(H: I’m back! I won’t be able to update regularly this month as all the pre-exam assignments are appearing, next chapter could be Friday or Sunday. I will still update the character list every now and then.)
Bella successfully obtained an improved version of the camera from Andrea; as she did not have another set of clothes handy, they brought Andrea along with them on Noesha's dimension-traversing tour company. After they finished their business in the next dimension, they would return to Bella's dimension and she would make a new set of clothes for Andrea.
This was the third dimension that the Bella and company had visited, a strong aura of darkness swept through them as soon as they entered. Above them, dark clouds stretched for as far as the eye could see, and not far from them was an entirely black continent. Bella and company sat upon Bethia's magic carpet, and headed towards the tallest peak at the center of the black continent.
"Bethia, do you have any more magic carpets like this one?"
"I do have some extras, but your dimension's magic's structure is different from that of mine; I don't think the magic carpets will work there, it works fine here as the magic is the same."
"Magic is not all-able Bella, why don't I give you some flying crafts; you can use them in any dimension and can come to me if they stop working."
"It's fine, my dimension doesn't have a useable power source for your machine; I won't be able to use your tech for very long."
After flying for quite some time, they finally reached a black castle situated on the mountain; there was a small figure easily visible on the walls of the fortress.
"It's been a while Noesha….why did you bring three…er, two Creators to my dimension? I don't think any other Creator would want my dimension."
It was the Dark Creator, Tracy Mystica's (H:特雷西娜·米斯蒂卡, weird to translate, but apparently Mystica is a very rare girl's name)first time seeing another dimension's Creator, as they could not directly interact with other Creator's dimensions as long as the other creator was still alive, they wouldn't even be able to enter it without the help of a Troublemaker like Noesha. (H: Another faction I guess "乱世者")
"Mystica, you've misunderstood, this time it's my sister Bella who is needs you to help with something. Those two are along for fun, we're getting them something after we're done here, and then they'll return to their own dimensions.
After they descended, Noesha led the group and greeted Mystica, and only after this did Bella realise that this loli with the long black horsetail was the 9th dimension's Creator, Tracy Mystica. Her figure wasn't much different from the previous two Creators that Bella had met; Mystica wore a dark black robe.
The smaller the dimension's number, the earlier that the dimension appeared. As the 9th Creator, Mystica's power was much greater than that of Bethia and Andrea; the two of them were rather nervous before Mystica spoke.
According the Noesha's information, this Dark Creator was the higher existence one that created the terrifying Dark Dimension, and had countless demon kings in her service. It turned out that she was just the same as Bethia and Andrea; just a girl that had been alone for too long.
"You want me to save these three little sisters? These two have a demon god's power on them, one of them was even originally a demon, how did they get beaten into this state?" With Noesha's help, Bella had brought Felia, Eleanor, and Dolores placed within crystal caskets with her.
Bella hesitated slightly but gave in to Mystica's dark purple irises, and told Mystica about her battle with Lisha; not mentioning anything about transmigrators of course.
"You're a demon god and you let….where are the monsters that you created? Follow me, I'll help your girls; and I'll also see what can be improved about your monsters." Mystica gestured for Bella and the others to follow her inside.
With help from Mystica's powers, Bella was able to move the three caskets into a mysterious room; the room was large, and had a black pool in the center that exuded the aura of death.
"This is the god tier equipment of your dimension? Its quality leaves much to be desired."
Mystica came up to Dolores and casually pulled out the golden dagger that had still remained buried within Dolores' chest. The god tier golden dagger turned black soon after she pulled it out, and turned into dust."
"Great Mystica, will they be able to return to their original strength? Angel can revive the dead as well, but she said that they wouldn't be able to fully recover after, as they had exhausted their bodies too much before dying."
"Can you not add a great in front of my name…if those two hear of it, I….it's fine if you call me by name alone, don't add the great! As for their power, their current body is already at the highest power they can ever achieve, so even if I restore them, they won't improve much in strength."
