Chapter 229 (1): Candidate Wayne, You Are Not Pure

Garvin paused mid-sentence, dangling the bait and waiting for Wayne to bite. The effect was mediocre. Wayne blinked and shook his head. “No thanks. I know my talents, and I’m not qualified to become a goddess-chosen knight.”

Veronica nodded to herself. At least the scum knew his place.

She would bet her youth that Wayne’s chances of becoming a chosen knight were less than one in a million—no, one in ten million. As long as the goddess wasn’t blind, even if everyone in the Chosen Land died, it still wouldn’t be Wayne’s turn.

Would the goddess be blind? Absolutely not!

If even the goddess could go blind, then so could she. She would let bygones be bygones and turn a blind eye even if Wayne and Vera had an affair in the future.

Ridiculous! Relating the scum to a chosen knight was even more absurd than her white moonlight[1], Senior Kristen, bedding the scum!

Sparing Wayne’s dignity, Veronica hid her amusement under a poker face. She quickly moved to the elf’s side and examined him carefully.

She only took one look. Because she couldn’t bear to blink, though, her eyes were getting dry.

So pretty!

“Young man, don’t underestimate your talent. At your age, you’ve already surpassed ninety-nine percent of your peers...” Garvin spared no praise for him. “But prepare yourself mentally. Your path to becoming the Anointed One won’t be smooth sailing. The church has never selected a male representative, and personally, I don’t think you’ll succeed.”

So stop struggling and take my letter of recommendation to join the Order of Nature!

Why would you want to become the Anointed One? Real men should be knights!

Garvin’s magnanimous demeanor made Wayne instinctively ask, “May I ask your name, sir? Are you from the headquarters?”

“Garvin Fervoy, Vice Captain of the Order of Nature at headquarters.”

“...” x2

So he is a big shot. In terms of rank, he’s even above the District High Reverend.

Wayne never imagined that a routine assessment for Holy Maiden candidates would involve such a big fish. As far as he knew, the Captain of the Order of Nature at headquarters was an honorary role, always held by the chosen knight. Since the chosen knight didn’t actually manage the knight order, the Vice Captain was the de facto top leader.

Can the top dog be someone this sloppy?

Wayne glanced at Garvin. The man reeked of alcohol, kept a bushy beard, and wore battered armor. He didn’t look like...

Wait a minute, all members of the Order of Nature are Gold-ranked mages, so the Vice Captain should be a legendary mage. Is it really okay for him to enter Windsor?

Wayne could only describe Garvin’s entry with one term: trespassing.

You followers of faith always show one face in public and another behind closed doors. You sign agreements but don’t follow them, coming and going as you please. What do you take the Windsor Federation for? A bus you can just hop on and off? What about the Queen? Is she the bus driver?

He grumbled inwardly, but bowed respectfully. “So you’re the captain of the knight order. My apologies for any offense I may have made.”

“Vice Captain.”

“Yes,

Captain

.

“...”

Garvin scratched his head. In Wayne, he saw a resemblance to the shameless higher-ups of the church. Due to his first impressions, though, Garvin’s score for Wayne remained at maximum even after his appreciation of him had declined somewhat. Garvin had first noticed Wayne’s talent. And the young man looked quite decent—especially after transforming into an elf. His handsome appearance made even Garvin feel inferior.

“Young man, I’ve said my piece. Think it over carefully. If you fail the selection, don’t be too disappointed. You can come to me. The Order of Nature needs talents like you. As far as my assessment goes, you two have already passed. I look forward to your future performance.”

He glanced at Veronica. She made quite an excellent Holy Maiden candidate. He believed that she would win everything.

Ever a fickle and irreverent man, Garvin shook his empty flask and said his goodbyes before promptly leaving.

Smack!

Wayne high-fived Veronica and headed eight hundred meters west to the abandoned church. Andrew didn’t know that Garvin had slipped into the crew, and he was astonished to see the two of them approach from outside the church.

“Oh, it’s nothing. We ran into another auditor. He introduced himself as Garvin Fervoy, Vice Captain of the headquarters’ knight order. He gave Veronica and me perfect scores, he said.”

Wayne looked innocently at Andrew. “Vice Captain. That’s a pretty high rank, right?”

Andrew wordlessly raised his scores for both candidates to a hundred, giving them perfect marks.

At this point, Wayne saw no point in continuing the charade. He took out the two other Philosopher’s Stones from the car and decided to submit the quest on the spot.

Andrew responded vaguely that he didn’t know what Wayne was talking about and that the stones weren’t important—just keep them as souvenirs. Then he left with his fellow NPCs.

