At This Moment, Ansu Chose to Read

"Ansu, come here."

Ansu felt surprised.

Did this have something to do with him?

He looked up and gazed at Luojia.

She was wearing a snowy white gauze dress today, its hem light and translucent, with a pure white Cecilia Flower pinned to it. White silk ribbons were tied around her smooth calves.

Warm sunlight shone through her eyes, making them as clear and pristine as amber.

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

For some reason, they seemed a little murderous.

"What is it?" he replied. "Venerable Saintess?"

Ansu inexplicably felt a little guilty.

Those eyes were simply too clean and transparent, as though everything was reflected in them, with nothing able to hide.

Could it be this girl had discovered that he had been secretly performing sacrifices?

"Where did you go last night?"

"I went to sleep."

"I waited for you the entire time—"

"What?"

"In any case, come out—" She pressed her thin lips together and said softly, "Come out for a moment."

It sounded less like a request and more like an order.

Ansu did not like that feeling. He tilted his head. "Rather than me, perhaps you should deal with this gentleman beside you first. His smile is about to cramp up."

Calvin was caught between them, listening to their exchange. The smile on his lips had become stiff and ugly, and the hand he had extended halfway was now awkwardly withdrawn.

"..."

Luojia paused. Perhaps she felt that Ansu had a point, and perceived her own discourtesy. She gave a light cough, then turned her face to Calvin, her gaze fell upon him.

"Hello." She politely lifted the edge of her skirt halfway and gave a lady's curtsy. "Your Excellency Calvin."

The corner of Calvin's mouth twitched slightly.

She addressed him as "you," but simply called Ansu "you." Calvin immediately perceived the difference in closeness between them.

Why? Ansu Morningstar was merely a lowly Child of Curse!

A country bumpkin from a nouveau riche family.

Merlin's expression grew even uglier. "Hello, Venerable Saintess."

What made Calvin's expression even more unsightly was that the crowd of believers gathering to watch gradually noticed him. Someone started shouting, "Calvin has returned in triumph!" and the scene promptly got a little out of control.

They stood on tiptoe, their faces flushed red with excitement. Human heads packed tightly together, while bashful young maidens carrying bouquets scattered flower petals toward him.

"It's Your Excellency Calvin."

"Your Excellency Calvin has returned—what glory!"

"Look, that is the Venerable Saintess. Your Excellency Calvin has come to fulfill a knight's promise."

"'Tonight's honor belongs to you'—how sacred and romantic."

Calvin was lifted onto a high platform, an exceedingly high platform.

The common people admired him, the girl appreciated him, and the believers regarded him as the future of the Border Holy See.

Everyone had placed great expectations on him.

In truth, he had no reason to blame anyone, because he had created this hype himself—for political posturing, and even more so for next year's votes.

If he had not made the newspapers extensively report that he would lead the witch hunt, so many irrelevant spectators would not have swarmed here. If he had not made such a grand spectacle of kneeling in the church to pray, swear, and make promises, he would not have pushed things to such a climax.

The higher one was raised, the harder one would fall.

But Calvin would not believe that this was his own fault.

That person was to blame.

That person who had stolen the prey that should have been his was to blame.

It was all that person's fault!

Calvin clenched his fists, his nails seeming to dig into his flesh.

Luojia had clearly heard the crowd's shouts as well. She tilted her head and blinked. Thinking that the atmosphere had reached this point and she ought to go along with it, she said:

"I am looking forward to your performance in last night's Red Moon Witch Hunt."

Calvin's face flushed crimson. His lips trembled, but he could not speak.

Everyone held their breath and watched him expectantly in silence, waiting for the following words.

"Not... one." Calvin bit down hard on his lips and finally forced the words from the depths of his throat. "Not a single one."

Time suddenly became long and silent. The warm sunlight shone upon them, yet carried the coldness of deathly stillness.

The restless, noisy believers around them fell silent all at once.

"Huh?" Luojia blinked again, suspecting she had misheard.

The Holy See held the Red Moon Witch Hunt every year. Even if the Holy Knights assembled each year did not return fully loaded, they would still make some gains.

