Quadruple split.

Chapter 2690 Boys' Dormitory
Game time: 21:39 PM
Gospel Mountain City, southern part of the training ground, temporary base of the survey troops
"Hey, Richard, bro~"

Brad Ryan, nearly paralyzed from a full day of intense training and now only able to groan and groan inside the tent, struggled to lift his head and looked at his distant cousin, Richard Ryan, who was sitting at the tent entrance and seemed to be daydreaming, with a gossipy expression. Richard Ryan, who was assigned to this three-person tent because they were both members of the Dawn Cult, said with a smile, "Why don't you tell your brother about that matter?"

Richard sighed, covered his forehead helplessly, and said with a wry smile, "There's really nothing to say, and you've all probably heard the general situation. Anyway, that's pretty much it."

"How can it be the same?"

Brad Mastiff glared at him and said seriously, "The ones I've heard are the common versions. Now that I've finally met someone like you who's directly involved, I'd be doing myself a disservice if I didn't ask you properly. Seriously, Richard, please tell me. Back in the City of Light, I pestered my dad for ages to tell me, and not only did he not tell me, he also beat me up."

Richard turned to look at his overly 'carefree' distant cousin and said bluntly, "Honestly, Cousin Brad, I really want to beat you up right now."

"That won't do, I can't beat you."

Brad, who seemed more like a paladin under the Church of Justice than a member of the Dawn Cult, shook his head vigorously, then, still unwilling to give up, said, "Tell me, tell me, really, I promise I won't tell anyone. Kevin's not here right now, just the two of us..."

"What's wrong with me?"

Just then, Kevin, who had gone to the supply depot to get medicine for bruises and sprains, walked over from not far away. He sat cross-legged next to Brad and applied medicine to his 'roommate,' who had been subjected to extra training during the day for speaking disrespectfully to the standard-bearer of a certain Sun Guardian Knights and the strategic leader of the survey force. His body was almost completely covered in wounds. Kevin asked curiously, "What are you two talking about?"

"Brad's cousin wants to find out about some of my brainless behavior during the Academy City Exchange Conference."

Richard, sitting at the tent entrance, shrugged and said casually, "He just told me to secretly tell him all that gossip while you were away."

Snapped--

Kevin casually slapped Brad on the bruise on the back, making the other guy yelp in pain. He clicked his tongue and said in a light tone, "Whatever, I didn't really want to hear it anyway."

"Hahahaha~"

Richard immediately burst out laughing, and chuckled at the grinning Brad, saying, "Look, Kevin doesn't have as much curiosity as you."

"I don't know if this kid is overly curious, but he's really ruthless. Are you trying to apply medicine to me or torture me?"

Brad gritted his teeth and turned to Kevin, angrily saying, "And why aren't you interested in Richard's gossip?! It's no big deal! Anyone would be curious! Kevin, are you even human?!"

Richard snorted, crossed his arms, and shook his head, saying, "You're overthinking it. Not everyone is like you..."

“I know another person involved in that incident, Hei Fan.”

While continuing to apply medicine to Brad, the Great Knight of Light said casually, "If Richard doesn't want to say, I can just send him a message."

Richard: "...Holy crap, Kevin, you!?"

"Wait a minute!"

Brad was also stunned, then stood up as if he had forgotten the pain, and shouted in a booming voice, "You know Black Van? Why didn't you say so sooner?!"

"Behave yourself, keep your voice down."

Kevin slashed Brad's shinbone with his palm, knocking him down. While continuing to apply medicine to him, he said calmly, "Priest Black Vane and I are both so-called otherworldly beings. We even fought side by side in the campaign against Mount Sumir. Why can't we recognize each other?"

Brad's eyes widened, and he said angrily, "Then why didn't you say so sooner?"

"Because you didn't ask."

Kevin, whose attention was mostly focused on investigating the Grand Inquisition, shrugged and said this rather casually.

"Uh……"

Richard, sitting at the tent entrance, turned to Kevin with a subtle expression and hesitated, "So, Kevin, what you meant was that if I didn't tell you, you would just ask Black Fan directly?"

Kevin thought for a moment, then nodded vigorously and said, "Yes, I'm thinking about that. After all, I'm really curious about this matter, and now that I've met you, the person involved, I'm even more curious."

