Free Web NovelHer heartbeat was like a drum, drowning out everything.
Scorching blood flowed through her whole body and finally, in her mind, gathered into searing lava.
It felt like she couldn’t think of anything at all.
She only, by instinct, moved her gaze away from that place of blinding radiance.
But then her back was gently pushed.
That hand brought a familiar sensation, just like what her palm had once felt, yet for some reason it was as if it were electrified, making her delicate body tremble.
“Step forward, my Lady Saintess.”
That deep, mellow voice said:
“You should stand in the light.”
And so the light gathered.
Liya clenched her little fists hard, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} dragged her thoughts with difficulty out of that unknown torrent, lifted her head, and looked ahead.
The Saintess’s gaze was still gentle, watching her.
Then she asked the question again.
Only, it was somewhat different from before.
“Liya.”
That crystal, at this moment, also shone with a dazzling brilliance.
“Will you truly not reconsider?”
“...No need.”
Without much thinking, Liya blurted it out.
Only, for some reason, she didn’t dare meet those gentle eyes again. She averted her gaze, gripped the cool crystal tight, took a deep breath, and said:
“This has always been my pursuit, so I will not give it up.”
“...”
The Saintess said nothing more, merely let Liya take the crystal, yet her eyes swept past to Muen behind her, meaningful.
She rose with graceful composure and nodded to the crowd.
“Let us end here for tonight. Rest well, everyone. I hope you all perform wonderfully in what comes next.”
The Saintess departed.
The Holy Communion service also drew to a close.
Seeing there was no good show to watch, the onlookers gradually dispersed, or else went off to gather information on this Divine Attendant Knight who had suddenly appeared. “What a pity. I thought we’d directly have one less opponent tonight.”
The first to rise and prepare to leave was that Platinum Princess. Her cold face was expressionless, as if she had only watched a boring play.
But Muen immediately cast a sharp gaze over:
“Was that your doing just now?”
That ordinary-looking man—who, once thrown into a crowd, was hard to notice—had already vanished with the flow of people. Muen also couldn’t realistically take action right there in the cathedral to restrict someone’s freedom.
But those things said just now definitely weren’t casual words from someone who couldn’t stand Liya.
In reality, few people are so bored that they’d actively deliver mockery—and mockery aimed at a Saintess candidate, at that.
So, no matter how you looked at it, it seemed premeditated.
“I’m not that kind of bored person. Please don’t bite at random, all right, Lord Fiancé of that woman?”
Margarita stopped and met Muen’s eyes coldly.
She knows me?
No—what she should know is Celicia, right.
Thinking of what Pink Bear said just now, Muen arched a brow, but there was no fear in his gaze.
In an instant, the atmosphere suddenly congealed.
“Oh, oh, don’t be like this. We haven’t reached the time to fight to the death yet, have we?”
The unshaven, sloppily dressed man slipped into the line of their locked gazes, hooking his arm over Muen’s shoulder as if they were old friends:
“Brother, don’t be mad. Though Little Rita looks like she’s got a bad temper and often says the wrong thing, I assure you she’d never stoop to such despicable tricks!”
The Divine-Intent Style sword dao heir named Paul wore a flippant smile at the corner of his mouth, but just by being near him, Muen could feel a faint sting on his skin, like a razor-sharp sword hanging at his side.
So, as Pink Bear had said, not an easy character to deal with, huh?
“By the way, that line you said just now—I really appreciated it.”
Paul suddenly nudged him with his elbow and lowered his voice, mysteriously:
“Not gonna lie, I’m a boob man too.”
You are too?
Seriously?
The corner of his eye flicked over Margarita’s chest—which didn’t lose out much even compared to Ariel’s flatness...
Is this a joke?
Before the mood around the Platinum Princess could fully turn toward killing intent, Paul tugged her away in a hurry.
After Margarita left, the haughty white-silk loli also departed with her Divine Attendant Knight—the “monster” named Reta—unwilling to say even one extra sentence.
The two figures, so drastically contrasted, delivered a powerful visual impact; no one dared look down on them.
Once the two Saintess candidates who had shown unfriendly attitudes toward Liya were gone, the surrounding atmosphere relaxed a lot.
Only, before Muen could let out a breath, he saw that Saintess candidate dressed like a mage—Fei’er—come over with shining eyes.
“You’re Muen Campbell, right!”
“Uh... you know me too?”
A flicker of doubt rose in Muen’s mind.
Am I really that famous?
So being handsome really does...
“I’ve heard my magic mentor mention you before. You’re excellent in magic, aren’t you!”
“Eh?”
Muen’s expression froze.
“Magic... excellent?”
“That’s right!”
Fei’er nodded vigorously. “My mentor said you have a very formidable teacher and that your level in magic must be extremely outstanding. She just never had the chance to visit you in person. I didn’t believe it before...”
Fei’er gave Muen a once-over and said solemnly, “But seeing you suppress your own magic aura to such a low degree without exposing a single flaw—it seems what my mentor said is true!”
“...”
Muen’s mouth twitched into a forced smile:
“I—suppose so. Some small success, some small success...”
In the matter of the Illumination Spell, he could practically call himself invincible under heaven now.
At least he could definitely beat Professor Prang’s housecat!
“In that case, let’s find a chance to exchange on magic...”
“That won’t be necessary. Right now, we’re enemies!”
Muen rejected outright, and at the same time asked, with a strange look:
“Miss Fei’er also wants to become the Saintess, yes? Then why are you still so... invested in magic?”
“Oh, that... of course it’s because an excellent woman can’t chain herself to a single tree.”
