The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess-Chapter 44 - 42: Hiro Association

"Hiro Association?"

The unfamiliar name made Hilia think for a long time, but she still couldn’t recall what kind of organization it was.

Among the twelve cults active since the end of the Era of Calamity, Hiro Association wasn’t one of them.

And among all the other minor cults recorded, Hilia still couldn’t find the words "Hiro Association".

The girl looked at Rose, and Rose returned her a look that said, "Figure it out yourself."

"It’s something from before the Era of Calamity, so don’t ask me."

Jack saw Hilia’s gaze and realized she had no idea, so he explained slowly, "The Hiro Association is an organization formed from remnants of the old era. We’ve always been waiting for our god to return."

"Your god?"

Hilia couldn’t help but look to Rose in her mind.

Is it Lord Rose?

"The god the whole world wishes to return."

"Who is that?" Hilia asked.

She cared a lot about this question.

Before meeting Rose, she would have unhesitatingly believed it was the Divine King, or one of the Twelve Main Gods.

But now, she wasn’t so sure.

"I don’t know Their name. Maybe the president and the elders know." Jack didn’t continue on the topic of gods, "As you’ve seen, the Magic School of Beia Village was secretly funded and established by the Hiro Association. My duty is to protect the school, and protect Marina."

Jack’s words sounded very credible. Hilia chose to believe him for now. She didn’t pursue the question about gods further—clearly Jack wouldn’t tell her even if he knew.

By the practice of the Holy Court, anyone unwilling to reveal their deity’s name would be branded as worshipping an Evil God.

The girl’s attention was more on the question before her: "Why did you build a magic school in a remote village? Is it to resurrect your god?"

Distributing unknown idols to every household, plus Jack’s words—could it all really be to revive that mysterious god?

"Yes... and no. Reviving our god is just something extra. After all, the gods have been silent so long—no one knows if they’re even still alive, maybe they never existed in the first place."

Jack smiled slightly, "Our real goal is simply to let magic help those bottom-rung commoners whom everyone else ignores."

He suddenly shook his head, and sighed.

"I’m just an ordinary member of the Hiro Association. I joined because of this vague, illusory dream. There are many things in the association that I don’t know well. The reason I’m telling you this..."

He looked back at Hilia. "It’s because you bravely stood in front of everyone. The Hiro Association never hides itself from friends of justice."

"Letting magic help ordinary people... That’s the Hiro Association’s philosophy?"

"One of them." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Hilia tilted her head. "The Holy Court is also working to use magic to help ordinary believers."

"Maybe they are, but so far, all the magic technology the Holy Court uses was dug out from ancient ruins." Jack sneered, "Otherwise, the Hiro Association wouldn’t exist."

"You’re a student at the Divine Magic Academy. Maybe you’ll join the Holy Court in the future. When that time comes, help us see if the Holy Court is really doing that."

"I will."

Hilia nodded.

"I have one last question. You just said, the Hiro Association never hides from ’friends of justice.’ Does that mean a lot of people know about the Hiro Association?"

"Of course, many people know of the Hiro Association. Our members are spread all across the Starfall Continent."

Hilia frowned. "That’s odd. Why aren’t there any records of it?"

"I don’t know either. You can ask your teacher."

As he said this, Jack seemed to remember something and smiled, "Earlier I heard the High Priest saying you were pretending to be the Holy Court Saintess. Remember to shut his mouth when you get back—wouldn’t want it to affect your joining the Holy Court... If you really were the Saintess, that’d be great, hahaha."

Hilia smiled too.

Maybe I will be.

...

After saying goodbye to Marina, Hilia went to Lake Beia to say farewell to Alina.

"Hilia, before you leave, stop by the Snow Fir Divine Hall. They need your help over there to finish cataloging Mr. Dylan’s crimes," Alina reminded her.

"Alright, no problem." Hilia nodded.

After bidding Alina farewell, Hilia got on her Flying Broom and returned to Xue Shan Town, coming to the gates of the Snow Fir Divine Hall.

The temporary guards who had blocked the door before were gone. Instead, two knights stood there who were obviously not from Xue Shan Town.

Hilia recognized their armor.

"They’re Law Enforcement Court Admonition Knights. The Holy Court sent people? That fast?"

Hilia approached, but was stopped by the knights.

"Sorry, miss, the hall is currently under maintenance and isn’t receiving believers."

"I’m not a believer—wait, actually, I am." Hilia clarified, realizing the mistake, and quickly showed her Divine Magic Academy student card.

"Miss Hilia, right? Please, come in." One knight made a ’please’ gesture.

Entering the Divine Hall, Hilia spotted a familiar face.

Law Enforcement Court Judgment Priest Vasily.

"Grandpa Vasily, good afternoon."

"Hilia, you’re here! Hahaha, you really did something big this time."

Seeing Hilia, Vasily stroked his white beard and laughed heartily, a look of approval in his eyes.

"Come, tell me—how did you defeat a Tier Three Mage?"

"I just kept hitting him with magic until I won," Hilia said with a goofy grin.

Of course Vasily didn’t believe that. Stroking his beard, he headed deeper into the hall. "Come with me, I’ll take you to see Dylan."

"Okay."

Hilia obediently followed Vasily inside and saw Dylan outside the deepest confinement chamber.

He was tied to a chair, already awake. His injuries had been simply treated, but his expression was extremely lifeless. His pupils were dull, as if he’d become stupid.

"More than the Judgment, maybe what’s really unbearable for him is falling from being a Mage to an ordinary person—so he ended up like this."

Vasily glanced at him, shook his head, and pointed at the magic puppet beside him. He said:

"This was Dylan’s treasured magic puppet. It was originally meant to be your reward, but we’re not sure if there are any unknown runes inside, and you can’t use it right now. So the reward will be the Heart of the Magic Puppet inside. I hope you understand."

"It’s alright, Grandpa Vasily. I’m also a member of the Holy Court. Getting rid of rotten elements for the Holy Court is my duty—not something that should be rewarded."

As for Dylan’s magic puppet, Rose hadn’t let her take it apart after the fight, which meant Rose thought it useless, so she thought so too.

Of course, the real reason was she couldn’t use it yet anyways.

A 36V appliance can’t run on 220V.

The Heart of the Magic Puppet is supposedly junk according to Rose, so forget it—better to let it count toward the Saintess rating.

Hearing Hilia say this, Vasily’s smile grew. "I remember you don’t have a magic puppet, and you lack the most important thing: the Heart of the Magic Puppet. This one will be useful for you. Take it."

As he spoke, Vasily walked over, opened up the magic puppet, took out the Heart of the Magic Puppet from inside, and handed it to Hilia.

"No, I’ve already... Huh? It’s a natural Heart of the Magic Puppet?"

Hilia, who had planned to refuse, was stunned.

Sitting in front of her wasn’t a man-made Heart of the Magic Puppet, but a natural one.

She couldn’t help but ask Rose, "Lord Rose, didn’t you say Dylan’s puppet had a man-made Heart of the Magic Puppet?"

"Not in this puppet," Rose replied.

"So there were two magic puppets—why didn’t he bring this one?"

"The attributes didn’t match. This is a natural-element god... Heart of the Magic Puppet. He’s rock-type, which doesn’t work well with natural-element." Rose said, "Take it. Natural-element matches with water element. When you get back, buy a link device, and I’ll fuse these two Hearts of the Magic Puppet into one, then put it in your puppet."

"Huh? Different Hearts of the Magic Puppet can be fused?" Hilia was shocked.

"In my eyes, nothing is impossible."