The Saintess's Intuition

Max started moving forward as soon as the target of the assassination quest was confirmed, pushing the people around him away, he needed to be able to see her clearly to identify any information that would lead him to complete it without any problems and without being discovered.

Max's sole thoughts were on getting stronger at this very moment, so he didn't mind killing another divination user as long as it allowed his divination and himself to benefit from it.

And just like that, the boy and Elly were now in front of almost everybody, able to fully see the beautiful saintess as she gave her speech.

"As you may all know, my name is Lilia, and I am the current holder of the 'Divination of the Saintess'," the girl introduced herself, even though 99% of people in the crowd already knew her, she was still considerate of the few that hadn't heard of her, "I have been blessed to help the people of this kingdom and the many others of this world!"

The crowd cheered once again, happy to hear that their beloved saintess was doing well.

"It is such a blessing for me to have been linked to my divination, and I can proudly tell you all that divinations are our saviors in these harsh times where the demon king and celestial beasts are causing havoc, so please believe in our links and we will promise to bring peace to this world" the beauty smiled, charming everyone in the crowd.

Max would have almost fallen for her if it wasn't for the fact she was his target, and that eventually this smile would turn into agony and pleading for him to spare her life...

"I have also heard two batches of divination users have been summoned in the kingdom of Iseria and Greyburk, so I will visit the two to meet the new heroes," she informed the crowd, "in the meantime, I will spend a week here in the royal hotel, so feel free to greet me if you see me in the streets."

'Wait, what?!' Max's eyes widened in shock, 'other heroes from another kingdom...?'

He was surprised, he didn't expect there to be other people from his world here, and he wondered if they were similar to him and his classmates or completely different.

But there was also something else in the words she had said that gave him a giant hint of her location: "the royal hotel".

[Good job Host, this is why gathering information as an assassin is so important, now we have the advantage]

Max was getting excited, actually so excited that he hadn't noticed the aura that was emanating from him.

And while Lilia continued to give her speech, being acclaimed by everybody around, the unthinkable happened.

"Haha~, yes I believe it will-..." Lilia suddenly stopped speaking and held her head in pain, sweating buckets from her forehead.

The crowd immediately panicked, wondering what was happening to their idol, but they didn't dare interrupt her as it could be something serious.

And that's when it happened: Lilia raised her head and looked around for a bit as if she was trying to identify something or someone, and then suddenly, her eyes fell on Max, who was standing in the front row.

'W-what the...?' the young girl thought as she saw the boy, the red aura around him filled with killing intent, specifically targeted at her.

And so at this very moment, Lilia didn't feel safe anymore, even with an SSS-ranked divination, strength beyond many people of her age, and with the crowd to protect her.

The saintess, Lilia Marcel, had a unique skill that she would use to detect the good and bad in people, it was called [judgment], and so once she activated it, she couldn't help but gasp in shock, because not only did she realize that the aura was indeed directed towards her.

But its source was... a divination user?

'Why does a divination and its link want to kill me," she thought, her mind racing with theories, "aren't divinations supposed to be good and help each other...?"

Eventually, the saintess calmed down and resumed her speech, making sure to pay attention to Max as he was smiling at her, trying to look innocent after the mistake he made.

[She noticed, Host, you shouldn't have shown your aura so easily]

'I'm still a rookie, let me make some mistakes,' the boy rolled his eyes.

And so the event ended after Elly ended her speech, then she was accompanied by some of the kingdom's knights to her chamber, and the crowd dispersed.

"This was great, I didn't expect to see such a great person in this kingdom after we just came," the half-goblin cheered, unaware of the intentions of her partner.

But Max wasn't listening, instead he focused on the panel in front of him.

[Time limit to complete the assassination quest: 6 days 23 hours 39 minutes.]

***

After the event was over, the saintess left the center of the city with her guards, and went back to her room in the royal hotel, she was tired and wanted to rest, especially after what happened earlier.

She lay on her bed and closed her eyes, trying to relax and forget about the ominous aura that had targeted her during her speech, but she couldn't.

Lilia didn't understand, why would a fellow divination user want to kill her? 

She remembered the boy's face and his expression, they were definitely targeting her, and she felt shivers down her spine at the thought of dying, the feeling was crawling under her skin, and the sole presence of that boy's aura made her sick, she had never felt like this ever.

But she also knew that she couldn't tell anybody, after all, she was the saintess, she had an SSS ranked divination and was blessed since her childhood with beauty, strength, and power, and even though she worked hard for it, she only used it to help the population and did not seek privileges for herself.

'Divination...' she called out for the "Divination of the Saintess".

[Yes, my dear?]

"Who were they," she started asking, "who was that boy, and what was that divination?"

There was silence for a bit before the voice answered.

[I don't know, I have never seen such a person before, but I will try to think about it, my dear, do not fret, I will protect you with my life]

The girl's eyes widened, she didn't expect her divination to not know anything about him, but she understood that if that was the case, then he must have been a dangerous person.

So instead of resting for the night, she decided to rush to the library and open the "DivinationDex", which was a book that listed all the known divinations in the world and their ranks.

"I need to investigate too... I can't afford to die..." she mumbled while searching through the pages of the book, unsure about the future, but hoping that it wouldn't be too bad...