Fei’er yawned and then tossed Muen a coquettish look:
“I have to leave myself a backup option, don’t I?”
So she’s a scumbag woman!!
...
Not wanting his pure soul to be polluted by a scumbag, Muen quickly cut off the topic. But the moment he turned his head, he met another gaze he couldn’t ignore.
It was that Saintess candidate named Freya.
She was kneeling beside Liya, her expression gentle and warm, making one, in a moment of illusion, think the Saintess who had left had returned again.
A faint holy light drifted off her body as well, meaning her affinity with Holy Light was extremely high—no less than Liya’s.
“So you are... Mr. Muen, yes.”
Freya smiled:
“Mr. Muen, do you like flowers?”
“Flowers?”
“Yes.”
Freya cupped her hands, and a bouquet of fresh flowers appeared there.
It was a variety Muen didn’t recognize.
The petals were pale yellow, crystal-clear, unfolding in layer upon layer, and even emanating a strange sanctity.
“Golden Orchid. Beautiful, isn’t it.”
Freya held the flowers out to Muen. ƒrēewebnovel.com
“For you.”
“For me?”
Muen blinked. “Why?”
“Because I like you.”
“What?”
Muen’s eyes widened on reflex, but in Freya’s eyes he couldn’t see anything.
“When I see someone I like, I can’t help giving them flowers. It’s my habit.” Freya still smiled.
“I... I see.”
So this was the popular Saintess candidate’s universal love?
He almost thought his yellow-haired-villain attribute had evolved to the point that exchanging a few words with a pretty girl could make her fall head over heels.
“Thank you... but still, I’m sorry.”
Muen politely refused. He had no intention of getting entangled with this stranger.
She vaguely gave Muen a strange feeling.
Clearly, under that gentleness that didn’t seem feigned, he felt no disgust at all, yet Muen instinctively didn’t want to draw near.
“So cold.” Freya sighed lightly.
In that instant, Muen felt a trace of killing intent.
It came from the shadow behind her.
“Brian!”
Freya snapped in playful anger and checked the man in the shadow, then gave Muen an apologetic smile:
“Forgive him. Brian’s temper isn’t very good.”
“It’s fine.”
Muen’s palm at his side half-clenched, and he smiled. “I don’t mind.”
“Mr. Muen really is a good person.”
Freya’s smile didn’t shift in the slightest. After a lightspeed confession, she lightspeed handed Muen a good-guy card.
“In that case, I won’t disturb you two. See you later, though after that we’ll be enemies.”
“Mhm, see you later.”
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Watching Freya’s departing back, Muen finally let out a long breath.
His taut body only now began to relax.
They really were a bunch of terrifying folks—so terrifying he wanted to go back to Belrand right now and shamelessly drag Celicia or Senior over to cling to their thighs.
“But... are you all right, Liya?”
Reining in his thoughts, Muen looked at Liya before him in puzzlement.
She hadn’t said a word since just now—hadn’t even moved—like a wooden doll.
“Did something happen?”
Muen set his hand on her shoulder.
“Eek!”
Liya’s shoulder jumped, then she suddenly snapped back to herself, sprang away as if startled, and her pretty face flushed scarlet.
“I-I’m fine.”
“Really fine?”
Muen looked at his hand and showed an expression like he’d been hurt:
“So, did I scare you by suddenly becoming your knight?”
“Y-yes, I was scared.”
“Ah.”
“N-not... but...”
Liya gripped the cool crystal hard, as if trying to suppress something. “I’m actually very happy.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhm, so...”
Liya put her little hands behind her back, her toes tracing restlessly on the floor, then tipped her head up just a little. In those crystal-clear eyes misted with water, Muen’s figure was reflected.
Under the lights, Liya’s pretty face, stained with blush, was especially fresh and dewy.
She first bit her tender pink lip, then her little head suddenly tilted, revealing a smile a hundred times brighter than that Golden Orchid just now, and said sweetly:
“Then I’ll be in your care, my dear knight.”
“...”
Muen’s heart tightened, as if the lake within him, with that little tilt of her head, had also risen into stormy waves.
Muen breathed hard and finally quelled that ripple that shouldn’t exist, then smiled in reply:
“Of course, my Lady Saintess.”
What, when you look at it now, taking the initiative to jump into the pit isn’t all that unbearable.
Thinking carefully, even though most of the mob characters in the original book had been forgotten, there were still some plot points he remembered.
With those memories, he could seize the initiative. So even without Ariel, making Liya the Saintess wasn’t an impossible task.
“Then let’s do our best in the upcoming secret realm, Liya!”
Muen stretched out his hand, boosting morale.
But Liya’s little face suddenly froze. Wearing an expression of boundless confusion, she stared blankly at him.
Not only Liya—even Fei’er and Freya, who hadn’t yet made it out the doors, couldn’t help turning back to throw Muen a look that said, “What on earth is this guy talking about.”
“Secret realm? What secret realm?”
“Mmm? In previous generations, wasn’t the Musheng Ritual always conducted within a secret realm specially crafted by the Life Church?” Muen scratched his head. He did at least know this basic common sense.
“It was indeed like that before, but this time is different.”
“Different?”
The corner of Muen’s mouth twitched, and a bad premonition suddenly rose in his heart:
“How different?”
“Didn’t Teacher Pink Bear tell you?”
Liya blinked and answered:
“This time, for our Musheng Ritual, the trial location isn’t the previous secret realm, but rather...
the ancient ruins whose entrance the Church only recently opened—the legendary Lost Land.
—Kanterville!”
“Eh?”
The light died in Muen’s eyes.
“And where the hell is that?”