Brad: "Hahahahahahaha—"

"Shut up."

Richard glared helplessly at his cousin, whom he barely knew and had only met twice in his life, then touched his stubble, which had become quite noticeable due to neglect in the past few days, and said with a wry smile: "So I have no choice but to say it?"

Kevin grinned and said chuckled, "Actually, I wasn't that curious before, but after meeting you in person, I really wanted to know what happened back then. After all, Richard, you give me a pretty... uh, reliable feeling?"

"Does it feel reassuring..."

Richard gave a noncommittal twitch of his lips, then sighed and said irritably, "Since you're all curious, fine, I'll tell you a little bit then, sigh."

Kevin: (ω)
Brad: (ω)
"You two—"

Just looking at the two of them made me furious. I gritted my teeth and finally sighed helplessly, saying dryly, "The situation was that Princess Wangyu went to the Tianhui Divine Academy where I study and participated in a small event. And then... I thought she was pretty good. She's a good person, has a good temperament, and is also very cute."

Kevin: "Tsk tsk tsk."

Brad: "Tsk tsk tsk."

"...Then, I simply expressed my goodwill."

Struggling to suppress the urge to hit someone, Richard gritted his teeth and ignored the two's irritating reactions as he continued, "Although I had heard that His Highness Wangyu had a male companion, at the time I thought that he was probably His Highness's childhood sweetheart before he received divine favor. Even if he joined the Dawn Cult, he would eventually drift apart from His Highness because they are from two different worlds."

Brad blinked and pointed out sharply, "Brother, I think you're a bit silly. Of course, considering that your family didn't tell you that Pastor Black Vane played a decisive role with Sumir, they also have to bear some responsibility."

"Haha, I can probably guess that my family mostly hopes that I can get along with Pastor Black Vane with a normal attitude, so that our relationship can develop more naturally."

Richard rubbed his beautiful blond hair and said with a wry smile, "In the end, it's because I acted too well in front of them, so I can't blame anyone else for this."

"I still don't understand what you were thinking back then."

Kevin frowned, giving Richard a look as if he were looking at an idiot, and hesitated, "Do you think an ordinary person could rely on nepotism to represent our Holy Church at the Academy City Exchange Conference alongside the Wealth Saintess, the Sun Saintess, and the Dawn Saintess?"

“You have to understand, Kevin brothers.”

Richard shook his head and said quietly, "When a person is overcome by lust, no matter how cruel the reality in front of him may be, he will foolishly weave an answer that is convincing enough to convince himself, and then rush headlong down that road that is most likely to lead to disaster."

Kevin's expression stiffened, then he looked away and said softly, "Probably." "In short, I didn't take Pastor Black Vane seriously at the time."

Unaware of Kevin's unusual behavior, Richard continued with a wistful expression, "So I did something that was somewhere between flattery and pursuit to Her Highness Wangyu, but I swear to the goddess, I didn't do anything out of line."

Brad squinted and teased, "Isn't that obvious? She's Her Highness the Holy Maiden. What can you do but try to be gentle? If you really startle her, Princess Xia Lian might just tear your house down."

"But now that I think about it, His Highness Wangyu and Pastor Heifan were openly lovers, and it was a relationship that had been made public long ago and was recognized by His Highness Xialian and even His Holiness the Pope."

Richard thumped his chest, still shaken, and said, "Honestly, if I hadn't been beaten half to death back then, things might not have turned out this way. If I have the chance, I really want to thank the guy who almost killed me back then."

"and after?"

Brad had no interest whatsoever in the muscular guy who almost killed Richard; he just kept asking about what happened next.

"And then? Then came the War League."

Richard shrugged and spread his hands, saying, "I've always preferred military studies to theology. My dream is to join our Order of the Holy Knights as a standard-bearer and commander-in-chief after graduating from the academy, so I was definitely going to sign up. Later, when I found out that Pastor Black Van had also signed up, I was thinking of finding an opportunity to defeat him head-on to boost my own prestige."

Kevin, unable to contain his laughter, coughed lightly and asked with a chuckle, "And the result?"

"As a result, I was completely crushed by General Ramorok of the Dream Kingdom in the [War League]."

