Ansu chatted with Freya as they strolled along, and before he knew it, they had reached the manor gates.
Professor Duncan, his students, and the couple, Danielle and Sean, had already arrived quite a while ago. To Ansu's amusement, the professor and the couple seemed to be hitting it off remarkably well, acting like old friends from the moment they met.
As he drew closer, he heard one side cursing the Royal Academy while the other was cursing the Church of Holy Light...
Two people who had both been marginalized by power and had faced a lifetime of hardships had unexpectedly found common ground at his doorstep.
Professor Duncan looked up and saw Ansu, a broad smile instantly spreading across his face. "Ansu, I've had such a wonderful conversation with Ms. Danielle! Even though we've only known each other for a few days, it feels as if we've been acquainted for years. It's truly fascinating..."
Ansu stared at them, silently thinking that, in a sense, they really had been "acquainted for years."
Having witnessed the gathering of two villains from the original plot, Ansu couldn't help but think of the Master of Poaching, Mr. Barcas.
He should be active in the North right now and would inevitably face Ansu in the future.
However, without his two capable lieutenants, the Alchemist Doctor and the Necromancer City Lord, Barcas's competitiveness would certainly be much weaker than in the original story.
After leading everyone to the newly renovated magic lab in the residence, Professor Duncan leaned over the long table, inspecting the polished alchemy instruments, and began instructing his students to organize the equipment and prepare materials.
On the other side, Danielle and her husband kept their eyes fixed on Ansu. Their focused gaze made Ansu feel somewhat puzzled.
"Mr. Ansu!" Danielle's husband, the pale-faced former demon hunter Sean, suddenly spoke up with excitement. "I've finally met you today!"
His gaze was solemn as he exchanged a look with his wife.
Then, both of them simultaneously placed their right hands over their chests and knelt on one knee before Ansu.
"You two..." Ansu raised an eyebrow.
This was clearly a standard knight's salute. Were they... swearing allegiance to him?
"If it weren't for the inhibiting serum you provided, I probably would have turned into a complete madman by now!" Sean looked up, his voice filled with sincere gratitude. "I truly don't know how to repay such kindness..."
A body corrupted by black magic would only continue to deteriorate until its sanity collapsed, turning the person into a monster. Few within the demon hunters ever met a peaceful end; he could only accept the slowly approaching finality amidst day after day of despair and his wife's suffering.
But one day, his wife had returned home in excitement, bringing a serum that claimed to alleviate his condition, and everything had slowly begun to change...
He took a deep breath and said emotionally, "We have no other skills in this life... only the martial arts we've honed for decades and the hunting experience accumulated between life and death. If you have need of us, Mr. Ansu..."
Sean and Danielle's gazes were equally earnest.
"We are willing to follow you for the rest of our lives and offer you our loyalty!"
"If you really want to thank someone..." Ansu shook his head gently, his tone calm. "First, you should thank the source of the inhibiting serum, Radish. Second, the developer of the serum—the leader of our Echoes of Truth, Celia. And finally, me. I only served as a small bridge for you."
"Even so, without you, we would never have been able to contact Lady Celia," Danielle said immediately.
She felt that the luckiest thing might have been getting drunk in that Black Harbor District tavern that day and waking up to find a young man looking for a teacher for his sister...
"There is no need for such formality. Please, stand up."
Only after Ansu said this did the two of them rise.
He looked at them, silently thinking that the Necromancer City Lord - Danielle was now completely poached... and it was even a buy one, get one free deal.
Sean's strength was not inferior to Danielle's; he was also a top-tier demon hunter of the Church, provided his health could be fully restored.
Danielle looked at Ansu and added with a smile, "Actually, there's another reason we chose to follow you."
Before Ansu left Benalu City, he had asked if she was willing to be employed, promising generous rewards. Danielle had barely hesitated before closing her locally famous martial arts hall to follow Ansu north.
"What reason?" Ansu asked curiously.
Danielle's gaze swept over the precision alchemy instruments in the lab, then past the enthusiastic Professor Duncan, as she said softly, "I believe that what you want to do is worth following."
