Succubus cannot be a saint

Sharlelei's eyes flickered, and with a flick of her mind, she dragged the prisoners into a dream. After days of imprisonment and torture, the prisoners had long since lost much of their will to resist, and were enveloped by her mental power.

"I ask you, do you want to be free again?"

Upon hearing this question, the prisoners' consciousness suddenly boiled like boiling water, and a strong will to survive surged out.

Seeing that their desire to survive had been aroused, Sallelei used the power of charm to continuously seduce their consciousness: "Then tell me where Moise is hiding, even if it's just a guess..."

But this time, the prisoners' consciousness gradually faded. Sharlelei's heart sank slightly. The Archbishop had searched almost every corner of Field City in the past few days, but still found nothing. It was very likely that these prisoners really didn't know.

Could it be that Moise had connections with the nobles of the upper city and was hiding under their protection? Sharlelei thought about it and rejected the idea.

The charge now hanging over Moise was "colluding with a cult and kidnapping civilians as sacrifices." Protecting him was tantamount to opposing the entire Church of Light. With victory so soon after the Field War, who would dare to incur such a calamity? Even if the nobles had a vested interest in him, they would surely turn him in and pledge their loyalty to the Archbishop.

Could it be that the clues were really cut off? If so, I could only lie low for now, secretly corrupt the Sisters of Battle, then pretend to return to the territory and wait for an opportunity...

But at this moment, a faint whisper of consciousness suddenly sounded.

"You...you will really let us go free? I...I...might know where he's hiding."

Shailelei was startled and immediately looked in the direction of the voice. The person who "spoke" was a thin, dirty girl with a dark complexion, messy short black hair, and a pink "?52" on her head.

"I keep my word."

"You...you let me out, and I'll take you there myself..." The girl, her mental strength eroding, struggled to hold on with only the last shred of her intense desire to survive. Sharlelei smiled faintly, opened the cell door, and undid her handcuffs and leg irons.

At this moment, the girl completely woke up from her haze, looked at Sallelei in doubt and said in surprise: "You, you are... you are the saint?! You——"

As soon as she finished speaking, Sharlelei raised a finger and said, "Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask. I have fulfilled my promise. Now it's your turn."

The girl shut her mouth tightly and blinked. Although thin and dirty, she looked alert and cunning, with bright eyes, like a dirty wild cat. She tiptoed out of the cell. Sallelei whispered, "Take me there. Don't even think about escaping."

The girl nodded vigorously, but then subconsciously said, "I, I'm just guessing... If you don't find him, it's none of my business..."

Salares smiled without saying anything, but this ambiguous attitude only made the girl more frightened. In this way, the two of them slipped past the sleeping guards without being noticed and left the cathedral.

The girl was even more surprised when she saw the battle sisters lying on the ground with flushed cheeks. But she looked at the mysterious smile on Sharlene's face and didn't dare to ask anything.

..............................

In this way, the two of them arrived in downtown, and on the way, the girl also said her name. "My name is Tabby," she said rudely, and ruffled her hair. Sallelei stared at the top of her head, her eyes flickering, as if she thought there were a pair of furry things hidden in her hair, but her hair was greasy and messy, and it was hard to see clearly.

As they reached the block where the Rotgut Tavern was located, Sallelei's doubts grew. Until the tabby cat led her to an alley behind the Rotgut Tavern and pointed at the iron manhole cover at the end of the alley. "Look, that's it."

Sharlelei frowned. The iron cover was not large enough to accommodate only slender teenagers. Even Durenna couldn't squeeze in. Moise was obviously an adult man, so he couldn't get in no matter how hard he tried.

"You, you have to believe me! I have evidence!" Seeing that Salares had a doubtful look on her face, the tabby cat was so anxious that sweat broke out on his nose.

"What evidence?" Shalelei asked, but the moment she finished, the tabby cat's face turned pale and he covered his mouth. Shalelei, suspicious, slowly walked towards her. The tabby cat took a step back and leaned against the wall. Suddenly, his hands and feet felt tense. He looked down and saw that his limbs had been tightly entangled by vines that had broken through the ground at some point.

Natural magic, entanglement magic.

Finally, the tabby cat gritted his teeth and uttered a word: "Smell..."

"odor?"

"Yes! It's the smell!" the tabby cat shouted in despair. "That bastard Moise loves to smoke a rare tobacco from the South. The stench of tobacco is choking! I once saw him sneak into this alley and thought he was hiding something. But when I groped back in after he left, I found nothing. Instead, I smelled his cigarette smoke at the entrance to the sewer!"

Sharlele sniffed carefully and, as expected, detected a faint, almost undetectable scent of tobacco amidst the foul smell of the sewer. She was astonished—even a succubus with keen senses would have to sniff carefully to detect such a scent, so how could this girl have detected it?

