Faced with Harisson’s sophistry, Kate merely swept him with a cold glance. “You know exactly what you’ve done. I only hope that tomorrow I won’t see the Light Society anymore. I also hope this is the last mistake your Leville family makes.”
Harisson was drenched in sweat. He nodded repeatedly like a bobblehead. “Don’t worry, Lord Kate. I guarantee the Light Society won’t see tomorrow’s sun!”
Kate nodded, then turned to Eileen and Atia. “Let’s go. We’re heading back.”
Eileen didn’t think much of it and immediately followed, but Atia remained frozen in place.
To her, the Light Society had been like a Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of all the bottom-tier people in Crisel. It could fall on anyone at any moment. It had been like an immovable mountain pressing down on them.
Yet this malignant organization that had taken root in Crisel for many years had its fate decided by Kate with just a few words.
To Atia, this was no different from a fantasy.
“What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and come.”
Eileen noticed Atia hadn’t moved and instinctively reached out to grab her hand and pull her along.
But the moment she extended her hand, Kate’s gaze shot over like a lioness sensing danger. There was no killing intent, but it was filled with warning.
Eileen’s hair stood on end. She quickly pulled her hand back.
Given Kate’s current behavior, Eileen didn’t believe Kate would hurt her. But she had no idea what else might happen. To be safe, it was better not to court death in front of Kate right now…
“Cough cough… Atia, we should go.”
Eileen coughed lightly and reminded her.
Atia snapped back to her senses and quickly followed behind them.
While she had been shocked earlier, she had also noticed Kate’s attitude toward Harisson.
Clearly, Harisson wasn’t as innocent as he claimed. For the Light Society to have taken root in Crisel for so many years, as the city official he must have known of its existence yet never made a move. There was obviously some kind of利益关系 between them.
But since Kate already knew, why didn’t she take the opportunity to clean up Harisson and the Leville family behind him as well?
Unlike Ryan, although he was still registered as an adventurer, after founding the Light Society he had basically stopped doing any adventurer work. Over the years, his understanding of adventurers had long since become outdated.
Atia and Eileen were both bottom-tier E-rank adventurers. After escaping from the merchant caravan, they had worked in adventurer guilds across various cities. Naturally, they understood the significance of an S-rank adventurer to the Navora Principality far better than Ryan did.
Forget about removing a city’s official—even if it came to settling accounts with the nobles behind him, the Duke wouldn’t even dare to fart.
Unless this S-rank adventurer committed some kind of principled mistake, the Duke wouldn’t lower himself to offend her.
“Your name is Atia, right?”
Kate suddenly spoke, startling Atia so much she shivered and nodded repeatedly. “Y-yes, Miss Kate!”
“If you have any questions, you can ask openly. No need to keep staring at me.”
Ever since they left the Light Society headquarters, Kate had noticed Atia’s gaze constantly fixed on her, making her feel uncomfortable all over.
She didn’t like Atia very much. When Eileen had stood alone in front of the Minotauros to protect her, it reminded Kate of five years ago.
Back then, Eileen had also stood in front of her like that. That was exactly why she had fallen madly in love with this clever, mischievous girl who kept disturbing her training.
When she realized Eileen was now using the same method to protect another woman, she felt a sour feeling in her heart.
However, Atia hadn’t made any ambiguous moves toward Eileen, and in this matter she was also a victim of the Light Society. Kate really couldn’t say anything against her.
“Th-that… I wanted to ask, Miss Kate, you could already tell that city official named Harisson had problems earlier, right? Why didn’t you make a move against him?”
“If Kate had made a move against him, what if the person who replaced him was even worse?”
Eileen answered Atia’s question on Kate’s behalf. “Nobles’ worldview is completely detached from the common people. While not all nobles are like this, the vast majority don’t care about the life and death of people like us.
Kate does have the power to remove Harisson and the Leville family behind him without paying any price. But what if the new noble the Duke sends to take over Crisel is the same as them, or even worse?
You clean up one Harisson, and there are still thousands of other ‘Harissons.’ You clean up one Leville family, and there are still thousands of other ‘Leville families.’ It’s just a change of name.
This is the current state of the Principality. It can’t be changed by dealing with one person or one family.
The reason Kate let Harisson go was also to establish authority. At least for a short time, organizations like the Light Society won’t appear in Crisel again, and the Leville family will behave themselves for a while.”
Eileen spoke with complete conviction.
She had long since thoroughly understood everything about this game world.
To put it bluntly, this was a society where people ate people.
Ordinary people without any ability could only become blood bags for the upper nobility. After being squeezed dry of all value, they became garbage that could be discarded at will.
Although the game world was wrapped in a layer of swords and magic, filled with otherworldly romantic colors, upon closer inspection this world wasn’t just a grand heroic epic—it was also a history of suffering for the common people.
This was also one of the reasons Eileen had been addicted to this game.
The immersion was simply too strong. While playing, it felt like she had truly become an ordinary person struggling from the bottom, step by step reaching the peak of life through her own efforts, and finally sealing the ancient demon god to save the world.
Now… the immersion was even stronger…
“S-so that’s how it is? Miss Kate is truly far-sighted!”
Atia’s eyes were filled with admiration for Kate.
As expected of an S-rank adventurer—her perspective on things was far higher than that of ordinary people like her.
But at this moment, Kate was a bit dumbfounded.
Is… is that so?
She hadn’t thought that much at all!
Indeed, just like Eileen said, she could easily settle accounts with Harisson and the Leville family. But this group of nobles was like flies—they couldn’t hurt her, but they kept buzzing around her ears, annoying and disgusting, and would run to the Duke to complain at the slightest thing.
The reason she had let Harisson go was purely because she didn’t want the trouble…
However, after that brief moment of confusion, what she felt more strongly was heartache for Eileen.
During the five years she had been gone, just how much hardship had Eileen endured to understand so many principles?
She used to be an A-rank adventurer, glorious and unmatched.
If she had been willing to stay in the Principality, the strongest adventurer in the Principality probably wouldn’t have been Kate herself.
The more she thought about it, the more guilty Kate felt.
Back then, Eileen must have had other reasons for leaving her. Otherwise, how could she explain how she had become an E-rank adventurer now?
If only she had been by Eileen’s side back then… at least she could have saved her from some of the rain…