"But, the three of them had all received power from demon and evil gods. I can teach you how to turn them into demon Kings, they will be reborn after they become demon Kings and their power will greatly increase. You should ask their opinions first, they won't be able to turn back after they become demon kings."
"Can you turn Felia into a demon king first? She's actually my…"
"Er…I guess I can help with this, but your dimension already has 12 demon kings, normally demon kings would need to inherit their powers from their predecessor; if I help you here, it would mean that I indirectly tampered with the balance of your dimension, increasing the number of demon kings…"
Mystica was hesitant about helping at first, but gave in to Bella's constant attempts at attempting to persuade her; mainly because she heard that Bethia and Andrea had already given Bella their help, so she would have people to share the blame with in case something terribly wrong happened. Anyways, Bella wasn't just a demon god, there was another identity of hers that gave her peace of mind when she decided to help.
Bella and Mystica secretly discussed for quite some time, where Bella managed to obtain an unimaginable amount of aid from Mystica. After communicating with Eleanor and Dolores' opinions, Mystica personally 'remodeled' Felia, Eleanor, and Dolores' bodies; the three of them now had the bodies on the level of demon kings, as well as exclusive equipment sets for each of them.
Felia's demon king recognition ceremony was personally done by Mystica, Felia had received the power of three demon and evil gods through their blood, and therefore had the qualifications to become a demon king. Although Eleanor and Dolores had also received the same power, but they had received it from the Dark and Blood crosses, and didn't completely meet the qualifications; but as their body was on the level of a demon king, they could be considered quasi-demon kings, while Felia was a demon king in all but name.
Through Mystica's guidance, Bella discovered the faults in her monsters. Apparently, as Bella's monsters had all been created with Angel and Mia's help, made from the bodies of monsters that they had slain; these could only be considered modified, and not officially created by a demon god. It was understandable as to why their abilities were so low.
"Thank you for your guidance and aid Mystica; can you tell me the reason as to why you helped me this much? You all call me demon god, what is my relation to Creators…"
"Bella; me, Bethia, and Angel are all matrilineal Creators, there's a big difference between us and those patrilineal Creators. You'll know in the future, all the Saviors and Worldbreakers actually are…if you really want to thank me, just design some nice clothes for me when you have time."
As for the reason as to why Mystica cut off one of her sentences, Bella didn't feel as if it was the right time to ask. Bella and Noesha returned to their original dimension with a sack of goods that Mystica had gifted them. One thing that made Bella happy was that the three loli creator gods didn't stop her from setting up a spacial gate near their resting places, this way Bella would be able to converse with them whenever she needed to consult them, maybe one day Bella would be forced to seek refuge in their dimensions.
___
When Bella returned to the Anola Clark region's Anole town, this town had returned to it's previous deserted state; the undead that had populated it's streets had all vanished into thin air.
"Angel, are all of them…?"
"I've dispersed all the monsters that were still alive."
___
Several days after, in the great church of the Anola Clark strip; Bella was holding a meeting with her inner circle, to discuss their plans for the future. Attending the meeting were Angel, Mia, Eleanor, Dolores, and the two girls who had been taken prisoner by Bella; Roland and Annie, who were still in the same state as when they had been caught. Bella had not yet freed them from their bonds.
Roland and Annie didn't know how to act; they had thought that Eleanor was going to save them, but it seemed that she had joined Bella's side. They had now completely lost hope of someone coming to save them.
"Sister Bella, with my help Eleanor's knights have completely pledged their allegiance to us; these two sisters seem to still no understand their current position, do you want me to help convince them?"
Seeing Noesha turn her wicked gaze turn towards them, Roland and Annie were scared; this devil's child seemed to have come from the same place as Bella, who had bullied the two for the past few days. They didn't know how Noesha broke those strong-willed female knights, but they could see that all the knights' cheeks were flushed after leaving her room, Noesha's persuasion methods definitely weren't anything normal.
