"Clap, clap, clap..."
I don't know how much time had passed, but a solitary sound of clapping came from the scene.
Syl opened her eyes slightly, only to see that Jane had taken off her gloves and was applauding her enthusiastically, with a glimmer in her eyes.
It seemed that something in Syl's full recitation had touched her.
"That was so well said, Syl," Jane said, looking at Syl with some excitement. "To be honest, whenever I see you all, I feel like the goddess of justice was a bit too rash in choosing me as a Saintess."
Jane no longer used "Little Syl" to address Syl, but instead used her name formally.
Vera, who was sitting opposite Syl, remained silent the entire time, head bowed in thought.
After a long while, Vera finally raised her head, looked at Syl, and said earnestly:
"First of all, I truly admire your ideals. To tell you the truth, this is something that we, or even any other church, have never even thought about."
"We walk on the path we believe to be the exploration of truth, yet we have forgotten that there are so many people in the world suffering... Her Highness Syl, do you mean... you want to see Ibiza launch a revolution?"
"If that is the only path left," Syl said, looking at Vera earnestly, "I think so. I am willing to see this scene come to pass."
"So that's why you pushed things forward a little..." Vera sighed, shook her head, and smiled bitterly. "But if things continue like this, it might be very difficult to catch the Clown again."
"Then why do you want to catch her?" Syl asked curiously. "Isn't that the police station's job?"
"You don't know this, Her Highness Syl," Vera took a small breath and let it out before explaining, "This Clown is related to the previous blood sacrifice case, and our only current lead is the Clown."
"If we can't find her, we won't be able to continue finding that Devotee. If we can't drag her out, we don't know when the next blood sacrifice will happen."
After a pause, Vera continued:
"Moreover, that Clown and her friend seem to both possess a kind of ability different from others, neither Holy Potion nor Magic Potion... We brought back a youth who had been affected by the Clown's ability to investigate, but we found nothing."
"That was a stitched-together youth... The connections on his body were so natural, as if those parts were meant to grow there... Please forgive me for not knowing how to describe it. Perhaps you can look at this photo. This is also the reason why we want to find her and investigate clearly."
As she spoke, Vera took out a piece of parchment with a magic imprint and placed it in front of Syl.
Syl took the parchment and glanced at it, her face showing no other expression.
But Syl's heart rate had quickened slightly due to nervousness.
...It was Edward. Several of her cards had interacted with Edward. Surely they wouldn't find out it was the same person, would they?
"So, Her Highness Syl, can you help me find the Clown and her friend? Perhaps there is some organization behind them," Vera stood up, looked at Syl with her head slightly lowered, and said respectfully.
Because Vera had a strong premonition that Syl definitely knew something, and definitely knew more than she did.
Intuition told Vera that by following Syl, she would definitely be able to find the Clown. This was the "sense of smell" formed by Vera's years of investigation.
"Ah? Me?" Syl seemed not to have expected that Vera would suddenly ask for her help in the investigation. Syl waved her hand to refuse, "I am still too weak right now..."
"Finding the Clown—she might be someone who shares the same ideals as Her Highness Syl. Doesn't Her Highness Syl want to realize this ideal with her?" Vera began to use Syl's speech from just now to corner Syl.
The corner of Syl's mouth twitched.
If she said she wouldn't help with the investigation, then her speech just now would be equivalent to a lie, or just empty words.
But... did she really have to agree to look for the Clown with her?
After thinking for a long time, Syl sighed.
"Fine..." Syl nodded. "I will help you find the Clown, but I might not be able to find her. You must share your intelligence with me."
Syl never dreamed that this script of "investigating myself" would be performed again.
"You are a noble person, Her Highness Syl." Vera smiled, gave a free compliment, and continued, "I believe this will also be of great help to the digestion of your Holy Potion."
Did other churches also know how each other's Holy Potions were digested?
Syl felt a bit curious because she had never heard Aishala mention these things.
If it were someone else teaching her, perhaps Syl would have many things to ask.
But with Aishala's way of popping out one word at a time, Syl really didn't have the heart to make Aishala explain such a long string of things.
Mainly because it was difficult for her to understand as well; usually, just understanding Aishala's speech took all of Syl's effort.
"Indeed." Syl nodded, agreeing with what Vera said.
Meanwhile, Jane, who was on the side, also raised her hand and said, "I want to help with the investigation too..."
"Aren't you afraid of your Holy Potion backfiring?" Vera interrupted Jane. "Even if you wanted to come, the people in your church wouldn't agree, right?"
"Indeed..." Jane slumped onto the round table helplessly and said in a muffled voice, "After all, the things that Clown did are hard for the Justice Church's philosophy to agree with... It's a bit too cruel."
"Definitely a lunatic." Jane tapped the table lightly and whispered, "A lunatic with a sense of justice."
"And a rational lunatic at that," Vera added. "But as long as they are human, there will always be a day when they show a flaw. There is no such thing as an absolutely rational person."
Listening to the two of them scolding her in front of her, Syl felt a nerve in her forehead twitching, yet she could do nothing about them.
"You're the lunatics, your whole family are lunatics..." Syl retorted in her heart in a low voice.
But there was no help for it; now not only did she have to be scolded, but she also had to join them in scolding herself to indicate her stance.
Syl sighed helplessly, then said jokingly, "Maybe it's not human."
"Not... human?" Vera seemed to have thought of something, her brows knitting slightly.
"I'll head back first. Thank you, Her Highness Syl." Vera stood up quickly and rushed out of the room. Soon, as the door closed, only Syl and Jane were left in the room, looking at each other.
"What... happened to her?" Syl asked curiously.
"It must be that your words made her think of something," Jane shrugged and said. "That's just how she is; she always puts the investigation first."
Syl turned her head and stared blankly at the closed wooden door. She kept feeling like she had said the wrong thing.
She... seemed to have given Vera an idea for investigating herself? Did Vera actually think the Clown and the Physician weren't human?
How could that be? She had tested it herself, even touched them all over. The Clown and the Physician were definitely human, alright? There wasn't a trace of mutation.
Thinking that there was nothing left to do anyway, Jane decided she might as well leave. She stood up and said, "Then I'll take my leave too."
"Wait," Syl immediately stopped Jane from leaving. Under Jane's puzzled gaze, Syl made up an excuse, "Uh... sit with me for a while."
Actually, the main thing was that if Jane left now, Sharon would come over very soon.
And just now, after delivering that speech, Syl felt that the Holy Potion was almost fully digested. Now she just needed to wait a little longer, and the Holy Potion would be completely digested.
Although she didn't know if dragging it out like this would have a big effect, Syl knew that completely digesting it before drinking the next stage of the Holy Potion definitely wouldn't do any harm.
She must use Jane to delay the time for the Holy Potion to digest.