Suddenly, something clicked in her mind, and she reached out to grab the cat's head. The cat screamed and tried to dodge, but it was too late. She grabbed the cat's head with one hand, and besides the sticky hair, she found a soft, fluffy thing in her palm. It was actually—

Two furry black cat ears.

"……babble!"

The moment the cat's ears were grabbed, the tabby cat froze. Seeing Sharlene's astonishment, her expression changed rapidly, from horror to understanding, and then a hint of self-destructive sneer spread across her face.

"Hmph, Lady Saint is so high and mighty, I'm afraid she hasn't even seen us, the beast cubs from the gutter?"

Sharlene was amazed and stroked the cat's ears, enduring the discomfort of the tabby cat's sticky hair.

Is this an orc? No… the orcs in this world have green faces and fangs. But… cat-people? I've never heard of such a race. But with business at hand, Sharlelei suppressed this question for the moment, her fingers reaching down, and unsurprisingly, she touched the human's ear.

Wow, it’s four-channel.

"You have to go down with me too." She said softly. The tabby cat subconsciously wanted to resist, but the vines wrapped around her tighter and tighter. Her head buzzed with Sharlene's voice, and she nodded involuntarily.

Sharlelei manipulated the vines to move the iron cover of the sewer, and a foul, stench immediately rushed out. After the foul air was released, the tabby cat slid in with a squeak, and the back of its hair was covered with sticky dirt, which made Sharlelei feel sick.

The entrance to the sewer wasn't too small, but it wasn't too big either. The skinny little tabby cat could get in without any problem, and she herself wouldn't have any problems either, except...

Sharlelei estimated the size of the sewer entrance and cast a natural magic with an expressionless face. Clusters of vines grew out from the wall of the sewer, blocking her chest and the dirty wall, and lifted her down.

In the pitch-black sewer, the foul air almost solidified, stirring up a disgusting ripple with the arrival of the two people.

Sharlele cast a light spell to illuminate the canal filled with garbage and thick sewage. The tabby cat stood barefoot in it, grinning, while she stood on the overgrown vines to avoid contact with the sewage.

The dirty canal stretched out to both sides, branching out into a network of paths that stretched in all directions, like a small maze. She glanced at the tabby cat. The cat-girl stood there with a bitter look on her face. It seemed that she had no idea where Moise was hiding.

Sharlene sighed and began to ponder silently. Seeing her seemingly lost in thought, the tabby cat bared its teeth, made a face, crouched down, and tried to run away. But a vine flew across and swept her over.

"Lady Saint, you must keep your word!" the tabby cat said hurriedly, "You promised me! You can't be like that archbishop!"

"Oh? Did the archbishop also promise to set you free? Then why didn't you tell him this place?" Salares looked at her strangely.

Hearing this, the tabby cat's face darkened, and he suddenly sneered, "Your Highness, why are you playing dumb? The archbishop didn't kill us because he hadn't found out where Moise was."

Sallelei was startled, then silent. Indeed, as the tabby cat had said, given the archbishop's gloomy temperament, he would certainly not abide by his so-called "agreement" with the tabby cat. As long as Moise was found, these little thieves would be of no use to him.

"He probably thought that we little thieves must know nothing, so he has been torturing Moise's deputies. He even used the lie detector technique and went to all the places they mentioned..." The tabby cat spoke faster and faster, his eyes flashed, and he suddenly spat.

"But he found nothing, so he came back and tortured them even more! What archbishop! Beggars and thieves are kinder than him! So I made up my mind not to tell anyone even if I die. As long as he hasn't found Moise, he won't dare to kill us all. I will live one day at a time..."

As she spoke, she smiled ingratiatingly again, "Saint... Saint Lady, everyone says you're a good person. You won't be like that archbishop...right?"

Salare glanced at her, smiled without saying anything, and began to think.

Just where did this tabby cat girl with animal ears come from? Why hadn't he heard of the cat-people before? No... setting that aside, this girl's senses were indeed far more acute than a human's. If she hadn't happened to smell that hint of smoke, even he wouldn't have guessed Moise was hiding in a place like this. No wonder the Archbishop couldn't find her.

But the sewers in Field are so complicated, where is Moise hiding?

Sharlelei's heart stirred, and she looked up. If she were Moise, even if she had to hide in the sewers, she would have built her shelter on higher ground to avoid sewage backflow...

Shailelei tilted her head, briefly observed the terrain, and then controlled the vines to carry herself upwards, not forgetting to bring the grinning tabby cat along.