If this research aimed at solving the problem of black magic pollution really succeeded...
Countless people and families would be saved! Tragedies like her husband's would never happen again...
Ansu was not only a visionary and ambitious leader but was also doing something that could truly change the world and make it better.
What reason was there not to follow such a person?
...
Since today was not an official research day, everyone was engaged in preliminary discussions, and the atmosphere was very lively.
Ansu looked around, his gaze falling on Freya.
He had initially worried that Freya, the former Holy Maiden who favored the Holy Light, might feel out of place in the dark faction, but it seemed he had worried for nothing.
Freya was standing elegantly by the lab bench with her hands behind her back, looking here and there. When she saw someone wasn't busy, she would lean in and whisper a question: "What... is this used for?"
She was indeed trying very hard to be helpful.
Ansu felt quite moved as he watched everyone getting along so harmoniously.
Although in another timeline, they had gone their separate ways due to 'darkness' and 'light,' at this moment, they were just a group of focused and friendly researchers gathered for a common goal.
Ansu walked over to Freya, who was staring blankly at a glowing magic crystal, murmuring softly, "This thing... with such dense mana, how can it have no pollution at all?"
"Magic crystals are natural mana veins formed through long-term geological movements near underground natural mana focal points." Ansu explained the principle to her. "It's just a mana medium for storing power. Stones don't have brains, so of course they won't suffer from backlash or pollution, let alone go crazy."
"Ah!" Freya was startled and quickly turned around to see Ansu watching her from close by.
Her fair cheeks began to turn slightly red as she gave a soft hum. "I see..."
After a moment, something suddenly occurred to her, and her eyes lit up. "Wait! If we use this principle, could we also solve the problem of magic pollution...?"
"Congratulations, you've just invented the magitech industry," Ansu teased with a smile. "They were already doing that fifty years ago."
"Oh..." Freya's excitement suddenly dimmed, feeling the disappointment of having a brilliant idea only to find out someone had already implemented it...
Seeing her like this, Ansu couldn't help but chuckle. "Still, it's quite good that you could think in this direction."
"I hope Lord Ansu's research can bring about a brand new change..." Freya said quietly as she watched everyone in the lab discussing fervently. "The research must succeed!"
The ordeal of Danielle and her husband made her instinctively think of the demon hunters from before, those who often met with accidents and vanished silently from everyone's sight.
She also thought of the members of the Echoes of Truth she had encountered recently, those black mages who had become obsessed and spoke in delirious whispers while studying magic...
And many demihumans who were born with a natural shadow affinity, like Celia's demon race; they were born with 'pollution' and 'curses,' viewed by humans as ominous freaks...
"Yes," Ansu's tone remained firm. "It will definitely succeed."
Freya raised her eyes and stole a glance at Ansu's profile. He looked determined, as if he had already seen the scenery at the end of the road...
She watched him quietly for a few seconds, the corners of her lips curling into a soft smile.
"Choosing to follow you... was indeed the right choice."
She suddenly spoke.
Ansu paused for a moment, thinking she was about to say something draped in piety and mission as she usually did.
"Of course..." He smiled. "I am your Chosen One, you know!"
"No."
Freya's gaze was clear and earnest, like a lake with the mist brushed away.
"Actually, it hasn't been about that for a long time."
"Hmm?" Ansu was slightly stunned, looking at her in confusion.
"The one I follow is... Ansu, you yourself." Freya's voice was soft but clear. "Not some Chosen One surrounded by a halo, nor some symbol chosen by the gods."
Just the person before her eyes, who was incredibly real and within reach, who occasionally showed her a gentle smile.
A person who was working hard to change something, and who would definitely change something.
The afternoon sunlight poured in through the residence's floor-to-ceiling windows, painting a layer of soft warmth on Freya's upturned face. Ansu stared at her blankly, and Freya returned a bright smile.
Ansu didn't know what to say for a moment; this pure feeling of being recognized was indeed hard to describe...
"Freya..."
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
Rate on N.U.
