Volume 5 Chapter 238: The Night They Sought Shelter Inside the St Louis Academy Student Union President’s Office
Translator: The Light
Edits by Lord Immortal
The square of the St. Louis Church Academy at the southern branch of the Olsylvia Academy. On a typical night, the academy would be quiet. However, tonight, it was extremely chaotic as ma.s.sive hordes of ghosts of unknown origin were currently roaming inside its borders.
As Bella rode in the black horse-drawn carriage, none of the departed spirits dared to approach it. However, it was not because of the presence of the four Holy Maidens, but rather, it was because Noreya was around. As she had just used her dagger to kill G.o.ds, she had not cleaned off the bloodstains. Thus the departed spirits were terrified of the smell of G.o.d’s blood and chose to retreat from it.
As most of the Radiant Church’s law enforcement was not around, the task of protecting the school was given to the biggest society in the St. Louis Church Academy, Doors of Truth.
Radiant Priests could be seen preparing for battle all around the grounds on St. Louis Academy. They were so engrossed in their preparations that they did not even bother to care about the carriage that pa.s.sed them. As the carriage approached the academy gates, it suddenly turned away from it. There was someone at the gates whom she did not wish to see.
It was the Vice-President of the “Doors of Truth” society, the G.o.d Chosen Priest Norris. That guy seemed to be on the Savior’s side. In fact, he was probably the only decent Savior, and he was on a much higher level than Scott and Adelaide.
“There’s something wrong with that carriage! The few of you head over there quickly... and stop it from leaving.”
Norris noticed that Bella’s carriage had suddenly turned around in the middle of the night and realized that something fishy was going on. A few of the Radiant Church’s Holy Knights immediately got on their horses and rode towards the carriage. Unfortunately, they were intercepted by the departed spirits and did not manage to catch up. All they could do was to watch as the carriage vanished before their very eyes, unable to do anything.
Since Norris was around, the gates to the St. Louis Academy would have been sealed shut. Besides, Bella was unsure how many “cheats” he had up his sleeve. To prevent any unexpected accidents, she gave up on her evil idea to wrap Hayley and the others up in stealth clothes before transporting them away.
Still, Norris would never expect that all the Holy Maidens of the Radiant Church would be on that carriage. It would have never occurred to him that Bella’s carriage would move directly to President Maria’s office. As the most dangerous place was most often the safest one, Bella and Noreya instantly drove the carriage towards the headquarters of the St. Louis Church Academy’s Student Union.
The building that housed the St. Louis Academy was extraordinarily tall and could be found by anyone, even those without much sense of direction. When Bella’s black carriage arrived, she was met with a group of Knights of the Radiant Church who were standing guard. Moreover, they were all female.
“Halt! What is your carriage doing here?”
Bella did not make a sound and simply handed the four Holy Maidens’ identification to the knight. The guards technically belonged to the Olsylvia Academy Student Union, which meant that Bella was extremely familiar with their leader.
“Holy Maidens... Please hold on; we have to request for the Holy Amba.s.sador to come over.”
“No need for that. Let that carriage pa.s.s! No one here is allowed to reveal anything about what happened tonight!”
“I understand, Madam Cynthia.”
The Holy Swordswoman Cynthia was the highest in command here. With the occurrence of such a serious incident, the princ.i.p.al of the St. Louis Church Academy had already left to handle the situation there. President Maria of the Student Union would remain in office, in case of any unexpected issues.
When the black horse-drawn carriage arrived in the backyard, Cynthia led the carriage to the back entrance. As there were not many people around, Bella and the others managed to sneak in easily.
Cynthia gently opened the screens inside the carriage, and the scene was exactly how she had imagined it. The four Holy Maidens of the Radiant Church—Daisy, Sophia, Susan, and Hayley—were all inside the carriage. Their equipment and clothes were nowhere to be seen, though. Bella had paired them together and tied them up with their backs against each other using red-colored ropes.
“Bella, you’re putting me in a difficult position if you keep doing this! After all, I am the Holy Swordswoman of the Radiant Church. I can’t possibly keep watching as you capture our holy maidens and transport them w.i.l.l.y nilly...”
