The Central Region, The Holy Kingdom, the southern side.

"Did you get them? Tell me you got them!" A woman asked in anticipation. She looked at the armored man in front of her with sparkling eyes.

"Who do you think I am?" The man smirked and took off his backpack, then proceeded to take a few sheets of paper from it: "Newspapers! Everyone come over here and choose a date! For only one silver coin, you'll finally see something other than boring reports!"

"That's a scam…" Another knight sighed, but he still brought a silver coin.

They were in a war camp, where they had to be on alert all the time and manage all resources. Here, as official soldiers, they couldn't afford to have the luxury of buying newspapers. The situation was extreme.

The food they ate was the kind that was made only to satisfy hunger and basic bodily needs.

The water they drank was served to them only a few times a day. Unlike the Northern Region, they didn't have any snow here. They had to save water.

They couldn't just ask a water mage to create water for them, as it was made purely of mana. Drinking large amounts of that water might cause mana poisoning—similar to eating so many mana crystals—which would cause the mana veins inside the body to temporarily lose their ability to function properly in luckiest cases.

Regarding sleeping at the camp, they had extreme sleeping schedules that depended on every individual's capabilities. After all, not all people slept the same time.

In fact, some people didn't need sleep at all!

In a world filled with strange traits and classes, that wasn't something uncommon.

As for having fun, it was almost non-existent. The only fun they could have in the camp was either chatting together or rarely having sex with the consent of both sides, though the saintess candidates didn't always have that option.

Considering all that, the small luxury of reading news for a few minutes was priceless for them. It wasn't easy to get newspapers into the camp, but that knight managed to do it with his connections. He was just an exception.

Some soldiers decided to buy newspapers alone, while others decided to share as many different newspapers as they could.

Elizabeth was one of the latter. In the past few days, she became friends with a small group of people—only three—and spent most of her time with them.

And she had PLENTY of time. Unlike the others, she didn't have to observe the surroundings at night, hunt beasts for food, or even guard the camp. She was merely a blind healer who was basically useless most of the day.

"Eliza, hurry up! They're buying all the newspapers!" A woman with the appearance of mid-thirties—the same candidate that told Elizabeth about the news at the candidates' gathering—urged Elizabeth.

"Mira, give me a second!" Elizabeth searched inside her bag. Fafnir was sitting on her shoulders with his new adorable plushie-like form, moving her head to guide her toward the coins, as though he was riding a horse.

Once she found them, she took two silver coins out of the bag and gave it to the candidate.

Smiling, the candidate rushed toward the newspaper seller who was surrounded by a swarm of other free soldiers.

"We'll wait for you in the tent!" Elizabeth shouted as she went into a tent. It was the healer's tent, a big tent with enough space for 15 people. It had many beds and was big enough for Elizabeth and her small group, and it was where they slept together in the past few days.

As Elizabeth entered the tent, she heard the sigh of a man inside.

"My watch is starting in half an hour, Mira better get them quickly."

"Oh, you woke up? Good afternoon, Michael. And don't worry, it's not like a big number of people is buying the newspapers is that big to begin with—Mira will get them quickly" Elizabeth smiled and went to sit behind him, her lips curling into a genuine smile.

And although she couldn't see him, she sensed another man sleeping on the bed.

Thankfully, Fafnir was able to see them both clearly.

The sleeping man had an old appearance with sharp features and strands of white hair among his facial hair. He wore light armor and held a small throwing knife even while sleeping.

His name was Ragnar, the holy knight of Mira.

The man that had just spoken looked young, almost the same age as Elizabeth. He had a depressed face with messy black hair and dark circles under his black eyes.

Fafnir knew him by the name Michael, who was a real soldier from the start of the war, unlike Elizabeth and the other candidates.

As his appearance suggested, Michael was truly a young man. He had applied to the kingdom's official military, refusing to serve a noble, and the war started the next week.

Finding himself into a war the same week he decided to join the military was a great misfortune. When Dante heard about that, he wanted to check his luck immediately. But unfortunately, Fafnir didn't have the ability to see the luck of the others.

Once Michael saw Elizabeth behind him, he stared at Fafnir with a strange excitement.

"Can I…" He extended his hand to her hair, trying to reach for Fafnir. But Elizabeth sensed him immediately and slapped his hand, feeling that Fafnir's body trembled for a moment.

As he looked at her in disappointment, she brought Fafnir down from her shoulders and hugged him close, like hugging a child: "As I said, he hates to be touched by other people after what happened in the candidates meeting. Please don't treat him like an emotionless pet."

"Sorry…" Michael sighed and lowered his head.

Unknown to them, Fafnir trembled for a different reason.

'My Lord is absorbing Cores of Existence.'

At this moment, Dante reached 400 Existence Essence, and he was still absorbing even more cores. The sudden surge of power made Fafnir's body tremble unintentionally.

"Holy crap!"

"Is this news real?"

"What the hell caused this?"

"Can't you read? It's stated the line under it!"

All of a sudden, the other soldiers in the camp started speaking loudly about the news, their tones showing shock and disbelief.

Elizabeth and Michael became alert, and even Ragnar woke up in confusion.

Before they could understand anything, Mira returned to the camp with a bunch of newspapers.

"Guys, you have to read this!"

She jumped onto the bed and threw aside all the other newspapers, focusing only on one. She unfolded the newspaper to show the first page.

Simultaneously, Fafnir's body trembled with the final boost. But as he and the others read the first line, not only theirs, but even Dante's jaw dropped in terror and disbelief.

'What the hell?'

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