When she received the task to monitor Clementine herself, Bell's mood was complicated. After all, Clementine was the murderer of her sister. Did Senior Priest of Wind Dominic not consider this point?
It seems he wants her to secretly eliminate Clementine, right? Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked her to monitor her.
Although Clementine was indeed the murderer of her only sister, Bell held no hatred towards her.
After all, the true murderers of her biological sister were the high-ranking officials of the Slane Theocracy, not Clementine.
From the moment her sister was chosen as the Witch Princess, her sister had already been 'killed.' Clementine merely helped her sister find liberation.
However, since the task was assigned to her, she couldn't be negligent. Before she climbed to the upper echelons of the Theocracy and personally destroyed the Theocracy to avenge her sister, she had to be as obedient as a dog. Therefore, before executing the task, she needed to thoroughly understand everything about Clementine.
Clementine Hassaya Quintia's information? After Bell returned to her room, she pulled out the confidential notebook she had kept since she resolved to seek revenge.
Of course... this notebook was recorded in a cipher that only Bell herself could understand, so it didn't matter if it was discovered.
When she turned to the section on the former Black Scripture's confidential data, she found Clementine's materials. Although most of it was overheard from the casual conversations of informed individuals within the Theocracy, its authenticity was still somewhat guaranteed.
So, Clementine's previous affiliation before joining the Black Scripture was also the Windflower Scripture?
Uh... because the Windflower Scripture was the Theocracy's intelligence unit, the confidentiality of personnel identities was quite strict. Before she overheard this information, she didn't even know that Clementine was her colleague.
She was also the younger sister of the Black Scripture's Fifth Seat, the One-Man Army. Before she qualified to join the Black Scripture, she once caused the Theocracy a huge loss due to a major mistake, and after being punished, she showed no remorse. Finally, the Senior Priest of Wind personally issued the execution order... the method was...
Upon seeing this, Bell couldn't help but frown. Few people in the Windflower Scripture knew about that punishment method, because those who knew about it were basically executed by it.
That was the 'test of faith and loyalty' that the Archgod-Official Dominic bastard spoke of. Sounds good, doesn't it?
However, in reality... it meant stripping you of all your clothes and throwing you into the underground dungeon for three days. As long as you could survive for three days, no matter what mistakes you had made, you would be forgiven.
Sounds simple, right? Haha! If you knew what was kept in the underground dungeon, you wouldn't think that way.
The Slane Theocracy's underground dungeon held demi-humans of different races, and all of them were extremely dangerous demi-humans, such as orcs... and carnivorous demi-humans like Ogres. Imagine throwing a human in front of these man-eating beasts and telling them that this person was a Theocracy citizen who imprisoned them... what would be that person's fate?
However, Clementine survived for three days, and there were even rumors that she used a very despicable method to kill all seven or eight orcs and Ogres imprisoned with her.
After passing the test, Clementine's disposition changed drastically, and she only took two years to join the ranks of the Black Scripture.
No wonder she betrayed them. In fact, she was just like her, only for revenge... Bell thought.
This was all the information she had about Clementine, almost all of it overheard from others' casual conversations. After she joined the Black Scripture, basically no one mentioned anything about her until her betrayal.
How should she deal with this personality distortion caused by her experiences? Should she continue to play dumb as before?
Although the current intelligence stated that she had no past memories, would she be better off without those memories that caused her psychological distortion? Or should she wait until she actually met her? Bell thought, closing her secret notebook.
When Bell pushed open Clementine's room door and saw a new, unfamiliar face, she was a bit at a loss. Was this little girl, shorter than her, Clementine? That old fox played a trick again! Although this was very unexpected, a task is a task, and it must be completed. She would use her usual act of playing dumb to deal with her. That old fox only asked her to monitor her and record her every move. It seemed there was some hidden truth, and this little girl didn't seem to realize that she wasn't Clementine. She would observe for a while first.
...
After witnessing the true strength of this fake Clementine, Bell understood... why that old fox valued her so much. This was already a realm humans couldn't touch!
At this moment, she suddenly thought of a very simple way to destroy the Theocracy. What if she let her know... that she had been deceived by the Theocracy?
Would she go berserk and unleash her Ultimate Magic on the Theocracy?
