One-star Hunter × Farewell and Departure

In the small living room, Kevin and the others sat together.

Besides Kevin, Men Qi, Xiahara, and Gowen, plus Biscuit, Melusina now sticks to Kevin's side all day long.

The Maid Nen Beast, brought over freshly brewed black tea and gently placed it in front of everyone.

"Ah, this ability is so convenient." Seeing this, Men Qi, who was suffering from laziness, couldn't help but sigh enviously.

Being able to freely create and control helpful assistants—isn't that amazing?

Biscuit asked curiously, "I see you can materialize four Nen Beasts. How autonomous are they?"

"Autonomy? Oh, you mean the control over them?"

Biscuit nodded; that was exactly what she meant.

Biscuit's Nen ability also involves materializing a Nen Beast, and her Nen Beast is highly autonomous, almost like a real person, and even has its own personality to some extent.

"Just like the things Lorraine and the others usually do, I basically don't need to deliberately control them."

"Then this category falls into the category of those with a relatively high degree of autonomy."

Taking advantage of this topic, Kevin said, "Biscuit, could you help check on Melusina's condition? After all, she was a key figure in the sacrificial Succession Ceremony."

"The Succession Ceremony appears to have been disrupted, and I'm worried this might have a negative impact on her, especially since she didn't originally possess the Nen ability to Conjuration Nen Beast."

Upon hearing this, Biscuit nodded slightly and solemnly, turning her gaze to Melusina.

After all, sacrificial Succession Ceremony are never a good thing.

It is something that purely reveals the dark malice of humanity.

In almost every country, there are numerous hidden records of sacrifices, and some of these hidden sacrifices still exist today, remaining a part of the dark side of each country.

This is essentially an application of [post-mortem Nen].

This explains why the Hunter Association, despite its impressive appearance, is essentially just a civilian organization under V5.

Melusina began to recount the entire process, from the beginning to the end of the Succession Ceremony.

"When I woke up after being unconscious, I don't know if it was just my imagination, but I heard many girls around my age calling my name."

"At the time, I thought I was hallucinating and didn't figure out who they were. Now that I think about it, they were probably those Saintess who were sacrificed and eaten, my predecessors."

"After waking up, my role was limited. When the Giant Snake fell and Kevin needed protection, I was focused on protecting him, and then I inexplicably gained this Nen ability."

After listening to Melusina's story, everyone present fell into deep thought.

"Do souls really exist?" Men Qi couldn't help but murmur.

"Yes," Kevin replied briefly.

Although he couldn't produce concrete evidence, in a sense, he himself was a form of evidence.

During previous conversations with Kim, she also strongly agreed with the idea that humans have souls and had verified this through various channels.

Biscuit nodded at this point. "Yes. The general public may not be aware of it, but for top Nen user, it's not a secret."

"Many Nen ability of the Specialization Type can almost prove the existence of a soul."

As a Nen user with decades of experience, Biscuit has a broad perspective and extensive knowledge.

"And in the end, we were all influenced by evil spirits, which is actually a kind of mutation of the soul, only it changed in a bad direction."

"By exerting some kind of influence through Resentment, the soul of the deceased can be made to look like that," Biscuit explained briefly.

This reminded them of the scene from back then, of those strange-looking evil spirits that seemed to have been human in life.

Gowen seemed to have thought of something and asked, "Why didn't those Saintess turn into evil spirits or something? They even seemed to have a certain degree of self-awareness and influenced Lady Melusina."

"Calling me 'Madam' is too embarrassing." This form of address made Melusina's face flush slightly.

Kevin rubbed his temples in exasperation.

At the start of the battle, Kevin initially thought Gowen's Succession Ceremony of allegiance was just a requirement of his Nen ability, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

But this was clearly not a joke; Gowen was serious.

After waking up, Gowen's address of Kevin as "Lord" made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

In this modern context, such a name is really too strange.

So Kevin kept trying to correct his way of addressing people, hoping he would use his own name correctly.

After all, the Knight have to keep up with the times, don't they?

If Kevin hadn't corrected him earlier, Gowen might have even called her "Mistress." "Madam" was the result of his best efforts to restrain himself.

Moreover, through the previous Knight Succession Ceremony, Gowen was, in a sense, Kevin's retainer.

His Nen ability will also keep him Loyalty to Kevin, provided that Kevin doesn't do anything that crosses Gowen's bottom line or is unacceptable to him.

