After some thought, Freya felt that if she wanted to achieve a better ending, there were only two ways to go about it. First, she could increase her own combat strength so that she could participate in the operation to surround and suppress the mastermind behind Obsidian. However, to be honest, this was a bit difficult; she didn't have the slightest clue about the subsequent potions of the War Pathway.
The second method was to increase their numbers. If ten people fighting one resulted in three of their own getting killed, what if she brought twenty people? Thirty people?
In the system's death preview, although the people from the Church of the Earth only appeared for a brief few seconds, both their expressions upon seeing Freya and their action of venturing deep into danger to look for survivors were enough for Freya to determine that this church was full of good people.
For this simulation, Freya still chose to use the "War Freya" save slot. After all, now that she had a powerful save slot, why would she use her original self?
Walking along the streets in the early morning, even though it was very early, Freya could still see many pedestrians rushing about, such as students hurrying to school and workers rushing to their jobs.
Speaking of which, Freya only just realized that she was supposed to be one of these many students. However, she was too lazy to even go to school to ask for leave; she would just skip it.
Just as Freya was thinking this, a figure caught her attention. Amidst the rushing crowd, a young girl wearing a monocle and leaning on a cane with her right hand stood quietly. She was like a reef in a turbulent river, completely unmoving.
Aside from her looking completely out of place being highly eye-catching, another thing that drew Freya's gaze was that the girl was very beautiful. Humans are visual creatures, and Freya was no exception. What was wrong with taking a few extra looks at a pretty girl?
The girl looked around as if searching for something and soon spotted Freya, who also looked somewhat out of place in the rushing crowd. She froze for a moment, her face showing a hint of pleasant surprise, but she quickly frowned, turned, and walked away without looking back, soon vanishing into the crowd.
Freya tilted her head slightly but didn't think too much of it. After all, she still had proper business to attend to. Following the original owner's memories, she quickly arrived at the northern side of the city.
On a spacious plaza, a massive domed building loomed before her. Narrow stained-glass windows lined the walls on both sides of the building, and the main entrance was a double arched wooden door. Right above this wooden door, a pattern of a plant sprouting roots and budding was carved.
At this moment, a long queue had already formed next to the Church of the Earth, where two devotees in light green robes were handing out free food.
Although Freya had "seen" the people from the Church of the Earth once in the original owner's memories and once in the system's death preview, seeing them with her own eyes now, she still felt that the clothes these devotees wore were a bit strange.
The most obvious thing was that while the commoners queuing for food each had a pair of shoes on their feet—perhaps very worn and old, but at least they were wearing them—the people from the Church of the Earth were all barefoot.
This certainly wasn't because they were too poor to afford shoes. Freya guessed that perhaps there was some rule in the Church of the Earth, such as believers having to keep their feet firmly planted on the ground?
Uh... did this count as being "down-to-earth"?
In addition, the light green clothes worn by these people from the Church of the Earth gave off a very loose and thin feeling. To use an analogy, it was like a petite girl wearing nothing but an oversized boyfriend shirt.
The shirt was large enough to cover all the places that needed to be covered without exposing anything.
While she pondered, Freya walked toward the main entrance of the Church of the Earth. Her mind was entirely consumed by thoughts of how to gain this church's trust and request their help.
Should she just directly say she was an extraordinary who had divined a disaster thirty days from now?
Or should she claim to be an ordinary person who had encountered setbacks and fallen into despair, coming to listen to the divine will?
Or... should she just find a way to trick these people into going to Sanheng Street first, let them fight the Obsidian boss, and once a bunch of them died and they fully believed in the disaster thirty days later, find a way to ask for some kind of "token"? Then she could end the simulation with the token, carry it into the next simulation, and directly present it to gain their trust?
However, despite Freya thinking so much, she was stopped before she could even enter the door. A male devotee who was at least 1.8 meters tall raised his hand to block her path.
For Freya, who was barely over 1.6 meters tall, this required her to crane her neck to look up. She raised her head to look at him, and just as she was about to act a little cute to ask what was going on, the devotee said with a solemn face, “Apologies, but rogue extraordinaries like you are not welcome here. Please leave.”
Freya blinked, completely dazed for several seconds, a question mark practically appearing over her head. Wait, what?
Pausing for a moment, Freya still tried to play dumb and act cute to get through. She clasped her hands together in front of her cheek. “Um... you guys are always doing good deeds, helping commoners, and aiding those in need. I just wanted to learn more about the Church of the Earth...”
But before she could finish, she was interrupted by the other party. “Please leave.”
Freya could clearly see a look of blatant disgust on his face. It didn't look like he was looking at a soft, cute little girl at all, but rather at a loathsome cockroach.
This was the first time Freya had ever encountered such a situation. Others were usually very lenient with her because of her looks, but this time was an exception.
Freya couldn't help but wonder if the guy in front of her was gay.
“Fine.” Since the other party was so resolute, Freya naturally had no intention of forcing her way in. She turned and left, quietly pondering in her heart. After thinking it over, she felt that the main reason they didn't welcome her was likely her identity as an extraordinary of the War Pathway.
But how could he tell I'm an extraordinary at a single glance? How did he do it?
Although she couldn't figure out why, now that she had a hypothesis, she just had to try again. Freya immediately ended the simulation. In reality, she spent a boring hour lying on her bed, and once the cooldown was over, she started another simulation.
This time, she chose to use the "00" save slot, entering the simulation as an ordinary person.
Then... in the simulation, Freya looked at the pitch-black night outside, quietly lying in bed as she murmured, “Why do I feel like I just slept not too long ago?”
