What kind of nonsense is this, that you'd be chosen by the gods and favored by all the gods?

And this is just one of many tragedies like this.

The place was littered with wreckage and blood; everywhere one looked were the corpses of those who had died unjustly.

"You'd better give us an explanation!"

Adrily Lou looked at the surging crowd with a grim expression. Most of them were not ordinary people, but rather the most prestigious members of the Reed City clan.

Their anger stemmed from two reasons: the destruction of ancient traditions and the scarcity of survivors in the tragedy.

There are only three candidates left!

Doug Monroe, Jed Wyatt, Adrily Lou.

Doug has been helping to clean up the scene. Jed is seriously injured and hasn't been able to get up yet, while Adrienne Lou is almost unharmed.

After inspecting the scene, everyone present found it hard not to believe that this was a staged trap.

"How dare you speak to my sister like that!"

Elsa was also furious and immediately stepped forward, glaring angrily at the man.

"Get out of my way, you brat! Or I won't hesitate to wipe out the entire Lu clan!"

"Where's your dad? Still fucking in bed?! Tell him to get out here right now!"

However, tonight is destined to be anything but peaceful. These people may have lost their children or loved ones, and their anger and resentment are beyond control.

"Everyone, please calm down."

But at that moment, Kevin walked over, dragging the greatsword. He looked gloomy but very dignified.

It seemed that because of his status as a Temple Knight, the host of the celebration, and the unique position of a Chosen One of Suenmozer, everyone present, despite their resentment, still listened to him speak.

"I am sorry to hear about this tragedy, but the tragedy has already happened, and our top priority now is to find out why this happened."

"Someone let the monsters in, and they killed our brothers and sisters. Although we can't bring them back to life, we can at least let them rest in peace underground..."

"We can't let this all just end like this; the real culprit must be brought to justice!"

"Well said."

At this moment, Dr. Kintae, who was in charge of the rescue at the scene, stepped out from the crowd, his expression serious:

"I completely understand your anger, but now is not the time to talk about that."

"It was only at this critical moment that we calmed down, carefully investigated the scene, and brought the culprit to justice, so that this tragedy could not be repeated."

Although Kintel was not a chosen one of the gods of Suenmozer, he was highly respected among the people as a doctor.

In addition, he was close to the old city lord, had a decent reputation, and held a relatively high position.

Hearing the two of them say this, the crowd's anger subsided.

Some of them found it hard to contain themselves, but in order to avoid causing trouble, they decided to leave the scene.

Before leaving, they growled menacingly:

"You girls of the Lu clan, find the murderer, or your family will be cursed for generations to come!"

Then, they drove off.

Someone else asked:

"What about those outsiders?"

"Lock them up first! At least don't let them leave the city!"

Lyle was not particularly surprised by this arrangement; if it were him, he would have done the same if he could not rule out the possibility that the enemy was among the outsiders.

But at that moment, Elsa stepped forward.

"Wait a minute, Mr. Lyle shouldn't be locked up. He went to great lengths to save me and shouldn't be treated like this!"

She bravely stood in front of everyone again, but at this moment everyone was on the verge of exploding.

"Heh...who knows if that guy is only helping you to get ahead of that bastard from the Lu clan?"

"Yeah, it's nothing to just put on a show at this point."

But Elsa wasn't unprepared. Realizing the time was right, she spoke loudly:

"But he is the chosen one of Sommozer! According to tradition, we must respect him!"

What?!

Everyone was extremely surprised and turned to look at Lyle.

Is this true?

"This is no joke! I've never seen a stranger become a follower of Sue Mozer on the eve of a festival!"

"Have you, the Lu clan, already abandoned your traditions for power and status?"

Tradition is very important in this village, and Lyle has a deep understanding of this, but when it comes to this matter himself, it still makes him feel somewhat helpless.

He would rather be locked up quietly for a while, but unfortunately that's not possible now.

...I really do hate unnecessary complications.

Then he raised his head, stretched out his arm, and the fiery red holy emblem was displayed before everyone.

"See? I wasn't lying!"

