Night had fallen.
New Moon.
On the World Tree Continent, the first day of every month was called New Moon.
This was when the moonlight was at its dimmest; even if the stars shone especially bright during the new moon, they could never compare to the moon itself.
Since the Darkspawn often acted during the new moon, it was considered an unlucky day.
On this day, people in human nations would shut their doors and windows tight, blow out their candles early, hoping to avoid the Darkspawn.
In contrast, the number of patrols on the streets and soldiers guarding the city gates was at its highest for the month.
Taking a deep breath, Fia, bathed in the darkness, turned her head to look at Claire beside her.
Both of them were wearing dark cloaks that blended into the night, and since tonight was moonless, even as they moved across the rooftops, it was hard for anyone to spot them.
What they were doing now was what Fia had mentioned that morning: sneaking into the temple to confirm whether the rumor about the third princess of the elves being held in the city was true.
For some reason, Anastasia hadn’t returned to the clinic that afternoon.
Even though Fia had stayed up late studying magic incantations there, Anastasia hadn’t sent any word.
As long as Anastasia didn’t act recklessly, with her strength, she shouldn’t be in any danger, but Fia couldn’t help but worry.
The argument in the plaza that morning had already shown Fia that there were people in Aurora City with a higher rank than Anastasia.
That meant Anastasia wasn’t without rivals.
Combined with the church’s announcement—which might or might not be true—Fia felt they had to investigate the temple right away.
If possible, they’d try to capture someone important and force them to talk.
Of course, Fia wasn’t really worried that Anastasia had fallen into the church’s hands.
Anastasia was nearly a fifth-rank warrior; even if she fell into a church trap, she wouldn’t just surrender without a fight—she’d definitely make a scene.
And all afternoon, neither Fia nor Claire had sensed anything unusual.
Fia was more inclined to believe that Anastasia was still caught up in investigating the Unsinkable Moon and just hadn’t come back yet.
So before leaving the clinic, Fia left a note on the table saying she’d be gone for a while and would be back soon.
It was worth mentioning that after just one night, Fia had learned the pronunciation and chanting techniques for magic incantations from Claire.
All that was left was to put the chanting into practice.
Magic incantations were actually a kind of ideogram, similar to pictographs.
Both Elvish and the Milcandis Sacred Language were phonetic scripts made up of “letter” symbols, so for native speakers of those languages, magic language was obscure and hard to memorize.
But for Fia, with her photographic memory, this wasn’t a problem at all.
Claire only had to say something once and Fia would remember it perfectly.
The only regret was that time was too short—Claire couldn’t read every word from the dictionary, and Fia hadn’t had a chance to try casting magic.
Even so, Fia’s amazing learning ability had left Claire deeply impressed.
Claire, leaping across the rooftops with Fia, spoke in a low voice.
“The temple’s just ahead.
New Moon is when the temple’s defenses are tightest.
Besides the soldiers being extra strict with anyone passing by, there are detection traps all around the temple.
If anyone who doesn’t belong steps in, the traps will sound the alarm.
Disguising ourselves as temple soldiers probably won’t work.”
“Instead of getting caught and surrounded while sneaking in, we might as well attack head-on from the start.
I can quietly take care of the guards.
If that doesn’t work, we should wait for Anastasia to come back before deciding.
It’s too dangerous for you to go alone, Fia.”
“No… I can handle this myself.
Even if we wait for Anastasia, it won’t change anything.”
She couldn’t let Claire get blood on her hands over a rumor that might not even be true.
If it weren’t for her, Claire wouldn’t kill anyone—Fia knew that well.
As for the guards’ vigilance, Fia had other ways.
Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea could alter how others perceived her.
That perception wasn’t limited to disguising herself as a living thing; as long as she had enough calculation power, she could even make herself look like an object.
All she had to do was stick close to the wall like a chameleon, matching her color to the surroundings, and she’d be fine.
Fia’s powerful calculation ability was more than enough for that.
But Claire had reminded her: just changing people’s perception wouldn’t let her avoid detection traps.
She’d have to find a way to destroy them.
No point holding back—she’d just ask Claire directly.
“Claire, I want you to help me take out the detection traps.”
