Chapter 52: You Know Too Much

“At nine thirty-eight this morning… and then this one, oh right, this one was used by Miss Peleti.
Tsk… with her aptitude, there’s a very high chance she’ll become a Saintess.
Should I keep the rune she used?
Maybe I can sell it for a good price someday?”

Dunn, the inspector who had conducted Peleti’s elemental affinity test at noon, sat on an old wooden chair in the storage room, carefully recording today’s equipment usage under the dim light of a kerosene lamp.

When he picked up the rune Peleti had used, his movement suddenly paused.

Logically speaking, disposable items like runes were usually treated as alchemical waste after use, but after witnessing Peleti’s light-element affinity, a trace of reluctance arose in Dunn’s heart.

He had heard that items used by famous people were always worth a lot of money, like an old chalice used by a bishop or a holy robe worn by a Saintess.
Once put on the market, there would always be fanatical believers willing to spend everything to collect them.

If he could prove that this rune had been used by Peleti, then perhaps this rune used by a future Saintess could also sell for a good price.

When that happened, he could buy himself a house and no longer have to rent and pay others.

Of course, there was also the possibility that a group of people would point at him and call it fake.

A rune supposedly used by a Saintess that showed not the slightest trace of light-element affinity.
No one would believe that if he said it out loud.

For a detection method like runes to fail was something Dunn had never encountered in his six years as an inspector, not to mention the others who came here for testing.

“Eh… detection failed.
How could the rune be wrong?”

Dunn picked up the rune in confusion and held it closer to the lamp to examine it.

He lightly tapped the surface patterns with his fingernail, his brows knitting tighter and tighter, unable to understand why the rune had malfunctioned.

Although the Pope had told him that rune errors were unavoidable, Dunn had studied alchemy before theology.
For something like runes, even the slightest deviation could completely change their effect.

How could such a thing possibly go wrong?

Dunn leaned back in his chair, holding the rune and thinking for a long time without finding an answer.

As he stared at the rune in a daze, his hand unconsciously rested on the groove in the middle of the stone.
In the next moment, the groove slowly emitted a deep blue light.

Dunn froze for a second when he saw the glow, then his expression turned as if he had seen a ghost.
His hand trembled, and the rune glowing with blue light fell to the ground.

“What the hell?
The rune activated?”

But weren’t runes disposable items?

He had personally seen Peleti place her hand on the rune.
There was no way he could be mistaken about that.

So why did the rune activate when he touched it?

This meant that when Miss Peleti touched the rune, it had not been that the rune malfunctioned, but that Miss Peleti had not activated it at all.

“This is ridiculous…”
Dunn shook his head, fear still lingering on his face.

Anything with a normal physiological structure should be able to activate a rune.
For a rune not to activate in Miss Peleti’s hands, there was only one possibility.

Peleti was not human.

A being with such high light-element affinity, even surpassing Miss Qiaosuna, was not human?

Who would dare believe that?

The most urgent thing was to report this to the Pope immediately.
He absolutely could not allow such a dangerous unknown individual to enter the Church!

With that thought, Dunn picked up the rune from the floor and hurriedly pushed open the storage room door, only to collide head-on with a young girl.

“Inspector, where are you rushing off to?”
A cold voice sounded from outside the door.
Qiaosuna stood in the shadow of the corridor, a half-smile hanging on her lips.

“Miss Qiaosuna?
Perfect timing.
I have something very important to tell you.
Extremely important!”

“Oh?
How important is it?”

“I’m telling you, the girl you brought for testing at noon today, she’s very likely not human!”

At these words, Qiaosuna did not even bother to maintain her polite smile.
Her gaze turned icy as she stared at Dunn.

But in Dunn’s eyes, this was simply the candidate Saintess’s hatred toward unknown forces, so he placed the rune before her and continued.

“I know this sounds unbelievable, but it’s the truth.
Look, this rune is the one Miss Peleti used.
Just now, I discovered that it wasn’t activated at all.
How could a normal human fail to activate a rune?
So she must not be human!
We must report this to the Pope as soon as possible.”

“Is that so?
May I take a look at this rune?”

Qiaosuna slowly extended her hand.

Dunn did not think much and quickly handed the rune to her.

“You’ve done very well, Inspector.
Your powers of observation are unexpectedly sharp.”
Qiaosuna examined the rune, her tone carrying a strange note of praise.

“Miss Qiaosuna flatters me.
This is merely part of my duty.”

“Oh dear!
Inspector, what’s wrong with you?
Why did you suddenly faint?”

“Fai… what?
Faint?
Who fainted?”

Before Dunn could react, Qiaosuna raised her glowing hand and struck his head with her palm.
Completely unguarded, Dunn took the blow and collapsed straight to the floor.

Qiaosuna’s face went blank, her eyes devoid of warmth.

So close.
So close to having my plans ruined by you.

Qiaosuna wanted to kill Dunn right then and there, but she knew that the disappearance of a church official could never be concealed.
She could only use the simplest and most brutal method: a massive memory-erasure spell.

Suppressing the killing intent in her heart, Qiaosuna waved over a passing nun.

“May the Light bless you, Miss Qiaosuna.
How may I help you?”

“Today’s testing work was heavy.
This inspector fainted from overexertion.
I still have matters assigned by the Pope to attend to, so I’ll have to trouble you to take him back to the dormitory.”

“Gladly, Miss Qiaosuna.”

The nun felt it would be difficult to carry Dunn alone, so she called another nun to help lift him and carry him away.

What happened here did not draw much attention.
Such incidents were not uncommon in the cathedral, especially in these tense times when all clergy had their own tasks to handle.

That included Qiaosuna.

She tucked the rune into her robe and quietly left Farisa Cathedral.