Upon hearing Gowen's question, Kevin seemed to recall something, connecting it to Gowen's state during the final arrow.

"Did you also see some kind of spirit?" After all, Gowen's sister also tragically passed away during the last Succession Ceremony.

Under everyone's gaze, Gowen nodded silently.

"Hmm---During that battle, I saw my sister and heard her voice. The target of that arrow was pointed out to me by my sister."

I initially thought it was just a hallucination caused by the surrounding environment and my own state at the time, but now it seems that's not the case.

That arrow was crucial; everyone knows that.

After hearing this, Biscuit nodded.

"Although we can prove the existence of the soul, its mysteries are clearly not something we can easily unravel."

No one can truly understand the nature of the soul; perhaps it was because your sister's will was strong enough that she remained unaffected.

This isn't just Biscuit's consolation; it's a fact that such a situation truly exists.

"A steadfast will?" Gowen murmured to himself, unconsciously clenching his fists.

Seeing this, Kevin patted him on the shoulder.

"She is a true Knight, and her guidance, along with your sword, has made an extremely important contribution."

"Um."

The Hunter Association operates with extremely high efficiency.

The next day, when Kevin and his friends woke up, the Hunter Association was already busy.

Kevin actually knew the person leading the team.

"Koto?"

The visitor was none other than Koto Rooster of the Twelve Zodiacs.

"Kevin, it really was you! I guessed it when I was looking at the data."

The incident happened suddenly and time was of the essence. Koto, who was working at the Hunter Association at the time, was immediately pulled in to lead the team and take charge of Village affairs.

Koto was clearly a decisive person; upon seeing Kevin, she waved to someone in the distance.

A staff member from the Hunter Association ran over.

"You have your Hunter License with you, right? Show it to me."

Kevin nodded and took out his license.

The other party took the license, operated it on a portable device, and quickly handed Kevin a new license.

The license still has two large X's, but the overall style has changed significantly.

Compared to the two-star license Kevin had previously seen from Kite, the only difference was the color scheme, and the overall icon distribution was also slightly different.

The one-star license uses a silver and blue color scheme.

"So simple and rushed?" Kevin was a little confused after receiving his one-star license. He had just woken up and gone downstairs, and in the blink of an eye, he had become One-star Hunter.

Isn't this supposed to be a badge of honor? It looks like a random little card that's been tossed around.

Upon hearing this, Koto looked at him.

"I thought you didn't like trouble. How about we go to the Association headquarters later? If you don't mind, the Association would be happy to host one."

Before his aunt could finish speaking, Kevin quickly raised his hand to stop her.

"No, no, no, this is fine." He said, putting the license into his pocket.

"So, youngest One-star Hunter, could you spare a moment and tell us about what happened?"

Koto seemed to be in a good mood, so Kevin nodded and didn't refuse.

Kevin briefly recounted what he could say, and the questioning session concluded.

"Just a heads-up, if you don't want to be bothered by too many people, you'd better pack up your loot and leave here quickly."

"Now many people have noticed this place, and they've noticed you, and of course, your spoils." He continued,

Koto smiled, winked at Kevin, and then went to attend to other matters.

"What does this mean?" Kevin didn't quite understand.

At this moment Biscuit walked over and explained directly, "Idiot, have you forgotten the Dark Continent? It's the focus of attention for all the major powers."

In your narration, you mentioned that a person named Vipera went to the Dark Continent alone before the Exploration Team from those countries, and even returned.

They even brought back a cub of a creature from the Dark Continent, a truly momentous event that has garnered worldwide attention.

Upon hearing this, Kevin broke out in a cold sweat.

Just thinking about it makes me realize there will be a lot of trouble afterwards.

"Therefore, we participants should leave here as soon as possible, and leave the rest to the Association."

This is their job, are you ready?

"Since you've put it that way, we definitely need to act quickly."

Everyone quickly sprang into action, packing and organizing their belongings.

The most important thing is to collect various materials.

For Kevin now, the rules of the Secret Realm are useless; they can be discarded like toilet paper.

But he wanted to take all of these materials with him.

Fortunately, Locke seemed to be involved in shipping goods on this continent, so Kevin contacted him directly to help with the transportation.

After dealing with these matters, Kevin went inside the Castle.

"Would you like to leave with me?"

Kevin looked at Melusina and asked, knowing she wouldn't refuse, but out of respect, he still had to ask.

Melusina smiled and nodded, "I don't want to be separated from you."