“No problem.”
Not long after those words, the two of them stopped in a shadowy corner at the same time.
About a hundred meters ahead, on the bell tower, stood two church knights.
“Are you using ‘Wind of Detection,’ Fia?” Claire asked quietly.
“Yeah.”
Since the bell tower was the tallest building nearby, if she were with the church, she’d definitely post sentries there.
So she instinctively used ‘Wind of Detection’ on the bell tower and found holy knights almost blending into the night.
They weren’t wearing shiny metal armor, but black leather, making them nearly impossible to spot with the naked eye.
“Try switching to ‘Mana Vision.’”
“Got it.”
To avoid interference between the two spells, Fia canceled ‘Wind of Detection’ and switched to ‘Mana Vision.’ In the blink of an eye, her view changed.
The world splashed with paint appeared again, but it looked a bit different from what she’d seen in the underground lab that afternoon.
In this world full of chaotic elements, there were many patterns like magic circles.
Large, colorful, circular magic arrays overlapped everywhere—even the rooftops and streets were covered, forming a complex, three-dimensional world with barely any gaps.
It wasn’t just detection traps; there were other magic arrays with different effects.
If she jumped across a few more rooftops, she’d easily trigger them.
The church wasn’t stupid.
“There are magic traps everywhere—way too many.”
“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to say.
I could break them one by one, but it’d take a long time, and there’s a chance we’d get caught.
It’d be better to destroy them all at once, draw the guards’ attention on purpose, and while they’re chasing me, you use Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea to sneak in.
If you run into real trouble, don’t forget to use this.”
As she spoke, Claire took out a silver pendant with a dark red, six-pointed star-shaped crystal.
“Pour mana into it and it’ll create a magic shield that can block fifth-rank spells for a while.
More importantly, I’ll be able to sense when you use it, and I’ll rush into the temple to help you.”
Handing the silver pendant to Fia, Claire put a matching ring with a much smaller dark red crystal on her right middle finger.
The two magic items were clearly a pair.
This was a gift from Claire.
Realizing that, Fia accepted it without hesitation and put it around her neck.
After all, Claire had said that afternoon, “If Fia won’t forget me—then maybe it’s not so bad.” She was already very important to Claire, yeah.
“Did you hear me?”
“Yeah, I got it.
Let’s start now.
Be careful, Claire—don’t let the guards recognize you.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
Smiling, Claire patted Fia’s head, then stretched out her right hand.
As she softly chanted, the ice-blue glowing ‘Enchanted Blade’ Fia had seen before appeared again, but this time it wasn’t a thin sword—it was a tall, ornate staff.
If Claire had looked like a swordsman before, now, in her dark blue gown, she was every bit the imposing, high-level magic caster.
Especially with her silver hair dancing in the night wind, it was as if the whole world was roaring with her emotions.
“—‘Magic Destruction.’”
The short chant ended quickly, and as the last word fell, a powerful wave of mana burst out from Claire.
The magic circles Fia saw with ‘Mana Vision’ shattered one after another, like bowling pins, from near to far.
“This is just a third-rank spell.
Fia could learn it too—and if you used it, it’d be even stronger.”
I’m starting to regret telling Claire I’d come here.
Right now, we’re basically like the villains in a story, wrecking everything in our path.
Fia couldn’t help but give a wry smile.
She hadn’t expected that her first time teaming up with Claire would be to destroy someone else’s carefully arranged magic circles.
Claire sighed helplessly.
“No one said what we’re doing is wrong.
Those paladins have probably noticed something’s off.
Let’s get started, but don’t take any risks.
I’ll draw the paladins away from the left, and you, little Fia, go from the right—just make sure you get in before they close the temple doors.”
“Okay.
See you in a bit.”
Fia nodded hard, stopped hesitating, took out the Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea, and changed her appearance to blend in with her surroundings, then dashed toward the rooftop on the right.
◇
With the help of the Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea, Fia easily got close to the highest point nearby—the bell tower she’d seen earlier.
Standing at the bell tower and looking down, she could see a large group of guards gathered in front of the brightly lit temple.
To prevent intruders, there were no buildings within a hundred meters of the temple, and even the paving stones were a glaring white.
