As Aizen in Naruto and Joined a Chat Group Chapter 591: The Cantor

“What does Yan-er think?” Li Mochou didn’t answer directly, turning her gaze instead to Wang Yuyan at her side.

“Me?” The girl froze slightly, astonishment written across her face.

She clearly couldn’t understand why her little aunt would suddenly ask her. What say did she have in matters like this?

“Yes, precisely you.” Li Mochou smiled faintly. “I want to know your view on the matter. Having heard what I just said, do you believe your grandmother deserves to die?”

“Mochou, don’t play games!” Li Qingluo’s brow knitted, her face going stern. “Yan-er is still so young. How could she possibly…”

“She’s not young.” Li Mochou waved the protest aside, cutting off the rest. “Think back. How old were we when we first set out to roam the rivers and lakes?”

Uh.

Li Qingluo froze, her expression turning complicated. “Fourteen.”

Li Qingluo remembered clearly: it was on her fourteenth birthday that she had left Boundless Mountain with her little sister. Young and green as they were, unversed in the world’s ways, the two of them had suffered no small hardship on the road, and had met more than their share of ill-intentioned people besides.

If they hadn’t learned some martial arts to protect themselves at the Langhuan Blessed Land, there was no telling what might have become of them.

Yet now, looking back on those days, Li Qingluo felt something almost like nostalgia.

In those days, the two of them had been true sisters in heart. Whatever hardship they met, they propped each other up and advanced or retreated together. Until, the year she turned eighteen, and met Duan Zhengchun.

Damn it all!

At the mere thought of that Prince of Zhennan of Dali, Li Qingluo felt a pang shoot through her chest. If she hadn’t been so credulous toward that silver-tongued man, the bond between the two sisters would never have rotted into what it was now.

“You know very well we were roaming the rivers and lakes by fourteen. Is Yan-er, at sixteen, still ‘too young’?” Li Mochou smiled. “Of course, I know you simply don’t want her touched by grudges and strife. But these things cannot be dodged. Run from them for a time, and they will only come circling back later.”

Come circling back?

Li Qingluo froze, her face darkening. If anyone was going to come circling after her daughter, she could make a fair guess as to who. To put it plainly, it was the Duan clan of Yunnan, after all, by rights, her daughter ought to bear the surname Duan herself.

“Yes. One day, they will come for her.” Li Mochou smiled again. “And when that day comes, this sheltering way you’re raising her will only be her ruin. If you want her to grasp how treacherous the rivers and lakes are, you must begin teaching her from childhood.”

Li Qingluo fell silent. She knew her sister was right. She would grow old one day, inevitable as anything, but what would become of her daughter then?

“No rush, Yan-er.” Li Mochou’s gaze moved to the brooding Wang Yuyan, and she spoke gently. “Take your time and think it over, how you wish to choose.”

Even as she spoke, the corners of Li Mochou’s mouth curved up without her noticing. She pulled open the group chat, organized her situation into a message, and sent it: I must say, making people choose is really quite fun.

Skirt-Flipping Maniac: Tsk tsk tsk.

Amegakure Village’s Angel: Mochou has gone dark too. One step closer to a full black-hearted roster. Hee hee, I can hardly wait.

Machete Girl: Konan-jie, that is NOT a good thing!

Foul-Mouthed Mask Guy: Black-hearted? Sorry, but Uncle is NOT that kind of man! Uncle will never be black-hearted. My insides are pink, you know! Cute, adorable pink!

Curly-haired Guy: Hmph. Pink? That part I believe, even your brain is pink mush.

Soul Society’s Villain: And what will Wang Yuyan choose? Would she truly want her grandmother dead?

Doujin Artist: I’d guess not. That girl is clearly one of the soft-hearted ones.

By this point, Eriri had finished the War Church’s test, toying with a golden medal in her hand. The two clergymen had tossed it to her on their way out, saying it would prove her identity when she formally entered the church.

Not long after the clergymen left, Ashley returned as well. At the sight of the medal in Eriri’s hand, she knew the infiltration was as good as secured. “What position did they give you? Member of the Inquisition, or priest?”

A priest ranked among the War Church’s high clergy, wielding authority equal to an imperial noble. A member of the Inquisition, as the name implied, belonged to the church’s combat arm.

The Inquisition’s charge was the capture, interrogation, and extermination of heretics within the empire, and its members likewise counted among the War Church’s senior ranks.

“Neither, actually.” Eriri tossed the golden medal onto the table, the corner of her mouth curling with amusement.

“Neither?” Ashley froze, nonplussed. “Don’t tell me they’ve made you a mere district pastor? That’s… rather a problem.”

A district pastor administered all missionary work within a single district, real local power, to be sure. But the road upward from district pastor was far too slow: a yearly performance review, year after year, before one could rise to the rank of high pastor.

And even at the high-pastor stage, elevation to bishop still meant grinding out seniority. All told, no less than four years.

Neither Ashley nor Eriri had that kind of time to spare.

“Then perhaps we should go back to the Southeastern Province and simply launch the war of annexation.”

Compared with four years of grinding seniority toward a bishopric, it truly was better to face them head-on and fight. There would be blood, certainly, but at least that had prospects, unlike languishing as some petty district pastor.

“Far too rash.” Eriri shook her head. “For the Southeastern Province to wage an external war, we’d need at least half a year of preparation and consolidation first. Otherwise the odds of victory are far too low.”

“But…”

“No buts. I won’t betray Jessica’s trust in me.” Eriri smiled and raised a hand. “Besides, the position they gave me wasn’t district priestess. It was Cantor.”

“What?” Ashley’s eyes went round, her face blank. “A C-cantor? Is that real?”

“Would I really bore myself by making up something like that to fool you?” Eriri rolled her lovely big Byakugan.

“But, why?” Ashley drew a breath, visibly moved. “How could they possibly hand the post of Cantor to you? It defies all reason. It truly does!”

“I think it defies reason too.” Eriri nodded in agreement. “Perhaps it was the power I displayed during the aptitude test earlier.”