Inside the castle, Kevin discovered the source of everything: a small room converted into a study.
However, it wasn't filled with professional books. Most of the space was occupied by neatly arranged manga. These manga were stacked to form a unique wall. Most of them were romance manga, covering various genres like school romance, romantic comedy, and adult romance. Only a small portion of other types served as embellishments.
Even though these manga were well-preserved, traces of long-term reading were still visible.
"You're really enthusiastic about manga," Kevin said, looking at the wall full of manga.
Especially romance manga.
"Hmm. Manga is very interesting," Melusine responded with a smile, picking up a manga at random and flipping through a few pages. "Of course, those books are also quite interesting, but manga can show more exciting content."
"It's a pity I can't see the continuation of my favorite one recently," she said with a hint of regret.
"What happened? Did the author stop updating?"
Melusine shook her head. "I couldn't get the next volumes. The next time supplies are brought in from outside will be next year." With that, she sighed softly, her expression full of regret.
Seeing this, Kevin took the manga from her hand.
The entire castle wasn't large, and they didn't spend much time exploring it.
Unconsciously, dusk arrived.
They went to the tower. There was a platform at the top, and from there the entire village was visible—even its boundaries could be clearly seen. Under the glow of the setting sun, they sat on the tower.
"I come here to sit for a while every day," Melusine said, gazing at the distant scenery.
Does she look at her small living space every day? Does she face the boundaries of this invisible cage every day? Looking out from the tower, the entire village still seemed so tiny.
"A souvenir I brought for you."
Kevin pulled out a small box from his arms. When opened, inside was a grayish-white feather mixed with blue.
"This is a feather from that creature called a Griffin, isn't it?" Melusine took the feather and recognized it at a glance.
Kevin nodded. "That's right. For now, I can only get this kind of souvenir. After all, that Griffin was the first Phantom Beast I hunted."
He had specially chosen this feather from the Griffin's chest—it was the smoothest and most vibrant one on the creature. In his opinion, it should be fine as a gift.
Melusine held the feather, examining it repeatedly in the sunlight, just smiling without speaking. Seeing her like this, Kevin didn't ask if she liked it, but quietly stayed by her side.
"Tell me about your hunting experiences."
Hearing this, Kevin smiled and began to tell his story. He continued until the sky was covered by night, with stars twinkling above.
At this point, someone couldn't sit still.
"Miss, that old man is here."
"Hmm." Melusine just nodded gently and turned to look at Kevin.
Understanding her gaze, Kevin silently stood up. "It seems I should take my leave."
Staying overnight at a young lady's house, for now, was out of the question. Otherwise, it would surely spread throughout the village tomorrow.
Melusine looked slightly disappointed, and the white snake slowly lifted her up.
"I'll come to see you tomorrow."
Hearing Kevin's words, the disappointment on Melusine's face instantly vanished.
"Really?"
"Of course. I don't have anything else to do anyway, do I?"
The two arrived at the main hall.
The village chief stood alone in the hall, staring intently at Kevin, as if he were a heinous criminal. However, interestingly, the malice emanating from him was very weak—even less than that of the guards at the door.
The village chief glanced at Melusine, and his opened mouth closed again, saying nothing. He just looked at Kevin and said, "The Saintess rarely has friends from outside. I'm glad you had such a pleasant chat with her."
Kevin nodded. "Then I'll take my leave now." With that, he waved to Melusine and left the castle.
The two guards standing at the door shivered twice as Kevin walked past them.
Kevin returned to the inn. There was no shortage of questions from Menchi, and even Buhara and Gowen curiously chimed in with a few words.
After that, life returned to its peaceful routine. Kevin began commuting between the castle and the inn, living a two-point-one-line life.
His previous hunting had allowed Kevin to stock up on many materials, especially the fusion agents he urgently needed.
[Gold Scale: Red Finch (whole - 70 grams)]
[Silver Scale: Blazing Fruit (whole - 15 grams) ]
[Copper Scale: Hot Blood (liquid - 15 grams) ]
[Effect: The user's aura will be able to heat up, with the maximum temperature increase depending on the user's own ability. ]
Although the effect seemed simple and unadorned, it was exactly what Kevin needed.
With the materials ready, Kevin infused them with his aura. After nearly half an hour of refining, the potion was finally completed. This production consumed about seventy percent of Kevin's current aura capacity.
Kevin placed the finished potion in his palm. This potion's special characteristic was immediately noticeable upon holding it—it was very hot. The liquid inside was orange-red, like burning flames, swirling in the container, occasionally bubbling as if boiling.
