How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

“Every elven village has a village chief and a priestess, and I am this village’s priestess,” Vera explained to Vinny. “If I were to explain the work in detail, it would be very complicated and terribly tedious. But at this point in time, the simplest summary would be that whenever a festival comes around, I organize everyone to celebrate together.”

“Here...” Vinny looked thoughtful.

“What is it? Do you have a question, Mr. Vinny?” Vera asked.

“Nothing much. I just think this place feels very peaceful.” Vinny looked out at the cooking smoke rising through the village and the endless open fields beyond.

Elven architecture had a very distinctive style, but in the end, it lacked the grandeur of the buildings in the Tyrel Empire and the Camella Kingdom. If the Empire’s buildings were towering and imposing, then elven buildings were more like countryside cottages.

The latter were far less majestic and awe-inspiring than the former, yet they possessed a flavor of life the former simply did not.

“Peace is the most precious treasure we elves possess.” Vera fell silent for a moment before speaking slowly. “For a thousand years, we elves have lived in this tranquil and gentle land, keeping apart from the world. We have fought only wars of defense, never wars of invasion against other races. Even though peace lies in our hands, we treasure it more than any other race does. Other races take up arms to expand their territory. When we take up arms, it is always for self-preservation, to defend our homeland and our peace.”

“So... regarding how my people reacted earlier, please do not take it too much to heart. We all cherish the peace our ancestors have guarded for a thousand years.”

“Anything that might destroy it, we will choose to snuff out for the sake of protecting ourselves.”

“You should have heard about what happened to the Moon Elves. It was an outright tragedy. For certain reasons, we were powerless to reverse the situation. The only thing we could do was make sure such a tragedy never happened again.” Vera’s tone was earnest and heavy.

“For certain reasons?” Vinny should not have asked that. This was internal elven business. Whether they truly had reasons or were just making excuses had nothing to do with him. But because it involved Shicodale, the question slipped out of him before he could stop it.

“Sorry. I spoke out of turn,” Vinny corrected himself.

“It’s nothing.” Vera shook her head faintly, with no intention of explaining further.

“Mr. Vinny, it’s getting late today. Please rest in this village for a few days first. I’ll go notify the elders that you’ve arrived and have them send a carriage to pick you up.” Once the two of them entered the village, Vera spoke again. “You can stay at the Cathedral of the Dawn tonight. Since you’re a Saintess descendant, it should feel fairly familiar to you.”

“All right, I understand. Where is it?” Vinny felt that spending the night in this village was not exactly safe. Earlier, he had already seen the meaningful looks several elves had given him. Still, that part was unavoidable.

If possible, he really did not want to enter the village this conspicuously.

“Just follow me.” Vera walked ahead and led him around several streets.

The structure of an elven village was completely different from that of a human one. If he had to describe it, Vinny felt like he was walking through some fairy-tale hamlet. The style of the houses looked like the kind of scenery that only existed in fairy tales.

Vinny curiously looked over the houses. By accident, he caught sight of an elf girl who had just walked to a window and was about to draw the curtain leaves shut. The moment she noticed him glancing her way, she froze, then hurriedly closed the window as if she had just seen something filthy.

Was he Cthulhu or something? Was he really that scary-looking??

Vinny let out a long sigh inwardly. Did that mean that by elven standards, he was not even handsome?

No way.

Vinny had always thought he was already handsome enough. On the entire Tyrelis Continent, the number of people better-looking than him could not fill one hand.

No, even one hand was too many.

That Wood Elf girl had probably just been so overwhelmed by how handsome he was that her heart started pounding, and that was why she shyly shut the window.

Yes.

It had to be that.

“We’re here, Vinny,” Vera said, leading Vinny to a building whose architectural style looked oddly familiar. She pointed toward the cathedral inside the courtyard, as well as the statue of the Goddess standing at its entrance.

This was a Cathedral of the Dawn?

Vinny felt that if Vera had not deliberately told him, he never would have recognized it as one. The style was similar in some places, but the difference was still huge.

