"No matter what, a bet is a bet. We should pay him," the young knight said, pressing down his companion's arm and quietly speaking, constantly signaling toward Mirecia.
"Come on, didn't you notice the princess's gaze? We’ve already embarrassed ourselves enough today, and in front of the princess, no less. Do we still want to keep our jobs?"
"But that's forty gold..."
"Alright, alright, we’ll give what we can. If we don’t have enough, we’ll just go home and get the rest. And as for going back on our word—doesn’t it make us look bad?" The knight patted his companion’s shoulder, jumped off the observation platform, and walked over to Winnie, pulling out his coin pouch to hand it to him.
They hadn’t even considered the possibility that Winnie could win, so they hadn’t brought enough money.
"This is a small portion, about eight gold coins. We didn’t bring enough today, but I’ll give you the remaining thirty-two later. How does that sound?" The young knight couldn’t help but glance at Winnie when he got close.
Winnie’s calm demeanor made them instinctively feel that he hadn’t taken much damage. But just thinking about it, it was clear: an ordinary person, unprotected, taking a small fireball—if he hadn’t been scorched, it was already a miracle.
Honestly, the reckless look on Winnie’s face even scared this knight a little.
Was this really the same guy who used to bully the weak and fear the strong?
At this thought, the knight felt some fear. After all, Winnie was from a noble family, and if he were to be seriously hurt or even die because of a personal conflict, they might very well be expelled from the knightly order.
This knight hadn’t expected things to develop this way. They had just been following the instructions of Karon, the son of the commander of the Angry Dragon Knights, to teach this unskilled brat a lesson and humiliate him. They never thought things would go this far.
Recalling how his companion had enthusiastically encouraged the apprentice to use magic against Winnie, the knight felt a headache coming on.
Great, it didn’t matter if this leaked out anymore. The princess was already very displeased, which was enough. When they went back, there was no way they’d have a good time.
Even though everyone would support them if it was Winnie they were dealing with, the fact remained that they, as royal guards of the kingdom, couldn’t just get involved in private duels and hurt a noble like this.
Winnie took the coin pouch, tucked it away, and turned to leave.
It wasn’t that he wanted to wait—if it had been in the past, he would have insisted on making them suffer and kept the argument going. But now, he didn’t have the energy for that.
He had been badly burned, and the fact that he was still standing was already a miracle.
It wasn’t the spirit of stubbornness keeping him going, but rather...
Forty gold coins!
If he could just get that far, he could slice these bastards a sharp one! How could he easily fall now? Wouldn’t all the effort he put in before be for nothing?
Earlier, when he stood in front of the stunned apprentice and said nothing, it wasn’t because he wanted to act like a master; he literally couldn’t speak, not even enough energy to curse. But he still remembered to ask for his money.
Since they agreed to pay, he wasn’t going to drag it out today. With Mirecia watching, there was no way they could back out.
"Winnie, wait." Just as Winnie was about to leave, a soft voice called out to him.
Realizing who it was, Winnie paused, turning around slowly, his movements heavy as he looked toward the blonde girl who had already come down from the observation platform and was walking toward him.
Her golden twin tails swayed as she moved, like two bright flames. Her sapphire-blue eyes shone as usual, paired with the matching ice-blue butterfly hairpin, causing a warm feeling to surge in Winnie’s chest.
"Princess, is something the matter?" Winnie didn’t bow; he couldn’t even manage such a simple gesture now.
"Priest Vaughn from the Fanghui Church is on his way. Don’t leave," Mirecia said, not paying any attention to the knights or the stunned apprentice. Her tone was as calm and authoritative as ever, unyielding.
"Church? A priest?" Winnie’s mind was a bit foggy, but at the mention of the Church, he instinctively recoiled. "Who’s coming? What does he want? No..."
"I told you to wait." Before Winnie could act, Mirecia had already grabbed his hand to prevent him from leaving, her voice carrying a commanding tone. "Don’t move. Your injuries are serious."
At this moment, Aeciphysis also walked over, a slight curve on her lips as she watched the two.
"Princess! Priest Vaughn is here!"
Winnie, still groggy, faintly heard the voice calling to them. Struggling to focus, he looked toward the running Karin, and behind her, a hurried figure in a white robe and hat—the priest.
"Priest Vaughn from the Fanghui Church, greetings, Princess." The elderly priest, holding a staff, knelt in front of Mirecia, bowing with great respect.
"Thank you for coming, Priest Vaughn." Mirecia apologized sincerely.
"No trouble at all, Your Highness. It is an honor to serve you." Standing, the priest turned his attention to the burned-up iron-clad figure.
"So, this is the one who is injured, huh? No wonder I smelled burning from far away."
"Winnie, remove your Soul Art." Mirecia urged. "This Priest Vaughn is here to heal your injuries."
"...No need." Winnie instinctively rejected it when he heard it was from the Church. He still had a strong aversion to anything involving the clergy.
"Winnie, that’s an order." Mirecia’s gaze fixed on him as she repeated, "Don’t joke with your life."
"..." Winnie tilted his head, silent for a moment, before finally deactivating his Soul Art.
With Armor Fort removed, the clothing over his chest had been burned away, leaving large patches of scorched skin, a sight that was hard to look at.
Seeing this, Mirecia furrowed her brows.
"Ah, this burn..." Priest Vaughn shook his head.
"How serious is it?" Mirecia asked, concerned.
"It’s not too bad. There won’t be any scarring. To an average person, this might look serious, but compared to the wounds on knights returning from the frontlines, it’s nothing."
"And it would have been worse to treat, but..." Vaughn pointed at the glass pendant on Winnie’s chest.
"Young man, this flame-resistant enchanted pendant saved your life."
"...Really?" Thankfully, he had put on the pendant he had picked up before leaving.
With that, Vaughn waved his staff, closed his eyes, and began chanting. A soft white light radiated from his hand, enveloping Winnie in warmth.
For a moment, Winnie felt as if he were bathed in a warm breeze. The light healed his burnt skin, rapidly regrowing fresh tissue, as if it were sprouting after the rain.
His energy, once drained, was instantly revived.
How incredible.
Winnie widened his eyes as he regained clarity.
So this is the Saintess Soul Art?
After about five minutes, Vaughn stopped chanting, and the warm white light faded.
Winnie suddenly felt a wave of fatigue hit him and nearly collapsed, only to be caught by a strong hand.
"Young man, are you alright?"
Winnie looked up and saw the priest’s sunny smile, with teeth bright against his dark skin.
Ah...
For some reason, Winnie felt a chill run down his spine and quickly stood up, stepping back a few paces.
"...Thank you for your help."
"Thank the princess," Vaughn said with a hearty laugh. "But I didn’t expect the one needing treatment to be you, Mr. Winnie."
"I heard you recently visited the Church to pray to the Goddess. Well done, well done."
"Mm." Winnie replied simply.
The priest had saved his life, and he should be grateful, but his aversion to the Church made him reluctant to engage further with them.