68 The Necromancer and the Priestess 2

The next day, Yin Mei was once again sitting on the edge of the fountain, feeling that this location was very nice for basking in the sun. All sorts of little small animals gathered around her, drawn to the warm and comforting aura that she gave off - was this a result of the strong light affinity she now possessed? She almost felt like some sort of fairy tale princess...

She had a few cats and birds and bunnies and squirrels all surrounding her.

Whenever someone walked by, they would feel comforted just by the scene.

Celestina was the most beloved and doted on member of the church. Her popularity was even higher than that of the Bishop. But it had to be noted just how skilled the Bishop was that he was able to retain a firm grip on the power over the church despite this.

Around this time when Yin Mei was meditating and harmonizing with the light element in order to better get used to this thing called mana and magic (which really was fairly similar to cultivating), a priestess came up to her.

The priestess was dressed like all the other high ranked priestesses that were granted the opportunity to serve the high priestess - in a pure white robe with pale gold trim. As for Yin Mei, she wore only a pure white dress, that accentuated her figure and gave her an almost angelic, or dare one say, celestial appearance.

"High Priestess, the messenger from Sir Kiel wishes to meet you," the priestess whispered in Yin Mei's ear as she bowed down. For some reason, looking through Celestina's memories, everyone seemed to wish to talk in a whisper when speaking to or speaking near Celestina - as if a louder voice would disturb the peaceful air around her.

The priestess was feeling a mixture of confusion and excitement. This was because, before, the messenger would never ask to meet the high priestess in person, instead always sending letters. As for the excitement, the reason was because all of Celestina's servants really liked the professor, shipping them with their beloved high priestess. Of course, there were some that debated whether the scholarly and slightly androgynous professor was better, or if they preferred the silent and stoic guard captain.

This priestess who was currently reporting was a member of the Kiel x Celestina ship.

One would think that a wanted criminal would be more low key, but in fact, shockingly enough the entire inner sanctum knew of Kiel - the extremely handsome childhood sweetheart of Celestina's, who was also a professor of the prestigious magic academy. He constantly sent messages to her, and would even pay visits. Though, because as high priestess, Celestina could not get married or do anything that would risk her purity, he would always put a polite distance between them that would make the priestesses, who had too much free time and imagination, very sad, but also very moved. But this sort of forbidden love was always extremely popular.

The priestess bowed to Yin Mei before going to fetch Rosella. She thought that a slave girl like that shouldn't meet the high priestess, but after all, the high priestess was a kind and gentle soul that didn't discriminate against others. She was thus filled with even more admiration than before, thinking that she needed to work harder in order to follow Celestina's lead.

After almost half an hour, the priestess finally returned with Rosella. This amount of time was in part due to the size of the church, and also in part due to the fact that no person could just casually meet with the high priestess, even if they had her permission. For meetings that weren't that urgent, and even in part for meetings that were urgent, they had to go through specific procedures to cleanse their body of any outside impurities before meeting with the high priestess.

This was in part due to superstition and tradition, as some people thought that if they brought dirt or miasma from the outside and affected the high priestess's health, it could be detrimental to the state of the seal. But this was just useless worrying, as Celestina's light affinity was so high that it was practically impossible for her to get sick.

As for miasma or poison, or some stuff like that, there was practically none that Celestina couldn't heal and thus that Yin Mei couldn't heal or purify.

This was the first time Rosella was meeting with the high priestess, though she had passed on messages to the high priestess's servants many times before. When she first met her, her first thought was that she was beautiful beyond words. She looked like an angel that had graced the earth - the epitome of beauty, innocence, and purity.

This was the woman that protected the Empire. That protected the world.

She, a lowly slave, was actually meeting such a high up personage of the church. She could hardly believe it. If she wasn't serving an old childhood friend of the high priestess, she probably would have never gotten this chance. Although she had never been grateful to be a slave before, at this moment, she felt just a little bit of gratefulness - after all, there wasn't one single person who didn't worship the Goddess of Light that would not want to meet the high priestess, who was said to be the closest incarnation to the goddess in several hundreds of years.

The high priestess was the hope of the people.

For Rosella, who had not yet discovered El's true identity, she could still think such thoughts about Celestina.

Yin Mei dismissed the priestess with a wave of her hand, who looked slightly reluctant to leave but couldn't disobey the high priestess. Although she trusted Sir Kiel, she glanced at some of the guards standing nearby, nodding to them to keep an eye on things. After all, one couldn't be too careful when it concerned the fate of the high priestess.

Yin Mei wasn't too concerned about the guards or priestess standing not too far away, and subtly placed a sound barrier up, as she turned to look at Rosella.