The Cathedral of the Dawn in elf lands had been localized way too heavily. Still, there were quite a few familiar details. For instance, the statue of the Dawn Goddess was relatively faithful to the original. At the very least, one could still recognize it as a beautiful and holy angel.

“You should be fairly familiar with this place.”

“Mm.” Vinny hesitated for a moment before responding.

Familiar?

Quite the opposite. This was the very place he least wanted to come to. If this had been a Cathedral of the Dawn in human territory, he absolutely would not have set foot inside.

Vera turned back and silently glanced at Vinny, taking in the expression on his face at that moment. A strange glimmer flashed through her eyes.

“If you do not like staying here, Mr. Vinny, you can come with me to the priestess hall. There are still a few vacant guest rooms there. Since no one has come by in quite a long time, they’ve been left unused, but after a bit of cleaning, they would be perfectly livable,” Vera suggested.

“It’s fine. That would trouble you too much. Miss Vera, you’ve already led the way for me and brought me here. I’m grateful enough for that already. How could I keep troubling you?” Vinny shook his head.

“It’s all right. It isn’t any trouble at all. Just a small matter.”

“No, I’ll stay here.” Vinny paused. “Though... I have no idea whether the people staying here will welcome my arrival.”

He had seen plenty already of the elves’ attitude toward humans.

“You needn’t worry about that.”

“Good evening, Lady Vera.” Before Vera had even finished speaking, an elf girl in black-and-white robes walked out of the cathedral. When she saw Vera, she politely bowed.

Vinny’s gaze also fell on the elf girl. She had curly honey-brown hair, and the black-and-white robes she wore were probably a nun’s habit.

Why probably?

Because once the habit had been localized by elves, Vinny could barely recognize it anymore.

For some reason, elves liked wearing light, airy clothes, and they also liked adapting foreign outfits into lighter versions.

Well, paired with an elf’s naturally curving figure, it was definitely easy on the eyes. If this was the average standard for nuns, then the human side would absolutely never be short on worshippers.

“Your timing is good, Noni. This honored guest was invited into elf lands by the elders. It’s rather late today. Would it be possible for him to stay at your cathedral tonight?” Vera’s gaze shifted to Vinny.

“Someone invited by the elders?” The elf nun called Noni showed a flicker of surprise in her eyes when she realized Vinny was human, but it vanished very quickly. “It is an honor. Esteemed sir, may I ask your name?”

“Hello, Miss Nun. My name is Vinny Facilis.” Vinny was a little surprised by how calm her reaction was after seeing that he was human.

“Vinny Facilis? What a lovely name. Unless this is a coincidence, you bear the same family name as the Dawn Goddess and every Saintess who came after her,” Noni said with feeling.

“It is no coincidence, Noni. Mr. Vinny here is a descendant of House of Facilis,” Vera explained.

“Oh?” Noni’s lovely bright eyes widened a little. “This blue-haired gentleman truly is a blood descendant of the Goddess?”

“Yes. That is also why I arranged for him to stay at the cathedral.”

“How fortunate. Could this be the Goddess’s will?” Noni looked Vinny up and down. “Still, if that is the case, then this gentleman truly is very unusual.”

“Whether in popular rumor or official accounts, the traits of the Saintess’s descendants have always been pink hair, heart-shaped pupils, and an all-female line... My apologies. I mean no offense by saying that.” Noni lowered her head. “Perhaps I’ve remembered the traits incorrectly.”

“It’s fine. Almost everyone on the human side says the same thing when they meet me.” Vinny could tell that her last line was just her forcing a polite cushion onto words that would have otherwise sounded much harsher.

The reality was simple: even the Dawn faithful of another race did not believe he was a descendant of the Goddess.

But whether they believed it or not was their business. He had not come here for that.

At the side, Vera silently watched the changes in Vinny’s expression. Her eyes shifted slightly, but she said nothing.

“Then I’ll leave this Mr. Vinny in your care. He is an honored guest of our elves, so please take some extra care with him, Miss Noni.”

“Please rest assured, Lady Vera.”

“Mm.” Vera nodded to Noni. “Mr. Vinny, this is where we part.”

With that, Vera turned and left.

