Waking up in the morning after having some fun, sexy time with Vanye, I woke up Talis and teleported the two of us randomly into the forest just outside Cassandra; while it wasn't impossible for the spies keeping watch on us to notice the spatial fluctuations from using [Teleport, they would need to be well-versed with space mana, but even if they were, it mattered not since they wouldn't be able to follow us. "Ugh, why do you always have to stop it at the best moment? Vanimo was about to impreg-" "Sorry, but c'mon, let's focus; once we find the church's base and destroy it, you can resume your fucking." Interrupting Talis, who was seconds away from slapping me with her wings, she cawed before leaping onto my shoulders.
"Hmph, you're annoying, Alex." "You've always been annoying. Now start flying, you horny bird." Talis rolled her eyes at my words before clutching my shoulders with her talons, she flapped her wings, causing us to speedily shoot into the sky. "How high and where should I fly?" "As high as you can comfortably go, and head east first, that's where the least amount of towns are located." Nodding at my words, Talis created a layer of wind around our bodies and flew through the sky even faster than before while we rapidly gained altitude. Eventually, we reached a height where the air was so thin that breathing became difficult, though thankfully, just like eating, I didn't need to breathe to live, as Talis seemed to be handling it just fine.
"Alright, you're high enough, Talis." "Eh, but I can still go higher." "This will probably be a long mission, so don't needlessly exhaust yourself." Although Talis was a bit unsatisfied at being unable to test herself, she stopped ascending and kept a comfortable pace; we were moving extremely fast, faster than most fighter jets from my past life, but because we were so high, everything looked to be moving slowly. "You've really grown, huh, Talis? You could've only dreamed of flying half this fast when we first ventured out into the world, and this is still hardly a challenge to you." Gazing at the seemingly endless forest below, I raised my head and looked at Talis, who flashed a smirk, only to suddenly do a barrel roll.
"Don't get too caught up in the past, Alex; focus on the future, after all, you don't know what you'll achieve." Said Talis as she glanced at me while smirking, causing me to chuckle as I lightly nodded. "Easier said than done when the past is so precious; however, you're not wrong… I can't believe a bird just gave me a therapy session." Shaking my head in amusement, we descended into silence with nothing but the sound of flapping as we soared through the sky. After a few more minutes, we came across a city of similar size to Cassandra, and although I knew it was improbable, I still used [Heroes Gaze] to check if the church had snaked its hands into the city, though I was concerned for nothing as everything looked good.
"Hey, why are we heading to where the least amount of towns reside? Wouldn't the Church pick a place with more towns? Given their nature, wouldn't they want to kill more non-humans while converting more humans?" I couldn't help but be taken aback by Talis's intelligent question, and I subconsciously checked her status panel to ensure this was really Talis. 'Huh, so this is, Talis." "What are you doing, Alex?" "N-Nothing. Your judgment isn't bad, Talis, but currently, the Church cares more about killing the Saintess than expanding the influence of their religion; in fact, we shouldn't have to worry about such things until they've comptly unified Nesmo, which should take several years at the earliest. For now, they should want to remain hidden, and the best way to do that is to ensure there are fewer variables, such as people."
"Hmm, I see." "Of course, given that they don't have to worry about being attacked thanks to the protection of Goddess Justina, they might arrogantly try to expand their influence, who knows?" Furrowing my brows, I folded my arms and silently thought more about Nesmo's current situation; Jasmine would constantly receive letters from her father regarding their well-being and the state of Nesmo. 'The Church has stopped hiding their actions on Nesmo, yet they still haven't declared war; I know waging a war can't be easy, but they must've been preparing for this day for decades, given how deeply they've penetrated Crestfallen, so why haven't they started attacking?' Although I didn't know how compromised the other kingdoms were, considering Crestfallen had several spies with high authority, I only assumed the others would be just as bad, if not worse.
'Maybe… Maybe the Pope won't start until Jasmine is dead?' It was a rather baseless idea, but given my lack of information, it was my best guess; however, I was forced to save these thoughts for later as we finally encountered a town. Even without using [Heroes Gaze], I could tell the town was considerably smaller than Cassandra's, and the population was probably no more than six hundred, which was still a decent number, but I'm sure Sash alone could handle that town.
"See anything suspicious, Alex?" "No, everything looks fine. The town seems harmonious, and non-human species are living just fine; everything looks fine." Furrowing my brows, I had Talis loop around the town before heading to the next village, which was close, only a dozen or so kilometers away. Once we arrived at the second town, I swept my gaze through it, though similar to the previous one, everything seemed to be in order, and nothing looked out of the ordinary.
"Do you think they may have some weapons or artifacts to trick your eyes, Alex?" I bit my lip at Talis's words since I couldn't outright deny her. "It's highly unlikely; only a mythical artifact would be able to completely hide their presence; a legendary one would help, but it wouldn't be able to trick my eyes fully… Even if they brought something to hide themselves, what are the chances they'd use a mythical artifact?"
'Still, it's not impossible.' Shaking my head, I tried to rid myself of such pessimistic thoughts and had Talis fly towards the remaining two towns in the eastern Roswald Kingdom; thankfully, I had already memorized the map, so I didn't need to pull it out after every town. "Welp, looks like they're not in the east… Time to head North." "How many towns do we have to visit?" "Um, there are 5 in the East, 6 in the North, 8 in the West, and 9 in the South." "Ugh, so many?" "Don't blame me, blame the bastards that want to fuck over our lives." "Tch, fuck you, Junsuina!" "W-What the hell are you doing!?" "What? I'm just doing what you said." "Still, don't just openly curse a Goddess like that; even if she is a super asshole, she's still a Goddess." 'Master-' 'Shh, remain quiet, Trina, and just silently enjoy.'
Shaking my head at Talis's bravery or stupidity, we spent the rest of the day flying across the Roswald kingdom, searching twenty-eight towns for traces of the Church; when we returned home, Talis was exhausted and collapsed onto the couch without a second thought.
Reappearing in the air above the living room, I fell onto Chloe, who had been sitting in a chair in the corner, causing me to quickly stand up. "S-Sorry, you okay, Chloe?" Leaning forward, I brushed aside her hair while she faintly shook my head, causing me to faintly smirk as I could tell she was lying. "K-Kiss. A-A Kiss, o-or I-I'll d-die." Right after she finished speaking, she played dead while Vanimo, who was sitting on the couch, suppressed his laughter. Smirking in amusement, I grabbed Chloe's chin and passionately kissed her, prompting her to instantly reciprocate as she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me closer.
"Alex has a weak tongue, so use that to your advantage." Opening my eyes, I glanced to my left and eyed Jasmine, who had whispered into Chloe's ear before winking at me, causing me to roll my eyes as I separated my lips. "Tsk, get everyone in the living room." As Jasmine stood up, I slapped her bubbly butt, causing her to squeal while I picked up Chloe and sat her in her seat before placing her on my lap. "Oh, what's this hard thing poking my butt, Alex?" "Ha, please, just ignore it for now." Despite my words, Chloe did no such thing and constantly poked my crotch, causing me to rub the bridge of my nose before sighing in relief when everyone finally arrived.
"Did you find where they've been operating from, Alex?" Asked Lazuli as she sat beside Vanimo while Vanye leaned against the back of the couch from behind; Yuki sat in the other empty chair, Michelle sat beside Lazuli, Talis was on Vanimo's lap, and Jasmine sat on the armrest of my chair with my arm wrapped around her waist. "Heh, who do you think you're talking to, Lazuli? Of course I did."