Not catching a single one had never happened in the sixty years since the Border Holy See had been established.

"Are you joking?"

Luojia felt that perhaps she should smile, so that she would seem to have a sense of humor and understand the joke. She gave a calm little laugh. "Hehe, you really are humorous."

But that well-intentioned laughter landed in Calvin's ears as harsh and piercing.

Calvin only remembered the burning pain in his cheeks.

Even she was laughing at him?

Everyone was laughing at him.

Those believers, those commoners... He looked around and felt that everyone was laughing at him.

"None?"

"He said he didn't catch a single one?"

"What kind of joke is that?"

"This is The Radiant One?"

"Twenty holy knights... and they did not catch a single one."

Calvin seemed to hear the crowd whispering among themselves, their low discussions, their hushed murmurs.

A group of lowly peasants who fawned over power.

And that Child of Curse, that Ansu Morningstar.

He was laughing too... Wait, what was he doing?

At some point, he had pulled a copy of "Druidic Biology Compulsory I" from his backpack. This bastard was actually reading and doing exercises because he was bored!

Calvin stared at Ansu in shock, feeling as though his entire worldview was about to collapse.

It was as though, in Ansu's eyes, everything happening before him—whether Calvin returned victorious from the witch hunt or failed to catch even one—was utterly insignificant. Ansu Morningstar, whom he regarded as the enemy of his life—

In this man's heart, Calvin did not even rank higher than the sex-changing peas cultivated by druids!

Calvin had never suffered such an ultimate humiliation!

But this truly could not be blamed on Ansu.

That was simply his nature. As a Speedrun Player, he had always placed efficiency above all else.

This bastard had waited for so long, and seeing that things would not end anytime soon, while Luojia still had business with him afterward and he could not just slip away on his own—

He thought that waiting was waiting anyway, so as an efficiency fanatic, he might as well read and do some exercises to avoid wasting time.

The copy of "Druidic Biology Compulsory I" that Miss Maid had recommended to him was actually rather interesting. It contained plenty of practical knowledge.

That was what true study demons were like: even while receiving an IV at the hospital, they could still pull out a few practice books and work through them.

Still, Ansu truly had not paid much attention to Calvin.

After all, this guy did not even have a single entry in the game.

He was not as interesting as reading.

The people around them were still waiting for Calvin's answer.

Seeing that the situation was wrong, Father Danny beside him swallowed discreetly. Maintaining a smile, he asked with his last shred of hope:

"Your Excellency Calvin, you are joking, aren't you?"

"Not a single one!"

Calvin snapped. He could no longer maintain the Perfect Knight image he had cultivated for years. He roared, "I did not find a single one!"

"Someone got there first! All six strongholds had been cleared out before I arrived!"

Calvin defended himself bitterly.

"Despicable people got there first. They stole my prey, but I swear that I will find him. The Red Moon still has two days left. I swear that I will wash away this humiliation. I will catch him."

"Then may I ask—"

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

"Hero?" Calvin froze.

He suspected that he had heard wrong. "You called him a hero?"

"Yes."

Then other maidens naturally chimed in.

"That mysterious hero cleared out the Esoteric Cultists in advance so the holy knights would not get hurt. You should be happy about it."

"Powerful and gentle, he protected everyone without leaving his name behind. Such a solitary knight should naturally be called a hero."

"Yes."

"Indeed."

"That makes sense."

More and more people voiced their agreement, and the calls for that mysterious hero grew louder and louder.

What did ordinary people know about all those twists and turns? They did not understand the hidden rules of witch hunting, nor did they know what Faith Points were.

To them, simple and honest as they were, it did not matter whether the cat was black or white; a cat that caught mice was a good cat.

Anyone who could protect them was their hero.

Calvin only felt that the world was utterly absurd.

He was practically about to bleed from all seven orifices.

Could it be that all his efforts to build hype—inviting the media, staging performative prayers, drawing so much attention—had ultimately just made a wedding dress for someone else?

And at this very moment,

Ansu was still reading with complete focus.

He had reached the chapter on "Biological Diversity."