The Dragon's Shadow

"Mr. Lister, you are being legally arrested in the name of Astaria on charges of 'illegal trading', 'inciting the masses', 'colluding with foreign races' and a series of other crimes. I hope you will not resist in vain and quietly await the trial of the court."

A pleasant voice came near Lister, and he stood up from his seat, putting away the manuscript on the table.

Lister looked at the stern faced nun in front of him. She was wearing a black nun's robe inlaid with gold threads, and Lister also knew that underneath the robe there was a set of runic armor.

This equipment showed the identity of the nun in front of him, she was a member of the Church of Astaria's newly equipped Magitech Armed Nun Protection Force.

'But... she doesn't look too familiar; she should be the newly joined member. Let me think... they should have reached number thirteen by now?'

Seeing that Lister had no reaction to her words, the nun's eyes flashed coldly, and the long sword in her hand once again emitted the ringing of magic power.

"Answer me, sinner!"

"Yes, yes."

Lister smiled and obediently raised his hands.

"Sister Helen, I surrender."

"You know me!?"

The nun called Helen frowned and continued to stare at the unsurprised Lister with her bright eyes.

She had originally thought that when she came to arrest Lister, he would be like those sinners before, either shouting that he was innocent or directly kneeling down and begging for mercy.

There were also some who wanted to try their luck, but in front of the transcendent Magitech Armed Nuns, their endings were generally scattered in pieces.

This was her first time to see someone like Lister who had no reaction at all.

"After all, it's the latest force of the revered Church, and I believe those who care will pay some attention. However, I am a little surprised that you would condescend to come to such a rural place."

Lister cooperated and let Helen put the holy light shackles on his hands, while looking at the old man in a low level priest robe behind Helen, with a bald head and a treacherous smile, and said to him,

"Don't you think so? Respected Priest Owen?"

"LISTER!"

Seeing that Lister was handcuffed, Owen, holding the priest's staff, could not contain his complacency. He walked leisurely to Lister's front and looked at his enemy who had made him gnash his teeth in the past.

He was the only priest in the church in the remote town of White River, and since Lister came, the donations and purchases of holy light service from the people in this town had become less and less... He could hardly afford to go to the brothel outside the town now!

"You blasphemer of the holy light, just wait! With Sister Helen here, I will make sure you are burned to death on the stake and see if that mouth of yours can be left in the ashes!"

"Please mind your words, Priest Owen, the specific verdict on Mr. Lister will have to wait until the trial day."

Helen frowned when she saw Owen's terrible appearance.

'Can someone with this appearance really become a local head priest?'

'Forget it, there must be Astaria's guidance in it'

Helen turned her gaze back to Lister.

"You can choose to defend yourself against the charges."

"No need; I plead guilty; just take me away."

"That's right, a sinner should confess properly."

Owen grinned and leaned close to him, continuing in a voice that Helen couldn't hear,

"Don't worry... I will take good care of the money you have accumulated from those mud legs over the years. Of course, it will be spent on those little children, hehe~"

"Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease; I believe they will definitely give you a big surprise."

No longer paying attention to Owen, Lister tidied up his clothes a little and looked at the materialized holy light shackles that bound his wrists together, smiling helplessly.

'Finally, this day has come.'

Although he was prepared to be dealt with by the church from the day he decided to follow that little girl Aurola, he really didn't expect to end up in such a miserable state.

Being arrested in an obscure town, being stepped on by a common villain, and finally, if nothing unexpected happens, he will also be tied to a stake in piles with people he doesn't know.

'Aurola... is this the ending you wanted to see?'

Thinking back to that resolute and pretty face in his memory and that golden hair like the blooming sunset, Lister let out a sighe.

"Sister Helen, may I ask a question?"

"Please go ahead."

"Where did you get these information from?"

Helen glanced at Lister who had a calm expression as if he knew the answer.

"We received a report, which also contained relevant and definite evidence of your crime."

"Is that so? Thank you."

...

Soon, Lister was escorted out of the door by Helen.

The residents of White River crowded in front of Lister's door, none of them making a fuss, all silently gazing at Lister and Helen walking in front.

However, this time it was not like before, when the crowd looked at this messenger representing holy light and purity with a mixture of awe and worship.

Instead, it was replaced by cold, indifferent, and resentful eyes.

Splat.

Helen stopped.

A lump of mud was thrown on her black robe.

She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a little girl in patched clothes glaring at her angrily.

"You little bastard..."

