Chapter 190: Chapter 188: Wait, Did You Really Come Back to Confess?

Early the next morning, Vanessa returned to the ruins of the Divine Hall to keep cleaning, hoping to find something that hadn’t been destroyed.

But she hadn’t even started when Walter came rushing over, his expression panicked: "High Priest Vanessa, I need your help, it’s urgent!"

Vanessa looked up, puzzled: "Mr. Walter, what’s gotten you so worked up?"

"It’s, it’s..."

"No rush, just take your time. Want a drink?"

"No, thanks, whew, whew, it’s—it’s about the heretics!"

"Heretics?" Vanessa frowned. "What happened with the heretics?"

"The heretics escaped!"

Walter’s face was flushed bright red: "Three of them knocked out my guards and took advantage of our carelessness to run away!"

Vanessa was full of question marks: "???"

She then gave him a look that screamed, "Are you serious right now?"

"Mr. Walter, are you joking? Those heretics were seriously injured by Hilia, and then tied up. How could they possibly escape?"

Walter’s face was still red: "I’m not sure what happened exactly. Last night I confirmed they were tied up, then I left to deal with official business. In the morning, the guards woke up from being knocked out and came to report the escape."

"Knocked out your folks, and three managed to escape..." Vanessa paused, then asked, "What about the other three? Didn’t they take them along?"

"The other three still haven’t woken up. Maybe they thought they’d be a burden and just abandoned them." Walter forced a bitter smile.

At that moment, Hilia came in from outside, yawning.

"Good morning, Vanessa Mama... Eh? Mr. Walter? What are you doing here?"

Walter apologized sheepishly: "Miss Hilia, I’m very sorry—I let three of the heretics you entrusted to me escape."

Hilia blinked: "Are you for real, Mr. Walter? Those heretics were basically disabled, how could you let them escape? Didn’t you swear yesterday that there’s no way they’d get out? Don’t tell me you’re messing with me!"

Walter was incredibly embarrassed: "I didn’t expect it either, with wounds that bad they could still run."

Hilia blinked again: "Well, they are Tier Three Mages, right? As long as they’re not knocked out, how wouldn’t they be able to run?"

Walter kept looking awkward: "At this point, what can I say? Sorry... Could you and High Priest Vanessa help me find those three heretics? It hasn’t been a whole night yet, so they can’t have gone far."

Hilia waved her hand: "Why bother searching? If they want to hide, you’ll never find them. After all, they’re the best at hiding, being heretics and all."

Walter argued, "Still, with such a rushed escape, they must’ve left some clues behind."

Hilia summoned her magic puppet and strode into the ruins, ready to work. "Honestly, instead of running around searching, I’d rather just sit here and chill. Who knows, maybe they feel guilty and turn around to come back and confess!"

Walter: "...Miss Hilia, can you not joke at a time like this?"

Hilia looked back, "I’m dead serious. I really think they’ll come back and repent."

Walter: "..."

Vanessa couldn’t help but laugh: "Alright, Hilia, you keep cleaning. I’ll go with Mr. Walter and check it out."

"No need, Vanessa Mama. They’ve already come back to repent." Hilia said with a grin.

Vanessa froze and sensed something, then turned to look outside the Divine Hall.

Sure enough, three pale-faced people walked in from outside.

It was the three heretics who’d escaped.

"High Priest, Lord, we’re sorry—we’ve come to repent."

Vanessa and Walter: "???"

Huh?

You really came back to confess?

As Tier Four Mages and nobles, the two had seen plenty in their lives—but this, frankly, left them speechless.

Heretics coming to the Holy Court to repent?

Listen, just listen—what kind of absurd sentence is this?

But it was actually happening right in front of them.

The two glanced at each other, then both looked at Hilia in the ruins.

Hilia blinked innocently and stared back at them.

What are you looking at me for?

I’m not the one who needs to repent.

They turned back to the two heretics, who had their heads down.

The two faced the ruins of the Divine Hall and struck a very badly posed Holy Court repentance gesture, heads bowed, almost ready to kneel.

The direction of their repentance? Right toward where Hilia was standing—almost like they were confessing to her personally.

After a long while, Walter finally spoke: "Looks like we don’t have to search. They really did come to repent."

Vanessa was feeling a little weird. She looked at Hilia and mused, "Hilia, you really didn’t do anything?"

Hilia put on a hurt face: "I didn’t do anything! Maybe they actually met a God last night and the God told them to repent?"

She wasn’t technically wrong—last night, Rose actually went and messed with those three heretics, mentally scarring them.

Rose didn’t even lay a finger on them—he just showed up ahead of them and waited.

No matter which way they ran, there’d be a "Hilia" waiting for them.

They all did the same thing—let their magic puppets distract "Hilia," and tried to make a solo escape.

But "Hilia" was always waiting right in front of them.

As for those fighting the puppets, they were actually battling puppets disguised as Hilia.

Rose wasn’t doing interception one by one—he was handling all three at once, stopping one, letting them run a bit, then stopping another, giving each a turn.

Finally, through spiritual suggestion and guidance, he brought them all together in one spot, broke their spirits, and convinced them to surrender.

Rose hadn’t actually caught them—he just gave them a beating and told them to come to the Divine Hall to repent in the morning.

After that, he left.

Of course, as soon as he was gone, the three all agreed to repent—but were actually still planning to escape.

Rose didn’t bother—he just left a spirit magic construct in their spiritual spaces, using their fear of Hilia to create hallucinations.

Whenever they tried to escape, their worries and terror would make Hilia’s face appear before them, grinning and asking if they weren’t planning to go repent at the Divine Hall.

And so, they dared not run.

They obediently returned to Star Ash Town, and when dawn came, went to the Divine Hall to repent.

Hilia witnessed everything and finally confirmed Rose’s identity as an Evil God—a proper God would absolutely never do something like this!

Faced with Hilia’s explanation, neither Vanessa nor Walter really believed it, but Hilia didn’t seem like she was lying.

Vanessa was fine, but Walter was now looking at Hilia very differently. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

He couldn’t shake the feeling... Hilia definitely did something to them, or at the very least, knew they were planning to escape.

Hilia said, "By the way, Mr. Walter, is your prison really that easy to break out of? Or did someone deliberately let them go?"

Walter’s expression grew serious: "I will investigate this thoroughly!"

He’d originally just wanted to bask in the glory and pick up some credit—but now, not only did he lose the credit, he almost made a huge blunder.

If a Tier Three Mage escapes, who knows what serious consequences could occur.

Thinking about those guards, Walter’s eyes turned icy cold.