She was about 160 cm tall, quite petite, with silver-gray hair very similar to Hitzfeld's. She wore a wide-sleeved black robe that was almost a long skirt. The middle of the robe was bound at the waist by a dark gold belt hung with bottles and jars, making her look petite yet curvy enough. The hem of the robe dragged down to almost her feet, and her open-toed sandals could be seen.
The reason why she was identified as a nun was that she had a layer of black cloth wrapped around her head. The cloth only covered the hair on top of her head, and she was actually wearing a black cloth blindfold across her head.
Xia Yibing couldn't help but take a few more extra glances. If she didn't know the girl's body shape well enough to see her shortcomings from the comparison, she might have subconsciously thought that Hitzfeld was playing dress-up.
Hitzfeld's eyes fell on the dark gold belt. She stared at the various small cloth bags and small bottles hung there, thinking that this was the origin of the ringing sound.
But soon, her main attention shifted to the other person's hair color, and she stared at that face thoughtfully.
It has been speculated before that if the residents of the Corrupted Blood Kingdom, or even the entire Elsa Continent, are all Latadians, would they have common features, such as black hair?
This idea was overturned shortly after it came into being, because Hitzfeld later met some crew members whose hair was not all black, but some had brown, vermilion and other colors.
But there are indeed more black hairs, accounting for more than half, and the hair of other colors is also dull in color, without the kind of colors that look bright at first glance - such as gold.
So when he saw the petite nun, Hitzfeld first confirmed from the way Billie addressed her that they knew each other before, and then glanced at the suddenly nervous clerk with an extremely obscure gesture, his lips slightly curled up.
The clerks of the poison shop, whether they were temporary workers or apprentices, should not be afraid of things. But when they came in, the other party's attitude was very contradictory.
Regardless of myself, Xia, and Madeline, everyone else, including Billie, had a smell on them, which was quite obvious to people who had never been to sea.
There was nothing unusual when the clerk first greeted her. He frowned slightly when he saw Billie and others. At that time, Hitzfeld noticed that he wanted to open his mouth to speak, but when Billie came over and greeted her, the clerk closed his mouth again.
So you are not afraid of me, but my gray hair.
In this case, Captain Xiu De’s attitude towards us was a bit too polite.
I originally thought that it was the move I showed at the beginning that intimidated him, but now it seems that there is another hidden story.
"Billy." Xia Yibing obviously saw this, and she never cared about this kind of awkward atmosphere. She took the initiative to break the silence and said, "If you know her, why don't you introduce her to us?"
Madeline was standing a little behind her and saw with her own eyes that the young clerk swallowed hard as the chief spoke these words.
Oh my... He looks like a big shot...
None of it needed any explanation, as all three of them remembered the “Savior Nun” that Billie had always dreamed of becoming.
"This voice... is it a distinguished guest?" The girl named Hasim frowned slightly, and a gentle smile bloomed on her face: "Indeed, in addition to the fishy smell of the sea of blood, I also smelled several different faint fragrances... Plus, you should be docked. Did you meet a stranger?"
Hitzfeld and the other two showed no expression, but Billie and the sailors' faces changed.
"Hasim..." Jebi couldn't help but cut off the topic and directly made the conflict clear. "We haven't treated you unfairly, so this is how you repay us?"
"This is Jebi, right?" Hasim turned to him. "If you mean... why I saw this but ignored the past relationship and explained it on the spot, then I can only answer you that it is to be worthy of the sacredness I serve."
"There's no need to explain the value of strangers." She continued, "What can you do with these people? I guess they can only be sold as slaves. It's better to do it like this. I can give them a new choice."
"How is it, the stranger?"
The black-robed nun turned to Xia Yibing's position again.
"Let me introduce myself. I am the resident nun of the Mother of Savior Church, a monastery under the Kingdom of God. Of course... it doesn't matter if you want to call me the Savior Sister like them. I don't know if these people have told you how dangerous it is for strangers to travel in the Kingdom of God. I will give you a chance here - follow me, I can directly introduce you to the bishop nun, and not only can you be free from suffering, you may even have a chance to become my companion."
"Don't go too far!" JB said angrily, "You said it so nicely...How many foreigners came out of your place?"
"Oh? So you mean that our Church of the Mother of Savior is plotting to murder them?"
“…I didn’t say that!”
JB was obviously very wary of the Church of the Mother of Savior, and even in this kind of sealed space, he did not dare to admit such a verbal accusation.
"We are not the strangers you mentioned." Madeline couldn't help but speak, "What do you mean by strangers... We are just ordinary travelers stranded in the sea of blood. As for the fragrance you smelled, it was a perfume prepared by an expert."
