Chapter 39

Lisha had long anticipated his reaction and smiled as she said, "The Scars of Corruption require regular medication, otherwise they will fester and cause unbearable itching. I guess you were once injured and sought treatment from a church priest, who told you it was a side effect that needed regular medication, right?"

The silver coin's eyes nearly popped out. Lisha's description was as if she had seen it with her own eyes. What did this mean?

"Don't be surprised. I once had this 'side effect' too. Do you know how I got rid of it?" As she spoke, Lisha cast a Purification Spell, running her hand over the silver coin's exposed arm, shining holy light on it. The festering and oozing areas visibly healed.

No, it was even whiter and softer than before. Did this holy light have a beautifying effect?

Perhaps noticing the silver coin's astonishment, Lisha explained awkwardly, "I just got into the habit of beautifying things a bit. It's free, of course."

"How did you get rid of it?" Looking at his fully healed arm, the silver coin knew his guess was probably right.

In the past, even with medication, his skin always felt tight. Now, after being illuminated by the light, even that tightness was gone. For the first time in years, the silver coin felt his skin truly belonged to him.

"I reincarnated myself as a lich," Lisha said.

Years ago, when the world's transit station suddenly broke down and Lisha lost contact with her superiors, she ran out of medication. Faced with the choice of dying in agony from the festering or abandoning her faith to become a lich, Lisha chose the latter.

"A lich!?" The silver coin was shocked, looking at Lisha in disbelief. How could such a vibrant and beautiful woman be a lich?

Seeing his disbelief, Lisha had to summon a soul fire to show him.

"Can you perform a miracle and heal my entire body?" the silver coin asked.

"Of course, but do you believe in Lord Ang? If you don't believe in him, why should you receive his divine protection?" The light in Lisha's eyes reminded the silver coin of the minotaurs on the streets of the capital, who lured people to pray.

However, things were not that simple. The silver coin had a secret mission this time. If he healed the Scars of Corruption but converted to something else, could he still return safely?

Seeing his hesitation, Lisha laughed, "The two maids following you are Holy Servants, right?"

The silver coin nodded, slightly surprised but not too shocked. After all, Lisha was someone who could be controlled with the Scars of Corruption, so recognizing Holy Servants was normal.

"Who sent you? For the Sacred Essence Liquid? To forcibly take it? Two Holy Servants can quickly locate and teleport a team of people. It seems the one who sent you is prepared for a forced takeover."

The silver coin nodded and added, "First, we try to spread the word. If we can make you believe in the Light and offer it willingly, that's best. If not, we'll take it by force. But when I saw the inscriptions on Lord Lan's body, I knew it was impossible. Lord Lan has the shroud inscription, so she's also a lich, but she used the same method to appear human."

Lisha immediately showed a devout expression and said, "That is the power of Lord Ang."

The silver coin took a deep breath and said, "I know who you used to be. Looking at your priestly... uh, devout appearance, you must be a saint whose duty is to spread the glory of God, preach the gospel, guide the lost, and illuminate the abyss with holy light, right?"

"Priestly? That's because you don't understand. Once you understand the power of Lord Ang, you won't think I'm deceiving you," Lisha said with a smile, not getting angry.

...

Using the excuse of finding the producer of the Essence Liquid and needing to scout the area, they put on a show with Lisha: "Our headquarters is in a very secret location. We can't bring too many people, including you. If you go, you'll have to wear a blindfold."

The silver coin pretended to argue a bit and finally reluctantly left the two maids behind.

Having deceived the maids, he was worried about how to deceive Anna and Lan, the high-ranking officials of Ice City, but he saw the two women waiting on the road.

"You... you were acting all along?" The silver coin suddenly understood. He had thought Ice City was riddled with spies, but the biggest leaks were Lan and Anna.

Lan shrugged, "Lisha recognized your maids as soon as she arrived, so we just played along."

"Ah, with Saint Lisha here, the Church of Light's tricks are probably all known to you. This mission was doomed to fail from the start. But that's also my value. If there was no risk of failure, Leonard would have come himself, ha ha." The silver coin's laugh was somewhat bitter.

Anyone would find it hard to let go. Originally, the silver coin was grateful to the Church of Light for providing him with medication, but he never knew they were the ones who caused his illness.

"So I became an apostate. Let's go. By the way, it's best if we reach our destination the same day, otherwise spending the night outdoors will be very uncomfortable." Lisha rubbed her hand, looking somewhat disdainful, possibly referring to her skin.

Although Lisha explained the concepts of projection and guardianship on the way, the silver coin still found it hard to accept when he saw Ang, a heretical skeleton, cutting vegetables with a scythe and covered in mud in the planting area.

Because of the Scars of Corruption, the silver coin had developed a hatred for the Church of Light, but years of faith and self-hypnosis had made him instinctively reject heresy.

He knew this feeling was wrong and was about to adjust himself when he heard the flapping of wings behind him. Turning around, he saw an angel carrying a bucket of manure flying by.

The silver coin's jaw dropped. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, pointing at the angel skeleton and looking at Lisha, "This... this... this..."

If Lisha, the Holy Saint, was still within the realm of 'human,' then the angel was 'sacred.' Humans could apostatize, but angels were sacred. How could they... how could they carry manure?

The Scars of Corruption only made the silver coin hate the Church of Light, but the sight of an angel carrying manure shattered his faith, making him doubt if what he was seeing was real.

Lisha maintained her smile and shrugged, not explaining. She couldn't reveal everything, after all. A bit of mystery was the key to maintaining reverence. Fear leads to respect.

At that moment, Ang, who had been slowly cutting vegetables, suddenly moved. He bent his knees, leaped into the air, and rolled, the wind element propelling him like a cannonball toward a corner. He landed like a war god in front of a minotaur woman.

The minotaur woman and her calves were hiding behind the plants, secretly munching on beet leaves, which were sweeter than ordinary plants, making their eyes squint in delight.

Only when Ang landed in front of them did the minotaur woman realize it, pulling her neck back and slowly turning to face Ang's eye sockets, which glowed with a blue flame.

Stealing vegetables!