"I haven't harmed anyone," C.C. said, a little weakly. Her words were powerless in front of the entire town, but Kayal had a scale in his heart. The malicious thoughts the townspeople projected onto C.C., and C.C. herself, a delicate and defenseless girl who didn't even react to his [Light]—which one Kayal valued more, did it even need to be said?
Kayal counted them carefully and had a good idea. He quietly called a knight: "Go ask them if they are willing to relocate."
"What if they don't want to relocate?" The knight, who naturally knew how these Scots felt about their own country, clearly thought this question was pointless, and that the next sentence would be the real point.
"We'll clean it up after they've left," Kayal said calmly. "If they don't leave, Camelot no longer needs anyone on this land to prevent us from farming."
The knight's face showed a grim smile, understanding perfectly.
"And make sure it's clean, don't let Artoria know," Kayal added.
Nodding in understanding, the knight withdrew, but had already secretly delivered death warrants to these perpetually troublesome Scots.
A bunch of fools, he sneered inwardly. He gave a look to the other knights, and they all understood.
Kayal often did such things, and even his subordinates helped him conceal it from Artoria.
Not for any other reason, but because Kayal felt that these dark matters were enough for him. Artoria would only be polluted, not grow, by getting involved. The subordinates also preferred a pure, victorious War God and King, rather than a schemer constantly immersed in plots.
So, both sides naturally kept all darkness and bloodshed out of Artoria's life.
The knights understood, but had to maintain serious expressions, not for Kayal, but to reassure the townspeople.
Kayal showed a reassuring smile, pressed his hands down, and said gently, "Let's calm down first, and then speak properly. First, she's immortal, right?"
"Exactly, exactly!" The mayor said, rubbing his hands with a fawning smile. "You just need to stab her or cut her with a sword."
The casualness in his tone when suggesting attacking someone made Artoria frown. She truly disliked treating human lives as mere numbers, and she disliked how casually he decided a person's fate.
His words clearly made everyone else nod in agreement, which only further affirmed Kayal's decision. The people in this town, ever since the appearance of this "freak," had almost entirely projected their evil and desires onto her. Her beauty itself drove them even crazier, and the release of their desires was terrifying. Just like in some TV shows, if a secret becomes a shared secret within a small circle, killing to cover it up isn't considered too extreme. The mentality of 'the law doesn't punish the masses' exists everywhere.
Kayal could guarantee that if it were just the two of them, even if they weren't torn to shreds by the enraged townspeople, they would be tied up and burned with C.C. in their sleep at night.
Even so, Kayal couldn't guarantee that if C.C. wasn't burned, they wouldn't be attacked at night. They were completely insane, like a group of lunatics. Kayal harbored deep hostility and vigilance towards them, and they felt the same towards Kayal and his group of outsiders.
Clearly, isolated places tend to have this fear and hostility towards outsiders, but when such a place holds a secret that cannot see the light of day, the feelings towards outsiders are no longer just fear and hostility, but a murderous intent to conceal the secret… Kayal, of course, knew how furious they were when their secret was exposed, how resentful they were that their people were killed, and how full of malicious curses they were for saving C.C.
From the moment Kayal saved C.C. and learned their secret, he never intended to get along with them. It was a joke. They could now pour all their malice onto an innocent girl; tomorrow, they would blame all their poverty and disaster on Camelot's invasion. Kayal didn't need such people, nor was he willing to support these "troublemakers."
Kayal had already condemned them to death in his heart, but he was somewhat bothered by some of the things they said.
Pulling a dagger from his saddle, Kayal looked at C.C. and asked softly, "Do you mind?"
"Mm…" With her eyes tightly shut, C.C. hadn't yet learned to adapt to pain, but her bared, snow-white arm showed her attitude.
Her decisiveness and courage clearly impressed the knights greatly. No one could instantly open up to a stranger, even one who had just saved them. The knights had even seen people they rescued become mentally broken and attack them. Seeing this young girl's decisiveness, the knights couldn't help but show expressions of admiration.
Kayal nodded gently, also admiring her obedience and resolve. Then, holding the dagger like a scalpel, he slowly cut her arm. Kayal cut skillfully, only lightly slicing the top layer of her skin, not even breaking the capillaries. Watching the blood flow inside, Kayal, with a serious expression, used the knife to pick open a section of a blood vessel. Instantly, blood flowed down her arm and dripped onto the soil.
Almost everyone watched her eagerly. Three seconds later, something miraculous happened. The skin slowly began to heal, the blood vessel gradually recovered, and in the end, not even a trace of a scar could be seen. Everyone's breathing quickened. It was just a small wound, but the effect was astonishing! Imagine! If a crossbow bolt pierced your neck on the battlefield, and you merely sneered, pulled it out, and threw it away, the opposing army would probably be terrified to death, or at the very least, collapse. An immortal War God on the battlefield… All the knights' breathing quickened. They looked at C.C. as if she were a treasure. C.C., who had opened her eyes, was very afraid of their gazes and subtly hid behind Kayal.
Kayal had his calculations. He nodded gently and looked at the mayor: "What about this Vampire you mentioned? Do you still have the bodies of the deceased?"
"I know about that," C.C. said, weakly raising her hand, drawing everyone's attention to her again.
"That thing is in the dense forest… It also once sucked my blood… but I didn't die…" Her words made Kayal and Artoria even more certain that the other party was a Vampire…