“Considering the fact that I arrived here earlier than everyone else, I believe I’m actually early.” Lirion remarked. “You’ve left for only a few weeks, and you have already created a civil war inside the temple of Eislyn?”

“You give me too much credit.” Renee shrugged nonchalantly. “I didn’t really do that much. How did you get here faster than the others?”

“I followed one of your butterflies.” Lirion surveyed the bound priests on the floor a second time, his expression as unreadable as ever. Under his gaze, everyone shrank away, no matter whether they were guilty or not. 

“Please, don’t listen to that chit! She’s been creating nothing but trouble ever since we hired her as a temple worker.” High Priest Terrence was starting to ramble again, desperately trying to sway Lirion to his side. “Are you going to trust the word of a nobody over the high priests?”

Lirion’s eyes narrowed, and suddenly, he looked much more dangerous. Even Renee fell silent when she saw his expression.

“What did you call her?” Lirion asked, his voice dangerously low.

High Priest Terrence refused to back down, probably because his livelihood and future were at stake here. He was now filled with denial and delusion, desperately expecting the saints to follow the word of a priest, even with the other priests next to him nonverbally begging him to shut up.

“That girl is crazy! She blew up an entire wing of the temple and attacked us! She’s accusing us of the most outrageous thing! You need to put an end to that crazy b—”

The temperature in the room dropped to near freezing. Lirion’s mana lashed out so fast that Renee barely saw it. One second, Terrence was rambling his mouth off while the other priests around them looked like they wanted to sink into the floor, and in the next, Terrence was thrown backward by a blast of ice so hard that the air went out of his lungs. Even Renee winced when she heard it.

“Apologize to her, right now.” Lirion’s voice was still calm and steady, something that made Renee more worried than if he had been shouting. 

“I- I’m sorry!” Terrence was now blubbering in fear and gasping for breath.

The other priests nervously wiggled away from Terrence, scared to become collateral damage.

“Lirion!” Renee hissed in a low voice. “Calm down, you’re scaring everyone.”

Just then, the rest of the saints arrived, pouring into the room. 

“What is going on?” Matthias asked, going straight to the point. “Why is it cold in here?”

“Who blew up part of the temple?” Kayden sounded impressed at the scope of the damage.

Renee clapped her hands together, relieved that she can finally move on with the next step. “Finally, you’re all here. Now, listen to me carefully. Several of the priests and high priests here are guilty of exploiting magicians and embezzling. I’m not sure the full extent of their crimes, but I’m sure you can find out for me.”

Beside her, one of the priests opened their mouth as if to say something, but Renee cut him off. “If any of you interrupt me, I will gag you all.”

Fortunately, none of the magicians made any move to say anything, choosing to yield the floor to her.

Renee placed her hands on her hips as she mentally sorted out which saint is best for which task.

“Lirion, you’re in charge of the interrogation. Kayden, you’re the interrogator, because I have a feeling you can make people talk. Sort out who’s guilty and who’s not.”

She waved Cassius over. “Cassius, since you’re the best at examining magic, I want you to give each and every magician a diagnostic to see if they suffer any sort of lasting consequences from all the magical experimentation on them. Jareth, please help treat anyone who is injured.”

“Magical experimentation?” Cassisus croaked out in horror.

Renee then pointed a finger at Ardien, who looked confused when she pointed him out. “Ardien, I have a friend named Anise Nicolea who is locked up in one of the isolation chambers. Do me a favor and release her, along with anyone else who is wrongly held there.”

She reached over to grab a blank notebook and a pen from the table and tossed both of them at Matthias. “Matthias, you’re in charge of recording everything. Don’t let a single detail slip past you, all right?”

“What about me?” Shen asked.

Renee frowned. “Honestly, I wasn’t even expecting you to show up. Are you good at math? Check the temple’s ledgers to see if there is any further evidence of embezzling. I have a feeling several of the priests are pocketing the tithes.”

“What?” Matthias sounded outraged at the idea.

“I know there are other temple workers out there that are involved. Feiyi and Zethis, make sure you seal off the perimeter of the temple so no one can escape while we are carrying out the investigation. Once Ardien is done releasing the wrongfully imprisoned prisoners, he will help arrest anyone I didn’t capture.”

As she finished giving out the last order, she placed her hands on her hips again, staring each saint in the face. The saints all glanced at each other, bewildered by the sudden turn of events. They had arrived thinking there was an attack on the temple of some sort, only for Renee to start giving them orders.

Renee frowned at them when they didn’t react right away. “What? Did I stutter?”

“No…” Feiyi responded.

“Then what are you hesitating for?”

That worked. The saints broke up and began working on the tasks Renee assigned them to do.

“What about the temple wing?” Matthias asked her.

Renee frowned. “Why is everyone making a fuss about it? No one was hurt.”

“No one was hurt? Do you know how much money it will cost to repair something you destroyed so arbitrarily?” Matthias asked in indignation.

“Actually, I think it was quite a tame move.” Lirion commented. 

Renee sighed. Of course he would say that. He nearly killed High Priest Terrence when he started insulting her earlier. 

“Fine.” Renee gave in. “Since it bothers everyone so much, I’ll go and repair it myself.”

Zethis snorted. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

Renee rolled her eyes. “Say that after I try, not before. You might end up eating your own words.”

Renee opened the window in the conference room, the one giving her a perfect view of the destroyed temple wing in the distance.

With a wave of her hand, she casted mana all over the ruins. Spellcasting was harder than physical magic, but luckily, it wasn’t too difficult for Renee, as she had been studying a little bit with the books from the library. She technically had to steal them, as only the priests have access to books related to magic. No doubt, another tactic to weaken the magicians.

As everyone watched in awe, the rumbles rose up from the ground and began assembling themselves back into its original form. Dust merged back into walls, cracks disappeared, and even pre-existing damages disappeared. Now, the formerly-destroyed wing looked newer and finer than any other parts of the temple.

It wasn’t that hard. All she did was cast a time capsule over the damaged part of the building and reversed time within it.

Renee dusted off her hands, pleased with herself. She smirked at the dropped jaws of everyone who had been watching her use her magic. Even the other saints were impressed.

“W- Who are you?” The head high priest asked, finally realizing that Renee was no ordinary magician. She could tell that everyone was suspecting this when she started giving out orders to the other saints, but seeing her ability in action was another thing entirely.

“Let me introduce her properly,” Lirion stepped forward. “This is Renee Arlinus, the eleventh saint of Eislyn, the Saintess of Time.”