He looked at the bookshelf in front of him as he spoke.

The entire bookshelf was densely packed with comics.

"Are you taking these with you too?"

After all, these are all memories from the other person's childhood.

"Of course not, these have to stay here. These comics weren't collected by me alone; many were left behind by previous generations."

"Let them stay here. The Saintess's belongings will not be added to; they are proof of Saintess freedom."

After expressing her feelings, Melusina clung to Kevin.

"After this, I'm leaving it to you, darling!"

"Haha, it's my pleasure."

Afterwards, Kevin led Melusina and the villagers to say goodbye one by one.

The villagers bowed, thanked him, and offered their blessings to Kevin, making Kevin a little flustered.

Melusina simply smiled, her face slightly flushed, and said goodbye to the villagers.

Kevin didn't quite understand just how profound the villagers' gratitude towards him truly was.

Just as he couldn't comprehend the oppressive feeling of being imprisoned by the Village for a lifetime,

This sense of relief and freedom made the villagers deeply grateful to Kevin.

"Lorraine, are you going out too?"

Lorraine, who had already changed into casual clothes, nodded, followed by Bianluoke.

"My brother has been preparing for this for a long time and has saved up a lot of money, so we should be among the first to leave."

After all, everyone was very excited to suddenly gain freedom, which is understandable.

But it's impossible to send the entire Village out all at once.

Therefore, under the influence of the Village Chief's prestige, everyone was still willing to follow his arrangements.

With the help of the Hunter Association, a group of young people were first sent out to adapt to life outside and learn about the outside world.

The Hunter Association will help purchase and build a residential area in the city closest to the Secret Realm.

Let the villagers gradually adapt to modern life here.

This approach is quite good.

The people who spearheaded this action were actually villagers themselves, people who had left the Village decades ago through Exorcist.

It seems that such people do exist.

"Looks like you're definitely going to go with your sweetheart," Lorraine said with a grin.

Melusina's face flushed slightly, but her smile was radiant.

She couldn't wait.

Kevin is talking to Bianluoke.

"This is my address. If you encounter any difficulties while you're out, or if you want to reconnect with others, you can come here."

Bianluoke took the note and nodded with a smile.

"Of course, no problem."

Finally, it was the Village Chief's turn.

Upon seeing Kevin approach, the Village Chief knelt down without hesitation.

This action startled Kevin, who rushed to help the Village Chief, but the Village Chief ignored him and insisted on kowtowing.

He felt that it would be difficult to express his gratitude otherwise.

Kevin was also helpless.

Then came another round of thanks.

This was probably the most he heard after waking up.

After the Village Chief stood up, he looked at Melusina.

"You're free now, you've found what you want to do. Come back and visit sometime."

Melusina nodded slightly.

"I entrust my granddaughter to you." He looked at Kevin and said solemnly as an elder.

"Don't worry, leave it to me."

The time for parting had come. Everyone packed their belongings and headed out of the village.

At the village entrance.

The villager, who looked like a beggar, was sitting on Rock with his legs drawn up, gazing outside.

"Aren't you going out for a walk?" Kevin asked.

He vividly remembered the imposing manner the other party had displayed when they first arrived, clearly indicating that they had long yearned to be outsiders.

"Ah, it's time to go out for a walk, but can we really go out?"

Seeing his conflicted expression, Kevin couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I think you're quite interesting. You weren't like this when we first arrived."

"Weren't you quite short-tempered back then? How come you've become so sentimental, timid, and cowardly now?"

"Bullshit! Don't think you can just spout nonsense just because you saved us. I'll walk away right now and show you!"

As he spoke, he pulled on his tattered straw sandals and staggered out.

As he approached the Boundary, his pace gradually slowed, then he paused for a while, and finally slowly moved out.

As he took his first step, landing on the ground outside, his hind legs instinctively twitched, and he completely left the Boundary.

The middle-aged man finally couldn't hold back anymore, knelt down on the ground, and burst into tears.

"Let's go," Kevin said, watching the scene unfold.

Then they walked outside with the others.

"Hey! You brat, this is my gift, my personal thank-you present!"

He emphasized this in a loud voice, and threw a wine gourd far away.

Kevin took the gourd and waved it at him with his back turned.

Ah, freedom.

The man, who looked like a beggar, lay sprawled on the grass, gazing at the blue sky.

Meanwhile, in the river beside them, Rabik floated on the surface, drifting slowly downstream towards the milk.