“Cynthia, wouldn’t it be easier if you joined us instead? Ever since the last time...”
“Wait, don’t be ras.h.!.+ This is where the student union conducts its official business. If you wish to, you know... Please, choose another location.”
Although the Holy Swordswoman Cynthia had her share of complaints, she did not dare to offend Bella in any way. The Holy Maidens had been blindfolded, gagged, and had their ears stuffed with cotton. There was no way that they would hear the conversation was going on.
Noreya had already slipped into stealth mode. It was a professional habit of hers to stay alert and be aware of everything that went on around her. This was to prevent any form of danger from getting too close to them.
President Maria was currently busy handling all sorts of issues while she was in the office. After the accident at the academy tonight, she had been holding down the fort here. She had been feeling rather troubled as she could not contact any of the Radiant Church’s Holy Maidens. Without them, none of the three main factions of the Radiant Church would bother listening to the Student Union President’s arrangements at all.
“Who’s that? Cynthia, is that you? Come in; the door’s not locked... Eh, aren’t you Be...”
President Maria, who had been seated at the Student Union President’s table, had thought that it was Cynthia, her secretary, who was supposed to rush overnight to help her. She barely raised her head from her work as she let Bella into the room.
As President Maria was so focused on the school’s map, she had no idea that it was Bella who was in the room. After a period of silence, she finally realized that someone had entered the place and had been staring at her the whole time.
“President Maria, I would have never pegged you as the bold type! You actually went comman—”
“It’s not what you think... I didn’t; you’re mistaken. Shower... Right, I forgot to change after my shower... Stop it; I’m sure we can talk this out...”
President Maria was wearing a pure white robe. She did not even b.u.t.ton it up properly and had left it hanging open. All that could be seen underneath that robe was creamy white skin. Apparently, President Maria had gone commando. She did not even change into her undergarments before attending to her important business at hand.
There were water droplets that still remained on Maria’s revealed skin. It was either beads of perspiration, or it was because she had forgotten to dry herself properly before leaving the bathroom. Bella swallowed hard at the spectacle. Could Maria be doing this on purpose to seduce her? On the way here, she had been virtually punished by the four Holy Maidens as she could only look and not touch them at all.
President Maria realized that something was amiss with Bella and quickly began to move towards the doors in an attempt to escape. Even if she did not manage to run away, there was no way that they could play here. After all, this was St. Louis Academy Student Union’s office and the President’s office at that!
“This door... It’s locked from the outside... Secretary-General Cynthia, open the door... Stop pulling me back. Wait, we can’t do this here. Let’s go somewhere else...”
“Maria, as you know, I cannot be tempted like this without making a move. Just make a little sacrifice on your part and give in to me! There’s nothing wrong with this place anyway. There’s everything we need to...”
“No... not here... We really can’t...”
Outside the Student Union President’s office, the Holy Swordswoman Cynthia slipped back into disguise. It was true that she was the one who had locked the doors. If she did not appease Bella’s ravenous appet.i.te now, there was no way that she would be able to sleep a wink that night.
Various strange noises from the girls could be heard coming out from the President’s office. As someone who had gone through it, she knew exactly what those sounds meant. Subconsciously, she wanted to leave, her instincts telling her that if she did not do so now, it might be too late for her.
For some reason, there seemed to be a mysterious force that was intertwined within those strange sounds. As a result, somehow, Cynthia was rooted to the spot and could not move a muscle. Suddenly, as though she had been possessed, she reverted to her true appearance and began to tiptoe towards the Student Union President’s office.
“I’ll just listen for a bit. Just in case Bella gets too rough. It would mean so much trouble if President Maria got hurt, after all.”
The Holy Swordswoman Cynthia murmured as she walked. She was lying to herself as she was the only one who really knew in her heart if she wanted to partic.i.p.ate in that activity or not.
The doors that were originally locked suddenly opened and the latch sprang apart, as though someone had opened it. Cynthia was shocked. There was no one around, and she could not feel any departed spirit’s aura at all. How could that door open by itself?