"Bella-sama I've gotten some of my subordinates to scout for information in the nearest town. It seemed that the five empires have decided to hide away the fact that the Anti-Demon Knight corp had been heavily damaged, as there is no trace of it being known. As for Annie, and my brother…Sidney; the Kristoff Empire and the Octavian Empire spread news that they're on their honeymoon; as for me and Roland, the Octavian Empire's sources simply state that our current location is unknown."
Eleanor payed no attention to Roland's pleading gaze, she was already a quasi-demon king, no longer a human. Although she didn't wish for Roland to remain bound, but Roland was no longer on the same side as her. Eleanor decided that she would only watch before Roland decided whether she was with or against Bella.
Bella didn't expect the two empires to still announce the fact that they had successfully completed the marriage, the empires sure were spreading some fake news. Why don't they just sign a pact in the first place, instead of making it so complicated.
"What thoughts do you two have, speak!"
With a gesture from Bella, Noesha removed Roland and Annie's gags. Although they had regained the ability to talk, but the two of them didn't know what to say; they had heard Bella's conversation with the others the past day, so they knew what had taken place recently. They hadn't expected Eleanor to betray the Empire and her family, to become a follower of Bella.
"Bella…sama, I wish to stay by your side, I would become a bargaining chip if I went back anyways, I might as well not return!" Annie thought for a while, and surrendered unconditionally. Leaving behind a despondent Roland.
"What about you Roland? I'll have you know that if you choose to go back, I can only send you back like this, I'll leave you at your family's front door!"
"I…will stay too, don't send me back!"
Roland and Annie ended up completely yielding to Bella, who got Noesha to undo their bonds after seeing that they had agreed. In order to stop them from regretting their decision later, Bella took her new camera and took several scandalous pictures of the two before letting Eleanor's knights take them to rest in their quarters.
"Sister, through my spirits' investigation; I've discovered where those people from before are: they're at the nearby Akse town, do we want to…"
"You've worked hard Angel, it's fine; I intend to abandon this location and relocate. Noesha, can you move all of the buildings her into your parallel world? Mia, can you create some fodder monsters to wander this place?"
"No problem, sister-sama!"
(H: I'm starting to use Japanese honorifics here because it's hard to translate Chinese ones into English, and they are very varied. The Raws also does have its fair sprinkle of these in the first place)
"I Understand sis"
Just as Bella was about to continue arranging future plans; one of Eleanor's knights entered and reported that a force of knights had entered the outskirts of the town, they were led by a Cardinal and Archbishop Stanley.
After knowing who had came, Bella told Angel and the others to hide somewhere out of sight; while she alone would meet with Archbishop Stanley and the Cardinal. According to Felia's memories, she had never encountered a Cardinal, there wasn't much of a chance that he would recognize her.
___
"You are the knight Bella, right? You've worked hard, spreading our doctrine in this place." Cardinal Andrews Salo looked without expression at Bella who was giving a greeting suitable of a knight's etiquette. He still had some suspicions in his heart, as he couldn't see through Bella's cultivation level.
He was someone that was even able to see through dragon knights, if he couldn't see through someone; it was either that their power was out of this world, or they were just a normal person. Linking the facts that Bella was a good looking young lady, and that Stanley's significant other had passed away many years prior; Salo suspected that Bella might be Stanley's 'hidden lover'!
It would be much easier if she was; he had thought that Stanley was an upright person for all these years, but that might have been just a lie. With this, Andrews Salo hid the killing intent in his heart; he decided to switch to plan B.
Archbishop Stanley was every bit as shocked as Cardinal Salo, just a while ago he had still been able to see that Bella's cultivation was on the level of a holy knight; but now he couldn't see anything. Had something happened to her and she lost her cultivation completely? But that didn't seem like the answer as her face was still calm and didn't seem like anything bad had happened to her recently.
