The sky was gloomy, thick smoke rolling upward.
The city walls had collapsed. Flames raged wildly within the city, their scorching heat permeating every street.
Countless weeping voices rose from inside and outside the city. People with disheveled hair and ragged clothes, covered in soot and grime, fled in every direction, only to be cut down mercilessly by armored figures.
Every individual in armor wore a cold, detached expression. Their blades were stained with blood as they slaughtered those before them, even though those people posed no threat whatsoever.
“We must hurry, Your Highness. If we don’t leave now, we might be discovered.”
“My subjects are being massacred…”
“Even so, there is nothing we can do.”
“…”
==========
Night gradually descended upon Rhine City, and a purple moon rose high in the sky, casting down a hazy, cool radiance.
Even during the day, Rhine City felt desolate and cold, let alone at night.
The streets were empty save for the soldiers of the Three Great Kingdoms, who marched back and forth on patrol. Their occasional encounters inevitably led to quarrels, creating chaos of varying scales.
Inside a house in a residential district, on the bedroom bed.
“Haah!”
Amelia sat up with a start, exhaling a long breath.
Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating her dusty face as if wrapping it in a layer of light. Her silver-dyed strands of hair cascaded down slightly disheveled, with a few locks plastered to her cheeks by sweat.
“Your Majes—… Lucy, what happened?” Beside her, Eileen quickly sat up as well, asking with concern.
Amelia rubbed her head and glanced around her.
“It’s nothing. I just had a nightmare.”
“A nightmare?”
“Yes, just a nightmare.”
Amelia’s gaze was complicated.
Rather than calling it a nightmare, it was more like a memory of the past. Strictly speaking, though, it wasn’t her own memory but that of the original host of this body. She hadn’t expected it to surface in her mind at a time like this.
The Three Great Kingdoms had invaded the Steele Kingdom, capturing city after city. Countless people had been killed in the process, and they had turned their blades on commoners more than once.
It was precisely because of such atrocities that Rhine City was now so desolate, with no residents daring to venture outside.
Amelia was a transmigrator and didn’t hold much attachment to the Steele Kingdom itself. But with the original host’s memories surfacing in her mind, her heart couldn’t help but grow rather complicated.
Knock, knock, knock!
The sound of knocking came at that moment.
“Come in,” Amelia called out, and Beth pushed the door open and entered.
She looked at the two of them and said, “It’s about time. You should get up, wash, and eat. We’ll be moving in half an hour.”
“No problem,” Amelia nodded.
Seeing this, Beth said nothing more, turned around, and left.
After that, Amelia and Eileen went to wash up first, then ate some bread and drank some milk.
About half an hour later, they had left Beth’s house and arrived at a dark alley in the south of the city.
The Iris’s next move was to find a way to sow chaos among the Three Great Kingdoms. To maximize the effect, their members had split up to take separate actions. Amelia was only paired with Eileen for this.
They didn’t wait in the alley for long before Amelia heard footsteps approaching from outside. She peeked around the corner to look, recognizing the style of the armor as belonging to soldiers from the Bargas Kingdom.
“Eileen,” Amelia called out. Since they weren’t near other Iris members, she didn’t need to use a false name.
“I’m here.”
“Kill them all.”
“Yes.”
Hearing Amelia’s command, Eileen’s eyes immediately turned icy cold.
She drew her sword, “North Wind,” and stepped directly out of the alley, advancing toward the squad of soldiers.
Amelia, meanwhile, surveyed their surroundings. This area was a cluster of workshops, uninhabited, so any commotion wouldn’t draw attention. It was a perfect place to strike.
“Who are you?”
“Stop right there!”
“Aghh…”
Chaotic sounds already echoed from outside.
Eileen would not reply to anyone. Amelia’s command had been to kill them all, and therefore, not a single one would be allowed to live.
As a Mid-Rank Apostle, Eileen didn’t need much time to deal with them.
Soon, silence returned outside, and Eileen came back with a calm expression.
“Miss Lia, it is done.”
“Good.”
Amelia nodded slightly and said, “For now, we cooperate with the Iris to hunt the people of the Three Great Kingdoms, ensuring their plan can proceed. That’s our first step. For the second step, we find an opportunity to kill Lester as well.”
“Kill Lester?” Eileen couldn’t help but show a look of surprise upon hearing this. “Why does Miss Lia want to target Lester?”
Bullet comments also began popping up one after another, expressing similar surprise.
Amelia spoke unhurriedly, “I don’t know what grievances exist between you and Lester, Eileen, but it’s obvious you become very uncomfortable every time you face him. I have sufficient reason to believe you have a past grudge. Even though I don’t yet know what it is, since Lester is someone you dislike, he is my enemy, and I must do everything in my power to eliminate him.”
Eileen hadn’t expected Amelia to say this and quickly responded, “Miss Lia, you don’t need to worry about my situation. We just need to cooperate with the Iris to seize the Mana Crystal Cannon, blast open the city wall, and leave this place. There’s no need for extra actions that might cause complications.”
“No, that’s all necessary,” Amelia looked deeply at Eileen. “Eileen, why do you pretend that something you clearly care about so much is unimportant? Don’t you know? If it matters to you, it matters to me too.”
“But Miss Lia, you don’t even know what happened, yet you’re already talking about killing Lester. Isn’t that… isn’t that a bit…”
“I truly don’t know anything. But it’s true that this person has made you suffer, isn’t it? Since that’s the case, there’s no problem with what I want to do. How could I ever let you be wronged, Eileen?”
“Miss Lia…”
Eileen stared blankly at Amelia, never having imagined she would make such a choice.
She had clearly… clearly kept those matters buried deep in her heart, yet things had still come to this.
[This development is a bit unexpected. Though I figured Amelia would notice something was off between Eileen and Lester, her being so decisive about killing him is surprising.]
[Wait, did Amelia join the Iris just to take care of Lester?]
[No way, right? She shouldn’t have known Lester was with the Iris before this.]
[None of that matters! What matters is that Amelia can perceive the things Eileen hides in her heart and actively help her. As a viewer, this feeling is just amazing.]
[Exactly, just spoil her!]
