The Origins of This Adventure Opportunity

Kane cut off Smile's rebuttal, which also meant abandoning the idea of removing Smile from this adventure plan.

Of course, while interrupting Smile, Kane also more or less answered Punk's earlier question:

"I got in touch with Smile around three thousand years ago. After all, contacting a god who didn't even have a true divine kingdom yet wasn't difficult, right? Just find one of her believers and transmit some mental power in reverse. Even a knight like me could do that.

"As for why I contacted Smile... I had no use for the magical materials found in the previous God of Red Sands' chest, and you spellcasters hide yourselves so thoroughly, Punk, so I had no choice but to trade with the adorable Miss Smile!"

It was yet another glaring hole, pure perfunctory nonsense. Anyone could tell without listening that Kane had made it up on the spot. Of course, the only reason he gave such a blatantly dismissive answer was because he needed to interrupt Smile's complaints. Otherwise, Punk guessed that neither the knight nor Smile would have given any meaningful answer to his question.

At least now, from Kane's performance just now, Punk could infer that the Mad Knight and the Miss God of Red Sands before him had reached some unspeakable agreement...

Sure enough, after speaking, Kane did not look at Punk at all. He merely turned toward Smile's projection as though he had breathed a sigh of relief. All that talk had been meant to calm Smile down and make her shut up obediently. Kane's unspoken message was actually a concession to the seemingly unreasonable New God of Red Sands.

Fortunately, Smile's actions just now seemed to have merely been intended to threaten Kane into not discarding her once he had crossed the river. Since the