Owen was terrified when he saw the stain on Helen's robe. Magitech Nun rank was so much higher than his small priest rank in the church, and if she felt uncomfortable in this environment, he may lose his head!

He walked to the front of her with an ugly face, cursing and raising his priest's staff, making a gesture to hit the dirty looking little girl.

"Stop."

Helen stopped him.

At the same time, Lister also called out softly to the little girl,

"Little Nina, come here."

The little girl, who was originally trembling with fear, immediately ran obediently to his side when she heard Lister's voice.

"Sister Helen, could you please remove my shackles for a moment?"

"...Only this time."

Click.

The holy light on his hands disappeared.

Lister took out a clean handkerchief from his clothes bag and carefully wiped the girl's dirty hands and face.

"How have you been feeling lately? Still having a fever?"

"Not anymore..."

"I see... Remember to have your mother decoct it for you every morning and evening, and after two more days, Nina will be healthy again."

"Brother..."

Nina held Lister's hand and looked directly into his eyes.

"Why are they arresting you? They said you were a bad person... They are lying, right?"

Lister smiled and stroked the girl's face, looking around at the expressions of the townspeople, some sympathetic, some ashamed, some resentful, and some sad.

Perhaps they were feeling ashamed that they were not as brave as the little girl.

But Lister didn't blame them. The Astaria Church was such a powerful force that even Aurola, who went from a grassroots little princess to an empress, had to negotiate and compromise with them.

And he was just the unfortunate product of that compromise.

They were just a bunch of common people, and Lister was already quite satisfied that they came to see him.

"Thank you Nina. Go back quickly; don't let your mother worry."

"Brother I..."

Before Nina could finish her words, her mother had already walked up and carried her back.

Before leaving, Nina's mother gave Lister a grateful look.

"..."

Helen, who had witnessed the whole process, said nothing and watched the mother and daughter disappear into the crowd.

"Let's continue Sister Helen. What's the next step? Going to the stake?"

"...No. As I said before, we will first conduct an internal trial to determine the degree of the crime before carrying out the sentence."

"Which means?"

"Which means we will temporarily imprison you first."

...

In the church's prison, Lister looked at the departing figure of Helen, then at the holy light shackles on his hands that were faintly emitting a burning sensation, and still felt it was incredible.

After all, it's really absurd that such a mysterious thing as the power of faith can be converted into an objective existence on the material plane.

If it weren't for the fact that he had no faith in that goddess of justice, Astaria, he would also want to learn a couple of holy light techniques to play with.

"...Sigh."

Thinking of this, Lister became a little emotional again.

If he had known that he would end up like this today, he might as well have converted to the holy light, opened a small tavern, and found a woman to spend his life with.

He had to get involved in Aurola's muddy water and try to fly a plane in the Middle Ages, and now look at him? He was sold out as a pawn before he could even fly.

'Man, how unlucky am I...'

However, speaking of this topic, Lister couldn't help but think of the "colluding with foreign races" in his charges.

This foreign race referred to the monster girls living in the southern part of the Holy Viliana Empire.

The monster girls there are fluffy, warm, speak with verbal tics, and are especially cute when they laugh.

'They smelled so good too.'

When he was treating these monster girls, seeing those big cuties with cat ears, fox ears, dog ears, horse ears, and scaly ears dragging their tails and lining up in front of him, he was thinking, if he could toch these fluffy tails and ears...

'Ah, that was bliss.'

'But now it seems there is no chance for us to meet again.'

Lister remembered that he used to often tease a certain witch that she would accidentally end up on the stake, making her puzzled, but he didn't expect that he would be the one to go up first.

'If, all this could start over...'

"I should have chosen the monster girls after all."

"Oh? Really?"

A cold, teasing voice sounded beside Lister. And as he turned his head to look, a powerful magic energy gathered and swirled, and finally, a tall figure walked out of it.

She was wearing a form-fitting black one piece long dress, outlining her curvaceous and charming body to the fullest. There were elaborate and luxurious carvings and emblems on the hem of the dress and the arms, and these patterns... Lister also recognized them.

However, the most eye-catching thing might be the pair of fierce red and black dragon horns and long ears like ancient blood trees in her snow white long hair, as well as the long tail with smooth scales extending behind her.

Lister knew her... or rather, should know her.

She was the current lord of the monsters and also their queen, representing the brutal and bloodthirsty dragon descendants.

She had many titles, but the most famous one should be:

The Sinful Dragon Demon Lord, Priscilla.