The moment she heard that familiar voice.
Bai Wuxie was the first to look over in surprise.
"M-Master? Oh, no, Presiding Justice!"
At which.
Putting that together with what Bai Wuxie had said.
Ke Jie, who had a rough guess at who the newcomer was, turned around without hurry and bowed.
"This junior is Ke Jie. As a newborn Blade Wielder, I greet the Presiding Justice of the Dongdu Judgment Hall."
While he greeted her, he did not neglect to study this master of Bai Wuxie's out of the corner of his eye.
Mm. Slit pupils exactly like Bai Wuxie's Sword Maiden form, except that these were a deep green, cat's eyes. Two fluffy golden cat ears on top of her head twitched now and then.
Hair a brilliant gold. Height... a good head above Bai Wuxie, a little over one metre seventy. Features fine and sharply cut, with the clear mixed traits of the Aurora Region and the Dongshen Region.
She wore a standard Judgment Hall judicial uniform in black and white with silver trim, and matched with that cold expression, the first impression she gave was of a hard-faced Presiding Justice not easily approached.
"No need for ceremony. I am Longquan's master. You may call me by my code name, 'Spirit Cat', or by my post. In private you could call me by my real name, Feng Rui. As for right now... no."
So the Presiding Justice of the Dongdu Judgment Hall, one of the nominal highest authorities of the Sword God Dynasty in the Dongshen Region, introduced herself.
That said.
Feng Rui went straight to the heart of it and fixed her eyes on Bai Wuxie.
"Judicator Longquan. Give me a concise account of the entire course of your encounter and engagement with the Blade Demon."
"Um... Presiding Justice, since I was knocked out partway through by the Blade Demon, I wasn't part of the kill afterwards. So may I ask Mr. Ke Jie to fill in the rest?"
"You may. Then I'll trouble you to cooperate, newborn Blade Wielder Ke Jie."
Ke Jie, who had wanted control of how this incident was explained in the first place, only nodded lightly to signal his agreement.
And so.
Ke Jie and Bai Wuxie together laid out for Feng Rui the broad course of what had happened, from their first meeting at the barbecue joint to the Blade Demon's attack.
At the start, hearing how easily Ke Jie had seen through Bai Wuxie's disguise, Feng Rui sighed with a helpless look in her eyes.
Then, hearing that the two of them had got on well and talked happily, the corner of Feng Rui's mouth rose by a small degree.
Next, when the account reached the Blade Demon's arrival and its scheme to knock Bai Wuxie out, Feng Rui frowned lightly.
And finally came Ke Jie's own experience, adapted, the awakening and the kill in return, at which Feng Rui's brow eased.
With that, their account was essentially finished.
Apart from the Twin Sword Souls and the revenge plan Ke Jie kept back, it broadly matched the facts.
"Good. Then please take my insignia and report to the Joint Combat Division of the Dongdu Demon-Purging Bureau. Someone there will handle the rest." Feng Rui, all business, took off her own Judgment Hall badge and handed it to Ke Jie.
"Understood."
Ke Jie accepted the badge without fuss, released his transformation, took out his phone and opened navigation to locate the Demon-Purging Bureau's public service centre.
If he remembered rightly, the Joint Combat Division ought to be somewhere near there.
That much prepared, he said a brief goodbye to Bai Wuxie and Feng Rui and set out for the Dongdu Demon-Purging Bureau......
Only Bai Wuxie and Feng Rui were left at the scene.
"Master, I'm sorry. I wasn't able to carry out the assignment you gave me properly." Bai Wuxie lowered her head and bowed, her voice flat with disappointment.
She knew in her heart that her showing during the Blade Demon's attack could not by any measure be called good.
That was not how a mature Judicator, brought up by the Presiding Justice's own hand, ought to look.
However.
Feng Rui did not reproach her, and did not criticise her.
That icy face suddenly opened into a soft, mild smile, and she reached out and stroked the top of Bai Wuxie's head.
"Eh?"
Feeling the warmth at the crown of her head.