"You're called Bella right? It's like this, the Church believes that this place is unsafe and would prefer it to be in direct control of this area. Due to your loyalty and contributions to the Church, we have decided to give you a new missionary certificate, so that you may continue your services to the Church in another region."
Andrews Salo handed a small box to Bella. When she received the box, she felt that it was much heavier than she had expected it to be. She froze for a while after she opened the box, apart from a certificate that was the same as the one that Stanley had given to her before; the box was filled with several dozen gold bars.
"Then I won't bother you two any longer old Stanley, enjoy your conversation. Miss Bella, there are a lot of monsters here; I suggest that you should leave as soon as possible."
"May the Light bless you, be careful on the way home, mister Cardinal! Bella gave Andrews Salo an insincere smile; only the most upright person wouldn't smile after freely receiving so much gold.
Seeing Bella's smile, Andrews Salo further confirmed his suspicions, he believed that he had sold archbishop Stanley a favour by giving his 'lover' a large gift; he shouldn't be as unwilling to help the next time that Salo needed to attend to business in the area. If this old man had thought through this kind of stuff earlier, he wouldn't only be the archbishop of an insignificant county.
"Are you alright?" Seeing the box of gold in Bella's hands, Stanley seemed to understand Salo's weird gaze that jumped back and forth from him to Bella. Oh well, it's not a bad misunderstanding; at least he won't hurt Bella like this.
"I'm fine Stanley gramps, that Cardinal…"
"He is Andrews Salo, one of the three cardinals of the Church of Light, that's all you need to know right now. You should leave this area soon, he's probably planning to use this place for….nevermind that, you should hurry up and get ready to move."
Bella didn't deny Stanley's words; Andrews Salo's presence made her somewhat uncomfortable, she couldn't feel any holy or divine aura from him; but something more sinister. Salo was probably not planning to end world hunger or secure world peace. As they might be of the same 'trade' Bella didn't feel the need to stop him, she decided that it would be better off to leave with the gold, it would be tragic if Salo was to take back his previous decision.
(H: I’m back! I won’t be able to update regularly this month as all the pre-exam assignments are appearing, next chapter could be Friday or Sunday. I will still update the character list every now and then.)
Bella successfully obtained an improved version of the camera from Andrea; as she did not have another set of clothes handy, they brought Andrea along with them on Noesha's dimension-traversing tour company. After they finished their business in the next dimension, they would return to Bella's dimension and she would make a new set of clothes for Andrea.
This was the third dimension that the Bella and company had visited, a strong aura of darkness swept through them as soon as they entered. Above them, dark clouds stretched for as far as the eye could see, and not far from them was an entirely black continent. Bella and company sat upon Bethia's magic carpet, and headed towards the tallest peak at the center of the black continent.
"Bethia, do you have any more magic carpets like this one?"
"I do have some extras, but your dimension's magic's structure is different from that of mine; I don't think the magic carpets will work there, it works fine here as the magic is the same."
"Magic is not all-able Bella, why don't I give you some flying crafts; you can use them in any dimension and can come to me if they stop working."
"It's fine, my dimension doesn't have a useable power source for your machine; I won't be able to use your tech for very long."
After flying for quite some time, they finally reached a black castle situated on the mountain; there was a small figure easily visible on the walls of the fortress.
"It's been a while Noesha….why did you bring three…er, two Creators to my dimension? I don't think any other Creator would want my dimension."
It was the Dark Creator, Tracy Mystica's (H:特雷西娜·米斯蒂卡, weird to translate, but apparently Mystica is a very rare girl's name)first time seeing another dimension's Creator, as they could not directly interact with other Creator's dimensions as long as the other creator was still alive, they wouldn't even be able to enter it without the help of a Troublemaker like Noesha. (H: Another faction I guess "乱世者")
"Mystica, you've misunderstood, this time it's my sister Bella who is needs you to help with something. Those two are along for fun, we're getting them something after we're done here, and then they'll return to their own dimensions.