Celestina's eyes had a mysterious power to them, that drew people in. For those who were criminals with weak wills, they would easily begin to feel guilty and wish to repent. For those who were of purer hearts, they would feel a deep admiration and awe.

Celestina was truly what one would call the incarnation of the goddess of light.

It was too bad that even though she had the love of the goddess, the one that the heavens truly favored were that of the male and female lead. It seemed even the will of the goddess could do nothing against that. No, in the first place, the goddess no longer held any interest in the mortal realm. As long as her believers, and thus her power, didn't fall, then she would hold no concern to what her children did. For one example was the Bishop. The Bishop was not a really good man. He wasn't particularly corrupt, but by no means was he a "good" person. He had ordered many assassinations throughout his time, and caused the death of many others. Although he may have never gotten his own hands dirty, he was certainly not clean of all sins. Yet, his affinity toward the light element was still as strong as ever, only second to Celestina's.

This was why Yin Mei was confident that no matter what actions she took, she would not be struck down by some sort of heavenly lightning or divine retribution. She had no fear of the gods, so why should she fear humans?

Okay, maybe she was a little afraid of the humans. She still had some trauma associated with being killed by the female lead last time, and with the zombie emperor having been killed by the male lead the time after that.

But, she wouldn't let this stop her. Her high position, the admiration and respect the leads still had for her - she would use this to her advantage. She wouldn't let any little thing that could help her go. The male and female leads weren't the only ones who deserved a happy ending!

Yin Mei smiled, her blue eyes curving into crescent moon shapes. Rosella almost thought that the smile looked almost sinister, but blinking, she could only see the sweet smile of a gentle and beautiful girl. She thought that it must've only been her imagination, blushing a little to be faced with this lovely smile.

Yin Mei spoke for a bit with Rosella, not saying much before calling the priestess back over. "This girl will remain here," she said firmly, though the priestess immediately disagreed with this, glancing over at the brown haired slave girl before leaning in to whisper to Yin Mei.

"High priestess, this isn't a very good decision? Even if she is Sir Kiel's servant, we don't know her background. Shouldn't we discuss this with the Bishop before allowing her to stay in the inner sanctum?" The priestess said. Although she was only worried for the safety of the high priestess, Yin Mei could tell just how good of a grip the Bishop had in the church's matters - look, even Celestina's personal servants wished to report to the Bishop first before obeying her orders.

"There's no need," Yin Mei said with a smile. "Or do you not trust my judgement?" She asked slyly, and the priestess immediately shook her head.

After considering it for a while, although Celestina was considered by the priestesses to be slightly naive and unaccustomed to the hardships of the world, because of her high light affinity, she was actually very sensitive to any bad intentions people held toward her. To top it off, anyone with a weaker will would find it hard to move against her, and even just meeting her once was sufficient for many criminals and sinners to be reformed.

In addition, the priestess trusted in the ability of the guards posted at the various locations in the inner sanctum. She finally nodded and agreed, though she would certainly be keeping a close eye on the girl. She didn't believe that a slave sent by Sir Kiel would have malicious intentions, but all of those who served the high priestess in the inner sanctum had kept a high alert so that nothing would happen to Celestina.

"Oh right, Elaina," Yin Mei called to the priestess, who had been walking away to guide Rosella to an empty room. She looked back briefly, before speaking with a guard, who took over and walked away with the brown haired girl before going back to Yin Mei.

"Yes, high priestess?" She said, leaning in.

"Ask to transfer a member of the Knights Templar by the name of Kai to the inner sanctum," Yin Mei said. It was true what they said - keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Although she wouldn't be able to stop Rosella and Kai from associating with each other if she did things this way, she could keep them away from El like this. In addition, El had not yet begun having Rosella aid him in his experiments, and thus she didn't know of his identity as the most wanted necromancer on the continent as of this moment.

Thinking this, Yin Mei did not mind as much if the two associated. She prioritized keeping them close to herself. And if Kai was stuck in the inner sanctum, then he couldn't go around willy nilly trying to investigate El's whereabouts.

Although Elaina didn't know why Yin Mei specifically wanted this Kai person, the members of the Knights Templar were trustworthy in her opinion - all the members of the inner sanctum guards had been appointed from there after a strict selection process.

"He can't refuse, okay?" Yin Mei said, looking into Elaina's eyes, who nodded. She wondered who exactly was this person that the high priestess so insisted on him? She felt a potential love story brewing, and wondered if her Kiel x Celestina ship was about to sink?

Oh no! She needed to quickly discuss this with her fellow sisters.

After being dismissed by Yin Mei, she quickly left to carry out her orders.