If an ordinary person tried to approach, they’d probably be spotted by the guards after just a couple of steps.
But for Fia, who had the Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea, this was actually a good thing.
No obstacles meant she could get close easily, and the single color of the paving stones made it easier to calculate her camouflage.
As for the two black-clad guards on the bell tower… Fia glanced at the two black-clad paladins just two or three meters away, both looking extremely tense.
The fact that they hadn’t noticed her at this distance basically meant she could sneak into the temple without a problem.
Leaving them alone was actually the smart move.
Having sentries there proved that no one had slipped by under their noses, which would keep the temple guards’ attention elsewhere.
If she took out the sentries, the temple guards would probably suspect someone had already snuck in unnoticed.
“What’s going on?!”
“The—The magic wards have been triggered! The detection traps and the binding barriers, they’ve all been destroyed!”
“An intruder? Take some men and check it out.”
Just as Claire predicted, once the magic circles started breaking one after another, the temple guards in the plaza reacted strongly.
Torches flashed through the pitch-black streets, and the noisy voices of paladins echoed in the night.
About a third of the paladins gathered in the plaza left right away.
After the sound of a wooden whistle came from the distance, half of the remaining paladins left as well.
Claire must have deliberately revealed herself to draw the paladins away.
It was about time for her to act, too.
Without hesitating, Fia stepped onto the edge of the stone bell tower and leapt down.
Like a bird in flight, Fia landed almost silently on the ground.
But instead of rushing straight for the temple doors, she awkwardly held down her skirt.
What a blunder… She’d have to remember not to jump from high places in a formal dress, or at least wear safety shorts underneath.
Otherwise, with moves like that, her underwear would be on full display.
Ahem, better just head for the temple.
Since the sentries on the bell tower hadn’t sounded the alarm, the paladins weren’t in a hurry to close the temple doors.
Things were going even more smoothly than Fia had expected.
With no detection traps, the paladins could only rely on their eyes, but the Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea was perfect for fooling visual observation.
As long as she didn’t make any noise or breathe too loudly, even if she brushed right past a paladin, at most they’d just turn around curiously, see nothing, and assume they were hearing things.
“So this is the inside of the temple…”
Passing through the temple doors guarded by two seasoned third-rank knights, Fia finally made it inside.
It was worth noting that as she entered, she felt a clear sense of resistance, like there was a wall in the air.
But Fia just pushed through with a bit of effort, so she didn’t pay it much mind.
A chill and a sense of age hit her at once.
Unlike the church she’d imagined, the temple was even grander and more luxurious.
Everywhere she looked was gold and deep green, the color of life.
The high domed ceiling was covered in murals of the Goddess of Life leading humanity to a new beginning.
The floor was spotless, and the wide hall was so quiet it felt like you could hear a pin drop.
At the end of the hall stood a statue at least ten meters tall.
The goddess known as the Goddess of Life seemed to be welcoming Fia, reaching a hand toward the entrance.
Even though the statue’s eyes were closed, Fia could tell from the face and figure that the Goddess of Life was a real beauty.
If she’d come here during the day, she’d probably feel right at home, but right now it was the middle of the night and she was an intruder.
The goddess’s pose was a little creepy.
Better not overthink it.
While the temple’s empty, she should hurry up and search for the underground area.
“Wind of Detection.”
Her ruby-like eyes turned blue as Fia scanned the inside of the temple.
Unlike Anastasia, she didn’t have a map of the temple’s interior, so she could only rely on alternating “Wind of Detection” and “Mana Vision” to judge where there might be a hidden passage based on the flow of mana.
“Hm?”
Her gaze landed on the corridor to the left of the statue, leading to a side hall, and Fia tilted her head.
In a world of purple, the corridor on the left side of the temple appeared blue, which meant the mana concentration in the air there was higher than elsewhere.
But the corridor was connected to the main hall, so if the mana concentration was higher in the corridor, it should spill into the main hall.
Fia didn’t see any sign of that happening.
That was odd.
Maintaining the camouflage from the Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea, Fia crept step by step toward the corridor on the left side of the temple.
When she saw what was inside, her brows furrowed involuntarily.