"This potion... it wouldn't happen to be related to fire, would it?" Menchi, squatting nearby, asked curiously.
Not just Menchi, but Buhara and Gowen were also gathered around. The time Kevin spent making potions was when he was most vulnerable. Inside the manor, he could use Rosana's Nen ability to enter an absolutely safe space. But outside, he couldn't. He either had to find a hidden place to make them quietly, or do it under the protection of trusted individuals.
"It's related to high temperature, but it can't directly transform into fire. It's not that magical." It must be said that elemental potions or Nen abilities were extremely rare.
"Are you going to try it now?" Buhara asked from the side.
To be honest, he was very curious. Deep trust had been established between them. Besides Kevin's core small team, Buhara and Gowen were the closest to him. Especially after this operation, they had witnessed the marvels of Kevin's non-saleable potions. And this potion was clearly also a non-saleable item.
"My condition isn't great right now. Maybe in a few days."
Kevin decided to name this potion the [Blazing Potion] . With that, he put it away and grumbled annoyingly, "Compared to this potion, I'm more worried about the potion made from Griffin materials right now."
This potion, primarily made from Red Finch, had been roughly formulated before, but it had always lacked a suitable fusion agent. After finding one during his hunting outside, this potion was essentially designed. He just needed to spend some time adjusting the proportions of the materials.
However, the production of the Griffin material potion was what he had been primarily busy with these past few days. Currently, Kevin had a rich variety of materials in reserve, and their grades were generally high. But selecting suitable complementary materials was exceptionally difficult.
Because his goal this time was very clear: to create a potion with "elemental" abilities. Anyone who had fought the Griffin would surely be impressed by its ability to control wind. Kevin had long desired this Transmutation-type ability. If he could master it, it would be an all-around improvement to his strength. Not only would it enhance his close-combat abilities, but it would also compensate for Kevin's already scarce long-range attack methods.
Besides this core potion, one to two other functional potions should also be able to be made from the Griffin's materials. However, before the design of the core potion was completed, Kevin simply didn't have the mind to consider others. Furthermore, the complex situation in this village led to his slow progress in production.
"Then there's no need to rush. You can slowly research it after we go back," Menchi suggested.
This was indeed not a place where one could feel at ease improving one's strength.
"That's the only way."
With that, Kevin noticed something. "What are you eating?"
Menchi's mouth was bulging, and she was chewing, while Buhara next to her was drooling with envy.
"Snacks."
"You're stealing my snacks again?"
"What does it matter? You ate plenty in the castle, didn't you? She asked you to bring them back—wasn't it for us to taste?"
Buhara whispered from the side, "But I haven't even tasted a single bite."
Menchi continued chewing as if she hadn't heard.
Looking at Buhara's shifted gaze, Kevin said helplessly, "Alright, alright. I'll bring back more tonight."
"Will it be too much trouble for the little Saintess?" Menchi asked, feigning concern, but her expression clearly showed she wished Kevin would bring back more.
Kevin asked curiously, "Melusine's snacks aren't much better than yours. So why are you so obsessed?"
This made Menchi roll her eyes at him.
Buhara explained from the side, "Although Menchi doesn't specialize in making snacks, her craftsmanship is considered top-notch outside. You might think Melusine's snacks are only slightly better than Menchi's, but in reality, there's already a clear gap in their snack-making skills."
That's how food was—once the deliciousness reached a certain level, every slight improvement made the skill gap between makers increasingly difficult to bridge. Simply put, as colleagues, Menchi and Buhara could clearly discern a deeper difference in taste.
"I really don't know where she learned this skill," Menchi said.
She had sought advice and learned from various people in the village, and her snack-making skills were already very high, but she felt that Melusine's technique was a cut above her own. Clearly, Melusine could be considered a hidden snack-making master in the village.
"You'd better not know," Kevin muttered softly.
He had probably witnessed Melusine's entire process of learning to make snacks. Simply put, it was by exploring through manga—this might sound a bit difficult to understand. But in various romance manga for girls, afternoon tea and snack-making scenes were very common, and some authors even described them in detail. There were also food manga with a lot of romance plots. Melusine would refer to the plots, the appearance, and the taste descriptions of the snacks in the manga, and figure out how to make them herself. This way, her skills gradually accumulated.
This once made Kevin suspect if a Nen ability was at play.
"Alright, it's almost time. I need to go to the castle," Kevin said, standing up.
