Seeing the children so close to Emilia and recalling her previous actions, the villagers' hostility towards her also weakened.
Ayanokouji's eyes swept over everyone. He knew that changing their deeply rooted ideas was not an easy task, but at least this was a good start.
"The village has taken a significant hit, and rebuilding it is also a relatively difficult matter. Emilia will provide you with adequate assistance when the time comes to help you in the reconstruction." Ayanokouji said, then patted Emilia on the shoulder and added, "Emilia, please say a few encouraging words to the villagers."
He brought his mouth close to Emilia's ear: "Treat them as your supporters and express your ambition."
After Ayanokouji's warm breath gently brushed her face, Emilia's cheeks turned slightly red. When she regained her composure, Ayanokouji had already stepped back a few steps.
"I, I..."
Emilia was confused from beginning to end, but when she saw the villagers in front of her looking at her without the previous hostility, she pursed her lips, gathered her courage, and gave a speech.
'When she's serious, she seems like a candidate for the throne.'
Watching her back, Ayanokouji thought to himself.
Emilia's words seemed to have a final effect on the people below, who were infected by her sincere words and dreams of equality.
To him, Emilia's desire was nothing but an impossible dream. Human equality is only limited to before birth. After birth, it becomes intertwined with human society, and this so-called equality ceases to exist.
Although it's just a dream, please continue until it truly becomes futile.
Ayanokouji shook his head and took out the small white flower Petra had given him earlier from his pocket. He had accepted it only to gain the child's trust. Now it was meaningless and perhaps should be discarded.
He carefully observed the small flower in his hand for three seconds, but his facial expression remained unchanged.
He did not throw the flower away but put it back into his pocket again.
In fact, there was no difference between discarding or keeping it. There was no harm in discarding it once it had completely withered.
❀❀❀
In a somewhat dark room at Advanced Nurturing High School, a series of sharp sounds emerged.
A silver-haired girl was sitting in a chair, wearing a retro-style beret on her head, a uniform encircling her petite body, and white stockings with perfect suspenders on her slim legs.
She had a face as sweet as an angel, but there was a cunning feeling in her soft gaze, and she held a cane in her arms.
Sakayanagi Arisu, the leader of First Year Class A.
A talented girl with outstanding achievements, yet as if God opened a window, it also closed a door. She suffered from a congenital heart disease and was severely ill, so she had to rely on her cane to walk.
However, her talent and IQ were superior to almost everyone in the entire academy. Neither Horikita Suzune nor Ichinose Honami was qualified to challenge her in her eyes.
The only person who could be her opponent was Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.
Sakayanagi was the only rival to Ayanokouji in the entire school. She knew almost everything about him, whether it was his father or the terrible experiment called the White Room.
She was moving the chess pieces on the chessboard. After moving the black piece, she started moving the white piece again, and so on, as if playing chess with an invisible person.
However, her mind seemed not to be on the chessboard, but on the TV on the other side of the room, which was broadcasting scenes of Ayanokouji in another world.
"Indeed, this is a method that Ayanokouji-kun would use. He emerged from that inhumane White Room and considers everyone merely tools."
Sakayanagi murmured to herself, her eyes fixed on the TV.
"Let me personally bury that false genius."
Although she said this, there was a hint of sadness in her words.
'It's nice to feel the warmth of others, even if just a little... Ayanokouji-kun...'
❰❱SKY SCREEN❰❱
The scene changed, showing Ayanokouji sending Elsa to continue her mission in secret. Because Elsa took action to protect him in front of Emilia today, everyone was not so wary of her.
Ayanokouji himself and the others returned to the Roswaal mansion.
Ram and Rem quickly prepared a fairly lavish dinner, and Beatrice also sat at the dining table again for the first time in a long while. She rarely ate outside with others, and today was the second time she attended a dinner party in a short time. The first time was when Ayanokouji came to the mansion.
Everyone talked about the village at the dining table. Felt and Rom, who were staying at the mansion, were slightly stunned listening to what everyone was discussing.
"Ayanokouji-sama actually took a great risk to save the children!"
Felt opened her cat-like eyes and looked at Ayanokouji, recalling his previous help to her and Rom. She sighed, "Although Ayanokouji-sama seems very cold, he actually seems very enthusiastic!"
"Yes!" Emilia nodded and handed a large piece of meat from her bowl to his, "Ayanokouji was seriously injured today, so you need to replenish your nutrition."
"Thank you." Ayanokouji nodded, then shifted his gaze, "Roswaal, I heard there was initially a barrier to isolate the Demon Beasts in the forest. Was that barrier destroyed?"
