Chapter 8
Fallow Fields
Meanwhile, Ximilita had already returned to the Holy See.
The Holy Knight standing guard saw her return and immediately bowed: "Holy Maiden, Your Eminence."
"Have 'Shadow Crow' come see me." Ximilita walked through the door without a sideways glance.
"Yes."
Shortly after, a figure appeared silently in her temporary study.
It was a person swathed head-to-toe in an unremarkable gray robe, their features too indistinct to make out—only a pair of eyes as sharp as a hawk's.
"Your Eminence."
"Go investigate someone." Ximilita stood before the window, her back to the visitor, her voice utterly flat. "The name is Lia. Female, approximately 18 or 19 years old, black hair and black eyes. Currently working as a server at the 'Reef' bar in the Eastern District—employed there for less than a month."
"Her identity and background, past history, personal connections—I want all of it looked into." She paused. "Beyond that, she claims to have a sick 'mother' who requires care. I need to know whether this 'mother' actually exists, who she is, where she is, and what illness she has."
"Yes." Shadow Crow asked not a single question more. Their silhouette shimmered faintly, then vanished from the room like moisture evaporating—as though they had never been there at all.
Ximilita remained where she stood, her expression blank.
‘Lia……’
‘Those eyes—panicked, evasive. That eagerness to refuse. And that lingering, hauntingly familiar presence.’
‘Was it a coincidence?’
‘A lone girl working at a nightclub, seemingly in strained circumstances—and she turned down an invitation from the Holy See, with a reason so flimsy it barely held together?’
‘If she had joined the Holy See, her mother's illness wouldn't have been an obstacle at all.’
****
Before long, a report was personally delivered to Ximilita by Shadow Crow.
"Your Eminence, a preliminary investigation has been completed."
Ximilita took the report and began scanning it quickly.
[Name: Lia Fern (Following verification, this identity was entered into the Federation's household registration system one year ago through official immigration channels. Documentation is complete and surface-level flawless.)]
[Age: 19]
[Current Address: Rental room, No. 7 Oak Street, Eastern District, Kronos]
[Current Occupation: Server at the "Reef" bar]
[Financial Status: Strained. (Account balance minimal; multiple small recent expenditures recorded, primarily for rent and basic necessities; no record of a stable income source.)]
[Social Relations: Extremely sparse. (No known contact records with relatives or friends; no active social account presence; no meaningful interaction with neighbors; colleagues at her workplace describe her as "quiet, a little shy, but reasonably conscientious.")]
[Note: Upon verification, the "relatives" field in her registered information is blank. Additionally, the region listed as her supposed "place of origin"—recorded at the time of her "immigration" one year ago—was reduced to rubble in a Non-Human conflict 3 years prior. Records were lost and cannot be effectively corroborated.]
Ximilita's gaze settled on that last line, and something in her eyes slowly shifted.
The relatives field was blank? Then where had this so-called mother of hers come from?
And—one year ago. Wasn't that right around the time she had just finished breaking through Twilight City?
Coupled with how Lia had refused this morning without a moment's hesitation, a thought rapidly took shape in Ximilita's mind.
"Master……is it you?" she murmured under her breath, and deep within her ice-blue eyes, a flicker of obsession began to surface.
If the person hiding beneath that seemingly ordinary server's skin really was the one she had spent 10 years searching for—the one she ached for down to her bones, and hated just as deeply……
There was, of course, another possibility: that Lia was simply a girl who had gotten into trouble in her old city and fled to Kronos. That she feared joining the Holy See would mean a thorough background investigation, and so she didn't dare.
Theoretically, that possibility was more likely—but Ximilita was plainly more inclined to believe the former.
She slowly set the report down on the desk, then her gaze turned cold.
"Shadow Crow."
"Present."
"Continue monitoring Lia's every movement. Keep your distance—don't alert her. I want to know who she meets every day, where she goes, and what she does."
"As you command, Your Eminence."
The shadows shifted once more, and Shadow Crow vanished with their orders received.
The study fell back into silence.
Ximilita stood alone before the window. The morning light gilded the pale side of her face in gold—yet it could not thaw the cold that was slowly crystallizing in her eyes.
‘Master……or rather, whoever you truly are.’
‘This time, you had better hide yourself even deeper.’
‘Because I have already begun looking for you.’
‘And this time, I will not allow any "accident" to carry you away from before my eyes again.’
****
"Master, this……it can't actually be her, can it?!"
On the other side, Veiloria had been utterly thrown into a stupor.
She deactivated the Eye of Rewind, then extended her senses to check whether any residual Arcane energy lingered at the scene.
And then Veiloria's expression changed.
She knew this Arcane energy far too well—it was absolutely her cheap old mom's!
Truth be told, Veiloria couldn't begin to understand why her mother had ended up captured. Her strength was terrifyingly formidable—and yet Ximilita had apparently taken her down without much effort at all, and after that her mother still had the presence of mind to reach out via Voice Transmission, whining and blubbering……
Putting that together with everything that had happened today—this woman had been captured and was still releasing Eternal Night Bats. Could it be……
‘She got herself captured on purpose?!’
Knowing her cheap old mom's clown-at-heart personality—and with Veiloria out training and no one to keep her company, leaving her alone, lonely, and bored out of her mind—it honestly wasn't beyond her to pull something like this!
But still—what kind of mother digs this sort of pit for her own daughter?!
No, she still had to find her. For one thing, she couldn't be certain it was really as she suspected; and for another, if it truly was……
She absolutely had to give that pit-digging old hag a thorough, well-deserved scolding!
Just as Veiloria was mentally tearing her mother apart for having no limits, she suddenly felt a gaze lock onto her.
"Hm?"
Veiloria's heart lurched—but she kept her surface perfectly calm, bending down and muttering: "Where on earth did my wallet go? I definitely came down this road……"
She could feel it clearly: she was being followed.
The gaze had a very precise target, glued stubbornly to her.
Who could it be?
The only answer Veiloria could think of was Ximilita.
She really had been too flustered this morning—when she refused to join the Holy See, she hadn't hesitated even for an instant. That was not a normal person's reaction.
What's more, she had made up a mother who didn't exist at all……
Thinking back on it, a wave of regret washed over Veiloria.
She continued back along the same path she'd taken in the morning, all while keeping up the act of searching for her wallet.
What was she supposed to do? Ximilita was no fool—she had almost certainly grown suspicious by now. And she couldn't take out the person tailing her either; that would be no different from alerting them.
Was she just supposed to let them follow along? That would put severe limits on so many of her movements……
For a moment, Veiloria's head was swimming.
"Oh?" Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck her. "Right now, I'm actually not in that near-zero-Arcane-energy, completely depleted state—I might not necessarily get steamrolled if I came up against Ximilita."
"In that case……"
An extraordinarily bold idea began to take shape in Veiloria's mind.
‘Oh, you like to tail people, do you? Fine—then I'll have you serve as my most perfect alibi!’