The storm in Silvermere rose and subsided quickly.
Lux acted cleanly and decisively, leaving almost no loose ends to deal with.
What Lux found slightly regrettable was that, even with all the evidence, only Kodora was directly punished in the end—the gallows were his final dignity.
As for the others…
Although Lux still wanted to hold them accountable as accomplices, Tiana did not allow it.
"Dealing with one Kodora is enough," Lux's aunt said, "As for the others… they ultimately did not draw swords against you—and besides, Silvermere still needs someone to manage it."
The various collateral branches of the Crownguard Family expressed their gratitude profusely, choosing to pay their way out of trouble; for them, retaining their noble status meant everything would be fine.
If they lost even their noble status, rising again would truly be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
And so, the storm settled.
Kulen was a shrewd individual, so Lux didn't need to intervene much in the investigation of Silvermere's accounts.
(Here, thanks again to Mr. Dili for the evidence and assistance provided; Ms. Tiana once again expressed her high regard for him.)
Under these circumstances, Lux simply focused her attention on the selection of Disaster Relief Knights.
Directly promoting commoners to knights was not common in Demacia—for commoners, even becoming a knight's squire required self-provision of armor and horses, and the lord's permission; transitioning from squire to knight further demanded risking one's life.
Now, Lux directly granting Disaster Relief Knights knightly status would undoubtedly cause dissatisfaction among the nobility.
However, in Silvermere, no matter how dissatisfied the nobles were, they could only hold it in now.
Whoever dared to speak carelessly would be deemed to have an insufficiently good attitude of admitting mistakes—and besides, it was said that Lux was already planning to promote Dili out of turn; the young lady was not prejudiced against her kin or the nobility, it was simply that you people were not presentable!
In short, using the pretext of the false disaster report, Lux personally conducted a three-day interview and successfully selected four Disaster Relief Knights.
And throughout the entire interview process, the extensive agricultural knowledge she displayed impressed almost all the farmers who bravely participated in the interviews.
Don't let this young lady's top noble background fool you; she's actually very good at farming!
These farmers, who were utterly impressed by Lux, evidently didn't know that Lux herself was terrible at farming.
Throughout the entire interview process, Lux played the role of a "cold simultaneous interpretation machine," while the content of the interview was entirely based on Klein's rich farming experience.
It's no exaggeration to say that in the various Oasises across Shurima, over a third of the specific layouts were planned by Klein himself—from windbreak and sand fixation to water-saving irrigation, when it comes to farming, no one is truly better than him.
It was precisely because of Klein's strong support that Lux successfully created a highly approachable persona for herself.
However, unlike her previous interactions with nobles, Lux showed no impatience this time; she even continued to ask Klein some questions she was interested in after the interview—evidently, for Lux, even working in the fields was more comfortable than rigidly adhering to noble etiquette.
At least when farming, there were no special requirements for the placement of farm tools, and there was no need to remember how many folds to roll up her trousers when entering a paddy field.
Adapting to local conditions and seeking truth from facts, how wonderful!
.........
The account reconciliation and subsequent Judgment would still take a long time.
After promoting four knights, the Demon Searchers finally set off—they would escort Ino back to Demacia Capital and imprison her in The Forbidden Magic Prison.
And before their departure, Lux saw the frail little girl again.
Originally, the Demon Searchers did not want Lux to have any contact with this "dangerous mage," even though Ino had been cooperative throughout, clearly explaining everything, and had done nothing to Lux when she received Kodora's orders previously.
But… a mage is a mage after all.
However, due to Lux's insistence, she still saw Ino in the temporarily reinforced prison in Silvermere before her departure.
"Miss Luxanna." Ino looked quite surprised upon seeing Lux, "How did you come—I…"
"To see you." Waving her hand for the Demon Searcher guards to leave, Lux leaned against the bars of the prison, "After all… I heard your father say a lot about you, saying you were very sensible and worked very efficiently."
"I… I failed everyone's expectations." Ino's eyes, which had brightened, dimmed at her words, "Miss Luxanna, I truly did not intend to help the old—uh, help Kodora deceive you; he threatened me with my brother."
"Alright, alright, I didn't say it was your fault." Lux reached her arm through the prison bars and actively took Ino's cold hand, "Now you don't have to worry about them."
…
Ino stopped speaking and instead quietly extended both hands, firmly wrapping Lux's hand that was holding hers.
"Bear with it for a couple more days here," Lux sighed with some helplessness, "When you return to The Capital, The Forbidden Magic Prison there—well, at least the food is much better, and the place is spacious."
Lux really wanted to say something to comfort Ino.
Unfortunately, from her perspective, no matter what she said, she would only feel incredibly hypocritical.
Both were Deamonsworn.
But Lux didn't need to be coerced and had Klein's guidance.
And Ino, even with her considerable talent, became a tool to be exploited after her Deamonsworn status was discovered.
Perhaps in Tiana's relieved view, Lux's greatest growth on this trip was her insight into matters and her overall coordination.
But for Lux herself, what she cared about more was seeing another world.
A world entirely different from the one she had lived in for the past twelve years.
However, just as Lux was racking her brain to organize her words and trying to say something, Ino in the prison smiled.
It wasn't Dili's fake smile, but genuine joy and longing from the heart.
"If Miss Luxanna says the food at The Forbidden Magic Prison is good, then it must be good!"
Hearing this, Lux felt a sudden tightness in her chest.
At this moment, she desperately wanted to raise her arms and let endless light bloom within this small cell.
But reason told her that doing so would be meaningless and would only plunge this little girl, who had barely ignited a glimmer of hope, back into pain and despair!
So, she used the action of nodding to slightly lower her head, bit her lip, and strongly held back any sound.
On the other side, Ino, whose emotions seemed a little agitated, seemed to have completely opened up her heart because of this simple nod—she, like her father, enthusiastically talked to Lux about the future.
"Brother said there are many vacancies for knight squires recently, and he's training hard, he has a good chance of becoming one of them…"
"This year's harvest wasn't bad either; actually, when I froze the wheat seedlings, I didn't freeze a very large area…"
"Father's back is much better, and it seems firewood prices in the city have gone up recently, he's made quite a bit of money from chopping wood…"
"Thanks to Miss Luxanna, we'll have Disaster Relief Knights in the future, and we won't have to worry about not being able to pay taxes during natural disasters anymore…"
…
…
It seemed that only in this small prison did Ino regain her true girlish nature, chattering incessantly with Lux.
And Lux, after barely adjusting her emotions, smiled and became a perfect listener.
Finally, when the Demon Searcher guards came to urge them, Lux left the prison, and as Ino reluctantly released her hand, Lux pressed her face against the prison bars and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear.
"Just call me Lux—and, see you in Demacia Capital!"