She couldn't help it - because she could roughly guess the situation based on the information revealed by the current conversation alone.
Obviously, Hasim knew Captain Shude and his group. Maybe she got rich by chance and became the so-called Savior Sister... and then she could treat her former companions so coldly.
She didn't deny JB's words "No one has ever treated you unfairly", right? That was too cold-blooded, and she kept saying "things" and "values" in a soft but condescending voice. Madeline felt that she couldn't just sit back and watch.
This concerns her own future, so it's not considered meddling.
"The scent alone is certainly not enough to be evidence." Hasim looked towards her position, "But your awkward accent cannot be concealed."
Madeline gritted her teeth: "You said it was? I said you were a stranger!"
Faced with this obviously argumentative rebuttal, Hasim just smiled softly.
But the next moment, Hitzfeld's heart twitched, and he clearly felt a strange yet familiar mystery emanating from the other person's body.
"Xia!" she finally spoke.
I know.
Xia Yibing didn't even need to reply, her body had already rushed out.
In fact... she wanted to say that the two of them were so close, that mysterious connection was so strong that it couldn't be any stronger. Hitzfeld didn't need to tell her at all, as long as her spirit moved a little, she would probably feel it.
She rushed so fast that almost no one in the audience could react.
It was not until she had taken a step forward of more than one meter, turned her shoulder sideways, and posed with something in her right hand that Hasim took out a small glass bottle from his waist and threw it to her.
Time slowed down a little at this moment. Hitzfeld stared at the small glass bottle rolling in the air and saw some golden powder inside.
But there was something in the middle of the powder, like a living thing, rolling, wriggling, and twitching.
This period of time is limited, but she still has the leisure to observe the expressions of Billie and others.
Confused and shocked.
Didn't you expect that a companion you used to get along with would actually attack you directly?
Xia Yibing didn't care about that. She only knew that the opponent's attack range included her and Hitzfeld. Especially considering that Hitzfeld's right hand had not fully recovered and was still bandaged on his chest, she was particularly angry.
"Zheng——"
The Changxia knife flashed in her hand, and a bright, icy blade light was instantly swung out, cutting the bottle in half in mid-air, and it continued to move forward without slowing down, and arrived in front of Hasim the next moment.
The silver-haired nun also showed shock and confusion on her face, but her hands were not slow. She did not use her arms, but the strength of her wrists and fingers to quickly take off the small bottles and throw them on the ground.
At the same time, her feet were also retreating - retreating rapidly!
"boom!"
The first exploded bottle spread out a green flame, which turned into a thick wall of fire blocking her.
But it was useless. The knife light split the wall of fire in two and soon hit the second bottle - a disgusting mass of flesh growing from its broken pieces.
Hitzfeld noticed that there was a certain order in which Hashem threw the bottles.
The buds that emerged from the second bottle originally grew slowly, but when they landed, they were splashed with some green sparks, and they suddenly expanded into a ball of flesh in the blink of an eye as if they had taken a tonic magic potion.
It was still useless, and it was split into two again by the knife light, and both halves were blown into ice chips.
"Bang bang bang!"
The sword light broke through the fire wall, the meat ball, and a thing that was probably a blood puppet whose specific appearance could not be seen clearly, and finally hit a heavy shield condensed from bone powder and meat residue, leaving a deep mark on it. Then it suddenly condensed from "light" and "qi" into an icy entity, and exploded on the surface of the heavy shield.
This time the noise was much louder. Hasim was already retreating and was blown away. His body flew across the middle alley and smashed over the stall opposite.
"You..." The stall owner was about to curse, but when he saw Hasim's appearance, he swallowed back all the words.
For a moment, the Yixiang Street was quiet for a while, and all the people nearby looked over here. When they saw clearly that it was a nun lying there, their expressions changed slightly.
"very good……"
Hasim himself was fine, but he was also angry about losing face.
She stood up, brushed off the frost on her body, and her eyes behind the eye mask shot into the poison shop. She said, "It seems that the captain has found a good helper... Are you planning to use this power to fight against the government order?"
"It's useless." She sneered, "The exploration of the 'Knight' is the most important task of the Kingdom of God at the moment. Do you think you can be exempted from labor service by relying on this little cleverness?"
After saying those harsh words, her anger finally dissipated a little, and she regained her previous elegant demeanor, even bending down and bowing to them.
"Whatever you want to do, you have less than three days."
"I wanted to catch up with you, but it seems I'll have to wait until the banquet."
Madeline was about to scold her again, but her eyes suddenly widened the next second.