Mainly, who would have thought the previous simulation would end so quickly?
Left with no choice since she really couldn't fall asleep, Freya grew so bored that she got out of bed and began to read. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself slumped over the desk, with sunlight streaming through the window and illuminating her face.
She squinted first, adapting to the light, before stretching and saying, “Knowledge... really is useful.”
Afterward, just like in the previous simulation, Freya headed out toward the Church of the Earth. At the exact same time and place, she once again saw the beautiful girl wearing a monocle who had left a deep impression on her.
However, just as Freya thought the other party would turn and leave like last time, she noticed the girl actually walking straight toward her.
The girl was about half a head taller than Freya. Her delicate facial features looked just like a doll's, and her ruby-like, gorgeous eyes reflected Freya's figure. A pleasant curve formed at the corner of her lips. Upon arriving in front of Freya, she bowed slightly, performing a very gentlemanly gesture.
“My super-cute young lady, you look so worried. Have you run into some kind of trouble? Why don't you tell me about it? The Great Detective 【Euphemia】 is at your service~”
Freya: “?”
Looking at what was happening—which was completely different from the last simulation—Freya asked reflexively, “Why did you come over this time?”
Now it was Euphemia's turn to look puzzled. “What do you mean 'this time'? Have we met before? But that shouldn't be. You're so cute; if I had seen you even once, there's no way I wouldn't remember.”
Freya pondered. The only difference between this time and the last was that she was currently an ordinary person, not an extraordinary of the War Pathway. So, were extraordinaries of the War Pathway really that disliked?
In any case, since Euphemia's attitude differed based on this small detail, she was highly unlikely to be an ordinary person either.
Euphemia continued, “So, do you have any worries? For instance, did you accidentally lose something precious, or perhaps you want to dig up some dirt on people you dislike? I can easily solve those for you~”
Freya can't help but complain, “Can someone who solves such trivial matters really be called a great detective?”
Euphemia's expression stiffened before she said, “Ahem, those were just examples, examples! At least up until now, I've handled seven or eight cases, and I've solved every single one of them perfectly!”
Euphemia's current thoughts were very simple. She's just a sweet little thing. What major worries could she possibly have?
But in the next second, Freya's words made Euphemia freeze completely. Freya tilted her head slightly and asked, “So, are you an extraordinary?”
No testing the waters, no beating around the bush. She just asked directly. Since she was in a simulation anyway, she might as well be straightforward with whatever she wanted to do.
“Uh...” Hearing Freya's outrageous opening question, Euphemia couldn't help but feel a slight urge to back down. Extraordinary powers were still a secret against the backdrop of this world. Since Freya knew about extraordinaries, she definitely wasn't an ignorant ordinary person, which meant her worries were highly unlikely to be ordinary matters either.
Still, Euphemia asked tentatively, “Um... did you hear some weird urban legends somewhere and get curious about whether supernatural forces exist in this world? Actually, those are all just tricks to fool people. There's no such thing as supernatural forces...”
Hearing this, Freya immediately showed a disappointed expression. “No? Then I'm leaving.”
Seeing this, Euphemia hurriedly said, “Ahem, alright, I confess. I am indeed an extraordinary.”
Freya asked again, “Could you disclose which pathway you're on?”
Euphemia: “?”
Are you serious, girl?
Euphemia stared intently at Freya for a long time. Only after judging that the other party was "highly likely to be a good person" did she slowly say, “I am of the Scholar Pathway. What about you? Are you an extraordinary too?”
Freya shook her head. “Not yet.”
Another question mark appeared over Euphemia's head. What does that even mean?
Meanwhile, Freya was thinking. Scholar Pathway? A pathway I've never heard of. It doesn't sound like it has much combat capability. Nevertheless, she said, “Great Detective, what if I told you there is a supervillain in this city brewing an evil plan, intending to... in thirty days—well, technically twenty-nine days now...”
“Anyway, once his plan succeeds, the entire city will be turned into a sea of fire, and countless people will lose their lives because of it...”
Some might think it was a bit ridiculous for Freya to spill such a massive secret to a complete stranger upon their very first meeting. However, she was currently looking for a way to "clear the game," so she naturally had to try various things.
However, before Freya could even finish, Euphemia said excitedly, “I accept this commission! To investigate who the mastermind is, right? Leave it to me!”
The Scholar Pathway Euphemia belonged to granted her an incredibly strong learning ability. Euphemia herself was extremely fond of detective novels and detective stories, so she had studied them diligently, thereby gaining a very powerful ability to "read people."
For instance, she could judge a person's current state, whether they were lying, and so on, through their micro-expressions and inadvertent body language. This was different from Reina's lie-detection ability from the Mind Pathway; Reina's was an extraordinary power and was one hundred percent accurate, whereas Euphemia's was self-taught. If the other party had undergone professional training, there was a chance they could fool her.
Thus, it was by observing Freya that Euphemia saw she was deeply troubled. Combined with how cute Freya was, she had directly approached her.
As for the previous simulation, because Freya was using the War Pathway save slot, Euphemia had judged from her attire and various details on her body that she looked practically like she had just killed someone and run from a crime scene. She didn't look like a good person at all, so Euphemia had simply been scared away.
Returning to the present, if Freya had asked Euphemia to investigate a serial killer, she might have backed down. But if it was to investigate where a hidden "nuclear launch button" in the city was located, she would agree without any hesitation.
Because the former could truly bring trouble upon her and get her killed, whereas for the latter, she would die anyway even if she didn't investigate. But if she did investigate, it was a massive "save the world" mission! How cool was that?
......
Rate on N.U.
