After Lanqi concluded the product launch showcase for the autumn line in the chapel, the camera angle shifted immediately, and a deep, mildly soothing melody began to play on the chapel's pipe organ.
There sat the Poet of Great Love at the keyboard connected to the air reservoir. Dressed in her red gown, her silky grey hair cascaded down her fair back, leaving only the slender silhouette of her figure as she played with solemn concentration.
"What kind of love allows one to truly empathize?"
Lanqi's gentle voice echoed once again, narrating for the audience back in the mortal realm.
"It is difficult to describe, yet it is undeniably there."
As he spoke, the camera drifted smoothly, showcasing every detail of Lichtenstein Castle in its full, sacred, and magnificent glory.
"Look, everything here is distinct."
The screen transitioned to the morning light crisscrossing through stained-glass windows, piercing into every corner, while the coffin lid continued to slide tirelessly back and forth.
"The air is steeped in life."
"The sound caresses you."
"The sunlight fills you."
"All living creatures beneath the frosty sky rejoice in freedom."
The view drifted until it reached outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, where the lush, vibrant forest atop the mountain brimmed with life.
The camera gradually passed through the chapel's colossal portico, arriving at a lawn and garden set with lounge chairs. Beneath courtyard parasols, several men and women were preparing barbecues and fresh fruits, relishing an easy, leisurely vacation.
"If you are fortunate enough, love will dwell within your life forever."
Lanqi's voice continued alongside the swelling music and the widening shot.
"Like the morning star, it cleanses your soul, flows through your veins, and banishes the gloom in your heart."
"With just a single glance, everything finds its meaning."
At the exact moment the music came to a halt, the screen faded to a black backdrop, bearing only a logo and three lines of text:
[Great Love Company]
[From Ikerite, Hutton Kingdom]
[Make your life extraordinary]
"..."
Back at Ikerite Academy.
The students seated on the stone steps didn't know how to appraise this spectacle—nor did they dare to.
All they could say was that this company had better never secure any investment.
"By the way, the academic exchange delegation from the Aloran Kingdom arrives at the academy tomorrow morning."
"Such a shame they missed this product launch."
The students changed the subject with forced nonchalance.
If Lanqi weren't specialized in countering the Blood Clan, the vampires would probably have thrown away their lives just to take this cursed contraption down with them.
Though it was only a conceptual invention and not necessarily practical, the design Lanqi put forward would spread like a virus, teaching people the ultimate way to insult the Blood Clan.
At the edge of the square.
"What... what is Lanqi doing?"
Noe gave two dry chuckles, the muscles on his face stiffening.
He had no idea what new species of creatures those two things in the coffin were, or whether Lanqi had any talent for advertising.
What he did know was that Lanqi was burning through good karma by the second!
Yet the students in the square were far calmer than Noe had anticipated.
Perhaps there was a generational divide between him and the youth, leaving him unable to comprehend it.
Or perhaps the people of the royal capital, Ikerite, were simply on the cutting edge, while a borderlander like him, who spent years abroad, just couldn't keep up with the trends.
Was Lanqi the one who had gone mad, or had the entire academy turned bizarre right alongside him?
"Lanqi is doing good deeds and accumulating merit!"
Beside Noe, the young reporter Luvishir snapped photo after photo of the screen, grinning gleefully.
"?"
Staring at Luvishir's decidedly unhinged expression, Noe felt the academy's eerie atmosphere thicken even further.
What was more, although the three individuals who had dragged out the coffin in the chapel appeared gentle and solemn, an aura of terrifying abnormality hung over them. Just meeting their gaze made one feel as though a tombstone carved with one's own name had already been erected.
It sent a chill down his spine even through the screen!
One glance was enough to tell they were no upstanding citizens.
Noe was deeply worried that Lanqi had fallen in with shady, unsavory characters!
"Wait... is that background really somewhere in the school?" Noe realized with a start.
