novelraw Chapter 74
Chapter 74
74: Accepting the Invitation
A Watcher? Why call at this time? And specifically mentioning Evelia?
Amya glanced at Evelia, who was currently looking for clothes to wear. Evelia responded with a "I don't know either" look and shrugged her shoulders innocently.
Could they still be trying to recruit Evelia?
Amya thought this possibility was quite high.
"I'm sorry, but Evelia has no intention of joining the Watchers organization. Even for you Watchers, shouldn't you consider the other party's wishes first before trying to recruit someone?"
"Ah... huh? Um, Miss Amya, I think you may have misunderstood something... Actually, I'm just a messenger. And the one who truly wants to meet you and Miss Evelia isn't us Watchers. It's... the clerics of the Holy Church."
"Hah? The Church?"
"That's right. Not long ago, Archbishop Sauron of the Holy Church personally came to our Wangyou City Watcher headquarters. He hoped we could help contact you, since you didn't leave any contact information when you visited the Church last time... As for the reason, that old man Sauron said it's because a 'big shot' wants to meet you. And regarding that 'big shot's' identity... although Sauron didn't say it explicitly, based on our speculation, someone who even an Archbishop would call a 'big shot' must at least be a Cardinal level figure..."
The Watcher's tone carried a hint of resentment. Clearly, he was quite unhappy about the Holy Church's clerics treating them Watchers like messenger tools. But probably because an Archbishop had personally come to request their help, they couldn't very well refuse. After all, on the surface, the Watchers and the Holy Church were still half-colleagues with similar responsibilities.
"A big shot, huh... So Evelia, are you going?"
Amya frowned slightly at this news. She had met that Archbishop Sauron two days ago. He was a kindly white-bearded old man whose words and actions showed respect for Amya as an angel. So her first impression of him was decent enough. Going to meet them wouldn't be a problem... What she was really worried about was the fact that they specifically requested Evelia to come along.
After all, Evelia's true identity... was a demon. The Holy Church's attitude toward demons was, in a sense, even more extreme than that of angels. They viewed demons as the source of all sin and evil. Any demon they encountered, regardless of strength or whether they were friendly to humans, would be hunted and slaughtered without discrimination.
In the Middle Ages, the Holy Church had even gone so far as to burn dozens of people who might have been possessed by demons just to hunt down a single demon. These victims included not only commoners but also a minor noble and several church clerics. They would rather kill a thousand innocents than let one escape.
And even though the gears of time had turned into the modern era, the Holy Church's attitude toward demons... had not improved in the slightest.
Therefore, the fact that they specifically wanted Evelia to come along... Amya couldn't help but suspect they had discovered something and wanted to use this opportunity to eliminate Evelia.
Of course, it was also possible that Amya was simply overthinking it. Perhaps they had just noticed Evelia's incredible natural talent for magic and, like the Watchers, wanted to recruit her.
But having a demon join the Church as a nun... No, just thinking about that image made Amya want to laugh...
Then again, nun outfits were always quite beautiful. Amya suddenly really wanted to see what Evelia would look like in a nun's habit...
Of course, the choice to go or not belonged to Evelia herself. Whether she chose to attend or ignore it, Amya would support her.
"A big shot from the Church... wants to see me? Sure, I'll go. It's just a matter of asking Sister Jiang for some time off."
To Amya's surprise, Evelia seemed completely unbothered by this, as if she wasn't worried at all that the Church might try something against her.
"Eh? Evelia, don't you want to think about it a bit more? That's the Holy Church! And you, after all, are..."
Considering the call hadn't ended yet, Amya cut her sentence off halfway. But her hesitant manner still made it easy to guess what she wanted to say. In response, Evelia just spread her hands nonchalantly and feigned innocence.
"What about the Church? I'm a law-abiding citizen who doesn't kill, doesn't commit arson, and doesn't conspire with demons. The kind who never jaywalks when crossing the street~ What is there to worry about?"
"..."
Honestly, watching her put on this innocent act, Amya really wanted to call her out on it. But since the call hadn't ended yet and the Watcher on the other end was still listening, Amya couldn't exactly expose Evelia's lies right there.
As for our dear Miss Evelia, her decision to accept the invitation certainly wasn't just for the sake of being cheeky. In truth, she was the type who would rather stay as far away from Church people as possible. Although even the Pope himself probably couldn't take her down given all her trump cards, that feeling of being stalked by mad dogs wasn't something anyone would want to experience.
The reason she chose to accept the invitation now was largely because she smelled something suspicious.
The Descent Faction. This organization that dared to scheme against her and Amya was definitely not just some simple cult! Just ask yourself: which cult had those bizarre Blood Beads that could absorb souls? Which cult could kidnap Alice, a High Elf, right under the nose of an entire elf delegation? Combined with the various Church-related details that the black-robed man had revealed before, even Evelia felt somewhat uneasy about it all.
Although she had used misdirection to get her dad to retaliate against the Descent Faction when she returned to Hell, based on Lucifer's fragmented words afterward, even with her father Satan personally taking action, he had only dealt them heavy losses. He hadn't managed to completely eradicate them.
First, she killed the operative they sent to Wangyou City. Then, she rescued a High Elf they had clearly been planning to capture for a long time. Evelia was certain that the Descent Faction, or whoever was behind them, would not let this rest.
And rather than waiting for them to show up at some unknown time, Evelia preferred to... drag their hidden tail out of the shadows and annihilate them with swift, thunderous force!
Therefore, she absolutely had to accept this invitation from the Church!