The extra chapter starts again
"...Senior Morina, are you really going to leave the temple?"
"The farewell party is over, how can we still have a day off?"
The red-haired girl kept moving her hands as she coolly stuffed her already small luggage into her bag. She didn't immediately look up at the junior who suddenly came to talk to her, but just responded with a smile.
There was no sound for a long time. After finally finishing cleaning up, Morina breathed a sigh of relief and stood up with satisfaction. Only then did she realize that the person had not left yet.
Seeing that she seemed to be hesitant to speak, Morina tilted her head and thought for a moment before asking, "What's going on? If there's anything you don't understand about temple affairs, please ask me now. I'll be leaving soon."
"No……"
The girl waved her hand and fell silent again.
The application and approval to leave the temple had actually been distributed to everyone several days prior. During this time, Morina handed over all her duties at her post and received a farewell and blessings from the head priest and her colleagues.
Everything looks normal.
Everyone behaved very politely and enthusiastically... as if the conflict two years ago had never happened.
"Senior...is that why you don't want to continue working at the temple because of that incident?"
Faced with the question that the girl seemed to have asked with great determination, Moli Na was stunned. It took her a long time to react. She subconsciously stroked her chest and smiled knowingly.
"I thought you were about to stammer about something, but it turns out it's because of this... What? Those guys who said bad things about me finally felt guilty and are ready to apologize to me? If they're willing to post a joint apology letter on the temple bulletin board for a week, then I can stay here for a few more days."
This careless joke was obviously beyond the girl's expectations. The girl, who had always been cautious and serious, was stunned where she was, not knowing whether to ask her senior to stop fooling around or to report the request in the apology letter to her superiors.
"Oh, look at you, you really can't take a joke at all!"
Morina smiled and patted her shoulder, then she put on the full bag and waved her hand nonchalantly, then walked around her and headed towards the door.
***
Two years ago, Morena and Felicia were separated on their way into the mountains to repair a dilapidated temple. They were not found until a few days later when the fog covering the mountains dissipated.
Morina was in good condition. Although her clothes were somewhat damaged, she was not injured.
But Felicia, who was not far away from her, had passed away, her body dried up, as if she had been dead for half a year or even a year!
This abnormal phenomenon must have alarmed the senior leaders, so as soon as Morina returned to the temple, she was taken to the court of inquiry and was not released until a long time later.
"Have you heard about the girl named Morina from the next team..."
"I heard it, I heard it. They said she lost control while practicing evil magic and sucked her friends dry?"
“Is this true?!”
"Stop it! If she really practiced evil magic, how could the chief priests let her leave the Inquisition alive? I think there must be some kind of demon in the forest that can control people's hearts. Morina must have been controlled to do that."
"Did she really kill her friend?"
"It is said that when they were found, they were only a few meters apart. And according to the search and rescue team, she was very emotional at the time and said some very strange things, such as 'being taken to a strange place' and 'surrounded by monsters that cannot communicate'."
"The gods... maybe they're really being controlled, they don't know what they're doing, and they treat their friends like monsters..."
"But is there magic in the temple that can suck a person's flesh and blood dry? Even if he's controlled, it's impossible for him to use a spell he doesn't know for no reason, right?"
"Of course she can't use it herself, but what if a demon possesses her?"
"Ah!—Gods, she should have been checked when she came back, right? If the exorcism ceremony wasn't properly performed, then our entire temple would be in danger!"
Although the fact that she was able to emerge from the courtroom unscathed indicated that the temple had acknowledged Morina's innocence, no official document had been issued regarding the matter, and Morina herself was forbidden to mention it in detail to anyone, so similar rumors circulated in the temple for a while.
At that time, similar discussions followed her wherever she went. Some radical colleagues even suggested to their respective chief priests that a public purification blessing should be held for her.
"Not only will this reassure everyone, but it will also clear her of the rumors of being possessed by an evil spirit. Isn't that the best of both worlds?"
Faced with this righteous yet humiliating proposal, the priests who were on good terms with Morina were naturally filled with righteous indignation.
“…Even the Head Priest said you could refuse, so why did you agree to them?!”
Her friends sat around her, shaking her arms, their faces and eyes filled with heartache and anger at her lack of resistance.
"There's no end to proving your innocence! If you agree this time, who knows what even more outrageous demands you'll make later!"
"Exactly! We're all priests under the God of Life, yet we're so mean to our compatriots. How shameless!"
But compared to her companions' indignation, the girl who was always straightforward was unusually calm this time. Not only did she not look angry, but she even smiled in a nonchalant manner.
