“So, what exactly were you doing when you ran off to town earlier? Don’t tell me you’ve got relatives here or something?” Vinny deflected the topic.

“I’m not like you, Vinny—skipping around aimlessly all day with no sense of responsibility,” Aesphyra said, hands folded behind her back, body leaning forward slightly as she raised a well-shaped brow.

“Then what were you doing, huh? Don’t tell me you were out scouting for another new big sister?” Vinny clicked his tongue.

“That’s just rude! Can’t you ever think of me in a good light, Vinny? Am I really someone who only ever does stuff like that in your eyes?” Aesphyra pouted, this fluffy little white bun deliberately acting cutesy in front of him.

“Isn’t that exactly what you do?” Vinny tilted his head and shot back.

“Of course not. I’m not like you, Vinny—rushing into things like a headless fly with no plan, no structure, no sense of direction or detail.” Aesphyra smirked.

“Oi, what’s that supposed to mean?! I’ll have you know I’m courageous and clever, a perfect balance of wisdom and valor, unmatched in virtue and talent, and, might I add, devastatingly handsome. And yet you’re saying I’ve got no brain?!” Vinny bristled with indignation.

“Then tell me, Vinny—do you know what I was doing just now?” Aesphyra asked.

“? What does that have to do with anything?” Vinny looked confused.

“When we arrived at the Practical Exam location, you just flailed around like a headless chicken, panicking and totally clueless about what to do first.” Aesphyra twirled her glistening fingers playfully.

“Oh, and you knew exactly what to do? Then why didn’t you go do it?” Vinny pouted.

“Vinny, what do you think I went to do?” Aesphyra gave him a pointed glance.

“Oh? So what exactly did you go do?”

“When you arrive at a new place, the first thing to do should be to confirm whether the situation matches your intelligence reports—and then gather specific information from the locals,” she said plainly.

“No matter how much we think we know, there’s no way we could understand Lake Village better than the nearby townsfolk.” Aesphyra analyzed calmly.

“So you went into town to gather intel?” Vinny’s expression twisted a little. “But judging by how polite those townsfolk were to me, I’m guessing you came back empty-handed.”

Please. The way those people looked at him, a dashing young nobleman, with stone-cold faces—clearly this town wasn’t too friendly to outsiders. And pretty damn rude, too.

“Not at all. In fact, they were very welcoming.” Aesphyra beamed like a flower. “I got a fair amount of information out of them.”

“Click. Then why is it that when I asked them anything, they didn’t even look at me??” Vinny grumbled, clearly disgruntled.

“Pfft—oh dear, Vinny got the cold shoulder?” Aesphyra covered her mouth with a teasing chuckle, clearly enjoying his misfortune.

“What happened? Could it be... your face just isn’t to their taste? ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Hm, though I suppose that’s not really their fault.”

Vinny turned beet red with rage.

He knew that partnering with Aesphyra would lead to his moral character being slandered to death.

“Pah! What do you mean ‘not to their taste’?! They just don’t know how to appreciate beauty! I’m a blooming flower of youth, you understand?! Even carriages skid out when they see me! And you dare say I’m not easy on the eyes?!”

“No matter what, I’m at least taller than you, you white-furred shortstack! I bet the reason they humored you is because they mistook you for a baby in need of care!” Vinny seethed and, in his anger, just got angrier.

There was nothing he could do. When Aesphyra mocked him, all he could do was get angry.

Still, there was one thing he would never tolerate—mock his morals all you want, but never insult his looks. That was his bottom line, got it??

Aesphyra, of course, clearly loved seeing him get worked up like this. Seeing his reaction, she smiled serenely and chose not to press any further.

“I got some intel about Lake Village while I was in town. Let’s walk and talk.” Before long, they had reached the town’s northwestern edge, stepping out into the open fields beyond.

“Lake Village has been plagued by magic serpents for a while now. At first, the governing city-state responded to reports by dispatching soldiers to drive them off, and later they even requested a high priest from the Church of Radiance. According to what I’ve heard, the serpent threat has since been neutralized.”

“Huh? Neutralized?” Vinny frowned. “Then why the hell did they even summon us here? If it’s already under control, didn’t we come for nothing? We should just turn around and submit the report.”

“Don’t you think maybe the instructor who gave us this assignment was just careless? Maybe the info was outdated, and they passed us a job that’s already been handled?”

“That might be the case. But let me ask—you really think we can just go back and write the report like that?” Aesphyra asked.

“What else can we do? Just be honest, I guess. Write that the job was already completed before we got here. The Church of Radiance obviously handles demon suppression better than we do—if they already sent a high priest, there’s nothing left for us to do, right?” Vinny said, scratching the back of his head, completely unbothered.

“What—you planning to stir up something that isn’t there just to spice up the report?”

“You can’t draw conclusions until you’ve seen the situation with your own eyes, right?” Aesphyra said calmly. “We’re already here.”

“I think it’d be better if you didn’t go jinxing anyone while we’re here,” Vinny muttered with a hint of subtle warning in his tone.

It was common knowledge: a fated protagonist was someone chosen by the very will of the Terrilis continent. To put it less flatteringly—they were a walking disaster. Trouble followed wherever they went.

Lake Village might be fine now, but with Aesphyra here? All bets were off. She might stir up a whole new mess just by existing nearby.

“Seriously, Aesphyra, have you ever noticed that you’re basically a human calamity magnet? It’s not like you intend for it to happen, but your aura or something just invites trouble.” Vinny sighed.

“Really? Funny, I feel like the most trouble happens when you’re around, Vinny.” Aesphyra tilted her head.

She was clearly alluding to the fact that the moment Vinny’s existence started deviating, the entire worldline had gone off-script.

