For these caravan servants, the promised rewards, the lavish dinner, and the comfortable lodgings were more than enough to make their eyes gleam with greed, driving them to wring out every last drop of effort.
Soon, amid the enthusiastic shouts of the caravan hands, the convoy's speed picked up again by several degrees.
"Hurry! Faster still…"
Aniya's heart was racing with anxiety, though she couldn't let even a trace of it show on her face. This torment even reminded her of the most dangerous stretch of her mercantile career—venturing deep into the endless wilderness to negotiate with foul-smelling beastmen.
"But… this crisis is far beyond that tribal trade deal…"
Even Aniya, who had once faced beastmen without flinching, was now truly on edge.
After all, if what she had done was discovered, the crime would be enough to drag her entire family down!
Over these past days, unease and fear had been gnawing at the可怜 young lady's heart, leaving several new creases at the corners of her brows.
"What's going on? Why did we stop?"
Suddenly the horse team at the front ground to a halt, sending the rest of the convoy into a commotion. Some carts even overturned outright, filling Aniya with fury.
Suppressing the urge to lash out with her riding crop, Aniya summoned her personal maid. "Go to the front and find out what happened."
"Miss!"
But before the maid in her riding habit could set off, a steward came hurrying over, his slick face drenched in sweat.
"It's the Paladins! A squad of Paladins is blocking the road up ahead…"
"Those damned holy dogs…"
Several servants nearby muttered in low, resentful tones. In their eyes, these Paladins had already skimmed most of the profits from the family's caravan and cost them a fair share of their own pickings. They had been forced to leave New Silvermoon City at the risk of war, and now these zealots had the audacity to chase after them—absolutely despicable!
Yet the same news struck Aniya's ears with sheer terror.
"Could it be… they've found out?"
She felt her heart plunge as though it had dropped with a sickening thud into an ice cave. The cold cut to the bone.
Unfortunately, reading the looks on her subordinates' faces, Aniya had no choice but to steel herself and ride forward.
Before long, she saw a squad of warriors clad in silver-white armor blocking their path, the radiant holy symbol of the God of Justice on their chests blazing and blinding.
The resolute, hard glint in their eyes pushed Aniya's unease to its breaking point.
"Captain Engeke…"
She forced a smile and stepped forward, managing to pick out a familiar face among the Paladins.
"The Nie'en Trading Company is made up of law-abiding merchants. We've already liquidated eighty percent of our goods in Silvermoon City. You yourself issued our transit papers…"
Her voice carried a thick nasal sweetness, almost flirtatious—a professional habit, perhaps.
Unfortunately, this approach had no effect whatsoever on the Paladins before her, and on Captain Engeke's face, there was nothing but undisguised disgust.
He said nothing further. Instead, he stepped aside with a respectful bow, revealing a female Paladin in full knight's armor standing behind him.
"Paladin Commander! The Light of Hope for the common folk! The legendary powerhouse—Lafinia!"
The moment Aniya recognized her, she let out an inward wail of despair. It felt as though every bone in her body had been drained away.
"From the look on your face, I know the intelligence was accurate! The sinner Aniya—will you not confess your crimes?"
Lafinia, who had already reached the legendary realm, was terrifying. Even a simple rebuke carried immense power that pierced straight to the soul, nearly shattering Aniya's composure and driving her to confess on the spot.
"This was all arranged by the Paladin Commander… Did you think I would abandon the glory of the Paladins just for your filthy little schemes?"
Engeke lifted his chin with pride, contempt burning in his eyes. "Eliminating you in the city would have drawn too much attention—but out here, it's a different matter. Surrender quietly, and you'll receive a fair trial. We won't let a single wrongdoer escape, but neither will we condemn an innocent person…"
He had every reason for this confidence. The intercepting force was composed entirely of high-ranking Paladins, and leading them was a legendary powerhouse—the Light of Hope, Lafinia. That alone was more than enough to sweep away any evil!
"In the name of Her Majesty, I demand the right to inspect this convoy!"
Lafinia declared in a ringing voice.
The moral authority represented by the alliance between Elasztra and the Paladins immediately shook the resolve of most people in the caravan.
Many of them had been kept in the dark as well. Even the high-priced guards rarely knew the full picture.
Aniya seriously doubted that, no matter what price she offered, anyone would still stand by her once they learned they were facing the Silvermoon Alliance and a church of a Greater Deity.
