CHAPTER 384: CHAPTER 264: NO HONOR AT ALL_3

To be honest, he had never acknowledged his father before, so naturally, he didn’t care about him. Their relationship was very stiff, even worse than with strangers.

He stayed here partly because his mother was still here. The other reason he accepted training was his desire to personally defeat the man who had abandoned them!

But it was only after hearing those words that he realized matters from back then weren’t so simple.

Compared to Ryan’s silence, the Nun’s silence was anything but calm. Her already stern features froze, becoming even uglier, like dark clouds obscuring the sun. Her right hand clutched the Holy Canon so tightly that her knuckles turned white and even trembled from the force.

Unlike Reynard, who had only attended the Church school for a few years, the Nun had been exposed to the Church’s teachings since childhood, so her faith was much firmer.

Her first reaction to hearing these descriptions was that it was slander; anyone who dared to deny the Church was an enemy.

If this had been before, she might have swung her mace, but the scene at the school earlier had given her pause for the moment.

Still, she couldn’t help but question this faithless man.

"So you abandoned your faith?"

Hearing this, Reynard turned his gaze directly to the Nun, whose face had turned ashen, and his tone suddenly intensified.

"Fighting for the Church, I lost my happy family. I was injured countless times, critically wounded and near death on three occasions. The number of enemies I killed is beyond count. I can say I lost everything.

So what did I get in return? A suit of armor? A few medals?

No! All I received was their contempt, and endless regret and guilt!

I set out with noble ideals to confront the so-called Evil Heretics, but now I’ve become so downtrodden I don’t even dare face my wife and children. I don’t want them to know I was once a butcher with bloodstained hands. There is no honor in that!"

Reynard spoke with a measure of rage. He thought he had let it go, but in reality, he hadn’t; he could never forget what he had been through.

You’re displeased? I’m the one who’s truly enraged!

As someone who had truly crawled out of a pile of corpses, Reynard had given everything to the Church; he had every right to feel this way.

The Nun was stunned by these words. She subconsciously wanted to refute him, to accuse him of greed. How could one measure devotion with vanity and material possessions?

But she didn’t say it out loud; the words stuck in her throat. After all, she had just eaten her fill...

Ryan was also startled by Reynard’s sudden outburst. The intense aura almost suffocated him, and he felt as if his heart was about to leap out of his chest.

The ensuing silence calmed the previously agitated atmosphere.

After speaking, Reynard realized he had lost control of his emotions. That shouldn’t have happened. The person before him wasn’t a high-ranking member of the Church, but another pitiful, brainwashed soul treading a path to ’suicide’—just as he once had.

Reynard shook his head, a hint of pity in his voice as he steered the conversation back on track.

"No. At that time, I didn’t give up my faith in the Holy Light. On the contrary, I hadn’t yet escaped the Church’s influence. In fact, after losing everything, the Holy Light was the only thing that gave me the will to live, a self-deceiving hope.

For this reason, I embarked on a solitary crusade, following the Holy Canon, hoping to die in a fierce battle against evil. I wanted to prove my loyalty to the Holy Light and, at the same time, wash away my sins, to prove to my family that I wasn’t... a sinner."

Ryan, having recovered from the earlier pressure, couldn’t help but cast a strange look at Reynard upon hearing this.

He hadn’t forgiven this man; he just found him somewhat... pitiable.

It wasn’t just him; even the devout Nun was moved by the emotion conveyed in that low voice, her spirits sinking.

But Reynard didn’t see it that way. On the contrary, his emotions quickly grew fervent, and his posture straightened.

"It was then that I met My Lord."

The Nun looked at Reynard in surprise, not because of the person he mentioned, but because... she sensed something on him.

It was just for a fleeting moment, but I couldn’t be mistaken! The power of the Holy Light actually manifested on him! If he were still a Crusader, I wouldn’t find it so strange. But the man before me is an apostate who forsook his faith!

This realization delivered a shock far more direct and intense than his earlier words.

Reynard, however, paid no attention to the Nun’s reaction, continuing to speak about his life after meeting the Lord.

He omitted certain core details, focusing instead on the common folk.

"Before My Lord arrived, Hamlet was a complete ruin. The townspeople lay on the ground, half-dead, and the air was filled with the stench of decay...

Ryan had learned about Hamlet’s founding in his first class, but hearing it from the perspective of an eyewitness made it seem even crueler, the crises faced even more harrowing.

The Nun, unlike Catherine, had no opportunity to make inquiries. She was hearing this story for the first time and found herself drawn in.

"Under the rule of the Church and the town magistrate, the people here couldn’t even get enough to eat. They were called human, but they lived worse than dogs. However, My Lord’s arrival directly saved them.

Have you seen Hamlet now? Not just the people of Hamlet, but thousands of refugees live there too. This is something neither the Empire nor the Church has managed to accomplish!"