How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

“How did a human end up here?” The brown-haired female elf in ranger garb held a longbow in her hands, her sharp, icy eyes fixed on Vinny as she spoke in a frigid tone. “Go back to wherever you came from. This is the last warning. Don’t come here trying to lay hands on the world of the elves.”

“Go back where I came from?” Vinny glanced at the road behind him, already swallowed in dense fog, and was left speechless. “Look, miss elf, even if I wanted to go back right now, how exactly am I supposed to do that? The road I came in on is blocked.”

“You barged into elf territory of your own accord, and now you expect me to teach you how to leave?” The female elf didn’t soften her tone in the slightest. It sounded as though if Vinny failed to do as she said, she would attack at once.

Elves had seen too much of it, and hated too deeply, the human traffickers and thieves who captured their kin and sold them as slaves. Toward such people, they had zero tolerance.

“Barged in? That’s not barging in, miss elf. I was actua—”

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!!

Before Vinny could finish, the next arrow came flying at him.

His pupils shrank. He flashed backward, and the arrow slammed into the exact place where he had been standing a moment before.

Come on, she’s serious??

“Next time, it won’t miss.” The female elf enunciated each word coldly. “I’ve never liked violence, and today is not a day for bloodshed either. But if you keep refusing to know what’s good for you...”

“Hey, hey! Can you at least let someone finish talking?” Vinny couldn’t help protesting. “Do all elves enjoy cutting people off before they finish a sentence??”

“With humans, I have nothing to say.” As she spoke, the female elf nocked another arrow. “You have only two choices. Leave now, or remain in elf territory forever.”

But if I turn around now, won’t I die either way? The only difference is whether I die here or die out in the jungle.

“An option like that? Sounds great. Then I’ll choose staying in elf territory forever.” Vinny fell silent for a moment, then replied with a grin.

“Hmph.” Seeing that Vinny was still acting as though she were joking, completely unmoved, the female elf’s voice turned fully cold, and the arrow on her bowstring shot free.

“I’m telling you, miss elf, that’s really not very nice, is it?” By all rights, that arrow should have gone straight through Vinny’s face. But a second passed, and Vinny stood there completely unharmed. One hand was raised, and in it he held the arrow she had just fired. In an easy tone, he said, “There now.”

“What?!” The female elf’s eyes widened. She had never expected this human to catch her arrow barehanded.

She had always been extremely confident in her archery.

“Who... exactly are you?!” The female elf stared at Vinny warily. This man didn’t seem like any ordinary thief or slave trader.

Those humans were just desperate criminals gambling with their lives. Put bluntly, if they could make money through proper means, out in the open, who would choose work where one wrong move got your head chopped off?

Which was why most of that trash wasn’t particularly strong. There were few transcendent beings among them. Most were ordinary people, a pack of bastards who only dared swing blades at those weaker than themselves.

“There, see? If you’d listened from the start, this would’ve gone a lot smoother.” Vinny tossed the arrow back to the female elf. “Here, catch. Otherwise later you’ll say I stole your stuff. I’ve never liked keeping things that belong to other people.”

“......” The female elf caught her arrow and tightened her grip a little as she looked at him.

This man’s strength might far exceed hers. For a human at that level to cross the Godblessed Forest without anyone noticing practically counted as an armed incursion. She had to find a way to call for backup and alert the guards that there was trouble here.

“What is it you wanted to say?” the female elf asked, pretending to hear him out while actually trying to stall for time and look for a chance to notify the guards.

“Ah...” Just from the way she looked, Vinny could tell the other side still carried very obvious hostility toward him.

“Please wait, miss,” a gentle voice called out just as Vinny was about to explain his purpose.

“Hm?” Vinny turned toward the voice and saw a beautiful, exquisitely featured Golden Elf. Her skin was pale, her looks were striking, her figure tall and graceful, her features gorgeous without being gaudy, like some otherworldly beauty untouched by the mortal world.

She wore a long white elven robe with a strapless bodice, and in one hand she held a pale wooden staff set with a flawless gem. Step by measured step, she approached them.

