Lorian, without a word, let go of the wheelchair, bowed gracefully to Kevin, and then dragged her equally bewildered brother into the hotel.
Kevin was not stupid; he naturally saw through the trick, but this suited his intentions perfectly, as it was a good opportunity to gather some information. So, he smoothly took Lorian's place.
"Well then, Miss Melusine, I will temporarily take over the maid's duties. Where would you like to go?"
Melusine had no choice but to turn her head, not daring to look at Kevin, and slightly lowered her head, facing forward, softly saying, "To—to the plaza, please. Thank you."
"Alright, hold tight."
Although he said that, Kevin pushed the wheelchair very steadily, slowly heading towards the plaza.
This girl is quite shy. It's normal to think about it; after all, she is also a young woman confined to the village.
But why is this? Though Kevin couldn't accurately judge the other party's specific feelings towards him, he could clearly distinguish between goodwill and malice. Melusine's feelings towards him were undoubtedly pure goodwill, and it had been that way since their first meeting.
Even if it was all goodwill, there were still differences between them. The other party's attitude towards Kevin varied, and the degree of goodwill also differed; simply put, there was a strong and weak distinction. The stronger the goodwill, the closer her attitude towards Kevin.
During yesterday's battle, Kevin hadn't been able to carefully sense Melusine's goodwill. But today, he could feel it clearly; her goodwill was simply too obvious. Although Kevin was reluctant to admit it, the other party really seemed to like him.
Why is this? It couldn't be love at first sight, could it? No matter how he thought about it, it seemed unreasonable. Kevin felt that although his appearance was not ugly, he couldn't be called handsome. The original owner of this body had a rather gloomy temperament. Kevin had controlled this body for nearly two years, and though his temperament had changed greatly, at most he had become softer and more pleasant to look at, barely counting as a sunny youth, attractive in a subtle way, but not handsome enough to make someone fall in love at first sight. Love at first sight was merely lust at first sight, and Kevin agreed with this point.
"It seems everyone in the village calls you the Saintess?" Kevin asked, pushing the wheelchair.
"It's just that everyone in the village elevates me; I prefer everyone to call me by my name directly," Melusine replied. Though he couldn't see her expression, from her tone, Kevin felt that she didn't seem to want to talk much about this topic. Could it be that she was dissatisfied with her identity as the Saintess? It seemed there were many issues here.
So Kevin changed the subject and chatted casually with Melusine. After chatting for a while, he generally understood Melusine's preferences and found that she didn't seem much different from an ordinary young woman; she liked interesting experiences, outdoor scenery, pastries, and seemed to be very interested in manga. He began to cater to her interests, chatting as they walked.
"At that time, the situation was particularly critical—"
"And then? What happened in the end?" During her conversation with Kevin, Melusine quickly relaxed and was no longer nervous.
As they chatted, Kevin paid attention to the emotions of the people around them. Though their destination was the plaza, Kevin intentionally pushed the wheelchair towards crowded areas. Almost all the villagers around cast their gazes, and from time to time, he could hear them greeting Melusine. Most of the villagers showed surprised expressions towards Kevin, who was pushing Melusine.
However, the emotions they emanated differed. Kevin couldn't accurately judge the specific emotions the villagers felt towards him, but he could at least distinguish between good and bad intentions. For his actions, some people emanated goodwill, and some of that goodwill was overly intense, clearly exceeding the normal scope of how one would treat a stranger. Even though Kevin's performance yesterday saved many, such excessive goodwill was still somewhat abnormal.
At the same time, malice, ranging from subtle to strong, was also mixed in the crowd. Kevin observed left and right, secretly marking down everyone who emanated malice. Two individuals were particularly conspicuous; their malice, while not the most extreme, was the easiest to detect. Because these two were precisely the guards who had previously followed the village chief.
The composition of the people emanating goodwill was complex, mostly women and middle-aged or elderly individuals over forty, and the most intense malice also came from this same group. Kevin understood less and less what was truly going on with this village.
Lorian, without a word, let go of the wheelchair, bowed gracefully to Kevin, and then dragged her equally bewildered brother back into the hotel.
Kevin wasn't stupid. He saw through the trick easily enough—but that suited his intentions perfectly. This was a good opportunity to gather information.
So he smoothly took Lorian's place.
"Well then, Miss Melusine. I'll temporarily take over the maid's duties. Where would you like to go?"
Melusine had no choice but to turn her head away, unable to look at Kevin. She slightly lowered her gaze, faced forward, and said softly, "To—to the plaza, please. Thank you."
"Alright. Hold tight."
He said it, but Kevin pushed the wheelchair very steadily, slowly guiding them toward the plaza.
This girl is quite shy.
It made sense, he thought. After all, she was a young woman who had been confined to the village for most of her life.
But still—why?
