A saintess? She's just a bad woman.

Page 12

In reality, this doesn't count as reincarnation at all; it's merely a case of a cuckoo taking over another's body. This is because powerful earthbound spirits, ghosts, or vengeful spirits can forcibly possess the bodies of the living, which is even more egregious and powerful than possessing the bodies of the dead.

To avoid such behavior, it would be best to prevent the dead from being reincarnated, which would require deliberately altering their funerals so that they would be rejected and forgotten by the gods.

Saint Karina despised such a thing. If she hadn't had the status and honor of a saint back then, Ernest VII probably wouldn't have allowed her to lie in a high-class coffin after her death.

Melissa stared at the corpse on the ground, at a loss for what to do.

"How should we deal with these dead people?"

"Properly arrange their remains. According to their respective beliefs, find suitable places to place their remains, hold simple farewell ceremonies for them, recite scriptures and eulogies, and finally offer blessings for their journey to the afterlife."

"Is it so complicated?"

"Of course, the doctrine of the Eternal God requires believers to respect the deceased. I have presided over the funeral of Emperor Ernest VI, as well as the memorial services for many important figures at the time, and I have also attended those for commoners. In the eyes of the Eternal Goddess, no matter what status or achievements the deceased had in life, they are all treated equally before the gods after death. We cannot treat them differently because of those external factors."

"You humans are such a hassle. Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

Saint Karina laid the dead people in a lying position, closed their eyes, wiped the bloodstains on their cheeks and skin with a wet handkerchief, and divided them into two parts according to their gods.

Apart from the coachman who worshipped the sea god and needed to be buried at sea, the rest of the people worshipped the current God of Order. The God of Order did not strictly stipulate how the deceased believers should be buried, and most people chose cremation or burial.

Burial requires a significant amount of time to dig the grave, and then it needs to be filled in afterwards. The pollution level of this land is high, and those buried in the ground may not be able to rest in peace. They may turn into undead, zombies, or other undead creatures, crawl out of the ground, indiscriminately attack other passersby, and then spread the virus to the creatures of this generation.

Taking all factors into consideration, it was most appropriate to cremate the other four attendants on the spot and then bury their ashes in uncontaminated land.

"I'll burn them to ashes later. Can you help me collect the ashes? There are containers over there on the carriage. Put them in there so they won't be lonely on their way to the afterlife."

"Okay, it's all up to you."

Melissa, unfamiliar with the rules of the human world and still diligently studying them, temporarily stepped aside to allow Saint Karina to handle the deceased's body. Saint Karina began reciting scriptures and eulogies, following the procedures mentioned earlier.

To save time, she didn't read the most complicated passages.

There was an even more important task ahead; they couldn't afford to waste any more time in the forest and needed to find shelter before nightfall.

23. Deep Sea Naga

Three days later, the carriage finally arrived at the coastline of the Santa Marta Sea, where fishermen were said to be frequently attacked by underwater people, so Brenda asked Santa Karina to investigate.

The sun was shining brightly, the horizon stretched out before her, and adorable white clouds drifted by. Compared to Partington, the capital of the Lorian Empire, Saint Karina felt that the air here was better and the environment was more comfortable.

If I didn't have any missions to do, I'd love to take a nice vacation here.

The warm sunshine made Santa Karina too lazy to move.

Do you like the sea and the beach?

“Master… to be honest, I don’t quite understand your human tastes and preferences. Compared to the natural environment, I prefer blood. Blood from any creature…”

The girl in the black robe answered truthfully.

"Your life must be pretty boring. Killing is indeed a way to relax and enjoy yourself, but there are many other ways to vent your emotions, such as sunbathing, looking at beautiful women in swimsuits, enjoying delicious food, and so on."

Saint Karina explained patiently.

However, she had no intention of forcibly distorting the other party's will. Then, she turned her gaze to the sea.

The crystal-clear seawater is completely unpolluted. It's almost dusk, but you can still see beautiful schools of fish swimming in the water at Santa Karina.

The fish were of various kinds, and the individuals were small, with the largest being no more than 30cm in length.

"No... Logically speaking, how could there be so many fish in the near sea normally? If fishing were that easy, wouldn't fishermen just cast their nets and catch tons of fish?"

Saint Karina suddenly noticed something amiss: if there were so many fish that they couldn't catch them all, then there couldn't possibly be no fishing boats on the sea.

Also, although it's a little late now, it's only dusk, and there's not a single person on the beach.

This question made her feel strange.

The only good news for her was that there was no smell of blood nearby.

"No casualties recently...wait, what's that?"

