The more they oppose, the more it shows that I am doing the right thing

"An Su, come here."

An Su felt surprised.

Was there something concerning him?

He lifted his head, gazing at Luojia:

The latter was clad in a snow-white spun yarn dress today, the hem of the skirt light and translucent, pinned with a pure white Cecilia Flower, with white satin ribbons tied around her smooth calves.

The sunshine warmly filtered through her pupils, rendering them as transparent and clean as amber.

At this moment, those amber eyes were gazing at him.

Somehow, it felt a bit menacing.

"Is there something you need?" he replied, "Your Holiness?"

An Su felt inexplicably guilty.

It was indeed because those eyes were too clear and transparent, as if everything was reflected in the pupils, with nowhere to hide anything at all.

Could it be that she had discovered his secret sacrifices?

"Where were you last night?"

"I went to sleep early."

"Despite the fact that I kept waiting..."

"What?"

"...Anyway, come out," she pursed her lips and spoke softly, "come out for a moment."

The tone, rather than a request, sounded more like a command.

An Su didn't like this feeling; he cocked his head, "Perhaps you should deal with the gentleman beside us first, his smiling face is about to cramp."

Kavensis was wedged between them, hearing their conversation, the smile on his face stiff and ugly. His hand, originally half extended, was now awkwardly withdrawn at this moment.

"..."

Luojia paused, perhaps deeming An Su's words somewhat reasonable, and sensing her own impropriety, she cleared her throat, then turned her face and looked towards Kavensis.

"Greetings," she bowed with a polite half curtsy, very ladylike, "Your Excellency Kavensis."

Kavensis's lips twitched slightly.

Addressing him formally with 'you', while speaking directly using 'you' to An Su, Kavensis clearly sensed the difference in familiarity between them.

Why, An Su Moningsta is just a lowly Child of the Curse!

A country bumpkin from a nouveau riche family.

His face soured even more, "Greetings, Your Holiness."

What made Kavensis even more embarrassed was that the crowd of onlookers, the believers, gradually noticed him. Someone started a cheer of 'Kavensis triumphant', and the scene momentarily lost control.

They were standing on tiptoes, their faces flushed with excitement, heads crowded together in clumps, with young girls holding bouquets tossing petals towards him.

"It's His Excellency Kavensis."

"His Excellency Kavensis has returned—how glorious!"

"Look, that's Her Holiness; His Excellency Kavensis is here to fulfill the knight's vow."

"'Tonight's glory is all yours'—such sacredness and romance."

Kavensis was lifted high upon a pedestal by the people, a very tall pedestal.

The citizens worshiped him, the girls admired him, and the believers even saw him as the future of the border region's Church.

Everyone had high hopes for him.

In fact, he had no reason to blame anyone, because this fervor was of his own making, for a political show and even more so for next year's election votes.

If it weren't for the press hyping up his leading a witch hunt, there wouldn't be so many unrelated people flocking here; if not for his grand public kneeling and praying at the Church, the event wouldn't have escalated to such a climax.

The higher you are held, the harder you fall.

But Kavensis wouldn't consider it his fault.

It was that person who was to blame.

The one who stole his rightful prey... that person was to blame.

It was all that person's fault!

Kavensis clenched his fists tight, his nails almost digging into the flesh.

Luojia, too, had evidently heard the cries of the crowd; she tilted her head and blinked, thinking that with the atmosphere as it was, they must go along with it, thus she said:

"I'm looking forward to hearing about your performance in last night's witch hunt."

Kavensis's face turned beet red as he moved his lips, struggling for words.

Everyone hushed, their breathing held, attentively waiting for his response.

"Not a single one..." Kavensis bit his lip hard, finally managing to choke out the words from deep in his throat, "...not a single one."

Time suddenly stretched long and silent at that moment; the warm sun shone on them, yet carried a deathly cold chill.

The surrounding noisy and excited believers suddenly went quiet.

"Eh?" Luojia blinked again, doubting her own ears.

The Church had an annual Red Moon witch hunt, and every year the Holy Knights squadron rarely returned empty-handed, always with some gains.