“It’s over.”

Wayne turned to Veronica, asking with his gaze if she was willing to go on a date with him in Winster.

“Hmph!”

He saw the back of her head.

“Fine, let’s head back to Londan. We’ll have all the time in the world once we’re home.”

***

Lando Estate.

After completing the mission early, Wayne informed Auston and Silvia separately that a big shot from the Church of Nature’s headquarters had arrived. It was a powerful knight captain who looked like a washed-up middle-aged man, clearly a formidable figure.

Auston showed little interest, telling Wayne to keep it to himself and avoid transforming randomly for the time being. Silvia, on the other hand, was overjoyed. Learning that her student had received an invitation and might become a candidate for the chosen knight, she threw her arms around him and hopped in excitement.

“Work hard! I’ve never met the chosen knight. I’ll entrust the mission to you.” Silvia patted him on the shoulder, feeling more pleased the more she looked at Wayne. “As expected of me. I’ve got an impeccable eye for people. My random pick turns out to be chosen knight material.”

Ever consider that you’ve already picked two in a row?

Wayne thought.

There were so many things to comment on that he didn’t know where to start. For the sake of the family, he chose to keep the secret buried in his heart.

After dinner, Wayne didn’t bother Veronica. The Dragonblood was too much of a tsundere, so he would leave her hanging for another two days, waiting until she was getting insecure to launch a fierce attack. That would push his progress by a great margin.

They had never done anything other than kiss. It was time to unlock a few new positions.

Back at his residence, Wayne had Veryl prepare a candlelight dinner and picked up the phone to call Kristen. He was in no rush to notify Filomina. She was clingy like a young girl. He would give her a surprise in a few days.

“Oh, Wayne. You’re back?” Vera came to the living room and asked curiously. “What about your mission? Is it over?”

“It is.” Wayne calmly put down the phone. “I was going to call you, but you’re at home. Perfect timing. Veryl has prepared dinner. It’ll be just the two of us tonight.”

“Is it only a coincidence?”

Vera sat at the dining table. Seeing the candles, flower petals, and the romantic Francan cuisine, her heart started racing uncontrollably. She would be alone with Wayne tonight. There was no tutoring time with Senior Kristen and no interference from Veronica...

Her heart raced even faster.

But nothing happened during dinner. The generous girl made a series of attempts to give herself away, but Wayne deflected her every time.

By the time dinner ended, when Vera was wondering if Senior Kristen had claimed his first time and given away hers, Wayne extended an invitation: he had designed several new outfits recently and needed a model.

Vera nodded happily and followed Wayne into his bedroom with a skip in her step.

Click!

The door was locked—by Vera.

“Vera, this evening gown has an open back. You put it on backwards.”

“Don’t mess around. These are garter stockings, not sleeves...”

“You should fasten the bra from the front first. Don’t you know?”

“Ah, I can’t with you. Come on, I’ll help you put it on.”

The model wasn’t very clever, so for the sake of efficiency, the designer had no choice but to provide hands-on guidance.

After a few moves, he realized that while Vera looked adorably assertive and eager to give herself away, she was actually quite timid. When it was time to be proactive, all she could do was close her eyes.

***

The next afternoon, Wayne received a call from Silvia. She told him in a grave tone to get to the Londan head office as quickly as possible.

Flora had made her move! And when she struck, she aimed for the heart!

Wayne and Veronica arrived at the conference room of the head office at the same time. Inside, they found Silvia with a serious expression, along with a handsome-looking man.

“This is Knight Leno, from the Order of Nature at headquarters. He’s taken some photographs...”

Silvia looked at her student and daughter, resigned.

Told you to restrain yourselves and not be lovey-dovey recently. Why didn’t you listen? Look, someone caught you and got evidence against you.

Leno had visited suddenly with an envelope tucked under his arm, catching Silvia off guard. He stated clearly that he wanted a face-to-face confrontation. He had discovered a candidate’s impurity, with photographic proof.

Leno didn’t say which candidate it was, so Silvia, feeling guilty, assumed that her student and daughter had been caught together.

“Photographs?!”

1. ’White moonlight’ is used to refer to the ideal love one cannot have/has lost/finally reunites with, and they are usually the pure-hearted type. This stems from Eileen Chang’s novella,

Red Rose, White Rose

, where she likens the cheating husband’s mild-mannered wife to the moonlight when he loves her, and a rice grain when he doesn’t. It’s entered the common lexicon and is widely used now. I keep it since it’s a recurring term to refer to Kristen and a fun connection to Kristen following the faith of Moonlight. ☜