Lainia swallowed the meat in her mouth and took a sip of red wine.

Delicious.

So good.

Lainia was gnawing on her third rib when she suddenly heard something strange.

It was not exactly footsteps, nor was it any other kind of sound. It was more like a humming noise, an echo coming from somewhere nearby.

Lainia stopped chewing in confusion and listened carefully.

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The strange sound was coming from Stella’s room.

Light was even leaking through the crack beneath the door, a milky-white glow flashing on and off.

At the same time, the white frost that had formed along the corridor windows began to melt, turning into icy droplets that splattered onto the carpet as the temperature of the surrounding air suddenly rose.

Lainia was a little dumbfounded.

What was going on?

Had an assassin broken in?

Her very first day on guard duty, and there was already an attack?

That made no sense. She had been guarding the door the entire time. No one could have gotten inside.

Had they climbed in through the window?

Although there was a chance she might disturb Master’s sleep, just to be safe, Lainia ultimately decided to push open the door and go inside.

It was very quiet inside.

Stella was sleeping soundly on the bed.

The girl’s features were fair and delicate. When she was awake, her eyes always carried a trace of cool detachment, along with an aloofness and composure that many women lacked.

Perhaps it was only when she was sick and vulnerable that she would reveal those little emotions no one else ever had the chance to glimpse. Now, her sleeping face was peaceful, and as she murmured softly in her dreams, there was even a faint hint of cuteness about her.

Lainia breathed a sigh of relief.

No one had broken in, and Master was still asleep.

But after Lainia took two steps closer, she noticed something glowing in Stella’s palm. She could vaguely make out an intricate white Brand, flickering faintly in time with her breathing.

What the heck was that?

Before Lainia had time to think about it, the surrounding darkness began to recede.

White motes of light emerged from every direction, one after another, growing more numerous and denser by the moment.

They gathered in midair, gradually outlining blurry forms.

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In the blink of an eye, pure white spiritual bodies appeared all around them.

They drifted within tattered white cloaks. Beneath their hoods were no facial features, only hollow voids emanating a chilling aura.

They glided through the light like incorporeal monsters, appearing around Stella.

One.

Two.

Three.

More and more.

Lainia started to panic and instinctively took half a step back.

She was a member of the Holy See’s clergy, after all. Of course she recognized these things.

Without question, they were the jailers of the Holy See’s White Tower, Chastisement spirits, Holy Light hounds specifically tasked with guarding heretics and demons.

But why were they here?

Lainia watched as they gathered around Stella’s bed and silently stared at the girl lying there. White sacred flames burned inside their hollow hoods, while they completely ignored Lainia standing in the doorway.

‘Wait…’

‘They couldn’t be here to attack Master, could they?’

This was bad.

There were so many Chastisement spirits, and her own rank in Holy Light was not particularly high. Even if she risked her life, there was no way she could protect Master.

Lainia nervously clenched her fists, preparing to rush forward and save her.

But she quickly realized that something was wrong.

The Chastisement spirits made no move to bring down the judgment of Holy Light. They merely circled Stella, once, twice, three times, without doing anything at all.

Lainia was a little dumbfounded.

Although she had no idea when Master had gotten a Chastisement Brand, if the Chastisement spirits had crossed realms to descend here, weren’t they supposed to be attacking Master?

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Then why weren’t any of them doing it?

Lainia tilted her head and stared at the White Tower jailers gathered in a circle.

Equally dumbfounded were the Chastisement spirits surrounding Stella.

The sacred flames beneath their hoods danced as they stood there completely at a loss.

The Brand was clearly right here, directly in front of them. Without question, the one who needed chastisement was the silver-and-red-haired girl sleeping soundly on the bed.

And the girl also possessed obvious demonic traits.

A succubus’s bat wings, horns, tail…

Not a single one was missing.

She perfectly met the criteria for chastisement.

But…

The Chastisement spirits circled her seven or eight times and still could not find a single opportunity to strike.

It was not that they did not want to attack.

They simply could not.

They tried to mobilize Holy Light and prepare Chastisement, but the Holy Light refused to budge.

They tried to gather power and purify the target, but the power automatically dispersed.

Holy Light was completely incapable of causing the girl even the slightest harm. Instead, like droplets of water flowing into the sea, it was absorbed by the girl with perfect natural ease.

It even made her sleep a little more peacefully.

The Chastisement spirits were utterly dumbfounded.

The girl who was supposed to be their target for chastisement, despite possessing obvious demonic characteristics, had an affinity with Holy Light several levels higher than even theirs as beings formed from pure sacred particles.

According to the Holy See’s laws of rank, a lower-ranking Holy Light creation could not launch any form of effective attack against a higher-ranking sacred vessel.

In other words, she was one of their own?

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Her?

A demon?

One of their own?

What kind of joke was this?

Standing in the doorway, Lainia looked at the Chastisement spirits, then at Stella, then back at the Chastisement spirits, having no idea what she was supposed to do now.

Meanwhile, the Chastisement spirits surrounded Stella with their hollow hoods turned toward one another, as though silently communicating.

Finally, they all turned their heads in unison and looked at Lainia.

Suddenly finding herself stared at by an entire group of hooded colleagues, Lainia was at a loss.

“Don’t look at me.” She whispered. “I don’t know what’s going on either…”

The Chastisement spirits turned their heads back and continued circling Stella.

The target was right in front of them.

The target could not be selected.

Chastisement could not be completed.

If there was ever a situation that embodied awkwardness, it was probably this. They were stuck halfway through their mission with no idea what to do, yet unwilling to simply give up.

What were they supposed to do about this?

Translator Note

Loll those emotionless spirits are like a bunch of robots HAHAHA xD