Richard said in a rather relaxed tone, but a deep sense of apprehension flashed in his eyes: "To be honest, even now I still occasionally dream about that suffocating match, and then I wake up from my sleep in a cold sweat."

However, Brad waved his hand impatiently and urged, "I'm not interested in that 'whatever' thing, let's get back to the serious stuff."

"The real thing is that Pastor Black Vane's match against Foster Ward completely overturned my understanding of the word 'military strategy'."

Richard Lane took a deep breath and said, word by word, "After that, all I felt was gratitude that Pastor Black Vane was with our Dawn Cult."

Kevin smiled and said, "You feel completely enlightened now?"

"Completely transparent."

Richard nodded and sighed, "To be honest, compared to the fear of almost having a direct confrontation with Pastor Black Vane, the relatively subtle punishments that followed were nothing to me."

Upon hearing this, Brad finally became serious, straightened up, and said solemnly, "I never expected you to be this kind of person, Richard."

"I can guarantee that I used to be the kind of person you would hate."

Richard laughed, his tone calm and indifferent: "To be honest, if you want someone like me to 'wake up,' you really have to be like Pastor Black Vane and completely outshine me in the field I'm good at and love, so that I realize I'm just a fool with some skills but not much."

“I’ve changed my opinion of you, Richard, although from the beginning I didn’t think you were anything like the legendary playboy lecher.”

Kevin laughed and said seriously, "The story of a prodigal son returning home is never outdated."

"I wouldn't say it's a complete 'turnback,' but I'm more aware of my own capabilities and how I should proceed from here."

Richard blew on his bangs and casually said, "Even now, I still get incredibly aroused when I see a beautiful woman who matches my aesthetic standards."

Brad nodded frantically upon hearing this: "That's right! That's exactly how it works! Tsk tsk, he really is my cousin!"

"I always feel that there are too many people of the opposite sex who fit your aesthetic standards."

Kevin chuckled dryly and made a sarcastic remark, distancing himself from the lion and mastiff beside him.

"Oh, that's true."

Brad didn't argue, but instead said mischievously, "Compared to the two of us, you're definitely more innocent."

"Oh?"

Richard, who had already started chatting, immediately looked at Kevin with great interest and asked curiously, "What happened? Tell me about it."

"Why did they suddenly turn their attention to me?"

Kevin rolled his eyes, but he didn't hold back after Richard had satisfied everyone's gossip. He simply said, "Actually, it's nothing. It's just that there's someone I care about a lot. I haven't seen her since we parted ways. Although I knew she worked at the Grand Inquisition, I searched for a long time but couldn't find any clues related to her."

Richard was immediately taken aback and exclaimed in astonishment, "The Grand Inquisition? Good heavens, brother, who exactly are you eyeing?"

"It's not that I've fallen for her, it's just... sigh, anyway, I think it'll be very difficult for me to find her again."

Kevin lowered his somewhat deep eyes, trying not to think about Hong Jiu, who theoretically didn't know him at all and was probably an old lady by now, and changed the subject: "Speaking of which, Richard, you just said that even now, you get incredibly itchy when you meet someone who matches your aesthetic. Who is it?"

"Uh, well..."

Richard chuckled awkwardly, then lowered his voice and said softly, "You should remember that girl, Hess Dongya, right? Don't you think she's very pretty?"

"..."*2
"What's wrong? What's with those expressions? I know she might be a bit strict during training, but one thing at a time, I swear, at least for this month, she's been my dream goddess."

"..."*2
"Hahahaha, the so-called dream goddess is the woman I will try my best to make my dreams about sex with her as the theme. Although I didn't dare to think too much about it because Princess Wangyu is our Holy Maiden, that Miss Hess is a member of the Sun Cult. It shouldn't be a problem if I invite her to visit me in my dreams."

"..."*2
"However, she has a very cold demeanor, so I estimate that I will only think about it more this month, and I will probably replace her next month."

"Well, you really are a womanizer, Mr. Richard."

"Hey, how can this be called being fickle? This... is called... hehehehehehehehehe..."

Why is Reverend Richard laughing for no reason?

"Hah...hahahahahaha..."

"Let's go out and talk. I can accompany you for a walk, have a good chat, and leave you with plenty of material to dream about."

"..."

Chapter 2681: The End