Is that so?
Isn't it?
Hilia glanced at the time. It had just gotten dark. Even if the lights were out, that didn't mean everyone would be dead asleep.
Even if they were… Hilia was prepared to ask her questions anyway.
Maybe this was the key to breaking the stalemate.
Knock, knock, knock!
Hilia knocked on Mr. Jack's door.
A moment later, Jack's voice came from inside.
"Who is it, so late at night?"
"It's me, Hilia—I came during the day."
"Huh? Mage?"
Jack's voice was full of surprise. There was a rustling noise inside. After quite a while, the door creaked open, and Jack, wearing only thin clothes, appeared in front of Hilia.
Seeing Hilia, he froze for quite a while before asking awkwardly, "Mage, is there something you need?"
During dinner earlier, quite a few villagers had come, and Jack was among them. From Marina's few words, he'd gathered that Hilia might be able to resolve Lake Beia's anomaly, and he was now certain this was no ordinary mage.
Of course, even an ordinary mage might as well be a different species entirely to regular people.
Hilia stared into Jack's eyes and said, "Mr. Jack, I'm investigating the abnormal events in Beia Village. I've found traces of heresy here… do you know what a heretic Sect is?"
Jack was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "I know. A Sect is an evil faith, only capable of committing heinous crimes."
"Good. Then, may I look around your house?" Hilia asked.
"Um… I live alone, so… you might find it filthy."
"Don't worry, I won't touch your things. You can watch me as I investigate."
"Alright then, please come in."
Hilia and the magic puppet controlled by Rose entered the house. The girl swept her eyes around, examining the space.
The house wasn't large, occupying maybe twenty or thirty square meters, divided into three rooms. They'd entered the living room, with a room on either side.
In the center of the living room, a statue of some unknown God was enshrined.
Hilia walked up to the statue and stared at it.
"Mr. Jack, which God is this?" As she asked, Hilia reached out with her senses but didn't detect any trace of pollution on the statue.
"This is… the all-knowing, almighty Light God." Jack's expression flickered.
Originally about to move on, Hilia returned instantly to the statue. "Are you sure this is the Light God?"
"I…"
"This is not the Light God, nor is it any of the Twelve Main Gods."
Hilia spoke with certainty.
In truth, she couldn't tell which God this was—the statue's features were blurred, impossible to discern—but the Holy Word Skill let her sense Jack was lying.
The Holy Word Skill was a gift from the Gods to the Holy Court. After training in it, besides the increasingly profound spells, the practitioner would be granted various passive abilities—such as Pollution Perception and lie detection.
Not everyone could awaken these abilities, though.
Those able to sense pollution would become Law Enforcement Knights, those able to detect lies would become Priests or Judge Knights.
If you couldn't awaken any of them, you'd be ordinary clergy.
As for the Holy Daughter, she needed to grasp most passive abilities.
For now, Hilia had only awakened Pollution Perception and lie detection. Though not refined, they required proximity to work, and the sensations were faint, not always accurate.
Lie detection as well—it only worked if the other party hadn't trained in masking their lies.
Clearly, Jack hadn't practiced lying with a straight face.
Confronted by Hilia, Jack looked uneasy. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to deceive you. It's just… I don't actually know which God this statue represents."
Hilia's brow furrowed. The vague sense of pollution in this house made her uncomfortable; the statue in front of her wasn't a polluting object, but the unknown nature of it bothered her deeply.
She was just about to say something when a voice called from outside.
"Miss Hilia, let Jack go. He really doesn't know whose statue this is—I gave these to everyone."
Hilia looked up to see Marina entering from outside, holding a crystal lamp.
"Miss Marina?"
Marina's expression was complex. "I don't know what you've found, but I can tell you for certain, these statues have nothing to do with the abnormality at Lake Beia. I guarantee it."
"Do you know which God this is?" Hilia asked.
To her surprise, Marina shook her head. "I don't."
Hilia: "?"
You gave them to everyone, and you don't know?
"When those gentlemen and ladies sponsored us, this was their only request—they hoped I would put these ordinary stone statues in every home."
Unknown statues?
Hilia's first thought was of sects and Evil Gods.
She couldn't help but glance at Rose, who had remained silent.
"Mr. Rose, is this your statue?"
"Does it look like me?"
Hilia: "..."
The statue, about an arm's length high, had such indistinct features it looked like no one at all.
If the statue had pollution on it, Hilia would have been sure it belonged to an Evil God.
But there was nothing—no trace of pollution, no sign of magic power. It was simply an ordinary stone carving, roughly hewn at that.
"At first, I thought these statues were connected to a sect, to an Evil God, but when I brought one to the Divine Hall of the Holy Court, the priests there said it was just plain stone. If not for their sponsorship, Beia Village's school wouldn't be able to keep running, so I…"
She paused, then said, "This isn't a good place to talk—can we go somewhere else?"
Hilia nodded. "Yes, but wait a moment. I found traces of a Sect here, let me see where they are."
"The statue isn't…"
"Not the statue."
"Alright."
Now even Marina looked at Jack with suspicion.
Jack quickly raised his hand and said, "Marina, I'm not a heretic! You know what kind of person I am—"
"Found it."
Before Jack could finish, Hilia had already found the source of pollution.
It was a green fishing rod, made of bamboo.
Hilia took the rod and brought it over to Marina. "It's this. The trace of pollution is faint, but any mage will sense it on contact."
Marina took the rod distrustfully, only to immediately feel an intensely unpleasant sensation, as though a pack of wolves was stalking her in the night. It made her skin crawl.
She instinctively let go of the rod, which Hilia caught.
"You felt it? That overwhelmingly repulsive feeling." Hilia smiled faintly.
Marina nodded. That feeling was truly disturbing.
She looked at Jack, her gaze growing increasingly complicated.
The previously honest and simple Mr. Jack now seemed almost like a stranger.
"Mr. Jack, is there anything else you want to say?"