He had originally thought the chapel was some building on campus, until the camera shifted angles and he caught sight of the scenery beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows—it looked like it was perched atop a high mountain.
Ikerite's terrain was gentle and flat, crisscrossed by small urban streams, making it an exceptionally livable city.
The mountains on the broadcast looked far more like the mountain cities in the northern Creti Empire, definitely not something that belonged in Hutton's royal capital of Ikerite.
"The broadcast is from inside a Shadow World."
Without waiting for Luvishir to answer, a student sitting near the stone bleachers answered Noe's question.
This uncle clearly hadn't seen Lanqi's thrilling, nerve-wracking raid of the Shadow World yesterday.
"A Shadow World?" Noe asked blankly.
Generally speaking, if a first-year freshman managed to obtain a registered challenger license from the Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association within two months of enrollment, that was already quite commendable.
How had Lanqi already jumped headfirst into a Shadow World?
And by any measure, this Shadow World was not low in tier!
Those three terrifying characters on screen were definitely no ordinary challengers.
"Yeah! Uncle, you probably don't know who the guy on the screen is, right? He's the most formidable freshman in our entire academy! Just yesterday, he took down the Resurrection Church's Saintess of Destruction and captured Imperial Princess Alexia of the Creti Empire. And today, he turned a Blood Clan Count into a mummy."
The student on the steps began explaining to Noe.
On weekends, residents of the royal capital often visited Ikerite Academy like a public park.
It was completely normal for an outsider not to understand the style of Lanqi's Shadow World runs.
Noe: "???"
His brain was frantically processing the overwhelming flood of information.
"How... how is that possible..."
"If you don't believe it, Uncle, just go buy a copy of today's Hutton Times! There's a column covering Lanqi and his companions raiding the Shadow World yesterday!"
The students nearby all chimed in warmly, recommending it to Noe.
"Thank you."
In a daze, Noe hurried to a newsstand not far from the square, bought a copy of the Hutton Times, and began flipping through it.
Before long, he spotted the column.
His eyes darted back and forth across the page, and his face slowly turned pale.
At that moment, fresh audio and visuals broadcasted from the giant outdoor screen in the distance.
With the advertisement over, the normal live coverage of the Shadow World resumed.
In the center of the chapel:
"Mr. Lanqi, would you truly not consider joining the Church of the Goddess of Fate? We hope to continue receiving your guidance," the Priest leading the Northern Continent team said earnestly.
"Though our faiths differ, our goals and aspirations are one. Perhaps we shall meet again someday. When that time comes, we will surely still be warriors fighting to realize a world of great love," Lanqi encouraged the three.
"The world will surely be filled with light and love. Love is invincible."
"For love, we exist."
"We shall spread Mr. Lanqi's great teachings throughout the Northern Continent."
The Executioner, the Paladin, and the Priest conversed with Lanqi inside the chapel, each voicing their devotion in turn.
"..."
Noe slowly turned his head. Looking at the photographs in the newspaper, he compared them to the faces of the three on the giant outdoor screen.
Those three guys...
Were clergy of the Church of the Goddess of Fate?
Immediately after, Noe's heart pounded wildly as he read the column detailing the three clergymen's transformation inside the Shadow World.
From normal people into indescribable, extreme, fanatical cultists.
It had taken only a single day.
"O Goddess..."
"If this is a nightmare, please let me wake up..."
Noe felt the world turn black before his eyes, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Someone collapsed!"
"He's still breathing! He must've just fainted from shock!"
"I knew it—you can't just broadcast Lanqi's Shadow Worlds in public on holidays, or innocent passing uncles will get scared out of their wits!"
"Who has communication magic? Quick, contact a doctor from the School of Alchemy!"
Chaos erupted in front of the newsstand, and students gathered around in an instant.
Shortly after, students knowledgeable in medical care began transporting the handsome uncle struck down by sudden illness to the School of Alchemy for treatment.
Chapter 169