Sallelei's guess proved correct. After heading upstream for a while toward a place with better air circulation, she could smell a faint whiff of cigarette smoke amidst the lighter stench. Following the scent of smoke, she could see a forked path slanting upwards.

"...Finally I found you."

........................

The light from the magic lamp flickered, illuminating Moise's gloomy face.

He was a handsome blond man in his forties, but there was a hint of hostility between his eyebrows and his expression was worried and anxious. He kept pacing in a dark room.

The darkroom was incredibly small, containing only a bed and a table. On the table lay a purse and a pile of account books. Along the walls were some water and food jars. There were secret doors in the floor and ceiling, and a ladder in the corner.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it…” Moise muttered to himself, his handsome face twisted. “That group…that group of evil cult members actually dared to lie to me…the slaves they wanted weren’t meant to be sold south! And that bastard Raymond actually sealed the city gates…Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it—!”

He gritted his teeth and grabbed the pitcher on the table, but it was empty, which made his heart sink even more.

But at that moment, the secret door on the floor of the dark room suddenly moved. Moise immediately jumped up like a startled bird, grabbed the account book on the table and stuffed it into his arms, drew the dagger from his waist, and stared at the secret door with extreme vigilance.

The next moment, golden light exploded, and the secret door suddenly exploded! Without hesitation, Moise rushed towards the ladder in the corner of the dark room, intending to break open the secret door in the ceiling and escape.

A slender figure flew out of the secret door, raised its hand and shot a golden arrow of light at Moise's back. The arrow of light came with such force that Moise's hair stood on end, but it was too late to dodge.

He roared angrily, and a white light flashed on his body. His body suddenly shrank and he became much shorter. The light arrow flew past his head and blew the ladder into pieces.

"Huh?" A young girl's voice came from behind him, and Moise's heart trembled. Although the attack was the divine power of light, the voice was definitely not that of the Archbishop. Who was this person? And how did they find this place?

At this moment, Sharlelei was also filled with surprise. Judging from the fluctuations of magic power on his body, he was undoubtedly a junior extraordinary warrior. And just now, he had actually used a technique like "shrinking bones" to dodge her light-guided arrow. Was this the secret to his ability to get into the sewer?

She thought for a moment and realized that the physical fitness and control of extraordinary warriors were far superior to those of ordinary people. It was not impossible for them to master skills such as "shrinking bones", but few people would practice such tricks that were of little use in frontal combat.

"Who are you!" Moise roared and turned around. Just this glance made Sallelei stunned again.

Under the light, the man's golden hair fluttered, and his handsome features looked very much like "someone" she was very familiar with.

------

Two chapters in one!

Volume 3: The Faith Revolution of the Succubus Saint: Chapter 248: The Archbishop's Handle

Without having time to think about who Moise's face looked like, Sharlene prayed to the Deer Horned Goddess in her heart. The vines created by the "entanglement spell" spread along the ground. Moise dodged left and right, and suddenly jumped up and rushed towards the small secret door on the ceiling.

Knowing that the secret door must lead to the ground, Shalelei fired a "light-guided arrow" and forced Moise to fall to the ground to avoid it. At this moment, the man also realized that there was no hope of escape. A fierce gleam flashed in his eyes, and he simply raised his dagger and rushed towards Shalelei!

A white light flashed around him, and his feet suddenly accelerated, bypassing the vines and rushing towards him like lightning. Sallelei was stunned, and before she could dodge, the dagger sank into her chest with a "whoosh", and blood spurted out.

Moise was overjoyed at his success, but his mind suddenly went haywire. When he opened his eyes again, there was no sign of Charlene. The dagger had pierced the cold brick wall.

“…Hallucination!?”

Moise was suddenly startled and turned around quickly, but it was too late. Holy light burst out from the palm of the girl in front of him, and an arrow of light shot towards him.

Moise's eyes were wide open, and in the moment before he fainted, a last thought flashed through his consciousness.

--How can it be?

The light-guiding arrows from the realm of light, the entanglement technique from the realm of abundance, and that mysterious illusion—who on earth is this woman, and how can she use divine arts from two... no, three realms at the same time?

But this question was destined to remain unanswered. With a dull thud, Moise collapsed to the ground. Sallelei slowly approached him, and the tabby cat weakly poked her head out of the secret door on the ground, a vine wrapped around her neck.

"Come out, everything is fine." Sallelei said softly. The tabby cat climbed up with great effort, and his eyes swept over Moise. A fierce light flashed in his eyes, but when he looked at Sallelei, he did not take action after all. He just kicked him twice in hatred and took the dagger from his hand.

Sharlelei watched the cat's actions without saying anything. Instead, she took out the account books from Moise's arms and flipped through them. As soon as she saw them, she burst into laughter.