“Lady Vera.” The Wood Elf girl froze when she saw who it was, clearly not expecting her to come here. “Please go get the guards at once. A human intruder has come!”

“Naina, that won’t be necessary.” The Golden Elf girl called Vera only shook her head. “I don’t sense any malice from this human gentleman.”

“But... he’s human.”

“For this human gentleman to pass the trial of the Godblessed Forest and make it all the way here, he must have received some kind of guidance.” Vera spoke softly. “And besides, look at what he’s wearing.”

“What about his clothes?” Naina, the Wood Elf girl, didn’t understand.

“That is the uniform of Carillian Academy. Which proves he is not one of those poachers or slave traders who don’t even have a proper identity.” Vera continued, “Human gentleman, could you explain your purpose here, and how you passed through the Godblessed Forest?”

“Well, that.” Vinny finally got a chance to speak. He took out the golden leaf he had been keeping on him. “Naturally, because I received an invitation from one of your elders. Otherwise who would dare barge in here? Ten lives probably wouldn’t be enough.”

“One of our elders??” Naina stared in shock. “How is that possible? Why would a human receive an invitation from one of our elders??”

“That, miss Wood Elf, is my own business. If you keep prying, you’ll be getting into my privacy.” Vinny arched a brow.

Vera said nothing. With a light tap of her staff, the golden leaf in Vinny’s hand flew into her palm. It rose there and hovered, shining with a soft golden glow.

“So it really is a golden leaf,” Vera said quietly. “Then that proves this human gentleman is not an intruder, but a guest invited by one of our elders. A guest of the elves.”

“A guest??” Naina stared in disbelief, first at the hovering golden leaf, then at Vinny.

Truth be told, she still couldn’t make sense of it. Even among elves, receiving the honor of a golden leaf was rare, let alone for a human.

Why would the elders hand over something as precious as a golden leaf to a human??

Still, even if she didn’t understand what was going on, one fact was clear: humans simply could not possess a golden leaf on their own. If a human had one, then it must have been given by a Golden Elf of extremely high standing.

“My apologies, honored guest who has come from afar. Earlier, I did not know your identity and made a rash judgment. I offended you with my conduct.” Naina bowed her head and apologized.

“It’s fine. You couldn’t have hurt me anyway, Miss Naina,” Vinny said indifferently.

No, really, this human is way too smug??

Naina pressed her lips together. She simply couldn’t bring herself to like Vinny.

Partly because elves in general already carried prejudice against humans. What had happened in Moon Elf territory with the slave traders was far too difficult to erase, and it had only made the already strained relationship between elves and humans even worse.

And partly because of the way this human walked around like he knew he was handsome. It was unbearably greasy.

That said... even Naina had to admit it. Compared to the crooked-faced thieves and slavers she had seen before, this human really was good-looking.

Of course, that was only in comparison to those scumbags.

Elves were proud creatures, and they cared greatly about beauty. Put another way, they were thoroughgoing face snobs with extremely high standards.

“I am deeply sorry. You are an important guest of our elders. We failed in our hospitality.” Vera bent at the waist and apologized with formal courtesy.

“It’s nothing. So, miss Golden Elf, your name is Vera?” Vinny sized up the blonde girl in front of him.

“Yes. My name is Vera Chenfen. I am the priestess of this town,” Vera replied politely.

“Oh. I’m Vinny. Nice to meet you both.” Vinny glanced at Naina, suddenly unsure whether he ought to say that at all. After all, his welcome gift had been an arrow. Saying it was nice to meet them at a time like this was basically a flat-out lie.

“Pardon me, but if I may be direct... are you really just called Vinny?” Naina looked at him strangely. “Where is your family name? Do humans not have surnames?”

To elves, a surname was the pride of a great lineage. How could anyone not have one?

“Of course I do.”

“If that’s the case, Lady Vera gave her full name. It seems a little impolite for you to offer only your given name, doesn’t it?” Naina frowned.

