Chapter 445: Where is the Princess

"Does this Enlightenment state last all the time?" Ashe asked, glancing around at the others. "And none of your 'next steps' seem to involve actual work... so is our Funeral Agency just shutting down on the spot?"

"This isn't work hours. It's a daily interaction phase meant for team bonding," Annan replied. "But no, Enlightenment definitely isn't active all day. Down here in the lower city, you only get five minutes of Enlightenment per hour."

The moment the words left Annan's mouth, Harvey's lighter finally sparked, igniting his Catnip cigarette with a soft puff. It felt like a cue for release. Instantly, Iger relaxed, returning to his usual self. Pankey snapped his notebook shut, instantly exiting his frantic writing trance. Annan let go of Ashe's arm, though she remained seated right beside him.

Only Lys stayed buried against his chest like an ostrich, far too embarrassed to show her face.

"How did it feel?" Ashe asked.

"Honestly? Pretty damn good," the necromancer blew a smoke ring out toward the sprawling underground city. "An irresistible craving, completely suppressed by a higher tier of logic. Absolute willpower overriding every single impulse... it felt as easy as life did before prison."

"Agreed," Pankey said, nodding. "It's like a clogged drain suddenly clearing out. Every thought flows perfectly. The moment a concept crosses your mind, you understand it completely. The name Enlightenment fits it perfectly. And unlike Vanmura's White Mist, this brings genuine mental clarity, not just some cheap, forced physical high from stimulated receptors. If people get five minutes of this every hour, it's no wonder so many choose to stay in the lower city."

"Sounds decent enough," Ashe said before turning his attention to the fraudster. "But Iger, why did you look so miserable? Wouldn't it have been easier to just lean into your intuition?"

Iger shot him a venomous glare. "And whose fault do you think that is?!"

Ashe spread his hands innocently. "Mine?"

The fraudster took a deep, centering breath and averted his eyes. "As a well-prepared Mind Class sorcerer, I've already made my choices. I don't need Enlightenment to dictate what's best for me."

Annan interjected suddenly, "Ashe, did you not enter Enlightenment just now?"

Ashe thought about it for a moment. "I didn't feel any different. Maybe I'm already as smart as the Enlightenment."

Harvey choked on his smoke. Iger's mouth twitched with irritation. Pankey's hand slipped, spilling a bit of tea as he poured. Annan, meanwhile, burst into a fit of laughter, leaning heavily against Ashe's shoulder until she practically cried. Even Lys began trembling with muffled laughter in his arms.

As much as Ashe was annoyed, he couldn't really bully the others. Since Lys was fair game, he could only take it out on her by messing up her hair again.

Despite the teasing, no one actually found it strange that Ashe hadn't experienced the Enlightenment. Within the Gospel system, Ashe was explicitly labeled as the Disrupter of Fate. In other words, he didn't even register as an external worker. At best, he was a highly dangerous invasive species. Naturally, he wouldn't be privy to local citizen benefits like the Enlightenment.

"Alright," Annan stood up, dusting herself off. "Whether it's the Isa Imperial Family or someone else, whoever is mimicking Ashe is a minor footnote. Our ultimate goal has always been the Divine Lord's wish. The Assassinate the Princess plan doesn't change just because of a few small disruptions. Let's move. My appointment time is coming up."

"Where are we going?"

"To find the one person in Nabistin who is most likely to know exactly where the princess is hiding."

***

Ashe watched Pankey pack three Raven Aerial motorbikes into his suitcase. He couldn't help but look over at Iger and Harvey. "Why don't you two have rewards that good from the ranking?"

Harvey replied, "My reward is great. The Ghost King Shackles let me transform directly into an undead creature. To me, that's like letting you become your favorite game character."

Perhaps it was a lingering side effect of the Gospel Enlightenment, but Harvey's eloquence had suddenly shot through the roof. Ashe found himself entirely at a loss for words.

Defeated, he turned to Iger. The fraudster merely raised a brow. "My reward is the Kingdom Gold Coin, which protects mental fortitude. I gave it to Anphel. It was meant as a—"

Ashe cut in instantly. "Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Sorry. I got too arrogant. Bold of me to go poking around your token of love."

Before Iger could snap back, Annan gestured for them to enter.

The Funeral Agency squad descended deeper into the underground city's sewer system. Despite being called a sewer, it wasn't filthy or foul-smelling. Still, the dim yellow lighting did little to make it look clean. Unlike standard sewers, the walkway cut straight through the middle, flanked by deep water channels on both sides. Armed sea witches lurked within those dark waters, tracking the group's every step with predatory gazes.

Walking down that path, Ashe and the others felt like livestock being led straight to a butcher's table. A heavy, vague sense of dread hung over their hearts.