Suddenly, Saint Karina saw dark shadows rapidly approaching from the distant sea. As they drew closer, she could make out what those dozen or so shadows were.

It has a human head and a snake's body, with a head shape that closely resembles a cobra, and obvious fish fins and scales on its body.

However, although they are women's heads or humanoid heads resembling green-skinned monsters, they look quite ugly, even somewhat frightening.

"The Deep Sea Naga... how did they end up in coastal waters?"

Saint Karina was even more puzzled. She had very little information, so it was difficult to deduce the truth from the existing situation.

"Crash!"

While Saint Karina was still pondering, the Naga had already arrived on the beach, carrying weapons in their hands.

Once a Naga reaches adulthood, they are at least at the second tier, and Naga tribes are matriarchal societies. Because of this, their women possess greater intelligence and magical power than their men, and the leading Naga are typically female, operating in small teams.

Although neither of them are aesthetically pleasing, the differences between female and male Nagas are very obvious.

Female Naga are typically tall and slender, with fine scales and snake-like, writhing tentacles on their faces. Male Naga, on the other hand, are more robust than female Naga, and their appearance is more like that of a merman or an uncivilized beast, possessing what appears to be unevolved human muscles.

"Melissa, it's all yours now."

"Yes, Master."

Second-tier male Nagas and third-tier female Nagas are no match for Melissa.

She dealt with the male Naga with a swift and violent aesthetic, then left the female Naga leader behind.

"Speak! Why do you Naga come to areas inhabited by humans?"

Melissa was conducting an interrogation, severing the root tendrils from the female Naga's head, from which blue blood splattered—a form of intimidation.

"Humans... the Naga warned you before, don't approach the near seas. Even if you kill us, it won't change anything. There are millions of Naga troops in the ocean. We Naga have no interest in land, but we can't let you go to the ocean. Hiss—"

The female Naga made a hissing sound as she spoke, and then immediately self-destructed.

Detonating the magic within her body certainly wouldn't cause Melissa any harm, but Naga's decisiveness still surprised Saint Karina.

Unlike the weak human race, the Naga are brave and warlike, and every one of them takes pride in being a warrior, regardless of gender.

The exploding chunks of flesh and blue blood soaked the beach, mingling with the purple blood of the male Naga, creating a strange and eerie beauty.

However, Saint Karina frowned slightly, because she knew that the blood of normal Naga, whether male or female, should be blue, not purple.

However, the female Naga's last warning before her death was to inform her of the size of the Naga tribe, an army of millions, and that they were located in the deep sea, a place even Saint Karina at her peak dared not easily set foot in.

Fighting underwater is completely different from fighting on land. Even Melissa, at most, will probably only swim on the surface of the sea in her life, not dive deep.

As for naval combat, this is definitely Melissa's first time. Leaving aside how much of her land-based strength she can utilize, achieving even half of it would be quite impressive. Melissa specializes in shadow magic, while the Naga specialize in sea magic, a variant of water magic, and a more powerful, enhanced version of it.

The Naga in the sea and the Naga on land are definitely two different levels of strength.

Looking at the serpentine tracks on the beach, Saint Karina suddenly felt a headache coming on. She hadn't expected that after just resolving the demonic tide problem, she would encounter the even more troublesome Naga race.

After much deliberation, Saint Karina decided not to rush into the sea, but to first go to a nearby human settlement to inquire about the specific situation before making a decision.

Following the directions on the map of the Lorian Empire given to them by Brenda, Saint Karina and Melissa headed together to the nearest town, Hochas.

Along the way, they discovered some damaged human structures. However, these were all located near the sea, within a 1km radius. The human structures further away showed signs of past inhabitants, but were now abandoned.

Although the Naga did not continue to destroy these buildings, seeing those terrifying sea creatures, they probably wouldn't dare to continue living there.

Generally speaking, without a large number of casualties, it won't affect human activities. However, most of the residents here rely on fishing for a living, and the Naga's refusal to allow humans to go to sea cuts off their livelihood.

If the timeline drags on, many families will face a financial crisis and may even starve to death.

But judging from Naga's actions towards Saint Karina, she knew that these guys were far too powerful for fishermen to withstand.

24. Golden Sunshine Tavern

Afterwards, Santa Karina and Melissa arrived at the town's family tavern.

The tavern is a two-story wooden building. The upper floor is a large hall for dining and drinking, while the second floor is for the tavern's own living quarters and also provides accommodation for guests.

The plaque hanging above the door reads "Golden Sunshine." The double wooden doors are half-open, and the tavern is brightly lit. There are quite a few customers, and the atmosphere is very lively. The most crowded table is one where Saint Karina walks towards the tavern.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that some people were having a drinking contest.