“My apologies. I only thought that I’m descended from an insignificant human family, so the surname wasn’t worth mentioning.”

“My name is Vinny Facilis. A pleasure.” Vinny gave a slight nod.

Humans and elves had not formally interacted in nearly a century, so Vinny figured there probably weren’t many elves left who even remembered the surname Facilis. That was why he had phrased it that way.

Besides that, Vinny had no idea whether Facilis still carried any influence among the elves, or how much. What if he announced himself all mysteriously and they just stared at him and said, “Who’s Facilis?” Wouldn’t that be awkward as hell??

“Facilis??” Naina froze for a moment. The surname sounded strangely familiar. A moment later, realization dawned on her. “Ah! Then are you... a descendant of the Saintess family?!”

“Oh, so you do know Facilis.” Vinny looked a little surprised.

“Of course I know it. But... why are you a man??” Naina looked Vinny up and down, then nodded as if she had figured it out. “I see. My apologies. Because your hair is short, and your voice is a little androgynous, I mistook you for a man.”

“What are you talking about??” Vinny’s face darkened. “Miss Wood Elf, I am a man.”

“You’re a man? But isn’t House of Facilis...?” Naina stepped closer to Vera, apparently feeling that what she wanted to say would be impolite if said aloud, and whispered a few words to her.

“That’s enough, Miss Naina. This is not our place to discuss.” Vera shook her head. “Perhaps there are exceptions.”

“But if I remember correctly, hasn’t the Saintess family already declined?” Naina still couldn’t make sense of it.

“You know that too??” Vinny hadn’t expected that.

Eternity Forest gave every impression of being completely cut off from the outside world, yet they still knew that much about events beyond it. That really was unexpected.

“Of course we do. The elves know quite a lot about the Saintess family.”

“Because back then, it was that Saintess who saved the elves,” Naina said.

“Back then? That Saintess?” Vinny scratched his head. “That happened too? Which one was it?”

“You don’t even know that? Are you really a descendant of the Saintess family?” Naina looked at Vinny with open suspicion.

“What Miss Naina means is the matter of Saintess Sophia Facilis, the last Dawn Saintess, saving Eternity Forest.” Vera continued, “If one were to count generations, that Saintess would be your great-grandmother.”

“Huh?” So that had been his great-grandmother? She’d done something like that too?

“Oh, Mother of Earth above, you don’t know anything at all about your own great-grandmother?” Naina’s expression grew even stranger.

His great-grandmother wasn’t even that far removed in terms of generations, was she? How could he know nothing?

And on top of that, he was a man. Did the Saintess family even have male descendants??

Naina suddenly remembered a rumor about the current state of the Saintess family.

Supposedly, although the Saintess family still remained, in truth it was a fraudulent shell, a stolen replacement that—

“I see. So the old lady is really that famous in elf lands?” Vinny said.

“Of course she is. There are even many Churches of the Dawn here in elf lands dedicated to the Dawn Saintess and the Dawn Goddess,” Naina said.

“I see. Is that so.”

“That’s enough, Naina. Don’t keep pulling Mr. Vinny into conversation here. Come, Mr. Vinny, I’ll take you into town to meet the elders.” With that, Vera turned around.

“Oh, all right. Then I’ll trouble you, Miss Vera.” Vinny looked at Vera’s back, one brow arching slightly, but he said nothing.

Come to think of it, there was no way to tell an elf’s age from appearances. These two... could they both be old enough to be his grandmothers??

Actually, that wasn’t impossible at all.

Vinny mused to himself.

“By the way, the barrier around Eternity Forest is seriously impressive,” Vinny said as he walked behind the two of them. “Fog everywhere, like some kind of green hell. Traps and cliffs all over the place.”

“Huh?” Naina frowned. “What barrier? We haven’t even reached Eternity Forest’s barrier yet, Mr. Vinny.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“If you mean the Godblessed Forest, then that isn’t the barrier in the true sense at all,” Naina said. “The real barrier is still farther ahead. To us elves, that’s just a somewhat larger forest.”