Now he had to pretend to be completely unaware.
"Indeed." Roswaal nodded and focused his gaze on his face. There were no clues on that expressionless face, "But now I don't know who the perpetrator is."
"Sorry, I don't know anything." Ayanokouji shook his head.
"Could it be Elsa who did it?" Felt asked from the side.
"Probably not, because I saw Elsa actually protecting Ayanokouji and fighting the Demon Beasts, so it shouldn't be her." Emilia explained. Seeing Elsa really protecting Ayanokouji, she was also very surprised. Although there were some changes, she did not relax her vigilance against her and still considered her a dangerous existence.
"Indeed..." Roswaal extended his hand and gently stroked his chin, "Although it cannot be ruled out that the barrier aged or was accidentally damaged by some beasts, I still have to investigate it carefully."
"Really, you can't even make a proper barrier; you're truly a useless man." Beatrice beside him closed her eyes and didn't seem to take Roswaal seriously at all.
"Cruel words, Betty." Hearing Beatrice's words, Roswaal was not angry and always smiled relaxedly, "But Betty, you really came out to dine with us again today. Oh, and Puck hasn't appeared."
"What does it have to do with a man like you if I come to eat? One idiot in this mansion is enough." Beatrice said mercilessly and scooped soup into her own mouth.
"By the way, Betty, have you signed a contract with Ayanokouji-sama?" Roswaal asked meaningfully.
"Huh? Betty and Ayanokouji signed a contract?" Emilia also opened her eyes wide in surprise.
"Yes." Ayanokouji nodded very calmly.
"Hey! Why did you agree just like that? This is only a temporary contract! And you asked Betty to sign it!" Beatrice said angrily.
She stretched out her foot to kick him, but her short leg couldn't reach him.
"What is the content of the contract?" Roswaal asked.
"It has nothing to do with you!" Beatrice pouted slightly, her cheeks a bit red. Naturally, she was embarrassed to say that the content of the contract was actually meaningless.
"Is Ayanokouji-sama the person you were waiting for, Betty?" Roswaal squinted his eyes slightly and asked.
Beatrice was stunned for a moment, but she didn't think for long. She immediately raised her head and answered angrily, "How could it be!? I'm done eating!"
After speaking, she immediately jumped off the chair and left the dining room. Rather than leaving in anger, it was more like escaping from a certain topic.
Ayanokouji caught the keyword in the conversation and remembered the term 'that person' in his heart.
Is Beatrice waiting for someone? Judging from her appearance, she indeed was, and coupled with what Roswaal mentioned, the person Beatrice was waiting for seemed to be no one specific.
Why is Beatrice waiting for him? What will happen after she waits for him?
Ayanokouji thought, this might be a point that could be exploited.
After enjoying dinner, he returned to his room and began thinking about his next plan.
Elsa had given in to him, and Meili was not only with him but her strength was also unknown to others. He was not only hiding his strength but it also equated to placing insurance in the mansion that was better to choose from. Ayanokouji could also use the strength of the two to launch a surprise attack on people from Emilia's camp if necessary.
Elsa and Meili were not loyal to Emilia but to him, who was temporarily on the same side as Emilia.
In this way, in the previous regression, Rem's death incident was avoided, and his combat effectiveness was also strengthened.
However, Ayanokouji also asked Meili about her previous master. She only followed her superior's orders and cooperated with Elsa to carry out missions. She didn't know much about her master directly, as the master gave orders to the assassination organization, and then the organization assigned tasks to them.
The people who hired the assassination organization did not have any clues that they could pursue at the moment. Ayanokouji was not ready to continue the investigation for now. He was certain there would be further actions from the other party – as long as there were more actions, the truth would eventually be revealed.
Now he had to use Petelgeuse as a chess piece.
Ayanokouji needed to obtain more information from Petelgeuse.
The Witch Cult, Witches, Sin Archbishops... His current understanding of this information was not enough. Using Petelgeuse could give him a deeper understanding of it.
Judging from the other party's performance, the Sin Archbishops and the Witch Cult did not know the identity of all the members. If he met another Sin Archbishop in the future, he might be able to impersonate the Sin Archbishop of Pride like today, but this method was not safe because Ayanokouji didn't know when the position of Sin Archbishop of Pride would be filled by someone else.
After obtaining enough information from Petelgeuse, he needed to resolve this serious issue within seven days after signing the contract with Beatrice.
And at this moment, there was a knock on the door. It sounded rather urgent and loud, seemingly belonging to a little girl who was pouting.