Chapter 354: Definitely Black on the Inside

About half an hour later, Shien returned to the inn where his group was staying.

“Welcome back.”

Lasha was standing on the balcony, as if she knew Shien would return at this time, or perhaps she had been waiting for him all along. She greeted Shien, who had descended from the sky, with these words.

“Yeah, we’re back.”

Shien was truly used to it by now. Ignoring Lasha’s presence, he simply handed Beatrice over to her.

Lasha took Beatrice, her expression unchanging as she embraced the girl.

Beatrice obediently stayed in Lasha’s arms, only her eyes still fixed on Shien, their focus unknown.

As for Shien, he was naturally still holding the unconscious fox-girl saintess.

Lasha couldn’t have missed this. Glancing at the fox-girl saintess, she spoke calmly,

“Should I bathe this guest first?”

Lasha asked.

“No, I’ll do it.”

Shien responded instinctively, his expression unchanged.

“…”

Lasha fell silent but kept her eyes on Shien.

“…Alright, I was just kidding.” Shien’s expression immediately turned sheepish. Handing the fox-girl saintess to Lasha, he said, “Wash her up and send her to my room… No! Wash her up and check if she has any injuries!”

“Yes.” Lasha, seemingly without any desire to retort, took the fox-girl saintess and turned to leave.

Beatrice was also taken away by Lasha, her gaze finally leaving Shien.

Shien was finally alone again, letting out a breath.

“What an eventful night.”

Saying so, Shien turned his head and looked in the direction of the temple.

Perhaps because he had been there once, Shien could now clearly sense the abnormal magic power in Cosmos flowing from that direction.

“This strange transfer phenomenon is indeed caused by this magic power, right?”

Shien looked around and noticed that the surrounding buildings looked somewhat different.

Evidently, during Shien’s absence, the transfer phenomenon had occurred once or even multiple times, resulting in this change.

Shien gazed at the scene, lost in thought.

Not long after, Lasha reappeared with the fox-girl saintess.

“Alright, Mr. Shien.”

Lasha announced calmly.

“…That was fast.”

Shien’s mood was complicated.

Had a minute even passed since Lasha left and returned?

It didn’t seem like it.

If the fox-girl saintess’s clothes hadn’t been changed and weren’t emitting steam, and if Beatrice beside her didn’t look freshly bathed, Shien would have suspected that Lasha had simply taken them for a quick spin and returned, just to mess with him. Ꞧå𝐍Ọ฿ÊꞨ

“Forget it.”

Don’t dwell on it, or you’ll lose.

With this thought, Shien had Lasha lay the fox-girl saintess on the sofa.

“How is she?”

Shien asked Lasha.

“Not very good.” Lasha replied immediately. “I’ve thoroughly examined her and found that she’s not only exhausted her magic power, but her physical condition is also very poor. It seems like something put a great strain on her body, causing internal bleeding and even organ damage and displacement.”

This was serious.

“No wonder she looks so pale.”

Shien looked at the fox-girl saintess’s pale face.

Her face was quite delicate and beautiful, with a hint of allure. She probably maintained an air of authority normally, so she looked strong, but due to her paleness, this strength was accompanied by a sense of fragility, making one feel pity and sympathy for her.

“As expected of a fox spirit. This allure almost rivals a certain voluptuous demon world supreme.”

Shien marveled, but he also guessed the reason for her condition.

“She probably borrowed the power of the Goddess of Life and overexerted herself beyond her body’s limits, right?”

Shien wasn’t completely without guilt.

After all, she had pushed herself so hard to repair the seal he had broken. Shien naturally felt apologetic.

Therefore…

“[Celestial Breathe].”

Shien cast the only healing magic in Celestial Magic on the fox-girl saintess.

“Clang!”

A miniature Milky Way instantly appeared above the sofa, showering the fox-girl saintess with starlight. The starlight, like the breath of the universe, slowly merged into her body.

The starlight continuously repaired the fox-girl saintess’s internal injuries.

Her pale complexion improved significantly, but she still didn’t wake up.

“How is she now?”

Shien looked at Lasha.