Hashem melted.
Her body and clothes melted into flesh and blood, which then merged with the wall behind her... It was as if those buildings were originally made of flesh and blood, and she escaped in the form of fluid.
Only the dark gold belt was left, lying alone on the ground.
Everyone was stunned for a few seconds, and then - because of the noise outside, the proprietress of the poison shop was finally alarmed and ran downstairs in panic.
Especially when she learned that a Salvation Sister was blown out of her own shop, her face turned even paler, and she directly pushed everyone else out - even the apprentice clerk.
"Sister?" The apprentice looked a little confused.
"Go to the place I told you about before and wait." The proprietress's voice was sharp and thin, and if you listened carefully you could detect a tremor at the end. "This store can't be opened anymore. I'll clean up and come right back."
"Is it because of us?" Billie rarely had the chance to speak, so she asked tentatively, "If you don't mind..."
"Yes, miss, very much," interrupted the landlady. "You don't think you can get away with anything by going out to sea now, do you?"
Billie shut up.
"She's right." The lady boss glanced at them, especially at Hitzfeld and Xia Yibing. "You are indeed very strong... but you can't fight against the church... As long as they don't want to harm you, just cooperate with them."
Then she closed the shop door and even took down the sign, obviously planning to run away with her belongings.
Is this damn church so scary?
Madeline was stunned.
That's it? You still dare to call it "saving the world"?
Are you sure you're not here to cause trouble?
"The church wasn't like this before..." Seeing her confusion, the apprentice clerk explained in a low voice, "In the past, the church and nuns were very respected. They didn't care about these things. They just helped everyone heal their injuries without distinction."
Xia Yibing grinned. This "injury treatment" was a bit disgusting.
"But I don't know when they started to change." The clerk shook his head, "They became more utilitarian, and started to control this and that... and they don't tolerate any disobedience in their actions."
"Is there no one to take care of them?" Hitzfeld asked.
"No one." The clerk still shook his head, "They and... the Kingdom of God are one. They are the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of God is them... So there is no salvation..."
"Are you leaving?" Hitzfeld asked seriously.
"What else can I do if I don't leave?" The clerk smiled bitterly and then advised her: "But you are different from us. It's best not to think about escaping from them."
After saying this, he lowered his head, covered his face and left.
Xia Yibing felt that the door was not the place to talk, so she pulled Billy and the others out for a while before asking, "What's going on with that crazy woman?"
This mess had nothing to do with them, it was just a grudge between Xiu De and the others. She felt that at least an explanation was needed.
"You are talking about Hasim..." Jebby and the other sailors looked at each other, sounding a little embarrassed.
"There's nothing to hide." Billie suddenly raised her head. "He was once my father's adopted son. Before me, he was the person my father most wanted to entrust the fleet to."
"Wait a minute." Xia Yibing called her and tilted her head and frowned: "...'adopted son'?"
"Didn't I say that?" Billie blinked.
"It's not just girls who can be nuns..."
--------
When I was writing halfway, my family came to bring me food. I can only eat it first. As compensation, this chapter is 4k.
Chapter 4 Traitor K
After a few minutes of understanding, the three finally understood what this past relationship was all about.
"Hasim is the child my father picked up from the sea of blood. He is the one who truly survived the shipwreck. My father has always treated him as his own son since he rescued him. So he should be my brother. We have known each other for a long time."
At this point, Billie's face looked a little strange. "That's why I can't accept that he wants to pass the position to me now. After all, you know - for a long time I thought I had this freedom, and there was someone else who would inherit that position. But suddenly one day everything changed. Hasim left us to pursue his own path, and my father became stubborn and insisted that I inherit the fleet."
"Your father is right." Xia Yibing suddenly said, "You want to become a nun just because of Hashem?"
"There are reasons for this."
"I don't understand." Madeline interrupted, "Your father has had such a hard time...Look at the situation, the heir you trained with great difficulty turned out to be a traitor? Then why don't you be more considerate of him and be a good heir to make him happy?"
"I'm not that short-sighted, am I?" Billie said confidently, "I was probably angry at first, wondering why Hasim could do it but I couldn't. But later I figured it out myself. If I want to truly save the fleet and let everyone live a good life, this is really the only way for me!"
"Why? Because the church's status is high and special enough?"
"Of course, I am sure of that. As long as I can climb further to the position of bishop and nun, I will have the power to interfere with a region's taxation and other plans. I can use my influence to protect Dad and others so that they will never have to be troubled by the union again."
“Billy…” Several sailors were very moved. “So you were… You should have told the captain your true thoughts earlier…”