"Do you think I agreed to this just to keep the peace?"
She looked up at the bed beside her which had been vacant for some time, and seemed to see her old friend tossing and turning there, refusing to get up, a rogue look that was completely inconsistent with his elegant appearance.
"This ceremony is nominally to pray for Felicia's soul and bury her—as a good friend, I certainly can't be absent, right?"
In fact, everyone also noticed that after returning from being separated this time, although Morina was still impetuous, her mood was much calmer.
In the past, if she heard others slandering her in this way, either openly or covertly, she would have started a fight with them at best, arguing with them or at worst, pushing them... But now, she seemed to have not heard these discussions at all, as if she did not take them to heart at all. Her attitude was incredibly broad.
Moreover, on the day of the purification ceremony, the dramatic scenes that some people expected were completely absent.
Under the gaze of the chief priests, Morina slowly walked onto the stage, passed through several purification barriers safely, knelt before the officiant and the deceased, and even joined in chanting the blessing prayers.
The magical flame containing the power of purification sent away Felicia's broken body. It did not react at all to the red-haired girl kneeling beside her. It even circled around her gently, like the deceased's final farewell to her.
This solemn and dignified scene suppressed all malicious speculations. No matter how malicious the spectators were, they could not say anything outrageous on the spot against their conscience.
If this so-called possessed demon could truly evade the eyes of so many high priests, how could their temple remain peaceful for so long? If the other party wanted to, they could transform this place into a demonic realm overnight!
After that, all kinds of discussions died down a lot. A year later, when the news of the discovery of the ruins of the Saint Feses School of Magic reached them, those speculations gradually changed direction.
It turns out that there really was a hidden fantasy world near the mountains where Morena and Felicia disappeared.
It turns out that victims like Felicia are not isolated cases, but are scattered in the places where they last disappeared, spanning time and across the mountains and plains;
It turns out that the sporadic testimonies leaked from the courtroom might not really be a strange dream of Morina, but a grand adventure beyond common sense...
The curiosity in the whispers finally overwhelmed the malice, but the person concerned still turned a deaf ear to it. After another year as if nothing had happened, he suddenly applied to leave the temple and travel.
"Don't you know how dangerous it is for a priest to venture out alone?" His friends were very puzzled. "At least he should have a regular team..."
"I do."
At this point, Morina's eyes suddenly lit up, revealing a lively smile that no one had seen in a long time.
"It took them so long to find me. I have to have a good talk with them later!"
***
"...Senior, is that the fixed team you mentioned?"
The girl who followed Morina out of the Temple of Life under the pretext of helping with the luggage looked at the two people waiting at the door and couldn't help feeling curious.
That silver-haired girl looks like a scout or an assassin, and the black-haired boy beside her... doesn't he look a little too rich?
Was this some wealthy young man out to experience life, so he hired a bodyguard? And because he had the money but wanted to be completely safe, he also asked a priest to accompany him?
This combination doesn't look like a proper adventurer team... Without strong teammates, how can the priest's safety be guaranteed?
The imaginative girl suddenly felt something was wrong, but before she could say anything, Morina impatiently took the luggage from her hand and ran over before she finished speaking.
"How many times have I told you, don't keep calling me 'senior', you're making me sound old! Okay, you can go back now, no need to see me off, just do your best in the future - hehehe, Ximu, Ruixia, long time no see!"
Carrying a lot of bags, Morina rushed towards the silver-haired girl like a cannonball, and the latter caught her easily with her tall and strong body, without even stepping back.
The black-haired boy next to her took the luggage from her very naturally, opened his backpack, and then... put these things that were completely incompatible with the size of the backpack into it!
The younger generation was stunned, thinking that she was dazzled, but before she could rub her eyes and look again, the boy had already thrown it back over his shoulder. He noticed her gaze and nodded politely at her before leaving.
"Didn't we just see each other a few days ago?"
The silver-haired girl habitually corrected Morina's exaggerated rhetoric, and very naturally let Morina hold her arm, and casually glanced at the girl who came to see her off.
A cold feeling instantly passed through his spine, and he felt as if he was being looked at by the abyss. The young reserve priest tensed his body and finally resisted the urge to draw his staff to fight the enemy on the spot.
"Are we going to visit Zhui's next stop? Where is he? Is there a rush? If not, I'll take you to town for a couple of days. There's nothing much to see here, but the vegetables are really fresh, and the prices at the artisan shop are much more affordable than elsewhere..."
Watching Morina leading her two strange companions chattering away, the inexperienced girl stood there in a daze, feeling that she was watching a legend quietly fade away.
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