"Don't thank us yet?" Anna muttered in a low voice. She couldn't help but notice the word 'us' from Noel's mouth. It was clear that Noel was the biggest contribution of this battle. In fact, he single-handedly killed the demon leader. Yet, Noel considered her as well and never took the credit for himself.
This was something not everyone could do. Even she wondered what she would do when she was in his position. She would think that she deserved it because she had done it by herself.
'Looking at this, Noel should have a way to defeat the Ancient Demon Tree. But I used the opportunity to take something away from him. If I didn't help him, he would have defeated the tree alone and got more rewards.
'Because I reincarnated, I could utilize the memory of my past life to get more chances and become even stronger than my past self. Yet, I never thought about this…' Her heart thumped as she looked at Noel. 'What if I take someone's chance and as a result, they die because of me? Have I even considered the effect when I take someone's chance? They're strangers for sure, but… looking at Noel who can give me the credit without hesitation…'
She felt being ashamed. Unlike Noel's system that granted him something from somewhere else, Anna took something from others by using their chance. Before, she thought about giving something else to Noel from her own opportunity, but there were some chances that she took from others. She just never considered her actions because she didn't know them personally.
'For example, what if I got the artifact that someone should have in the future to save the people in needs? But because I took it, that someone couldn't save those people and die?'
Anna looked down, wondering if her choice was alright. She could be selfish too, but she hesitated after seeing Noel.
Noel didn't know about the dilemma in her heart. He only glanced at her before turning back to the Saintess. "We have two more problems. The first is the demons outside the city. I'm pretty sure that the demons won't return just like that since they move based on instinct. We have to kill the demons."
"I agree. I'll tell the Holy Knights to eliminate them." The Saintess nodded in agreement.
"No. We'll be the ones defeating the demons."
"Huh?"
"Your Holy Knights have another job to do. I said it earlier, right? We have two more problems. Even if we can save them, we still have one big problem. What is it?"
"!!!" The Saintess almost forgot about it. "Water supply! That's right. The water supply has been stopped by those demons. Even if we can save the city, it'll be for naught if we can't solve the water supply."
"That's right. I want your Holy Knights to handle the water supply. I'm pretty sure they're creating some sort of structures to stop the water supply. The Holy Knights have to destroy it and bring the people to fix the water supply problem."
The Saintess agreed with his opinion. The Moon Temple job was to solve the city's problem. The demons were an outside problem while the water supply was a problem from the inside. The Holy Knights Job should be the latter, not the former. It was the duty of the Demon Banner Army to exterminate the demons.
"My apology! I don't mean to look down on you, O' Knights of the Demon Banner Army." The Saintess lowered her head again.
"No problem. I know that you're desperate to help people. I can understand that. But let's do what we're supposed to do." Noel smiled. "Of course, the Holy Knights in the people's eyes are the heroes of the city. That's why I'll ask you to accompany us in exterminating the demon. This way, the Saintess will be the one saving the city from the demons. After that, the Holy Knights will return to fix the water problem."
"But…" The Saintess furrowed her eyebrows. "If you do it like this, won't the people only think of us, not you?"
"As I said, we're simply doing what we're supposed to do. Exterminating the demon is the job of the Demon Banner Army, but becoming the savior is for the Moon Temple."
The Saintess was shocked. She never met someone as kind as him. Even though he could become a hero in those people's eyes and raise his reputation in order to rebuild his ruined family, he chose to give that credit to someone else. This was truly unexpected. How could one be so kind?
Though, it was just her misunderstanding Noel's kindness.
Noel was thinking something else in his head. 'Of course, you will take the credit. I'm not gonna do it because the higher my reputation is, the more the Royal Family will keep me in check. If my reputation increase that much in short amount of time, I'm afraid the Royal Family will send an assassin to thoroughly eliminate me. So, you should take the credit.
'And with Anna taking the credit, the people will think that everything is due to her talent and strength, not me. I'm simply saving myself here.'
As Noel thought, he didn't have any relation or power to resist the problems if he became too big for the Royal Family. Even the commander wouldn't dare to offend the Royal Family just for an Apprentice Knight. So, without power and background, he couldn't do anything.
For now, his plan was to help people as much as possible. Whether they gave him anything or not in the future, he had instilled his existence to those people. Bit by bit, he was building his own reputation. The pace, too, wasn't that fast to the point it would reach the Royal Family's ears.
Still, the Saintess was different. She could only see Noel's kindness and moved by it.
Clasping her hand as if she was praying, she came closer to Noel while saying, "O' Goddess of the Moon. I have found a soul, kinder than anyone else. Please bless him with your grace so that he can help more people."
The Saintess gently placed her hands on Noel's cheeks before she slightly lowered his head so that she could give a kiss on his forehead.