Spending these past few days with her, she had probably figured out this Clementine's temper. If she truly knew, she would probably do exactly that.
But the problem was, how could she make her believe her words? She was just a subordinate sent to assist, and in her eyes, she was just a not-so-bright attendant.
No normal person would choose to trust someone they had only known for a day, right? Moreover, she had no past memories. It seemed she had to find an opportunity... or create one, to make her believe her.
Bell made up her mind to make good use of Clementine, who was currently standing at the edge of the city wall, laughing 'majestically'.
...
After deciding to use her earlier, Bell secretly placed an eavesdropping charm on Clementine during her rest.
This was her original magic; no one knew she could do this except herself.
However, the subsequent developments exceeded her imagination even more. If she hadn't put an eavesdropping charm on her to extract more information.
That little fox, no... the entire Theocracy would be played by her! Luckily, she discovered it!
She never expected that she hadn't lost her memory at all; everything was just an act. What surprised her even more was... her identity was actually a Princess of a certain country.
She had to admit, this Princess was indeed very bold. She dared to trick so many people and infiltrate the Slane Theocracy alone. It seemed this Princess was very suitable for the Windflower Scripture.
Upon obtaining such crucial information, Bell's first thought was how to make good use of it, rather than how to convey this major event to the Theocracy.
What would happen if she confronted her now? She might be killed directly to silence her!
Or, what about seeking cooperation with her after confronting her?
Uh... that wouldn't work either, would it? It's still the same point... she probably wouldn't easily trust her. If she encountered such a situation during her infiltration, she would also choose to directly eliminate the informant, not listen to their nonsense.
So, the best option now was to continue playing dumb. That way, she might even obtain more useful information.
However... among the intelligence agents of the Windflower Scripture, there was a saying: the more you know, the more trouble you'll invite. If she discovered that she had already overheard this information, her fate...
...
True Magic Eye! Upon seeing the red eyes hidden beneath the eye patch of that Princess, Bell trembled... If she used that on her... she would be dead for sure.
She currently had no means of countering mental magic, and moreover, hers was an ability!
Even if she did, it might not be effective! Fortunately, her ability didn't seem to be usable for long periods, otherwise, she wouldn't cover it with an eye patch.
This was a blessing in disguise. She had to be even more careful when interacting with her in the future! Alright, it was time to go find the blunted knives as she instructed...
...
Although Bell was currently purchasing fruits in the market as Clementine instructed, due to the presence of her eavesdropping charm, Bell heard every word of the conversation between that Princess and the Dragon Queen of the Dragon Kingdom clearly.
This Princess was indeed a formidable character. Not only was her combat power astonishing, but her strategic mind was also exceptionally clever. She knew how to use previous battle results to display her country's combat power, and at the same time, she used the Beast Kingdom to put pressure on the Dragon Queen.
What was even more brilliant was that she spoke to the Dragon Queen in a completely relaxed tone throughout, giving off an attitude of 'it doesn't matter whether you're with us or not.' This, ironically, put more pressure on people than those who immediately started with official jargon and tried to coerce and entice.
It was as if the opportunity was a favor she was bestowing upon the Dragon Queen, and she even knew how to present the various benefits of cooperating with her at the end. Was this the 'carrot and stick' approach that the Theocracy's foxes were most adept at using?
But in the end... it was clearly about to succeed, so why did she stop the Dragon Queen? It was obvious from the Dragon Queen's flustered tone what the outcome was... Or did she have some other motive?
Bell then noticed that she had already reached the hotel room door. The maid brought by the Dragon Queen, who was guarding the door, was glaring at her intensely. She could only steel herself and interrupt them.
So, Bell mustered her courage and walked in...
...
"Clementine! Are you in there?" Bell knocked on Clementine's door again, and heard her very annoyed voice from inside the room.
"No!"
"Ah? Not in... Sorry for disturbing? Um... huh? Isn't that Clementine's voice? Clementine, you're in there, aren't you!" Bell continued to knock.
Presumably, those old foxes refused her request to restore her Black Scripture seat, right? Although she didn't know how she managed to infiltrate the Theocracy using this, Bell no longer wanted to investigate it.
Because there was no need anymore. What she needed to do now was to gain her trust and assist her... in destroying the Theocracy! To avenge her sister!
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