Azar also misjudged Alhaitham. Unlike the Grand Sage who loves seeking external power, Alhaitham is passionate about believing in himself.
Divine knowledge exists—that's enough. He will investigate and understand it himself.
And in the process of investigating and understanding, Alhaitham saw the Traveler's character.
She is truly charitable (got scammed by Dori), pure-hearted (got tricked by the Gilded Brigade), upright and bright (no brain), fearless (but has strength).
If you remove the parentheses, the Traveler is truly a very good person.
At the same time, Alhaitham discovered the problem with divine knowledge capsules: they drive people mad!
If Alhaitham had really accepted the Grand Sage's proposal, he would most likely be insane by now.
In other words, the Grand Sage superficially wanted to "win him over," but actually wanted to get rid of him!
Thus, Alhaitham standing on the Traveler's side can be said to be completely logical.
Readers breathe a sigh of relief—great, enemy of the Grand Sage means he's one of us.
Alhaitham also says that the encounter in Port Ormos was pure coincidence; he had no intention of investigating the Traveler.
Moreover, after he left the restaurant, it was the Traveler who chased after him.
This makes Lumine unhappy—can't it be that you were playing hard to get?!
[Alhaitham: "If you mind, I can apologize."]
["I hid and took the divine knowledge capsule because I personally judged its existence as too dangerous."]
["After all, curiosity is often the most dangerous thing in this nation."]
This summary is quite on point—even the Doctor defected from Sumeru because his curiosity could not be satisfied.
But right now, readers actually want to see Alhaitham apologize more.
This guy has been pretending from beginning to end, always looking like everything is under control—it really makes people want to see what he looks like when apologizing.
Unfortunately, in the story the Traveler didn't get the chance to demand an apology—Cyno interjected.
[Cyno said: "Answer my question: did the sages ever reveal their plan to you?"]
[Alhaitham replied: "Did I not make it clear enough? Now you and I are both key targets the Akademiya is guarding against—what do you think?"]
Alhaitham answers with a question, but Cyno is convinced. He temporarily stops viewing Alhaitham as an enemy.
In terms of language, Cyno is no match for Alhaitham—the other is from the Haravatat school, a professional.
[Candace: "Mm~ mm~ Very happy to see the two of you clear up the misunderstanding. Good, good."]
["Then what about you, Dehya? It's your turn now, right?"]
Alright, the "script killing" has finished with Alhaitham and Cyno—next is you, Dehya.
Host Candace starts actively pushing the plot.
[Dehya said: "Ah, sorry, the boys' talk was too boring and I spaced out."]
Readers show an "as expected" expression—you really do find talking to girls more interesting!
As for why Dehya is here, the reason is quite simple: she just "came home to visit."
She came home to visit, saw two people inexplicably arguing here, got inexplicably angry, and almost inexplicably started fighting them.
[Candace: "Just that…? Alright, very much your style. Then, welcome back~ Dehya!"]
[Dehya smiled: "Now that's more like it! I missed you all so much, Candace…"]
Now all the character backstories are done—entering the deduction phase.
From this conversation, one thing is clear: the Grand Sage may be stupid, but not completely stupid. He's still good at playing little tricks.
Many people may not have noticed, but the fact that Cyno caught the Grand Sage meeting Alhaitham was actually intentional by the Grand Sage!
Why do I say that? Everything the Grand Sage did was hidden from Cyno—to the point that Cyno's investigations couldn't find anything.
Yet this meeting was perfectly caught by Cyno—why such perfect timing?
The answer: the Grand Sage did it on purpose. He wanted to draw Cyno's attention and redirect Cyno's focus onto Alhaitham.
But as the saying goes—he misjudged Alhaitham's ability.
Not only misjudged in "wisdom," but also misjudged in combat power.
Even Cyno wanting to take down Alhaitham is not easy.
This allowed Alhaitham to run around everywhere carrying divine knowledge capsules, even managing to "lure" Cyno all the way to the desert.
Speaking of the desert—in the story a sandstorm is raging outside, and there are also roars of monsters; the surroundings seem very dangerous.
Candace says there's no need to worry—she'll handle it.
You think a desert village is safe for no reason? Because the "Desert Captain" lives here.
After who knows how long, the sandstorm stopped but Candace still hasn't returned.
[Paimon: "The wind seems to have stopped. The sandstorm should be over, right?"]
Paimon is speaking, but everyone's attention is drawn to the illustration of Cyno and Alhaitham.
Readers laugh—because now Alhaitham is standing and Cyno has sat down.
You two just refuse to sit next to each other, huh? One sits, the other stands up.
But he didn't sit for long. Out of worry for Candace's safety, everyone decides to go out and look for her.
No need to search—as soon as they leave the village they see Candace in the middle of an intense battle.
She fought from the start of the sandstorm until it ended. Monsters came wave after wave, and she sent wave after wave away.
Not only high combat power, but stamina maxed out too. Natlan people seeing Candace would all give her a thumbs-up.
The remaining monsters are few now, and Dehya's hands are itching for a fight.
Just for Candace's sake—use your flaming fists on them!
After using flaming fists to deal with the monsters, the old village chief of Aaru Village also comes out to thank everyone.
He tells everyone that recently monster attacks and sandstorms have become more and more frequent. All of this is related to the "withering" of the World Tree.
Now readers understand—this is "issuing a quest."
The newbie village chief looks a bit troubled—go see what's going on.
Besides natural disasters, there is also the disappearance of the village guardians. The village guardians have all vanished.
Quest triggered: Find the village guardians.
Regarding these disappearances, Cyno says he will start investigating.
[Cyno: "…I once had contact with those people. I will find a way to clarify what happened to them."]
Cyno (net rope user): I accept this commission.
Character Voice Lines · Cyno: About Mad Scholars
"…The village guardians—I was the one who sent them there, so it is only right that I bring them back."