"Paladin Commander Lafinia, you've always been my idol… I trust your integrity, but I'm even more certain that there must be some misunderstanding here…"
Aniya dismounted, curtsied to Lafinia, and walked over to an overturned cart. She tore open the tightly secured oilcloth.
"Look… just ordinary leather, and mostly empty crates…"
Aniya displayed her cargo to Lafinia. "Everything is regulation-compliant. There's nothing prohibited…"
"Spare me your petty tricks… Your little schemes are utterly worthless in the face of justice—they only make you more ridiculous."
Lafinia's expression was cold. After rifling through a few pieces of leather, she suddenly spoke.
Shing!
The sword at her hip sang with a crisp hum, and a blinding streak of white light erupted, tracing a brilliant arc through the air.
Crack!
The axle and cart body split apart. Wooden planks shattered in every direction. The horses, spooked by the noise, broke free of their harnesses in an instant, whinnying as they bolted, splattering mud across the hem of Aniya's vibrant crimson gown. But she didn't care in the least.
In that moment, Aniya's mind was a blank void, with only a single thought circling over and over—She found it!!!
Clatter, clatter… A shower of wooden splinters flew outward, revealing a hidden compartment between the axle and the crates. Several dark-red, diamond-shaped crystals tumbled out, pulsing with a blood-red glow.
Even merchants standing at a considerable distance caught the thick, acrid scent of blood.
"The Blood Offering Ritual… To refine blood crystals of this purity—how many lives and souls must have been sacrificed…"
Lafinia's hand on her sword hilt was trembling. "To satisfy the needs of the evil God of Slaying, you could bring yourself to slaughter your own kind?"
"Your crime is confirmed. Not only you—the entire Nie'en Trading Company, and the Baine Family as well, must face the judgment of the Church!"
Lafinia declared in a ringing voice.
Behind her, the Paladins likewise drew their longswords, disgust and steel resolve plain in their eyes.
This terrifying atmosphere instantly broke the spirits of the uninformed common folk in the caravan.
"Ah… Great gods, this has nothing to do with me! I was only hired as a driver… Please forgive me… forgive me…"
A man in a straw hat and coarse linen clothing, clutching a riding whip, crumpled to his knees.
The others reacted much the same way. Under the dual pressure of royal and divine authority, very few possessed the courage to resist.
More critically, even those who did have the courage would find themselves no more effective than mantises blocking a cart—ground无情ly beneath the wheels without making the slightest difference.
"Go!"
More resourceful than the common folk were the hired guards and mercenaries.
Seeing the situation turn dire, their leader immediately bellowed and lashed his whip viciously, trying to flee in the opposite direction.
The experienced mercenary captain knew exactly how serious this matter was. Even complete ignorance would not spare him from implication—in matters like these, the Church operated on the principle of better to kill the wrong person than let anyone go. And more critically, he had no way to prove his innocence!
His opponents were all high-ranking Paladins. There was not the slightest chance in combat.
Flight was therefore the only option.
"Trying to escape judgment? Foolish!"
Lafinia delivered the verdict in a flat tone.
She didn't lift a finger herself, but the Paladins on either side had already surged forward.
Summoning light flickered, and the silhouettes of numerous Celestial Horses materialized.
Only the pure and righteous Paladins could be accepted by Celestial Horses as loyal partners.
And Paladins with that kind of mobility—how could mercenaries riding ordinary warhorses ever outrun them?
"Wait… I can testify… I didn't…"
The mercenary leader had not gotten far before he was overtaken. Despair was written across his face, and he was still shouting as death closed in.
Unfortunately, a cold-faced Paladin wasted no breath and drove a longsword clean through his heart.
The Paladins, mounted on their Celestial Horses, circled the caravan back and forth, sealing off every possible escape route and leaving the remaining servants trembling on their knees.
"Sinner! Because of your greed and wickedness, how much harm has been inflicted upon this world?"
Lafinia gazed at Aniya's lovely face, her own cheeks flushed with righteous anger. "A seed of evil like you should not exist in this world…"
"In the name of Justice, I sentence you!"
Milky-white holy light began to coalesce along the knight's blade. Aniya shot her loyal subordinates a look that stayed their charge, a bitter smile on her face.
"Those servants are innocent and uninformed. Please grant them mercy and forgiveness…"
Aniya's last words.
"Cunning villain—still playing the hypocrite even now?"
Lafinia's eyes glinted with lethal killing intent.