"Who are you?"
Looking at the person who suddenly appeared, Yae Sakura placed her hand on the hilt of the sword at her waist. If the other party had any ill intentions, she would draw her sword and strike immediately.
"Hello, my name is Zeus. Please take care of me."
Zeus was not surprised by Yae Sakura's vigilance. After all, anyone would be surprised and wary if a stranger appeared in their home. If the other party had impure motives and you weren't vigilant, then it could only be said that you were rather foolish, and you couldn't blame others.
"My name is Yae Sakura, how did you get here?"
After a moment of wary silence, Yae Sakura determined that Zeus held no ill will, and she relaxed slightly. However, her heart remained highly vigilant towards this 'beauty' of unknown origin. It seemed her father's coldness, coupled with her sister's death, had created a barrier between her and 'people.' Zeus, noticing Yae Sakura's state, didn't directly say, "I'm here to bring you your sister," a statement that would sound like a wild fantasy. Besides, Rin's Stigmata still needed further purification and nurturing.
So, Zeus didn't directly state her purpose. Instead, she told her she was a lost traveler who had arrived at this place and seen no one, and wished to stay at the shrine for a few days. Zeus herself didn't believe this lie, but Yae Sakura did. From her eyes, Zeus could sense the pity she felt towards her.
If it were a modern person, they would 100% not believe Zeus, because her current appearance was not at all like a travel-worn traveler, but more like a young lady on an outing. One could only say that the gap in eras, combined with the village's isolation, made these people exceptionally pure.
It was likely there were no taboos between women either, no wonder she could feed Kallen medicine mouth-to-mouth without changing her expression, because she simply didn't know that such things were actually quite taboo. One could only say, fortunately, Yae Sakura had only encountered people with relatively good hearts. After all, with her pure thoughts, she would definitely be tricked by unscrupulous individuals into becoming a R, BQ.
"You can stay here. Follow me, I'll take you to the guest room."
As Zeus's mind wandered, Sakura, after bowing to the statue in the center of the shrine, spoke to Zeus, not caring whether Zeus had heard her or not. Then she walked ahead, leading the way. However, this time Zeus wasn't too distracted and did hear Sakura's words, slowly following behind her.
Perhaps in others' eyes, Sakura was aloof, but those who understood her knew she simply didn't express herself. The people and events she encountered were pitifully few; to be this way was already quite good. For her to express her inner emotions would probably be difficult.
These expressions, in Zeus's eyes, made Zeus feel truly sorry for her. If not for Kallen's arrival, she would probably have chosen to spend the rest of her life in this village, or perhaps even committed suicide to end this uninteresting life. So, when Sakura led Zeus to the guest room, told her where the bedding was, and was about to turn and leave, Zeus couldn't help but ask, "Sakura, do you feel lonely?"
This question made Yae Sakura's departing footsteps pause. She didn't answer or turn around. After a brief silence, she quickly left. It was clear she had some reaction to Zeus's words, but this scene made Zeus realize that to save Sakura, Rin's presence was indeed necessary.
"Just a little longer, just a little longer. Let her think it through and overcome her inner struggles."
Extending her hand, Zeus looked at the three sakura-shaped Stigmata on it and felt Rin's anxious emotions within. She caressed the Stigmata, comforting her. She had thought Rin's consciousness would sleep for a few days, but unexpectedly, as soon as she met Sakura, she woke up. However, Zeus still couldn't let her reunite with Sakura yet. She needed three more days of thorough purification before the sisters could be reunited.
Knowing Zeus's good intentions, Rin stopped fussing. Listening to Zeus's instructions, her consciousness began to fall into a deep sleep.
But after Rin fell into a deep sleep, Zeus began to use her divine power to remove the lingering resentment from her soul.
Because she had lost her body, using divine power was somewhat slow, but the 'tracking divine spell' placed on her body by Gaia meant that the destruction of this body was a good thing for Zeus. This way, Gaia couldn't find her. As long as the two were not in the same world, anyone could detect Zeus's location by simply mobilizing a small amount of divine power, so Zeus could use her divine power without restraint.
As Zeus expelled it, the resentment on the Stigmata slowly melted away. After about ten minutes of expulsion, Zeus stopped her actions, not because someone had arrived, but because for the current Rin, too much resentment could not be removed at once, otherwise her soul would not be able to bear it. It needed to be slowly removed. Perhaps Hades could do it all at once, but Zeus was not very knowledgeable in this area. She could only remove a little, then begin to nurture Rin's soul, cycling like this for three to five days, and all the resentment on Rin would be gone.
She could then reunite with her beloved sister.
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