Everyone fell silent. Without a doubt, even the most despicable villagers had to respect tradition, because it was the foundation upon which they depended for their survival here.

Finally, an elder from another clan stepped forward.

"Young man, although you did not participate in the selection of our city lord's successor... you are also the one chosen by Suenmozer."

"According to tradition, you should join in."

Lyle looked at Kevin, whose face was somewhat dark, but he understood the urgency of the situation and therefore did not question him.

Circumstances dictate our actions; let's postpone the apology until later.

"I'm sorry, but I have no interest in your position as heir."

"It doesn't matter," an old man shook his head. "It's fine to just go through the motions, but tradition must be respected."

Thankfully, it didn't actually come to that... Being a city lord sounds like such a hassle—

Lyle muttered something under his breath, then left the field and went to Adley's side.

Helena was also by her side, but at some point, she changed back into leather armor from her dress, gripped her sword tightly, and looked wary.

"How are you?"

Adele's expression was not good; she frowned slightly and looked around.

"I never expected things to turn out like this! Damn it... what went wrong?!"

Such a large monster could not possibly have come from outside; it could only have originated from a celebration and might be related to some mysterious force in this world.

Lyle recalled seeing the clothing worn by the lizard-like humanoid monsters during their battle.

The clothing worn by most people at the celebration was exactly the same.

Did they sneak in fully clothed? Or...?

After a moment's thought, Lyle walked toward Cowen Cissé.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"No, absolutely not good." Koven's eyes blazed with suppressed anger. "I can't imagine who would have the audacity to do something like this right under Suenmozer's nose!"

"But unfortunately, I can't leave right now. I have to help with the funeral arrangements... and keep things under control, otherwise some people won't give up so easily."

"Keep an eye on Adely for me, she's in danger right now."

Seeing that he was unwilling to talk to him, Lyle nodded and took his leave.

Just then, the extremely sexy, alluring witch, who was looking for something in the hall, happened to walk past Lyle.

Lyle frowned.

"Wait a moment, Miss Carter."

Hearing Lyle's call, the witch of Cattail Mountain turned around, her alluring eyes looking at Lyle.

"Ah~ it's you, the boy next to that little girl..."

Her voice was soft and alluring, sending a chill down Lyle's spine.

Concentrate...concentrate...this guy might know something.

However, Carter's next words almost made Lyle fall to the ground—

"Sigh... What a pity, I'm past the age of sleeping with immature men. You're too late~"

After he finished speaking, Lyle looked exasperated, and Helena beside him even looked a little angry.

Carter laughed several times before finally calming down.

"Sigh...you don't need to look at me like that. I can probably guess what you're thinking."

"After all, in fairy tales, witches like me are the source of chaos..."

"I was also very surprised by this tragedy, but I must honestly say that I know nothing about it."

"Really?" Lyle was clearly not convinced; his intuition told him otherwise.

"Why would I lie to you?" Carter chuckled, reaching into her dress from the deep neckline to pull out a cigarette, which she lit with a snap of her fingers.

"However, after examining the scene, it wasn't entirely without findings."

Oh?

Lyle immediately tensed up.

"Come with me."

Lyle followed Carter, and they came to the bodies on the ground.

"Did you figure it out?"

Lyle examined the body on the ground.

"Tooth marks, claw marks, broken bones... it's hard to say which one is the fatal wound."

"The accordion...the poet finished singing his last song...this isn't what he was looking for..."

"Um?"

Just then, he saw one of the corpses. At first glance, this corpse looked no different from the others, but upon closer inspection, he could see scales emerging from the back of its neck.

"This is?"

Carter also crouched down and pointed to the spilled wine glass next to him.

"He died before this transformation could fully take place, the cause of death being a severe head injury... Compare this to other corpses, they all have similar conditions."

After hearing this, Lyle looked around and examined the appearance of the half-lizardmen.

Sure enough, they were all shirtless before they died and had tried to drink alcohol.

"At first, I also thought they had turned into lizards."

"But upon closer inspection, I suspect they've turned into something else."

Carter said quietly:

"dragon."