32. I’ve read a lot of books, I won’t lie to you

After pulling out that “red book” in front of Ikusis and dazzling her, Kefir finally began reporting to Queen Louise IV daily, satisfied. As for the saint Ikusis, it naturally turned into a situation where I was left alone with this boss who was just as foolish.

So for the next few days, my thoughts were very simple.

“Respected and great Saintess, now you are the boss. Wherever you go, I will follow. Whatever you want me to say or prove, I will do my best to respond.”

After I had successfully flattered this fool and cleared my identity, I planned to have the queen send this lazy Saintess back to her church as soon as the summit of the various nations concluded. I had already made up my mind about this.

Under my attentive demeanor, Ikusis finally spoke up with pride about the first destination.

“Hmm~ In that case, I need to go to the local church in the capital of the Great Ying Empire to find the clergy there and investigate your reputation as Euclid!”

Ikusis placed her hands on her hips, tilting her silly head up in front of me.

What the hell can you find out at the church? Even if you want to investigate a wanted criminal, according to the script’s usual pattern, it should be at the local tavern or the Adventurer’s Guild. Ikusis clearly has ulterior motives; she’s still thinking about escaping, just like before!?

Looking at the script, it was indeed the case.

【Ikusis wants to escape through the church’s connections!】

The queen had previously threatened me: If the Saintess goes missing while by your side, then you can expect to come back and pay the price~★

However, dealing with Ikusis was also important. Reluctantly, I had to agree, playing the role of this fool’s monitor and protector, even if this flower was just a silly one.

After fully disguising Ikusis to ensure her identity wouldn’t be recognized and cause a stir, I brought her to a church near the capital of the Great Ying Empire.

“Miss Ikusis, the capital is large, and there are many local churches, so I just randomly chose one. Here it is.”

I pointed to the magnificent decor ahead, which looked more like a luxury hotel than a church. Despite the church being a money-making machine in the Great Ying Empire, the recent incident with the Archbishop had been exposed by the scheming queen, resulting in the churches in the city becoming quite unpopular and chaotic. After all, who would want to curry favor with an organization that exploited the Saintess?

Louis IV is truly a boss you can’t mess with; if she can stab you, she will absolutely not leave you a chance to breathe.

“I know!”

Seeing that I had “escorted” her without any chance to escape, Ikusis had no choice but to put on a forced act.

“I’m going to find the priest inside and see how much they know about that scoundrel Euclid!”

With that, Ikusis took the lead into the church. However, just as I followed her in, some dangerous script content appeared in my mind!

【Euclid has been killed!】

I ignored it and kept pace with Ikusis as we entered the church. Due to the recent summit of nations, the churches in the city were barely scraping by, almost on the brink of down. As “rare guests,” Ikusis and I were quickly noticed by a minor priest inside.

With the thought of not letting the Saintess’s identity be exposed, I spoke up before she could.

“Ahem, we are investigators from the Great Ying Empire, and we would like to inquire if this church has any information regarding the wanted criminal Euclid.”

After glancing at Ikusis to prove that “I am not biased,” I continued, “Please answer truthfully.”

As the notorious villain Euclid, I hadn’t actually done anything “atrocious” in the Great Ying Empire. The rumors from earlier had gradually faded away, or were simply debunked, likely because the queen had secretly taken care of it for me.

To put it simply: If Ikusis genuinely wanted to investigate Euclid’s deeds, I really had nothing to fear because I hadn’t done anything at all; I was a model citizen. Even if passersby or minor characters were questioned, it wouldn’t be a problem.

It should have been like that, however…

Did my question sound so “dangerous”? When I looked back, I found that the priest, who should have simply answered and then gone back to his duties, was instead displaying unnecessary anxiety, looking surprised and tense in front of me, even his movements became hesitant and awkward.

If it were some mysterious beautiful girl, it would be fine, but this was just an ordinary male priest!

After a while, the minor priest finally calmed down and forced a smile, hesitatingly addressing me and the already silent Ikusis.

“I… I just arrived here today and don’t know anything. Could you two investigators wait here for a moment? I’ll go get the oldest priest in this church for you…”

“…Hmm, go quickly and come back soon.”

I nodded, watching the other person relax for a moment, then anxiously wanting to find someone. All of these strange reactions, combined with the “death content” I had suddenly seen in the script, were enough to make me realize the current situation.

So…

At the moment that the background priest turned and left, I immediately grabbed Ikusis’s arm, ready to make a run for it! To my surprise, this idiot Ikusis also seemed to have “predicted” something; without me having to drag her along, she had already turned around and was planning to escape!

Then, we exchanged glances, both making the same move.

“Ah! Why are you running too?”

“Duh, you know the reason, right?”

Damn, I was planning to take you with me, Ikusis. Were you just thinking of slipping away and leaving me behind? You’re nothing but the scum of the earth, a mudslide among saints!

That background priest who came to see us, although indeed a priest, was probably one of the lackeys who scattered after that archbishop was captured! At the time, due to the suddenness of the incident and the fact that some of the archbishop’s followers hadn’ t even entered the palace, a batch had escaped capture.

Now it seems they were hiding right under our noses, directly in the church! That background priest just now was calling for people, and it was probably other accomplices, intending to do harm to Ikusis, this direct “enemy,” while I was just the pitiful cannon fodder!

As for the saintess, it seems I needn’t worry; when it comes to “escaping for our lives,” Ikusis’s predictions were indeed quite accurate.

【Ikusis predicted that she would be captured, so she ran away!】

This makes things much easier!

I ran out of the church with the saintess, and at the same time, those archbishop’s lackeys were also chasing after us!

While dragging Ikusis along, I complained, “See, it’s because you wanted to come out that we’ve stirred up trouble!”

“Why are you blaming me!?”

“Because your life is precious, you idiot! It would have been much better for you to stay at home; with us here, you wouldn’t have encountered any danger at all! Huh… it’s useless to say this now; I ‘ll take you to a safe place to get out of this mess, or do you have some brilliant plan in your great prophecy?”

Turning my head, I saw Ikusis’s dumb face fell silent.

“Very good, just as I thought, you have no idea what to do.”

“Then hold on to me tight; I’ve read a lot, and I won’t deceive you.”