Watching the Knight Order make a hasty retreat.
Everyone despised privilege, yet everyone secretly craved it—Sang realized the truth of that saying for the first time.
Shika was still pinning down Wells Von, but after a moment’s thought, Sang stopped him. He merely forced Baron Wells Von to apologize publicly and cover the restaurant’s expenses for the entire day.
Wells Von looked as relieved as if he’d been granted a royal pardon. He didn’t dare complain, agreeing profusely instead.
Around two in the afternoon, Sang and Shika left the restaurant with the children in tow.
Along the way, Sang took in the sights. He noticed that Rita was laying down tracks too, with a massive “S” emblazoned on the enclosure walls. It would probably be some time before the line opened, but from what he’d gathered, only two intercity railways were under construction: one from the Central Region to Knight Academy City, and the other from the Central Region to Rita.
He hadn’t expected to become a witness to human civilization in another world.
As Sang once again marveled at the wonders of steampunk, Shika—still stewing over the earlier incident—finally spoke up. “You… why do you always show unnecessary mercy? Do you really think someone like that human will change?”
Sang caught the doubt in Shika’s voice and turned to him with a brilliant, lazy smile. He waved it off casually. “Who cares? I’m just following my heart…”
Yeah.
Sang simply wanted to live by following his heart.
As for all those grand philosophies, he still didn’t quite get them.
Lost in thought, something else occurred to him. He glanced up at the sky and mused aloud, “That said… on the debate of whether human nature is inherently evil or good, much as I hate to admit it, I think I’m in the latter camp…”
The benevolent are invincible?
Was that really true?
Sang didn’t know. A moment of mercy had cost him things—like Helen and Ulysses in the Northern Region—and yet it had also kept him true to his roots, preventing him from losing himself.
It was a double-edged sword…
“Sigh…” Shika let out an odd sigh but didn’t press the issue further.
The future lay ahead, and they could only ponder it while moving forward…
That was life. If you figured it all out at fifteen, how boring would that be?
The children listened to the two men’s conversation. Only Bob fell into thought; the other three had no interest in such matters and focused entirely on their play.
Bob murmured, “Mercy…”
Kevin, meanwhile, whooped excitedly. “The benevolent are invincible! Did Wang Lufei say that? So cool!”
Sang watched the two very different children, feeling a pang of complexity. After all, they were just parroting his own ramblings.
After strolling along the bustling Central Street, Sang and Shika wandered toward the outskirts of the city. There wasn’t much to tell; every place, every city was much the same. The farther out you went, the poorer and more rundown it became.
After that, Sang told Shika to go explore on his own. There was no need to stick by his side—he knew Shika was a wild werewolf at heart and deserved some time to himself.
That was the plan, at least. But Kevin and Nora latched onto him anyway, especially the latter. Nora was the shyest, most timid girl among them, desperately craving a sense of security, so she wanted to stay with Shika.
Sang just looked… a bit weak.
And so the group of six split into two. Sang took Bob and Nancy, while Shika took Kevin and Nora.
Once separated from Shika, Sang made his way alone to the western part of Rita. Things looked decent near the city gates, but farther out, the true decay was laid bare: rundown, filthy, choked with smog.
What the young man hadn’t expected was this: not far off, someone was handing out food to the impoverished.
At first glance, he thought it was a boy…
Drawing closer for a better look, he realized it wasn’t a boy at all, but a girl in boy’s clothing—much like her disguise on the steam train. Iyefut Cape had tucked her gradient long hair under a tall hat, donned a gentleman’s suit, and stepped into knee-high boots.
Iyefut Cape had set up a temporary stall near the inner side of the city walls. The table was laden with simple human foods, and a long line had formed in front of it. Countless people mired in poverty and hardship expressed their deep gratitude for her kindness.
She was alone—no knights, no servants by her side…
Well, she was the young miss of the anti-human Cape Family, after all. She probably had to do this in secret because of her status.
Come to think of it… this woman not only admired human civilization but loved human literature too. Could she actually like humans…?
What a weirdo!
He knew some might compare her to Snow Hill, but they were different. Snow protected the weak out of knightly honor. In her eyes, humans were the weak—and strictly speaking, she didn’t like humans. After all, when he’d entered Snow’s 【Channel】 back then, he’d sensed her true feelings.
Iyefut Cape, on the other hand, genuinely loved them.
That made her a true weirdo…
If Duke Cape found out his daughter was doing something like this, he’d be furious.
Sang didn’t like the Cape Family—they’d sent assassins after him more than once. He had no intention of bothering with Iyefut Cape and was about to turn away when he remembered the last time, when she’d been attacked by killers. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to stay, watching from a distance in silence.
Some things, some feelings, couldn’t be faked. Like right now, as Iyefut Cape handed food to the humans, her amber eyes sparkled with sincere warmth.
At that moment.
Nancy stared, wide-eyed, as Teacher An gazed longingly at the beautiful youth in the distance. She was stunned. So Teacher An liked men.
Bob, beside her, seemed to grasp it too. In this world, same-sex attraction wasn’t uncommon.
Meanwhile, Sang had no idea the two children had gotten the wrong idea.
In the young man’s mind flashed the recent conversation with Shika, sparking a strange thought—maybe she and I are alike. We both believe in the goodness of human nature.
In a brief daze, he looked up inadvertently—and locked eyes with Iyefut Cape.
Uh… caught.
Since he’d been spotted, the young man didn’t play coy. He simply walked over, the two children trailing behind him. Before he could speak, Iyefut Cape licked her lips and said, “Tch… another secret exposed. Looks like I need to leave another mark on you…”
He rolled his eyes at that. “Then maybe do fewer weird things, Princess.”
His words were sharp, but just recalling last night’s blood drain made his heart skip a beat involuntarily.
“Get lost! Who—who’s a princess!?”
Her cheeks flushed crimson as she denied being the Princess, thumping her chest to feign a manly bravado.
Her ample bosom rose and fell slightly with the motion.
“You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not Iyefut!”
“Sigh… if you really want to deny it, say that first, not as an afterthought…”
Though they’d only met three times, Sang felt like he’d already pegged her personality: an innocent, human-loving young lady from a sheltered life.
“Mind your own business!”
“I wasn’t planning to. We just happened to cross paths.”
As Sang chatted with Iyefut Cape, more humans gathered. The pair exchanged a glance and fell silent in perfect sync.
After a moment’s thought, the young man decided to stay and help. He didn’t like the Cape Family, but he couldn’t bring himself to dislike Iyefut.
After all… who could hate a harmless little bunny rabbit?
As they distributed food, they chatted idly.
“Are you really here alone?” Sang asked.
Iyefut Cape nodded. “Yeah, I snuck out. No one can know about this… especially Noitra. He’s Father’s man—he’d tell him everything.”
Noitra… the Black Knight.
“So you snuck out the same way for the train last time?”
“Mm-hmm… I got smarter. Last time, my disguise wasn’t thorough enough, and I was in the Central Region, so enemies spotted me. This time, it’s perfect.” She beamed with pride, like a kindergartener hoping for a gold star from the teacher.
Sang couldn’t help but laugh.
Seeing him laugh so freely irked Iyefut a little, though she was powerless to stop it.
“Why do you do this?”