Though Kevin couldn't accurately judge the other party's specific feelings toward him, he could clearly distinguish between goodwill and malice. And Melusine's feelings toward him were undoubtedly pure goodwill. They had been that way since their very first meeting.
Even so, not all goodwill was the same.
Her attitude toward Kevin shifted depending on the moment, and the degree of goodwill varied. Simply put, some was strong, some was weak. The stronger the goodwill, the closer her behavior became.
During yesterday's battle, Kevin hadn't been able to sense Melusine's feelings carefully. But today, he could feel it clearly. Her goodwill was simply too obvious.
Though Kevin was reluctant to admit it, the other party really seemed to like him.
Why?
It couldn't be love at first sight, could it?
No matter how he turned it over, it seemed unreasonable. Kevin felt that while his appearance wasn't ugly, he couldn't exactly call himself handsome. The original owner of this body had a rather gloomy temperament. Kevin had controlled this body for nearly two years now, and though his temperament had changed greatly, at most he had become softer, more pleasant to look at—barely passing as a sunny youth. Attractive in a subtle way, sure. But not handsome enough to make someone fall for him at first sight.
Love at first sight is just lust at first sight, Kevin agreed with that completely.
"It seems everyone in the village calls you the Saintess?" Kevin asked as he pushed the wheelchair.
"It's just that everyone in the village elevates me," Melusine replied. "I prefer everyone to call me by my name directly."
Though he couldn't see her expression, Kevin could tell from her tone that she didn't seem to want to talk much about this topic.
Dissatisfied with her identity as the Saintess?
It seemed there was more going on here.
So Kevin changed the subject and chatted casually with Melusine. After a while, he generally understood her preferences. She didn't seem much different from an ordinary young woman—she liked interesting experiences, outdoor scenery, pastries, and seemed very interested in manga.
He began to cater to her interests, chatting as they walked.
"At that time, the situation was particularly critical—"
"And then? What happened in the end?"
During the conversation, Melusine quickly relaxed and was no longer nervous.
As they chatted, Kevin paid attention to the emotions of the people around them.
Though their destination was the plaza, Kevin intentionally pushed the wheelchair toward crowded areas. Almost all the villagers cast their gazes at them, and from time to time, he could hear them greeting Melusine.
Most of the villagers showed surprised expressions toward Kevin—the stranger pushing their Saintess.
But the emotions they emanated differed.
Kevin couldn't accurately judge the specific emotions each villager felt toward him, but he could at least distinguish good intentions from bad.
For his actions, some people emanated goodwill. Some of that goodwill was overly intense, clearly exceeding the normal scope of how one would treat a stranger. Even though Kevin's performance yesterday had saved many lives, such excessive goodwill was still somewhat abnormal.
At the same time, malice—ranging from subtle to strong—was also mixed in the crowd.
Kevin observed left and right, secretly marking down everyone who emanated malice.
Two individuals were particularly conspicuous. Their malice, while not the strongest, was the easiest to detect.
Because those two were precisely the guards who had previously followed the village chief.
The composition of people emanating goodwill was complex—mostly women, and middle-aged or elderly individuals over forty. And the most intense malice also came from that same group.
Kevin understood less and less what was truly going on with this village.
On the second floor of the inn, Menchi and her two companions secretly witnessed the entire process from above.
"How about that? I guessed correctly, didn't I?" Menchi said triumphantly. "I said the Saintess would definitely use the opportunity of expressing gratitude to get to know Kevin."
Yesterday, she had even made a bet with the other two about this.
Buhara's expression was solemn. He gently patted Menchi's shoulder and said, "This might not necessarily be a good thing."
Hearing that, Menchi reined in her excitement and nodded. "Alright, that's true."
She enjoyed watching the spectacle and was pleased to see how things had turned out, but now was indeed not the time to be distracted.
"This village has too many problems," Gao Wen said, frowning. "It will probably be difficult to sort them out in a short time. We need to first figure out the external threat."
Unlike the internal situation of the village, the purpose of their trip—or rather, the original intention behind Kevin and Menchi coming here—had been to hunt outside.
They had only conducted one hunt, and many targets had not yet been acted upon. But now, something of unknown origin was secretly watching them from outside.
The village's curse protection mechanism clearly played a certain evasive role. Otherwise, an unexpected situation would not have occurred during yesterday's hunting day. It was clear that the opponent had seized that opportunity to launch an attack.
On the other side, Kevin had already pushed the Saintess to the square and stopped under a tree.
"You really like reading comics?" Kevin asked.
Melusine's eyes sparkled. She nodded vigorously. "Yes! Comics are especially interesting, aren't they? The characters inside are so distinct, the stories are very exciting, and you can also understand the outside world through these stories and details."
The outside world. A girl imprisoned in the village, longing for freedom—that was perfectly normal.
This was perhaps the shared "desire" in the hearts of everyone in this village.