The women here have very well-developed figures, thanks to seafood and the climate, plus the fact that they often eat papaya, their breasts are especially impressive!

This can be seen not only from the girls drinking at the table, but also from the female waitresses in the restaurant. They wear revealing clothes, such as skirts with a piece of cloth wrapped around their lower body to show off their long legs, and only a sexy and elegant bra on their upper body.

"Little Lina! Do you think you can hold your own? You should call your mother out! Hahaha!"

After speaking, the man let out a rough laugh.

The man was probably in his thirties or forties, old enough to be the uncle of the little Lina he was talking about. He was bald, had a big belly, and looked very strong. Behind him stood a group of guys watching the show.

"That's right! That's right! Don't look down on our Brother Ron, hurry up and call your mother!"

However, their provocations didn't work on Lina.

With wheat-colored skin, a cute face, braided hair, and big, round eyes, the girl held her neck up, looking quite stubborn.

Behind her was a group of young women, most of whom were still wearing bar uniforms; they were probably the waitresses who sold drinks there.

She had an even stronger presence than the bald, burly man; at such a young age, she already commanded respect.

"It's true that my mom owns this Golden Sunshine Tavern, but I'm 16 years old now, and I'll be in charge of it sooner or later. Someone as insignificant as you doesn't need my mom's involvement at all; I'm enough!"

After she finished speaking, she gave a thumbs-up and then made a downward gesture.

She was booing the bald, burly man. Ron was clearly losing face.

"You little brat! Let me teach you how to talk to your elders instead of your mother!"

"Tch! You'd better pay up if you lose the drinking contest later, old man!"

This caused an uproar.

Neither of the leaders was willing to back down, and their followers cheered them on. In fact, although the bald, burly man spoke with great bravado, most of the guests knew that although Lina was young, she had a surprisingly high alcohol tolerance.

Perhaps due to inheriting her mother's genes, no one has been able to beat her in drinking contests; people just habitually make boastful remarks before the competition.

As for the competition, the winner gets all the drinks for free, plus a prize of ten gold coins.

Don't be fooled by the fact that nobles trade in gold coins—thousands or even tens of thousands of gold coins at a time—gold coins actually have considerable purchasing power. For example, the rye wine cups that the two sides drink in a competition only cost 4-6 copper coins, and those are the large, substantial kind.

In the Lorian Empire, the currency conversion ratio was as follows: one gold coin was equal to one hundred silver coins, one silver coin was equal to ten copper coins, and ten gold coins were equivalent to ten thousand copper coins.

For an average person, the daily expenses for a family member are around 100 silver coins.

Even if you're a little extravagant, replacing your usual black bread with white bread, and buying butter, jam, bacon, and smoked meat, along with milk or ale, is enough to live a luxurious life all year round.

"Alright! Both sides are confident, so let the match begin!"

The referee was, of course, a waitress at the tavern. Upon hearing the signal, both sides immediately began to exert themselves.

The two men acted simultaneously, each grabbing a glass from the surface of the other's liquor, displaying impressive postures and an air of overwhelming power. Both were quick, bringing the glasses to their lips and beginning to gulp down the rye liquor.

"Gurgling..."

The sound of gulping down drinks echoed in the tavern. After downing a glass of rye, the two men put down their glasses at the same time.

With a loud "bang," the two then picked up another glass filled with alcohol.

The way they were drinking made it seem like they were drinking mineral water with no alcohol content, not alcohol.

"Humph."

The bald, burly man snorted coldly. Although he had an amazing capacity for alcohol and drank quite quickly, he was still dissatisfied that he was drinking at about the same speed as a young girl.

The cheers of "Brother Ron" from the sidelines made his head feel a little lightheaded, as if he were walking on soft clouds.

So he sped up his drinking, trying to distance himself from Lina and gain the upper hand.

By the time he finished his second glass, the bald, burly man had put down his glass much faster than Lina, and after a few glasses, he had gained a full glass of rye beer ahead of Lina.

"Ron! Well done! You got that little girl drunk!"

The patrons standing on his side were naturally very excited and immediately cheered for the bald, burly man.

However, Lina seemed completely unconcerned about the bald man's temporary lead, maintaining her own pace and continuing to drink at a steady speed.

"Gurgling..."

This is almost the tenth glass of rye beer. We've already finished two rows of empty beer, so it's time to start the second row.

At this point, the bald, burly man had already gained a lead of half a glass of wine over Lina, and compared to the beginning, his pace slowed down somewhat in the later glasses.

On the surface, he had the upper hand, but his breathing had begun to become erratic.