The Defeated Saintess Is On A Journey To Tame The Evil God Book 01 Chapter 03.02 - Good Sunny Days

As the flames coalesced, the barkeep lowered his head and showed a smile: "Four string magic, Dagger of Truth, impressive."

Alice ignored the barkeep. She grabbed the dagger made of fire and stabbed with it into the empty space beside her, tearing open a hole in the darkness.

At the same time, Alice's eyes turned molten gold, and she gazed at the torn open hole, which seemed to swirl with blurs, with her golden eyes.

As if she had seen something, Alice swiftly turned her head, and her gaze locked on a yellow robed customer in a corner of the bar: "Vivian, it's that guy!"

Her words had just fallen, when a blue bolt of lightning slammed into her chest—

Zzzt—

Blazing lines of light blocked the bolt of lightning. Alice felt a tingling sensation and froze in place.

Almost at the same time, the yellow robed customer rushed out of the door.

Vivian was not in a hurry. She snatched the beer from the barkeep's hand, crushed the bottles' mouth with her bare hand, and took a whiff of the beer.

"The beer is watered down?" Vivian tilted her head.

"If you pay a high price, you'll naturally get good beer." The barkeep smiled.

Vivian shot him a glance, then swung the bottles.

The beer splashed out and ignited with blue flames in midair, forming the shape of an arch.

Vivian stepped into the flames, crossed the void, and in an instant arrived at the alley's entrance, blocking in front of the yellow robed customer.

She lifted her ice blue eyes, which burned with raging frostfire and looked as deep as blue moons in the night sky, and said. "You know Steam Man, don't you?" Vivian said flatly, "If you speak now, you'll get to stay in the dungeons a few days less."

The yellow robbed man was stupefied. The girl in front of him had a delicate figure, and was dressed in an academy uniform. She looked extremely frail. However, the blue flames burning in her eyes surged like raging waves, as if they could devour him alive at any moment.

The lower face of the yellow robbed man, which wasn't covered by the hood, twitched violently. After a brief moment, he took out his wand and played strings of lightning—

Bang—

Blue lightning erupted and, as if a serpent, shot toward Vivian.

In response, Vivian just raised her hand, and a silver armor formed on her arm.

Zzzt—

When the lightning came into contact with the armor, it exploded and, like water falling on rock, splashed in different directions.

Five string magic—Dragon Armor, an indestructible armor made from Elder Dragon scales.

At the moment when the lightning dissipated, the yellow robbed man raised a dagger and rushed forward.

Conversely, Vivian unhurriedly turned her wrist, and a silver short sword appeared in her hand—

Dang—

Dang—

Ding—

Accompanied by flashes of light, following a wave, a block, and a thrust, the man's dagger flew into the air and then landed on the ground in the alley.

The yellow robbed man had not yet reacted, when a silver dagger was already placed across his throat.

"Tell me where Steam Man is." Vivian smiled.

"They'll kill me! They'll kill me!" The man shouted in fright.

"I can also kill you." Vivian chuckled.

"I... I..." The man's face suddenly froze and, under Vivian's gaze, he spewed out black gas from his mouth.

In the next moment, incandescent light poured out of the orifices on his face and the skin on his face cracked—

"Be careful!"

Along with a flash of light, a barrier made of raging flames appeared in front of Vivian, Almost at the same time, the man exploded—

Boom—

A violent explosion swept through the alley and rushed into the sky, startling the seagulls flying around the coast.

After the smoke dissipated, Vivian looked ahead—there was nothing left of the man.

Alice stood not far away. Moments before, she rushed out in a timely manner and used string of fire magic to construct a barrier for Vivian.

Their eyes briefly met, and then the two lowered their heads and sighed.

Sigh.

.......

"The Docklands' explosion incident... was related to Steam Man..."

On the sofa, having just finished dinner, Aurora lifted her head and patted the newspaper in her hand: "Young Saintess, who is Steam Man? Why haven't I heard of him?"

"You arrived at the Citadel just a few days ago. It would be strange if you had heard about him." Xing Mo walked out of the kitchen. She just cleaned the dishes, and she looked like a tired maid.

She pondered over Aurora's words before realizing something wasn't right: "Wait a minute, Steam Man? The Docklands' explosion?"

"Yeah." Aurora handed the newspaper to Xing Mo, "Look, it was quite a big explosion."

Xing Mo quickly took the newspaper and saw that the area where the crime occurred had been cordoned off. The walls of the alley were dyed black, as if they had been burned by a large fire.

According to the newspaper, two Bell Protectors were met with a suicide attack while pursuing clues related to Steam Man. The identity of the suspect had yet to be confirmed.

However, judging by the explosion, this case was surely related to Steam Man.

"So, who is Steam Man?" Aurora patted Xing Mo's hand, "Seems quite scary."

"That's an urban legend." Xing Mo put down the newspaper and sat down on the sofa, "Ever since the Steam Revolution, this legend has been circulating."

Next, Xing Mo roughly recounted Steam Man's story to Aurora.

Year 3105, mystic Terres Athrun discovered the resonance between strings and steam and began manufacturing steam alchemy machines.

Year 3145, academy alchemist Lucius Phillips solved key technological barriers and brought about the mass production of steam alchemy machines, ushering in the Steam Revolution.

This technology ushered in an industrial era for magic, where ordinary people no longer needed the help of Wizards to enjoy the convenience brought by magic. A new era unfolded.

Factories sprung up along the coast of the Northern District, with chimneys discharging alchemical steam into the air. This steam, in turn, was breathed in by workers, leading to their lungs gradually deteriorating.

The lung disease proliferated, and the mortality rate of workers in the Docklands gradually increased. They struggled in the narrow crevices of bronze colored machines and couldn't escape the cage made of steam.

It was against this backdrop that the legend of Steam Man emerged.

Legend had it that it was a monster composed of the souls of workers, wrapped in chains made of bronze colored pipes. It was said that beneath its armor was rotten black flesh burned by scalding steam.

It reportedly roamed the Northern District at night, inflicting the pain of past lives on its prey and forever trapping their souls in the endless steam hell.

This urban legend wasn't very popular in the early days, as its proliferation was limited to the Docklands. It wasn't until this year, when a large number of sightings took place in the Northern District, that this guy caught the attention of the authorities.

…

Xing Mo looked at the picture in the newspaper—a dynamic black and white picture of a Witch in a robe and a girl in an academy uniform talking.

Senior Alice and Senior Vivian are in charge of the Steam Man investigation...

Xing Mo couldn't help but feel worried. In fact, Bell Protectors have already made conjectures regarding Steam Man's identity: he was either some kind of mythical creature, or a phantasm portrayed by some evil cult.

If it's a mythical creature... perhaps Aurora knows?

When this thought occurred to her, Xing Mo asked the pensive looking Aurora: "So? Do you have any clues?"