“Please follow me.”

Vinny had been worried that if she kept asking questions about his family, things would become extremely awkward. Fortunately, Noni had no such intention. She simply had him follow behind her. As for what she had said earlier, and Vinny’s identity as a descendant of the Goddess, she did not seem to put much stock in any of it.

“Mm.” Vinny nodded and followed Noni up to the second floor of the cathedral.

What made this village small was not only its scale. The buildings themselves were small too. Almost none of them rose above two stories. Nearly all of them topped out at the second floor. Small, cozy houses. Elves seemed to like this sort of architecture very much.

But in a village like this, there was not even a watch post. It relied entirely on the two barriers outside its gates.

If some force ever figured out how to break the [All-Forests Barrier], a village like this had basically no defensive capability at all. One attack, and it would be gone.

“You can stay in this room.” Noni led Vinny to a room on the second floor. “These rooms are meant for members of the faithful passing through this place. As it happens, the last one only set out not long ago.”

“All right.” Vinny carried his luggage into the room.

“If you need anything, please come find me. I’ll have food prepared for you shortly. You may come downstairs to eat later, though perhaps you may not be used to elven cuisine.”

“Mm, got it. Thank you.”

“Then I’ll return to my work.” Noni turned to leave, but at the last moment, she seemed to think of something and looked back. “Mr. Vinny.”

“What is it? Is there something else, Miss Noni?”

“Do you know how long it has been since a human last set foot in elf lands?”

“I heard Miss Vera say it’s been quite a while?” Vinny had no idea what she meant by bringing this up.

“Nearly a hundred years. The last humans to enter elf lands were Saintess Sophia and her utterly loyal Radiant Cross Knights.” Noni’s tone was long and slow.

Vinny said nothing, silently waiting for what came after Sophia’s name.

“Forgive my bluntness, but to us, this is a very rare thing. I imagine it is the same for you.”

“Take that as me speaking out of turn.” With that, Noni left.

Vinny sat on the bed and fell silent.

He understood exactly what she meant.

The elves would never invite a complete outsider they did not know into their homeland for no reason—especially not now, when the trust between elves and humans had fallen to rock bottom.

Vinny lay back on the bed, and a wave of exhaustion rose over him.

But very quickly, that exhaustion was blown apart.

He jolted upright from the bed and stared in shock at his current Virtue record.

[Virtue +50.]

[Current Virtue: 8569.]

[Virtue +60.]

[Current Virtue: 8629.]

What the hell was going on?!

Vinny’s eyes widened.

What had he done to gain Virtue? How did he not know about it??

Was there a fate heroine somewhere around him right now?

Obviously not.

Could these have come from Milian??

Milian was trapped in the Demon God Realm right now, but half her soul was on him. Did that mean if that half of her soul responded, it would also increase his Virtue??

But why now, of all times? Why not earlier? Why not later??

Vinny’s uncertainty deepened. He had thought this trip would simply be about bringing Milian home and asking how to revive her, but instead...

His instincts told him that this time, too, he had stepped into something serious.

No way.

Vinny was starting to seriously wonder whether he had interacted with Aesphyra too much, and whether her protagonist passive—where trouble broke out everywhere she went—had somehow rubbed off on him.

That would be a disaster, wouldn’t it??

So what exactly was going on? Was Virtue broken?

That was obviously impossible. Every time he had suspected the Virtue system was broken before, it had eventually proven that the system was perfectly fine—and then a whole string of awful things had happened afterward.

That left Vinny with no choice but to stay on guard.

He felt like he needed to prepare for the worst.

If this Virtue did not come from Milian, then what did it come from?

This was elf lands.

Was there a fate heroine somewhere near him??

Had a fate heroine followed him all the way into elf lands? That did not seem very likely.

Still, he could not rule it out completely for now. For example, during the Jiulixue incident, he had never managed to figure out where the fate heroine actually was.

But if it was not that possibility, then did that mean...?

Vinny sat alone in the room, his brows drawing tighter and tighter.

Assuming it really was that—

What exactly did she want??

Why... bring him into elf lands??