The fox-girl saintess hesitated for a moment, then revealed her name.
“Elise.”
She spoke softly.
“I’m the saintess of the beastmen, Elise the fox-person.”
Hearing the fox-girl saintess—Elise’s words, Shien nodded.
“Then I’ll just call you Elise.”
Shien said directly.
“C-couldn’t you at least add an honorific?”
Elise seemed surprised by Shien’s directness. She stopped eating, her expression unnatural.
Clearly, this fox-girl saintess had never been treated so “disrespectfully” before.
It was understandable.
As the saintess of the beastmen, the messenger of the Goddess of Life, Elise’s status was equivalent to the Pope of the human world and the king of a nation. She had never been addressed so casually by her name.
Even the Imperial Valkyrie, whom she considered a friend, had never addressed her so casually. Now, being called by her name directly by a man whose relationship with her was unclear, it was no wonder Elise felt uncomfortable.
But Shien didn’t care about that.
“If you don’t like it, I can call you something else.” Shien said with a smirk. “How about Little Fox?”
Hearing this, Elise shuddered and quickly said,
“Just call me Elise!”
Compared to being called Little Fox, Elise preferred being addressed by her name directly.
At least, being addressed by her name directly was just a bit uncomfortable. But being called Little Fox made Elise feel goosebumps all over her body.
Unfortunately, Elise didn’t know yet that the man in front of her was someone who never played by the rules.
“Alright, Little Fox, I understand, Little Fox.”
Shien said readily, making Elise want to smack his hateful smiling face with her tail.
“Forget it, whatever.” Elise said angrily. “You’re a bad guy anyway. I won’t argue with you.”
“I can’t pretend I didn’t hear that.” Shien raised an eyebrow. “When did I become a bad guy?”
“Aren’t you a bad guy?” Elise, as if finally finding a chance to vent, said angrily, “You invaded the temple we were guarding, injured my priests, and even broke the seal. Calling you a bad guy is putting it lightly. You’re a big bad guy!”
Hearing this, Shien knew it was time to get to the point.
“The temple you were guarding… ?” Shien looked at Elise and said, “What’s the deal with that temple?”
Elise was speechless.
Shien continued as if he hadn’t noticed,
“Why is there such an ominous temple in Cosmos?”
“Why is there such a seal inside the temple?”
“Who is the girl in the seal?”
“What are you guarding that temple for?”
Shien asked the questions in his mind one by one, causing Elise’s speechlessness to turn into surprise.
“You don’t know anything?”
Elise seemed surprised.
“Should I know?”
Shien countered.
“Y-you… If you don’t know anything, then why did you invade there and break the seal?”
Elise was bewildered and confused.
This made Shien speechless.
Come to think of it, he had dared to tamper with such an unknown seal without knowing anything. If word got out, it would indeed be bewildering and confusing.
If it were before, Shien wouldn’t have done such a thing.
But this time, Shien acted based on his inexplicable premonition and in response to Beatrice’s plea.
Therefore…
“Just consider me reckless.” Shien brushed aside the question and said, “Besides, Cosmos is currently experiencing strange occurrences, and there’s such a strange temple in the heart of the city. It doesn’t seem strange that I would want to investigate it, right?”
This time, it was Elise’s turn to be speechless.
Shien’s words made sense.
“I think the reason the Stalim Duchy’s Knight Order and the Empire haven’t been able to find the source of the strange occurrences is probably because the magic power emanating from that temple repels people.” Shien said with a smirk. “Otherwise, if they knew about such a suspicious temple, they would definitely try to investigate it, even break in. Am I right?”
Therefore, Shien wanted to argue that his actions in this regard weren’t a big deal.
“…You’re right.” Elise acknowledged this point and sighed. “We were mentally prepared to be discovered sooner or later, but we didn’t expect that even with us guarding it, a human could barge in so recklessly.”
Speaking of this, Elise’s tone became somewhat dejected.
They had taken this matter seriously and even sent a large number of beastmen priests to guard the temple, but they couldn’t even stop a young human man. This was indeed a blow.
If they hadn’t been invaded, there would still be room for maneuver. But at this point, their actions were somewhat untenable.
If they weren’t careful, they might even be regarded as the masterminds behind the strange occurrences in Cosmos, the Stalim Duchy, and the Empire.
After all, the source of these incidents was undoubtedly that temple, and they were guarding that temple. It looked very suspicious.
This was also one of the reasons why Shien wasn’t afraid of being targeted by these beastmen believers.
Because he had a legitimate standpoint and reason.
“Tell me,” Shien said, “what are you trying to do?”
Elise’s expression became hesitant, and she stammered.
Seeing this, Shien turned to Lasha.
“As expected, we should add another dish.”
Shien decided.
“Alright.”
This time, Lasha didn’t object.
“Wait! I’ll talk!”
The saintess, not wanting to become fox meat, immediately shouted, her heart filled with grievance.
This is too much… too much…!
I’m not doing anything bad, why am I being threatened like this?
And he wants to eat Little Fox?
Little Fox is still a child!
Sob, sob, sob…