Lasha silently stepped forward, checked the fox-girl saintess’s condition, then returned to Shien’s side and spoke,

“The internal injuries are being repaired at an astonishing rate. However, her magic power is still depleted.”

This couldn’t be helped.

As the only healing magic in Celestial Magic, and an Advanced Magic at that, [Celestial Breathe] was known as an almost omnipotent healing method. Even if one searched through all the magic systems, there were few that could compare.

Whether it was poisoning, curses, or anything else, as long as the person was still alive, [Celestial Breathe] could heal them.

Unfortunately, this magic couldn’t restore magic power.

Or rather, magic that could restore magic power didn’t exist yet.

Therefore, although Shien could heal all the internal injuries of the fox-girl saintess, he couldn’t restore her magic power.

And magic power was linked to life force. When it was severely depleted, people would usually fall into a coma, unable to wake up until their magic power recovered somewhat.

“It seems we can only wait for her to wake up on her own.”

Thinking of this, Shien pondered for a moment, then stretched out his hand.

“[Bestow: Suppress].”

Shien suppressed the fox-girl saintess’s magic power, preventing her from using it.

“Alright.” Shien then instructed Lasha, “Take her downstairs to rest.”

“Yes.” Lasha nodded. “Should I send her to Mr. Shien’s room?”

“…No, thank you.”

This maid was definitely black on the inside.

…

The next day arrived quickly.

In a room, the fox-girl saintess, lying in bed, finally awoke.

“Where is this…?”

The fox-girl looked around in a daze.

Then, she remembered the events of last night, causing her to jolt awake completely.

“The seal…!?”

The fox-girl saintess abruptly threw off the covers and sat up.

Only then did she realize that her clothes had been changed, and her magic power seemed to be locked, completely unusable.

“Could it be…”

Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, unfamiliar clothes, and unfamiliar magic power situation, the fox-girl saintess couldn’t help but think of a possibility.

She had been captured.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain the current situation, nor why her magic power was suppressed.

Moreover, before she lost consciousness, she vaguely remembered seeing Oz and Maeve being defeated, further confirming this point.

“Don’t tell me that human man changed my clothes…?”

Thinking of this, the fox-girl saintess became flustered.

Although she looked alluring and seductive, like a fox spirit, as the saintess, she was naturally very chaste and had never been taken advantage of by the opposite sex.

Let alone taken advantage of, she had never even dined with a man before.

As someone who dedicated everything to the Goddess of Life, all saintesses would never marry or have relations with anyone in their lifetime. Therefore, the beastmen saintesses had always been pure maidens.

If she were defiled by someone, it would be a fate far worse than death.

Immediately, the fox-girl saintess checked her body.

After checking, she not only breathed a sigh of relief, but also revealed a puzzled expression.

“Not only am I undefiled, but my body is in the best condition it’s ever been in. What’s going on?”

The fox-girl saintess was confused.

Due to constantly borrowing the power of the Goddess of Life and using her divine authority and miracles, every beastmen saintess’s body would accumulate burdens and suffer damage.

Because of this, every beastmen saintess had a very short lifespan, none living past forty.

In the history of the fox-people, there was even a saintess who died at the age of seventeen.

Therefore, the fox-girl saintess knew her own body very well and knew that she had also accumulated a lot of internal injuries, which would eventually lead to her death.

Because of these internal injuries, the fox-girl saintess hadn’t been able to sleep well recently, often waking up in pain.

This phenomenon told her that her time might be running out.

Because of this, the fox-girl saintess had already prepared herself mentally.

But now, she was shocked to find that all her internal injuries had disappeared.

This was no small matter.

“Since it’s a physical burden caused by the power of the Goddess of Life, it’s said that only the legendary strongest healing magic, [Divine Light Veil], considered a miracle, can completely heal the injuries within our beastmen saintesses…”

But that magic hadn’t appeared for a thousand years.

The reason was simple: the conditions for learning this magic were too harsh.

“Only those with the maxed-out [Healing Magic] skill can learn the highest-level healing magic, [Divine Light Veil]…”

Therefore, this magic hadn’t appeared for a long time, and now, apart from the Divine Race, no one else could use it.

“What in the world is going on?”

The fox-girl saintess was deep in thought.