"Goodbye, Heier."

"Goodbye."

Liens waved goodbye to the students, then jumped off the carriage and walked alone down the street.

Those students were going to take the Knight assessment, while he was just hitching a ride to start his journey from here.

This was Korlot.

It was the largest city closest to Hughes Town.

However, even though it was the closest city, Liens and the others had to go around a mountain and through a considerable forest to reach it by noon.

They had set off early in the morning, even before the sun had fully risen.

Such a long journey explained why the woodcutter uncle had said he rarely left the town; a round trip would take the entire day, which was truly an uncommon hassle.

Moreover, the journey was not smooth sailing.

After leaving a certain range of Hughes Town, monster attacks began to occur on the road, with five attacks happening in total.

Although his existence prevented any casualties from these attacks.

However, the behavior of these monsters still made him feel that something was off.

While monsters lacked intelligence, they followed the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm.

They were a team of dozens of people, almost everyone armed with weapons; in this situation, if not walking freely, they should at least possess a certain deterrent, right?

What's more, the attacking monsters were not a single species like Wind Wolves, but multiple types of monsters.

It was like rushing to a supermarket sale and buying a bunch of random, possibly useless, items.

He even saw a few Horned Rabbits running over with red eyes.

How dare these forest food reserves attack humans? Had they gone mad from eating grass?

In short, this strange situation not only puzzled Liens, but also the other students, though the Knight assessment forced them to press on.

Fortunately, with Liens's protection along the way, they proceeded without incident.

Although Liens gradually discovered in the later attacks that these monsters seemed to be targeting him.

This made him feel a bit awkward, and he couldn't help but recall encountering similar situations deep within the Monster Forest.

Therefore, he speculated that monsters might have a strong hostility towards Extraordinary Ones, or perhaps the "popularity" of Hughes Town caused a stress reaction in the monsters.

After all, he had absorbed a lot of "popularity" from the rituals to restore some of his Life essence.

Nimophila had also said before that this "Element containing human vitality" was one of the keys to resisting the Demon Disaster, so it was normal for monsters to dislike it.

The reason she stayed in Hughes Town was also to collect data from the town's rituals and study the nature and changes of it.

She could not leave the town until she achieved definite results or reached a certain experimental duration.

Therefore, although she really wanted to travel with Liens, she had to give up due to her responsibilities.

Of course, with the idea of being the first and leaving a deep impression on Liens's mind, Nimophila launched a night raid immediately after the Divine contract completed its transformation of him.

That night, both sides gave their first time.

Every night thereafter, Nimophila would secretly come to Liens's room, and after some time, she would slowly leave, feeling the wall and blushing.

This continued until last night, when he was about to leave Hughes Town.

Liens felt she was affected while treating Atel; otherwise, why would she be so weak yet still enjoy playing?

Speaking of Atel, whether it was a blessing in disguise or a sudden realization, shortly after the curse was lifted, she stepped across that threshold.

Now, her body occasionally had elements surging into it, but unlike the multiple elements when she was cursed, it was a single lightning element.

It's just that he doesn't know how long it will take her to break through that cognitive barrier and step into the Extraordinary domain herself?

He himself had broken through the cognitive barrier at that time because he was promoted to a Knight in the Instance through the Elemental Baptism Potion, instinctively gaining elemental perception ability. Need character sheets and glossaries? Visit *.

Otherwise, he wouldn't know how much time it would have taken him to perceive the Wind Element within his body back then?

All he could say was, good luck to her.

He hoped that when they met again, she would be a very good opponent.

Two figures flashed quickly through his mind, and Liens, carrying a package, walked calmly down the bustling street filled with people and traffic.

On both sides of the road were various shops and vendors, the fragrant smell of food, the shouts of the shopkeepers—a lively yet orderly street scene came into view.

Compared to Kara City, this place felt better to him.

At least the city was very clean; there wasn't a faint, lingering stench wherever he went.

Moreover, the residents here had a very good mental outlook; as he walked along, he could read from many people's hearts that kind of positive, optimistic emotion that tomorrow would be better.

In comparison, even if he didn't have his current abilities back then, he could see that many people in Kara City were actually living with the despair of just surviving one day at a time.

This was also the reason for the prevalence of gangs in Kara City.

Even if gang members lived with their lives on the line, and some gang underlings often died in gang fights, at least those people felt they had enjoyed themselves for a period before they died.

However, their enjoyment was built upon the suffering of others.

"Hmm?"

Liens stopped, then turned and walked towards a shop beside him.

"Welcome."

Seeing Liens walk in, the somewhat portly shop owner immediately greeted him warmly.

The shop was small, only a few square meters, and its entire appearance could be seen at a glance.

And the items sold in the shop were models, mostly of slender beautiful women, among which he saw a familiar figure.

"Is the customer interested in this model?"

Noticing Liens's gaze, the shop owner immediately inquired.

Then, without waiting for Liens to respond, he introduced on his own: "The customer truly has good taste; this is an imported item from a neighboring country, limited in quantity, and very rare."

"Moreover, the character in this model is not fictional, but comes from our neighboring country, the 'Princess Knight' of the Hartwin Kingdom."

"I wonder if the customer knows about this 'Princess Knight'? It doesn't matter if you don't; let me tell you, this is a truly noble imperial princess."

"Imagine the feeling of holding a princess of a nation in your hands… Are you tempted?"

The shop owner finished speaking and showed a lewd smile.

Liens looked at the Lucrezia model displayed on the shelf, feeling a bit emotional; he hadn't expected to see a familiar figure again, and in a model shop at that.

Although he didn't know what changes Lucrezia becoming a "Princess Knight" would bring to the Hartwin Kingdom's army, it should at least have generated a lot of foreign exchange for the Hartwin Kingdom.

Just as the shop owner said, who wouldn't be tempted by the feeling of holding a princess of a nation in their hands?

Not to mention, Lucrezia was also a stunning beauty with an excellent figure, possessing both a cold demeanor and a tempting contrast.

Even without the added status, the model itself was very aesthetically pleasing.