Being able to earn the title of Sword King is enough to prove that our captain is already close to the Saint Realm, or perhaps is a strong presence within it.

The title of "King," if used outside the Saint Realm, can easily attract hostility and even collective attacks from others.

But Louis knew from Little Swan that when Alice earned the title of Sword King in her past life, almost no one tried to oppose her or challenge her.

Not to mention in this life, Alice's power has been increasing at an even faster pace.

He subtly glanced over the captain's attractive figure.

With the Eye of Truth in hand, he could see far more than ordinary people.

This guy has impressively advanced to LV14 in a very short time.

He even felt a familiar power emanating from her.

It was the divine power known as Divinity.

Of course, unlike the blessing from the Goddess of Wealth he possessed, this divine power clearly came from another deity.

Louis hesitated for a moment before finally speaking:

"Weren't you someone who didn't believe in deities before?"

Alice laughed and said, "I still don't have faith."

"Blessing?"

"Yes, the one actively bestowed by the one behind the Red Jade Guard. Do you think I'd be the type to beg the gods?"

"If that sapphire dragon hadn't been killed by you, you definitely would have."

Alice paused for a moment, her gaze softened slightly, and she quietly said:

"You're not wrong about that; our Ashford Family has always been quite extreme in handling things, even the emperor couldn't deal with us at that time.

If I really had no choice back then, even selling myself to a demon, I would have gladly agreed."

When Alice uttered this heretical statement, it felt as natural as asking Louis "Have you eaten?"

Louis rubbed his head in distress and said: "I suddenly feel fortunate for having helped you back then."

He could sense that Alice wasn't lying, so he gave her a little heads-up.

"It's fine to say these things in front of me, but don't say them in front of others, otherwise I won't be able to protect you."

Alice suddenly leaned forward, her presence oppressive as she approached Louis:

"It's like I know anyone else well except you all…"

Actually, she meant to say "except you…", but while bantering with Louis, she truly was grateful for his help at that time.

The only regret might be not being able to personally take down the Abyssal Church herself.

But she wasn't someone who needed to hold grudges when others helped her by taking down enemies; seeing the madmen of the Abyssal Church fall like straw across the field brought her immense joy.

As a few hours passed, Louis noticed Alice lingering continuously at his place, instinctually feeling something was off.

"Aren't you going to see your brother?" Louis asked, seeing Alice bustling around his place repeatedly like she had endless tasks, curiously.

Alice's body stiffened slightly and she turned, glaring at him fiercely:

"You can't even pretend to be dumb?"

"I mainly don't understand why you're staying here."

To say Louis's heart was pure to the extent that seeing Alice, such a wild beauty, evoked no ripples, would be total nonsense.

But he truly hadn't taken any real action.

Bound by his past and present worldviews, as a married man, he shouldn't spend too much time with Alice.

Especially when alone, as it'd be hard to explain later.

At least he was certain Alice didn't have any intentions toward him.

Our captain, this tigress, had her mind entirely focused elsewhere.

You could say she loved her sword more than she liked Louis, and he'd believe you.

This guy is definitely not someone who would "idolize a particular professional system."

Many careerists after shifting to a certain professional system will try everything to make their system superior across various groups.

Spellcaster groups are the most typical example.

Strictly speaking, melee professionals and spellcasters follow completely different development paths.

Even in modern times, it's not like the rise of air forces means army is useless.

However, when it comes to spellcasters, they've leveraged their long-held over-the-horizon attack methods, forcefully creating a name in which spellcasters overpower all melee professionals.

But realistically, now who dares claim to be "melee king" before Louis?

Let's see if Louis will beat them to death!

As a result, there's a rumor saying Nine-Sword professionals are half-spellcasters, hence Nine-Swords professionals are strong, and being strong in melee is a different matter.

Alright then, Louis didn't want to say anything.

Let those spellcaster so-called "lords" argue among themselves.

After all, if he were to really speak up, he believes that Nine-Sword professionals are number one in the world!

On the other hand, Alice is one of the few who believes in "using whoever is strong."

Back then, when he entered Eternal Blade, this guy defiantly said "Red Jade Guard is reasonably alright," showing an attitude like "if this profession weren't strong, I wouldn't even bother to have faith."

This attitude is actually quite dangerous.

On Star Continent, faith in deities is more like ZZZQ.

Due to the special nature of divinity formed from faith, the doctrines of the True God Church, and even the entire True God Church, even with internal corruption, from the grand perspective it represents "good."

Behind Red Jade Guard lies the Goddess of Death and Magic, considered a deity teetering on the brink of danger.

She's not a god that takes kindly to requests.

But Alice dares to act in the god-given profession, saying such outrageous things.

Wait, why is he thinking so much?

Louis pinched the bridge of his nose: "Tell me, what happened, why are you insisting on staying here?"

Alice paused for a moment, her expression finally changed: "Urged~"

"Urged about what?"

"Urged to marry…"

"Pfft hahahahaha…"

Louis laughed very unscrupulously.

No wonder.

Urged to marry! That truly is a niche term.

Since Louis came to this world and rapidly got engaged, he'd completely forgotten there was even such a thing.

However, he thought more closely, and this made perfect sense.

With their Ashford Family's way, accidentally getting wiped out at any time is entirely normal.

If they don't marry and have children early, leaving descendants might become difficult.

Look at the first, second, and third sons of the Ashford Family.

They ran abroad early to become adventurers.

Moreover, they became the most dangerous type of adventurer, a war hound among adventurers.

It's quite amusing to say, this generation of Ashford's sons, the eldest is only 51 and the youngest is 29.

Yet they've long married and had children, the eldest even has a granddaughter.

In this case, it's indeed no surprise for 20-something Alice to be urged to marry.

Seeing Alice's broken expression, Louis showed a devilish smile.

"You owe me another favor, Alice."

"Huh? What nonsense?"

"Alice, you wouldn't want Little Swan knowing about your marriage issue, would you?"

Alice trembled inexplicably.

Just thinking about this issue being known by Little Swan, who knew how long that fellow would mock her.

Thinking of it, she clenched her fists.

"Fine, fine, owe you favors then owe you favors, but I have conditions too."

"Alright, what is it?"

"In tomorrow's battle with the Sword Master, try to showcase your strength, I want to see how far I lag behind you now?"

"The gap is as far as the sky, there's no need to see."

"I wasn't merely talking about pure strength, but also combat techniques and martial skills."

"Oh, that's true."

If it's merely combat techniques and martial skills, the gap between Louis and Alice isn't that huge.

After all, this guy truly is a born battle maniac.

Louis's style is more akin to a commander controlling nuclear and missile buttons.

While Alice prefers to engage face-to-face in battle and slaughter enemies.

If not for his greed for knowledge, Louis wouldn't believe he could surpass this woman in technique.

Ultimately, Louis wasn't able to chase Alice away.

He hadn't forgotten how irritating the family's pressure to marry had been in his past life.

Putting himself in her shoes, he was willing to help Alice find a reason to evade the marriage urge.

"Let's make it clear, tonight you cannot sleep here, I don't want any trouble."

"I'd hesitate even if you begged me to stay."

Alice spat at this shameless guy but agreed.

Unexpectedly, news arrived that night.

The Sword Master has died.