70 The Necromancer and the Priestess 4 (1/2)

Although Yin Mei was already pretty used to seeing gore filled scenes (a zombie apocalypse world really did wonders to her mindset), she still closed the surveillance camera. She may be used to it, but that didn't mean that she was interested in watching it like some sort of weird pervert.

Several days later, while Yin Mei was messing around with magic and still in the midst of contemplating her next move, the Bishop payed her a visit. According to Celestina's memories, this man would visit her at least once a week.

Celestina didn't have much of an opinion, if any at all, of this person.

Yin Mei, seeing him in person, could only think that he looked really young - maybe late 20s at the oldest.

He had long hair, and a stern and dignified aura. If Celestina's holy aura was like a warm and peaceful spring sun, then his was like the harsh and unforgiving summer sun. His robes were white, with a red trim.

Yin Mei felt that he slightly reminded her of Ming Wei, but just slightly. It wasn't really in his appearance or the way he acted either, but just some sort of vague feel that he gave off. Or maybe she was just being delusional. Ah, perhaps that was it. He was similar in that they would both do anything for the sake of their goal.

The two of them were in the church's garden, with guards posted every five feet at a distance that did not intrude upon them, but would still allow them to react in time should anything happen. Yin Mei sat at a small table under a gazebo, sipping at a delicate cup of black tea, while the Bishop stood with his hands behind his back, facing outwards.

”I heard that you recently requested for a knight and even took in some slave girl to work in the inner sanctum,” He said, his voice just as dignified as the rest of him. It was a sort of dignity that came deep from within his bones, carefully cultivated over several years. ”It is quite rare for you to take interest in people outside of your childhood friends.”

Yin Mei lowered her eyes, the thick lashes creating a shadow that covered their expression. Hum, she really didn't know how to react to this guy.

Seeing that she was remaining silent, the Bishop also didn't bring up the matter any further. In his eyes, Celestina was a small bird who couldn't do anything but sit in this golden cage of hers as she watched the outside world move by her. She was weak willed and obedient, never straying from the path she was told to take and never going against the flow of the river. Especially with her childhood friends in his hands, she would never disobey an order of his.

Of course, with Celestina's soul switched out, the new person inside couldn't really care less about these childhood friends of Celestina's that barely had any appearance time in the original plot line...

The Bishop had already looked into the identities of the two people that Celestina had dragged to her side. The man called Kai had nothing of ill to speak about - his reputation among the Knights Templar was very good, and he had fairly decent skill. He was loyal and passionate in his work, and had been fervently pursuing the criminal El before being transferred to the inner sanctum.

As for the slave girl, she had been sold by her parents when her village faced a drought and there was no more food to go around. It wasn't anything rare. She was then later bought by Kiel, the childhood friend of Celestina and a professor of the magic academy who had a good reputation both as a teacher and a scholar. The Bishop recalled that this person had gone missing for a period of time during the epidemic several years back. It was assumed that he had died, but he had reappeared a few weeks after. Because of this, the Bishop was slightly suspicious of him, and what had happened in that time, but he had no proof of anything else.

”You don't have to worry about anything,” Yin Mei finally said, after a long time of consideration. ”Those two are 'good' people.” Yin Mei had on an earnest expression. Yes, that's right. They were ”good” people, at least, by normal standards. But this ”good” person mask - she really wanted to rip it right off their faces and reveal the ugliness that lay underneath.

The Bishop felt that the way that Celestina had said ”good” was slightly odd, but he didn't think too much into it - this was Celestina after all. She probably sincerely thought this.

And after considering for a bit, he decided to let it be. After all, though Celestina had been unable to leave the church since a young age, she had good instincts. Her affinity with the light element allowed her to easily sense those who had bad intentions toward her or just in general. In addition, those people who were faced with Celestina's holy aura for too long would begin to be plagued with guilt and quickly repent on their actions.

This was why the selection process for the guards and priestesses in the inner sanctum needed to be so strict - it wasn't just because they needed the best of the best protecting Celestina, but also because they needed those with strong wills and a clean conscience, so that Celestina's holy aura wouldn't adversely affect them in any way.

Well, he would have his people first observe them. There was no harm in letting Celestina do what she wanted, as long as she didn't go too far. After all, an obedient child should be given sweets occasionally, right?

Aside from that, the two didn't really have anything to talk about. The Bishop mentioned a few things, such as the return of a squadron of the Knights Templar from Gloom Forest, and anything else that Celestina would need to take note of as a high priestess. Which wasn't a lot, simply because Celestina never really personally acted most of the time. She would occasionally reveal her face for publicity, or heal a member of the main church that was injured too severely for anyone else to heal, but that was about it. Her duties were mostly just to exist - as long as she was alive, the seal would remain intact.

And she would have to live like this until the day that someone who could inherit her position was found. Apparently, her predecessor had waited a grand total of 700 years for Celestina before finally being freed. He was now traversing the world, and almost never checked in with the church.