Chapter 16: Happy cooperation

“How is that possible?! The Papal Regalia was stolen?!”

The Council of Bishops erupted into chaos.

At first, some refused to believe it.

But when the Captain of the Church Knights arrived in person, disbelief turned into shock.

According to protocol, the Knight Commander was supposed to remain outside the regalia chamber, guarding and supervising the Papal Regalia before escorting it into the Grand Cathedral.

This was no small matter.

For countless years of coronation ceremonies, the regalia had always been protected by numerous guards, including High Priests and the Church Knights.

How could it possibly have been stolen under so many watchful eyes?

Every bishop rose from their seat.

Standing at the forefront, Cyril remained calm.

Although the new Pope had not yet been officially announced, the Council had already split into two clearly opposing factions.

Seizing the opportunity before his rival bishop could react, Cyril immediately declared a state of emergency lockdown throughout the Holy City.

Across the continent, countless eyes fixed upon the young and elegant Crimson Bishop through the projection crystals.

Meanwhile, Zong Mi and Xu Yue’s operation was proceeding at full speed.

In truth, after the High Priest hurried away to deal with the disturbance at the library, Zong Mi hadn’t acted immediately.

Because an Level 80 Knight Commander was still standing guard outside.

He merely slid his sleeve slightly over his hand and quietly used a wind-based illusion to alter the path of light reflecting from the Half-Sun Coronation Ring.

Then he suddenly let out a panicked cry, throwing the regalia chamber into confusion.

Normally, the Knight Commander would never have made such a mistake.

But the Central Library’s wards had only recently been triggered.

No one believed Dark Priests would infiltrate the Holy City alone.

Combined with Zong Mi’s deliberate verbal guidance, the Knight Commander quickly fell into a preconceived assumption that Dark Priests were behind everything.

After seeing that both the Coronation Ring and Papal Crown were indeed missing from their cushions, he immediately rushed to the Grand Cathedral to report the situation.

Although he ordered the regalia chamber sealed before leaving, Zong Mi still had a solution.

After all, the Concealment Cloak Cyril had sent him—the one capable of hiding even within the Holy City—was still resting quietly inside his inventory.

According to the mission requirements, Zong Mi’s sub-quest would only be completed if he helped Cyril successfully ascend to the papal throne today.

That meant the cloak still had about thirty minutes before it expired.

A huge portion of Zong Mi’s plan depended on it.

Cyril probably never imagined that his “loyal collaborator” would betray him at the crucial moment using equipment Cyril himself had provided.

[Mission Item: Goddess of Dawn’s Ring obtained.]

[Warning: If you die during the mission, the item will immediately drop and the mission will automatically fail.]

Zong Mi moved quickly.

With the Power of Words at his disposal and the Concealment Cloak hiding him, this sort of theft became twice as easy with half the effort.

[Xu Yue]: Holy shit, Brother, what did you do? Why is the entire Holy City’s attention focused on you?!

The Holy City’s records contained no example in thousands of years of a lockdown this severe.

Even the continental war fifty years ago hadn’t reached this level.

Standing within the shadows of the Central Library, Xu Yue was still channeling the ward-breaking process.

Through the stained-glass windows, he could see golden barriers spreading across the sky.

The shield signified that the entire Holy City had entered complete lockdown.

The Restricted Section was enormous.

Searching it thoroughly would take time.

Furthermore, everyone was focused on the stolen Papal Regalia.

Compared to that, the disturbance in the library barely seemed worth mentioning.

[Xu Yue]: Brother, if they’ve activated the anti-teleportation system, I’m not sure this teleportation array will still work!

Xu Yue was practically dying from anxiety.

He had asked Zong Mi to create a distraction.

He hadn’t expected a distraction this huge.

Teleportation arrays were rare but invaluable during wartime.

As an ancient city that had survived countless wars, the Holy City possessed anti-teleportation arrays beneath its foundations.

Once activated, neither he nor Zong Mi would be escaping today.

His class advancement quest felt completely doomed.

[Zong Mi]: Relax. Follow the original plan and wait for me in the prayer room.

