Chapter 16

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Volume 2 + Chapter 16: The Abandoned Church

The abandoned church stood halfway up the mountainside.  

Xia Yi knew of this place—she had once asked Gill about it. According to him, the church had been built long ago, back when the Rhine Kingdom still governed this region of Seaside City.  

They had erected the church with the intent to spread their faith.  

But the locals had shown little interest in the teachings of the Rhine people. The missionary efforts bore scant fruit, and as turmoil grew around Seaside City, the priests and nuns fled to escape the encroaching war.  

Left without caretakers, the church gradually fell into ruin. Occasionally, vagrants would take shelter within its crumbling walls—a fact Gill knew well because the Penguin Gang sometimes extorted “protection fees” from those very squatters.  

Recently, though, the gang hadn’t bothered with the place. When Xia Yi asked, Gill had mentioned it only in passing.  

Yet now, amidst the pitch-black expanse of Seaside City, the abandoned church was the only structure aglow with light.  

“Serra, let’s go check it out!” Xia Yi pointed toward the distant mountainside.  

The two of them set off, making their way up the overgrown path. The neglected trail, choked with weeds, bore clear signs of recent passage—trampled grass hinted at visitors.  

Someone’s definitely been here.  

A suspicion took root in Xia Yi’s mind.  

Arriving at the church entrance, she looked up. A massive bell hung from the steeple, its surface rusted by sea winds, its once-sacred presence now eerie against the night sky.  

“Your Highness, the door’s locked—deliberately so. It won’t budge,” Serra reported, standing before the entrance. Flickering light seeped through the cracks, casting a glow on the red-haired maid.  

Xia Yi stepped closer.  

The door wasn’t barred from the inside. Instead, a thick iron chain wrapped around the exterior, fastened with a magically sealed lock impervious to ordinary means.  

“Can you open it?” Xia Yi asked.  

“Too easy.”  

Serra smiled faintly.  

“Your Highness, please step back.”  

“Alright.”  

Xia Yi retreated several paces, curious to witness the elite maid’s method for bypassing a magical seal.  

What followed left her stunned.  

With a swift pivot, Serra raised her leg—her slender, black-stockinged limb lashing out like a whip. The impact struck the door with thunderous force.  

BOOM!  

The church doors—along with a portion of the wall—shattered into splinters beneath the maid’s kick.  

Dragonkin strength was nothing short of terrifying.  

The magic lock clattered uselessly to the ground, its enchantments rendered irrelevant.  

“Your Highness?” Serra tilted her head at Xia Yi’s frozen expression.  

“I’ve learned something today!”  

Xia Yi—enlightened!  

“Shall we proceed, Your Highness?”  

“Mmm!” 

Serra and Xia Yi stepped through the shattered remnants of the church door, following the flickering light deeper into the decaying structure. As they rounded a crumbling pillar, they came upon a gathering of figures—all clad in the distinctive uniforms of Laurel Academy.  

“There they are!” Xia Yi immediately recognized them as the missing students.  

“Are you all right?” she called out, stepping forward.  

But the students didn’t respond normally. Their glassy eyes stared into nothingness as they swayed slightly, caught in some shared delirium.  

“Hehe… coming… it’s coming soon…” one girl giggled, plucking at her uniform sleeves.  

“Take us home… back to the sea…” a boy murmured, his fingers tracing invisible patterns in the air.  

“Offer ourselves… for happiness…” another whispered, her voice dreamy.  

Xia Yi exchanged a glance with Serra. The students’ condition mirrored the trance-like state of Seaside City’s residents. Whatever madness had taken hold of the town had claimed these scholars first.  

“Your Highness,” Serra said quietly, “I’ve found something significant nearby.”  

The maid led Xia Yi to a makeshift campsite hidden behind the church’s rotting pews. Bedrolls, research equipment, and stacks of notes created a chaotic workspace.  

“It appears they’ve been using this church as a base for some time,” Serra observed, brushing dust from an open journal. “Long before we arrived in Seaside City.”  

Xia Yi picked up a nearby notebook. “What were they researching?”  

“The same as us—the Black Tide.”  

Serra handed over a thick folder of documents. As Xia Yi flipped through the pages, the story unfolded before her. The Black Tide wasn’t a new phenomenon—records indicated similar events occurring in Golder’s history over a thousand years ago, though on a much smaller scale. Back then, they’d been dismissed as ordinary maritime disasters.  

That would have been shortly after Queen Xialulu ascended as the Silver Dragon Monarch.  

But now the Black Tide had returned with terrifying intensity, swallowing coastal cities whole. These students had come to study it for academic credit, never expecting to become victims themselves.  

“So here’s the gist of it—”  

Xia Yi quickly summarized the findings for Serra.  

“Your Highness, that’s… remarkable,” Serra said, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.  

“What’s so remarkable about it?” Xia Yi blinked. She’d just read the reports aloud—wasn’t that basic?  

“Though I’ve studied human languages,” Serra explained, “these documents contain specialized terminology I can’t comprehend. Yet you understood everything at a glance. Your fluency is astonishing—especially considering your usual struggles in International Linguistics class.”  

Because I was the Human Sword Saint in my past life! Xia Yi thought, suppressing a sigh. Reading human writing is as natural as breathing to me!  

But to Serra, this sudden proficiency made no sense. The maid had no idea her princess’s true identity was that of the legendary human warrior.  

No way I can let anyone find out, Xia Yi panicked internally. The great Sword Saint, reborn as a dragon girl… how humiliating!  

“Ah? Oh… I-I… it’s just… natural talent!” she stammered, waving her hands dismissively.  

“Is that so?” Serra’s gaze sharpened slightly.  

“Oh! Speaking of which!” Xia Yi abruptly pointed at the students, seizing the first distraction she could find. “Haven’t you noticed? There are only six of them here!”  

Serra’s expression shifted as she scanned the group. “You’re right. We encountered eight Laurel Academy students in total. Two are missing.” She glanced around the ruined chapel. “I found no one else while searching earlier. Only these six remain in the church.”  

“Two must have left—and locked the doors behind them,” Xia Yi reasoned. “Either to keep their companions trapped… or to prevent outsiders from entering.”  

“A sound deduction,” Serra nodded. “But where would those two go? If they’re not hiding, and are still able to move freely…”  

Xia Yi exhaled quietly. Good. Dodged that awkwardness.  

Her thoughts drifted to the human girl she’d met before. She’s not here among them…  

For some reason, that absence nagged at her.  

Flipping through the documents again, Xia Yi’s eyes caught the last page—a participant list she’d skimmed over earlier. One name leaped out at her, freezing her in place.  

Accompanying Faculty: Hill Gibran.  

This is my… student?!  

The realization struck like lightning. Hill—her most promising disciple from her Sword Saint days—was here, in Golde, wrapped up in this Black Tide disaster. And now, two researchers are missing…  

Xia Yi’s grip tightened on the papers. Just what have you gotten yourself into, Hill?