Chapter 184: The Saintess’s Smile And System Advice
His brows slowly furrowed.
He quietly repeated it in his mind.
"Before."
"Before what?"
As if hearing Luke’s unspoken question.
The black-haired man unknowingly answered it himself.
"Didn’t you notice?" The black-haired man looked at his companion before lowering his voice.
"The Holy Church’s Templar Knights have been destroying one Hidden Hand base after another."
The moment those words were spoken. The brown-haired man’s face instantly turned pale.
His pupils shrank.
"W-What?!" His voice trembled slightly.
"T-The Templar Knights?"
A drop of cold sweat slid down his forehead.
Unlike ordinary people. He knew exactly what those fanatics were capable of.
Those lunatics were monsters who hunted heretics without mercy.
Seeing his horrified expression. The black-haired man simply nodded.
His own face was equally serious.
"I know."
"Even I’m afraid of those people."
"They don’t negotiate."
"They don’t accept surrender."
"And once they set their eyes on a target."
He paused for a moment before saying in a heavy voice,
"they won’t stop until it’s completely erased."
A brief silence followed.
Even the surrounding leaves seemed quieter.
Meanwhile...
Luke blinked in confusion.
"Templar Knights?"
"The Holy Church?" His expression became rather strange.
"Isn’t that the same church that summoned me?" Memories from long ago surfaced in his mind.
The grand cathedral. The holy ceremony. Thousands of gazes fixed upon him.
And...
A breathtakingly beautiful Saintess standing before everyone.
Luke rubbed his chin.
"Then she announced to everyone that I was talentless." He sighed dramatically.
"Basically she rejected me in public."
A moment later, he scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"Okay."
"I might’ve exaggerated that part."
"It wasn’t really a rejection."
"She simply announced the test result."
After a brief pause. He nodded to himself with complete seriousness.
"But still."
"She was definitely a rare beauty."
The moment that thought appeared—
A familiar System window silently popped into existence.
[0-0]
Luke glanced at it.
Then.
Without even waiting for it to say anything.
He immediately raised a hand.
"No."
"I already know what you’re about to say."
"...And no."
The System remained silent for a moment.
"..."
"..."
Then continued, as he had absolutely no intention of stopping.
Another screen immediately popped up.
[Luke how can a Hero’s story be complete without a Saintess? (¬‿¬)]
Luke’s eyelid twitched.
"Here we go again."
The System completely ignored him.
[Did you forget the stories from your world?]
[The beautiful Saintess always ends up falling for the dashing... macho... overwhelmingly powerful Hero.]
Luke’s mouth twitched even harder.
"Hold on."
He frowned.
"I feel like that last part definitely isn’t describing me."
The System remained completely serious.
Or at least...
It pretended to be.
[Details.]
[Those are just minor problems.]
[We’ll fix them later.]
"We’ll?"
Luke stared blankly at the floating screen.
"Why does that sound like you’re planning my entire love life?"
The System ignored that question as well.
Instead.
It threw out another bomb.
[Just think about it, Luke.]
[There are other Heroes in this world too.]
[What if one of them wins the Saintess’s heart first?]
[What if they steal away your pure and innocent Saintess with sweet words and heroic deeds?]
Luke blinked.
"Hah?"
His mouth opened slightly.
For a brief moment. He actually imagined the scene.
Another Hero standing beside the Saintess.
The two smiling together.
Then.
The Hero gently holding her hand.
"..."
Luke’s eyebrow twitched.
The System immediately noticed the subtle change in his expression.
[(￣▽￣)]
[See?]
[You imagined it.]
Luke coughed awkwardly.
"That’s..."
"That’s not the point."
He wasn’t planning to marry anyone else.
At least not anytime soon.
But if the Saintess of the Holy Church—
Eventually fell in love with another Hero. He had to admit. It would feel strangely uncomfortable.
Luke rubbed his forehead.
"Why does that somehow feel like I’d be the one getting NTR’d?"
The thought alone made his expression turn complicated.
The System, naturally.
Was overjoyed.
[(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞]
[Exactly!]
[Now you’re thinking like a true Hero!]
Luke covered his face with one hand.
"..."
"I seriously need to uninstall your romance module."
And yeah Luke had actually learned about the existence of other Heroes some time ago.
It was Aurielle who had casually mentioned it during one of their conversations.
Back then the revelation had completely shattered one of Luke’s biggest assumptions.
"So I wasn’t the only Hero summoned into this world."
At first he had genuinely believed he was unique.
The sole Hero chosen by the Holy Church.
Only later did he discover. Heroes existed elsewhere as well.
Then—
The familiar System window appeared again.
[(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞]
[So yeah, Luke.]
[Go and fk her.]
"..."
"-_-"
Luke became completely speechless. He slowly looked at the floating screen.
Then sighed.
"Every single one of your motivational speeches..."
He paused.
"...Somehow ends with ’go f**k her.’"
The System proudly remained silent.
As if that was perfectly reasonable.
Luke rubbed his forehead.
"Nah."
"Not interested."
He shook his head firmly.
"As for the other Heroes."
His expression gradually became serious.
"Don’t worry."
"I won’t let them have her."
Even though the Saintess had publicly announced that he possessed no talent during the summoning ceremony.
She had never once mocked him. Never looked down on him. Never humiliated him.
Instead she had always treated him politely.
Always greeted him with a gentle smile.
Whenever they spoke she remained kind from beginning to end.
Luke remembered those warm smiles clearly.
"She is a good person."
He quietly muttered.
"So"
"I won’t let her end up getting dragged into someone else’s schemes."
Whether it was out of gratitude.
Responsibility.
Or simply because he didn’t like the thought.
Even Luke himself couldn’t say.
The System, however, quietly snickered.
[(￣▽￣)]
It clearly interpreted Luke’s words in an entirely different way.
Luke simply rolled his eyes.
"Don’t misunderstand."
"I’m talking about protecting her."
The System’s grin somehow became even wider.
Luke instantly gave up explaining.
"Hopeless."
So with a helpless sigh. He shifted his attention back below.
The two hidden Silver Knights had continued their conversation the entire time.
And judging from their increasingly serious expressions.Their discussion had finally reached the interesting part.
"I think." The black-haired man lowered his voice even further.