In contrast, Zong Mi remained remarkably calm.

Wrapped in the Concealment Cloak and enhanced with a Gale Spell, he sprinted down the empty corridors.

The bishops still hadn’t realized what was happening.

But once they did, every knight stationed around the city’s perimeter would be recalled.

At that point, escape would become impossible.

Yet Zong Mi was greedy.

He hadn’t even finished warming the Goddess of Dawn’s Ring in his pocket before he started coveting another mission item.

Zong Mi stopped near a corridor.

After spotting Louis in the distance, he removed the Concealment Cloak and canceled the Transformation Potion.

Then he steadied himself against a wall, pretending to be dizzy.

Moments later, a squad of Church Knights surrounded him.

“Don’t let any suspicious individuals escape!”

At the moment, Zong Mi looked extremely suspicious.

However—

“How dare you! Release my teacher at once!”

Hidden from everyone’s notice, Zong Mi’s lips curled upward.

Everything was proceeding exactly as expected.

On the other side, Xu Yue finally broke through the library’s restrictions.

[Mission Item: Dark Priest Scripture obtained.]

[Warning: If you die during the mission, the item will immediately drop and the mission will automatically fail.]

At almost the same moment, the NPC search teams discovered him.

Stuffing the scripture into his inventory, Xu Yue immediately ran for his life.

The knights had practically sealed off the entire Central Library.

The High Priest casually hurled a Chain of Dawn toward him.

Xu Yue wanted to cry.

He absolutely couldn’t die here.

Death during the class advancement quest meant immediate failure and the loss of the mission item.

All his efforts would be wasted.

So he turned around, cast Corrosion on the High Priest, and sprinted toward the far exit of the library.

“Just as I thought—a Dark Priest’s lackey! Capture that blond-haired man!”

The High Priest angrily waved his hand.

One by one, the library’s windows slammed shut, completely sealing the building.

Xu Yue ran like lightning.

Using the library’s cover, he circled the area while wearing Zong Mi’s appearance.

Then he canceled the transformation, straightened his Apprentice Priest robes, and calmly followed the escape route he had planned beforehand.

Because many knights had been reassigned to investigate the stolen regalia, and numerous apprentice priests had joined the search effort, Xu Yue simply blended into the crowd.

Playing the thief shouting “Catch the thief!” was surprisingly effective.

[Xu Yue]: Brother, I’m out of the library. Heading to the meeting point.

After waiting a while, he finally received a reply.

[Zong Mi]: On my way.

The blond bard smiled as he stored the War God’s Scepter from beside the bed into his inventory.

[Mission Item: War God’s Scepter obtained.]

[Warning: If you die during the mission, the item will immediately drop and the mission will automatically fail.]

“Perhaps you’ve always misunderstood something about me.”

Zong Mi lowered himself slightly, a mocking smile on his face as he looked at the young king bound tightly to the bed.

“But who exactly gave you the courage to make a move against me?”

Louis stared at him unblinkingly.

Even restrained and unable to move or speak, the king’s brown eyes remained fixed on Zong Mi.

The obsession within them was almost stubborn.

If anything, it had become even more intense.

Zong Mi genuinely couldn’t understand it.

Ten years ago, he had thought the boy showed promise.

Who knew what kind of stimulus had twisted him over the past decade?

Still, it wasn’t his concern anymore.

The mission items were already in hand.

Getting away was all that mattered.

Zong Mi was about to put the Concealment Cloak back on when he realized it had only a few minutes of duration remaining.

After some thought, he put it back into his inventory.

Instead, he took out the Seven-String Lyre of the God of Magic and tucked it under his arm, disguising himself as a Church musician.

The prayer room was still some distance away.

If the cloak expired halfway there, it could create unnecessary complications.

It was better to walk openly from the start.

“You were cuter ten years ago.”

Straightening his clothes, Zong Mi ignored Louis’s reaction and left the room.

The moment he stepped outside, his acting skills erupted into full force.

Running down the corridor, he shouted:

“I saw him! I saw the thief!”

“What?!”

The knights along the way immediately reacted.