These account books are full of records of Moise's usury collection, human trafficking and external affairs. They are the lifeblood of the underground gang Black Wing Society and their most shameful secret.

Among these numerous records, at least one-third of the cash flow went to the same person. Many of the documents inserted within the account books also bore that person's personal seal.

That person is Archbishop Raymond of Field City.

"I see. Now I understand everything..."

Salaret whispered to herself, a sly smile playing at the corner of her lips.

The biggest reason why Raymond secretly massacred people in the Rotten Guts Tavern, why he searched for Moise throughout the whole process, and why the Black Wing Society's loan sharking industry could not be eradicated but flourished again was that he, the archbishop, had very close interests with the Black Wing Society.

Their usury, prostitution, smuggling, and human trafficking might all be carried out with Raymond's tacit approval, or even support. In return, the Black Wing Society would spare no effort to support Raymond's rise to power, consolidate his rule, and might even take action to eliminate his political enemies.

The records in Moise's account book and Raymond's seal on the document are also a manifestation of sincerity - only with direct and effective evidence in hand can Moise believe that Raymond will not betray him.

But with the exposure of the Black Wing Society trafficking human beings to cult organizations, Raymond could no longer shield them. On the contrary, standing on the side of the church, he had to get rid of Moise first and destroy all the evidence in his hands.

Moise also acted decisively. Following Sallelei's guess, he immediately abandoned the Rotten Guts Tavern and sought refuge in his hideout in the underground sewers. The Archbishop then sealed the city gates and dug deep underground to search for him.

Sharlelei placed the account books in Du Mudan's storage ring, along with her miscellaneous potions and magic scrolls. This was the most powerful evidence to threaten the Archbishop, so it had to be kept safe.

Then she glanced at the cat-girl, who was holding Moise's dagger, her eyes constantly wandering between the unconscious Moise and the purse on his desk. When she looked at Moise, her eyes were suddenly filled with murderous intent.

"You want to kill him?" asked Salares.

The tabby cat was startled by Sharlene's sudden question. After calming himself down, he said angrily, "Want to kill him? Why don't you ask the people in the downtown area? Who doesn't want to kill him? Do you know how many people have lost their families, homes, and even their lives because of his usury? I, I wish I could cut off his fingers one by one and feed them to the rats...!"

When she said this, fire seemed to burst out of her eyes and her teeth were chattering.

"Then why did you join the Black Wing Society and become his subordinate?"

"I have no other choice!" The tabby cat arched his body and roared, even making a hissing sound in his throat. "People in the lower city can either be his dogs or die! Being a thief under him at least allows you to survive and have food to eat!"

Salarei stared at her with a twinkling gaze, and suddenly said, "It seems like you know a lot of secrets about the Black Wing Society?"

"Well...well, I guess so." The tabby cat was stunned for a moment, while Salares' smile became more and more cheerful. "I just need someone like you. Would you consider working for me?"

The tabby cat swallowed, took a step back, his eyes flickering, and didn't answer. Sharlelei smiled softly and swept the purse off the table with a flick of her sleeve. Dozens of gold coins tumbled to the floor with a clang.

The tabby cat exclaimed and immediately pounced on the coins, picking them up one by one with shining eyes. The Desire Point on his head also increased by 1. Sharlelei was a little amused and shook her head: "This is your first salary."

........................

Then, Sharlele used the magic of dreams to put Moise into a two-day sleep, leaving him here and then leaving the underground shelter.

She hadn't intended to kill him so soon, but the entrance to the shelter was too small, and she couldn't get him out while he was unconscious, so she had no choice but to leave him there.

"So, your clan..." Sharlelei whispered in the night. The cat girl hugged her purse tightly and snorted, "A 'clan'? We don't have such a thing. My father and mother are both human, purebred."

"They're all human? Inherited from the previous generation? Recessive gene?" Sharlene was amazed, while the tabby cat turned his head away. "I don't understand what you're talking about. Anyway, my parents are human, but I was born with cat ears and a cat tail. I don't know why, maybe the goddess doesn't like me."

"But... they didn't abandon me because of my appearance. I'm very grateful to them..." Then, the tabby cat's tone was a little sad. "When I was six or seven, my father borrowed high-interest loans from that bastard Moise. He couldn't pay it back, so he went out one day and never came back. My mother hanged herself, and they took me away. First, I was stripped naked and put on display in a cage..."

Sharlele listened silently, feeling a little regretful for bringing up this topic.

"Later, seeing how agile I was, they sent me out to steal things. I always brought in far more than other thieves, and I always managed to slip past the guards. That's how I became a 'veteran,' and that's when I got the nickname 'Spotted Cat'... And then... the cultists started coming."