A 'not a single one' situation had never occurred in the sixty years since the establishment of the border region's Church.

"Are you joking?"

Luojia thought perhaps she should laugh, to appear as if she had a sense of humor and could keep up with this cold joke, so she calmly chuckled, "Eh heh, you're quite humorous."

But what was meant to be a kind laughter, in Kavensis's ears, it was piercing and sharp.

Kavensis only remembered the scorching pain on his cheeks.

Was she mocking him too?

Everyone was mocking him.

The believers, the commoners... he looked around and felt that everyone was laughing at him.

"There are none..."

"He said there are none...?"

"What a joke."

"This is the man of radiance?"

"Twenty Holy Knights... Not one of them caught."

Kavensis felt like he could hear the crowd's secret exchanges, their whispered conversations, their furtive murmurs.

A bunch of opportunistic lowlifes.

And the Child of the Curse, that An Su Moningsta.

He was mocking too... wait, what was he doing?

At some point, he had taken out a book titled "Druid Biology Compulsory 1" from his bag, and this bastard was actually passing time—by reading and answering questions!

Kavensis stared at An Su in shock, feeling his worldview crumbling apart.

It seemed that in An Su's eyes, everything that was happening right now, whether it was his triumphant witch hunt or his failure to catch any, were all trivial matters. To An Su Moningsta—whom he had regarded as his lifelong enemy—

In his heart, Kavensis's status was not even more significant than that of a gender-changing pea cultivated by Druids!

Kavensis had never suffered such a top-tier insult!

But it really was not An Su's fault,

That's just the way he was, as a speedrunner, he always regarded efficiency as his top priority.

The guy had been waiting for a while now, seeing that this was going nowhere anytime soon, and since Luojia had something else for him later, he couldn't just slip away.

So he thought, considering he had to wait anyway, the efficiency maniac decided to make use of the time by reading and answering questions.

The maid had recommended him this "Druid Compulsory," which was actually quite interesting, full of practical knowledge.

True students of magic are like this, even while receiving an IV in the hospital, they could still get a few books to work on.

However, An Su really didn't pay much attention to Kavensis.

After all, that guy didn't even have a mention in the game's lore.

Reading was more interesting than that.

The people around were still waiting for Kavensis's response.

Seeing that the situation was not right, Priest Danny, without changing his expression, swallowed his saliva, and, putting on a smile, asked with one last hope,

"Your Excellency Kavensis, you're joking, right?"

"Not one!"

Kavensis had a breakdown, unable to keep up the perfect knight image he had cultivated over years. He bellowed; "I didn't find a single one!"

"Someone got there before me! Every one of the six strongholds, others got there first!"

Kavensis argued resentfully,

"It was the despicable ones who got there first, they stole my prey, but I swear, I'll find him. There are two more days to the Blood Moon, I swear, I will clear this shame, I will catch him..."

"Then may I ask—"

From the crowd, suddenly a girl holding a bouquet asked, "Then may I ask who that hero is? Where is he?"

"Hero?" Kavensis was stunned.

He doubted his ears, "Did you say he's a hero?"

"Yes."

Then, other young girls matter-of-factly chimed in,

"That mysterious hero cleared the Cultists ahead of time to prevent the Holy Knights from getting injured, you should be happy about that."

"Strong yet gentle, protecting everyone yet leaves no name, such a lofty knight should naturally be called a hero."

"Yes."

"Indeed."

"Makes sense."

More and more people agreed, and the calls for the mysterious hero grew louder.

The commoners didn't understand all these roundabout things, unaware of the unspoken rules of witch-hunting, and what faith points mean.

For the simple and straightforward commoners, a white cat or a black cat, the one that catches the mouse is the good cat.

Whoever protects them is their hero.

Kavensis just felt the world was so absurd.

He was ready to bleed from every orifice.

Could it be... all his effort to build momentum, inviting the media, the show-like prayers, attracting so much attention, was all for someone else to benefit in the end?

And at this very moment,

An Su was still engrossed in his book.

He had reached the chapter on "the diversity of life."