Guided by a sea witch, they eventually reached the end of the sewer, arriving at the Mermaid Palace of Nabistin. Much like the service industries above ground, the palace was divided into distinct departments: People, Events, Forces, and Sorcery. Quite a few cloaked figures were scattered throughout the grand space, handling their business while actively working out.

Seeing such a structured, almost mundane corporate environment allowed everyone to breathe a small sigh of relief. Annan spoke up, "Aren't we heading to the People section?"

The sea witch offered no reply, only a curt, "Please follow me."

She led them deeper into the palace, stopping outside a grand meeting room where she made a sweeping gesture of invitation. The Funeral Agency members exchanged uneasy glances. The surrounding waters were teeming with sea witch guards. There was no room to retreat.

Annan pushed the door open.

Inside stood a brilliantly lit conference room centered around a long table. Instead of chairs, deep water channels encircled the table, with ten sea witches floating gracefully within them. Various pieces of exercise equipment were scattered around the perimeter, and the damp, intense gazes of the room's occupants swept freely over the newcomers.

Purple Moth's eyes widened as she recognized a familiar face. "Sirimoro? What are you doing in Nabistin?"

Sirimoro was a sea witch from Azura's sewers. Back when Annan was forging fake identities for Ashe and the crew, she had cashed in a massive favor to help Sirimoro secure her position as a sea witch. That single connection had saved the Funeral Agency thousands of Gospel Points every year.

"The night you left Azura, I was recalled to Nabistin," Sirimoro said with a casual shrug. She gestured with her eyes toward the sea witch seated at the head of the table. "But I'm not the one calling the shots here."

Annan looked toward the head of the table, a nagging sense of familiarity tugging at her memory. "I booked this appointment as an ordinary customer. Do ordinary customers routinely receive personal audiences from ten sea witches?"

"Ordinary customers aren't qualified," the leading sea witch said, her voice echoing coldly. "But the arrival of Purple Moth, Rusty Crow, Ghost King, and Demon Lord demands the highest level of reception."

"You predicted we were coming?"

The sea witch raised a hand. "The water knows all. You know our rules. Please, choose your preferred exercise equipment."

The sea witches possessed a bizarre cultural quirk. They took immense pleasure in watching others exercise. Especially during negotiations, failing to break a sweat was viewed as a profound insult. Knowing the tradition, Ashe and the others didn't question it. They each picked a machine and got to work.

Iger, possessing the weakest stamina of the lot, hopped onto an elliptical. Harvey took the parallel bars, while Pankey claimed the horizontal bar. Ashe and Annan both mounted stationary bicycles, and Lys grabbed a jump rope.

Once they were all moving, the leading sea witch spoke again, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the chair of the Ten Sea Witches Council, one of the seven members of Nabistin's Bottom-City Decision Group, and the head of the Mermaid Palace of Nabistin. I am the First Sea Witch, Heliphas."

The Funeral Agency members froze mid-motion. Then, the color drained from their faces. Instantly, all of them drew their weapons.

Click!

Heavy gun turrets dropped seamlessly from the ceiling and walls. Cold, merciless barrels locked onto the guests who had dared to brandish steel on someone else's turf.

Yet Ashe and the others felt they had no choice. Their opponent was Heliphas. More precisely, the Witch of Chaos, Heliphas, ranked second overall on the Heretical Arts Ranking!

The ranking had already exposed that Heliphas was a sea witch, but sea witches were common throughout the Gospel ecosystem. Every city had them, and even the elite Six-Emblem Families included them in their ranks. No one could have anticipated that a routine information buy would drop them right into the lap of Heliphas herself, let alone that she ruled the local mermaids.

It felt like stepping out to buy a pack of cigarettes only to run face-first into an apex predator eager to tear you apart. Furthermore, underworld secrets like the true identities of local bosses were impossible for Annan to dig up unless the leaders chose to reveal themselves.

Had this meeting happened earlier in the afternoon, they wouldn't have been so utterly terrified. But Rank Five, Rogue, had just committed suicide hours ago. Now they were standing before Rank Two. Looking at it from the other side's perspective, their sudden arrival looked less like a business meeting and more like a direct provocation.

Just as the tension reached a breaking point, Heliphas raised her hand. The automated turrets vanished back into the ceiling.

"Are we still planning to do business?" she asked, resting her chin on her hand. "Life thrives in movement. Sea witches thrive in the flow. If you want to negotiate, keep moving."

The Funeral Agency members exchanged frantic looks. Annan gave a tight, subtle nod. Slowly, they sheathed their weapons and resumed exercising, though every movement was now stiff with adrenaline.

"Let me guess," Heliphas said, a faint smile playing on her lips. "The information you're sweating for... is the current location of the next Isa Empress. The princess destined to become the Gospel's First. Am I right?"

Annan didn't break her stride on the bike. "And do you know where she is?"

"I do," Heliphas replied.