Bai Wuxie was struck blank for a moment.
"It's all right, my disciple. Your master is glad that you could fight to the death, to the very last moment, to guard the person important to you behind your back. That is one of the core principles of us Sword Maidens. Having carried it through, you have already done well enough."
Feng Rui soothed her beloved disciple, her expression earnest and no less gentle for it.
And then, as she spoke, she turned. "But you must not take a risk like that next time, and gamble with your own life. Do you understand?"
"Mm! Thank you, Master~"
Bai Wuxie, catching up, was moved by it, and nodded obediently in agreement.
Confirming that her beloved disciple had pulled herself together, Feng Rui withdrew her palm and went back to her usual expressionless self.
"Right. It's time we got back to business, the closing work on this incident."
"There is one thing I have to ask. Did you witness a second Sword Maiden at the scene?"
"It bears on how this incident is classified. If you did, then there is still the question of whether some civilian Sword Maiden faction pushed this from behind out of malice. If you did not, then it is a simple case of a Blade Wielder fallen to demonhood and harming people."
As she spoke, Feng Rui watched Bai Wuxie with those sharp deep-green slit pupils.
As though she meant to see through those clear, unclouded cerulean eyes to some hidden thing or two.
"No. At least not while I was conscious."
Not a flicker changed in her expression as Bai Wuxie answered calmly.
"Is that so... then Ke Jie is holding something back. Otherwise there's no explaining the black fog." Feng Rui analysed it thoughtfully.
"Black fog? What black fog?" Bai Wuxie blinked, her face puzzled.
"To be precise, a shadow fog that carried sword-force, appeared at night, blocked me from entering this street, and only dispersed a few minutes ago. A signature ability of the Sword Maidens belonging to the Nation of Night, drawing on the power of the Shadow World." Feng Rui put a little more weight behind her words and explained patiently.
The Nation of Night was one of the few civilian Sword Maiden factions able to stand against the Sword God Dynasty in one region or several, and was said to be the legacy of the previous Sword God of Time.
Its range of activity lay mainly in the Moonfall and Starpick regions in the west of the Central Continent.
By rights it should have no hand in the internal affairs of the Dongshen Region, in the east of the Central Continent.
No, it might also be another faction framing them.
Since the doubtful points were piling up, a follow-up investigation had become all the more necessary.
"That reminds me. Hand over the Blade Demon's demon crystal."
Remembering the piece she had missed, Feng Rui put out her hand for it.
"The demon crystal... didn't you take it, Master?"
Bai Wuxie opened her eyes wide, the picture of innocence.
"You! Haah, fine. All we can do is handle the cleanup. Come with me." Feng Rui covered her face with a hand and sighed, thoroughly lost for words, with a faint guess at who had taken the demon crystal.
There was nothing to be done. Who had saddled her with such a sweet, dopey-cute, kind and irresolute beloved disciple?
Carrying that mood of wanting iron to be steel and finding it wouldn't, the Presiding Justice made contact with the relevant cleanup personnel, and then, expressionless, led Bai Wuxie off toward the Dongdu Judgment Hall.
What she did not notice was the flash of unease and guilt across the face of the disciple following behind her.
"I wonder if Master will find out I lied to her? Because after I woke up I saw with my own eyes the Sword Maiden Mr. Ke Jie transformed into, and saw her release the transformation after she killed the Blade Demon."
"I really don't understand how Mr. Ke Jie can transform into a Sword Maiden and a Blade Wielder both. But he's the benefactor who saved my life, and the person I'm here to protect, and a friend I've only just made."
"That's right! That's all it is. It is absolutely not because I might have fallen for Mr. Ke Jie at first sight!"
The one-woman show inside her head reached its curtain call.
Her state of mind adjusted, Bai Wuxie never noticed the faint smile that had slipped onto her own face.
***
At the same time.
Elsewhere.
Ke Jie, who had no idea yet that Bai Wuxie had seen straight through his Sword Maiden alter ego, had reached his destination as well.