Without even verifying his claim, they began chasing after him.

“I just saw the person who stole the regalia!”

This area was on the complete opposite side of the city from the Central Library.

Even if someone in the library had seen Xu Yue disguised as Zong Mi, the truth wouldn’t be uncovered anytime soon.

Thus, as Zong Mi continued running, more and more pursuers joined him.

Eventually, even several bishops were alarmed.

“What’s happening over there?”

Cyril frowned.

Looking up, he spotted a familiar head of golden hair.

An uneasy feeling immediately arose.

“It appears that the Church musician has found the thief who stole the regalia.”

After hearing a report from his subordinates, the Knight Commander drew his royal lightblade and prepared to pursue.

At that moment, Cyril gave a brief order.

“Move.”

The direction Zong Mi was running was deeper into the Holy City.

The more Cyril thought about it, the more suspicious he became.

He recalled their first collaboration.

The blond bard had casually mentioned wanting an item from the Church.

For some reason, Cyril had a growing feeling that the person responsible for this entire disaster might be his own exceedingly calculating partner.

[Xu Yue]: I’ve reached the prayer room.

Xu Yue had arrived and was clutching the instant teleportation array.

After several attempts, he still couldn’t sense any spatial fluctuations from it.

His unease deepened.

The Holy City’s highest security alert had already been activated.

Whether the array could still function was anyone’s guess.

Yet despite his worries, he remained excited.

Along the way, he had even activated the game’s internal recording system.

Once he got out alive, this footage would be invaluable for humanity’s information archives.

[Zong Mi]: Come outside. I’m almost at the prayer room entrance.

The moment Xu Yue saw the message, a bad feeling arose.

He stepped outside.

At that exact instant, a giant red marker appeared above his head.

It looked just like a hatred marker from a traditional MMORPG.

Xu Yue: …

The Church hadn’t only activated the anti-teleportation system.

They had also activated tracking magic.

Now any NPC who glanced at the map could immediately see Xu Yue’s location.

But that wasn’t even the worst part.

The truly despairing thing was seeing Zong Mi—

And the enormous train of knights chasing behind him.

“Why did you bring all of them here?!”

Xu Yue nearly collapsed.

“What’s the rush?”

Zong Mi remained calm.

“Since we’re leaving anyway, isn’t the most dangerous place also the safest place?”

A giant red marker floated above his own head as well.

Normally, tracking magic would have been active from the beginning.

But because today’s coronation required enormous magical power for the projection crystals, certain non-essential spells had been temporarily disabled.

Now that tracking magic had been reactivated, the knights finally realized Zong Mi had fooled them.

Battle aura erupted around them as they charged forward.

“Come here!”

There was no time left for explanations.

Layering several Gale Spells upon himself, Zong Mi became a streak of green wind and grabbed Xu Yue’s wrist.

Xu Yue immediately crushed the teleportation array.

A gray-silver magic circle appeared beneath them.

Yet the surrounding spatial elements seemed tightly shackled.

The teleportation looked seconds away from collapsing.

By now, the bishops and Knight Commander had completely surrounded them.

“Give up.”

The Knight Commander spoke coldly.

“The Holy City is under maximum lockdown. No spatial teleportation array can break through its seal.”

“Oh?”

Zong Mi smiled.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

His gaze swept across the crowd before settling on Cyril, who stood at the very front.

The Crimson Bishop’s expression revealed nothing.

Then Zong Mi spoke.

“Space, obey my command.”

The moment the word obey left his lips—

[???-Rank Word of Power / Judgment Successful]

Even the system itself couldn’t determine the spell’s rank.

The gray-silver magic circle, which had been on the verge of dispersing, suddenly erupted with brilliant light.

In the next instant, both men vanished.

Not a single trace remained behind.

“How is this possible?!”

The Knight Commander and bishops stared in disbelief.

“The anti-teleportation array was already activated!”

Only Cyril remained motionless.

The Crimson Bishop recalled the shape of the blond man’s lips moments before his disappearance.

His icy blue eyes darkened further.

The words Zong Mi had mouthed were—

“Pleasure doing business with you.”