As Cynthia tried to figure out the problem, she was already at the edge of the entrance. She reached out towards the door, as though she wanted to widen to the gap to take a closer look at what was happening.
Out of nowhere, the a.s.sa.s.sin Noreya appeared behind Cynthia. She gave her a light shove and pushed her right into the Student Union President’s office. Skillfully, Noreya then locked the door behind her, giving Bella the perfect a.s.sistance she needed.
“It’s so tiring trying to sneak around. Wouldn’t it be easier if you just went in?”
Earlier on, Noreya had already used her stealth magic to conceal her presence before Cynthia had opened the screens within the carriage. Therefore, the Holy Swordswoman Cynthia did not notice that she was around. Under normal circ.u.mstances, with her abilities, Cynthia should have seen through Noreya’s stealth.
The fact that Noreya had not been discovered meant that Cynthia’s heart was in turmoil, and she was not calm at all. After ensuring that Cynthia was inside the room, Noreya turned and stood where the other girl was earlier, admiring the night sky in her stead.
“Cynthia, you’re also here. You joined us just in time. President Maria, let me reacquaint the two of you; this is...”
“Bella, hold on. No... I need to get out of here. Stop holding me back; there’s something going on outside...”
“There’s nothing wrong. Since you’re here, you should stop thinking about leaving. Come, be free...”
Cynthia’s objections only lasted for a moment before they were stopped altogether. It did not take long before the strange sounds from earlier could be heard coming from the room once again. This time, however, a third voice was also in the mix.
In the end, the Holy Swordswoman Cynthia could not suppress her true desires and chose to set them free with Bella. The secret that she had been hiding from President Maria was also now revealed to her under these unique circ.u.mstances.
“Why don’t I take a peek... I can’t, that’s too... Hmm, there’s a message from Elaine.”
Noreya had almost followed in the Holy Swordswoman Cynthia’s footsteps before she caught hold of herself. For a moment, she could barely control the strange thoughts that arose from the depths of her mind and nearly walked into the room like a sheep sent to the butcher’s knife.
Among Bella’s dorm mates, a.s.sa.s.sin Noreya was the closest to the Puppet Master Elaine as their personalities complemented each other. Moreover, they used to make a living using corpses.
After working on a few operations together, Noreya and Elaine exchanged communication tools as a way to keep in contact. As that tool was too out-there, even for Bella’s taste, none of the other girls chose to use this form of communication.
This communication tool that even the Demon King Bella refused to use was a strangely distorted skull. A large hole had been drilled into it, forcing its mouth open for all eternity.
The skeleton’s face was too distorted; thus, a normal person would not carry something so terrifying with them. The only ones who would be willing to bring something along like that without any qualms were cold-blooded killers like Noreya, or Elaine, a puppet master who specialized in manipulating all sorts of skeletons and bones.
Noreya retrieved the skull from her personal storage ring and placed it on the window ledge. The formerly empty black eye sockets of the skull instantly turned into two small “screens” with Elaine’s face on it.
Elaine’s voice could be heard coming out from the skull as well. She, too, had a similar skull-shaped communication tool by her side at the moment.
“What’s wrong, Noreya? You look rather pale. Is Bella sneaking around outside... No, wait! is Bella flirting with a pretty girl out there?”
“Elaine, don’t be ridiculous. Who’s looking pale? My complexion has... has always been like this. Bella was just discussing something with President Maria. Wait, I’m still wearing my mask... How could you...”
Unconsciously, Noreya touched her face and realized that her mask was still on. She took another look at the image in the skull’s eye sockets and saw a pained expression on Elaine’s face. It was as though she had been holding back her laughter for a while.
“Elaine, you dare to tease me like that? Do you think...”
“I would never! Please do not be angry at me, oh Great a.s.sa.s.sin! I’m still waiting for you to help me collect more materials for my experiments, after all!
“Alright, enough with the jokes. Let’s get down to business! Please tell Bella later that she has to meet me tomorrow. I have a vague idea of the problem that caused the abnormalities to occur at St. Louis Church Academy tonight.
