After finally managing to compose herself, Sister Noah sent invitations to Maria and Zofia as she had said she would. She had always believed her past ordeal was just an accident; after all, the investigation results at the time indicated it was a group of rogue bandits, and these bandits were quickly apprehended. The outcome, of course, was immediate execution. She had originally thought everything was over.
Margaret was safe and sound, and only she had contracted Oripathy. This outcome did not make Sister Noah feel wronged; on the contrary... being able to protect Margaret already made her very happy.
Margaret was Yolanta's daughter. If something had happened to Margaret, Sister Noah would never forgive herself, nor would she be able to face her aunt, whom she regarded as a mother.
However, when she discovered the same malice as before, when Maria almost went down her old path, she realized that these guys might not be as simple as mere bandits. And the clue was already very clear: the person who approached Plastic Knight to transfer points back then was very likely the culprit this time.
As expected, when Sister Noah arrived at the hospital where the assassin was, the assassin had already died due to "severe injuries." Kuro would not make such a mistake, meaning he had been silenced. Sister Noah only managed to see the assassin's last moments. According to Kuro, the assassin was around twenty years old, looking rather immature, but upon examination, he was found to be in the late stages of Oripathy, likely a discarded pawn.
Although there were casualties in the melee, the Knight Competition would not pause its schedule due to an incident of this magnitude. Maria received points from the melee. If all went well, after two more arena matches, she would enter the main competition.
As long as she entered the main competition, the Nearl Family family's predicament would be resolved.
So these two matches were the final obstacles preventing Maria from entering the playoffs.
Maria becoming the Lingguang Family's Senior Knight... to be honest, Sister Noah had never imagined Maria could reach this level. She originally thought she would lose in the first few matches, but she didn't expect her talent to be no less than Margaret's, especially after being tutored by Zofia and Manner; her growth was indeed gratifying.
However, Maria was also targeted; this assassination during the free-for-all was merely the first move.
There are no more free-for-alls in the upcoming schedule, so if someone truly intends to strip the Lingguang Family of their Knight title, then these two matches are bound to have problems.
As the spokesperson, Noah can know the schedule in advance, but she cannot manipulate it… Although she is responsible for the preparations of the Knight Tournament this time, the schedule is entirely in the hands of the Knight Association.
Previous spokespersons should have been able to manipulate… or rather, influence the matches, but only Noah was restricted from this right. The main authority for this competition is not with Noah at all; the only thing she can intervene in now is ensuring the smooth running of the Knight Tournament.
Sure enough… although she was pushed into this position, most people just saw her as blind and easy to manipulate.
Her rightful powers were stripped away, under the guise of relieving her pressure, with all the good and bad words clearly stated by the Commercial Federation.
"…To be honest, I initially thought… it would be enough for Maria to just get a taste of the action. Even if she lost, I could still have Viviana accept Maria, and granting a Knight title wouldn't be a difficult thing at all."
Noah said to Kuro, "But I might have been wrong."
"You underestimated that little girl's determination…" Kuro shrugged, "You only thought of preserving the Nearl Family's noble status through this method, but never considered if that child would be willing to accept it."
"That's right, I sent her to the arena—and now it's me again, wanting to bring her home, to hide her. She is indeed very strong, beyond my expectations, but I've also caused her to be targeted by 'those people'."
Noah lowered her head, her voice low. She really didn't expect these people to still be around. They targeted her, targeted Margaret, and now they've targeted Maria.
The truly terrifying enemies are never visible; they are those hidden in the darkness.
Noah didn't know how to defend. If Maria withdrew from the competition, would it stop them from continuing their plan to harm Maria?
She also didn't know… if something really happened to Maria, what would she do, how would she face Margaret, face Yolanta…
Perhaps from the beginning, she shouldn't have supported Maria to compete…
Noah shook her head, "I will try to talk to Maria, hoping she will withdraw herself. I will guarantee that the Nearl Family's noble status will not be lost because of this, but that is all I can do."
"She won't agree, you know that yourself."
"…Then I'll talk to Manner, and to Zofia. Anyway… she can't continue."
Kuro was right, Maria is not the type to give up halfway. But if it was just the Commercial Federation being malicious towards Maria, then she would still have a chance to maneuver. However, if they truly targeted Maria's life… what should she do?
Noah didn't want to gamble…
—
"Insufficient clearance…" While Noah was still contemplating how to make Maria withdraw, Hintleyya was deep in thought. In previous matches, many Shieldless League members were seen in the audience, but as the Platinum Position, she had not received any notification.
And when she went to inquire, she found that her clearance was insufficient to query information about this operation.
"If my Platinum Position clearance isn't enough…" Hintleyya mumbled to herself, "I'm increasingly feeling that Shieldless League is a garbage company… Should I just switch jobs?"
Her insufficient clearance meant that in this operation, at least a Azure level was required to know the full scope of the plan.
What kind of plan… hidden so secretly? Was her Platinum Position title bought with groceries? Why did they have to keep it from her?
Although she had Roy's contact information, she knew that Roy couldn't possibly tell her, meaning Hintleyya could only pretend not to know anything.
This feeling of knowing that her own organization was up to something, but being completely unaware, was truly unpleasant. She was at least a small leader, right? Did they have to keep it a secret?
She was exhausted…
Cats are better. Cats don't lie, and they don't give me impossible tasks.
As the Platinum Position, Hintleyya was very aware of her own strength. She was more than capable compared to those below her, but compared to those above… that would be self-humiliation. If her strength could match Margaret's, why didn't she just go and win the championship back then?
Her strength was stuck right here, unable to go up or down.
Holding her cat, Hintleyya, though still very anxious, temporarily put down the heavy burden in her heart.
"What else can be done? Anyway, nothing more troublesome will happen—it's not like I'll have to go challenge Shining Knight alone later, right?"
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