"You—have you thought about what you're going to do?" Menchi suddenly asked.
The atmosphere in the room instantly quieted down.
It was already the end of the month, which meant there was only one month left until the festival began. In the half-month since they had returned, they weren't just doing their own things at the inn—they had also deliberately inquired about various news in the village. But the result was that all the villagers avoided discussing it.
Before Kevin could answer, Gowen spoke. "I've roughly sorted out a situation in the village. Most people know what the festival means, and only a very small number don't. Those who know the inside story should have been subjected to some kind of restriction, preventing them from speaking—it's not that they don't want to speak. Including the homeless man at the gate."
Gowen was primarily responsible for gathering intelligence in the village because he wanted to find out the cause of his sister's death from the very beginning. And now it seemed that his sister's death was closely related to the festival.
Simply put, their plan to gather intelligence in the village had hit a wall. Unless they could find a Nen exorcist to remove the Nen ability restriction from someone who knew the information. It should be known that this village was a gathering place for Nen users—all the villagers were Nen users. Imposing such a restriction to keep silent was not difficult for them.
And currently, all hope rested on Kevin.
However, Kevin was also a bit helpless. "I think even if Melusine hasn't been restricted, she probably doesn't know much either."
It wasn't that he had received any definite answer. But whenever he intentionally asked, Melusine always intentionally or unintentionally avoided the topic. Unlike the other villagers who kept silent, Melusine clearly knew some things, but she was unwilling to say more for her own reasons.
"Sigh, it's really troublesome. I hope you can figure out a solution next month."
He would. At least it was better than having no clue now.
Kevin bid farewell to everyone and headed to the castle.
Since last time, his entry and exit from the castle had been unimpeded.
Lorian directly led him to the castle's small garden. There was a small gazebo in the garden, and it seemed like an afternoon tea activity was taking place there.
"Kevin, come quickly! Try my newly made snacks." Melusine cheerfully waved him over.
Kevin sat down diagonally opposite her. The two chatted while enjoying the snacks.
"Are you encountering some difficulty?" Melusine suddenly asked.
Meeting Kevin's puzzled gaze, Melusine smiled slightly. "After you came back, you always seem to be thinking about something. And you look very tired."
Was this just observation? Or was it the effect of a Nen ability? Or was he showing it so obviously?
Kevin didn't know much about Melusine's Nen ability—only that she had one activated through questions and answers. A simple question and answer could assist him in flying, and although it was only for a short minute, it was still very powerful.
"Besides being a Hunter, I'm also a Potion Master." With that, Kevin patted the pouch containing the potions on his waist.
Melusine nodded. She had seen those potions many times and was not unfamiliar with them.
"I hunted the Griffin to obtain its materials, but it's really too difficult to combine the right materials. The process of finding suitable material combinations is too tedious, and it's inevitable that it makes one mentally exhausted." Kevin said casually, as if making small talk.
After listening, Melusine silently took a sip of tea, and the white python coiled around her leaned slightly forward, staring at Kevin. To be honest, Kevin had once suspected this snake was a Nen beast—if not for the fact that he could sense desire from it. However, Kevin had no aversion to snakes. After all, this snake coiled around Melusine added a unique charm. It was also an important "decoration."
"I remember you said that by the swamp outside, you encountered green grass leaves floating in the wind? You also said you didn't expect casually floating grass leaves to be materials. So why didn't you extract the essence of such grass leaves by soaking them in liquid and use them as materials?"
"The bones of the Griffin's wings should also be very suitable, right?"
Kevin's expression became serious, and he fell into deep thought.
When making the Griffin potion, the bottleneck he encountered was the lack of suitable complementary materials. He had tried using bones as complementary materials before, but not wing bones. As for that grass leaf, he had also tried it, but the effect was not ideal. He hadn't thought that materials could also be made through extraction.
No—that wasn't the point.
Kevin looked up at Melusine opposite him.
At this moment, Melusine's eyes darted around, not daring to meet Kevin's gaze directly. She lowered her head slightly, fiddling with the snacks in front of her, as if she had never seen them before.
"Your Nen ability?"
"Ah? ...Hmm." Melusine nodded gently.
Something was off. Ten out of ten times off.
Melusine's Nen ability also had the ability to provide him with ideas?
The other party's Nen ability seemed to be able to strongly supplement his own.
Although Kevin didn't want to think in this direction, it was clearly not the time for self-deception.
Why did he come to this Secret Realm? Why did Menchi and the others come here?