After they descended, Noesha led the group and greeted Mystica, and only after this did Bella realise that this loli with the long black horsetail was the 9th dimension's Creator, Tracy Mystica. Her figure wasn't much different from the previous two Creators that Bella had met; Mystica wore a dark black robe.
The smaller the dimension's number, the earlier that the dimension appeared. As the 9th Creator, Mystica's power was much greater than that of Bethia and Andrea; the two of them were rather nervous before Mystica spoke.
According the Noesha's information, this Dark Creator was the higher existence one that created the terrifying Dark Dimension, and had countless demon kings in her service. It turned out that she was just the same as Bethia and Andrea; just a girl that had been alone for too long.
"You want me to save these three little sisters? These two have a demon god's power on them, one of them was even originally a demon, how did they get beaten into this state?" With Noesha's help, Bella had brought Felia, Eleanor, and Dolores placed within crystal caskets with her.
Bella hesitated slightly but gave in to Mystica's dark purple irises, and told Mystica about her battle with Lisha; not mentioning anything about transmigrators of course.
"You're a demon god and you let….where are the monsters that you created? Follow me, I'll help your girls; and I'll also see what can be improved about your monsters." Mystica gestured for Bella and the others to follow her inside.
With help from Mystica's powers, Bella was able to move the three caskets into a mysterious room; the room was large, and had a black pool in the center that exuded the aura of death.
"This is the god tier equipment of your dimension? Its quality leaves much to be desired."
Mystica came up to Dolores and casually pulled out the golden dagger that had still remained buried within Dolores' chest. The god tier golden dagger turned black soon after she pulled it out, and turned into dust."
"Great Mystica, will they be able to return to their original strength? Angel can revive the dead as well, but she said that they wouldn't be able to fully recover after, as they had exhausted their bodies too much before dying."
"Can you not add a great in front of my name…if those two hear of it, I….it's fine if you call me by name alone, don't add the great! As for their power, their current body is already at the highest power they can ever achieve, so even if I restore them, they won't improve much in strength."
"But, the three of them had all received power from demon and evil gods. I can teach you how to turn them into demon Kings, they will be reborn after they become demon Kings and their power will greatly increase. You should ask their opinions first, they won't be able to turn back after they become demon kings."
"Can you turn Felia into a demon king first? She's actually my…"
"Er…I guess I can help with this, but your dimension already has 12 demon kings, normally demon kings would need to inherit their powers from their predecessor; if I help you here, it would mean that I indirectly tampered with the balance of your dimension, increasing the number of demon kings…"
Mystica was hesitant about helping at first, but gave in to Bella's constant attempts at attempting to persuade her; mainly because she heard that Bethia and Andrea had already given Bella their help, so she would have people to share the blame with in case something terribly wrong happened. Anyways, Bella wasn't just a demon god, there was another identity of hers that gave her peace of mind when she decided to help.
Bella and Mystica secretly discussed for quite some time, where Bella managed to obtain an unimaginable amount of aid from Mystica. After communicating with Eleanor and Dolores' opinions, Mystica personally 'remodeled' Felia, Eleanor, and Dolores' bodies; the three of them now had the bodies on the level of demon kings, as well as exclusive equipment sets for each of them.
Felia's demon king recognition ceremony was personally done by Mystica, Felia had received the power of three demon and evil gods through their blood, and therefore had the qualifications to become a demon king. Although Eleanor and Dolores had also received the same power, but they had received it from the Dark and Blood crosses, and didn't completely meet the qualifications; but as their body was on the level of a demon king, they could be considered quasi-demon kings, while Felia was a demon king in all but name.
Through Mystica's guidance, Bella discovered the faults in her monsters. Apparently, as Bella's monsters had all been created with Angel and Mia's help, made from the bodies of monsters that they had slain; these could only be considered modified, and not officially created by a demon god. It was understandable as to why their abilities were so low.