“Also, recently, in the eastern region, the Angus City of the Aldridge Empire suddenly went on lockdown for no apparent reason. Some say it was because there were unusual sounds coming from the depths of the Grim Forest, while others say that a problem had occurred within Angus City itself.”
The unusual situation at the St. Louis Church Academy finally settled down the next morning. Under the leaders.h.i.+p of Norris, who was a Savior, the departed spirits who had come out of nowhere were eventually suppressed by the “Doors of Truth” society.
In their attempt to suppress the strange event, the “Doors of Truth” society had suffered many losses. Although no one died in combat, many of them had been injured, with even Norris himself suffering a number of them. President Maria was not involved in this battle as she had been holding down the fort in the Student Union President’s office.
On the other side, St. Louis Church Academy Student Union building was a complete mess at the moment; books were strewn all over the place. When Bella awoke, she realized that everyone else was still asleep.
Even though there were no beds in the President’s office, there was a huge sofa, which meant that finding a place to sleep was not an issue. Bella, President Maria, and the Holy Swordswoman Cynthia had huddled together on the sofa to sleep. The other two girls on her left and right were still in the dreamland.
President Maria was genuinely asleep. However, the Holy Swordswoman Cynthia did not dare to open her eyes despite the fact that she was already awake. Bella did not call her bluff either. Instead, she placed Cynthia and President Maria in each other’s embrace, put a blanket over them, and left it at that.
The Holy Maidens of the Radiant Church were here as well. Bella decided to just pull them in to have some fun together. The two Holy Maidens Daisy and Sophia, who were always at loggerheads, were wrapped in each other’s arms on President Maria’s desk currently. The other two Holy Maidens who were close friends, Hayley and Susan, tumbled around on the carpet with many of the Radiant Church’s Sacred Writings scattered around them.
Last night, other than taking advantage of the girls, Bella also incited them to do naughty things to each other. Like the venomous snake that enticed Adam’s Eve to consume the proverbial forbidden fruit in western mythology, Bella seduced the Holy Maidens of the Radiant Church to swallow the “sweet fruit of girl’s love”.
If Bella were to leave the room, no matter who the next person to enter was, they would have thought that the Holy Maidens had begun to engage in interesting behaviors out of unbearable loneliness. Bella felt an inexplicable sense of excitement to be doing such things inside the Student Union President’s office within a church academy.
An evil grin appeared on Bella’s face as she considered how there were many Student Union Presidents within her group of girlfriends. She made up her mind to take some time out of her schedule to visit their offices as well. Who knows, something interesting might happen there too.
“Bella, you’re awake. That smile is so... Forget it. Anyway, it’s safe outside now.”
“Last night, you girls were... so noisy that I could not sleep much at all. Fortunately, we are on higher ground, and the other girls down there probably couldn’t hear anything.”
“Noreya, I invited you a few times last night, but you simply refused to come in and play with us... It’s so much warmer inside here!”
Noreya was already awake and was standing at her post in the corridor outside the Student Union President’s office, her dark eye circles especially prominent. As Noreya was a top a.s.sa.s.sin, she had a super sharp hearing and could catch every single weird noise that Bella and the other girls made the night before.
“Noreya, why did you change? I don’t recall you getting it dirty last night...”
“Bella, stop asking! Quickly, tell me, what’s your plan?”
“This isn’t a convenient place to talk. Let’s head to where you were resting last night...”
“No... We can do it here. The place where I was last night... it’s too messy.”
Noreya had rested in the next room, which was the office of the Student Union’s Secretary-General. Last night, she had been listening to the sounds coming from next door and had ended up “relieving herself” when she couldn’t take it anymore. Although she had cleaned up in the morning, that unique scent still lingered in the air.
Bella was extremely familiar with that particular scent. To prevent any awkwardness and to maintain her haughty image in Bella’s mind, Noreya would rather stay here to finish the conversation than to return to her room.
After spending some time with Bella, Noreya knew in her heart that she must not show any form of flaws in front of her. Once her weaknesses were revealed, Bella would definitely take advantage of it and ravage her. Until now, Noreya’s will still had not wavered yet.