"And... the love and family affection in comics are particularly enviable."
Envy love and family affection?
In Kevin's impression, love and friendship should be more celebrated in comics. He usually enjoyed reading romantic comedies and shonen manga, and these two types made up a large proportion of his reading preferences.
"Don't you want to try some?" Melusine suddenly turned her head and asked.
"What?"
"The pastries I made."
Only then did Kevin remember the food box he had been holding. After a moment's thought, he opened it.
Just from their appearance, these pastries were very enticing.
"They look very good," Kevin praised.
"They're not just pretty." Melusine's face was beaming with a smile. "These pastries are not only beautiful—they also taste great."
Her red eyes fixed on Kevin, and the hidden white snake coiled around her also poked its head out, staring at him along with her.
Kevin chose a pastry and put it in his mouth. The taste was indeed good, and fortunately, no strange illusions appeared to make him look foolish.
As far as pastries went, these were the most delicious Kevin had ever eaten.
"It's very delicious. These are the best pastries I've ever had."
Hearing Kevin's praise, Melusine's face bloomed with an incredibly brilliant smile. Her cheeks couldn't help but flush.
Kevin was eating the pastry, but sweat began to bead on his forehead.
He keenly sensed that the goodwill emanating from Melusine was growing more intense.
Buddy... is this really goodwill?
Kevin muttered to himself. He already clearly understood what this emotion truly was.
No way. I just praised it as delicious. Is she really that excited? I didn't do anything special.
Kevin felt helpless. He was already sweating profusely.
He suddenly realized that being able to perceive emotional fluctuations was sometimes not a good thing. He only wanted to gather information—not deceive an innocent girl's feelings.
"Does it not suit your taste?" Melusine seemed to notice Kevin's abnormality and asked in confusion.
Kevin quickly shook his head. "No, it's too delicious. I'm completely immersed in this flavor."
After hearing that, Melusine's emotions surged even more.
Kevin turned to look at Melusine, staring straight at her.
Girl, don't be like this. I'm a little scared.
This was just a very normal compliment—a casual, perfunctory remark. There was really no need for such a big reaction.
Seeing Kevin's gaze, Melusine's eyes became slightly moist, and her ears also turned hot.
Finally, feeling too embarrassed, she silently turned her head away.
At dusk, Kevin rushed into the inn.
Menchi and the others, who were in the lobby, immediately surrounded him when they saw him.
"How was it? How did the date go?" Menchi asked eagerly.
"Did you find out any information?"
"What's the deal with that Saintess?" Buhara and Gao Wen also asked one after another.
Kevin pushed the three away, walked to a stool by himself, sat down, took a sip of water, and caught his breath.
He ignored them and instead looked at Bian Locke, who was sitting behind the counter. "I want to buy some information. What exactly is the deal with the Saintess in your village? There's no religious belief here, yet a Saintess exists. That in itself is very strange."
Hearing this question, Bian Locke merely shrugged and shook his head.
"She's about the same age as my younger sister. My younger sister was chosen by the village chief specifically to take care of her. But for us young people, Melusine is no different from an ordinary person. Aside from living in the castle, she doesn't seem to have anything special about her."
Looking at everyone's expectant gazes, Bian Locke sighed helplessly. "Alright, you clearly don't want to hear these things."
"Then I'll tell you what information I know. After all, my younger sister takes care of Melusine, and although she never reveals anything about Melusine to me, I've lived in this village for so long."
Moreover, due to livelihood reasons, Bian Locke would also deliberately collect some interesting information about the village.
"First, I need to explain to you that I'm somewhat of an anomaly in the village. Although everyone doesn't say it openly, they all know in their hearts that running an inn means selling information. So I'm secretly ostracized by everyone. You can understand that, right?"
Under normal circumstances, Bian Locke would not discuss these matters with guests. But ever since the hunting day, he realized that these few individuals seemed to have already become involved in certain events in the village.
Everyone nodded, indicating their understanding.
"Although this village is small, it's divided into three factions: the village chief's faction, the hunting faction, and the neutral faction."
"The village chief and his people attach great importance to the Saintess. Unlike the attitudes of the others, they truly regard the Saintess as a sacred being."
"Everyone else just treats her as ordinary Melusine."
After hearing this, Kevin understood.
Those who had emanated malice toward him should be from the village chief's faction. And most of the other factions had emanated goodwill toward him, just to varying degrees. Because if you viewed Melusine normally, she was just a pitiful girl. Beautiful, yes—but disabled.
"Then why didn't the village chief's faction come looking for trouble with me?" Kevin asked.
After all, his intimate behavior with Melusine today would clearly provoke those people.
Bian Locke just looked at him quietly and said, "Because they don't want to die."
Only then did Kevin react.
Oh right. I almost forgot about that.
I hit people quite hard.