"Thank you for your guidance and aid Mystica; can you tell me the reason as to why you helped me this much? You all call me demon god, what is my relation to Creators…"
"Bella; me, Bethia, and Angel are all matrilineal Creators, there's a big difference between us and those patrilineal Creators. You'll know in the future, all the Saviors and Worldbreakers actually are…if you really want to thank me, just design some nice clothes for me when you have time."
As for the reason as to why Mystica cut off one of her sentences, Bella didn't feel as if it was the right time to ask. Bella and Noesha returned to their original dimension with a sack of goods that Mystica had gifted them. One thing that made Bella happy was that the three loli creator gods didn't stop her from setting up a spacial gate near their resting places, this way Bella would be able to converse with them whenever she needed to consult them, maybe one day Bella would be forced to seek refuge in their dimensions.
___
When Bella returned to the Anola Clark region's Anole town, this town had returned to it's previous deserted state; the undead that had populated it's streets had all vanished into thin air.
"Angel, are all of them…?"
"I've dispersed all the monsters that were still alive."
___
Several days after, in the great church of the Anola Clark strip; Bella was holding a meeting with her inner circle, to discuss their plans for the future. Attending the meeting were Angel, Mia, Eleanor, Dolores, and the two girls who had been taken prisoner by Bella; Roland and Annie, who were still in the same state as when they had been caught. Bella had not yet freed them from their bonds.
Roland and Annie didn't know how to act; they had thought that Eleanor was going to save them, but it seemed that she had joined Bella's side. They had now completely lost hope of someone coming to save them.
"Sister Bella, with my help Eleanor's knights have completely pledged their allegiance to us; these two sisters seem to still no understand their current position, do you want me to help convince them?"
Seeing Noesha turn her wicked gaze turn towards them, Roland and Annie were scared; this devil's child seemed to have come from the same place as Bella, who had bullied the two for the past few days. They didn't know how Noesha broke those strong-willed female knights, but they could see that all the knights' cheeks were flushed after leaving her room, Noesha's persuasion methods definitely weren't anything normal.
"Bella-sama I've gotten some of my subordinates to scout for information in the nearest town. It seemed that the five empires have decided to hide away the fact that the Anti-Demon Knight corp had been heavily damaged, as there is no trace of it being known. As for Annie, and my brother…Sidney; the Kristoff Empire and the Octavian Empire spread news that they're on their honeymoon; as for me and Roland, the Octavian Empire's sources simply state that our current location is unknown."
Eleanor payed no attention to Roland's pleading gaze, she was already a quasi-demon king, no longer a human. Although she didn't wish for Roland to remain bound, but Roland was no longer on the same side as her. Eleanor decided that she would only watch before Roland decided whether she was with or against Bella.
Bella didn't expect the two empires to still announce the fact that they had successfully completed the marriage, the empires sure were spreading some fake news. Why don't they just sign a pact in the first place, instead of making it so complicated.
"What thoughts do you two have, speak!"
With a gesture from Bella, Noesha removed Roland and Annie's gags. Although they had regained the ability to talk, but the two of them didn't know what to say; they had heard Bella's conversation with the others the past day, so they knew what had taken place recently. They hadn't expected Eleanor to betray the Empire and her family, to become a follower of Bella.
"Bella…sama, I wish to stay by your side, I would become a bargaining chip if I went back anyways, I might as well not return!" Annie thought for a while, and surrendered unconditionally. Leaving behind a despondent Roland.
"What about you Roland? I'll have you know that if you choose to go back, I can only send you back like this, I'll leave you at your family's front door!"
"I…will stay too, don't send me back!"
Roland and Annie ended up completely yielding to Bella, who got Noesha to undo their bonds after seeing that they had agreed. In order to stop them from regretting their decision later, Bella took her new camera and took several scandalous pictures of the two before letting Eleanor's knights take them to rest in their quarters.