Vinny didn’t have a real retort for that. Just Mirexia’s incident from a while back had been completely absent from the original timeline.

“You...”

“But this time, I really do think something’s off.” Aesphyra interrupted before he could say anything.

“Seriously?” Vinny’s expression darkened slightly. He actually trusted the fated protagonist’s intuition quite a bit. If she said something was wrong, there was a good chance something was very wrong.

“Don’t you feel it? There’s a strange low pressure hanging in the air,” Aesphyra said something cryptic again. Vinny had no clue if she was just being vague or dramatic.

What low pressure? Why couldn’t he feel anything?

“Vinny, when you tried talking to people in town—how exactly did they react?” she asked.

“Why do you care about that in such detail?” Vinny shot her a side-eye, assuming she was trying to dig at him again.

“They didn’t say a word. It was like they didn’t even hear me. Just completely ignored me. So rude,” Vinny shook his head.

Aesphyra said nothing at first. She just fell silent, seemingly deep in thought.

Before dusk, the two finally arrived at Lake Village.

It was a small, unremarkable village, about the size of a few training fields at Carillian Academy.

Dinner time had come. Smoke from cooking fires drifted lazily into the air, and they could see villagers moving about in the distance.

“Everything looks totally normal here. Couldn’t be more normal,” Vinny squinted at the village from afar. “Doesn’t look like a place that’s been ravaged by monsters. Everything’s just... fine.”

Aesphyra didn’t reply. She simply walked ahead into the village.

“Excuse me, good sir, may I borrow a moment of your time~?” Aesphyra called out to a passing middle-aged man. She curtsied, her tone elegant and aristocratic—the textbook demeanor of a noble lady.

Yeah, totally not how she talked to him.

Vinny felt bitter. This miniature snow bun was more polite to strangers than she ever was to him.

Yet the middle-aged man she addressed didn’t respond at all. He acted like he hadn’t heard her, continuing along without a glance.

“Pffft—ahaha!” Vinny cracked up on the spot, immediately stepping up to mock her. “Oh my, what happened to our charming little miss Aesphyra? The famed irresistible allure didn’t work this time? Weren’t you making fun of my face earlier? What now, getting a taste of your own medicine? Maybe it’s your looks that made him ignore you?”

Aesphyra didn’t respond. She simply watched the man leave, eyes narrowed in thought.

Vinny assumed she was just trying to mask her embarrassment with silence and pressed on with the teasing.

“He didn’t even look at you! C’mon, Aesphyra, don’t get discouraged. Maybe he did hear you but turned around and didn’t see anyone—probably thought he was being haunted. Haha!”

“There’s the scent of alchemical potion. Faint, but there,” Aesphyra murmured, seemingly unbothered by Vinny’s taunts. She had slipped into some kind of focused state.

“Huh? Alchemical potion scent? How come I don’t smell anything?” Vinny sniffed the air exaggeratedly, frowning. He smelled nothing unusual.

“Still, both the people in town and this village... something’s off, right? They act like outsiders don’t exist. I was just trying to ask a question, and they acted like I wasn’t even there. That’s just rude. Not even a glance?” Vinny muttered, looking at the man’s back.

Aesphyra remained silent, her brow slightly furrowed.

“This village hasn’t seen outsiders in a long time,” said an aged voice, grabbing their attention.

Vinny and Aesphyra turned toward the sound and saw a hunched old man leaning on a cane.

“Sir, and you are?” Vinny asked.

“I’m the village chief. You two look unfamiliar. Judging by your clothes, I’d guess you’re from a noble family?” the old man asked.

“That’s right, sir. We’re students from Carillian Academy. We’ve come to assist your village with the magic serpent outbreak. You should’ve received notice from the Academy,” Aesphyra said, voice respectful and warm. She was always patient with common folk.

Yeah—just not with him. With him, it was all sarcasm and emotional baiting.

“Ah, Carillian Academy. I’d almost forgotten you were coming,” the village chief said as recognition flickered in his eyes upon seeing their uniforms.

“But you’re a little late. Those magic serpents don’t pose much of a threat here anymore,” the old man said.

“See, told you so.” Vinny spread his arms. “This place looks totally fine. Nothing like a monster-infested disaster zone. They handled it themselves—we came here for nothing.”

“Sir, the man I tried to speak to earlier—do you know him?” Aesphyra ignored Vinny and continued questioning.

“Of course. We all know each other in this village. That man’s always been a bit off-tempered, but he used to be much livelier. Definitely not that blank.” The old man shook his head.

“Could you tell me what happened to him?” Aesphyra asked.

“Of course. It’s not a secret. When the serpents first broke out, the city-state sent soldiers, and the local church dispatched a priest. They culled quite a few of the monsters. But one night, as if in revenge, many villagers vanished—including that man.”

Magic serpents? Disappearances?

Vinny glanced at Aesphyra, confused.

“And then?”

“Later, the priest led a search and found the missing villagers in a den the serpents had built. They were unconscious, and he began treating them. When they woke, they were just as you see now.”

“The priest said it was due to demonic contamination and extreme terror. Only time can heal them—maybe they’ll recover fully someday,” the elder explained.

“And the soldiers from the city-state?” Aesphyra asked.

“Them? They were arrogant. Treated us rural folk like dirt. Once they heard the serpents were gone, they hightailed it out of here. Said they were too ‘important’ to stay in a backwater like this.”

“So... the ones who don’t speak, the ones who ignore people—those are the villagers who were captured?” Aesphyra pieced it all together, hearing the web of contradictions loud and clear.

“Yes. Their families are doing the best they can, just following the priest’s instructions, taking care of them day by day.”