"Sister, through my spirits' investigation; I've discovered where those people from before are: they're at the nearby Akse town, do we want to…"
"You've worked hard Angel, it's fine; I intend to abandon this location and relocate. Noesha, can you move all of the buildings her into your parallel world? Mia, can you create some fodder monsters to wander this place?"
"No problem, sister-sama!"
(H: I'm starting to use Japanese honorifics here because it's hard to translate Chinese ones into English, and they are very varied. The Raws also does have its fair sprinkle of these in the first place)
"I Understand sis"
Just as Bella was about to continue arranging future plans; one of Eleanor's knights entered and reported that a force of knights had entered the outskirts of the town, they were led by a Cardinal and Archbishop Stanley.
After knowing who had came, Bella told Angel and the others to hide somewhere out of sight; while she alone would meet with Archbishop Stanley and the Cardinal. According to Felia's memories, she had never encountered a Cardinal, there wasn't much of a chance that he would recognize her.
___
"You are the knight Bella, right? You've worked hard, spreading our doctrine in this place." Cardinal Andrews Salo looked without expression at Bella who was giving a greeting suitable of a knight's etiquette. He still had some suspicions in his heart, as he couldn't see through Bella's cultivation level.
He was someone that was even able to see through dragon knights, if he couldn't see through someone; it was either that their power was out of this world, or they were just a normal person. Linking the facts that Bella was a good looking young lady, and that Stanley's significant other had passed away many years prior; Salo suspected that Bella might be Stanley's 'hidden lover'!
It would be much easier if she was; he had thought that Stanley was an upright person for all these years, but that might have been just a lie. With this, Andrews Salo hid the killing intent in his heart; he decided to switch to plan B.
Archbishop Stanley was every bit as shocked as Cardinal Salo, just a while ago he had still been able to see that Bella's cultivation was on the level of a holy knight; but now he couldn't see anything. Had something happened to her and she lost her cultivation completely? But that didn't seem like the answer as her face was still calm and didn't seem like anything bad had happened to her recently.
"You're called Bella right? It's like this, the Church believes that this place is unsafe and would prefer it to be in direct control of this area. Due to your loyalty and contributions to the Church, we have decided to give you a new missionary certificate, so that you may continue your services to the Church in another region."
Andrews Salo handed a small box to Bella. When she received the box, she felt that it was much heavier than she had expected it to be. She froze for a while after she opened the box, apart from a certificate that was the same as the one that Stanley had given to her before; the box was filled with several dozen gold bars.
"Then I won't bother you two any longer old Stanley, enjoy your conversation. Miss Bella, there are a lot of monsters here; I suggest that you should leave as soon as possible."
"May the Light bless you, be careful on the way home, mister Cardinal! Bella gave Andrews Salo an insincere smile; only the most upright person wouldn't smile after freely receiving so much gold.
Seeing Bella's smile, Andrews Salo further confirmed his suspicions, he believed that he had sold archbishop Stanley a favour by giving his 'lover' a large gift; he shouldn't be as unwilling to help the next time that Salo needed to attend to business in the area. If this old man had thought through this kind of stuff earlier, he wouldn't only be the archbishop of an insignificant county.
"Are you alright?" Seeing the box of gold in Bella's hands, Stanley seemed to understand Salo's weird gaze that jumped back and forth from him to Bella. Oh well, it's not a bad misunderstanding; at least he won't hurt Bella like this.
"I'm fine Stanley gramps, that Cardinal…"
"He is Andrews Salo, one of the three cardinals of the Church of Light, that's all you need to know right now. You should leave this area soon, he's probably planning to use this place for….nevermind that, you should hurry up and get ready to move."
Bella didn't deny Stanley's words; Andrews Salo's presence made her somewhat uncomfortable, she couldn't feel any holy or divine aura from him; but something more sinister. Salo was probably not planning to end world hunger or secure world peace. As they might be of the same 'trade' Bella didn't feel the need to stop him, she decided that it would be better off to leave with the gold, it would be tragic if Salo was to take back his previous decision.
